The decision to invest in a new Website Design for your company is a big one and the most important part is choosing the right Website Design Agency. Based on our extensive experience of designing websites these are in our opinion the top 10 things to know before you build a new website.
- Decide what you want your website to do, i.e. sell products (Ecommerce) or lead generate. Do you want it to rank locally or nationally? Then check the size of the market online. A reputable Website Design Company will help you judge the size of the market online.
- Build your business case. You wouldn’t open a new shop or office without doing your research. If the market is small and your profit margins are low then keep the budget low. If the market is big and you have a decent profit margin then your budget can be higher. For example, if by looking at the online traffic you can see there is a 1,000 people a month looking for a service you provide and you sell this for €5,000 with a 30% profit margin, then potentially there is €5,000,000 of business online a month with €1,500,000 potential profit. This would obviously lend itself to setting a higher build and Digital Marketing cost. If however the market has only 100 people a month looking for what you do and you sell it for €50 with a 20% margin then the potential online market is only €5,000 per month with a €1,000 profit then the budget obviously needs to be a lot smaller.
- Set you Website Design and Digital Marketing budget appropriately. If the online market is large and the competition is stiff, don’t expect a cheap website to make you an internet millionaire. On the flip side, if the online market is small and there is not a lot of traffic, don’t spend a fortune on your Web Design and Digital Marketing. A reputable Digital Marketing Agency will help you access the size of the market
- Get your marketing message right. Chances are, you are not the only company supplying a service or a product. Your website is your shop window online, your chance to show potential customers why they should buy from you. Maximise your return on investment by having a coherent brand and message and make sure that your online and offline marketing activities reflect this.
- Work closely with your Web Design Agency. They know how to build websites that work (or they should if you have chosen the right agency), but they will not have your expertise in your market. Combine both sets of knowledge and you should develop a winning Website Design.
- Own your own Domain name. We meet so many people who have invested thousands in their online presence, fall out with their Web Design Agency and want to move to discover that they do not own their domain name. Think of this as good business practice, you would not buy a new office or shop and allow the deeds to be in somebody else’s name. Buying a domain name is cheap and easy to do and a reputable Web Design Agency will gladly guide you through the process so that you can do it yourself. This simply protects you and your online assets going forward.
- Buy your own hosting. Very similar to point 6, but just as important. What happens if your websitedesign agency ceases to trade and your website is on their server. You cannot get access to it. Web Design Agencies are not hosting providers, they merely buy the service and sell it on to their clients. Purchase your own hosting (with the guidance of your Web Design Agency) and you retain control of your online assets.
- Get full access to your website from your Website Design Agency. You may never use it, but it ensures that if you need / want to move to another supplier they have the access they need to make changes / update the site.
- Get full administration access to your Google Analytics (or whatever tool you are using to monitor traffic). This is your website and these tools can give valuable information as to how well your website is working and what needs to be changed to make it work.
- Give it time. You didn’t build your business in a few weeks and you won’t to build a successful website / Digital Marketing strategy in a few weeks either. Treat it like a new sales rep. You hire them, train them up and judge how good they are after 6 months. Obviously you monitor your website and how it is performing, but give it time to develop and mature into the lead / sales generation asset that it can become.
Contact Us for an in-depth and no-obligation consultation on what exactly we can do for you in Website Design, SEO Services, and Digital Marketing campaigns.
