We always get calls from companies where web designers have run off with their deposits or suddenly gone missing. Worse yet, some opt to save a few bucks and hire their friend or relative to do it for “free” only to realize that opportunity costs were far greater than the savings. Running a web design business, I get these kinds of frantic fix-it calls everyday, which is why I have decided to share my best tips for hiring the right web design firm the first time around.
We spend a lot of time talking to companies about their websites here. Over the last four years, we have talked to over 500 prospects in many different industries from young startups to established corporations. We have pretty much heard it all. Unfortunately, a lot of people make the same mistakes. Although we recommend that you perform your own research, interviewing and due diligence, we have outlined some common mistakes people make so you can learn from them.
Google has recently announced that having a mobile-friendly website will be used as one of the factors to determine your website rankings. This means that if your website is not mobile-friendly, you will start slipping from search results at least when searches are originating from mobile devices. How fast this happens depends on how your competition reacts. If you do not have a responsive (mobile-friendly) website yet, now is the time to convert. It will take some time for Google to update their search results so you do have some leeway.
Launched in 2011, WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress that allows website owners to manage payments, shipping, inventory, reporting, marketing and taxes without any web development knowledge. WooCommerce currently powers 24% of all eCommerce websites (that’s an astounding 663,153 websites) and certainly, it is popular for a good reason. Here are some of the reasons why you should choose WooCommerce for to create a shopping cart on your WordPress website.
A website conversion means getting your visitors to do what you want them to do, whether that is to subscribe to your newsletter, register for a webinar, complete your contact form or buy your products. An average conversion rate is about 1-3% but it really varies greatly based on your industry and prices. Obviously it is much easier to sell a $1 item than it is to sell a $1,000 item.
Many people use the terms “web design” and “web development” interchangeably but they are two vastly different terms. Usually, a great web designer is not also a great web developer and vice versa so it is important that you hire a creative agency that employs both of these roles. A quick Google search in San Francisco says that an average web designer makes $62,250 whereas an average web developer makes $85,881. Why the big difference? Well imagine an eCommerce website. It doesn’t matter how immaculately designed it is, nothing else matters if it cannot process transactions.
