 Our guide outlines everything you should have in a website for it to perform well in Google, convert viewers to customers and professionally represent your business 24/7 Top-performing websites all have two things in common - great content and design. Our list of ten features to include in a website power up your business and go the distance. We also outline our approach to each feature and explain how we integrate these features in every website we design. Know This: It's easy to take shortcuts when designing a website. However, we believe that getting the foundations right will help your business grow for years to come. Our list below forms the basis for creating a website to deliver an unrivalled return on your upfront investment. Our List of Ten:
Your website has to convey your business succinctly and genuinely to attract new customers. The most important pages are your home, about us, services, and contact details. These four pages are essential to creating trust with the reader. Our guide to what's important in a website outlines how excellent content is critical to the success of a website. Our solution: Every website we develop includes professional content writing that explains what's important, your business expertise and specialities, areas of competitive advantage and the team behind the organisation. We craft content that makes an instant impression on the reader and encourages a call to action (phone call, email enquiry, contact form submission etc.).
Every website needs appealing images to help balance out the text and menu functionality. However, there is a huge range of image quality and many websites mismatch photos and lower the overall quality and professional tone. A good web designer will collate relevant and high-quality images and infuse them with any business-specific photos you have to deliver something consistent and high-end. Our solution: Every website we develop includes stock images. We draw from our rich libraries of Australian-specific stock images to put together a collection of photos that blend seamlessly with your company's branding. Photos of your team, projects, facilities or anything else relevant are warmly received by our design team and arranged to personalise the website further.
Generally, 60% of users view a website on their phone, and the other 40% come from laptops or desktops. Australians increasingly use their phones to browse websites, so a mobile-friendly design is necessary. If a website loads that's not mobile-friendly, a phone user needs to zoom and scroll and is likely to have an unflattering opinion of the business as a result. Our solution: Every website we develop is smart-device friendly, meaning either a desktop or mobile version will load, depending on the size of the user's screen.
Many web designers don't focus on creating expertly-written and Google-friendly content. Because of this, there is a limitation to how successful the website will attract Google traffic when it goes live. The best approach is for a web designer to research the industry their client operates in and develop content that is Google friendly. Sadly, many don't understand how Google works or fail to use best practices published by Google. Our solution: Every website we develop includes on-page SEO, focused on the location of the business and its relevant keywords based on the industry it operates in. We write our content and program SEO fields on each page to maximise Google trust and relevance. Our process follows the latest Google guidance. We then encourage clients to expand their online profile using proven tips to help gain exposure.
Websites need to be designed with branding consistency. Too often, we see websites that are cookie-cutter templates that simply upload a logo and fail to style the business consistently. A website is like an office or store fit-out - you can't just move in stock and furniture and expect it to appeal to customers. It needs to be styled to appeal to the customer base. Our solution: Every website we design is different; we use templates to benefit from best-in-class technology and personalise the design with your branding and preferred colours. We also offer a range of optional features at affordable one-off prices to further enhance a website.
Some website designers don't provide content or have a client-centric review process. This can lead to difficulty when the website is designed, but the client doesn't have a structured process to make edits. We believe the best approach is to invite clients to suggest edits after each major development stage. This makes sure all small (and big) edits are made, and the website development continues to the finalisation stage. Our solution: Every website we develop includes a set of revisions at the first draft, second draft and finalisation steps. This keeps the project progressing while allowing clients to make suggestions and changes to meet their needs.
Not every potential customer wants to call or email. Instead, many prefer to fill out a contact form and ask questions. For this reason alone, an enquiry form is an essential element of a website and best placed on the contact page. Our solution: Every 3+ page website package we offer includes an enquiry form. All submissions are emailed directly to a business owner's email to minimise any reply delay.
A photo gallery is a popular feature if you're a business that manufacturers products or completes projects. For example, engineering firms, construction companies and general manufacturers often publish galleries. Other organisations using galleries include hairdressers, gyms, medical clinics (who want to show their facilities), vets and other animal industry businesses. Some web designers charge separately for creating a gallery, which can get confusing with the number of photos to be supplied. We believe that a gallery is a great asset and should be included in a standard website design package or quoted as a separate item at an affordable fixed-price rate. Our solution: Every website we develop includes the option of a gallery. We include it as a page in every 3, 5 and 8+ website page packages. If a client uses up all the pages in their package, we offer a gallery as an optional fixed-price add-on.
There's always a risk with developing a website that your web designer maintains full control over the website and charges expensive hourly rates for any editing. We believe the best approach is to build a website on an easy-to-use platform that lets the website owner update their pages whenever they want without any additional costs. This eliminates any roadblocks to maintaining a vibrant and relevant business website. Our solution: Every website we publish for a client puts the control in the owner's hands with easy self-editing access 24/7 to make updating the content effortlessly easy. If clients prefer to have our design team assist with specific tasks, we offer fixed-price charges for this too.
Some web designers ask for a hefty deposit and then leave clients hanging. Other web designers take months to deliver simple websites and then bill for large amounts to finish the website. We believe that the best approach is to offer a fixed-price service that agrees with the client upfront regarding the number of days until you see a draft. This gives absolute certainty around costs and timing. Our solution: Every website we develop is delivered within 15 business days at an agreed-upon fixed price. This approach prioritises every client and completes our multi-step development process efficiently. Clients are also engaged and regularly updated, and any issues are predicted and eliminated to avoid any delays. |
Small Business Web DesignsSydney-based web designer, working hard to support and grow Australia's small and medium sized businesses. We bring big business to small business. |
RSS Feed
14/4/2023
Comments