Throughout the project, we kept a strong focus on what our clients expect to see from a design agency website, and in doing so, we hope the results reflect everything that our business is (and aspires to be) from our service offerings right through to our company values and brand personality.
With design and online technology moving faster than ever, we spent a good deal of time thinking about the priority features a website should have. We are not just talking aesthetics, but also functionality elements which are more and more essential to a modern day website.
It’s not just about clever website code – it’s about how to select and deploy the best technologies available that are right for your audience to enhance their experience of your brand on-line.
A website that was cutting edge two years ago could appear a little dated today. How does your website measure up against your business today? Does your site still mirror your brand? Is it still a true reflection of the services or products you offer to your customers? If this makes you to think about how your website is currently being portrayed by your audience, then maybe it’s time for a refresh.
We’ve put together a list of what we consider the most important elements for a fully functional website that will really create a winning impression and work for you:
Human connections are at the core of every business, so telling your own unique story on your About us page will help set your brand apart, and allow you to share information with your visitors like who you are, what you do and why you’re doing it.
Sharing customer testimonials on your website is a great, cost effective way to show visitors what you’ve already achieved, build credibility and earn trust. It’s easy for us to say, “Wider has an excellent team of designers” or “we’re awesome to work with” (both of which are true, of course!) but it doesn’t hold the same weight as one of our clients voicing their opinions. Add as many customer testimonials to your website as you can.
Google announced some time ago they would prioritise responsive websites over desktop versions, meaning that if your website is mobile-friendly, it will rank higher in the search results. One year on, Google is not the only reason your website will be received more favourably by visitors if built responsively. According to a recent Ofcom report, smartphones are now the most popular way to browse the Internet in the UK, meaning it’s essential for your website to look exceptional and works great both on desktop and a mobile device.
Navigation is probably the most important factor in a website – your visitors need to find information quickly. There is a-lot of thought that goes into what makes an effective navigation – for instance grouping relevant links together, thinking about secondary levels of navigation and how this navigation adapts to smaller screens.
Exceptional copy is one of the most valuable elements to your site and can make the difference between a good online presence and a great one. The key to getting this right is to give your visitor the right information in as few words as possible to ignite their interest, whilst communicating in a tone of voice and language to convey your brand. It’s a really useful skill to master if you can do it yourself, but if writing is just not your thing, hire a professional copywriter. This is an area you can’t afford to get wrong.
As with great copy, the photography and imagery you choose to use on your website are key to really engaging your visitor and encouraging them to stay on your site longer; it will also help to tell your story. If budget allows, hiring a professional photographer will ensure your images are unique, bespoke to your business and show your personality.
On-site SEO is fundamental to ensure your website and it’s content are made as visible as possible on search engine result pages. There are many different approaches, but a combination of great quality content, correct semantic document flow and strong title and description meta tags will give you a great start on this.
An important metric for search engine ranking is the actual speed of your site. This is not only about building your site for better indexing by search engines, but even more importantly it’s about giving your visitors a great experience when they visit your site. Keep your visitors away from the back button by ensuring your site is highly optimised for speed, which is something we do on every site we build at Wider.
If your site is built using a Content Management System (CMS) such as WordPress, it allows you to easily edit and add content and media to your site with little to no coding knowledge. At Wider, we build almost all of our websites using WordPress and build bespoke controls to make it easy for our clients to create powerful, engaging layouts for their pages.
Here at Wider we put our heart and soul into every site we build. It doesn’t matter what scale of project you have in-mind, we are experts in WordPress and can help you achieve a very high level of performance and functionality.
Why not get in-touch, or drop into our studio in the heart of Solihull Town Centre to talk over your next project.
