In our last installment of our Minneapolis Web Design series, we introduced an easy way to improve your website's Google ranking. By securing your website with a 2048-bit key SSL certificate, you will receive a ranking boost from Google's search algorithm. If you missed this post, be sure to click here to learn more about this easy way to improve your website's Google ranking. Looking for other posts from our Minneapolis Web Design series? Check out a few of them below!
- Growth-Driven Design vs. Traditional Design
- The Best WordPress eCommerce Plugin
- Why Responsive Design?
Also, be sure to download our free eBook "An Introduction to Growth-Driven Design" for more information on the GDD process and the shift that marketers need to make today!
In our seventh installment of our ten part Minneapolis Web Design series, we will be discussing the true cost of GDD vs. the Staggering Value that it offers. As we have made it quite clear, we believe that the traditional method of web design is broken and that the most effective method of web design today is GDD.
growth-driven design cost benefit analysis
if this doesn't change your mind about how to approach web design , we don't know what will.
As we have stated in our previous posts (check out our Growth-Driven Design vs. Traditional Design post), the Traditional approach to web design is broken and modern web design has changed dramatically over the past few years. By now hopefully you have come to the same conclusion as we have that the Inbound Marketing and GDD methodologies are here to stay. These methodologies have completely changed the landscape of how we strategically reach, interact, and educate our website visitors and this movement is not industry specific.
What does not seem to be a conclusion that is universally accepted is that monitoring, maintaining and repeating your website's design with an ongoing strategy that directly supports your inbound marketing efforts is nothing short of essential. Stop fooling yourself! The modern buyer holds all of the power and they cast over 90% of their judgment after first learning about your business based on your website. Your website is undeniably the #1 sales person for your business and every other business in the world. How your website looks, functions, and nurtures each visitor/user after they have made it to your website is paramount to your business success. Plain and simple.
Lets get down to brass tacks...what does it cost?
GDD can cost anywhere from $1,500-$6,000/month depending on the agency you choose to work with as well as what your specific requirements are. To give you an idea of some of the criteria that will effect the price of a GDD website, we have compiled a short list of things that agencies like Digital 1 consider:
- Website size and complexity
- Size of website design wish list
- Time line and urgency of website live date
- Functionality requirements
- Number of personas to be constantly monitored and analyzed
- Number of key pages to utilize heat-mapping assessment and strategy
Based on these key criteria items, Agency's will be able to pinpoint scope of the project and a monthly price to execute GDD and drive results for your company.
GDD's infinite value
Whether you know it or not, the data is right in front of you. Your current website's analytics are dyeing to be analyzed. Are you creating consistent and captivating content for the persona's that you are trying to reach but your website conversions are low? Can you remember the last time that you took a close look at your bounce rates?
Have you ever used heat-mapping software such as Hotjar to see how your users/visitors are interacting with your website? Today heat-mapping software is essential in modern web design and can offer you more information on how effective your website truly is than you could imagine. Since the beginning of custom web design, companies have been building websites the way they want, not the way they need and as a result, at times the websites that they have spent a huge amount of money and time on aren't effective.
The GDD methodology fixes this problem and is primarily focused on designing your website the way you need it to be, not the way you want it to be and continually improving the website based on user interaction data.
Some of the key questions that are constantly asked and revisited in the GDD methodology are:
- How can I modify my website to strengthen my user/visitor's experience?
- What are the click-through rates on my Calls-To-Action (CTA)? If they are low, is it because of poor placement OR is the CTA not enticing enough?
- Are the conversion paths that we have setup effective? How can we make them better?
- What does our users/visitors engagement look like on our most effective pages? How can we take this information and apply it to our less effective pages?
- Have we built our buyer personas effectively? Are we trying to reach the right personas?
These questions and more are consistently asked until you reach optimal performance. Your customers are constantly changing and their tendencies and habits deviate due to industries changing. Constantly monitoring and accommodating these changes within your entire online presence is essential to driving business growth with your website. This is a pillar of GDD.
Don't waste your time or money with the traditional approach to web design
It's that simple. Don't waste your time and money with the traditional approach to web design. The traditional approach can be a costly mistake and you won't be truly utilizing what should be your #1 sales employee: your website. Of course, there are still a lot of detractors of GDD out there and they label it a new tacit that only benefits the agency/developer and not the company. This could not be further from the truth. It benefits both!
Through the GDD process, the customer gets a website that is driving results that consistently get better and drive company growth. Through the GDD methodology, Agencies now have a method with proven results and a path to help their clients grow their business and show Return on Investment. Its a quid pro quo.
Want to learn more about GDD? Be sure to click below to download our guide on Growth-Driven Design:
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog post!
In our eighth installment of our Minneapolis Web Design series, we will be discussing what marketing coordinators and website committees should be looking for when selecting a web design partner/developer. As always, don't forget to subscribe to our blog!
