Category: Uncategorized

WordPress vs. Wix

WordPress vs. Wix

When it comes to choosing a platform for your website, there is no easy choice. The majority of websites nowadays operate on a content management system or prefab infrastructure, rather than being entirely coded from scratch. The two most popular systems are WordPress and Wix. WordPress has been in the industry much longer and has millions of more users than Wix. But Wix is a worthy contender that offers a great package. Below is an infographic with some of the basic difference between the WordPress and Wix. Please note that some of the “Thumbs Ups” may in fact be negative for you, depending on your application. Likewise, some of the “Thumbs Downs” may turn out to be positive for your needs.

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Website design for small business

Website design for small business

It’s hard to be a small business, but also very rewarding. When you run a small business there are many things that you need to do that are often times outside of your area of expertise. But, whether you like it or not, to be successful you either need to pay a lot of money to a lot of different companies, or you need to learn to skills yourself. Website design for small business is one of those things.

As a small business you need an awesome presence on the internet to promote your company. There are three ways of making this happen.

Small Business Web Design Options

  1. You develop and maintain your online presence entirely on your own. Many small businesses do this. You learn the basics of webdesign and social media, and do your best on the web. Website platforms like Wix are great for this. There are of course drawbacks to this approach. Namely, if you’re not a webdesign pro, then the website you are able to build will only take you so far. So you need to decide where to invest your resources.
  2. You outsource it all. You find a great digital marketing company to really take things to the next level with first rate marketing and SEO strategies. There is of course a price tag connected with this option, and sometimes it can be pretty hefty. The benefit of course is that you can get a top of the line digital product. But you need to decide the extent to which this is necessary for your business mode, and what you can afford.
  3. You take the middle road. You hire a website designer to do the initial setup of your website, and then you do the updates and maintenance moving forward. Many digital marketing companies will even provide some training so that you are empowered to manage your own website once it has been created.

There’s no one approach to website design for small business. You need to know your talents, weaknesses, and your budget and time availability.

At Designer Pro Marketing, we’re happy to help you with whichever approach is right for you. Get in touch and we’ll figure it out together.

5 Reasons to use WordPress

5 Reasons to use WordPress

If you’re new to the world of website design, the options can be overwhelming. There are so many different ways to build a website that a person can often get lost in a sea of choices. Even if you choose to hire a website designer rather than do the design and development yourself, you still need to make some critical decisions. You’d never walk into a car dealership and just announce, “I need a new vehicle” with no clarity on whether you want a coupe or SUV, a budget car or luxury model. Likewise it is best to have some direction when it comes to the type of website you need before building the website. In another article, we’ll provide some basic direction for how to plan a website, and what types of questions you should ask a developer before the project begins.

This article is dedicated to one thing only – the benefits of choosing WordPress.

DISCLAIMER: Designer Pro Marketing makes NO money from WordPress.com. We do not do affiliate sales. We gain nothing if you choose WordPress. We design WordPress sites, Wix sites, and a whole slew of other options. Bottom line, we have no skin in the game should you decide to take this recommendation.

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution in website design. WordPress is not for everyone. Large companies like Nike and Apple should develop their own sites. Advanced web applications with large database development and algorithms probably also need their own proprietary development. But for the rest of us, WordPress is an awesome choice.

When building a website, there are many things to consider. Front and center is deciding the basic architecture of the website. How will the information be organized and presented? Years ago website designers would code each site from basically scratch. This is generally no longer the case. Instead, there are existing systems that are used to form the backbone of most websites. These systems allow for greater functionality and security, and are more efficient to manage than the old style of websites. One of the most popular Content Management Systems is WordPress, read more about it here.

WordPress is great, and it’s not just for blogs. The sky is the limit in terms of the applications for WordPress websites. Below are the top 5 reasons to create a WordPress website.

1. Easy to Update and Change

One of the great benefits is that once the website is up and running, almost anyone can learn how to regularly update and maintain it. That saves you time and money, because you will not need a website designer to always make The changes to your website. In fact, many developers will provide a free training so that once the site is up and running, you know how to maintain it yourself. Further, there are hundreds of great, free tutorials on YouTube for WordPress.

Think of your website like a plant or tree in a garden. The soil needs to be prepared before planting, the right variety must be planted in a fitting climate, and it must have the correct look and feel for your garden. But once its planted, it needs to be watered, pruned and cared for. Your website is no different. You need to update and add content, and tweak things as your business changes, and your online needs change.

