As you begin to narrow down the shortlist of web designers and the time comes for your web design to become a reality, there are several mistakes that many business owners make as the process begins. If you don’t want to make the same errors and end up with a poorly designed website, or worse no website at all, then read on to discover three crucial mistakes you want to avoid.
#1 No Clear Idea Of Your Needs
Before choosing a web designer you must establish what function the website has and what part it is going to play in the success of your business. Websites can vary tremendously in both their size and complexity so it is vital you know which sort of website you need. Is it a fully functional e-commerce site, a small single page email capture site, a corporate portal or a blog?
Of course, there are other types of website so whichever it is, ensure that you choose a web design company that has a track record of creating the sort of site you want and make it clear exactly what it is you require them to create.
#2 Making Your Decision Based On Price Alone
Every business has budget restraints, especially new businesses, so it is likely that you will need to have an eye on the cost of your web design. However, this does not mean that you merely choose the cheapest quote. Remember that your site may be the first contact any of your potential customers have with your business, so the last thing you want is for that impression to be of a cheap company with no pride in how it appears to the online world.
If your budget won’t stretch to all the advanced functions and eye-catching graphics you’d like, at least go for a designer who can build you a great looking site at a cost which is value for money. Ensure that what they design can be upgraded as your business revenue increases and a budget you can allocate to improving your website further, becomes available
#3 Not Differentiating Between Functions and Design
A big mistake that many new business owners make is they don’t grasp that the website is not just something that needs to look good, it also needs to function well too. As such they spend a fortune on the layout, the graphics, bespoke fonts and colour schemes then ignore the fact that the website has a function to fulfil.
What then happens as the site is launched, is it looks great, but when visitors try to navigate the site, there are error messages, broken links and other problems such as slow loading multi-media files.
Whenever you are getting your new site designed make a point of ensuring that the web design company has both programmers who can set up all the functionality of your site and designers who can make it look great too. There is a fine balance to be made between the resources used to program the site, and those used to achieve the visual elements. Strike this balance correctly and you will have a great site which your visitors will return to frequently.