Your website is one of the most important lead generation magnets for your business. 75% of consumers judge a business’s credibility based on its web design, so you need to make sure you get it right. A great business website could draw the line between losing customers to the competition and turning your new customers into brand loyalists.
That’s why hiring a website developer who adds a lot of value to your website is essential. While there are thousands of designers you can hire, not all of them provide the value you need. Since many business owners don’t know what to look for as they hire web designers, it’s common to make a few avoidable mistakes. Unfortunately, these mistakes could have an impact on their website’s ROI. However, if you ask the right questions and know what to look for, you can turn your website into a lead magnet.
Here are six mistakes to avoid when hiring web designers:
Focusing on the Price, Not Value
You are likely to find web designers at different price points, but don’t let price be the primary factor when hiring a web designer. Many businesses opt for web designers that offer their services at a throwaway price to cut costs. Sadly, if they do not take the time to understand what the different pricing packages include, they could end up receiving sub-par services or having significant gaps in their web design services.
However, this doesn’t mean that it’s always wiser to hire web designers on the more expensive side of the price spectrum. Some designers overprice their services without offering matching value. Before vetting web development companies, make sure you have a firm understanding of your desired final outcome for your website.
Something as simple as looking at websites with the design elements you desire could help you create a list of the features you find valuable. Besides, there are multiple ways to cut web development costs without having to compromise on value.
Working with a Web Design/Development-Only Company
Gone are the days when simply designing your website would be enough to develop your online presence. With so many businesses competing for the attention of potential customers, it takes a lot more to be heard amidst the noise. From social media management to content marketing, there are a lot of ways to make your website more accessible and engaging. If you hire web designers who only bring web design skills to the table, you could be selling yourself short.
You might need to hire other professionals if you need additional services, like content marketing and PPC advertising. Hiring a single website developer who offers more than web development will help you cut costs and negotiate discounts. Besides, you can expose your business to fewer errors if you limit the number of vendors you interact with. Always ask potential web design teams what they offer beyond their core services. Be sure to also negotiate custom pricing packages as you hire web designers.
Ignoring the Need for Mobile-Friendly Web Design
In July 2019, Google decided to turn mobile-first indexing into a default for its search results — that is, it will focus on the mobile version of websites when ranking them. This means that your site’s mobile-friendliness matters more now than ever before. The fact that mobile-generated traffic accounted for 52.2% of global web traffic in 2018 makes mobile-friendly web design hard to ignore. And that statistic continues to grow!
How quickly your website loads on mobile phones, responds to different screen sizes, and enhances the mobile experience matters to the modern consumer. When looking to hire web designers, assessing their commitments to designing mobile-friendly sites is essential. You can learn a lot about a web designer’s skills from their portfolio.
Look into the websites they had previously designed to assess their responsiveness to different screen sizes. You can also compare their page load speeds on Google PageSpeed Insights.
Forgetting About Maintenance
Site maintenance is essential. Your website could easily develop some bugs that need to be fixed down the road. You might also need to update it according to the recent web design trends to remain competitive.
Reliability matters when hiring a website developer. You’ll want a company that will come to your aid whenever your website needs maintenance. Since some maintenance issues are critical, they need to be resolved fast, which is why you should hire web designers you can rely on. To put that into perspective, an hour of downtime once cost Amazon $100 million — you don’t want your business to face a similar loss.
Failing to Pick the Right CMS
CMS stands for Content Management System. These are platforms used to manage website content — the likes of WooCommerce, WordPress, and Wix. First of all, don’t hire web developers that offer their services without including a CMS in the package — you will be short-changed. If you do accept that approach, you’ll always rely on them for maintenance and content editing hurdles. A great CMS ensures you can seek services from other web designers in the future.
It is even more important to use the right CMS. Different options come with different features. Each CMS specializes in certain types of websites; you need to choose the one that’s best for your industry and your goals. It all comes down to what you want to do with your website. Since most systems might not offer every feature you want, you can also use plugins and software to fill the gap. Ideally, ensure you hire web designers that can make such decisions easier.
Skimping on Website Security
Security may not seem like the top priority to many businesses until they are hit by a cyber attack. Such attacks can have crippling, lasting effects on your business, from losing revenue to reducing customer trust. Businesses often choose to ignore the security needs of their websites in a bid to cut costs, but it can cause greater problems later.
It can be less costly long-term if you design your website with security as a priority from the beginning. Hire web designers who take web security seriously. You can gauge a web designer’s commitment to the cause by asking the right questions during the vetting process.
Focus on Value
Your ultimate goal is to launch a valuable, productive website. You want your website to be not only visually appealing but also engaging enough to earn you repeat customers. Be sure to vet the different web designers carefully before hiring a website developer. Choosing the right company will ensure that you don’t have to have regrets later on.