With so many options available when it comes to creating websites, from template builders like Shopify to a completely customized experience, many business owners struggle with knowing which approach is best for them.
It’s important to remember, however, that building a high-performing, functional, and attractive website is not as simple as some would have you believe. While the average person can pick a catchy domain name and pretty website template without any problems, creating a site that ranks highly on Google, engages and converts customers, and is optimized for both desktop and mobile devices is a whole other story.
The best way to ensure that your website performs at its optimum is to employ the services of a web design agency. Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to boost an existing website’s performance, an agency can help you create an attractive site that drives traffic and engagement, as well as help you to better understand what your business goals are and who your audience is.
In this article, we take a closer look at the web design agencies process in the creation of a website and how this can boost your traffic and conversions.
1. An Agency Will Build an Aesthetically Pleasing Website
Think of your website as being like a shopfront – it’s often the first thing your customers see when engaging with your business, particularly if you’re online only. The way your site looks and functions can have a significant impact on whether a customer decides to purchase from you or not. While many websites look visually engaging, they may not be optimized for a good user experience, which actually leads to decreased engagement (and sales).
An agency will deliver a professionally designed website that has been optimized with the user experience in mind, which means it will perform better and make a great first impression on your customers. They will also be able to create high-quality content for the site, from a fun about section to regular blog posts. Content that is optimized for search engine optimization (SEO) is a key factor for getting your website to rank higher on Google, which will also boost your traffic.
2. An Agency Will Create a Responsive Website
With an increasing number of customers accessing the internet on their smartphones and tablets, it’s essential that your website is optimized for such devices. An agency will create a responsive design that automatically adjusts to the size of the screen on which it’s being viewed. This means that images and videos will grow or shrink, the navigation will expand or collapse, and whole sections may even be removed based on screen size.
A responsive design will ensure that your site is aesthetically pleasing and functions well on any device, from a large desktop computer all the way through to a small smartphone. According to GlobalStats’ stat counter, more than 50% of all website traffic currently comes from mobile devices – the importance of ensuring that your website provides a great user experience across devices is clear.
3. An Agency Will Create an SEO Campaign for Your Business
While an aesthetically pleasing website might impress your customers, it’s not going to reach many of them if it’s not optimized for search engines. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the name given to the process of optimizing every single one of your website’s pages for search engines, like Google. Utilizing best SEO practices (such as content publishing, keywords, improving speed, and optimizing structural elements) will help you to rank higher, as you’re showing search engines that you match the search intent of potential customers.
If you don’t have detailed knowledge and understanding of SEO, this process can be difficult. This is why it’s far more efficient to employ professionals to undertake this project for you. They will look after everything, from researching keywords relevant to your target audience to implementing a proper website structure. This will save you a lot of time and money, as well as speed up the process of ranking higher.
4. An Agency Will Increase Website Conversions and Drive Results
Increasing the number of visitors to your website is important, but then comes the hard part – converting that traffic into customers. With the expertise of a web design agency, you’ll be able to create a website that is aesthetically pleasing while also effective at driving conversions, as well as getting customers to return over and over again.
One of the ways that an agency can help is by creating compelling calls-to-action (CTAs) that encourage visitors to act (that is, engage with your products and/or services). They will also analyze user behavior and perform A/B testing to determine what types of CTAs work best with your target audience. It’s likely that they’ll also look at your website’s load times, as this can have a significant impact on your conversion rate – customers are likely to spend more time on a website that loads quickly, leading to increased conversion opportunities.
5. An Agency Will Help You to Integrate Third-party Tools
Some businesses utilize third-party tools and services in their day-to-day operations, such as an email marketing platform or a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Many of these tools can be integrated into your website, allowing a seamless flow of information, but the settings to do so are known to be complicated. An agency will be able to set up these integrations for you, saving you significant time and headaches.
There may also be third-party tools and services out there that could help you to streamline your processes, but you don’t even know they exist. An agency will have ample experience with the various tools available and will be able to make recommendations based on what they learn about your business and its goals during the design process.
At the end of the day, the purpose of a website is to help you achieve your business goals, from generating leads or increasing product awareness to improving customer satisfaction or enhancing brand awareness. A web design agency can help you to achieve these goals by creating a website that is wholly tailored to your needs, not someone else’s. They can also provide ongoing support and maintenance, ensuring that your website continues to perform as desired.
There are no set criteria for attracting new customers and boosting sales; it’s a combined process utilizing all the different areas of web design. No one person can excel at sales, content, images, impressions, leads, and conversions – you need support and expertise from professionals who can handle the areas you aren’t as apt in.