So, what are the benefits of a bespoke website?

Scalability

With a bespoke website, your site can grow with your business. As your needs and objectives change you can tweak and tailor your site, allowing it to perfectly serve your business’s needs. With open-source and off-the-shelf products, if it doesn’t do what you need it to do, you will have to wait for the developers to add it in.

Security

“Open-source” means that the nuts and bolts of the website and how it works are available for all to see. This has meant some popular open-source products have become the victim of hackers. Once a vulnerability is exposed it leaves thousands of websites wide open. Bespoke websites are not immune from hackers and other security issues but when no one but your developer knows exactly how it works, it makes it a lot harder to get in to.

Credibility

Sometimes it can be obvious to the website visitor that you have used a third party product. While there is nothing wrong with that per se, is that the kind of message you want to give to potential customers/clients?

Simplicity

If you have a content management system (CMS) on your site to publish news, events, products, etc then you want it to be as simple as possible. Because open-source and off-the-shelf products try to be all these to all people they tend to be overly complicated. Conversely, a bespoke CMS is only as simple as it needs to be.

If you want a bespoke website that is scalable, secure, credible and simple, call me now on 07843 483 078 or get a free quote online.

For more information on using an open-source CMS please see: Should you use an open-source CMS to power your website?

Hit counters and other meaningless statistics

Hit counters form part of the legacy left to us by the rather shocking-looking websites of the nineties. Gathering website statistics are useful (essential even) but a generic hit counter is extremely antiquated. That is not to say you shouldn’t record and publish how many times articles, etc have been viewed, as these can be useful to the visitor.

Some sites go one further and display stats like “this page loaded in 0.09 seconds”. Ask yourself, what value is that bringing to your site?

Auto-playing audio

Any media that contains audio and plays automatically can make a user hit the back button. If you arrive at a site and a video or some background music on loop plays automatically, a user may leave your site. Consider visitors who may be listening to the radio or some other media while surfing the Internet. As a rule-of-thumb, always let the user initiate any media that plays audio—include those largely irritating talking characters. Silent video is okay if the user has an option to click the unmute button.

Editable look-and-feel

Websites that allow the visitor to have too much say over the look-and-feel can make for an incongruent user experience. Some websites have different “skins”; they can taint the website experience and damage your brand.

Splash screens

Splash screen not only harm your search engine positions, they turn away visitors. Why add an extra barrier to your website’s content?

Date and time

Unless you’re an online magazine, a site can look odd if it has a clock widget or displays the date and time. After all, not everyone who uses your site is in the same time zone—therefore the time may be wrong and make your site lack credibility.

Unused content management systems

If you have a content management system (CMS) to publish transient content for things like news and events, make sure you use it! If someone visits your site and the latest news item is a couple of years old, it may put people off.

Validation links/logos

There are certain standards a website can adhere to in terms of all the code that makes the web page look like it does. Some sites like to boast about this and display links/logos on their web page. I am of the opinion that a website should be built properly as a matter of good practice.

If you’d like a site without any pointless or potentially dangerous features call me on 07843 483 078 or get a free quote online.

Restrict the main points to one page

A good CV should never be more than two pages in length; similarly, a good portfolio should be clear and concise and if possible kept to a single web page. Include a selection of your work, contact details (see point 5) and a brief summary of you. Include your name, email, top-level qualifications such as Degrees, Masters and PhDs and a short summary of yourself. This should be two to three sentences that summerise your background, experience and ethos.

Use your own domain name

Having your own domain has several advantages; potential clients will always take someone more seriously if they have their own domain name rather than a subdomain of a free hosting company. Furthermore, having your own domain name allows you to have your.name@yourdomain.com which again looks more professional. If you don’t trade under a business name register a domain based on your name. Hosting and domain registration is so cheap nowadays that it’s worth a bit of money a year to have that professional edge.

Don’t assume the visitor has knowledge of your trade

Don’t be overly technical and avoid jargon associated with your industry. Potential clients may not be technically minded, they may know what end product they want but not know (or care) what was used to create them. For example, (in my own industry) a potential client may not be familiar with PHP and MySQL but they’ll know the terms eCommerce and Content Management Systems if that’s what they’re after. Advertising your experience in services and techniques opens you up to a much wider market.

Give them something to take away

If you follow point 1 you’ll only have given your portfolio visitor a teaser of the work you can do. Create a PDF that details the services you offer and make it downloadable from the main site. Such a document is useful to mail to anyone that shows interest in your work.

Make it easy to get in touch

Include as many channels of contact as you can. Ideally, email, online form, telephone, mobile phone and address. You don’t want to put off the less-technically minded who prefer to use phones over the computers to contact people.

Have a portfolio-only/portfolio-centric website

Don’t dilute or confuse your messaging by mixing your portfolio into an existing website. If you already have a site and want to incorporate a standalone portfolio into it consider setting up a subdomain.

