Why is web design so important for business?
Successful businesses in 2020 need to be able to follow trends in consumer behaviour in order to stay relevant
Having a professional web presence brings credibility to your brand. Customers generally will want to know a bit about you or your products before choosing to do business with you. Even If your services are all provided offline (like a plumber for eg), consumers will still trust you more if your web presence is good.
Let’s discuss a few reasons why web design is crucial to success in today’s marketplace:
Web design builds brands
Every business is a brand, and brand communication is a very important marketing tool. Your website is a platform where you can use content to tell a story of who you are. This is a vital tool for forming relationships with new customers. The more they begin to feel like they know you, the more they trust you – and therefore, the more likely they are to engage your services. Modern web design is about expressing the personality of a business, not just what they sell and this should be incorporated into every aspect of the website. Consistency is another important factor for branding. You need to ensure your brand is instantly recognisable so that it appears professional and authentic. Maintaining continuity of design elements such as colour schemes, typography, logos and page layouts will mean building a brand that’s respected and effective.
Always Accessible
Having 24/7 accessibility is an important part of modern business practice. Creating an effective online presence allows you to be contactable at any time. While other businesses are closed you can still be receiving enquiries and generating leads. If you have products to sell, an E-commerce platform can be raking in sales 365 days a year! Having a well designed website allows people the ability to browse, research and purchase your products at times convenient to them, with no effort needed from you. As the modern marketplace shifts more and more into the digital sphere, neglecting to be on the front of these trends could be a fatal error for your business.
Keep up with the competition
Your competitors are almost certainly already doing it, which means you can’t afford not to be. Try doing a little bit of research on your competition online. What’s their web presence like? What products and services are they offering? Are they using social media platforms as well? To be competitive in today’s market you need to be outranking your competitors in online search results – and providing better services. Good web design will allow you to be more competitive in your field now and into the future. Professional web design is an important business investment.
Customised web design will set you above the rest
Investing in custom web development allows you the freedom to maximise functionality and design, based on your businesses needs. DIY template style sites may appear to be offering a cheap solution, however they do come with many drawbacks. They decrease functionality features, force you to work within template constraints that may not be entirely suitable to your requirements and they negatively impact your SEO results. Customised web design means you’ll get a website that does exactly what you need it to do, nothing you don’t, and the ability to easily adapt and change as your business does. Not only that, but a great website will set you apart from your competition – putting your best digital foot forward is a must. As we already discussed above, modern consumers do their research, and will make purchase decisions based on trust and opinions formed largely from this online information. You need your website to reflect the quality of your services.
Your website can generate local interest
Being on the World Wide Web doesn’t necessarily mean you’re seeking world wide attention. Utilising digital marketing practices like SEO and Google Ads can mean driving large amounts of locally relevant traffic to your website. Location based search is rapidly increasing, particularly as more and more users are accessing the web from mobile phones and tablets. Having a web design team that understands SEO and the nature of your services will mean that you are well positioned to outrank your competitors in local search results and be poised to dominate that market sector. Gone are the days of relying on a good ad in the Yellow Pages – online search is the client referral king in 2020, and without a professional web presence, you will be losing money.
So in summary, it’s obvious that professional modern businesses require professional websites in order to fortify their credibility and build trust with consumers. Modern business practices and market trends are dictating this need. If your business is not adapting to keep up with these changes then you are almost certainly losing money and you are definitely selling yourself short. High quality web design is a solid business investment that will lay the foundations for future growth and market success.