The Difference Between Website Design and Web Development

Currently, we only have 8.25 seconds to capture our customer’s attention before they lose interest in what our brands have to say. That kind of challenge stretches into our online storefronts or websites, especially on how can we create an effective website design and development for local business to keep our visitors interested in order to find more about what we can offer.

But why is a website design important?

Your website design is an integral part of your online marketing presence. But in order to build a better website, you need to understand the role it plays specifically how it impacts your audiences and business.

Lets take a look at these three reasons why web design and development for local business is important.

1. It sets the first impression

Whenever your audience visits your website, they will judge your business within seconds. And in those few seconds, you’d want to get that positive impact from them.

If your online storefront looks unappealing or outdated. That will affect your brand negatively and you’ll undoubtedly miss out on leads.

To be direct,  your web design impacts how your visitors perceives your brand. And it can make a difference on whether they want to learn more about you or leave your page and turn to your other competitors.

2. It aids in your SEO strategy.

Website design and development can be difficult to understand especially if you aren’t familiar with how it works. But simply put, your code, your contents and on-page fundamentals needs to be SEO-friendly in order to turn up in Google’s search engine results pages or SERPs.

This increases your chance to be seen and be found by leads who are currently looking and are interested in your type of service on the web.

3. Your competitors are doing it.

Other than its appeal to your audiences and potential clients, another reason why web design is important is because your competitors are utilizing web design.

You don’t want to be buried in the competition with an old and outdated website now do you? Your competitors will outrank you which means you are pushed down on the search engine results pages or worse you’ll be placed in the second page or third where hardly any web user would visit.

And that would mean you’ll lose out to your competitors by giving redirecting them to their pages because there websites are simply much more professional and smoother to use.

READ ALSO: 15 Digital Marketing Strategies For COVID-19 Affected Businesses

If you want to build your brand up. You would want your audience to get familiar with you. And the best way in doing this is to have your website ready and well curated.

You’d need to have the same fonts, styles, and layout in order to make your site look professional. Because, if your website is inconsistent, people will bounce from yours to one that looks to be more appealing.

What’s the difference between website design and web development?

Website design and development are two different services. While both of them has the same goal to build the foundation of your website. They are unique jobs that require two separate skills sets. Why is it important to know their difference as you go ahead and look for someone who can design and develop you company’s website?

Let’s see if we can give some clarity of their roles.

Web developers build your website’s core structure by using coding languages and designers are more visually creative and user focused.

Web developers uses their programming knowledge in order to portray the designer’s creative vision. The web developers are the construction workers and the web designers as architects that are both necessary but different in terms of skill sets.

• Web Development

As we’ve mentioned, the web developer’s role is to build the web designer’s ideas and concepts. So how do their relationships between a designer and developer work?

The web developer looks after code using varying programming languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and ensure it is bug-free.

They often act as the advisor to the designer and assessing whether the designs can be implemented or know how complicated or time-consuming the development will be.

• Web Designer

Don’t forget, a web designer is like an architect. They hold the responsibility of developing a vision of how the website will look, feel, and function.

They do the user research and from learning which user interface design appeals to their visitors. And they tend to specialize in UX (user experience) design, and others UI (user interface) design, and there are some unicorn visual designers out there who are able to do both.

If you need to understand more of the difference between the web designer and web developer, check out the infographic below.

Can someone be a web designer and a web developer at the same time? Let’s put it this way, there are countless people who are both great in math and literature. Fundamentally, there isn’t anything that’s stopping them from mastering both ends.

So the answer is yes, they can. The only catch is that it will take some time to get to this level. And you will need to invest more for these types of professionals.

3C’s why you should invest in Website Design and Development

1. Credibility

Appearing your local business online is a tough challenge for you to take. There are a lot of misinformation and fake news circulating the Internet, even on social media websites. However, your investment won’t be wasted if your website is guaranteed with the guidance of your web designer and web developer. 

In a nutshell, both of them work together for the success of your website. The goal is not only to present your products or services, but also to maintain the development and the design which align with the changing preferences of your customers. 

As a local entrepreneur, your primary objective is to let your customers know that your business is a credible source of information on the Internet. Hence, investing in website design and development is your edge in online marketing. 

Image From Sloan Review

2. Competence

Online marketing is a constant battle between who gets what, when and how. Every entrepreneur, whether marketing locally or internationally, wants to reach to their customers in a matter of a snap. 

As a local entrepreneur, you need to be ahead of the game. Investing in website design and development raises your bar higher than the others. As your business establishes credibility through online, your competence expands with the access of your loyal and new customers.

Plus, your business will not just be known to brand locally but also this can reach to different parts of the world. No one wants to miss this chance, of course. Ultimately, you need to invest in website development and design.

Image from Stat News

3. Cost-effective

It’s not bad if your business is going to invest in traditional marketing. However, the 

market is rapidly changing. You need to get the best results upon your marketing strategy. 

Investing through website development and design is your key to a competent and credible website. Also, it is also your advantage since you don’t need to spend much since everything is a matter of Internet access. 

Thus, as you invest in web development and design, you’re not only getting the best results of your marketing strategy, but also your saving the penny that you earned. 

Quick review

Time and again, your website is your house. Your brand and your customers are your households. You need to ensure that everything is sustainable and efficient as your house grows expanding in numbers. 

To ensure its strong foundation, you need to have both website developer and website designer. Your web developer provides the internal framework of your website. In other words, your web developer guides and maintains the overall performance of your website’s back-end. 

Your web designer is your architect who implements the layout, colors, text styles, and everything related to the external performance of your website. In ensuring the surface of your website, your online business entices your loyal and new customers to get engage with your brand. 

Ultimately, you need to bear the 3Cs on why you should invest in Website Design and Development:

• Credibility 
• Competence
• Cost effective 

The hope of leveraging your local business through web design and development is in your hands. Your local business will not just be known locally, but also internationally. 

Remember, your website is your customers’ source of information. Through a credible, competent and cost effective website, your local business is not just a site, but also a home for your customers. 

As a local entrepreneur, win your customers’ hearts. Make it happen.