Website design Galway

If you’re wondering where to start with the planning of your new web site, read on…. the 5 steps below will help you to plan your website design like a professional. Taking the time to create a detailed project plan for your new website gives you a structure within which you can work and a much better chance of meeting your business goals on time and on budget and get a far better final result than going head first without a plan!

1. SEO First…begin with the end in mind

To begin planning the content for your new website, start by compiling a list of the search phrases that you would like to come up in Google for. Think about what your potential customer would type into Google to find your website or your competitor’s website.

You may need to add certain location keywords to the end of that search to make it more specific to your location such as Galway or Ireland.

Think of your main services/sectors, and what you would like more enquiries for and also what services you feel are the most profitable or you feel are the most online opportunities for and create your key search phrases around those terms.

Example search terms that we may want to rank for in Google:

web design galway
galway web design
website designers galway
galway website designers
logo design galway
etc…

Put together a spreadsheet and collect all the phrases and then search in Google and record your position in the search engine. Ignoring adverts, there are 10 results per Google search page. Count the pages/results until you find your position for each phrase in Google and record the date you searched and the current position. This allows you to define a benchmark for where you are currently. Once the new website is up and running for a few weeks, you can search again (and every few weeks thereafter) to see how your position has improved.

During your initial searches, note who is appearing and what page titles they use so you can emulate and come up with similar titles. Also visit your competitor’s web pages and review the text and layout so you can come up with something even better.

You should be thinking of how you can incorporate the phrases you have compiled into your site, so some will be included in the text on the home page, site footer, etc and others will be used on specific pages dealing with that specific search phrase.

2. Build a site map

Use the phrases and your results to start to compile a list of pages that your site should include and also what content should be on each page. You’ll also get ideas from your competition so drawing up a list or pages (or site map) should be the next step.

This is a list of pages you need for your website, sorted in a hierarchical order, to show what the top level menu would look like and also what pages need to link to each other.

A typical site map example:

Home
Company
– History

Services
– Web Design
– Logo Design
Contact Us

Etc

A simple list of pages will get you started to think about you will need to include in each one of these pages.

3. Create a page format structure

For each page in your sitemap you need to think about the content needs (text/images) for each page. To start writing up the content for each page think about the following:

Purpose of the page (what are you trying to achieve with this page?)
Intended Audience (who is the reader and what do they want/need?)
SEO Title for the page (what keywords to use in the title?)
SEO Keywords: What keywords would you like this page to rank for in Google?
Photos/Stock Images to use in the page (photos needed?)
Create an attention grabbing headline to get the reader interested.
Break the rest of the content up into suitable headings to make it easier to read.
Develop a clear introduction to the problem or solution seen through the eyes of your audience/target customer.
Show a clear understanding of the problem and how to fix it. Show benefits and clear path to the solution.
Back it up with case studies, examples, screenshots, testimonials, videos, images, etc
Create a sense of urgency and desire to resolve the issue/obtain the service.
Put in a strong and personal call to action to urge the visitor to get in touch.

4. Develop a content creation plan

Now that you have identified the main search phrases, analysed the competition, created a site map and a page structure for each page next it’s time to allocate resources to create the content.

Identify what photos/videos you’ll need and allocate staff responsible to collecting/creating these.

Identify what case studies / testimonials you will need and start contacting customers to get these in place.

For each page identified in your site map, allocate a staff member to create a draft for each page.

Once reviewed they will then be continuously worked on until you have a final copy created for each page of the website.

A shared Dropbox folder should be set up with additional subfolders, and shared with all the members of the team and the web designer, so you can track the progress of the content development.

Develop each page of the website as a separate Word document and track the content creation and mark each page as either draft, under review or final approved. Once the page is marked as, “final approved” move the document out into a “final” folder that the web designer can use to form the basis of the final page that can be copied and pasted into the site. This final approved content should be proofed for spelling and other grammatical errors before being used on the new website.

Set Deadlines for the team members to have pages quickly and efficiently created as drafts, reviewed and approved as final copy by certain dates so that the site development stage can progress without delay.

