Professional Web Design: When to Ditch the DIY

From just okay to being blown away! When to leave the DIY behind and hire a professional web design team.

After watching some YouTube tutorials and comparing different website builders you decide to take the do-it-yourself route and build your website. It came out aesthetically pleasing and you’re satisfied with your work, but the truth is to the trained eye it probably looks like it was designed by a novice.

Designing your own website is a lot like doing your own makeup. It comes out cute and is functional for day-to-day, but on special occasions like a photo shoot, for example, you’ll want to hire someone who specializes in doing makeup for photo lighting. As a growing business, it’s important to know what tasks to do yourself, and when to hire the pros.

Designing your website is a great way to take initiative in getting your business online. As a new organization, it can be hard to get engagement, and having a website is a great way to gain traction. There are multiple web development creation platforms out there that have templates DIY-ers can use. Those with a little more experience could probably even go the YouTube route and learn how to build a website from scratch. But eventually, as your organization grows, you and surpass a certain amount of traffic and need more functionality, you’ll have to hire out.

All business owners want to save money where they can, but the return of a good website is always well worth the investment.

It might be time to hire a professional web design team if these things apply to you:

Not meeting your goals.

If you have a website that you’ve created for yourself but it isn’t meeting your metrics, it’s probably time to hire a professional web design team. The thing about creating your own website is, often novice designers focus more on the aesthetic than the actual design. Professional web designers can easily audit your current site and pinpoint areas that need improvement or even identify simple errors that keep viewers from purchasing or signing up. A fresh set of professional eyes does the site well.

When you reach a certain volume of clients or business.

With new levels come new devils. And we aren’t calling it a bad thing. As your business grows, your needs will change. Most likely they’ll expand. Maybe when you started you simply needed a website for the sake of branding or bringing awareness. Now that you’ve been in business for a while and have had time to understand the market you need your site to be able to catch leads. This is a good sign and a good time to hire out.

One of the benefits of a growing business is you can afford to upgrade your service platforms which provides a better experience for both you and your clients. As your business grows you should be thinking about the next level – future clients, increasing revenue, integrating new systems. When it’s time to upgrade your website to meet optimal needs, it’s time to hire a professional web design guide team, leaving your time to focus on securing those new clients.

Your website and social media lack continuity.

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of not having a website that is cohesive with their social media accounts. It may not seem like a big deal because it’s just social media, but brand recognition is important. When people visit your site, they should KNOW immediately that they have come to the right website.

Most web designers have at least basic graphic skills. Work with your designer and let them know you’re ready to get a cohesive design around all platforms and that you need help with that as well. Many design firms may offer a template design service as a package or you could request a custom deal, or they can refer you to a trusted partner. The benefits of hiring one team for a consistent design is that you don’t have to worry about sending style guides, or any other small details because it was created brand-wide.

When You Don’t Have Time To Update

We learn a lot in those first few years of business. A rebrand is a must as your business grows. The pain of updating your website is something that’s not talked about often enough. When introducing a rebrand, maintaining current and engaging content is important. During a rebrand, your products and services may change. Your policies and values may change. Your color scheme and logo may even change.

The main reason to hire someone to create your website is because of the time you’ll save. Using a template seems simple at first glance. But updating all of the text, changing the colors, etc. takes longer than it seems. Not only that but minor changes like color and increased text length can cause the template design to not be as appealing as the original. Unfortunately, websites are not one size fits all. 75% of users rate websites based on design. Don’t miss out on customers. Keep it simple, hire a professional web design team.

When You Have Needs Outside of Basic Web Design

Simply put, some business models have specific needs that can’t be met with basic web builders. The capabilities of the software are expanding and we’re seeing more and more interactive websites. However, most basic website builder platforms don’t offer those types of operational tools. When this is the case it’s a great time to look into professional web developers. It could be something as simple as a software plugin or code that a designer can implement into an existing platform. In the absolute worse case, they may have to build it themselves within a platform like Adobe. These methods are more timely and require more work, but that still beats having to do it yourself.

Professional web designers are tuned in with the most recent trends and technology.

When designing your website there are so many different creation platforms to chose from. Every site offers different features. If you aren’t experienced enough to know what features are necessary versus features that exist more for vanity, then you might spend too much time fine-tuning the wrong things or adding things to your website that you don’t need at all.

A wedding photographer’s website might feature a floating gallery on the home page to showcase their work. However, a Tax Accountant’s website doesn’t necessarily need a gallery of compelling images to show that they’re proficient at doing taxes. When you build yourself you can sometimes make rookie mistakes like this by being so intrigued by the possibilities.

The best websites are simple yet engaging enough to generate the intended action whether it be sales, subscriptions, or anything else. Professional web design teams know that. Here at Rooted Webs we have spent time studying the best methods of web design so we understand what design elements work best for not only your specific goals but for your industry as well.

If it’s time for you to upgrade to a professional website, congratulations on staying in business and taking the necessary steps to grow. It can be a tough decision to make, but again, professional web design is one of the best investments businesses can make. Rooted Webs offer comprehensive web design studio specializing in Show It templates. For more info on getting your future website visit our contact page and schedule a consultation.