How to get online with web design services for small business
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, offering a whole slew of services and products, ranging from child care, legal services, personal trainers, and many more. But starting one up is anything but easy, with so many moving parts and even more boxes to check off.
Knowing just how important an online presence is for your business objectives—from customer service to social media marketing—you’ll need to start thinking about web design from pretty early on.
But since more than 50% of business owners didn’t go to college, and only a small percentage of those who did went to business school, it turns out the vast majority of business owners have zero idea how to get started.
As a result, most business owners have a bad first experience with web design, because you’d think that web design would be a lot like buying tickets for your favorite event—the more you pay, the better the experience.
But it’s often not that way!
This article will give you a deep understanding of how to choose the right web design services so you can make informed decisions that’ll ultimately lead to a great website that’ll draw in great customers.
So, let’s get into the nitty-gritty.
What is web design?
In the broadest of strokes, web design is exactly what it sounds like—designing a space on the web. Whenever you land on a website that immediately captures your attention with its visuals, content, interface, and even feel, you can be sure that it went through a painstaking ordeal of web design: iteration after iteration of concept planning, graphic design, content writing, user experience testing, and interface configuration, to name just a few steps.
At the core, you want a website to be visually pleasing, suited to your target audience, easy to navigate and fun to interact with on any device, offering responsive design. Those, coincidentally, are also the core principles of web design!
What do web design services provide?
Diving headfirst into web design without previous experience can be daunting as it involves so many kinds of skills just to get started—UX and UI design, visual design, software development, copywriting, market research, and many more. And that’s before you even get started with trying to make your website relevant compared to others. As we said—daunting, right?
Luckily, help is at hand!
Digital presence has become an integral part of every business and nowadays web development services are ubiquitous, covering all kinds of needs and requests in the digital landscape. On top of the core elements above, there’s also:
SEO (search engine optimization) strategy planning, which helps your website become visible and competitive on search engines.
Responsive design that resizes and adapts to your laptop, phone, tablet, and all new iterations of software, working its magic in the background to make sure your website looks amazing on any device.
Niche services, like web design from templates, blog creation or management, single-event design, and so on.
Some web design companies, like Worth The Journey, will stick with you through your entire endeavor toward building your online presence. They’ll maintain your website in the long-term, and offer guidance and support through any changes, issues or factors outside of your control.
What kinds of web design services are there?
You can think of web design services as a large shopping mall—there are all kinds of options, you just need to know what you’re looking for. Here are some of the choices.
1. Responsive web design services
This is how you can be sure that your website is not only fabulous on computers and laptops, but is also mobile- and tablet-friendly, making it a joy to access anywhere and everywhere.
2. E-commerce web design services
These solutions ensure a well-designed website that is user-friendly while also helping your potential customers feel safe and secure when making any kind of purchase or transaction on your website.
3. CMS web design services
Content management systems allow for frequent-yet-easy updates to your website without needing extensive technical knowledge. The downsides are slower loading speeds, functional requirements for larger projects, and hidden costs related to plugins and widgets.
4. Landing page design services
These services specialize in producing standalone pages with singular goals—such as driving newsletter signups, website or event registration, product sales, and many others.
5. UI/UX design services
With this, the focus will be on the look and feel of the website, making sure that every click and scroll is a positive, satisfying user experience.
6. Custom website development
In the shopping mall analogy, this is the department store. Custom web development offers a varied and comprehensive service, providing a mix of design from scratch, visuals that are tailored to your audience, and support with maintaining and keeping your website fresh.
With all of this said though—do you really need a web design service for all of this? Why not just watch some YouTube videos and get the hang of it yourself?
What do small businesses gain from hiring an agency for their web design services?
It’s true, you really could learn all you need to design a website from scratch by watching videos and taking lessons online. But we can tell you from personal experience: it takes a lot of time. And one more thing we’ve picked up through the years: having a good website is essential to a business’ success.
The quality of your website is important
Over the years, the importance of online presence has become undeniable, with an estimated 73% of small businesses having a website, according to Zippia.
