When you run your own business, it can be difficult to find the time to design a high-quality company website.
Web design is a complex skill, and learning how to create a well-designed, highly functional, and easy-to-use website takes considerable time and energy that you could otherwise be spending on running your business. That’s why many entrepreneurs choose to hire a professional web designer instead.
However, there are lots of web designers around to choose from, and some are more trustworthy than others.
In this article, we’ll outline why choosing the cheapest option isn’t always the best decision, and discuss some of the main reasons to invest in a reputable and high-quality web design service.
The Hidden Cost Of Going Cheap
If your business is a startup, or is otherwise low on funds, it can be tempting to go for the cheapest option when you’re looking to get your website built or updated. However, you should always bear in mind that the price of a service is usually an indication of the quality that the service provides.
Therefore, when looking at options for cheap and cheerful web designers, ask yourself – “why are their services so cheap?”
In the best-case scenario, they may be doing web design on top of having a full-time job, and working for their own clients as and when they can.
These designers will be able to keep their prices low because web design is not their primary source of income. However, this means that if something goes wrong with your website and urgently needs fixing, they are unlikely to be able to respond immediately – meaning your company can lose out on new leads and sales and you will look unprofessional to your key audiences.
And in the worst-case scenario, you could be looking at a web designer who has a poor reputation in their local area and is keeping their prices low to win customers who may not otherwise choose them.
Picking this option can result in your business ending up with a poorly designed, non-functional website that you struggle to get the designer to fix. You may also find that domain registration and hosting charges are not covered in the quoted cost of the service, meaning you receive an unpleasant (and expensive!) surprise when you receive your bill.
While it is sensible to stick to services that your business can afford, choosing the cheapest option by default rarely pays off. Ideally, you should look for a web designer that will deliver high-quality results and good customer service without charging excessive fees.
Let’s now take a look at some of the main benefits you’ll receive by hiring a full-time, professional web design company instead of an amateur or part-timer.
1. Enjoy A More Professional Appearance
When looking to secure more work – or while interacting with existing clients – it is essential to project a sense of professionalism at all times in order to win trust and reassure people that you offer a quality service that they can rely on and feel comfortable investing in.
And as the online ‘face’ of your business, your website is a crucial part of this – especially if you operate a remote service and don’t have a physical business premises that clients can visit.
Therefore, by creating polished, professional, eye-catching company websites that stand out from the crowd and build trust with your target audience, specialist web designers can help you to capture and retain the attention of potential customers, while carefully convincing them that yours is a company fit to do business with.
2. Get Seen On Google
Where your website ranks in the Google search results can make or break your business, and what determines these rankings is the quality of your website’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Have good SEO practices embedded throughout your site and it will rank well in Google and be easy for potential customers to find. But have bad SEO and your website will be buried below your competitors, making it easy to ignore and causing your business to look less professional.
Unfortunately, SEO is a technical and complex discipline where any mistakes can have serious consequences, meaning that web designers who aren’t able to give it appropriate attention might be setting their clients up for failure.
That’s why choosing a dedicated web design company that has a good working knowledge of SEO best practices can prove to be an excellent investment.
3. Be Responsive And Compatible Across All Devices
Did you know that 56% of all global web users access websites using a mobile device? And that 57% of users will not recommend a website that is poorly designed for mobile?
That means your business will lose out on a significant number of leads and sales if your website is not mobile-compatible. Plus, your rankings in the search results will be affected too, as mobile compatibility is a key part of Google’s complex search engine algorithm.
That’s why a good quality professional web design service will ensure that your website is mobile-compatible across all devices, helping it to look better, work better, rank better, and perform better!
4. Invest In Expertise
When you run your own business, time is valuable, and neglecting your day-to-day operations to learn a new skill such as web design can cause your business to suffer.
Plus, as a complex discipline that takes a long time to master, web design can’t be learned overnight. This is why many business owners outsource their web design requirements to external providers.
However, if the web designer you assign the job to is themself lacking in experience or relevant knowledge, then giving them the task will provide only limited benefits. That’s because they may take longer to complete the project than a designer with greater expertise would – and even then, they are unlikely to achieve the same results.
Here, choosing a professional web designer to complete the job for you will not only save you time, but can spare you a great deal of unnecessary stress and help you achieve a better outcome.
5. Have Secure And Reliable Hosting
There’s nothing worse than pouring your time and effort into creating a beautiful website, only for sensitive data to be leaked, deleted, or hacked into – potentially putting you at risk of being targeted by scammers or having legal action taken against you.
The dangers can be greater when dealing with inexperienced web hosts who don’t know how to set up a hosting package securely, but at R50 Marketing, we understand the importance of having safe and reliable hosting for your website, which is why we offer this service to all our customers.
As part of our hosting options, we’ll ensure that your website is protected against potential threats, keeps all user data as safe and secure as can be, is fast, speedy, and easy to use, and enjoys maximum uptime so that it’s available to all visitors at any time of the day or night.
