1. 1. The Complete Guide to Building a Website That Works April 2015
2. 2. Contents Introduction The Main Steps of Building Your Website Before You Start How To Choose a Web Designer/Developer Writing Effective Website Content Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 2
3. 3. Agnew Solutions In a Nutshell Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 3 Were a marketing agency like no other We partner with organisations of all shapes and sizes worldwide to help them achieve their objectives. Weve helped hundreds of small businesses, multinational companies and global brands such as Disney, Sony, and Universal to reach their goals. When you choose us as your marketing partner, youre getting an experienced business partner who truly cares about your business. You can say goodbye to hourly rates and long-term contracts we truly are one of a kind. Whether you want to stand out from the crowd, maximise your sales growth and profitability, or need specialist support for a specific project we are here to help you achieve your goal.
4. 4. Introduction Your website is your place of business. You may decide to invest in other online activities such as social media and even online advertising, but ultimately everything will come back to a single point; your business website. That makes your website really valuable. Its your own digital real estate; you have full control over what is and isnt shown to potential customers. While you may not be able to control what your customers are saying on social media (although you can influence it), your website is the one thing over which you have complete and explicit control. You own it, its yours, and its the most effective way to build your business online. CONVERTING CLICKS INTO CUSTOMERS Everything we talk about in this guide will have one thing in common: theyre designed to drive potential customers to your business website. But having lots of people visiting your website means nothing unless you build your website so that it effectively converts these visitors into customers taking all the numbers and transforming them into tangible results for your business. Your website is not just an online brochure. Nor is it there simply to achieve the highest search rankings and generate loads of traffic. Your website is an investment in your business and should be designed to achieve a set of goals, converting visitors gained from all your online and offline marketing efforts. Yes, you should provide information about your business, your products and services but everything you do should be with your business goals in mind everything on your website should be designed to convert these visitors into paying customers. The thing to remember is that conversion is the key to success online. Keep in mind when you plan and design your website what you want to achieve and how your website will help you to achieve your business goals. Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 4
5. 5. A COMMERCIAL APPROACH TO WEBSITE DESIGN There are two things to keep in mind to get the best results from your website: Your business goals The needs of your target market Build a website which aligns the two and youll have an effective website which delivers the best results for your business. Sure, you say, it sounds simple when you put it like that! Achieving that can be a tricky process one that requires effective planning in order to get it right. Approach your website like you would with any other aspect of your business and youll be much more likely to be successful. This guide isnt about the technical and creative aspects of designing a website (thats for another guide), but how to effectively plan your website to ensure that it delivers a positive return on investment. In this guide well be covering a high-level overview of the important elements to consider when planning and designing your website (whether you build it yourself or choose a professional designer to help you) although this is by no means exhaustive. Our aim with this guide is to give you the knowledge you need to make informed decisions about your website design in a business context, and to communicate exactly what you need to engage with your web designer when its time to build your website to make sure you get it right the first time. Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 5
6. 6. The Main Steps of Building Your Website Whether you decide to build your website yourself (there are a number of website builders available online which come with their own benefits and drawbacks) or engage a professional web designer, there are some important things you need to remember to ensure that your website is effective. KEY STAGES OF DESIGNING A WEBSITE Different web designers and agencies will have their own development processed, but these key stages will remain pretty similar: Planning establish your business goals for the website; analyse your competition, define your target market, how theyll find you and what theyre looking for, map out a schedule and decide who is going to do what and when theyre going to do it (a timeline if you like). Design decide on the visual composition of the site, its look and feel, including use of colour, graphics, navigation, etc. Development putting everything together, taking the design and building the actual pages of the site, creating and integrating the website content, links and navigation. Testing making sure that everything is working as it should before you officially launch the site to the public. Deployment your new website becomes live and publicly available, time for you to spread the word! This provides a structure so that you can understand how a website is built. As you can see, a designer will be unable to do a lot of the planning effectively only you know your business inside out. That means before you look for outside help, you should have a clear understanding in your own mind of what you want to achieve and how your website will help you achieve this. Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 6
7. 7. Before You Start KNOW WHY YOURE BUILDING A WEBSITE What is my website for? Pretty simple, eh? Its a simple enough question, but youd be surprised how many businesses have never asked it. They have one because everyone else does I mean, its just part of having a business in the modern age, right? Not true! It may be that your business doesnt need a website. Just like any other marketing activity, its about understanding your business and your target market to decide whether its a wise investment. Your website shouldnt just be, it should be constantly evolving along with your business and actively generate new business it should support your day-to-day operations. Ideally you should have a clear idea of exactly what it is your organisation wants to achieve from a website before you start looking for a professional designer to build the site. KNOW WHO YOUR WEBSITE IS FOR Knowing who your potential customers are and building your website for them is the only way to build a truly effective website which delivers results. We see far too many websites that have been built to impress a committee of executives who sign off on the project, instead of the people actually using them. For your website to deliver, you only need it to appeal to one group of people: your target market. Think about it from your customers point of view. What information are they looking for? What is their thought process? Put yourself in their shoes, or better still, ask them directly what theyd like to see/do on your website. Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 7
