Getting ecommerce entrepreneurs to spend or invest money can be like getting blood from a turnip -- they love protecting their capital. They can often get by with a no-frills approach and crunch numbers to make sure they are getting the proper returns from the investments they do make. In some cases this means skipping over professional ecommerce web designers and taking on a do-it-yourself approach.
This can be a critical mistake. Read on to find out why you should hand over the reins to a professional designer, or their teams, today.
You cannot tell the difference between HTML and CSS
So your website ends up looking like a retro-tribute from the 1990s. Sure, many websites provide templates to use and easy "integration" tools that make web designing easy for the inexperienced but the inability to code is a big deal. Even websites renowned for their ease of use provide avenues for CSS coding that allow you to create better looking websites on their platform, but it takes a programmer to really customsie a site tp meet your exact needs.
Face it; do you really have the time and energy to learn programming in a few short weeks? Professional designers take years to reach a point where they can use programming code offhand. Are you really going to put the future of your ecommerce websites in your hands, when you are not sure what a <div> is?
Your traffic is spiking - exponentially
Wow, you never expected that your no-frills website would get the traffic it is getting. Your products are selling like mad, but your blog/free account keeps crashing simply because your server cannot handle the amount of unique hits. Now, you definitely need to talk to a professional web designer, especially one that can give you hosting options and a way to mitigate the traffic without losing sales.
Plus, since you have the numbers, it is now time to create a more functional website. Your customers evidently want what you have to sell, now is the time to give them a better online shopping experience.
You are expanding to different markets
Different markets can mean different things. Perhaps you have decided to expand overseas or embrace nationwide shipping. Maybe you really need a shopping cart that allows multiple payment options, because your loyal customers are asking for more ways to pay.
Mitigate the risk of expanding and using different markets by consulting with a web developer who has handled it before. This can help the transition go by without glitches or hitches, as well as create a better user experience for the loyal customers who have stuck with you throughout the years.
Your website needs a makeover
Because it has been the same old boring interface since 1998 and it feels like the Internet has left you behind. Your traffic is steadily dropping -- you would be lucky if you made a sale this week. You are getting left behind by the times and you have no idea how to attract your customers again. Or you are slowly revamping the website, but your customers are complaining that they are getting left behind.
A website designer can not only help you improve the look and feel of your website, but retain customers during the process.
You cannot do it yourself
There are many reasons why you cannot do it yourself, even if you have the knowledge and know-how to redesign the website from scratch. Perhaps you need to go out of town to acquire more inventory, or need to devote your energies to finding more investors or revenue sources. If you cannot do it yourself, it is time to trust a professional to do it for you. The simplest reason for this is so that you can devote your energy to other matters.
Web design consultants often work closely with their clients to help them achieve not just their website goals, which can be as diverse as creating more conversions or wanting a more user-friendly interface. They can also help clients achieve other business goals by freeing up the entrepreneur's time and energy. You have probably wasted enough time trying to learn CSS -- why not trust an expert and go back to what you do best?
