While the Internet has been around for decades now, often times we find that potential clients still don’t know exactly what a professional website designer can do for them. Also more often than not, many people think that their web designers will also be operating system experts, software experts, and hardware experts. So we thought we should share what it is we do for our clients as professional website designers.
A New Website For Your Business
Custom images for your website are included with our work
Professional website designers create custom websites that are fine tuned for your business. Good ones will sit down with you and review what you’d like to see on your site. Additionally, before you start working with your new website designer they should be looking at your current website, seeing how you stack up against your competition, and devising a strategy to help you get found.
When you sit down to your first meeting with your potential web designer, be sure to ask them questions about what they thought of your current website, and how their offering can improve your bottom line on your Internet presence. If they haven’t given any thought to it, time to move on.
Meet Your Designer
In the paragraph above I mentioned sitting down with your website designer. This is a must. If you’re working with someone who is going to “sell” your business online, they need to take a look at your business. With each new client we work with we sit down face to face, we ask a lot of questions of them, and we learn about their business.
See, website designers create websites. They do not run an Art Store, or an RV Park, or a B&B…. They design websites. So when it comes to telling your own business story….they are most likely not an expert on your business. Good designers will want to learn more about your business, and they’re going to have a lot of questions for you. That means some face time.
Get Your Business Found
These days we all here a lot about SEO. Search Engine Optimization. In order to get found out of hundreds of millions of websites takes a little work. There are even Masters level graduate courses on SEO. Many SEO experts don’t design websites, they only focus on SEO.
If your designer also offers SEO that’s a great thing. But remember. Designers design sites. Not all of them know about SEO. If you get the impression your designer knows little about it, you’re probably right. In the end you might have a very well designed (visually) site, but it still might not get found in a sea of other competing websites.
Provided your designer offers SEO work as well, expect to pay a little more for your site. They’re now wearing 2 hats. Creating an elegant design and helping you to get found on the next Google search. There’s a lot to good SEO, and it’s going to take some time for your designer, and some time for your rankings to move up. Anyone who says they can get you Google front page next week should be treated with caution.
Securing Your Website
Today many websites are built on the WordPress Platform. I’ve been working with WordPress since 2005. A decade now. Wow!
WordPress is an awesome platform to develop your website on, but there are some security issues that will need to be addressed when creating your site. Just installing WordPress and slapping up your website is going to leave you vulnerable to a wide array of attacks. So is that in your website designer’s hands, or is that on you? There’s a question to ask as well.
RLC Design uses 3 layers of security on every site we deploy. We don’t have to spend our time worrying about your security, but we do. When we deploy a site we want to make it as easy on our clients as possible. Getting hacked weeks after your new site is up is something nobody wants to see.
Finding Your Web Designer
If you’re truly looking for a real professional website designer do some research. Ask a lot of questions. Meet your designer face to face. You’ll know when you’ve found the right one. And if you’re having a tough time finding the right team? Contact RLC Design. When we deploy a website we address everything in this article.
- Website Design & Development
- Create a true SEO strategy
- Wrap in a Social Media strategy
- Ensure your site is secure at launch
- Offer plugin add ons for your convinience
- Work hand in hand with you or your staff
- We come to your location, as we insist on understanding your business before creating a design
- Train you on maintenance and updates to your site
- Provide an 8 section video series customized to your website maintenance
We already know we’re the right design team for your needs, so contact us today!