Just like in the real estate market, location is important with a web designer.  For people who would like to meet in person with their design team, it is definitely an advantage to go with a local company.  Others are fine doing everything over the internet or over the phone, and may be more open to simply looking for a company that is a good fit for their company no matter where they are located.

Budget is a very important area to consider when looking for a web design firm.  Because the internet is so important these days, one cannot skimp on one’s website.  It is a huge part of the company’s image or brand, and it needs to send the right message to clients or customers.  Opting for the kind of cookie-cutter website one can get on a low budget is most likely not the best use of an advertising budget.  Instead, hiring a professional company like Epic Web Solutions, LLC to create a totally customized website to meet your actual needs is usually a better idea.  They will create a unique product that will help your company stand out from the competition rather than giving you a website that looks just like every other website out there that sells a similar service or product.

This brings us to the next area of focus, which is the actual design experience the company has.  It is important to look at a portfolio of websites that the Phoenix web design firm has created so that one can get an idea for the type of product that they are capable of creating.  In addition to the look of the site, it is important to know how easy it is to use.  Does the site make one want to click on a link or make an order?  Is there plenty of content in addition to graphics? By looking at previous designs, a person can get a good idea of the way the web design firm works.  Many web design companies such as Epic Web Solutions include a portfolio right on their website, epicwebaz.com, which is easy to visit to check out their work.

Research is the first step that any good Arizona website design company will take.  For instance, any company I select must take the time to learn about my company and the direction I want it to take.  They should look into my most likely customer base and ask lots of questions to find out what I really need.  The next step is to brainstorm about what the website needs and come up with a variety of concepts that I could approve.

Along with that it is important that I know what I need my website to do so that the Arizona web design company I have selected can determine which technical requirements must be met.  For instance, do I want just the basics of HTML or something more exciting such as a site designed with Flash, or some of each?  Any good web design company such as Epic Web Solutions, will create an outline so that I can get a pretty good idea of what the website will look like and can approve it, as well as getting a price quote based on my requirements.  Obviously, if I want to add more difficult things to my site it will add to the total cost of the work.

A professional Arizona website design company will help me verify that my content is relevant and contains sufficient information to appeal to the clients I am looking for.  All the bells and whistles can’t take the place of clear content.  They are specialists in helping me choose not only the right colors as well as the fonts that will be used.   Professional web design companies such as Epic Web Solutions (epicwebaz.com) understand the importance of user friendliness and good download speeds for the website.  They also know how to make a website easy to move through so that people will spend more time on my website.

Finally, no matter how great my website looks, if no one can find it, then it isn’t doing me much good.  I need my website to be found on the first page of search engines, and a good web design company understands that fact and they know the steps that must be taken to get my site moving up in the rankings.

Hiring a good web design company that understands the complex web design necessary for your site is a very important step for you to take to get your online business going and growing.  However, if you understand some of the basics of how web design works, you will be able to work with your web design team intelligently and will be able to make sure that you are getting the web design elements you need.

There are certain steps necessary for web design.  First, in order to have a website, you have to have a domain name.  This is the URL that connects to your site and is the name that you and your site will be identified with.  You want it to be easy to remember and to connect with the product or service that you are selling.  It needs to be easy for your customers to type in so that they don’t get frustrated and give up trying.  You don’t want it to be too long to remember, but you don’t want it so short that it doesn’t really describe your business or what you are selling.  This can one of the most challenging elements of web design.

Once you have come up with the domain name, you will want to think about a logo that will identify your business to customers who visit your site.  The professional web design team that you have hired to create your site often has logo creation services or can direct you to other sources for this service.  It is important that your customers recognize your site as belonging to your company.  You want to stay away from a logo that looks similar to the logos of other companies; it is important to be original so that your company can more easily be identified.

The site should have informative pages about your company and products as well as a way for your customers to contact you.  If you have a shopping cart, it should be user-friendly so that prospective customers don’t give up because they can’t get it to work.  By understanding what a good website needs, you will be able to appreciate the work that your web design team is doing and you will know whether they are doing a good job.

What do you mean you already knew that?

