Web Design Agencies: Do You Need One?

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Web Design Agencies Do You Need One?
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• Designing your own website may sound simple, and
  it certainly seems that everyone and their
  neighbour has created one for their blog or small
  business but is it really as easy or as
  cost-effective as it seems? Lets explore whether
  this option is right for your business.
• What factors do I need to consider before
  deciding whether to create my own website?

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• Time Investment
• Websites today are far more complex than they
  used to be. They need to be updated frequently in
  order to remain abreast of modern usability,
  accessibility, and search engine visibility best
  practices. Do you have a lot of extra time to
  dedicate to continually learning about new
  technologies/strategies and to weighing their
  potential impact on your business? Do you also
  have time to frequently make the changes that
  will improve your results? If not, you may just
  end up losing more money than you save by falling
  behind your competitors.

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• If you do have extra time, keep in mind that
  website building platforms are usually built with
  very complex backend programming and tend to
  update their features at a far slower pace than
  that of a web developer. If you are in a
  competitive industry, these delays may put your
  business behind.

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• Potential Pitfalls and Specialized Knowledge
• There are countless combinations of devices,
  platforms and browsers that websites are viewed
  on these days, and not one is less important than
  another. Your website will need to be able to
  adapt its visual layout and content to best suit
  each combination. Unless you acquire a full range
  of knowledge in this area, from planning, to
  implementation, to testing, you may end up losing
  a large portion of potential customers who are
  turned off by a lack of perceived credibility, or
  are simply unable to view your website on their
  device. Its a multi-screen cross-platform world,
  and users expect the same high-quality experience
  no matter which device they are using to search
  for your business or access your website.

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• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and web coding
  efficiency are also very important factors in the
  success of a website. These and many others areas
  (e.g. website security, page-speed optimization,
  customer journey maps, conversion rate
  optimization, split testing, etc.) cant be
  ignored at least without doing more harm than
  good. Many of these fields change daily and
  require constant supervision, a boatload of
  specialized knowledge, and plenty of practice.
  Many of these factors come with potentially
  permanent penalties to your business if done
  wrong (e.g. search engine penalties), so it is
  very important to ensure that doesnt happen.

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• Who is the DIY route right for?
• If you are running a small personal blog or a
  very small home-based business in your spare
  time, creating your own website may be a great
  option the short-term cost is low, and many of
  the drawbacks may not apply since you arent in a
  competitive space. However, if you are starting a
  serious business, its important that you take
  your website seriously. That goes for your brand,
  your brands visual identity (e.g. logo, sales
  and networking material, stationery, etc.), and
  your marketing too. How can we expect others to
  invest in our business if we wont?

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• Lets explore some of the benefits and
  competitive advantages gained by hiring a
  professional to build your website.
• What are the advantages of hiring a web design
  agency to create my website?
• Gain a Competitive Edge
• Web designers are continually looking for ways to
  stay ahead of trends and are always aware of new
  and innovative developments in the industry. This
  results in a website that is always topical,
  appealing to visitors, and that contains all of
  the latest technologies and strategies that have
  been tested and shown to improve the
  effectiveness, efficiency, and user-appeal of
  your website. Investing a little bit in your
  website on a regular basis will give your
  business the competitive edge it needs to see an
  excellent return on investment.

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• Continual Business Growth
• Continually trying to come up with new and
  engaging content that attracts visitors and keeps
  them coming back requires extensive research,
  copywriting skills, digital marketing expertise,
  and practical knowledge of search engine
  optimized and conversion-focused content writing.
  A full-service web design company will have
  experts in each of these fields who will be able
  to tackle each element for you cutting down your
  workload considerably. If its not done properly,
  it wont be seen and it wont help your business.
  Using the services of a professional is well
  worth the investment.

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• Avoid Costly Mistakes
• A web design company will be able to make your
  website effective on all browsers, mobile
  devices, and platforms. This is usually childs
  play for them, but potential tech torture for
  you! This results in a website that strengthens
  the perceived credibility of your brand and that
  can be accessed by all of your potential
  customers, even while on the move.

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• With todays rapidly evolving technologies and
  the ever-changing forces that act upon your
  website (e.g. search engine algorithm updates,
  programming language advancements, etc.),
  problems with your website will inevitably occur
  at some point. While some of them may be easy to
  fix, others may require many hours of research,
  trial and error, analysis of hundreds of lines of
  code, or even a customized solution. Seasoned
  professionals in web design will be able to fix
  issues far quicker than you would, and the
  quicker a problem is fixed, the quicker your site
  can be up and running again.

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• Save Money and Gain Value
• You could even see yourself saving money by
  hiring a web design agency because the time and
  cost involved in learning and carrying out
  everything that is required to make a successful
  website may end up being more than it would have
  had you hired a professional from the beginning.
  Not only that, the quicker your site is up and
  running, the quicker you can gain visitors and
  secure potential customers

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• Digital Lion is a design and digital marketing
  agency specializing in website development,
  graphic design, online marketing, ecommerce
  website design, and branding/logo design. We are
  popular for internet marketing and custom web
  design in Calgary, the location of our head
  office, as well as in Edmonton, our second
  location. We work with clients across Canada, as
  well as worldwide, and are focused on being
  environmentally friendly and giving back to
  charities that we are passionate about. Our
  company mission is to Design a Better World."