The right web design company can optimize your website for higher conversions. But who knows your customers better? You, or the design team you plan to hire? Because businesses and their customers have industry- and niche-specific needs, it’s critical that your web design company understands your business.
Great design happens when your customer knowledge meets designer expertise. But that isn’t enough anymore. You will also need search engine optimization (SEO) and conversion rate optimization (CRO).
Ruler Analytics reported in 2025 an average conversion rate of just 2.9% across fourteen industries. This means there is massive optimization potential.
Source: Ruler Analytics
With search traffic declining and zero-click searches becoming the norm, isn’t it time you optimized your website for conversions? This is where the right web design company comes in.
Choosing the Best Fit in Web Design Specialists
Choosing which web design company to hire is more complex than ever, as skill sets vary among developers. So, start with your business goals.
Do you only need a website or does it need to integrate with internal or third party systems, your CRM, or dashboards? Will you be integrating existing processes or is developing them part of this project’s roadmap?
Most web designers are not developers capable of building complex systems. Many do not even have experience integrating existing systems. There is also a difference between UX/UI designers and UX/UI developers. You need both, but you may not need AI UI/UX design or development.
Plan First: Would Your Site Benefit from AI UI/UX?
What is your vision for the totality of how your website interacts with existing processes?
Most businesses think in terms of individual needs:
- CRM
- Calendar/appointment setting
- Call tracking
- Inventory management
- Accounting
- Project management
- Analytics
These individual needs vary by type of business. If there is a business case for it and you have the funding, integrating everything into an all-encompassing solution may be preferable.
But how do you know what to build? Take the advice of Marc Caposino, founder of the AI Design Agency Fuselab Creative:
“The best user research happens in the wild. Watch how people currently solve the problem you’re addressing. What workarounds have they created? Where do they get frustrated? What do they do immediately after they complete the task?”
If you want to go beyond just having a website built, find an agency that has demonstrated success with similar projects.
Review Portfolios of Web Designs for Businesses Like Yours
Your business may seem simple to you because it is what you know. However, for many niches, that simply isn’t accurate. Stick to designers who specialize in your industry.
Most designers will have a page showing a portfolio that allows you to click through to live websites. Study their layouts and make notes about what you like and dislike.
When you’re searching for web designs, choose sites for businesses in your niche that are most similar to your own. For example, if you own a dental practice, search for “dental website design”. You may even want to look for differences between a site for a pediatric dentist versus an oral surgeon.
Some designers make that easier. For example, this dental web design portfolio uses filter tabs at the top to make navigation of their design portfolio intuitive and efficient.
Interview Niche-Specific Web Developers
Do not expect every web development company to be familiar with the requirements of your business. It is up to you to make sure they are qualified.
That is why I recommend you work with a company with experience in your industry. Here’s an example.
Dentistry doesn’t seem complicated. Everyone knows a dentist. But every dental practice offers different procedures. Not all do implants or offer Invisalign. Within dentistry, there are also specialties, such as orthodontists, pediatric dentists, oral surgeons, periodontists, and others.
While they all have a primary goal of scheduling patient appointments, some use a simple appointment form while others integrate with dental management software such as Dentrix and Oryx. Inquire whether the company you plan to hire is familiar with integrating any industry-specific applications your business uses.
Focus on Your Business Goals
Make a list of every application essential to your business. Determine which applications the developer you hire will need to incorporate into your website.
Include your:
- CRM
- Office management
- Accounting package
- Appointment booking
- Advertising
- Dashboards
- Call tracking and analytics platforms
Failure to plan could mean delays and increased costs if you have to hire additional specialists or programmers to complete your project.
How to Know What Customers Want in Website Design
Use behavioral analytics tools to analyze how visitors to your site use it. There are many paid options, as well as the free option Microsoft Clarity. This video explains how this type of tool works and the pros and cons of HotJar versus Microsoft Clarity.
Now that you can do this at no cost, why wouldn’t you? Analytics tools can answer questions such as:
- Are visitors clicking in the wrong place?
- How often do they land on a page and immediately exit?
- Did they leave your appointment scheduling option without completing it?
The answers to these questions can be indicators that your design needs improvement.
Ideally, your business should be willing to accommodate whatever your potential customers want in terms of how booking and other processes work.
I’ve had younger clients who only wanted customers to book their own appointments, yet they were running ads targeting an older, more prosperous demographic–then becoming unhappy that it was making their phone ring!
Involve an SEO Expert Before You Move an Existing Site
Over the decades, I’ve seen many sad stories of businesses losing traffic and incoming links because they launched a new website without 301 redirects of the existing URLs.
Any time you do a website redesign, an SEO expert should be involved. This is essential to avoid technical mistakes, slow load times, poor mobile responsiveness, or bad UX. If the development company will be handling the technical SEO of your site, ask for references specific to their SEO capabilities.
Test Your Website Before Launching
When you’re negotiating the contract for your website, make sure testing is included. A final testing process that catches problems before launch is essential. Even if the development company is doing this testing, repeat it in-house as well. Have someone with strong attention to detail read every page and test every link, form, and integration.
If you use third-party solutions, verify that those work and are optimally configured. For example, appointment setting apps may have two to three steps or as many as 14! Every additional step can reduce conversions. If one-click checkout works best for Amazon, why would anyone think asking 14 questions is a good idea?
Reassess what information you’re asking potential customers for. Call in a few favors and observe others go through the process of buying or booking on your website. Any confusion will cause abandonment, so watch for any hurdles that slow the process.
With search traffic declining, it's crucial to make the most of every visitor to your site by increasing conversions. To do this, you’ll need to streamline appointment scheduling and checkout processes to ensure as little friction as possible.
Remember that your website is an extension of your brand’s reputation. To make a great impression on visitors, you’ll want to make sure everything works perfectly.
