How Professional Design will Grow your Business

Hiring a professional to design your branding or your website can be a big investment, and I totally get that making an investment like that in your business and in yourself can be scary!

But here’s the thing, having a well-designed brand and website that is aligned with your business and correctly set up is an investment that you will make back time and time again.

If you’re not convinced, here are some of the reasons why investing in professional design can boost your online presence and help you stand out from your competition:

People make judgments about your business within seconds of landing on your website

When someone lands on your website or one of your social media accounts, you have about 5 seconds to catch their attention and entice then to hang around. Even if you have the most amazing copy on the page, they’re not going to hang around long enough to learn more about who you are and what you do if the design doesn’t catch their attention initially.

A professional designer will work with you to identify your ideal clients and create your branding and website with them in mind. Having a cohesive colour palette and font choices, along with design elements that speak to your ideal clients will go a long way to setting a great first impression, and encourage them to keep reading.

This level of attention will help you really stand out from your competitors because the designs will not only look amazing, but will be created specifically to attract your dream clients! Having a professional logo and website will make you stand out as the expert at what you do, and will leave you feeling more confident in your online presence.

In comparison, if your website or social media accounts look like a hot mess, with a stack of mismatched images or colours and fonts that don’t flow well together, you’ll likely be sending people running. Why? Because if your branding and website are a hot mess, people will assume your business is too, and that you don’t care about attention to detail.

The last thing you want is to be turning off potential dream clients because they can’t take you seriously!

A professional website is designed to get your dream clients taking action

One thing that is often missed on DIY websites is having a clear strategy around how to get your visitors taking action and booking your service. After all, you don’t know what you don’t know, and no one really seems to talk much about the strategy side of website design.

A professional designer will make sure everything on your website is set up correctly, that you’re website looks great on all screen sizes, and that your website is optimised for SEO so that people are more likely to find you in Google searches, all things that are super easy to miss if you DIY your website.

After working with a designer, your website will be more effective at getting your website visitors from your home page to your money making pages in a way that gets them to know, like and trust you. This clear path through your website using good calls to action will ensure that more of your visitors are taking the action you want, so you’ll make more bookings!

You will feel more confident about your online presence

When you have branding and a website that really captures the essence of your business and stands out for your dream clients, you’ll feel much more confident about your online presence.

You’ll be more excited to share your website, which means more people getting their eyes on what you do. Being visible in this way will help you grow your business and build more connections over time as well.

Another bonus from being more confident in your online presence is that you will end up attracting higher budget clients from showing up professionally in a way that shows you as the go-to expert for what you do. This is a perfect opportunity for your to raise your rates!

You will save time, and often money, by investing in a professional designer

This one is a biggie that a lot of us don’t think of when we are trying to DIY everything in our business. I know I’m certainly guilty of this!

By trying to DIY your branding and website, you’ll likely spend at least 100 hours learning how to use the platforms needed and writing your copy. That’s a whole lot of time that takes you away from things you’d rather be doing and the tasks that are actually making you money.

Have you given any thought to how much that time is costing you? I mean, let’s say you have an hourly rate of $40, and you spend 100 hours on creating a website. That’s potentially $4000 worth of missed income! 

And if you have to invest in courses to learn the skills needed, there are even more potential costs. On average, the cost of a Squarespace design course is $800, a copywriting course is $800 and a branding course is $500, so that’s about $2100 extra just to DIY!

If you are DIYing without investing in the skills above, there is no guarantee that your website will turn out the way you want, that it will be set up right or that it will be effective at getting someone to book with you. Plus, we all know how DIY projects tend to drag on and take longer than expected!

When considering DIYing your website, it’s definitely worth considering the time and cost trade-off!

Investing in yourself and your business gives other people confidence in investing in you

When other people see you take your business seriously by investing in yourself, it gives them confidence to invest in you since they can clearly see that they are in good hands and that you practice what you preach. It shows you take your business seriously, especially if you want to be charging premium prices for your services.

Investing in yourself opens up a world of opportunities because you are becoming the best version of yourself, which attracts others to you. You’re sending the signal out that you’re open to growing your business and open to new opportunities, and success will follow.

Another benefit of taking your business seriously and putting money down towards professional design is that you will put in more effort to make the most of the investment. With the guidance of your designer, you will spend the time getting clear on your website strategy and writing great copy, you’ll know exactly what images or videos you need to gather, and you’ll take the time to check everything over to make sure your new website is a success.