Your website is your calling card, it’s your advertising campaign, your 24x7x365 presence in the market. It’s a great way for customers/visitors to reach you, no matter the location.
Your website not only needs to promote your business, it also needs to have a strong social media presence. It must project a unique and memorable personality, create credible leads and links, have unique, engaging content, and capture reliable data and behavioral insights. Plus look stunningly attractive while doing all this!
Today, a business that claims it doesn’t have a website is viewed as a woolly mammoth or a dinosaur. Customers expect a business to have a website, and without one, you could lose credibility, trust and relevance.
With technology evolving almost by the minute, and customer profiles so dynamic and volatile, it’s important that your website is relevant, updated, and in sync with the trends.
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It’s not just about performance and looks, it’s about optimization, responsive web design and conversion.
Take a look at some of these interesting facts and figures:
- 38% of visitors abandon a website if the content/layout is not engaging/attractive enough
- Customer experience or UX is pegged to be the biggest driver of interest in and use of a website
- Today’s customer prefers cross-device shopping across different channels
- Price represents just 25% of the priority while shopping and more than 80% of customers don’t mind paying more if they can be sure of a great UX
- Nearly 50% of buyers make impulse purchases if they have a great experience
- It takes just 0.05 seconds for a visitor to decide whether they like a website or not
- Nearly 60% of users say they wouldn’t recommend a website that poorly configured for mobile phones
- In 2018, mobile phone shopping represented 63% of retail site visits
- 88% of consumers are not likely to return to a website if they’ve had a poor UX
These facts/figures put you in the picture of what really makes a good website. Take a long, hard look at your own website, from a customer/visitor’s point of view. Try to be as objective as possible.
- Does it load quickly?
- Does it look outdated?
- Does it provide a smooth journey through the pages?
- Does it give the customer a personalized experience?
- Is it attractive and memorable?
- Is it easy to navigate?
- Can customers find what they came for easily?
- Is the CTA clear and easy to locate?
- Does it have original, interesting, and long-form content that creates reliable, relevant links?
- Does it have a robust social media presence?
If the answer to any of these questions is No, then you’re looking at a website redesign project.
The next step is to find a good website redesign company in San Francisco.
Also Read: 3 Ways to Blend SEO with User Experience in Web Design
How to Hire The Best Website Redesign Company In San Francisco
San Francisco is known as the creative hub of the US for good reason. It is one of the most dynamic, diverse and innovative cities in the world, with a thriving art scene. Known to be one of the topmost cities that evoke inspiration and creativity in the country, it is also the most popular choices for designers looking for full-time careers.
It has an amazing history of being an art hub, with people from all over the country and the world flocking to its vibrant shores. There are plenty of work-spaces for the art crowd, with an atmosphere that’s conducive to innovation and out-of-the-box thinking.
Keeping this in mind, it shouldn’t be hard to find a website redesign company in San Francisco. The question is how to find the one that fits your unique needs, preferences and budget.
- Do Your Homework: Before you approach a redesign company, ensure that you know exactly why you’re opting for a website redesign. Make sure you know the difference between “design refresh” and “redesign.”
- Know What Works and What Doesn’t: Take stock of your assets and liabilities. What is it about your website that’s a pain, and what’s amazing about it? Protect what’s important and let go of the stuff that’s not working anymore.
- Firm up on time and budget: Talk to your marketing team and get inputs on how much time you can spare for a complete website makeover. They will have to provide inputs and work with the redesign team to achieve results. Do some research on average budget costs in the San Francisco area for a website redesign for a website of your type and size.
- Get recommendations: Talk to co-workers, friends, software professionals, marketing gurus, and even your competitors and get good referrals from them. If you find some that match your requirements, shortlist them and then work down the list one by one.
- The show, tell, and ask: Keep a list of questions ready on what you need to know before you hire an expert website redesign company in San Francisco. Treat the design companies in the same way as you would someone who’s applying for a job with you. What skills, experience and credibility do they have? Tell them about your ideas and find out if they’re open to feedback. Ask about pricing and deadlines.
- Look: Ask them about other work they’ve done of a similar nature. Don’t settle for mere screenshots. Instead, take a deep dive into the websites they’ve redesigned for businesses like yours and check if you like their work. Portfolio viewing can be fun and exciting because often there’s a great cross-pollination of ideas and often designers may discover that there are great things they can do with a firm foundation of an older website.
- Check: Confirm if they are in sync with the newest trends in web design, such as responsive, intuitive design, CRM systems that perform above average, whether they can help to source good quality content if they provide add-ons such as SEO or analytics.
- Support: Check what kind of support and maintenance they can give you post-project. You can gauge this from the initial meetings where you can evaluate their communication style. Will they keep communications channels open and will they step in when there’s a problem?
- Who: Get an honest answer about whether they outsource work to freelancers, or they have an in-house design team. It’s annoying to discover that the coding is done in a developing country and that you may have to wait for hours while the company tries to get in touch with someone in another time zone.
- Own it: Finally, ensure that it’s you who owns the final design and content, and if the redesign company is ready to sign over intellectual property rights to you. If not, it’s a red flag to watch out for.