Thinking of getting a website, or even moving your services online for your customers to access them more easily? Well, that’s a solid business step that you should take. The proliferation of mobile devices and the continual move to integrating computers for daily needs means that more people are using the internet to purchase more items. This trend is expected to continue and it’s a huge opportunity for you.
With a website, you can take your business online and have many, many more customers access your products and services. A well-built website is the first step to jump-start your startup. In many cases, businesses operate entirely off their website.
For this to happen though, you need a website that is in excellent health. It needs to have SEO (Search Engine Optimization) criteria in order as well as having excellent UX and UI (user-experience and user-interface). Think of a website like it’s a piece of real estate. If you were to visit a hospital and find that the lawns are overgrown, the staff are rude and there are no markings directing you to where you need to go, you’d walk out and look for a better option.
Similarly, a website is the face of a business online, basically a piece of virtual real estate. It needs to be both well-built and well-run. For this to materialize, you need to have the best people build it. But who to choose?
"A website is the face of a business online, basically a piece of virtual real estate."
The internet, again, offers you options as the work can be done remotely. However, there are definite pitfalls that come with making such a choice. The better (and more popular) option is to engage a website design company where you can meet the designer(s) in person.
Here are several reasons why hiring a local web design company is beneficial to you and your business.
1. You need ease of communication with your website company.
There are thousands of web designers offering their services online. Their services are offered through individual websites and on crowdsourcing websites that offer a wide variety of designers from all over the world. You can have your pick but consider this, will they really understand the audience you are seeking to reach? The fact is that many of them don’t even speak English very well. Such language barriers may lead to misunderstanding with regard to expectations, as well as results.
The easiest way to solve miscommunication is by speaking with someone who completely understands the context and nuances of your local culture. Walk with me for a moment down Example Street. I live in the Ozarks. Okay, don’t judge me! And even though the popular TV show, Ozark, was recently released, those people and the people watching it from around the country don’t really understand the culture here. They may visit, or see and read about it from third-party story-tellers, but the reality is far from the portrayed or perceived image. I moved here from Kansas after working here for several months. And even I didn’t understand the culture until after I had lived here for a while. So I daresay that our local companies will know how to relate and speak to the local culture more effectively than someone living in San Francisco, or New York, or Pakistan.
Don't let communication become an obstacle.
And so, local companies like ours will usually, though not always, be a better and simpler option for most business owners who are conducting local searches like, “web design Springfield, MO”, or say, “digital marketing Lake of the Ozarks”. Plus, you won’t have to spend hours and hours trying to decide which remote developer to use. You can simply contact your local web design agency, meet up, and get started.
You speak the same language, you share similar backgrounds and you can communicate in real-time rather than across worldwide time zones. What better way to kick-start your website and watch changes happen as soon as you ask? Also, nothing is quite as effective as meeting a person, shaking their hand, looking them in the eye, and talking business. So don’t let communication become an obstacle.
2. They must understand your online business needs.
Aside from communicating what you want, there are other factors that determine how your online business model will work and what you need to target.
A local web designer understands the behavior of your local audience. They will be acquainted with the challenges that are unique to running a business in the region you choose to operate in. This is knowledge that just cannot be easily communicated over the internet. At our company, we know by experience that what works well for a roofer in Jefferson City or Springfield, Missouri simply does not work as well at Lake of the Ozarks! There is a different set of local challenges.
Furthermore, a local company may be privy to information that could prove to be crucial to your business and website. They may also have relationships, resources and connections that you just could not get from people in the next state. And how much more so of someone that is two continents away? Qualified local designers are going to naturally market your services in a style that is more relevant to your local demographic.
3. Support for your website is crucial.
You want to have convenient and fast customer support. You see the need for this everywhere.
If your phone breaks down soon after you buy it, you take it back to the carrier who will either repair it or give you a new one. The same happens with your cable service provider. Your decoder starts messing up, or a raccoon decides to make your satellite dish cables into a midnight snack, so you call the local company and they restore everything back to good working order.
After-sales Service
This is referred to as after-sales service. Websites don’t always work forever. No, a website is constructed from different technologies and formats. Sometimes technologies undergo updates, they interfere with each other and they get bugs. Or in other cases, the business owner may have overlooked a feature that would have been a game-changer for their online business. They now need to include it on their website and start benefiting from it. So looking at either scenario, you will occasionally need support.
Quicker Response Time
A local design agency is usually pretty readily available in case of an emergency. You can just pick up the phone and call them or send them a text or email. And because they are in the same time zone as you, you can rely on a quick response. They may be just a few blocks or a few miles away, and if necessary, you could simply go to their offices. The convenience a local website design company offers is unparalleled.
4. Local reputation for web design companies is a BIG DEAL.
One final factor to consider, and this one is powerful, is that the legitimate local providers you discover when you search “web design companies near me” are going to want to maintain their good reputation in the community. You will get better communication, more attentiveness, and better support from someone who is working to create and uphold a good name for themselves locally. A freelancer or company across the country or on the other side of the world isn’t going to depend on your satisfaction and recommendation nearly so much as someone in your own community.
Conclusion
It is inevitable that the world is moving away from fixed working locations and that telecommuting is on the rise. The flexibility and advantages of this arrangement are a great help for many. However, there are some situations where someone who is far away just cannot be as effective. That being said, sometimes distance doesn’t matter, particularly when seeking to reach a national or international audience.
Either way, a local problem solver is still a valuable resource to have in your tool bag. In this case, it is a local web design company. Your website isn’t a one-off, done and dusted deal. It will require maintenance and upgrading every once in a while. Who better to handle it for you than someone you can shake hands with and speak with in person if you want to?
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