Without Professional Web Design, Your Customers Will Consider You an Amateur

In most cases, your company's introduction to buyers today is not a visit to your office or a hearty handshake. It's your website.

Unfortunately, many companies that provide superior products and customer service don't put their best foot forward online. These businesses don't realize that visitors today use your website as a proxy in assessing who you are and the quality of work you deliver.

Here are five impressions about your company that your website visitors might get right, or wrong, by assuming your website's design speaks to your brand as a whole.

1. Attractiveness. According to a report by Adobe, 38 percent of people stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive. You wouldn’t roll out of bed five minutes before a new business pitch, put on a rumpled shirt and expect your clients to trust the work you are presenting, right? You want to look your best. So should your website. 
2. Credibility. If your website isn't credible, buyers don't consider your business credible. Studies show that more than half of website visitors base their judgment of your brand's credibility on your site's professionalism.
3. Product quality. A site rife with grammatical and other errors sends a message that you lack attention to detail. Do you similarly lack attention to detail in making your product? It's not an illogical leap for visitors to make. Alternatively, a well-thought-out website experience suggests that you devote the same level of time and effort to your product or service. Every detail counts.
4. Service quality. Do you have a chat function on your website, but allow inquiries to go abandoned or ignored? Do you make it difficult for those who visit your site to find your contact information? Do you lack team pictures that showcase the personal side of your business? These attributes suggest to visitors that you are not service-oriented.
5. Ease of use. A visitor who has difficulty finding what they are looking for on your website, or who finds the experience confusing, might assume your product or service is similarly challenged. A site design that is easy to use, on the other hand, suggests your product or company might be a good choice.

Don’t let a sloppy website be your demise. Make it a solid proof point that your business is one your visitors can trust.