WEBSITE DESIGN AGENCY TORONTO

Top 5 tips to look for when hiring a Toronto website designer

Hiring a Toronto website designer is one of the first steps all entrepreneurs make before launching their new business, however Toronto is filled with thousands of web designers, how do you know which one to pick? In order to figure out who is the best fit, you have to have a criteria of what you are looking for, to make it easier, I’ve listed some key points you should look for when hiring any Toronto website designer for your brand new business.

1. Do they have good taste in web design

2. Do they know how to “market” your website

3. Do they have good communication skills

4. Do they have previous experience helping small businesses grow

5. Do they genuinely care about your business

Let’s start with number 1, hiring a good Toronto website designer that has a good eye for aesthetics is important because your website is one of the first touchpoints your future client will make before they interact with you 1on1, your website should communicate your branding, your message and the look and feel of your business. Having a website for your business that looks like it was built in the 90’s is not the best way to make a good impression on your future customers, however if your website looks like it was done professionally, it will help you make a good first impression on your new customers. Remember they are going to compare your website with your competitor’s website, you want to make sure you stand out from the competitors and you want to be in a position where you are outdoing your competition. Business is tough and everyone is competing on margins, let your future customers know that you are serious about your business and that you care about your image. 

Number 2 does your Toronto website designer know how to market your website once it’s launched and completed. You want to make sure that your Toronto website designer is knowledgeable in SEO, Google ads and social media marketing, working with a web designer that also knows marketing makes all the difference in the world, because he or she will have an understanding of what design styles and layouts “convert” at a higher rate then other low impact design styles, also you wanna make sure that your website is not just sitting there collecting digital dust on the internet. By having a full-service web design and marketing agency by your side, you can expect that your website will not only be designed to look great, but will also help you to generate inbound leads and sales on a consistent monthly basis so that you can focus on growing your business and not finding new customers. 

Hire a Toronto website designer that can lay out a marketing strategy post website launch date so that once the website is live, you can start getting new customers for your business in a matter of days, after all the purpose of a website is to help you generate leads and sales. 

Since you are going to be working with your website designer & marketer, you will be in constant communication on a monthly basis, it’s important to work with people that you like and have good rapport with them. Hire the agency that has good communication skills and are easy to get along with, since this is a long-term relationship, you wanna enjoy interacting with the people that are going to help you grow your business. Hiring a Toronto website designer that you don’t get along with, will make it more difficult for you to achieve your major milestones moving forward. Best way to know is trust your gut feeling, if you are getting good vibes from your Toronto website designer, it’s probably a good fit. 

Number 4 is do they have experience helping small businesses grow. During your consultation, you should be asking your Toronto website designer , if they have worked with any local business in your area and if they were able to create a successful outcome, for example did they build a website and marketing strategy that was able to get the client consistent sales/leads? If yes, then you know you’ve found the right web designer to work with. You want to see proof of the results because after all that’s what entrepreneurs get paid for, delivering results. 

Do they genuinely care about your success? During your meeting with your Toronto website designer and marketer, they should be offering you suggestions and tips during the meeting that adds value to your project, are they giving you specific industry tips that’s going to help you get more results, they should be voluntarily offering you tips and strategies to implement on your website because as a new business owner, you won’t necessarily know what the right questions to ask are. 

So you should keep an eye out and see if the Toronto website designer is coming up with great advice that’s going to be of value to you. When it comes to working in a B2B setting, it’s important to have a win-win mindset, the agency should be on the lookout for ways to make your business a success and not have the mindset of just making a quick buck and moving on to the next project. 

If you choose to hire your Toronto website designer on a monthly basis to do your marketing, they should be encouraging you to book monthly meetings to discuss new strategies on how to move your business to the next level. Look for passionate web designers that absolutely love what they do, those are the ones that are going to give you the best outcome possible, are they excited about your project? If they are looking forward to having you as their next success story in their portfolio, then you’ve got a good agency right in front of you.

TOP 5 IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF GREAT WEBSITE DESIGN

PHOTOGRAPHY

The images on your website play a big role on the look and feel of your website, but apart from that, from our extensive A/B testing, having the right images on your website or landing pages can influence the overall conversion rate of your website. The saying holds true, a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think we need to update that phrase and change it to the right picture is worth the right 1000 words that can make or break your conversion rates. 

We’ve done tests on some of our client’s websites and found that simply testing different images at the top of the pages can effect the conversion rates upto 30-40 percent, it’s important that moving forward as your Toronto website designer handles your digital marketing on a monthly basis, that they split test different image variations to see which versions convert the best for your specific product or service. 

VIDEO

Do you know what’s the number 1 strategy to turn your website into a closing machine? You guessed it, it’s video. Imagine 2 websites exactly the same, one has a video introduction of the people that run the business, their brand story, intro of their products and services etc and another website doesn’t have any videos whatsoever. Which site are you more likely to trust and engage with? now it’s not enough to just have any old video, you need one that is properly done, good lighting, good script, high resolution, fun, engaging depending on the type of business you have will dictate the tone of your video, but regardless of what business you are in, having a video is guaranteed to improve your conversion rates. 

You know what’s another added benefit of having video? The longer people stay on your website or landing page, the higher the chances of them buying something and guess what, Google tracks this and determines the quality of your website based on how long people stay on your site, if people stay on your site for 5 seconds, that is a clear indication to Google that your website is not relevant, but if people stay on your site, check multiple pages and engage with your site, Google will assume you have a quality site and give you a better ranking in the search results pages. 

Consider making the investment and hiring a good videographer to produce some amazing video for your business, or just grab your smartphone and start shooting some great clips on your own. As your Toronto website designers, we know the best videographers in the city and can recommend them to you depending on the type of business you have, just let us know.

COPYWRITING

Creating words that sell your products and services is another primary focus that all the top Toronto website designers are consciously aware of. We have tested multiple variations of different headlines and body text with A/B testing and seen real proof just how much of an impact your conversions can improve just by using good copywriting tactics. 

Now as your Toronto website designers we can suggest some great copywriting tricks for your website and test their performance on a monthly basis and update with new variations, this is something that we recommend doing on a monthly basis since the only way to know what variations of text converts best for your specific audience is by testing over the course of a few months. Keep this in mind, small changes in your copywriting can help increase your website conversions by 20-40 percent, don’t overlook this one critical element and make sure the Toronto website designer you hire has experience in copywriting.

ORGANIZATION

Your website should be easy to navigate for your future customer and they should be able to find the exact information that they need in as few clicks as possible. If you are doing paid advertising on Google or social media, then we as your Toronto website designers will be creating specific landing pages that direct your future customers to the right pages, however it’s important to have good navigation on your website so that people can easily find what they are looking for, ask your website designer their opinion on what a good navigation structure is for your specific type of business/website. See what your top 3 competitors have done and as yourself how you can improve and outdo their website.

CODED VS TEMPLATE BASED

There are many pros and cons to both options however the best option will always be coded, since you have the potential to literally customize anything at any given time and really “future proof” your website as your business grows and expands. However, if you are a small local business and have no plans to expand into multiple countries around the world, then all you need is a simple template-based website and you are off to the races. You can always start of with a template based website use it to generate some revenue and in a few years later once your business is more well established and you plan on taking it to enterprise level, you can always switch over to a custom coded version, either option works fine, it really depends on the exact type of business you have . Consult with your Toronto website designers to see which options is best for you.

At Nordello we are here to help you choose the right packages that’s well suited for your business, we always have website projects coming into our inbox, so we aren’t focused on selling the most expensive package if it’s not actually needed, we pride ourselves with giving our customers multiple options and giving them the right information to make the best decision that’s right for their business.