Paul Andrew 
Why do you need a website for your business?
In today’s time, every business decision needs to be scrutinized intelligently. Being online is not just an option but a necessity if you want your business to achieve its true potential. Creating, establishing and popularizing a web site are the most important parts of this process. Online business entrepreneurship is a multi-billion dollar industry and anyone shying away from this industry simply doesn’t have an idea, what he/she is losing.
The main motive behind any business decision is to attract customers. In the online world, only two things matter – what you are selling and how well do you sell it. The packaging matters a lot, like it would in the actual world. Many businesses have set up websites that give the customer a wide variety of choices, display the product efficiently and are in themselves, the best way to advertise the product. Success stories like Amazon and Groupon have inspired many people and continue to do so.
A LAYMAN’S VIEW ON HIRING A WEB DESIGN AGENCY
So far, So Good. But what if even though you might desperately want to get online but are not a computer aficionado? Or even if you know how to do some stuff, can you spare the time? Keeping in mind today’s busy life and the perils of design, the best decision surely is to hire a web design agency.
Hiring a web design agency is an important decision that might play greatly in achieving your entrepreneur goals. Web design plays a great role in creating a buzz for your business; furthermore, it also plays a big role in efficiently moulding every aspect of business whether it is customer service or advertising any of your products. It is a decision that should be taken very seriously. Once you have decided to take your business online hiring a web design agency would be your next important decision. But, then how to go about it?
THE BASICS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Well, let’s get down to the basics. The very first thing is on your front – what is your basic idea about an online business? What do you want for your business? What kind of business model are you looking at?
These, are some basic questions that need to be asked at the start. A web design agency, no matter what assurance it gives about its work, cannot proceed forward unless the air is cleared about these areas.
Once you have done the requisite stuff, you need to proceed by evaluating the usefulness of a website for your business. If you run a departmental store and your customers are just the neighbours, you might need to think twice before investing capital in a website. But if you have a niche business or are offering innovative services, a website might give you a great start. Think of it, you can work wherever and whenever you want and receive work in much the same way, it would give a definite boost to your business.
BEWARE
There is something you need to beware of here. A web site will work efficiently only if the idea behind it is rightly placed. Many of us are still not in sync with online business. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t do better. If you set your web design company on the right path, you would be surprised on what it can achieve. So, go ahead and don’t be afraid to ask basic questions such as what is the customer reach and how is it different from the website owned by your competition?
It is the job of your web design agency to explain both the short term and long term plans for your website. You should ask about them to do so if you want to get value for your money.
YOUR NEEDS AND A WEBSITE TO SUIT THEM
A website needs to be based on what your business needs for e.g. A flower shop would not function in the same way as supermarket and so there websites too should be different. The basic vision you have for your business needs to get across. Your company image definitely needs to gain from your website.
Also, if you have a site that is a copy of what everyone else has, it is definitely not going to put you ahead of them. Therefore, you need something that reflects the individual needs and image of your business. Also, it needs to give customers an insight on your vision and strategy for them to really invest into it. The best way to go about this is look into your competitors’ website, take into account its best features and take inspiration from it to achieve your own vision.
WHAT CAN A WEBSITE DO FOR YOU?
Now, we proceed to end-of-the-line consumer and what a website can do for them. Like almost all aspects of business, a website too needs to be highly focused on the consumer. It needs to create a communication channel between the clients and the customers. Customers will always focus on what they get on their end. It is not important to the how you achieve your business’ objectives but rather that they get the best product and services at their end. Your website needs to have an active focus on the consumer and garner consumer traffic to achieve its full potential. There is a lot of stuff that can help you out here; there are apps that can do a cost-benefit analysis for every consumer and forums that can answer the slightest of queries. At the end of the day, you need to put yourself in the consumer’s shoes and find out if you are achieving satisfaction.
For understanding the consumer’s viewpoint, you need to focus on the group you are targeting. Everything counts whether it be the age group you are targeting, the professionals you are targeting or even the income group that you want to reach out to. The accessibility and usability of the site should be such that it should be as easy as possible to use, while giving one as much choice and variety as possible.
THE TYPE OF WEBSITE TO GO FOR
After you have settled down on the kind of customers you are targeting, next you need to focus on the relation that the site establishes between you and the end-line customer. What would you have them do on the site, would you just like to advertise your product, or can you go a step further and offer them different payment options for your products and services? If you have software would you like to give them a free trial? This is a very important part of the website design decision.
Now that you have determined the aspects of your website, you need to decide what kind of website you want and what budget you have for it. There are free hosting systems such as WordPress and Joomla out there that would cost you a negligible amount or you could be part of better domains that might help you hit the mark as far as customer service is concerned. The efficient execution of your idea regarding a website would be once it comes within your cost.
A HUGE UNDERLYING CONCERN: FINANCIAL COSTS
After determining the budget, you need to determine deadlines for completion. Sometimes, if you are cashing in on a recent business trend, it is best to have a site up and running as soon as possible. Other times, it is best to focus to every detail to achieve customer satisfaction. You need to discuss this with your web design agency. One thing that most novices to the field forget is that coding and programming takes time. For your website to be efficiently functional, it is necessary that all the coding is in place. No software will efficiently design a website. It is the work of designers and programmers who get everything running in the best manner possible.
THE WEB DESIGN AGENCY AND IT’S KNOW-HOW
Once the website is up many things fall into place while other things get customized. But that is definitely not the end of the line for website design. Like any machinery, a website needs to be well-oiled, that is, it needs regular maintenance and upkeep. You need to figure out continuously how the website is functioning. It has happened many a times with online businesses that people have underestimated the buzz around a website and consequently it has crashed due to overload of traffic, which leads to a loss of revenue and reputation. You do not want to face problems such as these and therefore you need to have a web design agency on the other line to always help you out.
CORE CONCERNS
An easy way to figure this out, even for a layman, is to ask the agency their motivation for pricing their services. They need to convince you of what you are getting for the money you are putting in. The best way to get a good price is to negotiate so that, it is a win-win for both you and the web design agency. Also, always ask them to give you a full estimate and always look out for hidden costs such as licencing fee or domain fee.
Another aspect you can keep in mind while hiring a web design agency is the reputation preceding them. An experienced web design agency will obviously service you better than someone who is new to the field. You can look into an agency’s track record and their success rate. Also what matters is if they have worked in your field before or have market experience for the same. Another thing you can pay attention to is the tools an agency uses. Are the core services up to the industry standards?
FINAL ADVICE
Also, the internet keeps on changing rapidly and you always need to place your products and services one step ahead of the competition. Websites need to be updated consistently. In today’s time eCommerce is married to social networking, and it is best to update as fast as possible. Even if you are looking to expanding the site in the future, you can go for such design and coding which is beneficial for you. Most companies go for a content management system (CMS). Earlier this used to be difficult and one needed to hire third parties to do this, but with cloud computing gaining popularity, you will never be short of options on this front.
But that is definitely not all. In the online world, you will get a lot of stuff you will never need, that is, spam. Spam can make conducting online business difficult and the best way to deal with it is to be prepared for it. You need to have tools in place to fight spam and conduct business efficiently. A web design agency can help you out here by moulding a design in such a way that you can avoid spam as much as possible.
If you want everything done professionally, a Regina website design is your best bet.
