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Web design guidelines

06/16/202102/10/2021 by scmarketing

Whether you have a website already or are looking for a web developer to create a brand-new website for you, here’s some of the key considerations to think about to ensure that your website is doing what it should – engaging with visitors and being a lead generator.

1. What functionality should your website have?

A website will be developed to your brief. Therefore, think about what you would like first before you speak to a developer. Look at other websites to see what type of functionality you would prefer. Keep a note of these so you can chat with your chosen web developer about your preferences.

Having a Content Managed System (CMS) gives you the ability to update content yourself once the website is created. Therefore you have the choice to maintain the website yourself or work with a digital marketing agency to manage this for you. A CMS website gives you a lot of flexibility for the future for regular blog uploads through to ad hoc landing page creations for new products or services.

You also need to consider the functionality. Do you need an e-commerce website or will a brochure website be suitable for your requirements?

2. Website design

Now you know the purpose of your website and understand your target audience, you need to ensure that your web design will appeal.

Work with your web designer so that they understand your company values, branding and target audience.

A web developer will usually create a mock design for you on a wire frame – check this out when you ask for a website quote.

This mock design will give you an idea of what the homepage will look like providing you the opportunity to feedback on any likes or dislikes. Sometimes it’s easier to do this once the design is in front of you.

If in doubt, keep your website simple.

Keep colour to a minimum and ensure they are in keeping with your brand. Sometimes the more space on the page the better on the eye.
Keep font consistent across your website and ensure you can read it – there’s some lovely different styles out there but some offer design over functionality!
Use images to help break up space.
Use bold call to actions to encourage website visitors to ‘contact’, ‘get a quote’, ‘download an ebook’.

Above all it’s about ease of navigation, this is where a sitemap comes in.

3. Sitemap

At design stage your web developer can help create the sitemap with you. This will be something you agree at initial stages. The structure of the website hinges on this. Most importantly you need a website that is easy to navigate, easy on the eye – as this helps guide you around the website, and you should always have the purpose at the back of your mind.

4. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Establish up front with your web designer what content you already have, whether you need content edited or written from scratch.

Usually content is transferred from the old website. Or you can provide new content at design stage, indicating where copy needs to be placed.

Check with your developer that the website will be optimised and mobile friendly. SEO includes activity such as completing the meta descriptions. alt tags and H1 headings.

As SEO is a long-term strategy, you will need to keep up with adding fresh content to your website with keywords to help it rise in search engine rankings.

Help potential customers find your website with a digital marketing strategy for lead generation. Link building is a key part of this so activity would include adding links into social posts, completing your Google My Business page, inclusion in email marketing with ‘read more’ call to actions with links to your website.

If your website is new you might want to consider a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign as this can help give your site a boost in search engine results pages (SERPS).

5. Security

Get security sorted at early stages such as with an SSL certificate as well as an updated privacy policy. Captcha is another security measure to determine whether users are human which you can add to forms or logins. Captcha helps to prevent bots from accessing these areas.

Website design Croydon

Your digital marketing activity should have a consistent look and feel to help brand awareness and encourage loyalty.

We are a web design company in Croydon. Our digital marketing services include creating bespoke websites for accountants, SEO, social media marketing and PPC for accountants in Surrey.

Further resources for web design and development:

Website design and development key steps

06/16/202111/10/2020 by scmarketing

With the second lockdown in place across England, now is an ideal time to review your website for necessary updates to help potential customers navigate it easily and remind people of your any new services.

We find that most of our clients looking for web design and development already have a website but it’s somewhat out of date, perhaps on an old WordPress website version that could do with some new plugins or complete overhaul. With that in mind, we thought we’d run through the key steps to website design and development so that you know what to ask for from your developer. Even if you are just refreshing your website it will provide you with important tips to consider.

1. Website purpose

Before you embark on creating your website you need to have its main purpose at the back of your mind so that the website can be developed to your requirements and business goals.

Do you just want a brochure website with an overview of services or do you need e-commerce functionality for people to purchase products? Either way, know what you want from the outset to prevent any additional costs at later stages to add functionality.

If you haven’t already established your target audience then now is a good time as this could greatly impact the look and feel of your website. Follow our tips to create an online persona for your business.

