Entries Tagged 'website design' ↓

That might sound like a strange question to ask.

But think about it for a second – why do you have a website?

If your immediate answer is ‘because everyone else has one’ you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Yes, if you’re in business today you are expected to have a web presence but that shouldn’t be the sole reason for your website to exist.

Your website has to do something for you and, more importantly, something for your customers. Let me explain.

Your website and you

By having an effective presence on the web you will be able to:

Free up manpower because your website should answer most of your customers’ questions

• Be a source of information 24/7
• Help people find  you on the internet
• Publicise events and your latest news
• Showcase you products and services
• Take orders online

And that’s just for starters.

But it’s not just about that. Yes, all of those things will make your life easier and, to a certain extent, your customers’ lives. But your website isn’t just there to help you.

Your website and them

Who is ‘them’?

They are your customers. Your website is a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week interface between you and your customers. As such it must speak to them directly, address their needs and show them what you can do for them.

When they land on your website they want:

Great service

• A great experience
• To be made to feel like an individual

You see, for your customers the most important thing is what you’re going to do for them so first impressions are vital.

First impressions count

Whether you already have a website or are in the early stages of development, here are a few pointers to bear in mind when thinking about its design:

• Does it reflect you and your values?
• Can your customer tell what you do from the design/layout?
• Are your contact details easy to find?
• Does your website reflect your brand values?
• Does the copy talk to your reader?
• Is it selling you or the benefits of your service?
• Is it social?

When someone first lands on your website they should be able to instantly see what you do. Your website copy should be benefits led and your site navigation should be easy to use.

Also, make sure your contact details are prominent – after all, your customer is going to want to know that they can get hold of you if they need to. But you also need to consider social media. If it’s right for your business you must use social media – customers expect it. Make sure they can easily interact with you via Twitter and Facebook as well as via the telephone and email.

If you still think a website is just an online brochure, think again. Today your website must work for you. It has to show you are a progressive company that has embraced social media to open up the lines of communication with your customers.

It should be your primary marketing tool so make the most of it.

As a business owner you want and need customers.

Ideally those customers will be of the happy variety that come back time and time again and bring all their friends along too.

But how do you make sure your website and customer service can generate that level of customer satisfaction?

When shopping online, people want speed, simplicity and a warm and fuzzy feeling once they’ve completed their purchase.

Other than tracking them all down and giving them a hug, how can you achieve this through your website?

Here are a few ideas.

Speeding it up

Your customers want to reach your site, find their product, and add it to their shopping basket and pay. So making that process as slick and fast as possible is essential.

Let’s start at the beginning.

1. Loading your site

Your website must load as quickly as possible because your customers aren’t going to hang around waiting for you. By reviewing all the images on your site and compressing them you’ll shorten the load time.

2. Payment

Jumping to the final stage of the buying process, you’ll need to offer a range of payment choices. Paypal is a must as it’s fast, safe and very convenient.

Simplicity

A mistake made by many companies is that their website is full of images, graphics, text and adverts making it impossible for the reader to navigate because there’s so much going on they don’t know which way to turn.

Keeping your site simple eases navigation and understanding.

3. Review your text

How readable is your text? By slightly increasing your font size you’ll make your site more readable.

4. White space

There’s nothing worse than a website that contains masses of solid text. You might think it conveys to the reader everything they need to know but that’s rather counterproductive because they won’t read it.

If you want someone to look at your site, its content has to be attractive. You can achieve this by:

• Shortening your paragraphs (5 lines or less)
• Add bulleted lists to highlight benefits
• Use sub headings
• Use images

But make sure you mix all these elements up to add variety and interest to your page.

Warm and fuzzy

This is probably the hardest one to achieve. How do you give them that warm and fuzzy feeling?

5. Social media

I’m assuming you’re using social media within your marketing strategy (if not why not?) so make sure you monitor your Twitter stream and Facebook page so when customers  ask questions about your products you respond to them quickly.

The other site of this is you’ll also be aware of compliments that come through your social media accounts (because you’ll be monitoring them) so make sure you say thank you.

There’s also a possibility that you’ll also get the off negative comment but because you’re monitoring your social media accounts you’ll be able to instantly make contact with the customer and put the situation right.

6. Get personal and obvious

Many companies get so wrapped up in looking professional they end up projecting a cold and impersonal image.

Customers want to buy from someone they like so by creating a website that shows your personality rather than a stale corporate image will get you noticed.

Being obvious doesn’t mean plastering your website with “buy now” in big red letters. Obvious means making your navigation simple to use so anyone can find their way to the page they want. There’s nothing worse than finding a website that sells the product you want but being unable to fathom out how to buy it.

7. Be chatty

When creating the copy on your website please don’t ‘we’ all over it.

Now sure what I mean? Well it’s quite simple. Take a look at your website and count how many times the word ‘we’ appears. In an ideal world there won’t be any.

Your customer couldn’t give two hoots about you; they want to know what you are going to do for them. So review your content and change the focus. If you’re not sure how to do that, find a professional copywriter who can do it for you. You’d be amazed at the difference it will make. You will instantly become:

• Approachable
• Customer-orientated
• Trustworthy

So there you go, 7 simple but effective ways you can change your website’s effectiveness overnight.

Try them out and come back and tell us how you got on. Do you have any other ideas? If so leave a comment below.

If you’re starting up a business or looking to revamp your existing website, what will you go for – a custom build or a template?

For many of us cost is everything and a template design is undoubtedly cheaper. But is it always the best choice?

Yes you can download them and stick in your content and a few images and, hey presto, you’ve got yourself a web presence without forking out fees for a web designer (or copywriter). But web designers exist for some very good reasons:

• They understand the web
• They understand how it works
• Basically, they know what they’re doing.

Eric Brantner has written an interesting post on seohosting.com’s blog giving 5 Reasons Not To Use a Web Template. Although he does admit to having used them, Eric goes on to explain why they aren’t always a good idea.

1. You still have to be customised

Even though many of these templates are downloadable and ready to go, most of them are still going to have to be customised somehow to suit your design needs.  Unless you happen to be a whiz at HTML coding you’re still going to need a web designer.

2. Not the best for branding

You brand has to be recognisable online. If you use a template, that’s going to be tough because you’re just going to like thousands of other sites out there.

It will be much better to get a custom design that will make your brand stand out.

3. Restricted zone

The template isn’t going to be easy to tweak, plus you’re probably going to be tied to licensing agreements with the template designer which will govern how you use the website. You will also probably have to have a link back to the designer’s own website somewhere.

4. You’re not alone

Hundreds, possibly thousands of people have downloaded the same template as you. Do you really want to be seen as a generic design rather than as someone with your own identity?

5. Bad news for SEO

Many templates aren’t designed with SEO in mind so getting the search engine spiders to crawl your site could be difficult, and as for ranking…if it can’t be crawled you’re not going to rank.

Eric’s tips are very valid and if you’re considering downloading a template design it’s well worth holding fire and reading through this list again.

If you’re serious about marketing your brand online you’re going to have to make a serious investment. Cutting corners now will not pay off.