Website Design Northampton & Website Designers Northants

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creating websites

So your website is now live, Congratulations! What next?

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You have just paid a web designer for a sparkly new website so now you can take a break and expect the enquiries to come flooding in. Unfortunately unless you are a targeting an incredibly niche market, this is rarely the case.

A new website competes with other sites that have been around for years, potentially decades but there are a few things that you can do to make sure you end up higher in the listings, make sure Google lists you in their index as soon as possible and you end up with a search engine friendly website…

General

Here are some general tips to help track your website and enable your site to be listed quicker in the main search engines.

– Install Google Analytics or AWStats (which comes as standard with all hosting from TJ Design)
– Add your website to Google Webmaster Tools
– Link Google Analytics with Google Webmaster Tools
– Create a robots.txt file and upload it to the root directory of your site (go to www.yourwebsite.co.uk/robots.txt to check if you have one).
– Create a sitemap.xml file submit this to Google Webmaster Tool (go to www.yourwebsite.co.uk/sitemap.xml to check if you have one).

Link building

Many of the leading search engines count the amount and quality of your inbound links as a major factor so here are some tips.

– Create a ‘related links’ page on your website so you can link to reputable sites and even more importantly they link back to you. (think suppliers, local business directories, partners, industry associations not competitors)
– Add a Google My Business page
– Use Moz’s Open Site Explorer, and add your main competitors websites, view their “Inbound Links” from “Only External” sources to see their related links. Contact any reputable companies and request the opportunity to exchange links.
– Over time, the search engines will crawl your site and add you to their listing but you may be able to speed this process up by manually entering the URL for your site at these popular search engines..

Don’t use any automated submission programs to submit your site to multiple search engines at one time. This can be considered as spam and you could be removed completely.

– Spend as much time as possible adding your new website to business directories and use their features like reviews to make your profile really stand out. Here are some that I would recommend…

– Add your website link to your business cards, flyers, stationery, emails, forum signature and any social media platforms.

Summary

The above recommendations will give your new website a real kick-start to being found on the internet. It can be time-consuming trawling the internet looking for appropriate places to link back to your website but I can assure you that it’s well worth the effort. You should invest at least a couple of hours from when your website launches to make it a happy, healthy search engine friendly site ready to take on the competition. Good luck!

Got a project in mind?

01536 391 745 hello@tjdesign.uk

Five steps to creating successful web sites

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1) Planning and preparation

a) Ascertain the main purpose of the web site and your key demographic.

b) Analyse your main competitors, do they employ similar tactics? Are they making any critical mistakes? How can you improve on their web presence?

c) Carefully plan the structure and navigation of your web site, remembering that ideally, no page will be more than 3 clicks away at any point, with your key content web pages easily indexable by major search engines and spiders.

d) Think about the appearance and style of your web site. Pick 3 appropriate web sites you like, and 3 you dislike, focusing on the web site design. List exactly which aspects you would like to incorporate onto your own web site. Think about which colours suit your business, if you have branding in place, think about colours that do not contrast with this.

2) Design

Following the preparation stage, you should be in a position to give your web site designer their first brief. In this, you’ll have laid out clear instructions as to which demographic they’re designing for, how you would like your web site design to look, and which functionality it should contain (e.g. if you’re having an ecommerce system built, you may wish to have account handling and shopping cart functions).

The web designer will usually then create a series of mock-up web designs, in which you’ll be asked to carefully consider each one and comment. You may fall in love with the first one you see, you may dislike all of them, or you find a separate piece of each web design you like, don’t be afraid to give an opinion!

3) Development

Once the web design is signed off, a process usually required to be confirmed in writing or via a contract, the actual creation of the web site begins. Dynamic content, such as animation, ecommerce, a message board or general web pages controlled by a content management system will be created.

4) Test, test and test again

Upon completion of your web site, and after your designer has placed your web site on a suitable testing server, it is crucial that at the very least you and your designer test the web site thoroughly, placing particular attention to the critical functions of your web site. If you’re running an ecommerce system, does the shopping cart work? If your website is a message board, can visitors of all security levels post to it?

Asking family, friends or work colleagues to have a look is often advisable, this will allow you to see how the website is used by a vast array of personalities and competencies.

Once you’re happy with the site’s functionality, it is ready to place it live!

5) Final Analysis

Give yourself 2 to 4 weeks after the web site’s live date, to analyse it’s performance. Are there any sections over or under performing? Would your business benefit by some minor adjustments to the structure?

