Website design

Designing Your Company`s Website

In this modern age of technology, it is becoming more and more common for consumers and businesses to research a product or service online rather than looking through a telephone directory or other more traditional methods. Research suggests that some 65% of us turn to the internet to examine a retailer`s reputation before making a purchase, confirming that not only is it imperative for any business to have an easily accessible public platform, but that it also needs to stand out amongst the competition.

Website design

The design of a website can take on many forms from a simple page that displays a basic business synopsis and contact details, to a much more interactive set-up with many pages, links, images and sounds. When setting up a website, it is important to establish what the main purpose of it should be.

In most cases, a website design is used to help build a brand and to create a public profile on a national or indeed an international level. If your business is new then a website can certainly help to launch it quickly but a great deal of consideration should be given to the kind of image that a business wants to have. Researching the websites of similar business may be helpful but when it comes to getting your image just right, there are plenty of professionals on hand to help.

Whilst pure-play marketing firms may be able to offer advice about the tone, style, logos and public face of any business, web design specialists can bring an increased level of technological expertise and creative flair. Perhaps more importantly in 2009, it is essential that your web designer has a deep understanding of the myriad of factors involved in search engine optimisation. There is no point in building the best site in the business if no-one ever sees it. Sounds crazy? It happens - all too often. If you don`t understand longtail keyword strategy, meta tags, header tags, alt text, keyword density, internal linking structures, site maps and so forth, make sure that your web designer does! Without properly accommodating all of these factors, your site is unlikely to flourish in the natural (unpaid) search engine results pages (SERPs) for the major engines such as Google and Yahoo.

When looking for a web design agency, you may also want to look for those that include domain registration, web hosting, graphic design and even affiliate management experience as part of any package. If your website is going to be ecommerce based then not only will you need to offer more advanced features such as payment gateways, shopping carts, inventory management, tracking, fulfilment and so forth, but there are also certain laws and regulations to which you must adhere such as the Distance Selling Directive and the Office of the Information Commissioner`s (ICO) guidelines on privacy and spam emailing. All of these will need to be factored in when it comes to setting up your ecommerce systems and any subscriber / mailing list functionality.

With a decently optimised site and rich, unique content, you are set to embrace the other major element of Search Engine Optimisation, namely attracting links from other relevant sites. Link building in 2009 is a deeply complex business generally best left to reputable specialist firms. Relevant links are counted as `votes` for your site in the eyes of the search engines and attracting them in sensible numbers on an ongoing basis should be part of any online marketing mix. After all, the return on investment through string rankings in the search engines for relevant search terms is unparalleled in any other form of online promotion.

Whether you are taking your existing business online or indeed considering buying a company, a quick internet search reveals a frightening number of website design specialists out there ready and willing to offer their services for a competitive fee. Whilst some people may prefer to opt for those larger specialists that can offer a quick turnaround (time can be of the essence in times of an economic crisis), others may prefer to opt for those specialists who take a more personal approach. In all cases, make sure that your chosen web design partner understands not only the tenets of good design but that they properly design in the context of those vital search engine optimisation and regulatory factors

Below are some key features popular in corporate web design

Business website design features:

There are many other features you may wish to add to your website design so please feel free to let us know of any specifications you have, and we will be happy to incorporate these into the site for you

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You can see some recent websites we have built in our Business portfolio