6 Reasons Small Businesses Should Use a Professional Web Developer
The Internet has given small businesses a chance to compete with the big boys. It’s made for new methods of marketing that are less costly and quicker to deploy, and large companies don’t have a monopoly on going viral. At the same time, the Internet is a crowded space, and unless you’ve stumbled on a truly unique product or service, you’re competing to be heard with a lot of other companies in your niche. Hiring a professional web developer can help your small business stand out and expand. Here are six reasons small businesses should hire professional website developers.
1. They Can Keep Up with New Technology
Technology is evolving at lightning speed, and there’s not enough time in the day for you to keep up with every new advancement while also running your business. Good web developers understand where the Internet is headed and how to keep up with its inexorable progress. Hiring a professional web developer means that your site will have the latest features, like RSS feeds and video content, and that they’ll work properly. You want to keep on the cutting edge of the web, and professional designers understand how to position you there.
2. They Can Optimize Your Site for Search Engines
SEO, or search engine optimization, is one of the most important aspects of doing business on the Internet. You need to set up your site so that it will be favorably positioned among the results on search engines when people search for keywords that are relevant to your product. Studies have shown that your performance on search engines directly affects your products, and ranking high for desirable keywords isn’t something an amateur web developer knows how to do. A professional can optimize your site and content to make sure potential customers navigate to your site before they even see your competitors’.
3. They Can Handle Emergencies
If your website is good, you’ll find yourself relying on it for important aspects of your business. A massive influx of traffic during a product launch is a nightmare for an an inexperienced webmaster, but professional developers know how to deal with issues like this, so you don’t miss out on a single sale.
4. They’ll Make Sure Your Site Works on Mobile
You want a quality website, regardless of the device your users are accessing it on. This means the development process can’t just focus on the desktop version of your site. Web developers understand how to make sites responsive, meaning they adjust to the device they’re being viewed on. With the percentage of mobile web traffic steadily increasing, this is important if you want your site to have any positive impact on your business.
5. They Understand Scalability
Your business may be small now, but if you’re successful, it’s likely to expand. If your site isn’t scalable, it won’t be able to handle the growth of your business. Professional web developers can make your starter site so that it’s designed to progress along with your business, and they can help you add features like custom search and payment processing to cope with increased traffic and purchases.
6. They’ll Make You Something Original
Creating your own website is certainly possible, but unless you come from a professional web development background, you’ll have to take some shortcuts that will impact the outcome. It’s likely that your resulting website will be generic and unimpressive, and won’t function as well as a professionally developed site. Web developers know how to build a site from the ground up, rather than using a template that thousands of other sites are already built on.
Hiring a professional web developer is worth the expense if your small business needs an original and robust site. Shop around for the best rates, check reviews, and find the one that will work for you.
