Why saving on design may cost you more long term

This article explains the benefits and advantages of using a web designer to design and create your ecommerce site and how they employ best design ideas and techniques to make your site profitable. The fact is that without a professional design, you may lose out on more potential income in the long run.

Using a content management system or doing it yourself may cause you to lose profit in the future.

Remember that it is your consumer that calls the shots

We live in a world where the consumer is empowered with knowledge and choice. Your average consumer is now very sensitive to not just the products and services on offer by a company, but the way in which the company puts its products and services across, and the way in which the company identifies, explains and promotes itself. Just as importantly, if the consumer does not like what they see, within a few clicks they will be spending with a competing company.

Given this, it is no surprise that companies now have to seriously consider their self-presentation. The quality of the products and services is but one piece of a larger picture. Now that the internet is the major place for the consumer to research and to shop, a company’s website is of critical importance, and this is why it is so important to get the web side of things right first time. In short, a great website may very well boost sales and make your company more profitable.

There are pitfalls to doing it yourself

Almost anyone with experience of the internet can create a basic website. It is not difficult, and there are countless people to prove it. But the vast majority of people who create their own website are not doing so for commercial reasons, and so there is much less need to ensure a really great website.

Not understanding this fact is the error that many people make in creating an eCommerce website. Unless you have a deep level of skill and a good understanding of programming, trying to create an eCommerce website is difficult, and trying to create a really good eCommerce website is much harder.

Using a CMS is not the way to go

A CMS (content management system) creates a website using a piece of software. They are a great development, but they do come at the price of making a website look like all the others. It is now very easy to tell if a website has been made using a content management system. This is not a bad thing, but if you are looking to build a solid and a trusted online brand, then this “template” look is going to be a hindrance. If you just use one for a few months whilst you find a web designer then that may be okay, but save your big launch until you have a web designer.

There are benefits to hiring a web designer

This is why it makes sense to hire the services of a professional web designer for the creation of an eCommerce website. They are able to create a great website that is competitive with the latest eCommerce companies and brands in a relatively short space of time.

A web designer can design a custom arrangement for your website, with easy and intuitive layout and functionality (remember that such things are now as important to the consumer as the products and services that you might offer). A web designer can ensure a consistent theme and style across all internal website pages, which is important for brand recognition and to set your business apart from other companies who are offering something similar. Cross compatibility for computers, tablets and Smartphones is another important issue, and this is one of the most difficult things to do properly without the help of a professional web design service.

A good eCommerce website should not only look great and be very easy and intuitive to use; it should offer something exciting and interesting to the user. Multimedia and interactive elements are two examples where this can be achieved, and though these are not as important as the website fundamentals they are often very useful for start-up companies who want to attract attention.  Ecommerce websites handle sensitive user data, and as such must be highly secure. While SSL is not amazingly difficult to implement, a good web designer can make completely sure of the security of your site’s payment processing.

There are so many other important reasons to hiring a web designer, and when the right service is chosen excellent results can be achieved with minimal effort. Most people who are serious about creating a new eCommerce design service will settle for nothing less than a professional web designer. If you are looking to save money in the short term, it is going to cost you in the long term.

“Web Designer” image courtesy of Shutterstock.