Unfortunately, just haphazardly slapping some content and images onto your webite won’t do, as we’ve also learned that up to 57% of users won’t endorse a business with a poorly designed website. And it doesn’t take them long to make the decision either—about 0.5 seconds is how long users need to form an opinion about a website.
A good website goes a long way
On the other hand, bringing in website designers for small business enterprises has shown tangible, proven results. Not only will you gain credibility, visibility, and an easy path toward customer engagement, but—and this is often really underrated—you’ll also get to know your audience to the core.
This can help shape your entire brand and can serve as a guide for future interactions with your customers.
Are there stats to back this up and hammer home the benefits of small business website design services? You bet there are!
Research by Stanford University has shown that up to 75% of users will judge your credibility purely on the design of your website. And you know how we said above that consumers won’t recommend websites with mediocre design?
Yeah, it turns out that almost 95% of first impressions come from the design of a website. Once you get it right, though, you can be sure that it’ll pay off, as well-designed websites tend to increase the revenue of a business by up to 23%, according to Design Everything.
Clearly, going the extra mile with your online presence can make all the difference in the digital marketplace, and this is where web design services for small businesses come in.
Potential concerns
As someone looking for web design and management services for small business, you want perfection. However, it’s understandable to be weary of potential roadblocks like:
Quality of work: You might be worried that your vision is too obscure or impossible for a web design agency to create. You want innovative web design and you’re not sure you can get it.
Timing and schedule: You have a clear schedule for when your business needs to launch and you’re worried that your web designers can’t deliver on time or that there will be delays.
Hidden costs: You have a carefully planned budget and you’re worried that web design services will carry additional costs that weren’t noted initially.
Social media: You don’t just need a website, you need social media too—and you’re not sure if social content strategy is included in the deal.
Choosing the right web design service for your small business
With so many web design firms out there, making the correct call can be difficult, if not downright intimidating. Thankfully, there are some green flags you can look for to make your ideal choice that much easier.
Portfolio, results, and testimonials
Nothing shows success better than a happy customer, and a quality web design agency will amplify that praise loud and proud. They’ll also want to show you the work they’ve done for those customers, so be sure to check out their design portfolio and look for client testimonials.
Reputation and skillset
A good web design agency likely won’t need to do much to catch your attention—their reputation will do it for them. You’ll still want to do your homework though, making sure they offer a wide range of skills.
Look for companies that can give you custom web design, UI/UX development, and SEO services for small business; these tools can get your website on its digital feet quickly.
Budget and costs
As a small business owner, you’re likely looking for affordable custom web design. Understand your budget and business type, and make sure that the web design agency you choose is transparent with its pricing, both short-term, as well as long-term.
If you’re looking for some ballpark estimates, high-quality web design starts at $5k and can go up depending on just how large or intricate your project is. Remember, double-checking doesn’t cost you a dime, but can go a long way in helping you set the project up.
Creative approach and business management
When considering your web design service options, make sure you’re talking to the service providers—look for creative and dedicated teams that bring a human touch and understand the importance of your decision. Building a digital identity from scratch should be just as important and exciting to them as it is to you, and they should involve you every step of the way.
Long-term commitment
Don’t forget that your digital presence will last long after your website has officially launched. Your choice of design agency also needs to factor in that you’ll need long-term support with maintaining your website, responding to customer feedback about it, and keeping it fresh and up to date.
Affordable web design services can make or break your business. It is absolutely a decision you should consider at length.
But what if we told you that the obvious decision was staring you right in the face? Yep, Worth The Journey is right here for you.
What makes our web design agency (Worth The Journey) the absolute, obvious, total best??
This is our totally unbiased sales pitch. But seriously, we love building long-term relationships based on great design and great communication, so pay attention to the details here!
What you’ll get from us
With Worth The Journey, we’ll hold your hand through each part of the web design process, letting you feel like an integral part of your website’s inception, all the way through to its first official click.