If you need a website with a good portfolio, call me on 07843 484 078 or get a free quote online.

Don’t hide your phone and email

Plaster your email and phone number all over your website, in large bold type. Also, include contact details for specific members of your team (E.g. account managers, customer services).

Use Skype

Skype is widely use these days. When you create a Skype account you can easily integrate it into your website so people can call or chat with you direct from your contact page.

Use online chat

For a relatively inexpensive monthly fee, you can add a hosted live chat feature on your site. During your chosen office hours, people can click the chat button and it pops up a window where they can talk direct with your team.

Use Google Maps

Google Maps is very simple and easy to use. Create a map of your office for anyone that may visit and embed it on your website.

Add staff photos

People like to put a name to a face. Even if you or your team don’t like the idea of having their mugshots on the “About Us” page, you should do it anyway. People are more likely to get in touch.

To use me in a web project call my on 07843 483 078 or get a free quote online.

The design of your website is important but as I’ve discussed before, a website is more than just good design. In this blog I outline some of the mistakes designers make when designing their site.

So, your website looks pretty but…

…it relies on Flash

There’s nothing wrong with Flash per se but it is blocked in some corporate environments and some mobile devices, such as the iPhone, simply do not support Flash. By all means use Flash but provide alternatives for those who do not have it installed.

…it takes ages to download

In today’s age of broadband it wouldn’t appear to be as critical to make your site fast to download. However, in this era of mobiles phones many people may access your site via a slower 2G or 3G connection. Avoid working large images into the template of your website and make sure all images are optimised for the web.

…I can’t work out how to contact you

Some designers get so hung up in making a site look nice they forget that it should be selling your products or services. The design should make it as easy as possible for potential clients and customers to get in touch with you.

…I can’t use it

To someone blind or partially-sighted, a nice-looking website is of no use to them. Make use of HTML features to make your site accessible to all. Also, don’t flout any conventions when it comes to adhering to usability norms.

…it doesn’t appear on the search engines (or anywhere else)

An aesthetically-pleasing website is of no use if people can’t find it. As well as investing time in the website design be sure to put in the work so people can find it through the various online marketing channels.

To get a website that is more than just pretty call me on 07843 483 078 or get a free quote online.

Some sites are huge. Using a site with a large number of pages can be like negotiating your way through a complicated labyrinth. So here are some tips on how to make a website easier to navigate.

Use a site map

A hierarchical page of links to all the main sections in your site gives the visitor a good overview of how your site is structured. Sometimes you can link to every page but if your site is particularly great in size you may have to leave out individual pages to prevent it from looking confusing.

Include a breadcrumb trail

This term comes from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairytale. Its digital counterpart allows the user to track their way back up to the home page. An example of a breadcrumb trail is:

Home > About Us > Board of Directors > John Smith

Make it searchable

Having a search box on your site is a quick and easy way for users to find what they want. If you don’t have the capability to implement your own you can integrate Google’s search into your site.

Use multi-level navigation

As well as having main sections, your site can then have sub-sections. The subsections can be represented on your site via a drop down menu and/or a secondary left-hand sub navigation.

Keep it consistent

One of the golden rules of designing interfaces is to ‘strive for consistency’ (Point one from Shneiderman’s Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design). As well as keeping your design consistent (e.g. having the menu in the same place on every page) you should use standard design elements throughout the site.

Colour code sections

Colour-coding sections will allow your visitors to subconsciously groups pages together. For example, this health and safety website I designed uses green, yellow and red to differentiate the main sections.

To get a website that is easy to navigate call me on 07843 483 078 or get a free quote online.

Take them yourself

It seems like almost everyone has a digital camera these days. Whether it’s on your phone or through a higher-end device, the likelihood is you, or someone in your company, has access to a camera. So, you can take the photos yourself. The obvious advantages here are you can take as many as you want, whenever you want—and it won’t cost you a penny. However, you do get what you pay for. This option may cost nothing in a monetary sense but if your photos come from an amateur using a budget camera, it may reflect badly on your company and its website.

Use a stock photography website

A stock photography website allows you to download an image taken by a third party for use on your website. Most sites charge per image but a handful are free. Generally though, you can get a good quality photo for next-to-nothing (for example, I recently purchased an image for a client from istockphoto.com for around £2). The downsides here are you rely on the website having the photo you want and there is nothing to stop a competitor using the same image.

Use a professional photographer

The only downside to using a professional photographer is it’s more expensive than the previous two options. Again, you get what you pay for though. In this case that’s professional quality images specified precisely to your website’s requirements—and the guarantee that no one else will be able to use them without your permission.

