5 Steps For Business Owners To Create An Effective Website Design Brief

Whenever web designers are hired by business clients, one of the first things that they request is a website design brief. A website design brief is what clients need to create so that the web designer knows what the client is looking for and expects from their new website. However, given that a website design brief is something that a business owner might only ever consider once or twice at most, it is fair to say not every website design brief achieves its objective. By that, we do not mean that the website fails, but rather that the website design brief fails to properly outline the client’s wishes. It is akin to a construction company being given the job of designing and building a house but the specifications for that house are vague and give them little upon which to base the house’s dimensions, features, or construction materials. As for designing and creating a website, a web designer could quite easily do so with zero guidelines and simply build a website that suits them. However, the website in question here is for a business and thus it needs to align with that business’s objectives. For that to occur the business owner needs to create a website design brief so that the web designer has a conceptual foundation and is aware of what the website’s objectives should be. Below we have outlined five simple steps to ensure that the website design brief you provide to your web designer is sufficiently effective that it allows the web designer to design and create the desired website. Give Plenty Of Insights Into Your Business Designing and creating websites is about more than just code and programming, so when web designers build websites for businesses the more they know about a business’s history, its owners, its employees, its challenges, and achievements, the better their feel will be for exactly what the website should look like.

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A Simple Website Design Guide For Landscaping Companies

Given that creating landscape designs is a large part of landscaping businesses’ work, we think they, more than most businesses, will appreciate the need for top-class responsive website design. While landscape design and website design are two completely different skills, the fact that both need to be completed to satisfy clients is one common factor. As for the website design that a landscaping business has, it certainly plays a massive role in how well that website converts visitors to prospects who contact the company for more information or to request a landscape design quotation, hopefully. Website design also significantly influences how well websites rank in search engines such as Google. Good rankings can mean a flood of more traffic, and low rankings mean just a trickle. So, with good web design having such an impact on how your landscaping business might perform based on its effect on visitors and the amount of traffic it receives, we thought it would be helpful to highlight some web design basics so that you and other landscapers reading this who feel their website is not ticking all the boxes have some avenues to pursue, especially if you ask a web design agency to revamp your website. Optimising Your Website’s Structure One of the core principles of a successful website design is having a structure that works. Although this will differ somewhat between website types and what the primary purpose is, there are some core common elements. These include a Home page, a Privacy page, a Terms and Conditions page, an About Us page, and, importantly, a Contact Us page allowing visitors to get in touch. A Page For Every Service And Every Location A big mistake some landscaping websites have is they have every service they provide listed on one generic page and do likewise for the locations their business targets. The website should instead be designed with a single page for each service and one for each central area. Doing so multiplies the number of opportunities to rank for searches for these services and sites whenever they are typed into the search box on Google.

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The Risks Of A Poor Website Design For Your Business

Some business owners may not yet be convinced that they need a professionally designed website and are prepared to continue with their existing site, or worse, continue with no website and thus have no online presence at all. Their reasons may vary, but they may include not knowing where to find professional web designers or a fear that the costs of a new website may be beyond them. We can address both right here, as Slinky has web designers and programmers who can build the website, and as for cost, we have packages to suit all budgets. We even have monthly payment options so that every business in Perth, regardless of size, can benefit from a new, professionally designed website. If, even after these reassurances, you are still not convinced that a new website can benefit your business, it may be more appropriate to consider the risks to your business of a poor website and the damage that it can do. These risks are many and varied, but in each case, they either make it harder to attract new customers or, worse, can drive existing customers away. Coupled with this are the additional risks of trying to cut corners. Instead of using professional website designers like Slinky, you opt for a cheaper option, like a freelancer on Fiverr, to design your website. Whilst we are sure many of these freelancers try their best, they do not have the resources to plan, design, and build a fully functioning website for a business.

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7 Ways To Ensure The Images Used In Your Website Design Are Effective

If you carefully consider the many elements that need to be created and optimised within the overall design of a website you will soon discover that there are dozens of them. These include the colours and the fonts, the layout, the creation of the content, ensuring all the coding functions correctly, making sure the website has security protocols in place, and the SEO, to name but a few. There are some elements of a website’s design that most people might take for granted and think that their importance is minimal to the success of that website. One such element is the images. These are often given little consideration and simply picked randomly for the mere reason that ‘a website should have images’. However, if you were to seek the advice of a professional web design agency, you will soon learn that images can play a significant and positive role within a website, and rather than seeing them as an afterthought, they should actually be given very careful consideration. Whilst images might not have the kudos of videos with regards to what content you have nor take the time to create that written blog posts might, nevertheless, it is important that due care and attention is given to them. By doing so, the images on your website can contribute with regards to enhancing the experience of visitors, help promote your brand, products, and services, enlighten those seeking information, boost your SEO, and give an otherwise dull website, some life. As welcome as those benefits might be, they will only be realised if you plan, configure, and optimise your images and there are several ways in which this can be achieved. Read on, and you will discover 7 tips on how you can ensure that the images used within your website design are effective and contribute positively to your website’s success.

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Using Effective Website Design To Boost SEO Rankings and Revenue

There is often a battle that goes on in the mind of business owners when they need a website built for their local business. On one side, there is the pragmatic thoughts looking for a website that ranks highly and converts visitors to buyers in high numbers. On the flip side, there are often thoughts of grand designs and a website that is so stunningly beautiful that it becomes the talk of the town. If you approach a professional agency and ask them to build you a website, they are likely to advise the former than the latter, especially if they are experts in SEO too. They know that a website that is a work of art might be good to look at, but if it languishes on page 10 because its structure and SEO are poor, nobody will find it anyway. As a business owner, it is not necessary for you to become an expert in website design. However, there are huge advantages to knowing some key factors that can make a huge difference in a website’s performance. Armed with this knowledge, you can more easily discuss your objectives and ascertain whether the agency can create the website you require. Let’s start with one factor that hardly any business owners know regarding how it affects their website and its ranking. That factor is site speed, the term used for how quickly a website loads when someone clicks on it and thereafter, as they use it. We mention this first because site speed is especially important because it influences other factors affecting website rankings. A site that loads slowly will mean some visitors leave almost immediately, and that ‘bounce,’ as it is called, is noted by Google. High bounce rates mean a downgrading of rankings. A slow site will discourage visitors from hanging around, and the overall length of time anyone spends on your site during a visit is also a ranking factor.

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