January 2017 – ACS Reduc 2022

Why Your Competitors are Hiring Experts to Design their Websites

January 25, 2017

You’ve put together a business plan, set up operations and pressed the green light on your new start-up business. Now you need customers. And pronto. So you think: “I’ll just throw up a website.” Then you Google a number of platforms like Wix and Squarespace that insist you can design an effective, lead generating website all by yourself with no coding knowledge or even a cursory understanding of SEO.

Wrong.

That may seem a little harsh, but there’s no way to sugarcoat the fact that successful web design and online marketing takes years of learning and experience. You wouldn’t perform your own appendectomy. You shouldn’t dabble in your company’s digital marketing either. You can bet there will be financial consequences.

10,000 hours.

That’s how long it takes to acquire proficiency at a new skill. Like web design. A recent Ted Talk by Josh Kaufman (based on numerous studies) exposed this number as the time necessary to master something—give or take a few minutes. If you paid yourself $50/hour, you would be spending the equivalent of $500,000 to master something a good web design company already has oodles of expertise in.

Now let’s say you only wanted to learn the basics, gather enough skill to get your digital presence up and running. According to Josh and the studies he culled, gathering basic knowledge takes about 20 hours. That’s roughly $1,000. Much cheaper. But you’re also getting a much cheaper digital presence, one that is not likely to attract much online traffic. Throw in some hard costs for hosting, themes, images, etc. and now you’re looking at a higher cost. The small amount you’ll save by doing it yourself may not be worth it when your site never gets on the first page of Google searches, converts poorly, or just looks downright ugly.

Don’t forget you have a life.

You might also consider how you’re going to find those hours needed to learn and then build your own website while you are also trying to run your business, maintain obligations to family and friends, and get some sleep. The web design might fall by the wayside, or take longer than it should. Keep in mind that the more time you spend without the ability to market your start-up online, the fewer customers you will acquire. Profits will likely suffer.

Expert web designers bring knowledge to the table.

Web design is both an art and a science, and it’s the combination of these that delivers a powerful online presence. At ACS Creative, we don’t have a single expert. We have a pool of savvy designers and SEO specialists who work in concert to create successful digital marketing platforms for our clients. You could try to become an expert in web design and SEO, but as we already showed, this is not really worth your time. Better to focus your efforts on your business operations and hire a digital marketing agency to leverage their skills on your behalf.

Digital marketing is affordable. Really.

If you breakdown the cost of hiring an agency per number of experts you’ll have at your disposal, the value of your expense really comes to light. It will cost more than finding a young freelancer willing to throw up a website on your behalf on the cheap, but you are going to miss out on the strategic planning. (The science part mentioned above.) You’ll end up with a nice-looking site that may or may not perform well. You could also hire staff to manage your digital marketing in-house, but once your website is up and running smoothly, you may not have a need to keep those costly, full-time employees around. You’ll be adding unnecessary overhead to a fledgling business.

Digital experts get the job done.

Like little elves in the night, a good digital marketing agency will develop a strategy for your online presence that includes web development, SEO, digital campaigns and social media outreach. Then they will create a timeline for delivery that includes actionable milestones. Once you sign off on the plan, they get to work. You don’t have to worry about learning how to create online contact forms. You won’t spend hours writing content. You’ll get to sit back, relax, and review the work, getting to say things like: “I really like this direction” or “Can we move this image to the landing page?”

Back to your competitors.

When it comes to digital marketing, you do need to keep up with the Joneses. Your online presence should look as slick and function as well as the other companies in your market space. If they are hiring experts to conduct strategic digital marketing, then it’s only a matter of time before your start-up or small business suffers in comparison. Be proactive. Get your website done right from the get-go. We believe hiring web design experts will save you time, money and headaches. It may even save your business.

Every Business Needs a Website. Period.

January 18, 2017

Websites are not a business luxury. They are a necessity, as critical to your success as developing a business plan, or even putting a sign outside your store or headquarters. Websites give your business legitimacy. There are whole generations of people who rely solely on the internet for networking, shopping and even communicating with friends.

