We offer a speedy, cost-effective and efficient WordPress web design service in St Albans, Hertfordshire. Please call 0844 844 2428 if you wish to chat with our web design manager.
Alternatively, please find below excerpts from our Web Design Guide which you can download in its entirety here.
WHY HAVE A WEBSITE?
A website draws together the varied needs of a business and centralises it in one location. A website can be seen in the first instance as the place where the myriad strands of a business take visual shape and form, guiding and informing prospective clients and customers as to your products and services. A website is in many ways a clarification and distillation of your business methods and ethos, and is very useful for that reason alone. However, of course that is just the beginning of the journey, as a website can be and do so much more than this. Here are just three of the main reasons why any business should seriously consider having a website:
- A well designed website can portray your company in the best possible light, allowing you to compete with similar (and often more established) companies on an equal footing.
- A website is open and able to take enquiries from your visitors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - long after you close for business.
- An e-commerce enabled website allows you to sell your products and services worldwide in any currency, again at any time of the day or night.
Another advantage to bear in mind is the cost. Developing a website costs a fraction of it's real world equivalent (e.g. setting up and running a shop), and can be earning money for your business, or promoting your wares, long after a similarly priced advertising campaign would have run it's course.
PLANNING A WEBSITE
Exceptional websites start with exceptional plans
Many of the most crucial decisions regarding the future success of your web site are often made during the first stages of discussion. During our meetings with you we will ascertain what would be the core value of a web site to your business, and what we can offer to achieve and enhance this, drawing on our experience as how to best realise the site's creation and online promotion.
This consultancy stage is vital for many reasons, as a well planned web site can avoid unnecessary distractions and any costly mistakes being made. Via a careful process of analysis and discussion we can define how a website can most effectively represent your companies ambitions on the Internet, and how to best manage your present and future online transactions.
Drawing on our extensive experience in web site design, management and marketing, we will help you crystallise your online ambition, drawing from your prior business experience the relevant aspects that best define your business, and translating them into an effective approach for the realisation of your online presence.
CONTENT IS KING
Why your text is the most important aspect of your site
A fact often overloooked is that the text of your website is actually THE most important part of your site. More important than the design, more important than the images, the text of your website can make or break your visibility and your visitor traffic.
In the first instance, the style, phraseology and content of your text is of vital significance, as it is this which primarily determines your search engine effectiveness. Text that reads well is of course a consideration, as is the obvious correctness of spelling and grammer. However, it is of vital importance that the text of your site is actually 'seeded' with
keywords and
keyphrases that are relevant to your business, and indeed relevant to the page within which they are being mentioned, as this directly affects your Google page ranking and therefore in turn your visitor traffic. Although it is important to write good and succinct copy, it is also vital that the copy contains the right keywords (in the right places) to ensure your suitable placement with Google.
To this end, we have in recent times become far more active in assisting our clients with the creation of their website text. Either by consultation alone (in order to highlight suitable keywords and phrases) through to our
competitor research,
copywriting and
keyword seeding services, we can assist you in a wide variety of ways to achive website text which has both the impact and bite required for surfers to read in a hurry and yet is seeding with the correct terminology to acquire excellent Google rankings.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
Achieving exceptional aesthetics for your website
Nowadays our main web design tool of choice is WordPress, an exceptionally well written content management and blogging system that installs in minutes and is fantastically powerful, with loads of plugins to expand and enhance its capabilities. We have been so impressed with WordPress during the past few years that we even decided to launch several of our more popular websites with the new look and feel that WordPress delivers. And we are very pleased with the results.
Our Hertfordshire based web design studio now tends to work almost exclusively with WordPress, allowing us to achieve quick and easy web design solutions for our customers, whilst still giving us the utmost flexability for expansion.
During the design process special attention is paid to ensure that the site is being built with ease of use, speed of download and flexibility in mind. All images are optimised both for size and appearance and all design aspects are tested thoroughly.
During this time you may view the development of the site at a secure URL, offering your comments and ideas whilst work commences.
COMPLETION & LAUNCH
Adding the finishing touches to a website
During the last phase of your project we link together the elements of your website - the design, the functionality (your databases and so forth) and orchestrate the sites completion and launch.
If your site relies on a database structure, we conduct a series of robust test procedures to ensure that your site will perform to its optimum ability. Our specialists begin a vigorous debugging and code checking period during which we can iron out any final problems. In addition we test to ascertain the levels of security and the amount of traffic the system can handle. This process is essential for any site storing valuable information (such as e-commerce systems).
We are also often requested to enable a 'pre-launch' of the site so that the you can view the site and make adjustments until you are happy with the overall aesthetics and functionality.
Overall, we do not neglect the finer points when completing your web project, and (unlike some of our competitors) we ensure that during the final phases of the site, the design and coding aspects are produced to the highest of standards.
ONGOING MANAGEMENT & HOSTING
A good business relationship is in the after care service
Once the construction of your site has been completed, we continue to monitor and check all of the site's functions and operations regularly to ensure that everything is running smoothly. We ensure that your site is being cared for long after its design has been completed and always maintain an active and supportive role in the growth of our clients online businesses.
We have also earned ourselves a reputation for caring about our clients on-going needs, especially when it comes to hosting their web sites. We currently provide hosting as part of our overall design package for our clients, offering low-cost and reliable solutions in association with a long established hosting company, ensuring that your website continues to be cared for and maintained long after your initial development and launch has concluded.
The above excerpts are from our Web Design Guide, which you can download in its entirety here.
