In today’s digital world, a good website is crucial for any business. It may be tempting to save money by designing your website yourself, and it’s certainly possible with the amount of tutorials and ready-made web builders available.
However, out-of-the-box solutions can only get you so far, and there is a more nuance to quality website building than you might think. Not only is there the issue of technical performance and site security, but there’s also the matter of conceiving a rewarding user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) that will help you (and your customers!) achieve your goals. It’s also essential that you have the ability to adapt and scale your website over time.
If that sounds daunting, don’t worry—that’s what professional web developers are for! These businesses specialize in custom web development and will work with you to design a fully functional, optimized website. If you still aren’t convinced, here are ten reasons you should utilize professional website development services.
1. Saves Time
Web design and development aren’t quick jobs—at least, not if you want a custom website that conveys the ideas and style of your brand. Whether you’re revamping an existing website or starting from scratch, you can’t afford to get distracted when you have a business to run. A dedicated web developer will design, create, and test a fully customized website while allowing you to focus on your business.
2. SEO Optimized
Much like the Internet itself, best SEO practice is constantly changing. If you aren’t regularly adjusting and updating your strategy, you won’t rank high enough in searches to get traffic. This doesn’t just mean including high-ranking keywords, either—web developers know how to cut down on redirects, reduce your redundant code, compress image files, and more. Not only does this make your website run more smoothly, it makes it easier for Google to crawl it, which can help it rank higher.
3. Reliable Website
Imagine you finally take a chance and check out the webpage for a business you’ve heard of, only to be greeted with broken links, pictures that won’t load, or worst of all, a 503 service error (the error used when a website is either too busy or the server is down). You’d likely click away and never return, right? A reliable website is crucial for gaining and maintaining clients, which is why web developers will double and triple-check to ensure everything works right the first time.
4. Web Support
No matter how well-made your website is, it requires maintenance to keep running smoothly. Dealing with issues yourself can take up valuable time and manpower. Most web development companies offer ongoing support services, unlike freelance web developers. This means that if you do encounter an error at some point, you’ll have a support line that’s already intimately familiar with the layout and mechanics of your website.
5. Responsive Mobile Designs
Gone are the days when websites are exclusively accessed from desktop computers. The introduction of the smartphone gave users the power to pull up your website in seconds, no matter where they were—today, the majority of web searches are conducted from mobile devices.
As a result, it’s important to optimize your website for a mobile phones, tablets, and computer screens. While most website templates utilize responsive design—a feature that allows a website to adjust itself depending on the device it’s viewed on—web development companies will ensure that both the desktop and mobile versions of your website are up to code. This includes simplifying menus, eliminating pop-ups or making them easier to dismiss, and more.
6. Better Visual Appeal
In the same way a picture is worth a thousand words, a custom look for your website can speak volumes about your business. There’s only so much you can do with premade graphics, and if your viewers recognize them as stock images, they may think your website is less professional as a result. Many web developers have an in-house graphic designer to avoid just that. Their expertise allows them to create professional, stylish imagery that helps your brand resonate with your target audience.
7. Competitor Analysis
Web development companies understand how other businesses think—it’s part of their job, after all. This comes from a combination of experience in competitive online spaces and having access to tools that provide data-driven insight on competitor performance. This knowledge helps web developers create websites that can hold their own in competitive ranking spaces.
8. Credibility
When you’re browsing books to buy, which would you guess is better: a self-published book, or one backed by a publishing company? While it’s possible for a self-made website to be just as good as a professionally made one, utilizing website development services helps to give your website—and business—an extra stamp of approval. This is often more appealing to prospective clients.
9. Better UX
No matter how interesting and optimized your website is, you won’t gain traffic if it’s difficult to use. User experience (UX) is critical to your website’s design. A professional web developer has a holistic understanding of how all of the elements of a website work together to create a user experience that is intuitive and natural.
10. Better Site Security
Website security is vital, especially if your website stores sensitive client data. While public website templates are useful, they’re also much more easy to exploit due to their publicly available code. A custom website is much more difficult to break into. Web developers are also familiar with the best ways to protect your information, and know how to react in the event of a security breach.
Choose Epic Web Studios for Your Website
If you’re looking for high-quality web development, try Epic Web. Our experienced team has worked in a wide variety of industries, creating functional, optimized websites and offering extended support and content creation services. Whether you’re looking for a new website or need someone to breathe life back into your old one, you can be sure that Epic Web will do the trick—after all, it’s in the name. Contact us today and get started on the website of your dreams.