Professional web design: how it benefits your business.

Anyone can build a website these days. Drag, drop, publish, done. Right?

Well…no, not quite.

A DIY website is sometimes the only viable option when you’re starting out. But if you’re serious about growth, conversions and SEO visibility, going pro really is the only way.

When you opt for professional web design, you get a website that looks good, works well and earns you a steady stream of new customers.

Here, we take a look at the benefits of pro web design, the tell-tale signs you need to call in the web design professionals and what you should expect from a professional web design company.

What is professional web design?

Professional web design is strategic, custom-built and designed around the needs of your audience.

It balances creativity and usability. And it’s rooted in a clear understanding of your business goals — whether that’s getting more leads, increasing sales or showing your brand in the best possible light.

In a nutshell? Pro web design is design that looks incredible and works hard behind the scenes.

7 benefits of professional web design

So what can you expect from a professionally-designed website? All this.

1. A great first impression

Your website is your first chance to impress your target audience. If it’s clunky, cluttered or painfully slow, website users are unlikely to stick around to see what you’ve got to offer.

A professionally-designed site helps you start strong. Potential customers feel confident that you know what you’re doing and that your product or service is worth their consideration.

2. A better user experience (UX)

Great websites are easy to use. They have simple navigation, so users can find what they’re looking for in just a couple of clicks. They feature clean layouts that guide a user’s eye in the right direction. They load quickly and they’re accessible to everyone.

This means a better user experience. There are fewer points of friction in the website journey. So visitors are more likely to stay on your site.

3. Mobile-first and responsive design

Over 64% of website traffic now comes from mobile devices. So if your site doesn’t look great and function beautifully across every size of screen, you’re turning away a lot of potential customers.

Web design professionals know how to build a mobile-first site. That means creating a site for small smartphone screens first, then scaling up for larger devices.

The end result is a responsive site that resizes to fit every type of device screen. And a site that smartphone users can browse with ease — no pinching, zooming, or side-to-side scrolling required.

4. SEO-friendly from the start

On a professional website, SEO isn’t an afterthought. It’s baked into the design and development process.

The site has a clean, crawlable structure. It uses schema markup to help search engine bots understand your site better. The site and its media files are optimised to ensure the best possible website speeds.

That means better visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) and more organic traffic.

5. Designed to convert

A professionally-designed website gets your business more enquiries, bookings, purchases or sign-ups. It tells people who you are and what you do — and nudges them to take action.

It uses a logical customer journey, calls-to-action, an optimised checkout process and trust signals to turn your site into a conversion machine.

6. Supports your marketing

Most marketing campaigns point back to the company website. And a professional site makes it easy for you to manage your marketing efforts.

It integrates with tools like email marketing platforms and CRMs. And — thanks to a user-friendly content management system (CMS) — adding new website content, blogs and landing pages is simple, too.

7. Scalability

What plans do you have for your business? Maybe you’ll want to add an online shop next year. Or launch a new product. Or target a new audience.

When creating your site, a professional web designer keeps your future goals in mind. So you get a site that can grow with your business — and you don’t need to start from scratch each time you and your offering evolve.

DIY vs professional websites: what’s the difference?

Head online and you’ll see lots of DIY website builders claiming you can get a professional website without hiring a web design pro.

You can get a website. And for many of our small business clients, this was the route they took when they first launched. Dealing with tight (or non-existent) budgets, they needed a cheap-as-chips way to get online.

For some businesses, this works for a year, maybe two. Then, they realise that their current setup is holding them back. Others find their business never really gets going because their online presence simply isn’t up to scratch.

Wondering whether to try your hand at a little DIY web design? First, take a look at the key differences between DIY and professional sites.

Time to launch

Opt for DIY web design and you can be online in a week or so. Pick a template, pick a colour scheme, add images and swap out the text.

A professional business website design takes longer. But that’s because it’s the result of careful and strategic planning. Pro web design is built around your business goals, your users and your unique brand identity.

Customisation

Off-the-shelf templates box you in. You get what you’re given and have limited opportunity to customise your site. That means your site may look eerily similar to dozens (if not hundreds) of others in your industry.

A professional website, on the other hand, is tailor-made. The way it looks and the way it works has been designed around your requirements — and those of your customers. So it helps you stand out from the competition and offer something unique.

Functionality

A DIY website is often a very basic website. Want custom booking functionality? Or product filtering? CRM integration? Or even e-commerce functionality? Then you’ll struggle to achieve this without professional web design and development expertise.