More importantly, websites are valuable business tools that attract leads and build your brand. In today’s digital age, websites are the new yellow pages. If your company doesn’t have one, it may as well not exist. Customers will have trouble finding you and, when they do, they’ll wonder why you don’t have a website – and that’s not the kind of first impression you want to make.

Here are 8 ways the lack of a well-designed website hurts your business.

1. Your company is virtually invisible.

Think about the last time you needed to hire someone or look into a company. Chances are you went online. Everybody goes online. So much so that “Googling” has become a part of our everyday lexicon. If you want consumers to know you have a business, you need a presence on the internet. Otherwise your company won’t exist for a large portion of your future customers. And not just any web presence, mind you.

2. If your current website doesn’t show up in search results, you’re just as invisible.

Maybe you do have a website. Thing is, your company needs a prominent place on the first page of search results – otherwise it’s just as bad as not having a website. To accomplish this, you need a modern, responsive website that functions across desktops and mobile devices. It needs to be well designed, feature an intuitive navigation and present information in a clear and concise manner.

This is true regardless of whether you are an independent artist or a supplier only engaged in B-to-B transactions. Over 80% of people go online before they make a purchase or engage a company. This includes people making purchasing decisions at small businesses. If your company doesn’t exist on the web, it might as well not exist at all.

3. Your competitors’ websites are monopolizing market share.

By creating a presence online, your competitors will win more business. They are accomplishing this simply by being on the web while you’re not. A consumer study by BrightLocal.com found that 66% of survey respondents felt a good website gives a business more credibility. They are more likely to contact a local business if they have a website. They trust a local business more if they have their own website. Twenty-five percent didn’t really care if the business had a website or not. Nine percent said a bad/ugly website can be a turn-off from using that business.

By these numbers, if your business doesn’t have a website, or your small business has an outdated website, your profits will suffer – increasingly so as that 25% of respondents who don’t care starts to dwindle. Keep in mind that if your target audience is under 50, the percentage of consumers who don’t care about a web presence will be even lower. Staying off the web gives your competitors the green light to crush you.

4. You’ll be closed while your competitors are open.

Consider how many consumers research purchasing decisions online before buying. (I quoted over 80% earlier.) Now imagine how many of those consumers are conducting that research after your office or shop is closed for the evening. Probably a good portion of them. For those consumers, your company will not be in the mix. They won’t be able to get their questions answered. They won’t even know your business exists. (We’re back to that whole invisibility issue again.)

5. No free, 24/7 salespeople.

Websites are 24/7 sales people that cost a bit up front but, over time, provide significant value. Value you can measure through Google Analytics, which tracks page visits by region and provides a number of other helpful statistics.

Let’s say you started up a pool design company. A couple sits down late one evening and begins researching local companies. They find your competitors and fill out the contact forms. The next day, they get calls and set up appointments. But you never get a call. Your lack of a website and its 24/7 presence left you off their radar. Not having a website, or having an outdated website, can kill your business regardless of your industry. Those dollars you spend on a site will pale in comparison to the amount you’ll be leaving on the table.

6. You’ll miss out on building leads.

Customer relationship management is crucial to a business. Your first goal as a new business is to build a list of potential customers you can market to. The internet can be a powerful lead generation tool, but only if you have a website.

Those contact forms serve a dual purpose. First, they make it easier to contact your company at all hours. Second, and more importantly, they gather information about the kinds of people interested in your business. They collect names, emails, phone numbers, whatever questions you ask. Then you can use this information to create targeted email campaigns and hone your overall marketing strategies.

7. Your business is doing well now.

But what about future revenue? Successful businesses think ahead. They don’t take their current profits for granted. Instead, they use the good times to continue building brand evangelists who will promote the company to their friends and families. This is what helps businesses weather economic downturns and other unforeseen challenges. Plus, reliance on the internet is increasing. The world will evolve past your company if you don’t take steps to evolve with it.

8. You’ll be behind the times.

This is perhaps the biggest reason to get your business a website pronto. Otherwise you will be behind the eight ball even before you get your company off the ground. Not having a website today is like refusing to install a phone back in 1900 or refusing a fax in 1970. We can all agree the internet is not going away. It’s time to embrace it and let your business harness its power. If your new business is in desperate need of a website, give us a call. We’ll help you take advantage of every business tool the internet has to offer.