After all, your website is a reflection of your values, ideas, and goals―we’re here to help you make it beautiful, effective, and pretty much epic (just check out our portfolio to see some examples)!
Our dedicated team is made up of specialists who have built dozens of websites and know pretty much everything there is to know about copywriting, SEO, graphic design, and digital marketing.
Here’s what we offer at Worth The Journey:
Completely custom web design: We’ll help you get started with everything we’ve covered above—and so much more! After working with our design team, you’ll have a user-friendly website with a clear purpose, quality content, and responsive design that is SEO-optimized to ensure the best reach.
Logo, branding, and graphic design: Brand identity starts with the smallest design elements and grows into your entire business’s personality. If done right, your graphics will connect to the heart of your audience. We’ll craft you a beautiful logo, choose brand fonts and colors, and create icons, illustrations and imagery to make your brand consistent across website, social media, emails, business cards, and everywhere else you do marketing.
SEO copywriting services: SEO is what makes people find you on Google. It’s the edge you need to reach your customers before anyone else does. Our team will identify the SEO keywords your website needs to get to the top, before writing content that will knock your (and your audience’s) socks off! And just so their socks can be knocked off while they’re reading on mobile devices, we’ll make sure your website is mobile-friendly and accessible too.
If you’re unsure about how any of this works, book a free half-hour consultation here for any of our services. There we’ll discuss the first steps to building a killer online presence.
And if you think that affordable web design means that you’ll be on your own once your website is live—think again! We’ll be like that one friend you have who just seems to be there through everything, from your biggest accomplishments, through breakups, and even the heartache of spilling that plate of comfort food you’ve waited for all day!
But how can we possibly live up to such a commitment? Well, once you build a website with Worth The Journey (drum roll) you’ll also have 2 hours of free website maintenance every year. We’re that serious about building long-term relationships with business owners.
Want an inside scoop of what the design process looks like?
Reading about our offering is all fine and good, but you surely want to know how you will be involved, from the first idea all the way until the finished product. And like all great friends, we’re more than willing to let you in on all the steps!
Research Phase
Like any good project, we first want to lay the groundwork by taking the time to understand your vision, target audience, and goals. We’ll work with you to uncover the essence of your website idea and turn it into an action plan for next steps.
SEO & Copywriting
Once we have a preliminary layout for your website, our team of experts will deliver a thorough and decisive list of SEO keywords which will help with visibility and search traffic. This is when our copywriters get to work, creating compelling and hard-hitting content that will make an impact and convey the essence of your business goals on each page. You will have your say each step of the way, making sure that what you want is exactly what ends up on screen.
Photography & Videography
We know we’re getting super repetitive, but we really can’t stress enough the impact of high-quality visuals in capturing and retaining clients. Everything―from simple graphics and introduction videos, through logo and brand design—will be touched and re-touched by our team of skilled photographers, videographers, and graphic designers to make sure that perfection is the norm.
Mockups
All of this may be looking pretty abstract up until this point, which is why we’ll provide you with an interactive mockup where you can visualize the layout, functionality, and user flow of your website before any coding begins. We’ll kick off the actual website production only once you’ve given the green light and are happy with each and every click.
Build & Launch
After you’ve walked with us through the bulk of the work, you can kick back, put your feet up and watch as our development team brings your approved mockups to life. Using only the very best tools, we’ll make sure that your website is not only visually stunning and hits all the right content-points, but is also fast, secure, and optimized for all devices. Finally, we’ll be with you as you cut the digital ribbon, handling the launch process, ensuring a smooth transition, and launching a website ready to impress.
We’re getting giddy just thinking about all the digital experiences we’ll make happen together!
Conclusion
Look, we know just how big of a step this is on your road to getting your small business on its feet—we’ve been through it too. There are so many things to keep track of, and nothing but perfection will do.
It can feel overwhelming because, very often, it is. But at the end of the day, it’s worth it because this is your idea and your effort—putting your dream out into the world is bold and brave and we applaud you for being such a bad-ass.
