Is Traditional Web Design a flop of the Past?
I can have a beautiful web design up and running in 1 day. It will have a user-friendly interface, be responsive across different screen sizes. It will not use traditional web design techniques. It will be optimised for search engine rankings and have a fully functioning CMS. I can even set up a full e-commerce platform and have you selling products online within this time!
You don’t need a traditional web designer to design a website
There are hundreds if not thousands of web design and development apps specifically aiming to do the job of the traditional web designer that we all have known and worked with at some point.
You can have a fully functioning ecommerce website up and running in a hour.
Designing a website now is as easy as signing up to your chosen Software as a Service (SaaS) web design platform, adding a few images and words and ‘boom’, you have a website. Many of these services are even free or offer a freemium option. (Here is a good write up on ‘How to set up an online Shop in less than 15 minutes‘)
Depending on how deep you want to dive into the detail. You can use a variety of options to customise your visual layout, website features and technology stack.
If you’re not interested in doing anything yourself. You can use one of the emerging ‘Artificial Intelligence’ web design apps that design and build you a website based on your industry, online activity like reviews and profiles and minimal content.
Or, If you want to be a little more hands-on, you can install WordPress (Included in most hosting packages as a one-click install) and purchase a theme for a few bucks which come with an overkill of built-in features and aesthetic web design options.
Web design is more than designing websites
Web design is about more than some images and text with a few linked ‘pages’. It is about your business goals, customer experience and bottom line.
Designers needed to adapt to the evolution of the internet. The web is now a fundamental part of everything we do. Consumers expect to be able to browse, compare, communicate, purchase and review online. This cycle continues when new prospects start their buying journey read those previously submitted reviews.
Web Designers need to design for business goals, performance outcomes and behaviour change. Not just content and layout.
There is more competition than ever before due to the ease of setting up a digital business. Consumers have access to copious amounts of information to compare, review and analyse before making a decision. In the days of traditional web design, this information didn’t exist.
Companies are racing against ever-changing and evolving technology and the human behaviour which comes along with it. No matter what industry they’re in.
Your web design should improve your business
Traditional web design mainly used to be a static online brochure of your business services or products. This is no longer enough to stay competitive in an online world.
Your website is only one part of your online presence. It is an important part but you need to consider the other areas that come under the umbrella term of ‘web design’.
Online presence areas include
- Online reputation on review website
- Profile information across directories and listing sites
- Google my business listing
- Facebook business page
These important factors will drives people through to your website and become part of your digital marketing. Traditional web design really is a thing of the past.