Top five web design tips for 2006
Andy Headington - 17th January 2006
For companies looking to design a new website or redesign an old one, a lot needs to be considered before setting off on the path investing thousands of pounds. Here, we give our top five website design tips for 2006 to help you make the most from your website investment.
Introduction
The Internet is now over ten years old and since the turn of the millennium, the industry has matured greatly. Real business models, like Google Adwords have developed to allow businesses of all sizes to buy, sell and discover products and services, using the Internet. Technology has also made dramatic shifts over this time and companies now has a great opportunity to capitalise on this to increase their customer bases while reducing their costs. At last the potential of the Internet can truly be realised.
Many businesses commit to spend thousands on their website yet many fail to consider some crucial issues they will face when going through the web design process.
In this article we discuss our top five web design tips for 2006 and outline why they will benefit your business.
1. Hire a professional web designer
Designing websites can be very complicated. Web designers now have to consider a wide variety of issues to make sure their designs look the same across all platforms. Varying screen designs, browsers, points of access, such as mobile phones and web television can all cause potential pitfalls. Making designs accessible to as many users as possible (due to the Disability Discrimination Act) make creating designs which work very difficult.
In the past, many businesses designed websites themselves and could still produce suitable designs. But with everything which needs to be considered in 2006 and onwards, it is advisable to hire someone with experience and expertise in the area. After all, you wouldn't let a novice design your house would you?
2. Make use of new technologies
2005 saw huge growth in new ways of communicating. Podcasts, blogs and wiki's all grew dramatically in usage and hit the mainstream for the first time. All of these tools can be used to increase the ways of communicating to your audience. Websites are now much more than just web pages.
Getting involved in these new ways of doing business can be confusing and daunting, so it is worth while doing some research into these areas before setting of on committing to your design and development.
3. Make sure your can update your website
It's widely accepted by search engine optimisers that search engines love fresh content. Adding new content to your website not only helps your search engine positions but also gives your visitors a reason to come back to your website. Tools that help you achieve this are called content management systems and there are a huge number to choose from ranging from open source (which are generally free to use) to full blown systems which can cost upwards of £100,000.
Make sure you know what you need to change on your website and how often you need to make changes before selecting your CMS. Even if your website only needs to change a few times during the year, cost savings, short and long term, can still be made by investing in a CMS.
4. Promote your website!
You will only achieve ROI (Return on Investment) from your website, if people can find it. There is no point in developing a great looking and functioning website if only two people use it. After all, would you print thousands of brochures for your business and leave them in the corner of your office?
Promotion can take many forms such as Pay Per Click advertising (i.e. paying for adverts on search engines) through to simply putting your website address on all correspondence (e.g. business cards, leaflets etc). However, a study conducted in August 2004 said that 87% of search engines users find what they want using a search engine (PDF) so making your website visible in search engines is crucial.
As search engines become our starting point when looking on the web, any business serious about investing in their website should allocate a fair amount of their website budget to search engine promotion.
5. Use your website as a tool
When companies think about designing websites, they can sometimes miss the bigger picture. People are now used to using the Internet as a tool as well as finding out information. Booking tickets, finding plane/bus times, completing questionnaires are all common activities, yet many websites lack these features as they are not thought about or are seen as being too expensive.
Many companies have the knowledge and experience to be able to develop online business tools which can be used either by their clients or internally to dramatically reduce business costs and improve efficiency.
Your next step
We hope this article has been of use to you. If you are thinking about, or are in the process of, redesigning an existing site or designing a new site from scratch, it is worth considering all of these points as each of them will have an impact on the way your website performs. Your website is your online shop window so the need to get it right is crucial. Spend some time discussing your needs with a professional web designer or web agency who can understand your needs and recommend a path of action for you. Business Link offer several free seminars to help you in this area.
Why not give us a ring?
We've helped businesses of every shape and size make the most from their website. Our case studies show how we have helped promote websites in search engines and have made website management easier through the use of our content management system. If you want to speak to us about anything mentioned here, please feel free to pick up the phone and call us on 01202 853610 and we'll be happy to answer any of your questions.
Adido Experience
Adido is an online marketing and web design company working with businesses in Southampton, Winchester, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Poole, Dorchester, Weymouth, Surrey, Guildford, Woking, Camberley, Farnborough and surrounding areas. We have been providing local businesses with affordable e-commerce and CMS solutions, searchengineoptimisation and PPC advertising services throughout UK.