Do Good Design

Of course you’ll think I’m just writing this as a thinly veiled advertising ploy, but you might be surprised by what I have to say.

Go for a Do-It-Yourself website

Don’t hire a web designer unless you have to.

If you’re getting the sales, number of visitors, contacts or whatever your goal is for your website, then congratulations, you’ve done a great job. Don’t waste the money on a new website just because you want it to look cooler, or do more stuff that everyone else seems to be doing.

Unless…

On the other hand, if despite all your efforts, your site still isn’t bringing in the clients and customers, then it might be time to bring in the professionals.

Why? Because a good web designer knows how to build a website that helps you achieve your goals.

It’s really that simple.

What’s he got that I ain’t?

If you’ve slogged your way through Dreamweaver or Frontpage, or even gone with Yahoo or some other template website, you might be wondering, what does a web designer know that I don’t that’s going to be worth shelling out for?

Answer: they know how to fix and prevent the problems your website has.

Website problem #1: No roadmap

The biggest problem I see is that someone hasn’t bothered to write a Website Strategy, your roadmap to what your website needs to achieve for your business.

Planning is one of the 4 Building Blocks of a Successful Website. We use it to save our clients’ money, and make sure they’re getting what they need from the website.

Planning, including a Website Strategy, is where you write down who your target customers are (”Couples in their 30s - 50s planning a holiday”) and what your goals are (”Get 10 new bookings per month” or “£2500/month sales”).

I always start with a Website Strategy document and you should too. It will save you a mint and many, many hours of effort. Get started on a Website Strategy.

Problem #2: Your site isn’t easy to use

What, my website not easy to use? Of course it is, I hear you cry. Why, my husband/neighbour/mother all say they LOVE it.

But what about your other visitors? What do they think? Can they find what they want on your site quickly, easily? Are there things on the site that pleasantly surprise them?

This stuff, the second most common problem I see with websites, is called “usability”. It’s the science and art of getting a website to be easy and enjoyable to use.

Think of a website you visited recently where you had to search around to find the web page you were looking for. You scanned the navigation, you looked around the home page. There was so much clutter on the page, wasn’t there?

If you found it difficult, that’s bad usability and it’s the kind of thing that keeps visitors from becoming customers.

Good usability takes a massive amount of work. There are a lot of techniques that web designers use, so I’ll talk about just one: user testing.

User testing a.k.a. Here, sit down and try this website

User testing is where I have someone try to do simple tasks on a website. Then I have 4 more people, one at a time, also try to use the website.

It’s always humbling to watch someone try to use your website. They fumble, they can’t seem to find what they’re looking for while it’s so obvious to you where the button is, or what this word means.

You watch, horrified, as the tester says they don’t know what this business is about, or completely ignores a major section you’ve worked lovingly on for weeks.

It happens with every website because amazingly, not everyone thinks like the designer does. After working on a website for weeks and months, it’s all very clear to you where things are. Not so for someone coming for the first time.

The website isn’t for you, it’s for your customers

You may feel your website is just the way it should be, it’s easy to use, perfect. But ultimately, the goal of your website isn’t to please you, it’s to please your customers.

And that’s why I always test my client’s website before I redesign it, their competitors and my own designs to make sure they work for their customers.

I’ve watched a lot of user tests over the years, both of my own and other websites, including multimillion pound sites designed by top agencies, and I’ve never seen one that didn’t make a lot of changes after a testing session.

As the person building the site, you make a lot of assumptions and if you don’t test them with real people, I guarantee you’re losing people from your website.

So, should I or shouldn’t I?

No web strategy and bad usability are just two of many problems your website may have. Knowing the techniques and skills to prevent those problems from happening in the first place is part of what makes a good designer.

If you want to invest the time to learn things like web strategy and usability, go for it. Don’t forget accessibility (making websites easy to use for people with disabilities or limitations), design principles and how to write for the web.

Or you can check how we create a website in 4 steps, and see if you’re missing anything.

Either way, don’t be afraid to ask a web designer to take a look at your site or talk to them about what you’re looking for. Estimates and initial conversations are free, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

Only you can decide if it’s worth it to hire a professional, but hopefully you have a better idea of how to decide.