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Blog posts tagged web design
Why it pays to revisit your website layout and content
January 25, 2011
When was the last time you carefully reconsidered your website? Have you analysed how effectively it’s working for you recently and looked at ways to get it performing even better?
My business website – Flourish Studios – has been live for a little under eight months and we’ve reviewed and tweaked it twice in that time, once after three months and again in October.
Tweaking isn’t about chucking everything out and starting again, it’s about making small changes that make a big difference, such as displaying your “bestsellers” prominently on your homepage.
Logos, websites and blog designs are the three things we sell the most of, so it makes sense to have those most clearly on the homepage. The initial design didn’t include blogs but did include marketing strategy. A quick check with Google Analytics Site Overlay tool showed me that people weren’t clicking on the Marketing Strategy button – so it was binned. We also found that no one wanted to find out how colour psychology could help their business, so that was changed too.
We replaced the buttons that weren’t working with our bestsellers and the click-through rates have gone up. This is less important with a serviced-based business, but essential when you’re selling products online.
I’ve tweaked the copy several times as we’ve settled into our own skin as a bona fide design agency. I look back at what I wrote even six months ago and see how far we’ve come. It’s exciting.
We’ve also recently tweaked the homepage to make way for the arrival of the new video. The video will get people thinking about some very specific things, so it made sense to have them just a click away to the right of the screen.
I also wanted to simplify the “bugs” (ie call to action buttons), because we figured that if there’s a lot going on with the video, everything else should take second place – otherwise you won’t know where to click first.
It’s now a bit cleaner and simpler but hopefully still has the character and essence of Flourish.
Fiona Humberstone, Flourish design & marketing
10 important steps to take when you’re setting up an online shop
August 03, 2010
There are millions of online shops, and whether they’re selling clothes, books, tools, gifts, homeware or camping equipment they all had to take the first steps towards getting their store online.
Setting up an e-commerce shop might seem daunting, but by reading these tips and following them up you can make the process smooth and hassle free.
1 Decide on a name for your shop and buy your domain name
It should be memorable and not too long. You can buy domains at Go Daddy, 1 & 1 Internet and Easyspace plus hundreds of other sites. Make a note of your username and password – this is essential as your web developer will need these details.
You could also look into buying domains that are related to the products you're selling and then point them towards your primary domain.
2 Talk to your bank about setting up an Internet Merchant account
You can then link this to SagePay and/or Streamline (secure card payment service). This can take time, so it's best to start the process early.
3 Work out your budget
This is crucial as it will help you focus on what you actually need at the moment and what would be nice to implement in the future. It will also help you choose who will build it (see point 5). Be realistic and remember that the more you invest in your new website at this stage, the less time and money you'll have to spend in the future developing the site.
4 Think about the branding, pages, content and functionality you’ll want
This will enable you to give a clear brief to your potential design agencies. It’ll also save time in the long run if you have a clear picture in your mind of what you’re aiming for.
5 Start researching web design providers - both agencies and freelancers
Look at e-commerce websites that you like and find out who built them or search online for agencies that can help. If you can look at testimonials from their customers or even speak to people who’ve used their services, you’ll be able to make a decision on who you feel most comfortable with.
6 Prepare your product list and images
You’ll probably find that this takes most of your time. Your web designers will give you advice on what they need from you, but if you want to get a head start you can create the product list on an Excel spreadsheet. The column headings would be along these lines (depending on what you will be retailing):
- Unique product code
- Category
- Sub category (if applicable)
- Product name
- Image file name (this should be the exact file name for the relevant main image – e.g. “rolling-stones-tshirt-lips.jpg” or it could be labelled by the product ID code, e.g. “100233.jpg”
- Product description (remember to make it informative and use your keywords for the search engines)
- Sizes available
- Colour
- Price
- In stock (1) or out of stock (0)
- Quantity in stock
7 Prepare your images
PLEASE don’t snap away with that disposable camera you stole from a wedding two years ago! There’s nothing worse than seeing a well-designed website with poor, fuzzy pictures. You may already have professional photographs from the manufacturer or you may need to book a photographer. The crucial point here is that your images must be crisp and clear.
