3 Ways to Strengthen Your Business’ Website Before It’s Ever Designed
Spending a little extra money on custom web design services — as opposed to self-built or semi-custom sites — can result in a much better return on investment for your business. But before you ever let a web designer get started on your site, you should sit down with one or more web development firms to strategize and create a plan for your website that supports your overall marketing goals. Here are three important steps to take:
- Articulate Your Company Values:
Not every custom website design company will be suited to your business’ individual needs. It’s important that you sketch out your company’s structure and values in advance to ensure your goals are compatible with a development firm’s strengths. Even once you’ve established that you’re working with the right company, your values are still an important part of the process, since the message you’re trying to convey to your customers and potential customers — whether that’s professionalism, trustworthiness, freshness, simplicity, warmth, etc. — can be expressed through the design itself. It’s your designers’ job to translate your general ideas into the many smaller choices (layout, colors, fonts) that trigger certain feelings in a consumer’s psyche.
- Identify Your USP:
Many websites have a low conversion rate (meaning that they get lots of traffic without actually convincing visitors to become customers) because they don’t have a clear focus. You may have tons of information or many products to share with the people who visit your company website. But it’s only by identifying your USP, or unique selling proposition, and putting it front and center that you’ll be able to convince people to buy from you, rather than your competitors.
- Clarify Your Website’s Purpose:
Too many businesses don’t fully leverage their websites because they don’t really know what they want their website to be doing in the first place; they’ve just heard that modern businesses need to have an “online presence.” Should your website simply provide information? Make people want to actually visit your shop? Convince people to shop online? There are many psychological triggers that can encourage your desired response, and your development team should sit down with you and establish some clear metrics that can help you determine if your site is reaching its goals or not.
Do you have any other advice to share on making the most of custom web design services? Join the discussion in the comments.