8. 8. WORDS MAKE YOUR WEBSITE TICK While the design of your website will be a key focus of your planning and efforts, your website will only be as good as the information available on it. Even at a time where videos, photos, audio, flash, animation and interactivity seem to be everywhere online it all comes down to the quality of your website content. The information you provide on your website is particularly important when trying to reach new customers online, as search engines will rank your website based on the relevance and quality of the content you provide. Your website should be designed to meet the needs of your target market by providing them with the information they need in a format which suits them. KNOW YOUR COMPETITION Just like you would with any other aspect of your business, it is absolutely crucial that you have a good understanding of your competitors and what theyre trying to achieve with their websites, where theyre succeeding and where theyre failing can serve as a great starting point in establishing how your website will work and the information and features you will provide. Take a good look at what they are doing well. How easy would it be for you to emulate and improve on those things? From a customers point of view, how easy if the site to navigate and find the information theyre looking for. A thorough analysis of your online competition can reveal a lot and prove a very useful process, and influence the direction of your website to ensure that you compete effectively with your rivals. Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 8
9. 9. YOU NEED A DOMAIN NAME If you dont have a domain name for your business, youre going to need to register one. This will be used for your business email address and website address it will form the backbone of your online presence. Youve probably seen business websites with unprofessional addresses like www.businessname.someotherbusiness.com or www.someotherbusiness/businessname, it looks amateurish, its difficult for potential customers to remember and generally tarnishes your business image wherever you publicise it, online or offline. It also means that youll find it difficult including your website and email address on print materials like business cards and stationery. The good news is that registering a domain name is actually quite cheap and there are a number of choices available beyond the standard .co.uk and .com extensions like .bike (for a cycle shop) or .agency (for a designer). There are a number of websites which will let you search availability, select your domain and register it in minutes with prices typically about 10/year. You can look for yourself, just type domain registration into your favourite search engine and youll find lots of options. Just be wary of free domains or really low prices, because youll likely end up paying a lot more for it in the long run. HOSTING YOUR WEBSITES HOME ON THE INTERNET The other thing youll need to take care of before your website can go live is hosting. When youve finished designing and building your website, youll likely have a number of files and possibly a database, all of which sit on a special computer which is always connected to the internet this is called your web server and enables users to download and view the pages in their browser. As a small business, its very unlikely that youll have your own server. A common arrangement for small businesses is to use a specialist hosting provider which should typically cost you about 5 per month depending on the size and type of website you are running. Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 9
10. 10. How to Choose a Web Designer/Developer Unless you are a web designer yourself, or have your own in-house web development team, youll need to bring in a professional web design or marketing agency to help you with your website project. You might have friends or family who are offering to help out, or you may be considering using an online website builder whichever option you decide to use, think about whether you or the designer you are using has the relevant technical, creative and business experience to build a website which is designed to deliver real results a design on its own achieves nothing. The good thing is that, once youve gone through the initial planning stage, youll have a good idea of what you want out of your website, who your target market is and the sort of features and information youd like to include. Youll be able to use this information to whittle down the list of potential designers to something more manageable. OUR TOP TIPS FOR CHOOSING A WEB DESIGNER Its likely that in your local area alone there are a number of professional marketing agencies, web design firms, freelance designers and developers. Then youve got a whole suite of online tools claiming that you can build your own website for free (they come with their own benefits and drawbacks). And to top it all off, theres some national companies offering a number of packages and phone support. Its all about weighing up your options, understanding your needs and what the best decision is for you. To help you figure it all out, here are our top tips for when youre choosing a designer: Look at their own website. When youre trying to weigh up the relative merits of a web design company, the best place to start is with their own website. Examine it with a critical eye. Does it look professional? Is it functional and easy to use? Do they provide the information that you need to understand who they are and what they do? If theyre not meeting your expectations, do you want the same people working on your website? Examine their portfolio. Every designer, whether theyre a freelancer, a marketing agency or a national company should provide an online portfolio showcasing their recent work. If they provide case studies, this can show you how they understood the needs of their client and the results the website has delivered. Go beyond the portfolio pages and look at the sites themselves what is the business trying to achieve, who is it aimed at and have the designers achieved those goals? Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 10