Since WordPress is so easy to learn, it makes regular updates easy. It’s true, Wix is even easier to learn, see here for a bit on Wix, but WordPress has additional features – keep reading – that make it our number one pick.

2. WordPress is Free

There is no monthly, annual or any other costs involved with using the WordPress platform. There is a cost to hire a designer and there can be costs with certain premium plugins. However WordPress itself is free to use. You can choose to have your WordPress site hosted on the WordPress.com platform, for a fee, but this is not necessary. There are also many hosting companies that provide dedicated WordPress hosting, also for additional fees above and beyond their basic hosting packages. But this is also not necessary. WordPress hosting is nice, and provides security solutions and customer service specifically tailored to WordPress sites. But many, many WordPress sites operate just fine with standard hosting packages.

There are many content management systems that cost money, and they promise all sorts of functionality. But the truth is, most of that can be found in WordPress. And its free. It’s hard to beat free.

3. WordPress is Great for SEO

Once you build your website, you need people to be able to find it on the internet. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. You want your website designed in such a way that the search engines will be able to index your site and show your content at the top of searches. WordPress sites tend to rank higher than sites built on other platforms (there’s lots of literature, and argument, about how WordPress SEO compares with Wix SEO). Now the devil is of course in the details because much care and attention needs to be placed on an SEO strategy in order to really do well. But the best strategy will fall short if the infrastructure of the website itself is not optimized for SEO. A WordPress site will get you off to a good start.

4. There are Thousands of Plugins

Let’s say that you want to add an automatic scheduler or chat feature to your website. All you need to do is search through the many plugins until you find what you need. Sometimes you do need a website designer to help you find the right plugin and install and customize it, but more often than not you can find what you need among the thousands of plugins. You can add really great functionality to your site without having to pay a developer big bucks to build something from scratch.

When you search through the plugins, WordPress tells you how many sites are using each plugin and when the plugin was last updated. So for example, if you search for an automatic emailer plugin, 50 options may come up. One plugin on the list may have 200 thousand installations and have been updated last month, and another plugin may have 100 installations and have been last updated two years ago. (All things being equal, the former option, with many more installations and more recent updates, would be the winner.)

5. It’s Easy to Change Designs

Every now and then, people like to change the look of their website. Well, guess what? With WordPress, you can easily choose a new theme, and with the push of a button can you change the entire look of your website. There is a bit more to it than that depending on what type of plugins you are running and which theme you choose. But in essence, changing themes is very doable. More often than not you don’t need to do complex coding and backups to make the switch. So when your website is ready for a facelift, the process can be pretty smooth and painless.

There are thousands of free themes (templates) available, and thousands of themes available for purchase. The majority of themes have free versions, which can be upgraded to the pay version for increased functionality. Every theme can be modified. Colors and dimensions can be changed, images swapped out, and almost every part of the theme can be changed if needed. All the code is available to you, and you, or a hired web designer, can change anything and everything.

If you see a website that you like, copy the URL and past it into the search box of this website. This site will tell you if the website in question is a WordPress site, and if it is, you will be able to see which theme the site is using and all the plugins that it has. So if your competitor has a really cool feature on their website, it’s very easy to figure out what it is, and how to either replicate that function on your website, or improve on it.

Well, those are 5 great reasons to use WordPress! Are you ready to build a WordPress website? Contact us to get started.

Massage website templates

Massage website templates

If you’re in need of a great website for your massage business to boost sales and interact with your clients online, then this article is a must read!

One of the fastest growing industries in the US is the massage and spa marketplace. After all, who doesn’t like a good massage?! More and more Americans are understanding that staying in shape includes not only a good diet and exercise, but also rest and relaxation. And business minded Americans are capitalizing on this. Starting a massage therapy company does not require large capital, and is therefore an attainable business model for many people. Check out this article for more details. Our massage website templates will help you achieve your goals of getting your massage business online and reaching your customers where they are.

COVID-19 and Massage Therapy

In the new world of COVID-19, your website is more important than ever, This is for two main reasons. First, people are doing more research online than ever before. Rather than window shopping and walking into stores, they are checking out businesses online. Therefore your online presence is super important. It used to be that the decor in your reception room could help attract and retain clients. Now, the color scheme of your website and its responsiveness is what gets your customers to visit. The world has changed, and so must your marketing and business strategy.

Second, people are afraid to get massages because they don’t know if they will contract COVID-19 as a result. They have many questions. Will the massage therapist be wearing a mask? Are they going to be asked to wear a mask? Will they need to have their temperature taken or will there be any other clients sitting in the waiting room? You can put their mind at ease an answer all of these important questions on your website.

