What is web design and what do web designers do?
Web design is the practice of determining what a website will look like, how it functions and what its goals are. Qualified web designers spend years learning what works online and what sort of design users respond to.
Web design is an entirely different career to other commonly associated design roles, for instance, a graphic designer. A web designer has to consider how a website looks and operates not only on a computer, but on every size and shape of phone, tablet and other devices.
These professionals also have to consider what functionality a website is going to have. How the menu going to operate, what does a checkout flow consist of, is the user getting enough feedback when they complete an action? There are so many things to consider compared to designing a logo or a poster. A website is a huge, vibrant system of interworking parks that all have to come together to provide a great user experience. Considering all these factors, a web designer is more akin to say, an engineer than a graphic designer.
Chocolate websites?
Everyone loves chocolate, right? Think about your favourite chocolate bar, what size is it and what does its packaging look like? Does it have those little riveted edges to help you rip it open quicker to get at that chocolatey goodness? Are the proper, legally required nutritional stats displayed on the back?
Now think of another chocolate bar. Would it fit in your favourite bar’s wrapper? If you can squeeze it in, would you know the new bar was inside or would you think it was the original bar? If you opened the packaging would you be confused and annoyed that your favourite bar wasn’t in there. For sure the nutritional value is going to be different and therefore the information is wrong and illegal.
A poorly disguised metaphor I know, but it does illustrate an important point. Your website in this case is the second bar, trying to squeeze itself into your favourite bar’s wrapper. You may be disappointing your customers, when they open your packaging. You might even not have considered the legality of the website you are sharing, many template sites are designed in other countries where legal requirements are different.
If every bar had a similar wrapper what are the chances you would pick the right one out in the shop? If your website looks the same as everyone else’s, you aren’t going to WOW your visitors, they aren’t going to stay on your site and they aren’t going to buy what you’re selling, e-commerce or not.
Bespoke, a website designed specifically for your customers.
Enough of the metaphors. It is pretty obvious that this is the way to go...
There are so many reasons to go bespoke. Consider the experience you are giving your customers or potential clients. If you tailor the experience exactly to what they want to see and guide them gently to the right actions (make a purchase, enquiry or whatever else you are trying to achieve) then the chances of conversion are much higher.
The one hurdle that comes up with about 60% of our clients is price. This stuff takes time and time is money. There are many years of learning, testing, evaluating and discovering to come to the set of skills that allow for quality web design. But is it worth it? That is the wrong question.
Can you afford to not have quality web design?
Think about all the people who visit your website. This is potentially thousands of people, with good SEO applied a large percentage of them are convertible. If you aren’t giving them the same great service you give them in the real world, or better, then they will simply leave. If I walked into a shop and the place was a mess, the door was sideways and the assistant was useless, am I going to buy something? Absolutely not. I am going to leave and on top of that, I am going to tell everyone I know how terrible it was. Then they are going to tell their friend etc etc.
How much is a valued, returning customer worth to you? How many of these do you need your website to create before it pays for itself 10 times over? Is that achievable?
9 times out of 10 the answer is yes. The other 1 time you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Your website is more than just your shop window, it is the first impression people get of your business. Make it a great one.
