Your website should be your hardest working and most powerful marketing tool. It should work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year to address your potential clients’ needs.
You know this. You heard from a friend that a certain platform was really easy to use and that you could make your own website on it. So, you signed up and created your own website.
The problem is, it’s not working for you.
And there’s a reason for that … you didn’t hire a website designer!
Website designers don’t just build a beautiful websites. They also build strategic websites. And frankly you need both for your website to be the powerful marketing tool you need it to be.
Here are 5 signs you need to hire a website designer:
1. Visitors on your website are not converting
Is your website generating sales? Are you building an email list or hitting the goals you want to hit? Are potential clients filling out your contact form?
If you answered no to these questions, then chances are that your website is lacking clear CTAs (calls to action).
When you hire a website designer they will work with you to clearly define the primary goal of your website. That goal is what you want visitors to your website to do – your main call to action.
Your call to action can be to book a call with you, to sell a product, or to grow your email list.
Your website should guide visitors through a journey and your website needs to make that journey simple. It must be easy for your visitor to take the next step.
A website designer will know how to make your calls to action stand out. Use compelling words like book a call not click here. Use buttons not plain text. To find out more about CTAs, you can read this blog post.
2. Your website takes forever to load
The amount of time it takes for your website page to load is very important.
Ideally it should fully load in under three seconds. Most visitors to your website will not wait eight or nine seconds for your page to come up. They will get frustrated and leave.
One of the biggest culprits of slow page load time are images.
To combat this, it’s best practice to properly size your images before you upload them to your website. Additionally, you can use a plugin after you’ve uploaded the images to further optimize them.
Google looks at page load time in SEO rankings so it’s a really important item to look at for your website.
When you hire a website designer, they will know how to properly optimize your images before and after uploading them to your website.
To learn more about image optimization, you can read this blog post.
3. Not mobile responsive
In today’s world, having a mobile responsive website is no longer an exception, but an expectation.
What is mobile responsive design? When a website is responsive, the layout and content responds (or adapts) based on the size of the screen it’s presented on. A responsive website automatically changes to fit the device you’re reading it on.
More than half of all web traffic is done on mobile devices. So that means that a large percentage of visitors to your website are using a mobile device to view it. And, they will expect your website to be designed for the size screen they’re using.
Aside from making your clients happy, a mobile responsive website will make Google happy. Google may actually penalize you (by dropping your ranking) for not having a mobile responsive website and websites that are mobile responsive will rank higher when it comes to SEO (search engine optimization).
Mobile responsive design is something a good website designer will include in their offerings.
If you’d like to learn more about having a mobile responsive website, click here.
4. Your offers aren’t clear and your expertise isn’t obvious
Do visitors know how you can help them? Do they understand what problem you solve for them? Are you showing proof that your clients have gotten results?
A good website designer will be asking you these questions before the design phase begins.
The focus of your website needs to be about your target audience, not you!
Visitors to your website don’t want to read long paragraphs about your life. They want to know what you can do for them. They want to know how your service will benefit them. Keep your target audience in mind, not yourself. Remember, your website is for them, not you.
Make sure the first thing visitors see is a bold statement (above the fold) that states concisely who you are, what you do, and who you help.
Also, make sure you utilize testimonials throughout your website. Customer testimonials are an important component of any website because they provide credibility. Testimonials work because they aren’t strong sales pitches, but rather an unbiased voice that helps establish trust. When used correctly, testimonials are a fantastic tool to get prospects to trust your brand and commit to you.
If you’d like to learn more about using testimonials on your website click here.
5. Not easy to navigate
Keeping your navigation menu simple is the best way to go.
Make sure you keep the page titles simple. There’s no need to get fancy with how you name the pages. You want a third grader to be able to easily get where they need to go on your site.
Visitors to your website want to be guided through. You don’t want to over-complicate things. Make it simple for them to be able to find the information they need to hire you, contact you, purchase from you, or sign up for your list.
And, don’t forget that you’ll want your navigation menu to appear at the top of every website page and look the same on every page. The exception to this would be a landing or sales page.
My client, Cindy Kelly Kitchen Designs, has a very simple and clear navigation menu so her prospective clients can find exactly what they need.
If you’d like to learn more about best practices for your menu design, click here.
You’re an expert in your field. You’re great at what you do. Designing websites isn’t your area of expertise so why not hire a professional website designer who can take the tech overwhelm away?
After having your website designed by a professional, you’ll be proud of it and want to show it off. You’ll feel confident about it and excited to share it with prospects. It will be your most powerful marketing tool and will be a lead generator.
If you found this information about when to hire a website designer helpful, I hope you’ll share it with others who may benefit from it using the links below.
If you’d like to start the conversation about working together, please fill out the client application form and I will be in touch to schedule a complimentary introductory call.