Remember, your web site will ideally last you a long period of time, and it’s critical that it not only does it’s job, but it performs to the best of it’s ability.

Got a project in mind?

01536 391 745 hello@tjdesign.uk

Does my website need to be responsive?

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With the long awaited changes from Google coming in to effect from May onwards earlier this year, I thought a post on mobile friendly websites was definitely overdue. The new change meant that non-responsive websites (websites which are not optimised for phones, tablets and other smaller devices) could see an impact in search listings.

If you are not yet using a responsive design for your website, there is no need to panic but you do need to think about this especially if your site receives many mobile visitors and looks poor on a smart phone.

Use this mobile friendly test tool from Google to find out how your current website performs and search for your website using a phone to find out how you currently rank on mobiles.

If you don’t receive many mobile visitors at the moment, this is very likely to change in the near future so it is wise to start thinking about a design for your website which adapts to the viewing environment resulting in higher conversion rates and with no impact on your search listings.

Got a project in mind?

01536 391 745 hello@tjdesign.uk

Unique web design: your first and last online impression

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Web design is the most vital part on an online marketing plan. It has become increasingly necessary to provide your own website if you own a business. Today you’ve probably observed that every business card is printed with the log-in to a company’s business website. So if your business is primarily run from home, all you have to do is promote your business on the Internet to attract a lot of customers. The majority of people rely on search engines to find providers of the services they need, so if you have a website, they may be able to locate your business online. This is the best way to advertise your product and services.

Whether your business involves selling homemade baked goods, pest management services or cleaning services, you must have a web presence. Therefore, you understand why it is important to have a website. Now you need to know how to create one.

In addition to this, you need to do more than simply put up a page that merely describes the services that you will be providing. It is essential to attract your audience’s interest and persuade them to log onto your website. Beyond this, you need to ensure that the user doesn’t just fly right past your website. It is essential that they are persuaded into clicking on the ‘accept’ button too.

First of all, your web site should have an FAQ page and simple and exact answers for each question. This needs to be integrated and clearly visible to your audience. If they can get answers to all their questions from your website without having to contact you, they are likely to trust you to provide service to them.

Once this has been completed, you must make sure that all your Internet pages and links are accessible and operate correctly. If users encounter links on your site that result in server errors or other types of errors, they may give up on your site and do their shopping elsewhere. This can cause you to lose potential customers, and if your existing customers come across these kinds of errors, they may take their business elsewhere too.

This is why it’s important to heed the old saying, “first impressions are lasting.” After you have gotten your website set up, you can add some unique content that is interesting to your visitors. For companies with goods or services that may be displayed on the web, be sure to post pertinent footage too. This could assist them in choosing appropriately.

Remember that making your website user-friendly and easy to navigate with headers and footers can help you obtain customers and may make it possible for your business to expand before you know it.

Finally, your users will be able to see that your services are used by other people and that you are doing a good job. That is why you should ask a customer to provide a testimonial if they enjoyed your work. You should position testimonials so they get the audience’s attention, which will encourage them to make a purchase.

Got a project in mind?

01536 391 745 hello@tjdesign.uk

Five web design pitfalls to avoid

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The goal of any design is to effectively communicate a message. Typically this means promoting a brand or selling a product.

1. Less is more.

Every element added to a design increases cognitive dissonance, meaning that it makes the site’s message more difficult for the customer to find. It will take some constraint, but I promise that less is more when communicating a brand message.

2. Color Palette

Consistency of message is important and that includes colors. If you have a set of official colors, those should be the colors used in your website. Ideally those same colors will be used on every page. A constantly changing color selection implies haphazard organization, while a consistent color scheme looks professional.

3. Typography

With the huge selection of fonts freely available online, it’s tempting to use a different font for every element of your design. Like your color palette, it’s important to choose two or three fonts at most and stick with them throughout your marketing materials.

4. Photos

Photos are fantastic to connect with your customers, but they’re also the most obvious indicator of your professionalism. A stock photo from the Web or your Uncle’s point and shoot camera will immediately cheapen your brand’s integrity. With photos, more than anything else, it’s important to use exclusively professional photos to flatter your brand and products.

5. Social Media Circus

While social media is important, its significance is often overstated. What is important is to be accessible to your customers. Before signing up for that shiny new web2.0 service, ask yourself how it will help your business. Does it make me more accessible to my customers? Do I have to manage it daily? If you can’t check a service daily, people who use it to contact you will be frustrated. Choose your social media wisely or hire a social media manager.

Got a project in mind?

01536 391 745 hello@tjdesign.uk