So, you are considering a new website or to approve upon an existing website you already own. With so many options between website companies and website builder applications out there, it is difficult to know what choice the best fit for your requirements and budget will be. It is not a choice that should be taken lightly. There is much to consider.
2. Are you hiring a website company?
There are many factors that come in to play when determining: “how much does website design cost?“. If you are looking to use a website building application to build a website on your own or if you are considering hiring a website company, we have a few thoughts.
Over many years of experience, this is our conclusion:
“Website Design” is a major component in the overall development of your website. Of course, your website needs to be graphically engaging. You want your website to be visually attractive to your intended audience. You are essentially building a website for your visitors. You have seconds to capture you visitors’ interest or they will just move on to another website. But what if your visitor cannot find your website? The look and design of your website is important, but it is all for naught if your targeted audience cannot find your website.
Developing and designing a website properly is the consideration you give to each element when building a great website. Whether it is the graphical design, content, site structure or code. You always want to use the perfect amount of the freshest ingredients.
Someone runs a search; they are ultimately in search for a solution of some kind. Maybe they are searching for a local contractor, a hiking blog or website design. The internet has millions of websites. Businesses and individuals now have the ability to use a website builder application to assist in building a website from a templated format. In some cases, this is not the worst option. Let’s say that you only use your website as a portfolio, and you send your visitors directly to your website by providing them with a URL link (www.yourwebsitedomain.com). That may be a good fit. But what if your goal is to have visitors find your website when they are searching for products or services on the web using search terms? ex. Search= “website design near me "or "website design company westport” Which is usually the case. Your goal should always be that your website is searchable.
If your website can not be found, does it really exist?
Website builders use some form of a templated approach. Whether it is blank or predesigned. This makes the process easy for someone to go into a template and switch out information and photos and/or drag or drop elements onto a page. You find a design that you like; you add your favorite pictures and create great content that best describes your product or service. Drop in a contact form. Launch your new website. That’s it! Realistically you could have your new website up and running in a few hours. Great! Right…? Not so fast.
A template or drag and drop application is not in-line with your goals. Their goal is to resell their products. Over and over again. These products are designed so no matter what industry you are in, you have the ability to manipulate the template to your desired look and features. There is a lot of code that is created that allows you to change theme colors and pick different features: e.g. photo galleries, contact forms, etc. All those colors that you did not choose and all the code for the features you did not select, well, all the extra code is part of the package. A major downside to templates and some website builders: there tends to be an overabundance of code that comes along with your new website. Bloated code is not a good thing. Search engines prefer clean structured code.
Now, as long as you can search for, and find a template that fits your exact needs, you are in great shape. More often than not, you may have to settle a bit. The chances that you find a template that 100% fits all of your requirements will be nearly impossible. Also, you will need to have at least a basic understanding of SEO
(search engine optimization)
and how to apply that knowledge to the structure of the website that you are building. Template based websites tend to offer poor searchability and search results. Does the website builder application use third-party plugins?
(Ex. calendar, image gallery, contact form, etc.)
Who is creating the code for these third-party plugins? Third-party plugins sometimes present a security risk. Some third-party plugins are known to have code written within them that opens the door to hackers.
OK, so let’s say that you have decided to use a website builder application. Do you have an understanding how search engines rank your website in search results? Your website needs to be structured in a way that search engines can determine the value your website offers your intended audience. You can have a beautiful looking website, but if it is not searchable what value does it offer you or your visitor? Do you understand content hierarchy, what alt tags are; H1, H2, etc , or meta descriptions? Or embedding search keywords from the list you compiled into your content. What about alt tags? These are used so search engines understand what the photos displayed on your website represent. These processes are practiced so search engines can prioritize your website’s content and determine the value of your content.
How well you define the content structure throughout your website is essential to its success. Not only the website's frontend (what the visitor sees). Also, the website's backend.
(what search engines see & use to determine your content value and ultimately where your website ranks in search results.) These are some of the most important considerations when considering which route to take when it comes to designing and developing your website. Understanding both information and content architecture along with proper use of tags and keywords is key to have a properly developed website that will perform well. These steps are a major piece of “website design” and are crucial to the success of your website.
EVUSI’s approach is creating a sales funnel-based concept. Developed to guide your audience through your offerings. Monitoring your visitors’ behavior is the backbone to developing and maintaining a system that performs as intended. Not only do we want visitors, but we also want them engaged and when they are not, we want to know why.
Monitoring and constantly evolving your website’s performance and user experience through the analysis of analytical data daily is crucial to continued and improved success.
There are many questions that need to be answered when considering the development of your new website. There are just as many questions once you have a website up and running. How will you compete and stand out from your competition?
Then there’s the part that includes making sure that all your internet listed information is in-line with your website information. e.g. Google My Business, free and paid business listings, social information, etc. But that’s a whole other conversation.
At EVUSI we find this question the easiest to answer. It’s simple, a professional built website is tailored specifically for our client. You may offer a similar service or product, but no two businesses are the same.
The benefit of hiring a qualified website company is you have a professional that understands websites and how to efficiently & effectively develop a system that will best serve your online goals. Properly developing a website that not only is visually engaging, user-friendly and offers value to both your intended audience as well as major search engines: e.g.
Google, Bing, Safari, etc.
There are 3 types of proposals you will see:
1. The Cheap Proposal (the one that we want to jump at right away).
Minimal efforts done, typically a templated website.
The website company’s goal is: reoccurring billing. i.e. Inflated hosting, updates, email, etc.
2. The Best Intentions Proposal (the one that we run as fast as we can from).
Every effort & option available including the kitchen sink.
The website company’s goal is: Give you professional service with all of the bells and whistles.
3. The EVUSI Proposal (the one that makes sense).
Our advice: Have a budget.
EVUSI's company goal is: To provide you with the best value & service possible.
Your website should be an investment, not an expense.
Just like buying a car or buying a piece of equipment for company:
Have a budget and know what you are getting within that budget. Ask questions.
Small Business
A small business website should be graphically engaging and SEO friendly.
Medium Size Business
A more dynamic, well-designed & SEO performance driven website with addition features like eCommerce and CMS.
Enterprise Company
An advance design & SEO performance driven website with addition advance features and requirements. These designs could include dynamic eCommerce and corporate size websites.
In an ocean full of fish…be the shark.
~EVUSI
All Rights Reserved | EVUSI