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How Nation Media became a top ranked agency in Virginia
Taking the time to search for and hire a web designer can seem daunting—even greater than finding yourself an easy website platform and putting the thing together yourself.
Small and medium businesses often have a host of reasons for not wanting to seek out a web design agency. In our decades of designing and developing websites, we’ve heard them all. We also know that these objections will likely only lead to one thing: a website presence that doesn’t fully leverage the power of the internet. Here are the reasons you should consider looking to hire a web designer.
Here are some common objections to hiring a digital marketing agency and why you should ignore them and hire a web designer.
The typical perception of a web designer is that of a lone wolf sitting in front of a multitude of screens and writing code. Many businesses don’t understand why they shouldn’t just hire that guy. After all, he will be cheaper than contracting an entire company. And that guy has a sweet portfolio and a list of clients you can call for references. Freelancers appear to be a pretty good deal, and sometimes they are.
In short, start a blog and keep writing awesome content. This will also help boost your SEO and content marketing efforts.
The typical freelancer will design you a nice website—and nothing more. With a website design agency, you will have design, development, and SEO specialists working together to ensure you have a beautiful and functional website that is also adequately built to reach your target audience on the web.
Having an excellent website won’t mean a thing if customers can’t find it or use it easily. Keyword research, on-page optimization, social media leveraging: all of this is now part of a strategic package when you hire an experienced web design and marketing agency.
It takes some time to find the right agency for you. You have to Google companies, and you have to read reviews to hire a web designer. Then you have to interview and ask for proposals, which you’ll have to read.
Truth 2. Investing That Time Will Yield Great Returns.
Your website is critical to the success of your company. It would be best if you could find an agency to help you achieve your business goals. The amount of time you spend now is minimal compared to the years your website will be live on the internet—another great reason to hire a web designer that you are comfortable with.
If you don’t know your landing page from your backend, you might feel timid about engaging in a conversation with professional web designers. We get that.
Truth 3. You Don’t Need To Know Anything.
That’s the whole point of finding a quality web design agency. They bring the knowledge you don’t have to your digital marketing efforts. The questions you ask don’t need to be technical. Your goal is to ensure the company you’re hiring is reputable and that you can develop a positive working relationship with their point people to hire a web designer.
Check Out Our “Hire A Web Designer & Agency” Checklist.
Now that you’re considering working with a professional web design company, here are some tips for finding and contracting the right agency. We’ve even created a list to help you in your search when looking to hire a web designer.
Do a Google search. Hire a web designer.” Ask other companies whose websites you admire for their agency, and network on LinkedIn. The first step is to list about a dozen companies you would like to research further. This is your starting point.
Take the companies on your list and browse their websites. Learn about the principals and their processes. Eliminate companies with websites that don’t function properly or are led by folks who don’t seem reputable or experienced. Elimination will greatly help when you are ready to hire a web designer.
Is the company website easy to navigate? Do they have staff members who specialize in design, development, and SEO? Do they have testimonials from clients and/or case studies of their successes? If not you may want to keep your search going to hire a web designer.
A good web design company will have a vast portfolio of projects with descriptions of the work they did. Look at all the different websites the company has created, and then ask yourself these questions:
Do they all look the same?
Does the design of a site fit its industry?
Do you like any of them?
Here’s where you cross out companies whose portfolio does not match your company’s needs or looks too cookie cutter.
Google their clients and see how their websites function across various platforms.
Now that you’ve narrowed your list, contact the top three agencies and set up a time for an initial meeting. During this meeting, you’ll describe your needs and expectations to them. They’ll, in turn, ask you questions about the services you would like them to deliver and make suggestions. Then they will put together a proposal. Set a timeline for the proposal and when you expect to award the job. This will help keep your website development moving along.
Do you feel comfortable working with this company?
Do they answer your questions to your satisfaction?
Do they appear interested in helping you and your business?
Don’t just look at the cost. Be sure to compare deliverables to hire a web designer.
What will each company create for you?
What website platform will they use?
What added value services will they provide to help further your business?
How long will it take them to develop your site?
Will they host and maintain your site for you?
Will they train you to make simple website changes yourself?
If you have questions about the proposal, set up a meeting to review it.
Lastly, hire the company that prepared the best proposal for achieving your business goals. Make sure you both agree to what will be delivered and by when. And the time has come you’ve hired a website designer!
Does your organization have a digital edge? Is your business online? We can build and maintain a successful platform for your company. Schedule a consultation with Nation Media Design today.
Digital advertising has become even more of a necessity than physical advertising, with customers seeking home services help online. When targeted to the right people as part of your marketing plan, digital advertising can raise brand awareness, boost growth, and provide a roadmap to marketing efforts.
