Today, there’s such varied and smart technology available that anyone can create whatever they dream up. You can record an album in your home with ProTools, while editing a feature-length film with Final Cut or even iMovie. The same applies to your website: there are countless design tools available to you if you want to do-it-yourself.
You can figure out your online brand identity by consulting modern guides, and use it to create your own marketing strategy. You can access analytics that let you track incoming traffic, conversions, searches, and other data to help you optimize your website. There are even online tools that enable you to create your own original typefaces.
However, the fact that you can do everything may do more harm than good. You may be tempted to handle all of your design in-house, negatively affecting the quality of your design as a result.
Understanding the value of what a professional design and development team is worth will answer a lot of questions about hiring a digital agency. Your company may have reservations about the idea of giving up control of your site’s design, but what you give up in control you will receive with ROI. Here are some facts about hiring a professional design team:
Web Designers do this for a living
To grow your business, you’ve spent a lot of energy and capital to find the best people for the job. A professional agency does the same, but devotes itself solely to design and web development. Web design isn’t simply design, either. In addition to graphic design, the field requires expertise in coding, copywriting, design trends, search engine optimization, and marketing.
Unless your day-to-day operations involve all these fields, it’s very likely that your company doesn’t have true specialists in these areas. Most startups are hesitant to give up any control at an early age, choosing to hand off design tasks to the staff member who’s best with the Adobe suite. Hiring a professional team for a redesign brings in people who can handle all the aspects of web development. It means giving up control and some of your budget, but you get a specialist.
A professional agency is crucial for differentiating your business. Opting for free templates and basic web services will save you money now, but you won’t see long-term growth if your public face is just another generic WordPress site. Distinguishing yourself from your competitors is worth the investment.
A Professional Team can work within your budget
Most companies understandably have reservations about their budget. However, budgetary concerns often fail to consider how important good design is for their bottom line. A well-designed page is the first, best, and often only chance to express experience and professionalism. Research shows that customers will judge a company’s ability in as little as 1/20th of a second. In that fraction of a second, it’s design that makes the decisive difference.
Fortunately for budget-conscious companies, a good digital agency can work with companies of any size. For a company with a very limited budget, a professional design agency can offer simple, but effective consulting services. For those with more generous budgets, the sky is the limit.
When consulting with a professional agency, you’re getting a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective. A professional agency knows what kinds of mistakes are commonly made in online design, and even a bare-bones consultation can help. Don’t let your credibility with possible customers based on what could have been a simple fix.
Working with a professional design team is an investment
With any investment, you’re spending money based on the expectation of a robust ROI. Design is no different. Good design doesn’t only bolster credibility in an abstract way, but it also offers quantifiable returns on your investment.
A study by the UK’s premier design organization The Design Council found that for every $130 spent on design, companies saw a $298 return. Companies that understood the value of professional design and development more than doubled their investment. Additionally, the average increase in market shares among those companies studied was 6.5 percent, and some saw a 100 percent increase.
The services of a professional design and development team boost the credibility and perceived value of your site. While good design is pivotal for customer conversion, remember that there are specialists who can accommodate budgets of any size. Ultimately, it’s a matter of understanding that an investment in design is worth it. Click here to read about how you can find the best web agency for your firm.
Do you have a success story about a professional design company? Share it with us in the comments below.
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