Many business owners or managers may think of good web design as a trivial concern. Only a few acknowledge its relevance, especially in the age of digital marketing. This mindset needs to change. Owners or managers of companies who refuse to see the importance of web design are unwittingly disadvantaging themselves.

It’s not uncommon to find marketing teams working with experts in web design in Oxfordshire or other cities around the world. Digital marketing experts and even business owners themselves know that good design matters. It’s not just about having a homepage that looks good or follows current trends. There are tangible benefits in having well thought out site design.

Credible and appealing online presence

Remember those days when Geo-Cities sites were still popular? That website-building service from Yahoo! had a good decade-long run (2009-2019). Back then, it was impossible to do a web search without finding Geo-Cities sites representing a business, organisation, or person. The problem, however, was that these sites remotely looked decent, let alone appealing.

If your company is still using Geo-Cities, don’t expect prospective customers to find your brand or company credible. If you can’t invest in decent web design, consumers are unlikely to trust your business. Nowadays, it’s easy to find site-building tools that can produce professional-looking outputs. There’s no need to splurge money on them except if you need more advanced features and better security.

Websites serve as the centrepiece of any online presence. It is possible to establish an online identity using social media, but it’s still preferable to have a website with its custom domain name. Customers tend to take online businesses with their own official homepages more seriously as compared to those that rely on free sites like Weebly or Facebook Pages.

Greater control over an online business

Social media pages and the sites created using free website-building services can only do so much in doing ecommerce. They can suffice as business promotion tools, but they are limited when it comes to customer interactions and security.

You need to invest in building your ecommerce site if you want to customise your store’s user experience. Free sites allow you to add shopping cart plugins or codes to handle the ordering process, but these are nowhere as reliable and secure as enterprise-grade solutions. Settle for these options if you are willing to expose your business to constantly evolving cyber threats.

Moreover, you have to take the technical aspect into account. It is possible to do search engine optimisation for free sites, but the options are too limited. Topping search engine results can be extremely challenging without having a custom site that can be tweaked as necessary in response to a site’s search ranking movements.

As the world increasingly shifts to online shopping and other web-based solutions for doing things, failing to invest in an online presence is a major handicap. In this regard, business owners and management need to realise the importance of having a good website design.