Similarly to why are logos so expensive, there's often a question around why websites are expensive. So let's spill the tea - why do designers charge the £££ that they do?

If the world was already said to be going digital before COVID hit, it's now been catapulted ahead and brands are either looking to get their business online or level-up their existing site. It's reported that over 500,000 new websites are set up each day, that's a lot of other potential business in your space.

I've written a post recently about if you really need a website for your business - Of course you can DIY your website, but here we're talking about the value a website designer actually provides to warrant your time, energy and hard earned cash? No BS.

Disclaimer: I want to make a stipulation here that it's probable that not everyone claiming to be website designer is going to be right for you - I'm releasing a free downloadable guide soon on which questions to ask to make sure a branding and website designer is right for you. If you're interested sign-up your email using the form at the bottom of the page.

They know what your website needs (apart from the obvious)

Even the most unknowing to website design will guess that their site needs pages, images and text to fundamentally become a functioning site.

But on top of the actual website, a designer has the knowledge that will save you so much time, frustration outbursts after scrolling Google for hours and potential legal hassle. If you don't know the answers to the questions below, that alone could be a reason to reach out to a designer as they're all crucial to your business.

Do you know what GDPR is and that in the UK/EU it's a legal requirement to have a privacy policy? Do you need a terms and conditions policy to protect your business? How do you set up email marketing and integrate it into your site? How do you implement SEO so you get found on Google? How do you get your website to look as fantastic on mobile and tablet as it does on a computer?

They work off strategy to nail the look, feel and flow of your site

A website design isn't plucked out of thin air, or copied from a template on Pinterest. Of course, each designer will have their own style (which is one of the reasons you may hire someone in particular) - but even so, each website for each client is carefully thought out and constructed by a designer to ultimately meet an end goal - this is done through 3 core principals:

• Brand strategy: Generally, this is why I don't offer web design as its own package, because the brand strategy is such a crucial part of the success of your website. Brand strategy includes your businesses personality, your ideal customer, your values, your business goals, aesthetics, design considerations and of course your logo(s) - these will all ultimately influence the design of your website.
• UX design: UX stands for user experience, in simple terms, the physical journey and experience a customer/client has when using your website. What will a customer do when they land on your website? How does the placement of certain content affect where people go next? How will they flow from one page to another? How will they end up at a desired goal (sign-up form/make a purchase/contact form)?
• UI design: This stands for user interface, if UX is the experience a customer has when navigating your site, the UI is how it looks and feels: What's the colour palette? How is an image displayed? What interactions and animations does your site have? What shape are your call to action buttons? All of these small nuances may not seem like a big deal individually, but together create a powerful and unique website that brings customers back again and again.

They know the website builder/platform inside out

Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, Wordpress, Showit, Editor X, Webflow, these are some of the most popular, but only a handful of website builders out there. Let's face it, once you've decided on what you need on your site, what it's going to look like, what content you need and how the customer journey will flow - now you actually need to build it.

I've dabbled in or designed in the majority of the list above and now predominately design in Webflow as it suits the needs of my customers the best.

I'll save the reasons why I use Webflow for another post, but generally a designer become a specialist in at least one platform. This is done through constant practice, countless hours of mentorship or online research and troubleshooting the unknown to find what's possible on the platform.

Let me tell you, learning how to best use Webflow (or any platform for that matter) and it's capabilities to best serve my customers and create their website dreams is never-ending cycle.

They save you the headache of it all

Of course, you can learn to do this yourself, every designer started from knowing nothing themselves. But on the other side of the coin, sometimes it's worth hiring the professional.

You can sign-off your own end of year taxes, use box hair colour at home or try and wire your own lights. But there's a reason you hire an accountant, a hair stylist and an electrician - they're experts at what they do. It comes down to how much you see the value in investing with a professional website designer for your business.

If you'd like to discuss any of the points in this post, or now you're wondering if a professional website it right for you but still have loads more questions DM me on Instagram or book in a free clarity call.