Category Archives: Content

Web Design That Works

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Good web design is a means to an end
Form should follow function. Too many designers are dazzled by their own brilliance and forget about functionality. A site should load quickly, be easy to navigate and impossible to get lost in and should be full of relevant and well-presented content. It must be simple to find what you are looking for and it must be search engine friendly. If search engines like the style of your website, they’ll list you higher, and index your site more frequently.

Responsive Web DesignIdentity and Navigation
The two most important considerations are identity and navigation. Your site should look distinctive, and the design should be consistent throughout. A good designer will help you create a corporate logo or complete corporate identity, or ensure continuity of your existing corporate identity by modify your existing logos and printed materials for the web.

Navigation systems
These may involve drop-down menus, rollovers or multi-layer navigation. They should be easy to use and easy on the eye, and they should not distract from the content. Have you ever ‘got lost’ on a website? That’s bad navigation. Your visitors should always know where they are and how to get to the information they want next. Menu systems also need to be search engine friendly – too many sites with fancy menus have pages that are invisible to search engines.

Bells and whistles
You may think you need videos, music, animations. Perhaps these would enhance your site, perhaps they would only distract and obscure the content. Your website is about your business, not about how impressive your website is as an artefact in its own right, and a balance has to be struck. Don’t let any web design company sell you fancy stuff you don’t need. Although striking design is important, Content is King.

In a nutshell
Good web design is web design that brings you business and makes money. You need a web designer who will build you a clean, distinctive looking site that is both affordable and effective, and that reflects your corporate identity. It should load quickly, comply with modern web standards and look good at different screen resolutions and in all browsers. Good design should be as future-proof as possible and allow for for the growth and maintenance of the site. The projected lifespan of a site can be greatly extended if sufficient thought is given to the original design.

Content, Marketing, Responsive web design

Writing content for your website

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Content is king

Writing good quality copy that reads well, keeps the search engines happy and attracts clients to your site is vitally important. Good text means good copywriting.  The words on your website need to fulfil two very different and potentially conflicting functions. They need to capture, inform and entertain your target market, ensuring that page views translate into business, and they also need to ensure that Google and other search engines rank your pages highly.

Input a few relevant search terms for your industry into Google and have a look at the sites that come top. You will find clear, concise text with a reasonable but not excessive percentage of keywords and key phrases.

So what should you include? In addition to clear and full descriptions of the businesses and services you provide you should consider including sections or pages containing information that is not of immediate relevance to your business but is of interest to your potential clients. Well-written articles may well bring in potential customers. For example, if you are selling fishing tackle it makes sense to include articles on where to fish and how to fish.

How do I know if what I have written is good?

Read it through –  out loud. Does it flow? Is there a logical progression of ideas? Are phrases and words all too obviously repeated as ‘Google bait’? (If so use a thesaurus and a dictionary to improve the text). Does it have anything original to say? Does it emphasise your USP (Unique Selling Point)? Are your top three keywords or key phrases in there sufficiently often without being obtrusive?

Good copy writing is as important as good design, if not more so. A site that cannot be found or that has sparse or poorly presented information or that reads badly or doesn’t make sense is a liability, not an asset. A good web design company can suggest research and write copy from scratch or alternatively co-edit and optimise any copy you provide yourself. If they are for any reason not able to offer this service then you might want to consider the services of a specialised copywriter.

Copywriting & SEO For Existing Sites

If you already have a site you are happy with the look and feel of but which is under-performing in Google and other search engines then you might want to start by taking a look at your copy. Web copywriting does not just involve writing informative keyword-rich paragraphs of text, you need to think of the layout as well.  You need to look at your page titles, use of header tags, keyword density and overall readability then rewrite the critical areas of your site to do better for your chosen search terms. Rewriting the content and tweaking the layout on a fundamentally sound site which is underperforming may be all that is required.

Content