Creating the right website design for an organization shouldn’t be a capricious decision. Your website – the virtual face of your company – needs to be the right “face” (and offer the right functions) for three different audiences, all of primary importance.
Your website must work for you (and your brand), your customers, and search engines – really all of internet communications.
We understand all three and how to create the site that will work best for everyone. Notice we didn’t say “balance.” We’ll get back to that in a minute.
How to Get a Great Web Design? Ask Questions!
We’ll be honest: web design isn’t as complicated as brain surgery. (And, we think it’s a whole lot more fun.)
But it’s not quite as easy (or as much fun) as building Lego sets. Cookie-cutter templates and off-the-shelf web designs often fail in important ways.
That’s why we’re strong advocates for flexible, robust CMS and web platforms. We’ll repeat: it’s not easy. Your website has a lot to do to meet the needs of your organization, your customers, and all of those pesky (and ever-changing) search engines and internet communications protocols.
When we sit down with customers, we ask a lot of questions, about their business, customers, products and integration with vendors and other partners. What kind of marketing they do now, expect to do in a year, in five years…you get the idea.
It’s all relevant to getting your website just right. While we absolutely don’t want to reinvent the wheel with every website, and getting the right design working quickly is always our goal, we don’t sacrifice quality for speed. Sure, you want the site to look good and load quickly. Those are basics. There are, however, more fundamental design considerations that are worth taking the time to get right.
Many of the questions we insist on answering before we begin on the “eye candy” portion of your web design dig into the functionality and interactivity your website will require.
For example:
- How will your website will handle video – possibly even uploaded remotely, or by your customers and/or vendors?
- Can it manage email capture, quickly and easily turning those address into lists and properly handling opt-in and opt-out information?
- Will reporting be helpful in shortening your sales cycle and staying in touch with customers throughout the decision-making/purchasing process?
- How does it perform in terms of system security, including encryption? This is important for almost every site, by the way – even those that don’t offer ecommerce functions.
- What are the options for adding new functionality? As your business grows, and new products or markets emerge, will your website have the options available to support that growth?
Graphic Designers Who “Get It”
Our graphic designers are talented and absolutely delight in creating wow-worthy (and award-winning) websites. But they’re not here because of their (web design) looks alone.
They understand that branding – including small business branding – is essential to your business. It is the face of your business, and cute won’t cut it. Because while branding must be visually interesting, obvious, and consistent, it must also be incorporated in your overall website functionality.
It sounds like a tall order, but they deliver it every day.
Evaluating a Web Design: Will It Help You Meet Your Marketing Objectives?
Many marketing and web design firms talk about balance – how to “balance” your needs for form, function, and flexibility in a website. And balance isn’t a bad word. But when your marketing and web design firm itself is balanced, meaning staffed with marketing and branding professionals who work side by side with the creative design team, then you’ll find your website isn’t a series of compromises. Instead, it’s created to meet your organizations needs, now, next year, and well into the future.
Getting a website up and running quickly is a good goal. Getting a great website that will grow with your business, supports your marketing plans, wows your customers in terms of form and function, and is technically sound in terms of security, evolving platforms and internet protocols – that’s an even better goal.
If that’s your goal, give us a call. We’re on the same page.
To learn more about great web design, give us a call or send us a note today at Small Dog Creative 661-702-1310!
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