As a Website Design Agency in Mullingar, that specialises in building WordPress websites, we know first hand that the difference between good and bad website design can make a huge difference to your business.

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Bad website design won’t encourage visitors to contact you and may well put them off ever visiting the site again. Whereas good design will create more leads, enquiries and sales that will pay for itself many times over.

Good website design is an asset that generates money and bad design is an expense.

There are many reasons why good design is beneficial to your business, here are the 7 most important ones.

First impressions count

I can always remember an aunt of mine saying to me when she heard that I had my first job interview; “you never a second chance to make a first impression.”

I have heard that expression many times since and in this digital age your business’ first impression is usually your website.

This is your chance to shine on your own site by giving your brand a professional image and a positive lasting impression to potential new clients.

So if someone gets a recommendation for your business I guarantee that the next step is that they will check out your website before contacting you and if it looks bad, outdated or is really slow to load; your business will appear unprofessional. As a result, they won’t be impressed and they may well go to one of your competitors instead.

Generates leads

We specialise in building lead generation websites.

It’s all too common to see a site listing all their services and having a call to action button saying something like “contact us” or “get a quote.” That’s great if they are a red hot lead that is looking for a new site but what about all the other visitors?

What if your website’s visitors are just looking and weren’t interested in getting a price for your services at the moment, they could leave your site and never return again.

So if your site had a report, a download or a white paper available to all visitors in exchange for an email address; you could then build up a rapport and turn them into a warm lead that might convert 6 months later. You could do this by sending them on a series of automated emails, assuming that they ticked the GDPR box, giving them valuable information showing them your expertise for free.

In control of your biggest marketing asset

Service-based businesses don’t own that many digital assets and your website can be one of them. We never build sites owned by third parties such as Wix and Squarespace, we only build on self-owned WordPress websites.

With so many algorithms playing god with your business’ visibility online such as Facebook and Google it’s essential that you own your greatest digital asset, your website because you are in control of what appears on it.

Another worthwhile asset that you own is your email list and nobody can take that away from you.

Your 24 hour salesperson

If your service-based website is designed properly with the right messaging your site can, in fact, be your 24-hour salesperson.

If your website connects with your target audience’s pain points and clearly indicates how your business can solve them you will have much more of a chance converting them into a client.

A good website designer knows this whereas a bad website designer doesn’t which is why it is so important that you pick your designer carefully.

Websites are inexpensive

You will usually have to pay upfront for your site before it goes live as getting credit these days is rare. But a website should last you a minimum of 3 years and if you spread the expense over say 36 months it fairly cost-effective compared to other solutions.

If you were to pay for regular adverts in local papers or local radio stations, the costs would soon mount up.

Out of office hours contact

A potential client could be browsing your site late at night and may well require some further information. So they can message you through your website rather than having to wait the next day and telephone during office hours and they may well change their mind by then.

On our site, we have more than just the typical contact form, we can also be messaged via WhatsApp and Messenger which is great for people who are looking at our website on mobile devices as it saves them time.

I can’t always guarantee a prompt reply out of office hours but at least contact has been made that we can always follow up on.

Extend your local reach

Good website design isn’t just what it looks like, it’s also about the functionality.

If it is built with search engine optimisation (SEO) your site and business can be found in search engines such as Google. For example, your business may well be an accountancy practice in Mullingar but if someone was 60 KM away in Athlone and typed in the county rather than the town, “accountancy practice Westmeath” your business would appear if it was built right.

Final Thoughts

When you have a service-based business getting new leads is essential to growing your business and the better your site is designed the more leads you will get.

So many new businesses start off building their own websites because it’s cheaper and their thinking is why should they pay a web designer when they can do it themselves. Others will opt for the cheapest web designer and as long as it looks good aesthetically they are happy enough.

But if your website isn’t getting much traffic, generating leads or converting visitors into clients; opting for the cheapest option will end up being the most expensive option by missing out on new business.