When you want to build or update your businesses website your first thought may be that you need to find yourself a quality web designer. Whilst this is true there are many different types of web designers with different skill sets and different ideas on what is the most important aspect of a successful business website.
What Type Of Expert Are You Looking For?
For many web designers the most important aspect of a website is the look.
- Does it let them express their creative flair?
- Will it look good in their portfolio?
- Does the colour scheme work?
Now if you’re a smart business owner you should have very different goals for your website. Yes, looks are important but your list of priorities should look something like this:
- Does the headline and content match perfectly with the buying motives of my target market and pull them deeper into my site?
- Has your website been designed and written for your ‘ideal customer buyer personas’? More information about this is here.
- Is it extremely easy for prospects to navigate and find what they are looking for?
- Is your offer clear and concise?
- Does the website have a natural flow that attracts, engages and then moves visitors to enquire, sign up or buy from your website?
These are the things that will maximise your visitor conversion rate and turn your website into a profit producing asset for your business.
How To Tell If You’re Talking To A Web Designer Or Conversion Specialist?
- A web designer will have some type of web design qualification and a portfolio of past websites they have built.
A conversion specialist will be an experienced marketing expert with a proven track record of increasing businesses online leads, sales and profits. - A web designer will be focused on colour schemes, images and font styles.
A conversion specialist will be interested in how you will attract, engage and convert traffic into sales or leads, what your offer will be and how you can automate your lead follow up system (I use email autoresponders which work great). - A web designer will build you a website and send you on your way.
A conversion specialist will build you a website, help you develop a quality online marketing strategy, suggest and implement advertising channels then split test and monitor your results to consistently increase conversion rates. - A web designer may say they also do online marketing or offer to provide SEO services, and then farm out the work to offshore contractors for the lowest price.
A conversion specialist will have a good base of knowledge on all aspects of online marketing but also have a close-knit team of specialist that are dedicated to delivering a profitable return on investment for their clients. - A web designer will often have a huge number of clients that they build one size fits all websites for.
A conversion specialist will develop a customised website and strategy based on your specific needs, and often have a much smaller number of clients that they work with over a long period of time to build a successful online marketing system. - A web designer will listen to your request, look at examples you like, then create something that keeps you happy, without ever questioning your business objectives.
A conversion specialist will listen to your ideas then provide honest suggestion and feedback on what you really need to create a profitable website that is also optimised to generate sales. - A web designer brief form will focus on appearance and cosmetic features.
A conversion specialist brief will ask specific details about your business, products or services, competition, target market and past marketing attempts.
A “real” conversion specialist will also ask for details about your marketing economics such as:
- How much an avg. transaction is worth to you?
- What is your avg. conversion rate from lead to paying customer?
- What is your avg. lifetime customer value (avg. transaction x avg. number of transactions or referral rate)?
With these details they will be able to put a number on how much you can afford to pay to acquire a new customer so you can find and roll-out profitable marketing campaigns.
What Type Of Expert Will You Choose?
So as you can see there is a big difference between a web designer and a conversion specialist. Yes a conversion specialist will often cost more upfront than a web designer but your final return on investment will be much greater if you find a quality web designer who understands marketing and conversion strategies.
These tips above will help you avoid becoming the owner of a website that has:
- No quality traffic
- No compelling offer
- No leads and…
- Definitely NO SALES!
If you think your business would be better off if you talked to an experienced online conversion specialist with a team of marketing experts, then I encourage you to give us a call on 1300 887 427. Jay himself can be commissioned to personally review your current website, digital and traditional marketing and advertising and then provide clear plain English ideas and strategies for finding, attracting and converting more of your ideal customers.
Jay Daniells has been doing advanced Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) work for clients since 2010. He is an SEO specialist. He first started doing SEO work in 2005. He has also been creating websites full-time since 2003. Amongst things Jay is also a graphic designer, digital marketing consultant and creative person. His focus is helping businesses, community groups, clubs, charities, organisations and other entities achieve their goals. He is the owner of Green Valley Digital.