2. CMS website

We tend to design websites on a Content Managed System (CMS). This gives you, the business owner, the ability to update content yourself once the website is created.

3. Security

Ensure you have established security at early stages include an SSL certificate as well as an updated privacy policy. A captcha is another security measure to determine whether users are human which you can add to forms or logins. Captcha helps to prevent bots from accessing these areas.

4. Develop your sitemap

Work with your web developer to create a sitemap. Sometimes a suggested map can be included in a proposal if you have already had in depth discussions. However, once you instruct a developer to create your website then the site map will be the first task to agree as the whole structure of the website will be based on this. Your web developer can offer advice on making your website easy to navigate which helps with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

5. Website design

If you’ve followed step one of this process then you will already have established your website purpose. This needs to be communicated with your web designer along with providing an understanding of your company values and branding. This helps a web designer to get a good understanding of your business. Allowing them to create a mock design for you – usually a wire frame. This allows you to see the homepage and perhaps one or two core pages so you can understand how the other pages will look too.

6. Content marketing

It’s not called a Content Managed System (CMS) for the fun of it. Your website needs content. You will need to establish up front with your web designer what content you already have, whether you need content edited or written from scratch. This can impact on the overall cost. Usually content is transferred from the old website or provided. If you need help with this, then make sure you get a quote initially for content including imagery so that you are aware of any additional costs.

7. SEO

Check with your developer that the website will be optimised and mobile friendly. SEO includes activity such as completing the meta descriptions. alt tags and H1 headings.

As SEO is a long-term strategy, you will need to keep up with adding fresh content to your website with keywords to help it rise in search engine rankings.

Just because you will have a new website, you still need to provide signposts to it to help people searching for services to find you. These include adding links into social posts, completing your Google My Business page, communicating with customers via email with website links. This all adds to your awareness. So, if your website is new you might want to consider a PPC campaign to give it a boost in search engine results pages (SERPS).

8. Review your website

You usually get a couple rounds of amends included in a web design quote. So, make sure you spend time reviewing it and flagging anything you think needs amending. Once you approve your website then you may find that any other changes cost money. It all depends what agreement you have in place, so check this up front.

9. Ongoing, maintenance and backups

Once everything is approved and your web developer has tested the functionality then you can go live.

When you get a quote for your website ask about ongoing costs for hosting and technical support. Most web developers will include a fee for weekly backups and updates to plugins. However, you may feel you want more support. So ask what is offered, whether that’s onsite SEO, blog writing or a complete digital marketing package.

Website design Croydon

Remember that the website is the centre of your digital world. Anything you share on social media, through email marketing or in a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign should all link back to your website. Therefore, all digital marketing activity should have a consistent look and feel to help brand awareness and encourage loyalty.

We are a web design company in Croydon. Out digital marketing services include creating bespoke websites for accountants and other businesses, SEO, link building, social media marketing and PPC.

Read more about our web design services and get in touch for a consultation or a free website review.

3 steps for website improvement

06/01/202109/01/2020 by scmarketing

While you may find that you fixate on the website design initially, you must always consider the look of your site alongside the overall user experience at design and development stage.

When working with a web designer take a collaborative approach, have your ideas for the website appearance, but be open to tips about website structure and navigation that will come from years of experience.

Here we provide three areas of focus that will help you create a winning website whether it’s a new site or you’re embarking on updating your current website.

1. Understand your website user

Your web content needs to be of interest to your target audience. A website today is not just about nice pictures and text, it’s much more than a brochure site. It’s a place where you want to send all web traffic, whether from links on social posts, online advertising or guest blogs. So, you need engaging content to keep visitors on your website. You can only do this by understanding the challenges and demands that your clients and prospects are facing to ensure that your content gives them answers to their questions.

Whether you’re selling products or services, help them to find information and pricing simply. We understand that in some sectors, such as accounting, it may not be a one size fits all approach to pricing as services are tailored to each client. However, a call to action offering a free consultation to discuss requirements can be helpful. But, where you can list baseline prices such as ‘starting from’, this can help push that initial engagement.

Your content marketing strategy should include regular writing for your website for a blog/news page. We work a lot with professional services firms such as accountants and this is such a key area to always contribute to as it helps with website optimisation your position in organic search engine results pages (SERPs).

