Websites: Build

We build good websites. Not just beautiful websites, but websites that work.

By that we mean one that works so it helps you sell your services and products. In order to achieve that every little bit, from UX and design to content to SEO to the sales funnel, has to be done properly. Our website designers are a wonderful bunch of creative magicians who take pride in getting it right, so your website promotes your brand and helps you make money, because that is what it is all about. After all, no one needs an ‘all fur coat and no knickers’ website that hangs about on the internet looking pretty but isn’t fit for purpose.

We will also make sure that the website is thoroughly optimised, from the front end content to the metadata, in order to further boost your position on Search Marketing, and we will also ensure that your beautiful and easy-to-use website is set up as a funnel for sales. By doing all that we know you will then be well on the way to gaining social traction and hitting Google’s sweet spot so you get more traffic and convert more in to potential and actual clients and customers.

We know it’s more effort than a regular website design studio goes to, but we know you’re in business to make money, and you can’t do that if your website doesn’t work properly.

So if you want a website that works, then check out our Website Packages or do feel free to get in touch.

Websites: Improve

A good website is essential to help your business sell services and products. However, they don’t always do what you expect them to do.

Websites go wrong for a variety of reasons but the bottom line is a bad website affects everything. That includes whether people can find the site, or are able to find what they are looking for once they arrive. Poorly set up ecommerce will prevent them buying, while if it is slow to load people will get bored and wander off. Finally a bad website experience will affect the opinion people have of your business, for good or ill.

Why websites need improving

Sometimes its because they haven’t been built or maintained very well, which can cause crawl issues. Other websites may be buckling under the weight of their photography, which directly impacts load time.

Another type of website is becoming much more common, but is far more difficult to spot. This is the ‘furcoat and no knickers’ website i.e it looks pretty but completely fails to help for your business. Style over substance websites don’t work because they lack landing pages, on page SEO or marketing funnels, so are merely calling cards hanging in hyperspace.

All of these issues and more can have an impact on your website’s performance and therefore your bottom line, which is why websites need regular maintenance to often need fixing and improving.

Clearly in some cases it would be better to start afresh with a new website, and that may be the only solution in some cases. For example, if it’s very slow to load, built on an out-of-date platform, badly coded, or in very poor repair it may cost more to fix than replace.

However sometimes it just needs improving, but working out whether it needs replacing or improving can be a whole other problem in itself. Like with cars, most people just need a website that works and don’t really know what to look for ‘under the bonnet’ so to speak. Consequently if you aren’t sure what’s wrong or even where to start looking, do check out our tailored Website Audit Package. We can analyse what’s wrong and then you can decide what to do. If you need further guidance then do get in touch. 

Websites: Maintain

Maintaining websites in good health is an essential part of any web designers’ remit. Once a website is built you can’t just ignore it because it immediately starts to deteriorate. This will give visitors a poor experience and reduce your sales conversions, as well as resulting in Google penalties.

Why maintaining websites is important

Websites are usually built on platforms, rather than hand coded, and these quickly get out of date. This the same for the plugins used for extra functionality, and if the platform or plugins aren’t kept up to date this can open the door to hackers and make spam attacks worse. Out of date software can also cause as crawl issues for Google’s spiders.

A website also needs it’s content refreshed regularly to maintain it’s Google ranking. In addition, the way people describe things and search online changes over time, so content and keywords will need updating to keep them current. Our SEO Strategy Package can help with that.

However, other problems include poor page load speed, which can cause high bounce, and bad or spammy links. Pages that get deleted or moved without a redirect put in place will also cause problems for visitors and Google alike.

Maintaining a website properly includes making sure it stays fresh, doesn’t have any fail pages or dead ends, loads quickly, and works smoothly. This is important to avoid getting Google penalties, which can result in your website being blocked, but maintaining your website properly mainly ensures that it continues to help you win clients and sell products.

Which is the point really, isn’t it?  So if your website needs some love, don’t suffer in silence, check out our Website Rescue Package and give your Website the TLC it deserves.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the science of understanding how Google categorises pages and decides which websites are the best sources of information. Getting SEO right is so important for business because Google is where most people go to find things.

Why websites don’t rank on search

If Google’s algorithms don’t consider a website the best source possible to answer a query, it won’t rank on the first page. Many factors influence where a website appears on Google. These include how the text is written and the on-page SEO. Page ranking will be lower if there are crawl issues, slow load time or no off-page support. Lots of competition from other websites also makes front-page ranking harder.

On the up side your chances of hitting Google’s sweet spot will be greatly improved if you get the SEO right.

External factors in SEO

On-page SEO is not the only important factor. Google also considers whether the page is a useful source of information. This is indicated by the popularity of the page, how many good sites link to it, and the freshness of the content. Bad ranking signals include low traffic, high bounce rate, crawl issues, and spam links.

