We believe every business needs a website - and where possible, new startups and growing SMEs should always make the extra investment in bespoke website design.
Bespoke web design delivers the best return on investment, improved user experience for visitors to your site, and gives you a website you can build and develop in the future.
For any SME aiming for future growth, bespoke website design is an investment you can make now, which will continue to reap dividends in the years to come.
Here are five of the best reasons why SMEs should invest in bespoke website design.
1. Utilise the latest technology
When you get a small business website built from scratch, you get a design developed to the latest web standards, using up-to-date techniques and capabilities.
Best practice in web design moves fast. An off-the-peg template just a few years old might not be optimised for recent developments like Google's Core Web Vitals, which can affect your ranking in the search results.
A bespoke website design can focus on your priorities, whether that's your search presence, a mobile-friendly website optimised for tablets and smartphones, or something else that's significant to your business, all up to current standards.
2. What you want, where you want
A bespoke website layout is yours - you can decide exactly what content (and what types of content) you want it to include, such as images, embedded video, social media updates, and so on.
Unlike a template-based design, there are no restrictions on where you place the various media on your page, allowing you to create unique, compelling pages with dynamic content and persuasive ecommerce elements.
This means that your finished website will be a better reflection of your own business, your brand personality and your tone of voice - and that all helps it stand out from the crowd in a competitive ecommerce environment.
You can build on this over time by publishing regular content that supports your brand - read more here about why every company website should have a blog.
3. Close consultation from Day One
You can have your say on the design process from the very beginning. Our bespoke website design service includes a dedicated Project Manager and a truly bespoke design and build process.
We start with a Discovery Session, where we will discuss with you what you would like from your website, before we go about putting together a custom website with all the functionality you need.
Again, this means the finished product is a better representation of your brand and your own voice and character, to put your message across more persuasively to potential customers.
4. A website that works for you
By building a bespoke website design, we can cater for the content and capabilities you need, instead of you creating content and pages that fit a rigid, predefined template.
We can incorporate metadata, microformats and structured data, all built into your website to help your pages rank higher in the search results.
And by developing custom layouts for different parts of your website, we can make sure products and services are showcased at their very best, while also including more text-focused pages like blog posts, FAQs and 'About Us'.
5. Optimised upfront for SEO and UX
A streamlined website design with clear navigation hierarchy, consistent fonts and colours, and a good balance of white space are all among the hallmarks of good design, according to the usability experts at Nielsen Norman Group.
By following these principles, we can create a bespoke website design that is optimised for good user experience, fast performance on broadband and mobile data connections alike, and the best possible search visibility and ranking.
While web design standards and SEO algorithms are changing all the time, this is the closest you can get to a future-proof website, giving your growing brand a new home online that will serve your needs well for as long as possible.
Find out more about fonts, colours and consistent branding.
The take-home message
Ultimately, a good website will improve your brand awareness, perform well in search results and encourage your website visitors to place an order.
Bespoke website design maximises positive outcomes across all of these areas and more - and the sooner you launch your site, the greater your long-term ROI will be.
To find out more, enquire about our bespoke website design service today.