Label them well and file them in an organised way so they will be easy to find and sift through as and when needed. Your web design provider may need to crop, cut out or alter the images for your new website and the better the quality of the photographs, the easier and more effective this will be.
8 Make sure you’re completely happy with the visuals from your website designer
Any tweaks to colours, layout, typefaces, etc should be requested now as it would be very difficult (and expensive) to change these further down the line.
You would be wise to steer clear of anything that's too "of the moment" and fashionable when it comes to design and colour - this will date very quickly. Neutral tones will ensure your website remains a contemporary classic and it will need little future investment when it comes to design.
9 While your website is being built, make yourself available for any queries from the web developer
The faster you can come back with the answers, the sooner your website will be ready to launch.
You’ll also need to test, test, test. Think of every possible scenario, try out the payment system and ask your friends to do the same. Their comments will be invaluable as you don’t want your customers to come across too many glitches in the system. There are bound to be a few teething problems and the aim here is to reduce them as much as possible before you launch to the general public.
- Is all text free from spelling errors?
- Has content been placed consistently?
- Have enquiry or shopping cart forms been tested and processed correctly?
- Have the compulsory question and answer fields been tested?
- Do your enquiry and order forms send to the correct recipient?
- Has your website been fully optimised for search engines?
- Does your website display correctly on all browsers
- Is your Web Statistics package (e.g. Google Analytics) installed and operational?
10 Launch date!
Tell as many people as possible about your new website. If you already have a customer database, send them an email to let them know that their shopping experience is about to improve beyond measure.
If you have a Facebook account, set up a business page too and invite all your friends to “like” it. Join Twitter to promote your website and try out using Google AdWords if you have the budget.
Check that your web design providers have submitted your site to Google, and register with as many relevant online directories as possible such as FreeIndex and let the universe know about your new site. Make sure your web address is on all your stationery and business cards, and make good use of them.
Alex Astell of Manage My Website
Five reasons to have your website well coded
February 24, 2010
Unfortunately the web design world is not regulated in any way. Awards can be won for design but the technical code that drives the website is often given little importance. When commissioning a website it’s so easy to get swept away with fantastic design or worse still to to opt for a low budget/DIY option. Either way, many business owners judge a website only based upon how it looks. They often completely overlook the code *under the hood*.
Skimp on the code and your website will cost you more in the long run. Here's five reasons why.
- Google. Ensuring that your website is well coded will make Google and the other search engines very happy. In return your website will feature in more search results and benefit from more visitors. Your website does not have to include search engine optimisation (SEO) at the time of purchase to be search engine friendly. If you later decide to hire an SEO expert they will much prefer having some nice code to work with.
- Accessible. A well coded website will be accessible to visitors with different sized monitors, different software, different hardware and to people of all abilities. Not only is there a legal and moral obligation to ensure that the website can be viewed, it will also increase your customer base.
- Cross browser compatible. OK so you only use one computer and one browser to surf the internet but your visitors combined will have a wide array of different applications. Some are using browsers that are 10 years old and others are bang up to date. Your website should downgrade gracefully, meaning that it could take advantage of new features but still display nicely without them on the older browsers.
- Fast loading times. How annoying is it when you have to wait for a web page to load? Perhaps there is a big spinning image on the screen to remind you to wait? Your customers won't want to wait. When coded in the right way, your website pages should be light and fast to download.
- Most important - easy to update. Did you know that if your website is coded correctly you should be able to do simple things like changing the banner on every page with just one line of code? This is because well coded websites use different files, one file for the content (HTML) and another for the design (CSS). If your website is not well coded you could end up paying for a lot of development time should you want to have it redesigned in the future.
Ensuring that the website is all neat and tidy backend shouldn't cost much more initially but it is guaranteed to last longer and give you better results. Even if you out-grow the design the code behind can be built upon like building bricks.
If you are buying a website then please do ask your website designer/developer how it will be coded. Ideally you are looking for a website written in XHMTL/CSS and one that is absolutely not table driven. Beware of purchasing sites with content management systems (CMS) that do not generate very good code. If in doubt - get a second opinion.
Zoe Brown, B Websites Ltd
A version of this post originally appeared on the B Websites blog.
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