The alchemy of SEO

At its highest level hitting Google’s sweet spot is really alchemy i.e. it is a blend of art and science. We understand how to make SEO work, and consequently are very good at getting clients to the top of Google. Some of our clients have even asked us to ‘switch it off again’ because they get so overwhelmed by new business! You have to admit, it’s a nice problem to have 

Website Optimisation

Website optimisation is the art of making your website findable. That’s not just generally findable (it’s there if you Google it by name), but findable by people who are looking to buy what you are selling but don’t know you yet.

Optimisation includes the way the content is written, and whether it is easy to read, useful, and contains the keywords people are using. The links that are pointing in at your web pages are also important. Good ones boost your SEO, while bad backlinks can get you penalised. It even incorporates the micro detail of the way pictures are labelled and the metadata at the back end.

You would be forgiven for thinking that because website optimisation is so important, that every website would be optimised to the hilt. Sadly this just isn’t the case. Most websites are just digital brochures hanging in space looking pretty (if you are lucky) and not actually doing anything to help clients find you, engage with you or make the decision to buy from you.

Social media marketing is now one of the most important marketing activities. Why? Because social media sites are where the majority of people spend most time online, and where your customers go, your brand must surely follow.

Social media marketing is knowing where your potential clients hang out. Understanding what they like and what they share. It is getting your brand noticed while people are busy being social. Be able to encourage people to share and click through, and knowing why they do that. And it is getting them to want to hear more from you. Why? Because you are providing something they need and want, so they will not just like you, but eventually decide to buy from you.

It’s also all the work that goes into that. From planning and running campaigns to measuring and analysing the results. Then there is monitoring your brand and niche, and making it all work as an integrated part of your sales and marketing comms cycle.

Creating search-optimised, informative, expert content is something we love doing. We know from decades of working with businesses that most don’t have time or the inclination – or sometimes the ability – to create content for their businesses.

However, every business needs to content because that is what feeds marketing, social media and PR, it is essential for a business to convey their ideas, and prove their expertise. A recent Report reveals that 47% of consumers review at least three to five forms of content prior to engaging with sales associates. Yet despite their good intentions, few businesses find it easy to keep up a good flow of content.

We can help. We can produce search-engine optimised content in many fields, including marketing, health, medical, tech, finance, travel, food, drink, animals, gardening, nature, lifestyle, and many others.

A Logo is a design symbolizing ones organization. It is a design that is used by an organization for its letterhead, advertising material, and signs as an emblem by which the organization can easily be recognized, also called logotype. Logotype is a graphic representation or symbol of a company name, trademark, abbreviation, etc., often uniquely designed for ready recognition.

You may also think of a Logo as a simple visual mark to identify your company product or service. There are different types of signs and emblems easily recognized and associated with purposes. For example, crests are used to identify a country or family. There was a time when only big enough organizations could afford to make their own crest. They were in some cases very detailed drawing with many objects to enrich the crest. Cost was not an issue and more was considered better. Then flags were used due to their larger format. They were visible from the craft fields from long distances. Road signs were designed for informational purposes. They use such techniques as contrasting colors, simplified and yet stylish formats to identify and attract more attention and convey information.

Now days, the most popular and successful companies continue to say that “simpler is better”, especially today when everything is moving so fast you have less and less time to impress your customers. So it has to be done in a very stylish manner yet remaining conservative so that it`s easier for the eye to catch and the brain to memorize your logo design.

These days you also have to consider the reproduction cost. More detailed and colorful logo designs are harder to reproduce and they of course cost more. You also have to consider the size that your logo is going to be used at. The perfect logo design will look great on a sign board as well as on a business card or on a pen for example.

We have talked about the general use of a logo. Now we are going to get into a more detail look at the logo. There are some general types of logos: Iconic Logo – Some kind of graphical element related to the business field or just an abstract image, for example: Nike, AOL, Micheline. Logotype – Logo based only on the company name. A unique font, or unique layout style can make a great logo, for example: Sony, Coca-Cola , IBM.

Let’s talk about each kind separately. Iconic Logos can be very different. The classic variation is to make the symbol fit any of the basic geometrical shapes. For example:

The best shapes to use are symmetrical geometrical shapes They can be placed almost anywhere and still maintain the balance; they are very easy to handle.

It is still good to make the logo fit any kind of geometrical shape, it looks more fit and balanced:

And at last there is no obligation in what kind of shape to use , you can use any free form shape you want, but you have to be very careful with the placement, so the logo doesn’t look like it is falling apart or going to fall:

By selecting the shape, you should consider how conservative and stable your company wants to appear.

Graphic design is the process of visual communication and problem-solving through the use of typography, photography and illustration. The field is considered a subset of visual communicationand communication design, but sometimes the term “graphic design” is used synonymously. Graphic designers create and combine symbols, images and text to form visual representations of ideas and messages. They use typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to create visual compositions. Common uses of graphic design include corporate design (logos and branding), editorial design (magazines, newspapers and books), wayfinding or environmental design, advertising, web design, communication design, product packagingand signage.