What You Need to Know and What Your Designer Will Handle
As a business owner, you can’t afford to focus all your time and energy on web design: you’ve got to hustle to find customers, handle your accounting and manage all the different parts of your company. That doesn’t mean that you can get away with knowing absolutely nothing about web design, though.
In order to make sure that you get a website that will actually help your business to grow, you need to know at least a little about actually designing a website, as well as how to find the best possible web designer. After all, you wouldn’t buy a car without knowing how to drive it or how to find a good mechanic.
What You Need to Know About Web Design
Knowing the basics of web design is a matter of vocabulary, and understanding the definitions of the words on your list. Here are a few terms to get you started.
- Content Management System: In the past, a web designer was responsible for updating all the content on a site because coding was required. Now, however, there are tools, known as ‘content management systems,’ that will let you update your content. There are many options, though, so you’ll need to look into what you can work with. The most common content management systems we use are WordPress and Drupal.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Because so much online traffic is directed by search engines, you need at least a passing familiarity with how to make your site more appealing to search engines. This includes content, technical expertise, and ongoing management.
- E-commerce: If you plan on selling directly through your website, you’ll be facing a few technical concerns. By reading up on e-commerce solutions early on, you can help your web designer get a better idea of what you want. Solutions for e-commerce include WooCommerce, Magento, Amazon, and other e-commerce platforms such as Shopify and Big Commerce.
What You Need to Know About Website Designers
A good web designer is always willing to discus the technology aspects of your website with you. Not only should your designer be able to come up with the right design and appearance for your site, but they should be ready to talk to you about the decisions that go into creating a reliable and useful website. If your designer isn’t comfortable with the technical elements required to develop your website, you can always work with multiple vendors with one supplying the design and the other doing the production.
Staying Up to Date on Web Design
The next website you have created for your company isn’t likely to be the last site you’ll ever need. Most companies find it necessary to update their sites regularly, as well as may need specialized sites or pages for individual promotions or projects. That makes it worth your while to keep up to date on what’s going on in the world of web design.