Get Your Web Design On: Best Practices for 2017 Part Two

January 4, 2017

Last week we touched on website design trends for 2017. We talked about color. We chatted about duotones and minimalist design. This week we’re continuing the discussion with best practices for functionality and structure that our DC web designers believe will be all the rage in the new year. So strap on your seatbelt and let’s hit the road to creating a more impactful online presence.

Part 2: Functionality Trends

1. Lose the hamburger.

In an effort to streamline website menus, many designers have gone the hamburger route to hide all the options. (In case you’re not familiar with the lingo, hamburgers are those vertical lines you see tucked into the top corner of a website. When you click on the lines, the menu opens up. See Siena Construction for an example.)

The issue with hamburger menus is that oftentimes, browsers can’t find them, or if they see the lines, don’t realize that those represent the menu options. In the Siena Construction example above, the company wrote “Menu/Home” next to the hamburger icon for those unfamiliar with the symbol. However, most websites using this style don’t do that, leaving many site visitors scratching their heads.

More critically, the Neilson Norman Group, which conducts user experience research, has found that hidden navigations hurt UX metrics, cutting discoverability almost in half. Alienating your site visitors immediately after landing on your URL is not good. Hence, many designers prefer to leave those hamburgers off the menu design. Our Maryland web designers agree with this assessment. While hidden navs many look more artistic, design should never trump functionality.

2. Speaking of menus…

Just like images and content, less is more when it comes to menus, too. Previous best practices called for a maximum of 7 menu items. For 2017, 3-5 menu items is considered optimal. The idea is to better organize your content into broader categories and eliminate those that you don’t truly need. In order to do this properly, you need to have a good website design strategy in place that delineates a clear mission and goals for the site. Then, include only content that serves your mission. Otherwise you run the risk of cluttering your site and overwhelming consumers. Concise, clear content is the way to go.

3. Parallax is on the outs.

Parallax design, which involves background images moving slower than foreground images when you scroll, was big a few years ago. It certainly looked cool. Unfortunately, according to our Virginia web designers, parallax and its neat effects will be following in the footsteps of the Dodo bird in 2017. This technique slows down website load speeds and doesn’t allow for the quick conveyance of information—items that are critical to good web design and low bounce rates.

However, long scrolling sites will continue to gain favor. With the increasing popularity touchscreens on laptops, long-scrolling sites make a whole lot of sense. There’s much less clicking involved. Plus, you can configure long content into sections that can be browsed with a simple finger swipe. Long scrolling goes right along with the use of minimal menus. Your website’s functionality should always strive to improve the user experience.

4. Videos are worth a thousand pictures.

Video is killing the image carousal, and this is a good thing. Carousals are bad for SEO. Videos, on the other hand, are beloved by Google. Sure, a high quality video can slow down your site, and lower resolution versions may not look so hot, but there are a number of techniques like overlays that can improve the appearance of your video without slowing down site load times.

Related to incorporating videos is the new love for animation. You can expect to see more animated gifs. Not the freebie clip art ones. Gifs have come a long way in terms of sophistication. You can now animate images and intricate illustrations to add some movement to your website. Gifs are a great tool for attracting attention and explaining processes. Just be sure to use them wisely and sparingly. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing.

5. The need for speed.

Slow websites turn off visitors. So while images and videos and other design trends are definitely important, you need to make sure your homepage isn’t so heavy that it takes forever to load. And, as our web design Charleston team says, forever on the Internet is mere seconds.

Speed is important because it leads to increased user engagement. According to the Financial Times, you can increase engagement by 5% if you can make your site load 1 second faster. So while your website may have great reach according to your metrics, be sure to check the engagement numbers. These will tell the true story of how your website is performing. Our web design Baltimore team is constantly striving to increase engagement and decrease bounce rates for our clients. There’s no point in doing all the work required to get visitors to your site if it takes so long to load that they leave without learning about your company.