6 Benefits of Partnering with a Creative Web Development Agency

Summary

Working closely with creative web development experts is crucial to set up a functional site, give users a unique experience, meet evolving user expectations and business needs, and stay competitive. Find out the 6 benefits of working with a creative web development agency in this blog, learn when to partner with them, and how to choose the right agency.

Introduction

With the rise of user-friendly website builders and platforms, many businesses use DIY website development instead of a professional creative web development agency. According to a 2021 PR Newswire study, only 34% of small businesses hire agencies to manage their site, while 32% opt for DIY to create basic websites.

However, going DIY can be tricky unless you have mastered web development skills, as it comes with pitfalls.

Customer expectations for a business website are high. They seek unique but user-friendly experiences, fast page load times, personalization, accuracy, clear and concise information, and transparency.

Besides, a website’s functionality and performance are crucial for organic search engine rankings. Lacking the expertise needed to improve a site’s functionality and performance will result in low traffic.

Using DIY is time-consuming, as the learning curve is steep. DIY websites lack customization, have poor SEO performance and limited design and functionality, and face scalability issues. It has hidden costs, such as plug-ins and upgrades. Moreover, you will be solely responsible for ongoing maintenance.

Contrarily, a professional website developer will help you implement the technical updates to your site, such as the right color palette and typography, SEO and speed optimization, responsiveness, and more. They will also provide ongoing support and maintenance.

A creative website design helps develop a unique brand identity, enhances user experience, and promotes customer loyalty.

6 Key Benefits of Partnering with a Creative Web Development Agency

1. Get a visually appealing design

A. Strategic layout:

• All visual elements, including text, images, navigation, videos, and graphics, will be strategically arranged to guide users through the website. A good layout makes finding information and navigation easy.

B. Typography:

• A creative web development agency will use legible fonts that are readable on all devices and visually appealing. Your site’s typography will convey your brand identity while shaping user experience.
• Here’s an example of a brilliant use of typography shared on the Brush Up. Blume is a company that offers feminine personal products. On their web page, they have used the Value Serif font that gives a formal but relaxed vibe, resonating with their brand identity.

source: Blume website

C. Branding:

• According to a study in a LinkedIn article, 94% of the time, users form their first impressions about a company’s website based on design. Good branding is thus crucial for creating a memorable and consistent experience.
• Your site’s color palette, typography, imagery, and logo should evoke emotions and resonate with your brand’s identity and target audience. The visual elements should be consistent across your website.

D. White Space:

• White space creates a clean design and improves readability. It makes users focus on key elements, boosts user experience, and drives conversions.
• The case study shows how Xerox’s boosted the conversion rate by 33% by implementing white space in design.
• The initial product detail page of the printer supply company featured multiple versions of a printer to choose from. It easily overwhelmed the visitors. Have a look at the original design on the left:

source: uxpin

• The team removed the extra links around the Add to Cart buttons, leaving white space. Enhancing the design (check out the right image) increased engagement by 20%, products added to cart by 5%, and conversions by 33%.

2. Focus on Usability and Accessibility

A. Mobile Responsiveness:

• A responsive website adapts to different screen sizes and devices, including mobile phones, laptops, computers, and tablets. It uses techniques like flexible images, media queries, intuitive navigation, and fluid grids to offer a consistent and enhanced user experience.
• According to 2022 Hubspot studies , 73.1% of web designers say that non-responsive design is the main reason visitors abandon a site. Also, 59% of shoppers say that having an option for mobile shopping is crucial when deciding where to shop.
• These studies demonstrate the importance of having a mobile-friendly website. A creative web design agency can help you design a site using a mobile-first strategy.

B. Simple Navigation:

• Simplifying navigation increases visit duration, reduces bounce rate, makes users more responsive to CTAs, boosts conversions, and enhances user experience.
• The key elements in navigation include a clear and intuitive main menu, a search bar, internal links, a sitemap, and footer menus.
• Here in the case study of BC Dairy (a non-profit organization representing British Columbia’s dairy farmers), giving their website a fresh rebranding.
• Their previous website had cluttered content, making it impossible for users to navigate through the content and gain information.
• The team optimized the images in the recipes section, showcasing varied ways to use the organization’s products.
• They also designed a tiered main menu and a robust footer menu, separating pathways for each user. Blue elements were added to the general public areas to create a friendly feel. Besides, they embedded relevant icons in a header pop-out menu to guide health professionals and educators to deeper content.

C. Accessibility for Visually Impaired:

• Modern websites strive for WCAG and ADA compliance to ensure accessibility for all users, including the visually impaired.
• Using alt-text for images, adding descriptive link text, ensuring proper contrast ratio, limiting color in the interface, keyboard accessibility, using headings, and allowing manual font size adjustment are practical tips creative web design and development experts implement to make a site accessible.

D. Fast Load Times:

• A slow-loading website frustrates visitors and affects conversions. Besides, a fast-loading website is a Google ranking factor.
• A website should aim for a site load time under 2 seconds for optimal user experience and conversions. 3 seconds is an acceptable load time.
• To improve site speed, use image-optimizing tools, minimize HTTP requests, enable browser and server-side caching, use a CDN, and regularly update your plugins and software.

E. Multilingual Support:

• A multilingual website design expands your global reach, engages users, and enhances your brand reputation as an inclusive and international company.
• Creative website design professionals will use tried and tested ways to design a multilingual site, including language switching, content localization, using different URLs for each language version, implementing multilingual SEO, and using localization frameworks and plugins.

3. Get Enhanced Content

A. Content Relevance:

• Your content should address the search intent and provide valuable information to users.

B. Site Structure:

• Your site should be organized logically, making it easy for search engines to crawl and index.