6. Dedicated Support
Imagine this: you’ve created a well-designed and functional website, it is ranking highly on the search engines, and you’ve connected with many new potential customers. But what happens when something goes wrong?
Technical issues with your website are often difficult to navigate if you are not experienced in web design, meaning it could take you a considerable length of time to resolve these problems – time that could be far better spent on building your business.
And if you’ve used a part-time or amateur web designer to build your website, these issues may not be resolved until they get some free time, meaning that until then your site will be unavailable or non-functional – potentially costing you business.
You may even find that an amateur web designer is unable to resolve these issues no matter how hard they try, resulting in you losing valuable time and money every minute until you find a reputable professional to do the job.
At R50 Marketing, we provide reliable customer support whenever you need it. Unlike part-time designers, we prioritise our clients and make sure we respond swiftly to any issues you may have.
7. Greater Accessibility
With current estimates placing the UK’s disabled population at between 11 million to 16 million people, they represent a sizeable audience who you don’t want to exclude.
By making an active effort to accommodate people with disabilities, they are more likely to engage with your business, remain loyal, and recommend you to others. Plus, with almost everyone in the UK having a disabled person in their professional network, friendship group, or extended family, if your website is not easily usable for those with additional needs, word can quickly spread, and your business can get a reputation as being an unwelcoming experience for the disabled.
That’s why we use UX principles to ensure that every website we design is accessible to everyone, regardless of their requirements.
We ensure that all our websites are user-friendly and simple to navigate, so that every visitor can quickly and easily find the information they need, and enjoy an engaging user experience that makes them feel included.
8. Cost-Effectiveness
Cheap web designers often come with hidden costs, while high-quality professionals will tend to be more transparent about the required investment.
For example, less reputable web design companies may not mention the additional fees they’re charging for domain purchases, email account setups, hosting arrangements, website updates, and more, until their customer is on the hook and unlikely to walk away. Then, they often feel free to quote whatever they want for these services, which can come as a nasty shock to the client.
More legitimate companies, however, will be open and upfront about all their fees (both required and optional) from the start, meaning that their clients will know all along what their total costs will be, and be able to build this into their budgets.
In addition, the common web design platforms such as Wix and WordPress offer a very wide range of subscription plans, plugins, and additional products. Some of these will provide good value for money and an important service – but knowing which ones to purchase is no easy feat, and the cost of buying them all will quickly build up!
This is another area where professional web designers will prove invaluable, as they will know which options you require, and which are unnecessary.
9. Customised To Your Needs
Amateur web designers tend to use the same website templates for every site they build, and often make few alterations to the design before submitting it to the client. This results in the finished websites having a generic ‘cookie-cutter’ look that is shared by many other websites online and therefore fails to stand out from the crowd.
By contrast, professional web designers will either build your website from scratch, or skilfully adapt a carefully chosen template so that it perfectly captures the brand image you’re looking to communicate – all while ensuring that the site is optimised to generate you as many leads and sales as possible.
At R50 Marketing, we’ll make the effort to get to know you and your business properly, so that we can create a website which perfectly captures the value of what you have to offer. We base our websites around the unique personalities, missions, and visions that our clients have, to create bespoke visual marketing that gets you noticed and grows your business!
10. Keep Your Website Up To Date
Without regular updates, you may find that your website becomes slow and outdated. This is because the online architecture that websites are built on is always being updated to provide extra features and more security.
In addition, the various tools and plugins that provide essential services to almost every website you can think of will require frequent updates too, as how they interact with each other – and with the core parts of your website – can change based on the ongoing tweaks and bug fixes that developers make.
Sometimes, all these website and plugin updates can drastically affect the site’s appearance and functionality unless the web designer takes the required action.
While skilled professionals (like us!) will know what to do, less experienced web design agencies – or those without the dedication to keep up with the regular changes that take place – may struggle to cope with the fast-shifting online environment, and your website can suffer the consequences!
Because of all these reasons, and many more besides, investing in a professional web design service is often a better choice than using a cheaper option that offers a lower level of service.
Want to know more about how our talented team can bring your business to life online? Make sure you get in touch!
About Us
R50 Marketing is an award-winning family-run Digital Marketing Agency specialising in website design. We are passionate about providing a customer-centred service for all our clients, and tailor our approach to the unique needs and culture of each business we work with.
While cherishing our professional relationships with the people behind the businesses, we deliver a friendly and relatable service that doesn’t compromise on professionalism.
Providing a bespoke service for businesses of all sizes, we work with clients that range from small local startups to international manufacturing companies with annual revenues worth many millions of pounds.
Our personalised service and commitment to a client-focused approach have earned us several awards, including the South-West England Prestige Award for the Best Digital Marketing Agency 2023, the Southern Enterprise Award for the Most Innovative Website Design Agency 2022, and the Southern Enterprise Award for Website Designers Of The Year 2023.
