Website Planning | How Can I Choose The Best Style For My Business?

Justin Babcock • September 13, 2021
A collage of three pictures of people using computers and phones.

You are at the beginning stages of planning a new website, and you are asking yourself, “what do I want my website to look like.”


While this seems like a simple question, the overwhelming amount of choices can be, well, overwhelming.

Let’s make it a little less overwhelming with a few simple tips for choosing a web design that best fits your business.


Start by looking at your competitor.


Steve Jobs once jokingly said, “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” Which he ironically stole from Pablo Picasso. No matter how you look at it, your competitors are a great source of inspiration. 


Start by picking 5 competitors’ websites to review. Be sure to include the biggest player in the industry, a newcomer, and a few local competitors. Keep what you like. Disregard the rest.


Next, look at some websites that compete in similar industries.


It is important to also look outside your industry for inspiration. If you are a mortgage broker, look at a realtor’s website. If you have a pest control business, look at a home inspector’s website. If you are a lawyer, check out a consulting company’s site. Don’t venture too far off the path. If you are a dairy farmer, you don’t want your website to look like apple.com.


Here are a few example sites for you to start with:


Real Estate Website Design: https://www.rigneyhomes.com/

Non-profit HUD Website Design: https://www.clients2homeowners.com/

Health Insurance Website Design: https://www.nexthealthandmedicare.com/

Brokerage Website Design: https://www.innovativemlo.com/

Hotel, Motel, Hospitality Web Design: https://www.farhorizonsfla.com/

Law Office Web Design: https://www.retamarmillian.com/


Now, it is time to shortlist your favorite website styles.


The best thing you can do is pick one website style and use it. If you are planning to DIY the project with Wix or Squarespace, choosing a signal style will make the project much easier for you to handle. If you are using a web design company or freelancer, identifying a specific design will clearly define the aesthetic expectation of the project. This also ensures there will be no surprises.


Lastly, choose to build the website yourself, or hire a professional. 


Website builders have made it easier to create your own website without a professional. The decision to use software like Wix or Squarespace vs hiring a professional comes down to time vs budget vs need. 

A computer monitor with a graph on the screen.

Do-It-Yourself | Website Builders

The biggest advantage of a DIY website project is you save money. In general, it costs anywhere from $23 to $80 per month for the software licenses and templates. You can expect to spend another 20+ hours configuring the website. The disadvantage of using a DIY website builder is time. Even if you budget an hour a day, it may take months to finish your project. The other problem with DIY projects is quality. Broken links, missing pages, and missing tags are just a few of the problems that can plague DIY projects.

A line drawing of a flow chart with a bunch of boxes connected to each other.

Hire a Professional | Website Design

Of course, the biggest disadvantage to a Do-It-For-You website project is cost. The price of a website ranges greatly depending on what platform you pick, the size of the website, and if you have an individual or a team building the site for you. The advantage of this type of project is, well, you don’t have to spend time in front of a computer learning new software and trying to build a website. 

A computer , tablet , and phone are sitting next to each other.

Hybrid | Website Builder & A Professional

We also offer a hybrid to the DIY vs Do-It-For-You approach. Our “teach you” approach allows us to do the heaving lifting–building pages, creating content, and configuring the website. We then show you how to revise and edit the site. The best part is our support team is always there to help you manage, revise, and edit whatever you want.

Now that you've picked a style and picked a process. You are ready to start your project! If you still need some help...

Schedule a free planning session with one of our specialists.

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