A professionally-designed website comes with all the functionality you need. What’s more, it’s all been created in line with website best practices. So added functionality doesn’t come at the cost of website security or speed.

Bugs and breaks

When you DIY a website, it can be hard to know what to do when things go wrong. DIY sites are prone to security and compatibility issues. They’re not always adequately optimised or responsive. And without the proper knowledge, fixing these problems is a daunting prospect.

A professional site goes through quality assurance and rigorous testing before launch. A good web design company will also offer ongoing support — fixing any issues and optimising your site as you go — so you get total peace of mind.

Cost

While you can find affordable and professional web design, a DIY site is usually cheaper to build. However, you need to consider the costs of a poorly performing website.

A professionally built website may cost more upfront. But — because it’s faster, more secure and more effective — it drives better business results and is a sound long-term investment.

Should you call the web design professionals? 7 signs it’s time to go pro

Already got a DIY website? Wondering if you should invest in a professional redesign? Opting for a professional web design service is a great decision if:

• You’re not getting traffic. If your site isn’t optimised for search engines, you’ll find it hard to show up in search results and get any organic website traffic. A website pro understands how to design for SEO, so your business visibility improves.
• People leave without taking action. If people are landing on your site but bouncing away quickly, something’s going wrong. Maybe your messaging isn’t clear. Maybe the site is hard to navigate. Maybe they’re unsure what to do next. Whatever the issue, a professional web designer can fix it, creating a website that successfully converts.
• Your website doesn’t work properly on mobile. Building a fully-responsive website requires some serious web design expertise. And if your site doesn’t offer a top user experience across all devices, your brand and sales will suffer.
• Your site looks unprofessional. If you’re worried that your site looks a bit thrown together, your website visitors will be noticing too. They’re used to seamless online experiences. So a clunky or outdated site makes it hard to build customer trust.
• Your site doesn’t reflect your brand. When you build a DIY website, you don’t always have the design options you need to create a cohesive and distinctive brand identity. If your website looks like hundreds of others, you’ll struggle to build a meaningful connection with customers.
• It takes ages to load. Site speed is super important. Both for the user experience and for SEO. So if your site is taking more than a couple of seconds to load — and you can’t work out why — it’s time to call in the experts.
• Your site doesn’t support your goals. Want an email marketing sign-up form? An e-commerce website? A way to showcase your work that actually makes people want to get in touch? DIY platforms are limiting. And if you’re wrestling with plugins or workarounds just to get basic functionality, your site is holding you back.

If you’re experiencing any (or all!) of these issues, it’s time to call in the web design professionals. They can build a website that works hard for your business and helps you to grow.

What you should expect from a professional web design company

If you’re sold on the idea of a pro website, get to know what you should expect when working with a professional web design company.

Strategy before design

Web design professionals don’t jump straight into design. Instead, they’ll spend time getting to know you and your business, who you’re trying to reach and what you want to achieve. That way, they can create a website strategy that helps you achieve business goals.

Collaboration and communication

A professional web designer will establish clear channels of communication and keep you in the loop throughout the web design process. They’ll seek your feedback and approval before moving onto each new step of the build.

An understanding of web design trends

Web design trends move fast. And a pro web design team has their finger on the pulse. That doesn’t mean they’ll stick every trending tool onto your site. But it does mean they can incorporate any relevant new technologies and web trends with ease.

A custom-built solution

The best web design companies create custom sites that reflect your brand and give customers all the features and functionality they need. No off-the-shelf templates. Instead, a bespoke website that makes you stand out online.

Ongoing support

Work with a professional web designer and they won’t hand over the website and call it a job done. Instead, they’ll give you the option of ongoing web maintenance. Your pro team will then be on hand to install updates, check for issues and keep your website running as well as it did on the day that it launched.

A whole team of pros

The best web design agencies don’t just boast design and development expertise. They have a whole team of experts. People who can help with professional website copy, videos, images and animations. So every element of your website is designed to have maximum impact.

Get a professional website you can be proud of

At Radical, you can count on all of the above. We’re a professional web design company and we’ve spent decades designing and developing beautiful, responsive websites with all the UX and SEO features you could ever need.

Whether you’ve just launched a new business and want to start strong — or you want to move on from a DIY website that isn’t getting the desired results for your business — our friendly, straight-talking team can help.

Get in touch today to chat about your project.