Websites and SEO
We will create a website for you that will support and add value to your small business but in order to do so we need to find out exactly where we're going and what it is we need to achieve for you.
The way we work can be seen in the diagram on the right - we'll have a free, no obligation discussion with you to find out what it is you're after. If we think we can't help you we'll tell you but if we think we can deliver your website project we'll put together a proposal in writing for you to consider.
Website strategy
Before we even start thinking about the website design we work with you to create your business website strategy. We do this so that we can produce a website that works for you. If we don't know where we're going at the outset, we could end up anywhere, and that's not likely to deliver the best results for your business! We'll consider things like your website conversion goals, your keywords, your brand, your intended audiences, the functionalities of your website, your business plan and current working practices, to name but a few!
Web design and build
Once we know where we're going and what we're trying to achieve for you we then go away and create a couple of concept website designs for you to choose from. Your website will be built with your website strategy firmly in mind and this includes your brand. Your website will support your existing brand, not undermine it.
As soon as you've chosen your preferred website design, we'll start to build your fully functioning website for you. Your job at this point is to start to write all of the copy for your website. In order to optimise your website for the search engines there are tips and tricks to writing effective website copy that we'll go through with you before you start writing. If you're not a confident writer we can do that for you too.
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
We'll build your website with good SEO principles at its core. Don't get us wrong, not every website in the world requires SEO but if your website has any marketing aspirations attached to it at all - even vague ones - then SEO is definitely something that you can't ignore. SEO is all about driving targeted visitors to your website, and by targeted we mean people who are likely to want what you're offering on your website.
What is SEO?
Without SEO your website works pretty much like a poster that you've put up at the back of a cupboard. Unless you tell people it's there the only visitors that'll see it are the ones that have gone into the cupboard by chance, either because they're passing and they're curious about what's in it or else are probably looking for something else. But if you start telling everyone that the poster's there, they might start making an effort to see it for themselves and you're likely to get a lot more visitors to the cupboard! However, not all of them are interested in what's on the poster, so for the main part you're probably wasting a lot of your time getting the 'wrong' type of visitor to the cupboard. By focussing your attention instead on those people who you know will be interested in what's on the poster or who you know are more likely to be interested in it, then your chances of a successful poster campaign are increased significantly because now the majority of the people visiting the cupboard to look at the poster are actually interested in what's on it!
SEO works in much the same way. Your website is represented by the poster, your URL (website address) is the single cupboard that could be anywhere, and the SEO campaign is you telling the 'right' people where to find both the cupboard and the poster, i.e. your website! Of course there's more to it than that but if you don't know what SEO is and why your website might need it hopefully we've given you a brief overview of how it works.
Website maintenance
In order to keep your website running smoothly it makes sense to perform regular maintenance on it. Maintenance is different to development - maintenance ensures that your website continues to work, for example, that software and content management systems are updated or broken links are mended, whereas website development moves things along in line with your website strategy.