But let’s start at the beginning.

A website that matches your business needs

Massage therapy comes in many different forms, as do the business models associated with these businesses. There are of course the big franchises like Massage Envy, Hand and Stone, and Elements. And there are the solo practitioners, and boutique massage parlors. If you want to purchase a massage franchise, you’ll need some money, to the tune of 400 thousand dollars or so. But it could be a great business to get into for the right person

Some people prefer receiving treatments from the brand name franchises, and others prefer more personalized services of smaller massage businesses. Many massage enthusiasts will tell you that at the end of the day the most important thing is to find a massage therapist you connect with. And when you find that right person, you stick with them whether they are working at a large franchise or in their own private practice.

For all massage business models, a well designed website is super important. It drives clients to you and keeps them coming back. And it allows you to provide an easy and convenient way for your customers to book appointments and pay for services.

It is very important that the tone of your website matches the type of business that you run. If you are a franchise, for example, the look and feel of the website should be different than if you are a solo practitioner. Do you want to give off an earthy feel or an elegant feel? Maybe you want people to see your website and think you are a fancy spa, or maybe you want them to think that you are a quick, no thrills affordable massage parlor.

Massage Website Templates

There are some really great free massage website templates available as WordPress themes. At Designer Pro Marketing we have additional massage website templates that we offer massage companies which can be customized. Our templates have a design that lets your clients know that they can trust you. When they visit your website they know they will receive an elegant, top of the the line service. Our templates allow you to keep track of your clients, offer special promotions, and manage online bookings.

Get in touch with us and we’re happy to help you build something special!

Top Five Reasons to build a website in 24 hours.

Top Five Reasons to build a website in 24 hours.

24 hour web design sounds crazy, we get that. But once you read this piece you”ll see how it makes more sense than you first thought.

You need a website, and you need a great webdesign expert who will build the perfect site for you. The problem is that you don’t know where to begin. (By the way, check out our post on choosing a domain name) Do you save some money and build something yourself using platforms like Wix, or by learning the basics of WordPress? Or do you hire a top of the line graphic and website design company to do it for you? How much emphasis do you place on SEO (whatever that is!) and how exactly do you go about sharing your new website with current and future clients? What is the balance between finding affordable webdesign and something that is very high quality? So many questions, and definitely a bit overwhelming!

To solve all these problems we suggest 24 hours website design! Sounds crazy, right? One day website design sounds like you’ll be rushing into a second rate marketing product that will be waste of time and resources. But it’s not, when done right! There’s great wisdom to building your website in one day. Let’s explain.

Disclaimer: If you are a massive corporation, or require advanced app development, this is not for you! But for everyone else, from small to midsize companies, e-commerce and personal websites, this is a strategy worthy of your consideration.

24 Hour Web Design

  1. Most people wait too long before going live with a website. Precisely because there are so many variables and options when it comes to developing an online presence, people delay getting online. It’s not uncommon to spend a lot of money on a website, deliberate over the details far too long, and then not even be satisfied with the end product once it goes live. All that time, energy and effort translates into a loss of money and wasted opportunity. So instead of taking 3-6 months on building a website, we suggest rapidly developing it in 24 hours, or shortly thereafter. Once it’s up and running, with all the webdesign infrastructure in place for future expansion and development if needed, you will have a necessary component of your business strategy in place. You will also now have a better frame of reference for further website development, and can spend the next 3-6 months improving, rather than beginning.

    Pro Tip: When you visit graphic design companies websites you will notice that many of them like showing off their portfolios and previous accomplishments. By doing so, visitors can get a good sense of their work and understand what type of product or service they will be getting. But here’s what you can do! Check out these portfolios and find a site that you like, then contact the graphic design company or website agency and ask them how much it will cost and what it would take to roughly reproduce that website.
    aged website
  2. A website should be aged, like a good wine or cheese. Developing a strong online presence takes time. You can not climb the search engine ranks overnight, even if you hire the most experienced webdesign expert. If you want to be ranked number one in google for a particular niche, it could take 3-6 months or longer. So the more time it takes you to build a website, the more time it will take to get ranked. If you have a web designer build your website in 24 hours then you will immediately begin that aging process. (It is possible to purchase a domain name that already exists to speed up this process, see here.)

    webdesign strategy
  3. Your website can teach you a lot about your customers. A strong website and online presence creates an easy way for future customers and clients to learn about you and your product. But it also creates a powerful way for you to learn about them, and the market. If you work with a good web designer, then once your website is active you can see what types of people are interested in you and your product. For example, you may think that Millennials in San Francisco are your primary market, when in fact Baby Boomers in Seattle are the ones perusing your website in the greatest numbers. Or, you think that “new and improved” is the most effective way of marketing a new product, when in fact “hot off the press” gains far more online traction. These data points can greatly help you focus your general sales strategy. Why wait for this critical feedback? If you get your webdesign completed while your company is in its infancy you will be more knowledgeable and targeted in your business practices. Tools like Google Search Console are great for learning all these things.

