Sure, the internet is jam-packed with information on anything and everything you can imagine. Anyone can do a google search on “how to make your own website” and probably within a reasonable amount of time learn how to put together an extremely bland and basic functioning website, however this doesn’t mean it’s always the best option. After all, you wouldn’t hire just anyone off the street to manage your finances or fix your car, would you? So why treat your business’s online presence any differently? I am going to outline some of the obvious advantages of going with a professional web designer.
About Design
Design in general is something that we can all appreciate, but it takes an experienced eye to be able to create something that others can appreciate. When you have a web design studio like Dempsey graphics create a website for you, your are letting designers who know what good design is create a work of art for you. This is a different mindset then just, “make a website and get it up there”. Its common knowledge that beautiful, professional looking websites perform better. If your selling a product, your going to have higher sales. If your offering services, your more likely to close a deal. Even if your website is just about branding, a well designed site will keep you in your visitors minds long after they have left your site.
Understanding web trends and how people use the internet
Web design today is very different than web design 10 years ago. The novelty of the web has long worn off, and websites are now held to the same standards as any other form of media. Websites that follow current trends in design and layout consistently perform better than others. Countless studies released over the years show that people have set surfing habits and tendencies. Using data like this, professional web developers know the best way to layout out a website for optimum efficiency. Knowing just where to place a “buy now” button can be the difference between 100 sales and 0. This is perhaps one of the top advantages that a professional web designer has over a website “do-it-yourselfer“.
We all like “cool effects”
Have you ever gone to a website that had an image, that when clicked, enlarged and filled the entire window smoothly? How about a button that when clicked, fades in a nice contact form. We all like these little effects on a web page. They add that professional touch needed to make a website stand out. Experienced web developers have tons of “tricks” just ready to be used.
Marketing and how to present your company online
Its not always clear how you should present yourself online unless you’ve been working in marketing for years. A professional web designer can help come up with a way of organizing and rewriting your content to most successfully represent your business in your chosen market.
About Cross-browser compatibility
There are numerous combinations of computers and internet browsers available and websites look different on everyone of them. Professional websites are rigorously tested to display consistently to all website visitors. Web developers would like to see the average internet user using a modern browser like FireFox or Safari, but the reality is that there are still a lot of people using the horribly outdated Internet Explorer 6. Its pretty much a trademark of amateur websites to either fall apart completely in IE6, or in worse cases, in every browser but IE6. Since you have a website (or need one), its fair to say that it serves a purpose – so if your website doesn’t display properly for some people, its as if you didn’t have a website at all.
Advanced websites features
So far I’ve only been talking about “static” sites – These types of sites are written in standard XHTML/CSS code, which means that the website doesn’t do anything special except look pretty. For more advanced “dynamic” websites, we need to use a programming language like PHP. By using a PHP-based CMS (content management system) like Drupal, Joomla, or Wordpress, a professional web developer can create a website that you can manage and edit yourself. Without any knowledge of HTML you can create new pages and edit existing ones on your site. This is just one example of what a more advanced website can do, but the options are limitless. As of present, there is no software you can buy that will allow you to create a database driven website to manage users, registration, product orders, forums, or any other advanced feature. So this is still the obvious realm of the experience web developer.
Not every reason, but a good amount of them
I’ve covered most of the major reasons that you would want to come to a professional web designer / developer. There are many reasons, some that I didn’t cover, but I think you get the idea. Just like in any field, a professional will produce professional results.