A short article about why you may want to think about hiring a professional website designer.
So what’s the difference between a professional web designer and me?
Corrections and Fixes
One of the first things is that a web designer will always know how to correct any problem that may incur. For ex. recently I had a client whose site was apparently hacked. Google had sent me a notification and was going to start flagging the site if nothing was fixed. After reviewing the site, I found that it was not the site, but his domain name that was hacked. So I corrected the problem and everything was fine.
This was a problem that could have caused real damage for my client. But if he didn’t have me, as his designer under retainer, he would have never been able to solve this on his own and could have had his site flagged.
Could you have fixed this?
Designing with SEO in Mind
Having a nice looking site is fine, but if it is not SEO friendly, the design could work against you.
Proper heading tags, bolds, font sizes, image tags, and original content, all play a role in good SEO basics. The quality and quantity of links, and layout of containers and images, could also hurt or help you.
UI/UX
UI = User Interface
UX = User Experience
The user interface (UI) comprises the screen menus and icons, keyboard shortcuts, mouse and gesture movements, command language and online help, as well as physical buttons, dials and levers. Also included are all input devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, touchscreen, remote control and game controller.
Usability is also a part of the UI. By definition, it is a quality attribute of the UI, covering whether the system is easy to learn, efficient to use, pleasant, and so forth.
If your site does not offer a nice UI, the visitor will bounce quickly, and you will lose a potential customer. Web designers know how to design incorporating a nice UI.
User experience is simply, how you feel about every interaction you have with what’s in front of you in the moment you’re using it.
There are many different aspects that influence user experience. A web designer will know how to achieve a favorable UX.
Layout
There are certain guidelines for website layouts. The parameters the structure must fit in, accessibility, functionality, visual aspects, and source code validation are a few. Professional web designers know these topics and incorporate them into their design. Without these, the website will not function properly across all formats, and also will not offer a good UI/UX for the visitor.
Testing
After the site is completed, there is a certain amount of testing before publishing the site. The site must be tested for functionality and responsiveness. It is tested for SEO optimization. It is also tested across different platforms, operating systems, browsers, and devices. These tests will show any issues that can easily be corrected by a professional.
Summary
These are only a few things that a professional designer is responsible for and works with on a daily basis.
So if you are reading this and are thinking about designing a site yourself, you should ask yourself a few questions:
– Did I know what all this terminology means?
– If I do know, did I know how much it all affected web design?
– Am I able to incorporate these topics into a design while still making it look and feel like I wanted to?
– Is the platform I am using capable of letting me incorporate these practices?
As your website will represent you, and your business, and can be one of the most important marketing tools you own, shouldn’t it look and function like a professionally designed site?
If you answer yes to 1 or more of these questions, you should really consider hiring a professional web designer. In the long run, you will have a professionally designed site, that looks and functions correctly. You will also be able to concentrate on your work, rather than concentrating on learning to design for yourself.
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