    24 hour webdesign
  4. A day without a website is a day lost. You never know when you are going to meet someone who could be invaluable to you, or who could become a loyal customer or a trusted partner. But without a website, you will not be able to maximize that opportunity. Have you ever met someone in either a social or business context and then checked them out on Google or Facebook afterwards? Well, they do the same for you! And when they check you out, what will they find? Why not control the message, and get your name and company out there the way that you want? If it takes you 6 months to a year to build a website, then you will have lost many valuable leads, contacts and customers. Use a great web designer to build the website now, fast and in 24 hours, and your most important networking tool will already be working for you.

    webdesign fast 24 hours
  5. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today! How many great projects don’t happen because the task seems too difficult, or we just keep procrastinating and delaying? Sometimes our best ideas die just because we don’t get around to bringing them to fruition. The solution is often to just jump in and take immediate action. So create an artificial deadline – 24 hours – and get your website up today, or it may never happen!

After reading all this, 24 hour web design doesn’t sound so crazy after all!

Are you ready now for one day website design?

At Designer Pro Marketing we an build you a website in one day. Our team has built many awesome ecommerce websites on a variety of platforms. And we can guarantee a 24 hour turnaround time without sacrificing quality. We have worked with many small businesses to produce beautiful websites that successfully market their businesses. Get in touch with us to learn more!

Website design layout

Website design layout

People spend a lot of time thinking about website design layout. In fact, they spend too much time thinking about it. In 2020 there should only be one determining factor for choosing a website design layout. Is it responsive? That is, how does it appear when viewed on a cellphone or tablet as compared to a PC. A responsive website has the ability to change its content and layout based on what type of device it’s accessed with.

Not all website layouts are responsive, and not all website layouts present well on smaller screens. But the truth of the matter is that a majority of people view websites from their phones. So doesn’t it make sense to design a website with this in mind? If your website looks beautiful on a big computer screen, but people rarely view it like that, then what’s the point?!

When our own website designers build websites, one of their top priorities is to make sure that it’s responsive. So when we choose or develop WordPress themes for our clients, or build out websites on any other platform, we always stress the importance of responsiveness.

User experience on different devises

When people browse a website from their computers, they generally have more time and patience. They are sitting down at home or in the office, or even accessing the website on their TV. Presentation is important, and your website needs to be appealing and thorough.

It’s a different story when people connect to your website from their phones. They could be on the train or in the elevator. They don’t always have as much time, and do to the smaller screen size, can’t be inundated with too much content at the same time.

The different user experiences should help guide the development of the website for these different platforms. For example, we will sometimes limit website menu options for mobile users to just a few consolidated choices so that they are not overwhelmed with information and just leave the website entirely.

The Bottom Line

Do yourself a favor! When you explore website design layouts, don’t focus too much on building an aesthetically beautiful website. Focus on building a responsive one!

Internet Marketing Services

Internet Marketing Services

Internet marketing services is a pretty broad term which can mean just about anything. Many companies seek out internet marketing to improve sales, to generate new leads, and to build their brand. The problem is that it is very easy to spend a lot of money on internet marketing services that do not bring the desired results. So below we list the four broad areas of internet marketing, as we define them, how they differ from each other, and their benefits and challenges.

NUMBER ONE – DIGITAL ADVERTISING

Just like when people walk into a retail store the merchandise is arranged in a promotional way, so too on the internet you need to promote your product. Just like there are sale signs displayed in the store and mailed out to the customers, so too there are digital advertisements displayed to online customers. The fundamentals of digital advertising are no different than any other form of advertising. The only difference is that it’s digital.

Location – Your website (which we can help you build!)

