Most prospects will typically look up and explore your business website even before making a purchase or following your brand on social media. Therefore, having a website is no longer optional for your small or midsize business. A website builds credibility among prospects, is your business’s storefront on the internet, and makes up a crucial component of your overall marketing and branding strategy.
Whether you’re designing a website for the first time or looking to overhaul your existing site, hiring a web designer can save precious time while offering the best design services for your budget. You want to choose a designer who can not only make your website visually attractive but also add features that actually serve your business goals. And you want to avoid getting roped in by shiny graphics or unnecessary bells and whistles.
In this article, we’ll look at the services web design firms offer and how they can help your small business save money while improving its standing in the marketplace. We’ll also discuss the traits to look for in a web designer or web designing company before hiring their services.
What Are Web Design Services?
The trickiest part of building any website is deciding on your design, and this is often the most common reason small-business owners may bring in an external website designing service provider. While some SMBs might try to go it alone and launch a website using online templates and free resources, these can be limiting in terms of the final look and feel you want to achieve with your new website.
Ultimately, a web design service is a combination of software, hardware, and creative resources. Software is the actual coding done by website developers and includes key functionality in addition to branding, responsiveness, and so on. Hardware is what powers the website and hosts the logos, images, and resources. And finally, marketing and creative resources include critical information about audiences, goals, customer journeys through the site, calls to action, logos, fonts, and more.
Since a business’s website is often viewed as its online storefront, your site can play a tremendous role in helping people get familiar with your brand, understand what products and services you offer, and find out how your business is different from (and better than) the competition. Given the importance of your business website, calling on the services of a strategic website agency is often the best choice. That’s because web design services go well beyond creating a visually pleasing website and create a complete digital experience for your customers, which could lead to increased lead generation and sales. [1]
What Services Do Web Designers Offer?
While not an exhaustive list, this rundown of services gives you an idea of just how skilled, knowledgeable, and valuable a web designer can be and perhaps answers the question: What does a web designer do? It’s a glimpse into the kinds of services that you, as a client, can expect from a web design agency:
- Custom website designing and web development
- Website redesigning
- Assistance with domain and web hosting
- Google Business Profile (GMB) setup
- Building specific web pages
- Moodboard and branding advice
- Graphic and logo designing
- On-page and off-page search engine optimization (SEO)
- Purchasing relevant stock images
- DNS changes
- Site maps
- Video embedding and linking
- Web form integration
- Google and other SERP verification
There’s a wide variety of services and functions here, from visual design to user experience, functionality, and SEO. Given this range of options, it’s critical for your small business to develop a clear scope of work, strategy, and set of objectives before diving into any website redesign or launch. Without these prerequisites, web design services could be hampered. The finished site may negatively impact business goals and customer experience due to poor functionality, incomplete information, broken links, or complex navigation. [2]
Do Web Designers Offer Additional Services?
Web designers or web designing agencies offer a wide range of additional services to help your business effectively reach customers and maximize leads. These services fall under several categories, including web design and development, content creation, content distribution, social media strategy, and analytics tracking.
If you want your website to be user-friendly, functional, and easily navigable, you want someone who knows how to use industry-standard coding languages such as HTML5, CSS3, Javascript, or PHP that can build custom functions to help accomplish any tasks you may need on your website now or in the future.
Let’s consider you already have a website and want to improve on results, update the design, and offer an even more engaging customer experience. Web designers or web design services can help you achieve these results by assessing your website’s current performance, finding ways to fix any existing gaps in the site layout or content, and creating updated messaging and design that drive further engagement. [3]
Similarly, you want someone who knows current web technologies that search engines like Google appreciate, such as responsive design, social sharing buttons, and secure forms (SSL). Most importantly, you want someone who understands usability so your site is easy for users to navigate regardless of the devices used, such as desktop computers, tablets, or smartphones.
Your web designer shouldn’t only be familiar with the fundamental elements of designing for today’s digital devices but also know about trends within their specific field, such as image sliders or “flat” design vs. skeuomorph. These skills are all in a web designer’s arsenal and make them an invaluable service provider, especially for small-business owners.
Traits To Look for in a Web Designer
There are a number of valuable traits to consider when creating a shortlist to narrow down your search options for a web designer or web design agency. These include effective communication, the ability to provide in-depth website analysis and reporting, and post-purchase services such as website maintenance and updates.
Effective communication
Communication should be a key factor on your team’s agency scorecard, especially because it’s critical to the success of your web designing project. [4] From the very first conversation, start gauging whether the agency partner is communicating well with you and your team. Check if the partner is asking relevant questions, sharing their experience with similar projects or clients, and capturing detailed notes of your project requirements. These are all signs of a web design services firm that values effective communication as much as you do.
Transparency
If possible, ask your prospective agency partner if you can review their analysis of your website or of another client’s website. This will give you an excellent sense of the capabilities and reporting that the web design firm can offer. More is not necessarily always better, but you absolutely need to know that your prospective partner agency can get you the information you need.
Post-design services
This one is key. Be sure to ask questions and look for specific information in the RFP or presentation on how each web design service stays involved after the site is developed. Even if you have an in-house team to handle basic maintenance and update functions, knowing that you have a partner agency to call upon when bigger issues arise or when more technical work is required offers peace of mind.
How To Choose The Right Web Designer
If you follow the recommendations here, including putting together an agency search team with your trusted employees and stakeholders, you’ll be well on your way to finding a web designing service provider that will work for your business.
The chart below lists the four key steps to finding the right agency according to our research and selection guide. [4]
Once you have your process sorted out and a plan in place, use UpCity’s web design providers directory page to narrow down your pool of prospective agencies. By reviewing client-backed and highly rated website design services in our directory, you can find a handful of great companies with proven track records, saving you time in the initial search and RFP process.
Start Your Website Design Project Today
Armed with this information (and that link above), you are ready to get started on a website refresh or launch project that can have a remarkable impact on your business. As you’ve seen, website design can be critical for maximizing conversion rates, which is key for any SMB looking to take their business to the next level.