Website Design Services

Website design services are services that help businesses and individuals create and maintain their website. There are several common types of website design services, including:

1. Custom website design: This service involves creating a unique website design tailored to the client’s needs and preferences.
2. Responsive design: This service involves designing a website that can adapt to different screen sizes and devices, such as desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones.
3. E-commerce design: This service involves designing a website that can support online transactions and shopping cart functionality.
4. Content Management System (CMS) integration: This service involves integrating a CMS such as WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal into a website, allowing the client to easily update and manage their website’s content.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): This service involves optimising a website to improve its visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).
6. User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design: This service involves designing a website that is easy to use and navigate, with a focus on user experience.
7. Website maintenance and updates: This service involves keeping a website up to date and fixing any technical issues that may arise.
8. Website hosting: This service involves providing the necessary infrastructure and technical support to keep a website running and accessible to visitors.

These are some common website design services that are typically offered by web design agencies and freelancers. The specific services offered may vary depending on the provider and the needs of the client.

The Quandary of Website Design Services

You need a new website or want to have your website redesigned. Unfortunately if  you are not sure what to look for from a web design company. When you start searching online you see that different web design companies offer a range of different website design services.

So, what characteristics should you look for from a web design services company?

Regardless of the sector you compete in, it’s not just about building a pretty website. Your website needs to address the challenges and interests of your customers. If it just looks attractive but does not help your visitor, then the visitor will navigate to another website, frustrated that you wasted their time. 

A website that offers nothing to the visitor will not help you convert them into a lead or a customer.

Core Web Design Services

In general, the following basic services should always be provided by your website design company  :

• Building a certain number of web pages for a specific price – typically home, about, category page , product page, contact , news
• On-page organic SEO including images – if the website is built to good web practices it will feature H1, H2, H3, Meta, Title, A text etc
• Graphic design – to ensure the site looks good and meets brand guidelines
• Purchase of images – if you don’t have your own photography stock shots will be needed. Only use images you have purchased and can use legitimately
• Site maps – required for Google purposes
• DNS changes – as part of making the site live
• Video embedding or linking which will typically be done by adding the videos to your YouTube channel
• Form integrations – at a minimum your site will need a contact form (name, email, telephone , comment)
• Google & Bing verification

The above services alone will just give you a “static” website. Whereas what you need is a website that converts your visitors into leads and helps you grow your business and make sales.

The 5 main elements of effective web design

1. Visual Design and Layout

How your website looks is what your potential clients will first notice on your website. You might well have a brilliant, high quality product / service, but If they are taken aback by the lack of visual quality, they are likely to move on to a competitor before you have a chance to impress them with your services and offerings.

A great website should have a visual appeal that reflects your company’s message and your company’s personality. Equally is your website is super high quality but your actual product is shabby and low quality, at the point of checking out the actual product the mis match will be identified.

2. Easy to Follow Navigation

Most people want to breeze through a website quickly, so you want to make it easy to get the information they need and then move on. A great example of this is the BBC whereby its really easy to find the category you want i.e. Sport and investigate that in detail. Many websites are cluttered with useless information, ads, links to other websites, etc., that do not pertain to their users’ needs.

An effective website should have a navigation structure that is clearly defined, easy to understand and use, and gives users a clear path toward finding the information they need.

3. Valuable Informative Content

Some people will be drawn to your website from the amount and type of information that you have available. A great website will have informative, authoritative and entertaining content, which also helps to market your business.

If people can find information about your business quickly, they will be more inclined to purchase. A website with scattered, hard-to-find and disorganized content and orphaned pages will impact on visitors on-site experience

4. Mobile Responsiveness

In the days of smartphones whether you are B2B or B2C making sure your website is mobile responsive is a must.

A responsive website works to make sure that your website works well on every type of device – computer, tablet, or phone – so that every person who visits your website can get the whole experience at hand.

5. Speed of development and deployment

Creating a website, takes time and effort. You want to make sure that you get a website built, edited, and managed quickly. Speed of development without sacrificing quality is critical. Select a company that will make your website as soon as possible, and that will also be able to accommodate your need for quick updates and changes. Fast turnaround and quick setup are essential factors in your website’s success. Remember your site can be easily modified and you can make changes based on how visitors are actually using your site.

Having a website isn’t enough

One of the biggest mistakes many businesses make is thinking that if they build a website they will automatically get website traffic. Unfortunately that’s not the case, if it was, anyone including yourself, could build your website . You could use any number of DIY platforms, including Wix, GoDaddy, 123reg, Weebly, Shopify or WordPress.

Building your website is just the beginning.

