There are many reasons why in this day and age, you might need a website. Virtually every business and company needs a website to be competitive. People search for what they want and need online, and therefore will more likely to stumble upon businesses looking to fulfill their desires if those businesses have websites. But websites aren’t just for businesses owned and operated by multiple people. They’re also for individuals whose brands are themselves — actors, authors, entertainers in general, and many more all need websites. While there are many hosting and blogging sites that can help you make a minor site on your own, these are nothing next to professionally developed websites with their own domain names. A great website puts you on the map, while a poor one can potentially turn consumers away for good. Therefore, when you’re looking to have your own website, be prepared to hire a company that provides custom web development services. Take into account your specific custom web development needs — the more you know before you get help, the less time and money developing your site will take. With that being said, let’s look into how you can get the best site that satisfies your custom web development needs.
The Look: The Basics Of Web Design
There’s much more that goes into web solutions than what might initially meet the eye. Coding can get quite complicated, which is why so many people choose to outsource their custom web development needs. With that being said, one thing that can make or break your website is actually fairly simple. Your website needs to look good. Think of a site in the same way that you would think of a brick and mortar store. The better the store looks, the more likely customers are to buy something. The same goes for a website. People will not stay on an aesthetically displeasing site, and they won’t read what is on the site if they find it difficult to do so. By keeping people on your site, you are selling whatever is on that site. Web design companies know how to choose pleasing colors and graphics, but some of the decisions you’ll need to make are deceptively simple. For example: to use bullet points or not? Surprisingly, whether or not a list has bullet points does affect a potential customer’s experience, with 70% of people looking at lists with bullet points, over the 55% of people who looked at lists without them.
Design: Ensuring A Smooth Website Experience
A great experience should be high on your list of custom web development needs. People take experience into account when surfing the web — in a big way. Many find that websites that load slowly are distracting at best and unbearable at worst, with 40% of people abandoning a web page if it takes over three seconds to load. People just don’t have time to waste on slow websites. Web design in general truly affects how your business or brand is perceived. It’s said that almost half of all people consider a website’s design as the number one criterion for determining the credibility of a company. A cheaply made, outdated website can make a company look cheap or even untrustworthy. A badly made website is difficult for people to navigate, and for that matter confusing.
Search Engines: Making Your Site Prominent
With many consumers beginning their online experiences with search engines, it’s up to you to make sure that your website is as prominent as possible. Of course, the help of a professional web design company is nothing to turn down. Consider perhaps having search engine optimization content put on your website. This form of advertising utilizes certain keywords through articles, lists, and even video content. The more prominent the keyword is on your site, the more easily your site will appear through search engines.
Designing a site can be intimidating, but it’s not impossible. Be bold!