Content marketing is a long-term, long-lasting marketing strategy that requires solid SEO simultaneously. Unfortunately, some teams may not see its value or know how to measure it. That's why this is one of the most asked marketing questions. But excellent content marketing supports all your other digital marketing strategies. For example, when you align your content and SEO strategy with PPC (using our sexy swivel table!), you can unlock significant benefits in both organic and paid media channels. Digital Marketing Agency in Virginia
Digital marketing encompasses all forms of advertising and marketing using the internet, from search engine optimization (SEO) to content marketing, social media and more.
Absolutely! The goal of digital marketing is to improve website traffic and online conversions, thus helping you reach your overall business goals. If you’d like to ultimately increase online sales, we would recommend a variety of tactics to reach this goal. These may range from UX research and conversion rate optimization to advanced product schema to social media. When we’re developing a campaign for a client, we get to know their business and objectives, then propose plans to align with those goals.
Search Engine Optimization, known less formally as SEO in the marketing world, is one of the main ways your website is ranked in answer to search engine inquiries. When you use specific keywords on your site, search engines like Google target those keywords and rank you higher according to the information being sought.Digital Marketing Agency in Virginia
Social media provides a unique platform to actively engage with current and potential clients and build trust and loyalty. Many business owners have joined social media to create ads and engaging posts to promote their companies and spread brand awareness.
Word-of-mouth is no longer effective as the only means of advertising. With the world moving towards a digital market, business owners need to be aggressive about getting their name out there and in front of the local customers that can turn into clients of their business.
Keywords are the words and phrases that searchers use- usually on a search engine. These are the words that we use when looking for pages, images, videos, blogs, any kind of information or content on the web really. These keywords need to be strategically inserted into your pages and content.
A website that sits stagnant for long periods of time, without any new or fresh content, is nothing more that an online brochure for your company. A successful website will interact with consumers and provide new and up to date information and content. Also, in terms of SEO, Google much prefers a website that is consistently updated. There's no specific time limit on updating your website, just make sure it stays relevant.
Facebook? Aim for once a day and definitely no less than 3 times a week.
Instagram? Once or twice a day.
LinkedIn? At least twice a week and no more than once per day.
Twitter? This one is a bit more varied but generally anywhere from 3-30 tweets per day is good.
Definitely! You should never assume that because social media has become so hugely popular, that it’s enough to solely focus your digital marketing strategy on social platforms. There are more active email accounts than active accounts on any social media in the world. Email marketing is more private and often feels more personal to the consumer. Most people are consistently tuned into their email, checking it multiple times a day and constantly seeing notifications appear on their mobiles, laptops and tablets.
It’s wise to send regular updates your subscribers with news of new content, new products (or improvements), events, and so forth. It’s not wise to expect your email list to expand fast simply by offering a newsletter.
Please don’t. Bought email lists are just a way for you to SPAM random members of the public. Grow your email list organically through subscription buttons and calls to action. This way, you are not only protecting your company’s reputation but also spending your time and money on an email campaign geared towards genuine prospects who have asked you to contact them.
Your business goals and the source/medium you choose to convey your message will determine what KPIs (key performance indicators) measure digital marketing success.
For example, if your goal is to increase the number of visitors that convert to leads on your blog, then you would want to track blog sessions and resulting lead forms and/or clicks-to-call. The KPI you care about may vary based on your role in the company and who you report to.
What does “conversion” mean in digital marketing?
Speaking of KPIs, does it seem like everyone defines “conversion” differently? Some companies (or single departments within) may differentiate between a website conversion – like a contact form completion – and a sales conversion, which is a successful sale that occurs after a website conversion. In our agency’s experience, companies commonly call sales-oriented website actions conversions, and they call sales, sales. However you want to talk about it, just make sure your internal team and vendors are on the same page.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of increasing the percentage of conversions from your digital property, typically a web page. CRO involves executing tactics to improve the elements on your site (or app) through testing. Relative to your marketing funnel, CRO focuses on moving prospects to the next stage.
The simple answer to this complex question is to create value. You need to identify and communicate a promise to your customers that resonates on an emotional level. Start with this question: How can we improve the lives of those we serve?
Google Analytics is a free website analytics platform that gives you insights into how users find and use your website. With Google Analytics, you can track ROI for your online marketing and review important metrics to make informed decisions. The bulk of Google Analytics categorizes data into acquisition, behavior and conversions.
A practical approach to marketing metrics should include establishing which key performance indicators (KPIs) are most important for the growth of your brand. As a starting point, consider metrics that reflect your progress regarding traffic generation, conversion, and marketing costs and create a dashboard to track them monthly.
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Call 616-888-5050 or contact us online today for a free evaluation!
375,000 Hours of Expertise
5+ Digital Marketing Masters On Staff
1400+ Websites Launched
375,000 Hours of Expertise
5+ Digital Marketing
Masters On Staff
1800+ Websites Launched