In all seriousness, Arizona – like any other part of the civilized world – has its share of business web designers and online marketing experts. And yet, we have been able to grow our company significantly over the years. We like to think that a large part of that success has to do with our creativity, and the fact that we build business websites that are as good as, or better than, any other website design company in Phoenix.

But we also know that there is a lot more that goes into keeping our clients happy. Here are five things we do to set Epic Web Solutions apart from our competitors… and why you shouldn’t hire a business web design team in Arizona that doesn’t do any of them:

We design great business website layouts. Although it’s not the only thing that matters, having a good artistic eye is critical to designing a profitable site.

We incorporate search engine optimization into every project. On the other hand, what good is your work of art if no one sees it?

High-quality web hosting is part of the package. This is a piece of the puzzle that a lot of clients forget about, but having your site be online continuously, updated against security threats, and loading quickly is probably more important than you think.

We put customer service front and center. In almost any business, and especially ours, your work is never great until your client thinks it’s great. Getting input and feedback from our clients has been invaluable to our business.

Epic Web Solutions offers business websites at affordable rates. No matter how great your business website is, you have to make more money from it than you spend, which is why we work so hard to keep our fees competitive.

While these might not be the Phoenix web design and search engine optimization “secrets” you expected, they have helped us build a very successful company. So the next time you look to design, or re-design, your company’s website, why not give us a call?

While we are proud to say that we definitely feel like we are in the mix, the truth is that it’s something of a trick question – there really isn’t any best web design team in Arizona, or in Phoenix, or even anywhere else in the world. That’s because great business web design – in the Southwest or elsewhere – isn’t only about skills, talents, or even prices… it’s about the right fit between client and designer.

And so, the question isn’t who does the best web design, but which web design team in Phoenix is right for you? Here are a couple of factors you should probably consider:

Your budget. We would love to pretend like this isn’t a consideration, but when was the last time your company approved an invoice without caring what the numbers were? The fact of the matter is that budgets matter quite a bit in business web design, and so it’s important to choose a team that does great work, but also one you can afford.

Skills and capabilities. Some of the web design companies in Arizona focus on the basics of layout; others, like ours, have online marketing specialists and programmers on hand who can handle things like search engine optimization and custom apps. What matters isn’t that your web design has or doesn’t have any of these, but that they are able to design the business website you really want, with all the features and capabilities you need.

The right match of personalities. Can you hire a web designer you don’t really like? You can, but why would you? Given that designing, launching, and then promoting a business website can be a lot of work – and occasionally, an intense process – it makes sense to find personalities that you mesh well with.

There are a lot of web design teams here in Phoenix and throughout the Southwest, but what really matters to your company is finding the one that makes the best fit for your project.

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Bounce Rate:

Bounce rate is the % of times a user enters and leave on the same page.  Depending on your industry and the nature of your website, this % will vary.  Obviously the lower the better but to really understand why they are bouncing take a look at the average time spent on each page.  Are they reading your information, getting what they need and then leaving (spending 2 minutes or more on your website), or are they coming and leaving fairly quickly?  If they leave quickly than you need to most likely re-arrange things in a fashion that the user will see what they came for and get more information.  If the user comes, stays for a little while and then leaves without requesting more information, than you need to either give them a little less information or give them reasons to navigate through the rest of your site a little.  Soft sells or calls to action is high trafficked spots on your website will help.  Using key areas in your website real estate to try and get the user to do something rather than using these spots for information purposes.  Ask them to join your email list to get free information regarding what they came to your site for.

Average Page Views:

If you have a  low average page views number than your content probably needs to be re written or moved around.  Try possibly taking a survey of some sort seeing what your current customers are most interested in about your service, or why they use you or your product.  Take this information and structure it in a way that the users can navigate through your site and not get all the information they need on one page but enough to keep them interested throughout the whole site.  As you see this improve, start implementing calls to action in certain spots as well.

Search Engine Traffic vs Direct Traffic:

This is a little more advanced but one way to try and increase conversion is showing different content based on the source of the traffic.  People who are coming directly to your site usually (not always) were referred by someone or have a little more information than usual about your product or service.  Possibly think about making the conversion funnel for these visitors a little shorter as they probably don’t need as much information, they just need a little nudge to contact you.  Search engine traffic is usually visitors that know what they need or want, just looking for a person to buy it from.  Present yourself in a fashion that will showcase your product, it’s features and how it will solve your customer’s problem and then give them a call to action on why they should contact you, buy the product or get more information.

