Build or Improve Your Website with a Skilled Web Design Virtual Assistant

In today's digital world, a website is essential to connect a small business with customers, establish credibility, and remain competitive. Whether you're a small business owner building an online presence for the first time or you are ready to enhance your basic site, investing in a smartly designed website can significantly impact your business. 

A professional, modern-looking website can help attract new customers, convert visitors into clients, and support your brand's growth.

Freedom Maker virtual assistants specializing in web design provide a flexible, cost-effective solution for business owners who want to create or improve their website without incurring the cost of a full-time developer. 

Your business can have a polished website that captures your unique brand and drives results. 

Here's how a specialty Freedom Maker with web design experience can assist in each stage of your website project:

Creating Your First Website: Building an Online Presence

Estimated Hours: 12-25 hours

Starting from scratch can be challenging, especially when you're already juggling the demands of running a business. With a virtual assistant specializing in web design, you don't have to face this alone. They'll guide you through each step, from understanding your brand goals to launching a simple yet powerful site.

A Freedom Maker virtual assistant can begin working with you to set up the site structure by identifying the most crucial pages and functionalities for your business. They might recommend a homepage to introduce your brand, an "About Us" page to build trust, a "Services" or "Products" page to detail offerings, and a "Contact" page to make it easy for customers to reach out.

The 12-25 hour time range covers initial consultation, design setup, and a basic setup with essential pages (usually 4 main pages without sub-menu) and content (copy, images, branding and hosting platform) if those things are already available. If your business requires additional industry-specific features like booking widgets or integrations, or if there are extensive change requests after initial delivery, more time may be needed.

Enhancing Visual Appeal and User Experience

Estimated Hours: 10-25 hours

An attractive website that is easy to navigate can entice visitors to stay on your site longer, which may help convert them into customers. If you already have a basic site, your web design virtual assistant can elevate it by enhancing design elements that align with your brand. They'll evaluate the layout and user interface, focusing on making navigation simple and intuitive.

An experienced web design virtual assistant can also help with aesthetics that match your business's style. Whether you prefer a minimalist look or a colorful, vibrant aesthetic, good design helps your website look professional. A virtual assistant with experience in web design can also ensure that your site is mobile-friendly (looks good and works on any device), which increases visitor trust. 

This type of project typically includes revising layouts, updating graphics, and adjusting color schemes. If your site requires a more complex redesign or you have a website with specific industry requirements, like interactive features or custom layouts, the hours may increase. Additionally, if the redesign involves a migration or a staging site to replace an old theme or layout with a new one, the project may require more hours.

Building Trust and Credibility with Optimized Content

Estimated Hours: 10-20 hours

A website is often the first interaction customers have with your business, so making a great impression is essential. A specialty Freedom Maker with web design or copywriting skills can assist in creating quality content for every page. They can craft engaging product descriptions, team bios, and compelling customer testimonials. They can also write blog posts and answer FAQs to make your site a valuable resource for visitors.

Valuable, relevant content will establish your credibility and help with search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines favor sites that are frequently updated with fresh content, which means your web design virtual assistant can periodically update your site's content to keep it current.

Developing content for main site pages generally takes 10-20 hours. Large-scale content projects or those requiring SEO-focused content may require 20 hours or more. Also, if you need ongoing content creation like blog posts, additional hours may be required. 

Boosting Visibility with SEO Optimization

Estimated Hours: 10-15 hours

A beautifully designed website needs to be visible to attract visitors, and search engine optimization (SEO) is key to that visibility. Many web design virtual assistants have SEO skills and can perform keyword research, identify phrases relevant to your business, and ensure these are strategically included in your website content. They can also add meta descriptions, create image alt text, and structure page URLs for optimal ranking on search engines like Google.

SEO can also improve your site's user experience by enhancing page speed and fixing broken links, which impact ranking. With a solid SEO foundation, your website will be better positioned to attract organic traffic.

Basic SEO setup, including keyword research and implementing on-page SEO strategies, typically takes about 10-15 hours. Ongoing SEO improvements may require additional hours monthly.

Ongoing Site Maintenance and Updates

Estimated Hours: 3-5 hours

Once your website is up and running, it requires regular maintenance to stay secure, functional, and valuable. Your web design virtual assistant can handle ongoing tasks like updating plugins, adding new content, monitoring page performance, and keeping an eye on security issues. They can also perform routine checks for broken links and outdated information and tweak your design so your site remains polished and professional.

This level of attention is especially helpful for small businesses that don't have the resources to have an in-house employee monitor website functionality. With a specialty skilled Freedom Maker handling these updates, your website becomes a robust and reliable asset for your business. 

Maintenance needs can vary greatly depending on the size and functionality of the site. Larger or more complex sites, especially those with frequent updates or features like e-commerce, require more time which should be expected. For example, adding a lot of new stores to a WooCommerce site on WordPress could take around 10 hours to ensure the stores are listed alphabetically with correct links, etc. If only a few stores are added, the work might take 2 hours or less. In general, plan for maintenance and updates to take around 3-5 hours a month for a site without industry-specific or e-commerce requirements.

Integrating Tools for Growth and Social Media Connections

Estimated Hours: 5-10 hours

A website is a powerful hub that can support other marketing efforts, especially on social media. A Freedom Maker virtual assistant with a website design specialty can create connections with your social media profiles by integrating tools like email marketing platforms and analytics. By linking your site to your social accounts, a web design virtual assistant can help drive social engagement, manage campaigns, and even create automated posts to keep your content fresh.

With tools like Google Analytics, they can track site traffic, monitor user behavior, and provide insights on what's working. This integration not only increases your reach but also allows you to make data-driven decisions about your business.

Setting up integrations for email marketing and configuring basic analytics tools (think Google Console) can typically be completed in a 5 to 10 hour timeframe if all goes smoothly. However, it is important to keep in mind that integrating certain tools may be complicated depending on your platform, and occasionally, a virtual assistant with web design as their specialty may need to add products manually, which can be quite time consuming.  In those instances (when many products need to be added) it is not uncommon for this process to take over 10 hours, especially if issues arise with the integration. 

Additional Considerations

The hours estimated for these projects do not convert directly into a specific number of days for completion. External factors, like waiting on hosting providers or third-party services for industry-specific integrations (e.g., booking widgets for real estate sites), can impact timelines. Project scope, client requests, and complexity ultimately determine how quickly the final result can be delivered.

Why Work with A Specialty Freedom Maker to Create or Improve Your Website?

Partnering with a Freedom Maker who specializes in web design allows you to create or improve your website without the cost and commitment to a full blown project. Our virtual assistants with web design experience are flexible, and can work within your budget, adding pages or features as needed and as your cash flow allows. With support customized to your needs, your business will see its reach extended and its credibility enhanced. A website becomes a 24/7 resource for potential customers who can explore your polished site and get to know your business and its offerings.

Whether you're building a new website or refreshing an existing one, Freedom Makers Virtual Services can match you with the right specialty virtual assistant to bring your vision to life. Contact us to learn more and find the perfect Freedom Maker with web design experience to help your business stand out online. 

Click here to learn about all of the specialty services Freedom Makers offers.

*Special Thanks to Freedom Maker Patricial Nyambal for her assistance with this article.