So, you need a new Website
It’s very easy when thinking about website design to look at ‘pretty’ aesthetically pleasing sites, with moving videos and lots of widgets and tools and think that that’s what you want for your new website. But it is important not to get too caught up in the aesthetics to the detriment of functionality.
A website that works well will often have a good balance between looking great and being optimised for conversion so that visitors take action. First impressions are important, you have very little time to convince someone that they have come to the right place once they land on your website.
This is why your homepage is so important, it has to do a variety of things in a very short period of time. Including demonstrating that you solve the problem that they have, to indicate that you are the right people to solve that problem and to make it very easy for them to take action. We offer web design services with this in mind, we balance function and aesthetics to design a website that gets you results.
The Process Involved in Website Design and Build
Web design research involves looking at the existing marketing material, exploring what others in the industry are doing and gaining an understanding of what is important to your business and customers. If you have two main revenue streams, but one is your main focus for growth, that’s something a good designer can build in.
A sitemap is a diagram that shows the structure of the website, it’s like the bones of the design. Functionality includes the more technical things that the website needs to be able to do, for example a postcode checker for a geographical business that only operates in certain areas. A wireframe is a rough layout of the website, usually includes the core differences in design such as homepage, internal content pages, portfolio page, blog, pretty much anything that needs a different layout. At concept draft stage we would usually offer up at least two different designs that incorporate all the discussions we have had with the client. It’s a picture that can be tweaked and changed. Once this is signed off, it’s the final design that is used to build the website.
Each stage of the process involves tweaking and improving so that by the time we get to Final Design and are actually building the website, there are very few changes that need to take place thereafter.
- Research
- Sitemap
- Functionality
- Wireframe
- Concept Draft
- Final Design and Build
Stages of Building a Website
To simplify what is a much more complex process….
Once the concept draft is signed off, it’s our job to build the website. We build the majority of websites in WordPress purely because it’s an open source platform and has multiple plugins available to add functionality without having to custom code everything. It’s also very SEO friendly which is always something that we would recommend to our clients. For e-commerce websites we usually use Magento for similar reasons. Both of these platforms have easy to use administration areas which is good for our clients too, especially for an e-commerce website.
Whilst we are building the website our clients provide us with images and words to populate those pages. We can offer content writing services if required and can use stock photo’s if necessary.
Once the site is built and populated with content and images, all functionality is tested, and the website can go live.
The Importance of Conversion
Content is critical to the success of your website’s conversion, it includes words, images and videos and is what makes up the flesh of your website. Without good content, your new website won’t do very much for your business. The placement of that content and how your site is structured has a massive impact on conversion and this goes hand in hand with search engine optimisation work.
Our tips for success:
- Write for your audience and not for yourself, most visitors are looking to see if you can do what you say you can, if you have what they need and what they need to do to get it. They really aren’t interested in how amazing you think you are; they only want the cold hard facts.
- User experience is key, make it easy for them to navigate with clear funnels and easy to follow menu and clear concise information.
- Don’t hide your contact details away, have it displayed clearly and proudly. Don’t make it difficult for your potential customers to get in touch. Over time we as consumers have become accustomed to looking for things in certain places, e.g. a telephone number in the top right corner of a web page.
- Consistent messaging is key, if you understand what is important to your potential customers, make sure you show them you can provide what they need.
- Trust signals across the website will instil confidence in you. Things like testimonials, reviews, industry memberships and awards.
Why we don’t Just Design Websites
We are ultimately a Digital Marketing Company; we work with our clients on an ongoing basis to market their business across the internet. To enable us to do that, our clients need high performing websites. That’s why we design and build them. It’s the start point for us and that’s why we aren’t standalone web designers. Our experience has taught us that trying to market a poorly optimised website built by another designer just doesn’t get the results that our clients need.
If you are looking for an Agency to design your website and walk away, then that isn’t us I’m afraid. That’s not to say we don’t do a good job for our clients, we do, and you can see some of our website design work in our portfolio.
For us, our business is all about building long term relationships with our clients, the majority of whom have worked with us for a long time. We become your outsourced digital marketing department, we work together to achieve success because if you do well, we do well. So, designing and building websites is a part of what we do, but just a part. So get in touch today to talk about our website design services
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