Hi Kelly, firstly let’s start with your role. Tell us what you and your team do…
We create bespoke websites for clients. We don’t use templates so each site is unique and we ensure that the background of the site is easy for the business to use so there are no monthly fees and total control.
What’s the best thing about your job?
Personally I love meeting the clients and finding out more about their business and them. Their passion for business gives me a real buzz and I enjoy the excitement of planning how to incorporate all their ideas and often personalities into a site that really works for them.
I imagine you may have been asked to create websites with very complex elements, what’s the most complex question you’ve been asked?
Micro-sites within larger sites are always an interesting challenge; we are currently working on a site which has a number of individually designed micro-sites and we are creating a CMS which will enable the client to add more individual micro-sites themselves. This takes a bit of creative thinking.
4. How long does it take to produce a website?
This is totally dependent on the website and the client, but it can take up to six months to produce a website from start to finish, so get planning early! After the initial meeting with a client I write a proposal that lays out all the elements we have discussed and how I feel it is best to present the product. I will also give an idea of start time, along with a list of the information I will require. This information can be sent before the official start time, which will help the process along. Eight to twelve weeks is a good average, giving us four weeks to get the designs agreed and four to eight weeks to complete and launch the site.
What is the best way to tell your company story online?
This is different for each company and totally depends on personality and product. Websites have moved away from long wordy pages full of key words and are much more image led with concise text. Some companies will be able to use a lot of beautiful imagery to tell their stories, others may use diagrams, video or animation, or even a combination.
I often come across websites full of adverts and flashing pop-ups – in your opinion what do you think is the best way to capture your audience?
Well personally this is a pet hate of mine and I will come away from a site that inhibits my ability to get the information I want within a couple of clicks. ‘Can I help you?’ pop-ups are great and very appropriate for some businesses, perhaps where prices aren’t available online or where people will have specific requirements.
Creating easy navigation that takes the visitor to the information they are searching for simply and without having to search is the best way to capture your audience; a clear ‘Call to Action’ is very effective when the information is easy to find. Suggesting other things they may be interested in and encouraging them to look more deeply into the company in a natural way is much more enjoyable for the visitor.
What are your top tips for maintaining a website? Are their regular things that need to be done in order to keep my website tip top?
Absolutely. Maintenance is essential and changing things on your site is good for your search engine rankings but also for your visitors. It shows you are current and interested in your business. This is one of the reasons we make the CMS (backend of your site where you can make changes) easy to use. You can add, remove or turn off sections, add pages, news, images and video and we give you simple, on-screen instructions, in case you forget.
We also set in our diary an annual review with each client. This makes the client take time out to look at their site and we can go through and see how the business has evolved and change the site accordingly. It might mean making small changes to copy or layout, adding new pages or layout options. We can make these changes for you or you can hand them back to your team to do.
Website design and technology moves on quickly, so unless your team are on the ball, this review helps to ensure that the site is kept fresh and relevant.
I’ve got an existing website but it’s really old. I know I need to update it but don’t know where to start, any advice?
If your site is really old you probably need to replace it unless you can work with your previous designer. It is unlikely he or she will be able to make the degree of changes you need to bring the site up to your desired level.
I would think carefully about what it is you want to achieve: have a look at your competitors and other sites in general and get an idea of what element you want to see in your own site. Think about whether you want to be tied to a designer/company for updates. Get some recommendations and meet with the designer, being clear about what you want to achieve, your timescale and budget. If you are being unrealistic you will soon find your options limited. Try to avoid templated sites such as Wordpress; although you can build it yourself, they aren’t always the easiest to update and they use plug-ins, which are open to viruses and can become invalid as the Wordpress site is updated.
I would like a website set up so that I can take enquiries and bookings, but I’m terrible with computers and wouldn’t know where to start with coding a website. Is this something you can do? Can you make it easy for a technophobe like me?
We don’t expect anyone to know any coding! Booking and enquiries can be managed in a way that suits you. You can log on to deal with them, link to many CRM systems (some are restricted and only work with their own websites, which we can advise on) or can simply be emailed to you direct. There is nothing to be scared of and this is the essential part of many websites so we are experienced in making this process as pain-free as possible.
The question that everyone wants to find out is how do you set your website up so that it gets listed on the first page of Google?
Well this is down to good SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), regular updating and looking at the information you are offering and making sure it is answering the questions your potential clients may be asking.
Ensuring that your titles, meta-titles and content are all working together to give Google clear and easily recognisable information will help with your rankings. We work this out for you when we build the sites but also leave very simple reminders on your CMS to ensure you enter the correct information to help your SEO for new pages.
Comments