Tips on using images

1. The adage ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ applies also to website photos. A photo of a product can tell a potential customer a lot more than some lengthy text can. So always use photos to promote your products and services.
2. Avoid clichéd pictures (a smiling woman with a telephone headset springs to mind).
3. While photos are great, don’t overdo them. You should still remember your website has a function that surpasses nice photography (e.g. generating enquiries, selling products online).
4. Don’t use print quality images on your site. An image used in a brochure will be far too large for a website; this will make the page slower to load. Get your web designer to resize all photos to an appropriate web quality.
5. If you do have lots of images to display, make use of open gallery scripts such as Lightbox or Galleria. These prevent your web page from being overloaded with imagery and can add that ‘wow’ factor to your site.

To use me in a web project that makes correct use of photos call me on 07843 483 078 or get a free quote online.

Shared hosting

Shared hosting is where many websites are hosted on the same server. Each server can host many hundreds of websites. Shared hosting is the most economical option but it does have some drawbacks. All the websites on the server share the same top-level settings such as script and mail settings so if you have some bespoke requirements a shared package may not be an option.

Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting has the capability to subdivide your hosting into separate hosting packages. Essentially you can create your own shared hosting packages to suit your needs. The prime use of such hosting is if you want to resell (hence the name) hosting on to your clients. Since reseller packages tend to have more space, bandwidth, etc than their shared counterparts some people opt for a reseller package over a shared one for the extra capacity.

Dedicated server

On dedicated server packages you lease the entire server. Unlike shared and reseller hosting packages the entire server is yours. While this is the most expensive option you can configure the server to meet your needs. So if you want to run any bespoke software, for example, you can do so. Dedicated servers also have huge storage limits and high bandwidth capacities so are suitable for high traffic websites.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

On a technical level a VPS is the same as a dedicated server. The primary difference is a single server is subdivided into several ‘virtual’ servers. You get all the benefits of a dedicated server but with reduced cost and capacity.

What hosting package do you need?

Unless you are expecting significant traffic (ten of thousands of visitors per day or more) a good quality shared hosting package will be sufficient. While reseller hosting is mainly for web designers who want to add a markup on their hosting they are also useful for companies that have several websites to host. If you have bespoke requirements but feel a dedicated server is too expensive, or is overkill, then a VPS is ideal. For really big projects though, it is worth investing in a dedicated server.

The blog is posted for informational purposes. In practice, any good web designer will take over the sourcing of the server for you and pick one that best suits your site’s requirements.

For help with your website and hosting call me on 07843 483 078 or get a free quote online.

It’s much easier to read a book than it is to read text on a website. As I’ve mentioned many times before website visitors tend to be impatient and scan quickly through content. As a website owner you want to make your site’s content as easy to read as possible. So here are some points detailing how to make your website’s text easy to read.

Avoid low contrast colour schemes

Make sure there is a big difference between your website text and the background of your website. You will notice almost all online magazines and newspapers are very high contrast.

Avoid light on dark colour schemes

Light text on a dark background is difficult for most people to read. Avoid a light on dark colour scheme unless the text on your site is minimal. You can’t go wrong with good old black (or dark grey) on white.

Don’t make your text too small

Although most browsers allow text size to be overridden many of your website visitors will not know how to do this. It’s better to err on the side of caution and have your text slightly slightly too big than too small.

Avoid long chunks of text

Avoid long paragraphs. If it reads like a novel you’ve most likely overdone it. You can make your text easier to read with the use of bullet points and headlines.

To get a website that is easy to read call me on 07843 483 078 or get a free quote online.

The web design budget is of great interest to both parties involved. The client wants to know how much it will cost his or her business and the web designer wants to know whether it’s viable to take the job on.

This can result in a catch-22 situation: the client doesn’t want the web designer ‘stealing’ money from them unnecessarily and the web designer doesn’t want to spend ages writing up a quote for a client only to find out the budget was never going to be sufficient for the project.

So, should you disclose your web design budget?

Let’s say you have a budget in mind. The worry is that if your budget is significantly higher than what the web designer would charge. So, you disclose your budget and the web designer increases his price to match your budget, making him or her extra money and wasting some of yours.

I’m not saying this doesn’t happen but when a reputable web designer asks for a budget what they’re really asking is, is it worth me even considering taking on this project? Usually to win a new web project a web designer must spend considerable time asking the client questions and then writing up a proposal. I always ask for a ballpark price—or range. It’s just to get an idea; it’s not a way to rip you off.

What if you have no budget to disclose? Ask yourself, what is this web project worth to my business? At least get an approximate figure in your mind as a starting point. Unless you’ve got to the stage of signing a contract no one can hold you to it. If you have little or no budget, wait until a time when you do. Trying to get a cheap website built will only cost you more money in the future—and will antagonise any decent web designer.

If the client is honest and the web designer is reputable both parties will benefit from the site if a ballpark price is determined early on.

To get a website call me on 07843 483 078 or get a free quote online.