11. 11. Now that youve gone through the list of designers, this should help you to produce a reasonable shortlist of potential candidates. Now you can go the next level: Ask their customers for recommendations. Go back to their websites and get in touch with the businesses themselves and ask for some honest feedback on their experience of that firm. What did they like about the service, how could it be improved, would they recommend them to another business? Whats their reputation like? Another good place to look for information about web design and marketing firms is to do a thorough search in your favourite search engine. Look at web forums, online communities and review sites to get a feel for their reputation; is the general vibe positive or negative? Are they designing SEO-friendly websites? Your website is only as good as the quality of traffic it gets. Are your shortlisted designers search engine savvy? Go back to the portfolio websites and pick some key phrases youd expect them to rank for, then go to your favourite search engine and see if they pop up. Are they ranking well in search engines? Are they business/marketing specialists? Your website needs to be designed to deliver tangible results for your business. That means that your designer needs to be able to build an effective website which supports you in achieving your business goals, meets the needs of your target market and generates sales that requires a solid understanding of business and marketing. By now you should have a few competent and professional companies youd like to quote/tender for your website project. Of course, wed love for you to pick us, but it may be that you only need a very basic one page website with your logo and some contact details, in which case an online tool would probably be the best option for you. Still not sure exactly what you need, or which option is more suitable to your needs? With so many choices, it can certainly get very confusing! Do you use an online tool, a less experienced freelancer with packages and add-on features, a local design firm with a fixed hourly rate, or a full-service marketing agency like Agnew Solutions? There sure is a lot out there! Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 11
12. 12. Writing Effective Website Content Alright, so youve got your content structure sorted out. Now youre ready to insert your content and launch the website. Stop! Dont make the mistake that happens all too often with new websites. In order for your website to be effective you cant simply just insert your existing content from flyers and advertisements. It simply wont work. Your website content needs to be tailored to your audience, which is completely different online. Your customers may well read your leaflets from beginning to end when you provide them with a high quality colour brochure, but online is a completely different matter altogether. On the web customers scan through content, they are impatient, they want the information they are looking for right this moment. Now. Writing effective content for your website is all about understanding how people behave online, applying this to your target market and using this understanding to deliver your information in a form that meets those readers needs. OUR TOP TIPS FOR CREATING EFFECTIVE WEBSITE CONTENT Grab attention on the web your customers are impatient and demanding. That means getting rid of those lengthy introductions and elaborate descriptions; get right to the point and present your information as clearly as possible. Make it scannable divide up your content into concise sections using headings, subheading and bullet point to break text up into manageable chunks. Make it original the key to engaging your users and achieving the highest search rankings is be delivering highly relevant, original content. Use the inverted pyramid deliver the most important points first, and then go onto the detail so that users can stop reading at any point and still understand who you are and how you can help. Engage with your reader use a conversational style and speak to your reader as an individual, on their level. This will help you to engage with potential customers on a personal level. Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 12
13. 13. DEFINE YOUR CONTENT STRUCTURE Look at your website content and try to divide it into themes based on the keywords that are associated with those pages and the information that you want to include within those sections. For example: A local bookshop is well known for its excellent customer service, good range of books including local authors and a relaxing in- store caf. This bookshop would be likely to categorise their content into these key themes: About us this could include a history of the shop, profiles of the team members, their favourite books and selection from the caf menu. Books this might include an online shop, a directory of local authors, recommended books from team members etc. Caf this may offer customers an online caf menu and possibly printable discount vouchers/coupons. Within each of these sections the book shop will include a number of pages and information. By categorising the information into themes, it makes it easier for potential customers to find what they are looking for, and search engines will recognise that each theme is highly relevant for a particular area thus pages will achieve higher rankings in search engines. For the most effective content structure, arrange your information so that the most important information (a summary if you like) is provided at the higher levels, allowing users to drill down to more detail in the sub-pages within each theme. For example, the about us page might include a short history of the shop, a photo of the team together, a few recommended books for that week and new caf items. This provides customers with an update on all areas of the website, with the option to learn more about each area (for example, clicking on the team photo to view individual profiles for each member of staff). Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 13
14. 14. YOUR HOME PAGE Your home page is a jumping-off point for the rest of your website, and should offer users intuitive one-click navigation to the main sections of your website. It is highly likely that the majority of your traffic will be directed to your home page, so it is important that your home page immediately tells visits what your website is about and how it can help them. If you offer a range of products and services, your home page can be an ideal place to highlight new products and services, special offers, news, a free download or anything else that you want to offer on your website. Your home page should deliver real value to your users and encourage them to learn more about your business by navigating to the key themes, and try not to create any barriers between your visitors and your real content by using a Click here to enter button or flash into which offer no benefit to your customers. Your home page is a central reference point for your website, one from which customers can return to in order to easily navigate the information available and reassures them they cant get lost. Copyright 2015 Agnew Consulting Ltd. All rights reserved. 14
15. 15. Agnew Solutions The Willows Catton, Thirsk North Yorkshire YO7 4SQ www.agnewsolutions.co.uk Deliver Exceptional Value. Receive Extraordinary Results.