Whether your business wants a current website redesigned or have a new one built for your emerging business, you’ll need a website design agency that’s up to the task. But as you scour the Internet for competent prospects, know that the best ones can do far more than show a pretty design portfolio. The fact is the best agencies produce impactful results for their customers, often going beyond simple website design to do so.
At this stage of the Internet game, entrepreneurs like you have to see beyond an aesthetic website design. After all, visual appeal alone doesn’t guarantee your online platform’s success. This subsequently means that the web design company you choose should be able to do more than make websites easy on the eyes.
Design vs. Functionality
To be truly competitive in the online arena, web design has to go beyond building an attractive website. For your site to fare well against the competition, it has to pique the interest and address the needs of your target customers. Remember that a website that looks good but does nothing else for visitors will force them to meet their needs elsewhere. Many of them will then end up getting annoyed that your site simply wasted their time.
Worse, these site visitors will remember to avoid you in the future. You wouldn’t want this outcome, especially when your website’s goal is to attract substantial traffic and raise your chances of sales conversions.
Ultimately, the goal is to strike a balance between design and functionality because a website that doesn’t meet the needs of its visitors will not help you convert them into potential leads or customers.
What do Web Design Agencies do for you?
Generally speaking, a web design company should always perform the basics:
- Building web pages
- On-page SEO (including images)
- Image purchasing
- Graphic design
- DNS changes
- Site maps
- Form integration
- Google and Bing verification
- Video linking and embedding
A web designer that does all these gets you a functional and good-looking website. These, however, don’t make your website convert site visitors into leads and help you grow your online business. If you want to get the most from such an agency, they have to go above and beyond simple website building.
Web Design Services that Really Matter
What separates the good from the best web design agencies is that the latter does everything they can to turn your website into a lead-generation machine. If the company you’re talking to can do the following, you’re one step closer to making your website do much more than sitting pretty on a hosting server.
- User experience & usability – A web design company has to assess the user-friendliness and functionality of a website’s layout. Not only should its navigation help users find what they’re seeking, but the graphic elements, color, and interactive components also have to come together to make a user’s experience on the site engaging and trouble-free.
- Buyer persona development – With the aid of market research and data about existing and target customers, the agency creates a summary of the characteristics, motivations, and needs of your site’s ideal users. This process aids in coming up with customer-centric and user-friendly web design.
- Content development – While there may be a dedicated team that fulfills this specific role, a web design team that plans and develops strategies of how blogs, videos, and offers gets baked into the website makes the whole web design process easier and ensures the website maintenance would be more manageable.
- Content distribution and channel management – Once a plan is put in place on how content is embedded into the site, a web design agency has to set up channels and come up with strategies on the best ways to promote content assets e.g. social media integration.
- Inbound marketing strategy – This digital strategy is something web designers consider as it aims to meet a client’s ultimate goal of driving leads and sales and ushering business growth. Brainstorming on the means to engage customers through targeted content and funneling interests into sales is integral to this specific service.
- Analytics and insights – Giving recommendations and setting attainable goals to track a website’s performance is something that the web designers do. In fact, a website may have to be redesigned if measuring its current performance doesn’t seem feasible. The same recourse will have to be explored if the current design seems to affect load times and conversion rates—both of which can affect your site’s search ranking.
Find an Agency that Understands your Business’ Digital Needs
Being able to distinguish a good web design company from the best is a tall task in itself. Search for such an agency on the Web and you’ll simply be shown thousands of prospects that, at face value, all seem to sound and look the same.
To narrow down your options, looking at their portfolio should help. But even better than that is knowing what each can offer you. See if they can go the extra mile to make your website be valuable enough to help grow your business and not just sit idle on a hosting server.
Conclusion
It goes without saying that partnering with a web design agency that knows how to build websites is just the beginning. That’s barely scratching the surface of what they can actually do for you. Go with a team that understands your goals because the website design they deliver for your brand can help drive qualified and quantifiable traffic to your business. That’s the true value of functional yet pleasing design.
In the end, your business success and continued growth in the digital arena will be your proof that the web design agency’s work has made a difference to your commercial brand. If you’re seeking a web design team whose scope encompasses different aspects and does more than simple web page layouts and graphic design, get in touch with us today!