Video content towards the top of the page is also an engaging way to keep a visitor on your site. But again, the content is key and needs to be focussed to your audience.

Read our blog about creating an online persona for your business as this will help you with tailoring content specifically for your audience.

2. Ease of navigation

Once you get people to your website, it needs to be a smooth journey for them to move from page to page. Having a website that is easy to navigate will help people stay on your website for longer and give more chance of a sale.

Have a look at your website and check the menu and homepage, are you covering the questions that your target audience will ask? Is it easy for them to find contact details and get in touch with you? Is your menu offering the right options and is it clear?

Ensure you have bold call to actions and white space that can lead the visitor simply around the page – avoid too much clutter.

If you’ve written a blog add in internal links to relevant pages that can help further guide a visitor to other pages of interest.

3. Be mobile responsive

Globally 52% of web traffic comes from a mobile. This will only increase as the world conducts more transactions online and uses search on their mobile. If your website isn’t already mobile friendly, then now is the time to look for a new website design. If you are already mobile friendly, then always check how updates look on your mobile. As you constantly add blogs, new call to actions of pop up boxes, taking a quick look to that it functions correctly will help the user experience and prevent people from moving quickly from your website.

Website designer Croydon

Smart Cow is a web design company in Croydon . We build bespoke websites for accountants and local businesses which are search engine optimised. We offer a free website audit which can highlight areas that need improvement and guide you on what to update.

We also provide a suite of digital marketing services including social media management, PPC, email marketing and ongoing SEO. Book a free consultation to discuss our website design services and online marketing.

What is a CMS website and why use one for your business?

08/11/2020 by scmarketing

A content management system (CMS) website provides you as the owner of your website the ability to easily make updates to content on your own site. By opting for this type of website, once you have had the initial website designed and developed to your specification then you can be in control of future content rather than using anyone external to do this.

What to consider at web design and development stage?

When you first embark on a new website design with a web developer ask them about a CMS system. As part of your requirements make sure the admin dashboard is easy to follow. It should be simple to upload content, install modules and plugins as well as see user activity.

With a CMS you should also easily be able to add images, which is so important for a website, as well as have the options to add eye-catching call to actions or forms.

Talk to your web design agency about the types of themes available to be able to get the design you want. At Smart Cow, we create a wire frame following your brief so you can see what your website will look like prior to build and we can make changes at this stage based on feedback.

Built for SEO

What’s key for a website once it’s live is being optimised. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an ongoing task that you need to think about when running a business website.

We have a number of blogs where we talk about things like meta descriptions, alt tags and H1 headers. These are key when uploading content to pages or as a blog.

We also cover tips for sitemaps, bot accessibility and URL structure.

You can also check whether a website is SEO friendly, something like Hubspot and its CMS Hub can allow you to work on your SEO strategy as it provides SEO recommendations for content.

Social media marketing

A CMS should allow the capability of integrating with your social media platforms.

Think about whether you will want the ability for people to share posts or pages with the inclusion of sharing buttons. This is a great way to spread awareness of your brand and position you as a thought leader.

Safety, security and support

The security of your website is of the utmost importance. Discuss this with your web developer at initial stages and ensure that security is listed on any proposal you get.

Things to look out for include whether an SSL certificate is included in the proposal cost.

Also ensure you have an updated privacy policy in your footer if you are embarking on a new website.

At Smart Cow marketing, once a website is live and handed over, there is a regular monthly fee for hosting but it’s up to you whether you wish to have support and ongoing maintenance of your site as this is something you may wish to do yourself. Either way, we can provide a website training session for the users who will be responsible for the upload of content moving forward.

Why use CMS for your business?

At the core of a professional web design strategy is about enhancing your online presence. With a swift move for many people and businesses to work remotely, with communication and sales happening online, having the ability to quickly update your website to inform customers and prospects of new opening times, special deals and new services having a CMS website starts to make sense.

It’s also key during this time to position yourself as a thought leader. So, being able to offer timely advice to existing customers and new business leads will help retain clients and improve your lead generation.

Website design Croydon

We’re a web design company in Croydon. Out digital marketing services include creating bespoke websites, SEO, link building, social media marketing and PPC.

Read more about our web design services and get in touch for a consultation or a free website review.