Benefits – By far the greatest benefit of digital advertising is that you can reach far more people than any other advertising modality. Additionally, it is easier to produce and distribute the ads, and it is easier to measure their reach and success. Once upon a time you needed to hire an advertising agency to develop, print and mail advertisements. That could take weeks to months. You wouldn’t always even know if the ads got lost in the mail or actually made it to their intended recipients. Digital ads are created and deployed effectively within days. They are tracked and quantified. When a person visits your website, their activity, whether they realize it or not, is being tracked. You can find out which products they looked at, and even how long they looked at each one. If you have a new sale being advertised on your site, you can measure who clicks on the ad. There are many benefits to digital advertising.

Challenges – The greatest challenge is that since digital ads reach such a wide audience, companies often fail to narrow that audience to their target audience that really matters. This is where search marketing and social media marketing come in (see below!).

NUMBER TWO – CREATIVE AND BRANDING

Think Superbowl ads. Sometimes a creative video or image can boost a product or brand in a way that a billboard or newspaper advertisement just can’t do. Digital advertising is a robust field with all sorts of new technologies to reach consumers in new ways. Digital advertising can appeal to all the senses when print ads can feel flat and ordinary. A well placed digital ad can make a product seem trendy or can make a brand go viral. Once upon a time salesmen would go door to door selling their wares (that didn’t work out so well for Willy Loman). It was the charismatic personality of the salesman that would sell the product, not the merits of the product alone. Digital marketing is almost a return to that era. When a Youtube star or Football player promotes a product on TV or online, it is their selling power that seals the deal. Not the product.

Location – The video or image you produce.

Benefits – The price of entry is relatively low given the amount of creative service providers. And the cost of sharing your creation with the world is sometimes even 100% percent free. When something successfully goes viral, your advertising work and cost is minimal.

Challenges – Standing out and being unique can be a challenge because there are just so many people with great ideas. Since the cost of entry is so low, there is far more competition.

NUMBER THREE – SEARCH MARKETING

This is what separates the pros from the novices. Most information on the internet comes from internet searches like Google. Some people may know your domain name and visit you online directly. However many of you visitors come from search engines. But your website will not place high in search engine results without a lot of SEO work on your part. It’s an art and a science. And it is a big deal in the world of internet marketing services.

Location – Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines.

Benefits – When a person finds you through a search engine it generally means that he or she is interested in something that you are selling. If someone types the words, “I need a new car” into google and your site pops up, then you now have a visitor looking for the product that you sell. That’s great. People who arrive at your site from search engines are not “window shoppers.” More often than not they mean business. But that does not mean that they will necessarily buy from you. Whether you can close the deal is another discussion entirely!

Challenges – Good SEO is a lot of work. You can’t build a website today and expect it to rank number one on Google tomorrow. If an internet marketing service promises you this, run the other way.

NUMBER FOUR – SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

People spend way too much time on social media. They’re probably better off reading a book or hanging out at the beach than looking at pictures of their second cousin’s new cat. But that’s the world we live in so we might as well take advertising advantage. The trick to social media marketing is that rather than just hoping that someone sees your beautiful ad, you bring the ad to them. Social media makes it easy to find groups of people.

Location – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram and other platforms.

Benefits – In the real world you can not walk up to a group of people eating dinner in a restaurant and pitch them your product. But on the internet you can! That’s social media marketing. It is so easy to find people who all identify with a certain demographic, background or interest so that you can share your digital materials with them.

Challenges – Unlike search marketing, these people are not coming to you. You are going to them. Therefore they have not been self selected as interested at all in what you are selling. So you need to work much harder at finding a message that is of interest to them.

Before you begin web design, you need to know this

Before you begin web design, you need to know this

Domain Names 101

Every good website needs a domain name. Very often people focus exclusively on web design without investing the right amount of research into choosing a good domain name. The domain name is basically like the sign hanging outside in front of a brick and mortar shop. If the sign looks good, people may be tempted to enter the shop. Likewise, if the domain name is catchy and well represents your business then you”ll have a much easier time at attracting new business. Below are 5 essential points to consider when choosing a domain name.