There are ways to detect this in your code and doing it safely.    Don’t redirect them to certain pages as if done incorrectly Google may flag you for cloaking.  Simply make your page dynamic in a way that you can display information that is more beneficial to the user based on the information you have gathered about the source and other details.

Using the geographical data:

-Use the geographical data to produce a call to action or geographical based sale or deal.

-Funnel this user to an optimizated landing page for there location.  Perform split testing to see if your users are attracted to there location (city, state or zip).

Don’t redirect users on your home page based on there location, Google may think you are cloaking and flag you, put you in there supplemental index or even ban you if they think it’s a malicious act.  Simply change content or calls to action only!

How this applies to SEO:

The whole goal of SEO is really to get more traffic and convert that traffic.  Anything that includes producing more online sales or conversions boils down to optimizing your website so that users buy your product or service or at least contact you about it.  If you are able to taylor your website to each individual and display things in a way that it would apply to there location, situation or emotion you would.  You need to take as much given information about your user and use it to your advantage.  This also includes refering pages, referring search engines, keywords etc…

Thanks

Nick Julia

Phoenix Web Design Company – Phoenix Website Design – Scottsdale Website Design

Advantages of using WordPress:

-With a little bit of web knowledge and know how, you can customize the content and look of the site yourself, no webmaster needed.

-Automates alot of the busy work associated with the website.

-Plugins are available to do thing that otherwise would have cost alot more money (SEO, Contact Forms, etc…).

-it’s usually cheaper than making a website from scratch depending on how complicated the layout is.

-Automatically submits to search engines!!

Disadvantages of using WordPress:

-Your website isn’t truly custom unless you develop a custom skin for it.

-Some things that you want to do with the site may be unobtainable due the nature of wordpress and your technical ability.

-You can almost always tell a site is built with wordpress which sometimes confuses users when identifying with websites.

I would recommend WordPress to individuals or business’s who meet the following criteria:

-Smaller website budget.

-Want to edit the content themselves and not have to use a webmaster for those type of edits.

-Don’t mind the possibility of seeing other websites on the internet that may look similar to yours.

Overall, WordPress is a somewhat complex program to setup if you don’t have any previous web or database knowledge, but once setup and running it’s easy to learn and fairly straight forward to customize.  If you are looking for a custom wordpress website or need a free quote, give us a call and we will give you a free estimate that same day.
Thanks

Things to know when looking for an SEO Company:

-Google is very smart, if there was a way to get #1 overnight everyone would do it.  If your industry isn’t competitive or is in a very niche market, than you will probably see results quicker than most, but overnight just doesn’t happen.  SEO is like fine wine, it only gets better with age.

-#1 rankings can’t be guaranteed for anybody.  SEO is all about a bunch of little things making up one giant SEO powerhouse.  On page optimization alone won’t get you to the top, nor will just link building without on page optimization.

-Reports, Reports, Reports.  We don’t reuquire contracts or other things of that nature.  We ask all of our customers for at least 2-6 months to really gain some traction, and after that it’s up to them.  If the customer isn’t getting the results they would like then fire us.  You should never have to sign a contract, but should always allow an SEO company to have a few months to gain some traction.  SEO doesnt happen overnight.  Your SEO company should give you reports at any frequency you wish  so you can measure the success of your SEO campaign.  If an SEO company is hesitant to provide you with reports than you should be weary about using them.

-If you are in a highly competitive market, be patient.  Markets such as real estate, mortgages, insurance or travel etc… require extra time as these industries are very competitive in on the search engine and require more attention/work.

Other things to consider when choosing an SEO company are it’s current customers and there industries.  Ethical SEO companies wouldn’t provide SEO to directly competing companies as it would be a conflict of interest.

If you would like a free website SEO analysis from Epic Web Solutions, call or email us at anytime.

sales@epicwebaz.com

Office:  623-252-3584