C. Storytelling Approach:

• Implementing a storytelling approach engages users, builds brand identity, and makes complex information simpler, more relatable, and memorable.
• The key principles of the storytelling approach include focusing on your brand’s core idea, being authentic, using detail-oriented design, innovation, creativity, and using interactive elements. Here’s a good example of BelArosa’s (a luxury chalet) visual storytelling website.

source: BelArosa Chalet

• The website features a graphic-style design with illustrated panels, giving users a chalet tour. Users learn about the story of a visitor’s stay through the tour. The website represents the building, and the sections serve as the floors of the wooden house.
• They use a cursor that rotates in circles and initially prompts you to scroll. But it shrinks to avoid distraction, letting users focus on the narrative.
• As you scroll, you will encounter art illustrations showcasing their luxurious facilities. They have also incorporated faceless characters, highlighting chalet life. Their site conveys the message and idea of warmth and comfort offered by BelArosa.

D. SEO Optimization:

• Hiring a professional for SEO is crucial for online visibility, attracting targeted traffic, and driving conversions.
• Content optimization through keyword research, page structure, and meta descriptions; implementing technical SEO like site speed, mobile-friendly design, sitemaps, and schema markups; improving UX; link building; and utilizing SEO tools are key SEO optimization strategies.

4. Interactive and Engaging Elements

A. Microinteractions:

• A modern creative website development company incorporates microinteractions like small animations, web motion, and graphics to engage users.

B. Parallax Scrolling:

• Parallax scrolling will offer a 3D effect while users scroll a site, creating an immersive browsing experience. It serves as a tool for storytelling.

C. Video Backgrounds:

• Adding video backgrounds on websites is a dynamic and visually compelling way to engage users. Videos help you convey quick messages, increase dwell time, build brand identity, and create a memorable experience.
• According to 2022 Leadpages study, video backgrounds on websites increase conversions by 138%.

D. Dynamic content:

• With dynamic content, you can offer a more personalized experience based on the user’s behavior, demographics, past interactions, or preferences.
• Look at how Gap displays dynamic pop-up content when users visit the site. New visitors are shown the lead generation pop-up, offering a 25% discount in exchange for an email subscription.

• • Existing shoppers don’t have to engage with the pop-up like new shoppers.

5. Innovation and Uniqueness to Stand Out in a Crowded Market

A. AI and Personalization:

• Using AI for chatbots, automating workflows, creating tailored content, and using adaptive UI elements is becoming increasingly popular.
• According to 2023 Hubspot research, 93% of web designers use AI to create designs, generate imagery, and enhance user experience.
• Web agencies can help design a personalized and functional website with AI tools.

B. Experimental layouts:

• Experimental websites use cutting-edge technologies, unconventional layouts, and interactive elements, prioritizing user experience. It aims to create engaging and memorable interactions.
• Here’s a brilliant creative website layout of Heco Partners.

• The headline at the top hovers above an animated wave. They use a small arrow to guide users down the page and experience their story. As you browse the page, you encounter scroll animations introducing the agency’s previous work and approaches. Interested users can click on the samples to view them in detail.
• This layout enables users to progress logically through the learning curve. By the end, users will clearly understand what Heco Partners offers and may become clients.

6. Achieve Technical Excellence

A. Clean Code:

• A professional will design a consistent Clean code that is essential in a creative website design. Clean codes are easy to read, understand, maintain, and modify.

B. Cross-Browser Compatibility:

• Cross-browser compatibility in design ensures a website appears and functions consistently across all browsers and devices.

C. Integration Capabilities:

• Your site should have integration capabilities to connect and interact with different apps, systems, or services. Integration allows flawless data exchange and functionality, leading to a more cohesive user experience and simplified workflows.

D. Ongoing Support and Maintenance:

• One of the greatest benefits of working with a web agency is ongoing technical support and maintenance. They can help you with performance optimization, updates, integrations, bug fixes, and security maintenance.

When Should You Partner with a Creative Web Development Agency?

1. When You Lack In-House Experts: A creative web development agency is crucial if your team lacks experts to handle design, coding, and optimization.
2. For Complex Websites: Simple websites can be set up with DIY, but a high-quality custom website needs advanced features. Professionals can also handle SEO, UX, and performance optimization.
3. Websites Needing eCommerce Integration: You should also consider hiring experts if you need complex eCommerce integrations like payment gateways, contact forms, chatbots, email marketing tools, or database management.
4. To Meet Deadlines: Agencies have enough manpower to meet deadlines when you are working on tight timeframes.
5. To Gain Ongoing Maintenance & Support: You will receive long-term technical support like security patches, bug fixes, plugin and software updates, SEO optimization, site speed optimization, and troubleshooting.

How to Choose the Right Web Development Agency?

1. Define Your Project Requirements: What type of website do you need? What are your goals? Which features do you need? What is your budget and timeline?
2. Research and List Potential Agencies: Ask for their portfolios, check clients’ reviews, assess their technical skills, understand their value proposition, test how they communicate, and ask for pricing.
3. Conduct Interviews: Inquire about their past experiences, discuss your project requirements in detail, ask about post-launch support, and clarify payment terms.
4. Compare and Choose an Agency: Compare the agencies and select one that best suits your business needs.

Conclusion

From visually appealing websites to accessible design, enhanced content, incorporating interactive elements, and designing with the latest trends, there are multiple benefits of partnering with a creative web design company.

Besides, professionals can help with integration and customization and provide ongoing maintenance and support. You’ll initially be investing a considerable sum, but it is cost-effective in the long run. Plus, you will save yourself the headache of managing complex projects and save time.

Looking for a professional website? Contact us for expert web development services. At Icon TechSoft, our team of experts join heads to design customized websites that are functional, scalable, and highly optimized. We keep ourselves updated with the industry trends to offer innovative solutions and ensure our skills remain relevant, meeting the changing demands of users.