  1. Decide whether you want to buy a new domain name or purchase an old domain name on the resale market. Unlike used cars, old domain names are actually more valuable than new domain names. The reason for this is that a domain name builds up value over time in its ability to rank high in online searches. The number of credible back links, age of the domain name and other factors are the cause of this. Purchasing an old domain name requires a good amount of research to make sure that it is a good buy. Sometimes the cost is not worth the value. However, an old domain name can save you many months, if not years, of SEO work and development. It’s of course critical to follow a couple of key guidelines when looking for old domain names, including purchasing one in your niche. If you are a plumber then purchasing a high ranking accounting firm domain name will be of little help. There are many places to purchase old domains names, though one of the best places is Expireddomains.net.
  2. Before you settle on a domain name, check its availability on different platforms and also see what happens when you type it into search engines like google. In addition to your website, you want to have social media presence to bolster your exposure and your SEO. It is always best if your name is consistent across all these platforms. When you type your proposed name into a search engine what happens? If it brings up products or services in your niche, then that’s great. But if it by default brings up things that are not at all related to your niche, you may have a harder time optimizing. If it brings up pages that are already connected to your online presence, then even better.
  3. When it comes to web design, it is very often the out of the box, unique designs and messages that get noticed. This is probably the case in all of advertising. And it is no different when choosing a domain name. If your domain name is catchy, people will remember it and look you up online. If your domain name succinctly expresses who you are, then that’s great too. Sometimes the bet domain name is your name or the name of your company. And sometimes something more generic like Springfield Lawyer will work well.
  4. Make sure you follow some Domain Name basic rules of etiquette. .com are the best for businesses, and in general the best all around. Unless you are a non profit (.org), school (.edu) or government agency (.gov), your should get a .com. You can save money by getting a different domain name like .net or .info. However, unless a web developer tells you there is a significant SEO advantage in these other extensions, you want to stick with a .com when available.
  5. Good SEO sometimes starts with a good domain name. If you are a plumber, then having the word plumber in your domain name is helpful. As a digital marketing agency, we deliberately chose our business name to include the word marketing, and we likewise include it in our domain name – designerpromarketing.com. Web design is not just an art, it’s also a science. Part of that science is choosing a domain name that sets you up for success.

A Website Design for You

A Website Design for You

Your website needs to stand out. It needs to grab the attention of the audience, and most importantly, it needs to have a call to action. Maybe you want your viewers to buy a product, maybe you want them to sign up for a newsletter, or maybe you want them to click through on your links. Whatever the call to action is, the website needs to be structured in such a way to accomplish your goals. Below are the top 5 design considerations that we talk with our clients about when we begin a website design:

1. In one sentence, tell us what you want to accomplish through your website. One sentence. If you are not clear on what you want, then it will be impossible to achieve success, and even harder to measure any success. Website design comes in many different forms and therefore, the more clarity and direction that you can provide, the more your site will fit your needs. Sometimes clients just don’t know what their options are and don’t speak the “webdesign lingo.” That’s ok!! But what you do know is your own business, organization or cause. That’s all you need to know. If a web designer uses jargon and technical terms that you don’t understand, ask them to explain. And if you still don’t understand, ask them to explain again. The bottom line is that building a great website means staying focused on your bottom line goals, and not being distracted by complicated terms that you don’t understand.

2. Decide what design framework and content management system you want to use for your website. In general, web designers do not code webdesigns from scratch. Very rarely is a person sitting down to blank screen and typing out lines of computer code to form a professional looking website. There are a wide variety of content management systems that are used to give websites functionality, stability and efficient management. WordPress is probably the most common. Many WordPress themes are free, many are available for a price. A good designer can also customize WordPress themes to meet the specific needs of the client. There are thousands of themes available at WordPress, and thousands more available on other websites. If you see a theme that you like, you can either ask a web designer to use or customize that theme, or you can them to develop a theme similar to that one.

3. How important is SEO for your website? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is a term used for the extent to which your website will pop up in online searches. So for example, if your company sells furniture in Miami, when a person types into google “Miami furniture stores,” will your website pop up? The more SEO, the greater the chance that your website will both appear as one of the results, and will appear at the top of the list. SEO is an important factor in website design because some design are not SEO friendly. A website, for example, with a lot of Flash Content and JavaScript issues will not do well with SEO. So if SEO is important to you, then you should look for designs that are optimized for this.

4. A website design that is manageable. Websites need to be updated, especially if SEO is an important factor in your online presence. Therefore, choose a website design that you will be able to update and add content. Some people like managing their own website, and some people like hiring a website designer to do the updates. Either way, make sure that when you develop a website, it is one that can easily be modified and updated. This again is the benefit of WordPress site for example, as they tend to be pretty easy to update.

5. A website design that is responsive. A majority of the people who visit your website will be browsing from their cellphone or tablet. Therefore, your website needs to load properly, and fast, on those devices. Websites that load differently based on the devise that they are viewed on are called Responsive. In 2020, if your website is not Responsive then you are doing something wrong, and your website will suffer as a result. So when you look for a website design that you like, make sure to view it on both a PC as well as a cellphone to make sure that it will appear properly.