We hear the term “professional website” a lot and we also use it several times when we talk to our customers about web development. So we feel the need to bring you a little more about what a professional website is.
First of all, it is essential to mention here the importance of having a website for your company and business. In an increasingly connected world, with most activities being online and people spending more time on the web, it is essential that a brand has a digital presence, through social media and mainly with its website. A website provides your visibility on the internet and consequently helps you to reach and attract more people to your business model.
If you want to know more about the importance of having a website for your company, we invite you to read our other article that talks about it, just click here.
Without a hitch, let’s go to the central point of our blog today: What is a professional website?
Many people think that having a professional website is having an apparently “beautiful” website, with a “beautiful” photo at the entrance of the website and that’s it, they call it a professional website. For us at Utech, this expression has a much deeper and technical meaning.
What is a professional?
Firstly, it is necessary to point out what the term “professional” means. We now refer to a person, a professional: he is one who exercises a profession – which requires specialized knowledge in the area -, demands professional or university studies that attest to the knowledge acquired to exercise an activity / profession.
The qualification of a professional is not only linked to the knowledge or qualifying title (or academic degree), but it can also refer to the commitment, ethics and excellence in the development of work activities.
The professional adjective also applies to any activity that is carried out as a profession (in the sense that it implies an economic retribution, that is, a remuneration), and not for amateurism or leisure. This difference is clearly seen in the case of football, as a man who plays football every week is not considered a professional player, since he only does it in a recreational way, however, one who plays every week for money is a professional in this sport.
The term “professional” is also used when you want to describe work done in as much detail and using advanced features.
Now that we know what it means to be a professional, before we continue this subject, we want to leave a reflection here:
“When we have toothache, we look for a professional dentist”
“When we need glasses, we look for an optician by profession”
“When our car breaks down, we look for a mechanic by profession”
That said, the question remains, would you trust your child’s health to a non-professional doctor?
From these definitions we can already see that it is not any website that is professional. Now that we know the definition of professional, we can continue.
What does a web professional guarantee in the development of the website?
- Copyright
A very common case of those who want to make their own website without having a lot of knowledge in the area is to use copied images and texts, which are found on Google, or anywhere on the internet, without worrying about copyright, and this can cause in big trouble, as it is a crime to use other people’s photos and videos without authorization. For this reason, a professional will be careful to select quality, exclusive content and with the certainty that copyright is being respected. In addition to its own website having all rights reserved, ie the so-called copyright.
- UX / UI (User Experience / User Interface)
A web development professional will be concerned with UI Design, or User Interface Design, which is the means by which a person interacts with his website. This technique is applied through buttons, menus and any element that provides an interaction between the website and the user, bringing a logical and harmonious navigability in a natural way. Anticipating user needs and ensuring that the interface contains elements that are easy to access and use, providing what is called a user-friendly experience, that is, an experience that is friendly and does not cause frustration to the user.
UX Design is related to the user experience and feelings, UI is the way the user will achieve that experience.
It is important to understand that User Interface is not only about what an application or device looks like, nor what colors or shapes it is composed of. UI is about how it works and how the interaction will be carried out, going far beyond the appearance that this product has.
UX is what a user feels when using his website, what he feels when he knows your service. Balancing practical, experiential, meaningful and valuable aspects of interaction.
Let’s imagine that you have a new, modern website and when you started using it you felt very happy and comfortable with several features, from the button that is readable, easy to access that has a slight movement when clicking, it even looks like it’s soft, you you even feel that the system is faster and more effective. In this case, we clearly see that the User Experience in using the website is rewarding and that the professional responsible for the development had a concern with these details.
Now let’s think about your old or amateur-made website, which looks like it will crash when you click a button, it takes too long to respond, it leaves you lost when you use it and looks old, it’s not harmonious to the eyes, you don’t know why exactly this is bad, but you know something is wrong. This website did not give you a good User Experience.
This is due to a study based on Gestalt theory, also known as Gestalt Psychology or Psychology of Good Shape, is part of the studies of human perception, which began to develop between the end of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century. . The pioneers of this doctrine and formulators of the Gestalt Laws were psychologists Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Köhler and Max Werteimer.
These are some of the techniques applied by professionals to deliver a better experience for their clients’ clients, so that websites are attractive and effectively help companies to sell their services in the best possible way.
