Budgeting is a large component of increasing your company’s ROI and profit margin, so it’s natural to want to find opportunities to lower costs when it comes to your digital marketing strategy. However, if you find yourself looking to cut costs when it comes to your website, you should rethink your strategy and invest in a custom website instead.
Yes, a website can be an investment. But you need to look at it as just that – an investment, and not an up-front cost. A good website can increase online conversions and generate more leads for your business, and with more people using the Internet to do their shopping and research, a good website is integral to your entire marketing and business strategy. However, with more Internet use comes more website selection, and for this reason it’s important to invest in a custom website for your business.
An Unbeatable First Impression
Since your website is your brand’s online home, and the majority of people will search online for you before they visit you in person or contact you, it’s important to make sure you make a good first impression. According to HubSpot, 90% of online users will leave a website if it has a bad or weak design. Once those users leave your website, the chances of them coming back are slim to none.
A custom website is a guaranteed way to make a first impression. You’ll be able to incorporate stunning, eye-catching visuals and pair them with a fully functional, easy-to-use website that will blow your audience away. With a template or generic build, you’re limited in what you can do that will enhance the visual experience.
Expressing Individuality in a Cluttered Online Space
Your brand should stand out from your competitors, so you want your website to do the same. Sure, you can save money by using a premade template from websites like Squarespace, but you’ll be using the same template thousands of other websites are using. There is no originality and creative edge that makes people remember your site out of the millions of others on the Internet. If people don’t remember you, they’re probably not going to end up choosing you when they need to purchase your product or service.
A custom website incorporates elements that are unique and original to your brand, and conveys them in every aspect of the design and build. From the colors to the fonts, layouts, and visuals, everything will be coherent. Additionally, a web designer creating your website for you will consider the specific elements that your business needs available and can even build on those to make them more tailored to your branding style. For example, restaurants need options for online reservations and menus, while ecommerce sites need good shopping carts and easy browsing access.
User Experience Tailored For Your Business and Your Audience
In the world of digital marketing, user experience is the most important thing. No matter how amazing your website looks, if it doesn’t function well, you’re not going to get those conversions.
Here are some of the factors that can have a substantial impact on your user experience (and ultimately, your conversion rate):
Loading times: 93% of people will leave a website if it doesn’t load fast enough.
Mobile responsiveness: 74% of people say they will return to a website if it’s mobile responsive. In other words, if your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you could lose a big chunk of potential leads or long-term customers.
Easy navigation: Visitors should be able to find what they’re looking for on your website with ease. If they don’t, they will become frustrated and leave.
Shopping cart functionality: For ecommerce websites, your shopping cart is where you make all of your sales. If it doesn’t work for the user, they’ll abandon it and shop elsewhere.
When you don’t work with a custom website, you don’t always have control over these factors, and you could be missing out on a lot of opportunities for increased traffic and customer retention.
Covering All of Your Bases
When you have a custom website built by an experienced, seasoned web developer, you’re working with someone who knows all of the fine technical details you need to keep your site functioning efficiently. Web developers know the industry inside and out, and have seen firsthand what happens when certain items get overlooked.
Among many other key things, they will make sure your website is mobile responsive, menus are optimized for navigation, social media integrates properly, shopping cart functions work, content is embedded properly, and the site is set up for SEO. These are all elements that could be overlooked when you’re working with a template or basic website but can have damaging consequences on your digital marketing efforts.
Ongoing Support and Growth
A website should never just be a set it and forget it part of your digital marketing. Your online home should always be updating, growing, expanding, and changing. This is an extremely important part of your SEO strategy, too – Google ranks websites that are posting frequent content or are actively making updates higher than those who stay static.
Website designers who build your custom website for you know every detail about how your website works, and will ensure that you have the support you need to fix any issues as fast as possible when they go wrong. Web developers can perform regular tests, maintenance, and updates to keep up your constant online presence.
Ultimately, when you go with a custom website build, you’re setting yourself up for success with a new teammate on your side ready to help you reach your goals.
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