You Shall Know Them By Their Portfolios

Choosing a web designer can be difficult with so many good designers out there today. So how do you go about choosing a website designer? Matthew 7:20 says, “You shall know them by their fruits.” Translate that into business terms and “you shall know them by their portfolio.” What I mean by this is that when you are looking for a good website designer you should always compare their portfolios. Many web developers will showcase some of their works and provide a brief synopsis of the project.

What To Look For In A Portfolio

The primary thing to look for when evaluating a design portfolio is aesthetically pleasing websites. Do the sites you find on a website portfolio grab your attention,  are they colorful and inviting, or if they are not colorful (more monochromatic) do they look clean and professional? There is a whole lot of marketing psychology that goes into a good website design. The color and layout of a site should elicite a call to action by the end user and it is the designers role to draw the end-user to the call to action by utilizing design techniques which include color and layout to achieve this chore.

Another thing that should be considered when browsing and comparing two designers portfolios is the uniqueness or themes of the layouts. Do the designers offer a variety of layouts that vary the designs, or do the sites look “cookie-cuter?” It is not uncommon for designers to use pre-developed themes and then customize these themes for their purposes. It is kind of like building a car with the frame provided, where the designer adds the customizations so that the final product is unique. This saves the designer time and customer money. The question is, does the designer use a variety of different frameworks  for the client to choose from?

Does the portfolio offer a link to the live site? You will want to go in and take a look at live versions of the site to review some of the functionality of the site and see how it works from the end-users perspective. A good website portfolio will tell you about the project, give you a screenshot of the project, and then link you to a working sample of the project or the live project.  This will give you the opportunity to evaluate the site in its completed state.

How does the site perform on the search engines? Can you do a Google search and find the website? While this is the least critical piece, it is comforting to know that the sites built by a designer have Search Engine Optimizations done right out of the chute. Some designers simply build websites and do not focus on the Search Engine Optimization piece. Others, like Adwebvertising, include SEO in every project.

What Makes One Designer Better Than The Other

Really, it boils down to preference and customer service. At the end of the day, what kind of support do you get from the developer. Do they offer ongoing support or do they design your site and cut you loose? Do they offer any solutions for ongoing content development and modifications to your site? If you have reviewed a designers portfolio you might try to contact some of the business owners whose sites are represented in the portfolio and ask them questions about their experiences with their designer. At Adwebvertising, we encourage you to contact any of our clients. We strive to build professional relationships with our clients that go beyond the call of duty. Call any of Adwebvertising’s clients and you will get a glowing report from them to how we made them feel like they were our only customer!

The Adwebvertising Design Philosophy

At Adwebvertising we focus on three primary disign distinctives: aesthetics, functionality, and SEO.

Website Aesthetics

The way your website looks and feels will have a great deal to do with how long your client stays on your website (if at all). We offer very contemporary websites that are easy to look at. We want the natural flow of the site to be intuitive so that the end-users eyes move in the direction that we design the website for. We employ various marketing strategies with every site design to make the overall user experience memorable. Our main purpose in our website design is to promote a favorable action (whether it be a click to a certain page, phone call, form, email, or purchase). These favorable actions result in conversions.  We understand that if 86% of all consumers are searching online for a product or service and nearly half of those end up making a purchase after visiting the company website, it is important that your website direct your client to a strong call-to-action. The old Pert Shampoo commercial was a classic. The slogan was, “You never have a second chance to make a first impression.” We want that first impression to count and so we build websites that have a purpose and that look good while they are fulfilling their purpose.

Website Functionality

Having a great looking website is only as good as it is functional. When we build a website we consider the functionality and navigation of the website design to be equally important facets of web design. If your clients have a hard time finding what they are looking for they will inevitably abandon your website and you will miss out on potential business. In the web design industry we have what is commonly called the 3 Click Rule. It makes sense really, if you think about it. If a client cannot find what they are looking for in three clicks, there is a good chance that they will abandon your site and opt for an alternative site that is easier to navigate. We design sites so that every click counts. When Adwebvertising builds a new website we sift through all of the information that is important to you and your clients and build a navigational structure that makes sense. Sites become more organized and flow much more readily when designing around the navigational heirarchy. A key to good functionality is consistency. We design in such a way that your websites navigational structure is consistent across all pages. Your clients will have a hard time getting lost on your website when they always know exactly where they are.

Website Optimization

Having a beautiful website that is fully functional is awesome, but if your clients can’t find it then your site is not doing its job. You have a great product or service that you want to share to your clients in Houston, you have rich timely content, and a stunning website; now what? We tell our clients your website is like a fancy hotel resort on a beautiful tropical island. Your resort has all of the ameneties and is more than anyone could ever want. The problem is that no one knows where the island resort is!  Having an awesome website design is not enough if you want to get the type of clients and the quantity of clients that the Internet can afford your business. To get people on your website you have to be found on the major search engines. If 86% of all consumers are searching online for a product or service doesn’t it make sense to have your website listed. An interesting study on what is called the Google Golden Triangle proves that being on page one of the search engines at the top is where a majority of the clicks from consumers takes place.

Adwebvertising builds fully optimized websites that garner results on the major search engines. We build our sites following W3C best practices that are recognized to be the standard in our industry. Our custom sites are coded to be search engine friendly and when we build on platforms with content management systems we install all of the bells and whistles that promote solid optimization and quality content. Of course the best optimizations come from building great content. We wordsmith all of the content to be specific to the pages that contain them. We make sure that all of the meta tags are relevant and that the proper keyword density is present. In short, we make sure that every site that we desing is search engine friendly. What this translates to is having your site found when an actively engaged consumer is looking online for your products or services.

Want A Free Consultation To Talk About Your Design?

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