In 2010, there were around 2 billion internet users across the globe. At the beginning of 2021, this had grown to well over 2.5 billion (Hubspot 2021).
One thing’s for certain: great website design is becoming one of the single-most important investments a business can make.
Whether you’re looking to create a brand-new website from scratch or update your existing asset, the decision regarding who’ll get the job done will be key to your success.
Your website is, arguably, your greatest lead-generation tool. As the interface between your clients and your services, it can make or break your capacity to scale.
So. Freelancer, web design agency, large-scale web design firm or your friend who’s taken a few web design classes? Here are just a few of the considerations you might encounter when deciding who to work with on your website:
TIP 1: Know your budget and investment level
Many clients, when facing the choice between a freelance web designer and a large-scale website design agency, also face the choice between rock-bottom pricing and a more significant investment.
Why should you invest more?
Well, let’s put it this way. Would you consider asking an apprentice plumber to work, on their own, to supply, install and maintain the plumbing for an entire 10-storey investment property? You might, but the risk involved is huge.
The same goes for web designers.
If you’re looking to select a freelance or start-up web designer, try drawing together a list of questions you can use to ascertain their experience. For example:
- How many websites have you created?
- How long has your business been running?
- Can you share any statistics on your success or improvement rates?
To match their expertise, the right designer or website design agency will offer you all the benefits of long-term experience paired with an investment figure that is reasonable. This figure should also reflect the value-add you’re going to experience when having them as part of your team.
Of course, getting a great-looking website is only half of the challenge. It’s the specialised website advice and consultation surrounding SEO, eCommerce, CMS, landing page design and more that’s going to take your business or organisation to the next level.
At Vibes Design, we offer you all the benefits of a personalised client experience plus decades of expertise at the helm of web design teams in Melbourne. Unlike a less experienced web freelancer, we afford you access to our strong creative networks (think website designers, copywriters, SEO experts, and more) while still retaining that all-important feel of a boutique, individualised, and client-centred experience.
As a personalised agency with big-agency networks, we offer you specialised advice and consultation on things like:
- Website design
- SEO-ready website design
- Copywriting and tone of voice
- Ecommerce website design
- Ongoing hosting and maintenance
…and much more.
TIP 2: Opt for well-rounded design expertise
Unlike a sole trader freelance web designer, our small-but-mighty family comprises specialised web, graphic, SEO and copy designers who have years of experience in multi-faceted, cross-disciplinary website design.
What does that mean for you?
Firstly, we’ve built over 500+ websites, and counting. Having worked on so many incredible projects, our specialist website design team has insight into exactly the elements you need to differentiate your brand from others:
- Understanding the colours, compositions, language, images and design elements that will attract your ideal clients
- Knowing how other brands have approached the design of their website, and therefore, how we can differentiate yours
- Unlike an individual designer or less experienced freelance agency, drawing from a wide range of professional minds and resources to really make your design pop
- Developing specialist copy, linguistic branding and tone of voice that helps your brand “talk the talk” as well as look great
Put simply, we marry large-firm resourcing with the boutique-firm appeal that gives your website the edge it needs to be noticed!
TIP 3: Don’t forget great copy (words)
A great website not only looks great but reads perfectly too.
Think about it: if you speak abruptly to your waiter, are you likely to get the meal and service you desired? Absolutely not.
In the same way, we need to learn to communicate with our prospective clients in a way that makes sense to them – that’s in order to achieve the outcomes we’re hoping for.
At Vibes Design, we ensure you experience the ultimate in value-add: a specialist copywriter on every project who will help you to shape, define and execute a tone of voice that works for you and your brand.
Have you, for example, ever thought about the specific words to use so that your ideal audience will be attracted to your offerings?
From this angle, headlines, taglines, catch-phrases and calls to action (CTAs) are just as important as visual branding, if not more-so. Put simply, with our Vibes family of specialist copywriters and all-round language experts, we help you ensure that your website not only looks great but communicates effectively as well.
The best thing? Choose to work with our web design experts and you bypass the stress, anxiety and time-wasting often experienced by clients looking for a quickfix.
TIP 4: Remember that expert web hosting matters
Picture this:
It’s Friday night. You’re ready to head home from the office when the unthinkable happens. The website goes down. Who ya gonna call?
We’ll bet on this: it certainly won’t be your friend next door or the web design freelance friend you made at the party last weekend.
When things go bottom-up, you want to be assured of two things:
- That you have a functional website back-end that can be secured and repaired quickly and efficiently
- That your website design team has the expertise and experience to help you prevent, stop and mitigate threats before and when they occur
At Vibes Design, we love using the world’s most popular and trusted CMS, WordPress to build and maintain our sites. Offering you the greatest degree of flexibility and design smarts, WordPress web design is your key to a website that lasts and functions as your company’s greatest ROI and business-generating asset.
Plus, guess what? We even host your WordPress website on our lightning-speed, Melbourne-based dedicated server meaning your website is homegrown and far more easily managed.
Which brings us to the importance of:
TIP 5: Realising that great web design doesn’t end at handover
Gaze into the work of experienced boutique web design agencies and you’ll quickly realise that the value-add is clear.
Choose a web design partner like Vibes Design and you choose:
- Ongoing support and networks that are here for the long run (we won’t close up shop tomorrow like some other freelance web designers)
- Quick maintenance and security advice when you need it, fast
- Decades of expertise
- Access to our family of trusted, complimentary web design professionals – including graphic designers, copywriters, SEO specialists, and more – who can jump onboard to help maintain your site as necessary
At Vibes Design, we take great pride in building you a fantastic new website with style, longevity and business-building capacity.
Why? Because with over 20 years of collective expertise, we wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve built a reputation on providing the very best in great web design, a foundation that only Melbourne’s most-trusted web design agency could offer.
Are you ready to create the website of your dreams? Instead of choosing a well-meaning freelancer who’ll overlook your core needs with rock-bottom pricing, opt for an experience agency who offers long-lasting web design excellence for a reasonable investment. Get in touch and start your project today.
If you ask us, your livelihood is worth it.