- Performance
Performance is not just about the speed of a website, of course speed is very important, but for a professional performance goes further, it means that your website needs to be configured correctly, within coding standards, to have the adequate information to give the correct information are internet robots, for AI (artificial intelligence) to understand what you are selling and thus be able to deliver your website as the best option for those looking for your service or product. No errors or imperceptible defects in the human eye. Performance is a very important factor not only for the website loading speed, but also for the positioning in search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing, its positioning in the ranking is affected according to its performance score. Algorithms of search engines like Google, for example, prioritize sites that have a good rate of adherence to the items mentioned above, thus defining the rating for your website. That is why having a good performance (Performance Note) is to guarantee a good experience for your user and to ensure that your website goes up in the organic searches of the search engines. If your intention is to appear on the first page of Google, this item Performance is indispensable.
- Safety
Creating a secure website is no task for the amateur. It is very important for a company to guarantee this security online, because this factor is directly linked to the reputation of your company. The security of online systems is not only necessary when you want to open an online store, e-commerce. This question goes far beyond that, because if a customer enters your website where it is not a secure environment, they can have their data stolen from your computer through your browser, malicious spyware can be installed on users’ computers. That’s why Google takes this factor so seriously, so much so that in 2019 Google improved its security tools to analyze the websites, if the website is not minimally secure, Google itself takes care of placing a very large warning before opening the website to the client warning that he is entering an unsafe environment and suggesting that he does not enter this website. Obviously this brings a punishment to the website in question, leaving it far below in searches and in many cases, even removing it from Google search results. A professional or web agency guarantees total efficiency when it comes to the security of your website and the transactions that took place on it.
- Support
This is a very important point, as many Amateurs are concerned with delivering anything, without any commitment to the customer. As he does not do it in a Professional way, he will not be available to assist the customer when he has some of the problems mentioned above, as an amateur only wants to sell the product and when the customer needs it most is at hand. A Professional is fully committed to the client, he has the capacity and will certainly give all technical support after the compulsion of the sale and delivery of the service. Because the professional knows that for the client to be successful, he needs support, after all the client needs to focus on what he is professional.
When hiring a web professional, all the support, updating, and optimization your website needs will be done at the right time. So you have the peace of mind that any problem that needs to be solved on your page, will be done with quality and speed by those who understand the subject!
These are just some of the precautions that a web professional takes when developing a website. It may seem simple and easy, but anyone who does it professionally knows that it involves several techniques for a website to be functional, quality and efficient.
Currently we have a multitude of online platforms that create websites, which promise several design possibilities and tools for people who have no knowledge in the area of web development to create their own website. This made thousands of entrepreneurs, microentrepreneurs and freelancers who do not understand the importance of their digital presence, create their company website on their own. These “website creation” platforms are good for those who do not need to pass on trust, security and credibility to their customers, who just want a basic thing to say that they have an internet page. Or simply because they don’t know the real importance of this digital presence for their business. Because they are limited tools, even with many hours lost in an attempt to do something at least acceptable, they cannot pass the professionalism that a company needs to show, especially nowadays, where we have almost 2 billion websites in the world according to this PORTAL which shows in real time the number of websites in the world. So this type of simpler website proposal is not suitable for companies that position themselves as professional, committed and serious brands in the market, because in addition to needing a good development and an adequate design, they need this website to attract new customers within the web and seekers.
We use this phrase a lot here: “If you want to sell a service or product professionally, your website must also be professional.”
Your website is your company in the digital world.
So, in our view, a professional website is basically one that brings results for a business, it is a website that is developed and personalized in every detail to meet the needs of the entrepreneur and the consumer / user so that it is always optimized with a focus on good results.
“Professional websites are those that encourage new people to close a deal with a company or online store.”
Going beyond showing our vision of a professional website, we guide some characteristics that professional websites cannot fail to have good results, that is, new customers.
In a brief summary of what a professional website is:
- Must be Responsive
- Have a good SEO strategy
- Meet consumer needs and expectations
- Be functional to the systems and services that the company offers via the web
- Have an attractive, different and modern design
- Offer good navigation and fast delivery of the information the consumer is looking for
It is very common for entrepreneurs to be in doubt as to whether they should invest in professionals to create their company’s website or do it themselves in a ready-made website creator. So if you are in doubt and want to know what is the best way for you, we also invite you to read our blog that talks about it, just click here.
