Why do I NEED to hire a professional?
You may think to yourself “Why do I need to pay a professional website developer / designer / design agency to create my website? My cousin Fred did something with computers at college, why not just get him to do it?”
Professional Feel
Chances are that your cousin will say that he’ll do your website. However, 9 times out of 10 he is only saying this to placate you. He’s not getting paid to do this, so there really isn’t that much incentive for him to do a stellar job. At best you will end up with a website which looks good but you have no idea how to use, and at worst you will be left with something which looks like it was made in 1999.
This leads me on to:
First Impressions
First impressions are crucial to your business. Your website is often the first port of call for customers to get to know your brand, and if that first impression is bad, then you may lose out on business.
A typical user will spend an average of 3-10 seconds on your site before deciding whether or not to click away or learn more. When you think about it, 3 seconds is not a very long period of time. You’ve spent longer than that simply reading this paragraph (so you must like our brand new website! 😉 ). This only compounds the importance of a good first impression.
Designer OR Developer
It’s quite a rare feat that someone is both an accomplished Designer AND Developer. You can be good at both but not truly accomplished, lending credence to the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none”. This is why here at Fifteen we have a team of experienced Designers – in order to create things which a family member wouldn’t think of such as a colour scheme and brand identity – and a team of skilled Developers who will create your website, and then focus on the minute details, making sure everything is pixel perfect, before going on to test it on all devices to ensure that it looks fantastic no matter where you’re looking at it.
Personal Interest
There comes a time in every website’s life cycle where it’s at a stage in which you, the client, are ready to see it. It’s hard to say, but sometimes you may not like certain things and want those to be changed. Unfortunately, your cousin Fred has spent some time on these things and you risk hurting his feelings by voicing these concerns. This may lead to you keeping quiet, not voicing concerns and not being truly happy with the finished product.
The beauty of a hiring a web design agency is that our feelings won’t get hurt. We’re as invested in making you as happy with this website as we are, and in the end, we all walk away happy with the end result.
Technicalities
There’s a lot more to a website than design and development. You need a Domain Name you need Hosting, you need Web servers. Fred may be able to build you a website, but if he can also set you up on hosting, buy you a domain name and manage your server then the chances are that he’ll probably want paying anyhow.
Support
One of the major benefits of hiring a Digital Agency like Fifteen is that we’re here to support you every step of the way. We cannot just decline your calls and ignore your emails, or we wouldn’t have any clients! We enjoy looking after and supporting our clients, before, during and after their website launch. Don’t believe us? Check our testimonials page.
In Conclusion
It pays to have a Creative Digital Agency develop your website. We think of things that others may not. Analyzing and scrutinising on a pixel by pixel basis until everything is just right. Interested? Check out some of our Case Studies and Get In Touch today!