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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.

4 tips for successful website design and development

06/01/202107/21/2020 by scmarketing

Look at your online business in the same way you would a shop. Traditionally, as much as a physical bricks and mortar location needs a good foundation a website too needs to be built on a solid foundation and structure.

If you don’t invest in the initial infrastructure of the website, even though the design may be top notch, potential customers searching for your services may have difficulty finding you.

Here’s four points to be aware of when embarking on a new website design for your business. While there’s lots more to consider about the design and functionality, these are your vital starting points to build that robust foundation so that your website structure is optimised.

1. Sitemaps

A sitemap is basically as you will have thought – a list of pages of your website. This is in addition to your main visible menu designed for the website. Clients often ask us ‘why a website needs this specific site map’. The reason being is that it gives both users and search engines an understanding of the layout of your site.

The site map makes it easy to return pages in search engines as it has a clear understanding of where to find your content on your website. This is the start of you creating a solid foundation to build your website.

2. Bot accessibility

Make sure that search engines can find the content within your website and that it is not hidden from view.

Your structured list – your site map – is also meant for web crawlers. This is an important visitor that you want to attract to your website!

Make it easy for the web crawlers (bots) to access and move around your website. You want to do all you can to get your website seen by the search engines.

Our blog on link building for improved website optimisation will also give you some tips on driving traffic to your website.

3. URL structure

The URL name and structure are important to the success of your website. By naming the page closest to what the page is about and what you want to be found for will give the search engines the best chance to find you. Naming pages correctly and structuring the site accordingly is key to your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) strategy.

4. Quality content

Content is key for the success of your website. Knowing your target audience means you can tailor the content for them including keywords that you want to be found for in search engines. Keep it simple, easy to read and insightful. Be the thought leader in your field.

Take a look at our blog with SEO tips to improve search ranking. It includes an overview of keywords, link building and local SEO which all fall under your content marketing strategy for improving SEO.

Web design Croydon

We’re a Croydon web design agency, with years of experience, building bespoke websites for accountants and local businesses which are mobile friendly and designed to attract, engage and convert prospects. 

Once we build a website clients can take advantage of our range of design services where we build a marketing campaign around your target audience. With a mix of digital marketing tactics such as pay per click advertising, social media marketing, email marketing, video or blogs, we build an ongoing content marketing strategy to attract good quality leads to your business.

If you’re looking for web design company to update your website or would like a brand new website developed, then get in touch with us for your free consultation.

If you’re unsure about the state of your website then why not take advantage of our FREE Website Review. This will highlight areas that may be impeding your website being successful in search engine rankings.

If you’re looking for a web design company in Croydon, we look forward to speaking with you soon.

5 questions to ask your web design company

07/08/202006/17/2020 by scmarketing

Now is a great time to be updating your website to improve your online presence and make sure you’re ticking all the boxes for what your leads and clients are looking to find.

So, we’ve compiled 5 questions on what you need to ask your web design company when you look to take that step and update your website.

1. CMS

Ask your web designers about a Content Management System (CMS) website such as WordPress. This means that once the website is built, and with a little training, you can manage the upload of content yourself. Basically, you want to have control to be able to add content once your website has been created.

So, ask your website designer and developer what access you will have and if it can be a CMS website. If you go to a web developer, you are likely to have the website handed to you after completion to handle yourself and manage the day to day upload of content into the future.

If you work with a digital marketing agency you can ask them to quote for services once the website is live such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and content marketing such as writing blogs and handling Social Media channels.

2. Be responsive and optimised

Make sure your website is responsive. What do we mean by that? It means websites can change structure depending on what device you are viewing it on. For example this means when you look at a website on your mobile phone you can view it as you would on a PC.

Google certainly ranks a website if it is mobile friendly so it will help you in search. With 60% of searches made on a mobile device, being mobile friendly is not a nice to have, it’s essential.

You also should be aware of Meta Descriptions, Alt Tags and H1/H2 headings. A web designer can provide you with simple training on this once your website has been developed. But, as it’s being developed, they should have already implemented these on the content and images already uploaded for you.

3. Integration

Sales and marketing go hand in hand. A website is at the core of your inbound marketing campaign as any marketing you do you want to lead your prospects back to your website.

So, make sure that your professional web design has the same consistency look and feel as any other sales and marketing you conduct. Therefore, there needs to be cohesion between email marketing, social media, Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns, marketing automation and CRM. You need to align channels so that your clients and prospects have a smooth sales journey.

4. Be secure and compliant

Most CMS provide modules to allow you to back up and to make safe against hackers. Unfortunately, with web robots (automated programs) checking thousands of websites a second for weaknesses to exploit the owner it’s important to do as much as you can to make your website safe. Talk through the options with your web developer such as the SSL certificate and captcha forms for your website.

Ensure you have a privacy policy in your footer. This can be transferred from your current site but if your site is old, you may not have this up to date. So, ask your web developer if they have a template you can use. They should have an example template to hand to help you.

5. Talk design

Don’t be afraid to talk about how you want the website to look. While you are employing an expert, the look and feel of the website still needs to fit with your brand vision. Choose to work with a web designer or agency that you feel understands your company goals and what you want to achieve from the site. It needs to be tailored to you.

Your web developer needs to be a collaborative partner. Here’s some pointers to remember when you talk through the design. It’s not just about the site looking good but about practical needs to ensure a well optimised website.

Be image led: Ensure that images will be incorporated into your design. If you need new imagery, you may need to agree up front whether you need to pay extra or if images are included in your quote.
Don’t be afraid of white space on your website. It aids site navigation and is easy on the eye.
Add bold calls to action buttons throughout the website.
Agree up front the site navigation. Ensure that it’s easy for visitors to move around the site.

Ask your web developer to create a wire frame of the design. This way, after you have had your initial discussions, the designer will create a mock up allowing you to see the overall look of the homepage and a typical page on the website.

Website design Croydon

Improving your website can help user experience and, in turn, generate more quality leads. By creating a website and content tailored to your audience will help you with your overall inbound marketing strategy. If you’re embarking on a new website or looking to refresh your current one, hopefully these tips have given you some steer to help you create a fantastic experience for your clients and prospects.

Smart Cow Marketing is a web developer in Croydon, London. Our expertise in website design and development means we can provide you with a brand-new bespoke website or provide advice on ways to update your current site.

Get in touch to talk about your web design requirements.