If you want to have a website that generates leads, you need to have more than the above list of services. You also need the following:

• An experienced and professional marketeer who takes the time to understand your business vision and objectives ( short and long term)
• A creative professional with a track record of taking business products and services and translating them into messaging that resonates with you ideal customers
• Someone who has the knowledge and experience to create and implement a marketing strategy that will work for you. ideally they will be Chartered Institute of Marketing qualified
• A business who cares as much about your success as you do

Your business deserves a marketing partner who is willing to do what it takes to enhance your brand, preserve or enhance your reputation, consider your mission and identity, and be invested in your business success over time. This includes content marketing, lead generation, search engine optimisation, photography and video, email marketing, e-commerce, local marketing services and much more.

Best Web Project Practices

A company should follow this process to meet your expectations

• Consultation to understand your specific requests, ideas and mission including short- and long-term goals for your website. At Blue Dolphin we call this the “Discovery” process
• Analysis of your website to get key insights from the site data, using tools like  Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEM Rush or Moz and putting together a cohesive lead generation strategy
• A custom website build with carefully crafted messaging and user experience to meet the needs of your ideal customer.
• Follow-up maintenance and security processes for the website.

Things Your Website Needs To Do To Make Money

Why Websites Don’t Generate Leads or Sales

Unfortunately many of the websites we get to critique are usually about themselves and how great they are. The website design focus is on the products & services they provide. On some websites they’ll mention how the business started and grew over the years and how successful they have become.

The problem with this approach is that People Don’t Care! Within about 5 seconds, visitors to your website should understand what you do and how you can help them.

Your website needs to be about your customer, not you!

If visitors came to your website right now, would they know what you do in 5 seconds?
At Blue Dolphin, we help businesses generate more leads, sales and long-term customers. While there is a full marketing strategy behind these goals, the website is at the core f all marketing activities.

With existing websites I am often asked by businesses what they could do with their website to generate more revenue, I usually suggest these 4 things. If you follow these 4 approaches, you will generate more leads, sales and customers and avoid losing to the competition.

1: Be specific with your marketing messages

What does your business do?

This simple sentence can start an avalanche of discussion and debate. You must resist the urge to try and tell the world all of the things your business does. When asked “who is your target customer?” you must avoid saying “Everybody” as most likely this isn’t the case.
You may think that because you have several services or products to offer, you have to cast a wide net in order to get more leads and sales. What you need to do is focus on a message that encompasses everything you do in an easy to understand sentence.
Remember, you only have about 5 seconds to let people know what you do!

A Real Life Example

We recently had a client that described all the products they provided and how great they were at providing a quality product. Sound familiar? Their website home page portrayed the same message with lots of information about each product and how quality orientated they were. I always ask companies to think about the last time they heard a competitor say they were a low quality provider. Talking about a generic issue lie quality offers nothing of difference to a potential customer.

After working with this client to see what challenges their customers face and what’s really important to them, we were able to determine that Customisation and Lead Times were major common factors that all of their customers had when looking to purchase the products they had to offer.

We added the phrase, “Custom design and manufacture in our UK factory,” along with a call to action to Request a Quote

Identifying the key issues to the customer and simplifying their message of the value will result in more enquiries and leads

Can you :Come up with your own tagline for your business, so it is easy to understand and implement.

2: Include a Call To Action

Amazingly many websites do not give a potential customer a way to do business with them.
Placing a direct Call To Action (CTA) above the fold of your website is essential. (Above the fold means the area above where your computer monitor cuts off the web page)
A little while ago, I was looking for a company that could manufacture a rapid prototype product . I went to Google and did a search for local firms that could rapid prototyping. I narrowed it down to a couple of local firms.
The first firm had a very pretty modern design with impressive images of components and their machines in action. They showed the different services they provide and I could learn more about those services or about the company itself. The problem was that they only had a Contact Us button to get in touch with them which was in hidden in their web page footer.

The second firm’s website was basic compared to the first one, but they had the same services I was looking for. The difference was they had a tag line that read, “We make one off components rapidly,” and a very easy to see button on their website above the fold that said, “Request A Quote.”
I knew exactly what they did and their philosophy behind what they do immediately from reading their tagline. I clicked on the button, requested a quote and they got my business.

If you make it difficult for people to do business with you, then you won’t generate the leads and sales you are looking for from your website.

EXAMPLES OF Calls To Action

• Request A Quote
• Set An Appointment / Buy Now / Place An Order
• Submit A Request / Request A Demo / Request A Technical Consultation
• Get Started |/ Try For Free

Can you: review your website and determine if you need to add critical CTA’s to ask for business.

3: If Possible show Images of the end result

People buy solutions to internal problems not external problems. Understand, your customers will buy your products and services to relieve their internal tension, which is why your website should show images of people being happy with the end result and messaging that relates to their internal problem.

At the point the customer has this problem its the most important thing on their agenda – they are looking for “proven solutions” so showing examples of their sector will help them understand that you know their business.

