Even in these hard times we are investing in new websites and online marketing because it’s where our customers are , we all want to be better than our competitors and having a website that looks out of date just won’t cut it.  Here are the top 5 things you should do if you are considering redevoping your website:

1. Content and design - as your business strategy changes so should your website’s. It is important that your website is a true reflection of your business.  It should reflect the products/services as well as the ethos and personality of the business.  If you can afford it, try get customised design for your website as this will ensure it reflects your business in a true light.  Templates are a good stop gap but customised design is the way forward.

If you are considering rebranding or are creating your brand, read our previous blog post on how to create a strong impactful brand.

2. SEO – your search engine optimisation needs to be planned from the very begining.  Plan the structure of your website, once you have identified your website structure, do your keyword research to ensure that, where possible, you are using target search terms in your page names.   Never have a page called Products or Services.  This means nothing to users or search engines, your pages should be broken down into main categories of products/services and named accordingly.

3. Interactive elements – include interactive elements like video, social media feeds, blogs, customer feedback or reviews etc.  Users trust peer recommendations and allowing people to review your products or services will build trust.  If you are allowing users to interact on your website by leaving comments or reviews it is important that this is monitored and managed carefully.  

4. 301 redirects - this is extremely important. If you have an existing website you MUST request that a 301 redirect is put in place for ALL pages so that the old pages redirect to the new page.  This will also allow your ranking to be transferred to the new page.

5. Review your analytics – do not change anything until you have analysed your existing website traffic, where were they entering the site, what pages were converting the most trafic etc.  Knowing this will help you make informed decisions about where changes are needed to the layout and content.

I hope you find this information useful, if you are in the process of or are considering redeveloping your website and are unsure where to start, why not call us for a free over the phone consultation 062 67054

Guest blogger: Aileen Cox, Sweet! Graphic & Web Studio

A brand is not just about the name or logo or a company. It is not about the service you give or the products you work so hard to sell. A brand is faith. Faith in all that you do, an expectation that your product or service is going to give the consumer exactly what they have been looking for.

So how do you go about getting your clients to feel ‘the Faith’?

Well, I’m guessing all branding companies work in different ways. Our approach is simple; To make your brand distinctive, we dig and we dig deep. We find out what makes your company tick, the quirks that makes it different to the competitors. How your products work, how and where your customers use the product, what significant benefits your product or service provides to your customer and the environment in which the product appears. Sometimes even the things you may not even think are important can suddenly become something that shapes the way your brand develops.

Branding is much more than logo design. Its about the association with everything single of piece of marketing material you use. The 18 year girl walking past a salon realises ‘hey thats the place I saw online’ because she remembers the colours, logo, imagery. The mother in the supermarket picks up the Fyffes bananas because she saw the ad in the paper saying ‘Bananas are a Superfood’. Its the association with the brand and the actual product. A poster for footwear with a lovely image of shoes and a terrible layout will not drive customers to your business. The same goes for websites, you can have a fantastic layout done, have a poor logo and no SEO and you have to ask, what is the point? They really all do go hand in hand.

You need to look at your brand and ask yourself some questions:

1. Does my brand stand out from my competitors?
Get some samples of your competitors logos, posters or point of sale and make comparisons. How does yours fair out? Is it better/worse. Are the colours strong? Are the images strong? Do the colours stand out? Is the typography strong (the way the type is laid out)?

2. Are there rooms for improvements?
Give an honest review of your brand. Does it have an association with your product? Does it get across that all important ‘Faith Feeling’ in your product or service.

3. Get a great branding company to help you. Make sure you review their portfolio and are happy that they can deliver what you are looking for. Whether that be Sweet! Design Studio or someone completely different be 100% happy and have ‘The Faith’ in them. Great ideas start with big problems. Think of the problems with your brand and make something amazing that your clients will remember always.

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About the author Aileen Cox, Sweet! 01 4416 514

SWEET! get to know your business, how it works, how it ticks as we believe only then, can our graphic and website design work be something we completely believe in. Made to measure with you specifically in mind. We want your business to be consistent, impactful but most of all distinguished from your competition.

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