It seems like everywhere you look today on the internet, someone is offering you a pre-designed website. All you have to do is a point and click to set it up by adding your company name and some content. You throw a few images into the predetermined places and Bingo, you have an e-commerce website.
Sometimes you need to give them your credit card numbers and sometimes you do not. There is really nothing wrong with many of these companies. They provide a valuable service of which many entrepreneurs take advantage. However… it is not for everyone. If that is your thing, it’s great but it is not your best option. If you want your business to stand out from the crowd you’ll need to use a professional web design and development service.
Don’t Settle for What you See
There are numerous reasons why hiring a company to develop and design a website for your e-commerce needs is a far better option. With the pre-built websites, you are limited to the range of templates they have on offer. When you have your website designed by a professional, you have numerous options with which to work. The following items are wonderful reasons why you should have your e-commerce website designed for you from scratch.
Conversion vs. Bounce
Those pre – designed websites all look the same. For the most part, if you have seen one… you have seen them all. The object of having an ecommerce website is to keep visitors on the page and enjoy a large conversion rate as you turn them from visitor to paying customer. One of the biggest problems with those websites is redundancy and the dreaded bounce rate (bounce rate is the number of customers that leave your website after visiting only one page). There are a number of things that work in tandem to keep visitors on your website, not the least of which is an original design.
Brand Awareness by Design
If your logo looks the same as a million and six other website logos, your brand’s value is going to suffer. The entire idea behind a logo and company concept is to enhance the recognition of your brand. An original design that optimizes the placement of your logo and gives your website its own voice increases brand awareness.
Standing Out from the Crowd
If a customer has to look at your logo to know which website they are on, you need a professionally designed website. The inability to make a distinction between your website and a million others is boring and visitors will bounce away with the feeling that they have already been on your website whether they have or not. Instead, give the visitor something they have never seen before. Have your website created with flair and originality in mind by a web development company and your customers will enjoy their stay far more. The professional designer will listen to (and often improve upon) your well thought out suggestions and original ideas.
Prepared for the Future
The beautiful thing about the professionally designed website is the future functionality that comes with it. With pre-built, ready made websites, they are very often ill prepared to accept improvements and future technology. A professional knows how to prepare the website he or she builds so that it can be updated and improved upon while maintaining its originality and unique style.
A Partnership in Perfection
Building a website is a collaborative process. Pre-built websites are generic with a few nice features beyond using the available functions, you have no real control over how the website behaves. Hiring a professional developer and designer is a team effort… a partnership between you and them that includes brainstorming and compromise that is like very few other endeavors. When it works, and most professionals make it work, it is like… magic. You get to see your website grow from a blank page and into something special in which you had a hand. When all is said and done, there are few feelings like taking control of a unique, fully functional, completely adaptable ecommerce website that makes visitors happy and brings conversions.
Increase Your Website’s Appeal
Content and web design work in conjunction to make your ecommerce website something special. A professional designer can take your content and increase its impact by designing around it, for it, and in it so that it has more appeal than if it were just on a pre-designed website. The websites can be tweaked with CSS coding to make your content leap off the page and into the soon to be customer’s heart… provided it is good content to begin with. No amount of designing in the world can turn bad content into good, although it can make it look better than it actually is.
A Great Return on your Investment
As you can tell from reading the items above… it just makes sense to have your unique ecommerce website designed for you. As an entrepreneur, you want to give your business the best possible chance in all facets of sales and that should include your website design and development. Do not run with the crowd… walk ahead of it with your head held high. A unique and professionally designed website increases your ROI and gets you out of the starting gate in style.