AN EXAMPLE
If you have a conveyor / product transportation issue, (external problem) you have two options to choose.
1. Design a conveyor system yourself
2. Select a conveyor designer / manufacturer to provide a solutioon

Option 1 can lead to thoughts of frustration, confusion or doubts about your ability to handle the problem. These are all internal problems. It’s these problems that are the reason people hire someone else to fix it. It is because it affects them on a deeper level.

You might put a message on your website that says something like, “We are specialist designers and manufacturers of conveyors for chicken processing”. Add a CTA for a free quote and you have addressed those concerns and pushed your potential customers into action.

Resist the temptation to show images of your company building or offices. Customers don’t care about those. Instead, add images that show what life will look like if they use your products or services.

Your action: Review your website images to determine if they are sending the right message. The message to the right does exactly what it says on the tin ( so to speak)

4: You need to have an opening offer

When a customer comes across your website, they may have a specific problem, but they may not be ready to buy from you. In these cases you’ll need something to offer them that addresses their problem. Your offer should provide something of “value” that can help your potential customer get an answer to a question or challenge they have. You’ll need to analyse your customer base to understand the challenges that they face and develop an offer around that problem.

AN EXAMPLE
For example, in the case of chicken conveyors, a visitor comes a cross the website but may never have heard of the company, or may be in the information gathering stage. By providing a whitepaper on Issues in the chicken processing industry and how to improve chicken processing productivity might be of use.

It can take up to 8 touches with your company before someone is ready to buy. Building an offer that solves a customer problem, placing it on your website and asking for specific information in return for that offer, will generate potential leads that you can then nurture into becoming customers. But, you must address a specific customer problem in your messaging and let people know what they will get in the whitepaper that will help them overcome their problem.

Be careful about how much information you ask for

This is important when deciding on how much information you should ask for when presenting your offer. A good rule of thumb is that the further down the sales process an offer is designed for, the more information you can ask for.

For example, this article is for people who are interested in learning more about how to make their website work better for them so its freely available with no need to supply any details.

A Free Quote is for someone who wants to potentially buy now, so you should ask for a lot more information in order to give them a price. This is a great example of a form that asks for a lot of information on a clients site of ours who sells loading shovel attachments

Think About – what offers can develop that satisfies a challenge your customers have. It can be a  “How to video” checklist, report,  white paper, etc.

What are coding languages

Coding languages like HTML and CSS, also known as programming languages, are written instructions that tell software what to do, how to display something, or how to process an algorithm.

• Java, Python, and SQL are common programming languages.
• HTML and CSS are known as declarative programming languages that declare what is on a web page and how it should look.

Typically, developers write code, like HTML or CSS, to communicate with software and tell the page to scroll in a certain way, display your brand’s colours, place an image in a certain part of the page left / centre / right of the page, or do something when a user takes an action, like clicking on a link to take them to another section of the page.

HTML was originally created to distinguish between structural elements of web pages like paragraphs, body copy, and headers in a .html file format, but it lacked design functionality.
Since it was lacking in design functionality, CSS was developed as a separate file that would serve as the design code and exist as a .css file.
So, HTML and CSS work hand in hand to deliver beautifully designed web pages with customisation and SEO elements.

HTML explained

HyperText Markup Language or HTML uses tags to alter the structure, or how text or objects appear on a web page.
HTML tags help you to organize content, make a page easier to read, or tell search engines what the most important
keywords are using header tags.

Here’s an example of a snippet of HTML code for hyperlinked text

This code  <a href=”https://www.bdolphin.co.uk”>click here would appear like this: click here The bracket, <, opens the code, and a close bracket closes the code. Without a closing bracket, the code won’t work properly.

HTML is most often used on web pages, in email, or in the back end of blog posts.

Many content management systems (CMSs) have two different ways you can edit content.

1: WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, where you can edit things like font colour, size, and style by selecting from a drop-down menu.
2: HTML editor, often called the “source.” You can also edit HTML in a standalone HTML editor.

What is CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) tells the software how the HTML on the web page should look including layout, colour scheme, and formatting. CSS is a list of rules that are applied to the HTML on the page that indicate background colours, fonts, line spacing, alignment, and more.

CSS can be implemented on a page using either an internal style sheet or an external style sheet. For an internal style sheet, within an HTML document, you’ll tell the software what the background colour should be, the fonts, and any other design elements that apply to a certain section or the whole page. External style sheets are linked to the page, but exist as their own page of design codes.

Common HTML Tags for Marketers

Header tags are important for blog posts. They structure your posts and help to draw the reader’s eye to the different sections. They are also helpful for on-page SEO purposes, as search engine algorithms give more weight to keywords that are in your headers. Headers can be formatted using CSS to indicate the style (font, font size, bold/italics, spacing on the page) for each header tag (H1, H2, H3, etc.) Hyperlink tag: Link text Hyperlinks are common in emails, blog posts, and other HTML files