5. Develop a web site specification

Design/Branding Elements: Gather your artwork for items such as your logo, (ask your logo designer for the artwork not just a jpeg), branding guidelines, colour schemes and font styles to use, company brochures, related images, marketing materials, etc….Anything that will help the designer to create a website that truly reflects your brand.

Reference Sites: You should make a list of any websites that you like that you may have found during your SEO research. Highlight elements that you like and decide what content you will need to create something similar for your website.

Menu Links: Your site map should provide the menu links that will allow visitors to navigate the site, however you may have other pages that need to go into a footer menu (terms, privacy, etc)

Blocks: Identify sections that you like and these can be replicated, to construct a custom layout for your home page and other pages on your website. Certain sections of the site can be saved as reusable blocks, such as a “call to action” block, image slider, footer block, sidebar or “testimonial” block and be should in several places on the site.

Footer: It’s a good idea to figure out what will need to go into the footer. Examples are: Company address, phone, links to other pages, privacy or terms, map, etc.

Wireframe: A simple wireframe can be created in a program such as PowerPoint that can show the proposed layout and content the homepage of website or a more detailed wireframe can be created if multiple inner page layouts are required.

Functional Elements: Identify any other items you will need on the site other than content. Examples of these may be a form for collecting leads, a newsletter sign up form, social media links, etc.

Conclusion

The web design process should be iterative and involve honest and constructive feedback from all parties. After the web design/content is signed off, the development starts and soon you will have your hands on that new, shiny website.

At Martec, our team of expert website designers galway are here to give your business a new lease of life. Whether you are refreshing a tired looking website or developing a brand new one – our team of creative designers here to help. At our Galway Web Design business – It’s what we do!!

At Martec Web Design Galway Ireland, we are in the business of making your website work as hard as it possibly can for you, which is why we take the time to understand what makes you tick and, more importantly, what makes your customers buy from you.

Galway Web Design by Martec Web Design Galway

Does your website feel out-dated in comparison to your competition, or has your company simply outgrown the current design?

A well structured and beautiful website design will:

Increase leads and revenue
Improve search rankings and traffic
Develop brand awareness
Improve usability and engagement

A well thought out and professional responsive website design quickly establishes trust and credibility with its audience. It will help you:

Increase enquiries about your services or products – making creative website designs that entice audiences to explore and buy or enquire about products and services.

Generate website traffic – use design to improve on-page SEO. As well as helping to attract traffic, with clear calls to actions visitors will create leads and drive more revenue into your business.

Engage visitors – developing responsive and mobile websites that deliver an all-round customer experience no matter what device they are accessing your site from.

Improve usability – applying our extensive user experience knowledge to create intuitive and easy-to-use websites to minimise visitor frustration and abandonment rates.

Looking to generate more leads? An effective website should be the hub of all your online marketing & lead generation activities.

Your goal should be to drive traffic to an attractive and informative website, convert interested visitors into leads and in turn (and in time) turn those leads into paying customers.

Here is the process you should follow:

Develop a marketing strategy

Define your overall goals and determine what you do best. Target your ideal customer and identify their buying habits and establish a marketing strategy to attract these customers.

Create & maintain a powerful website

An effective and professional website is the core ingredient of successful marketing and lead generation.You need to write great content for your website. It needs to demonstrate easily what you do and how you can help and it should position your company as the “go to” organisation. Key elements are: Great design, powerful CMS, up to date blog full of great content and be mobile ready.

Generate more traffic

You can have a great website but unless you get visitors then you won’t be able to convert those visitors to leads. The old ways of advertising to generate clients are not working and the new methods of blogging, using social media and time saving social media tools, optimising your site for SEO and using PPC are now what are working.

Convert traffic to leads

In order for you to build relationships with your potential customers you need to convert visitors into leads. By helping visitors to understand how best you can help them they will be more likely to trust you and provide their contact details to avail of your offers when they are compelled by your strong call to action.

Convert leads into sales

By fully understanding and analysing your lead sources, and by segmenting and communicating with them on a regular basis, your leads will eventually need your products or services and that is when they will convert to a sale. You will use tools like dynamic forms, email marketing and CRM Solutions to manage this process.

Measure everything

Keeping analytics over the process can be the hardest part, but if you have properly identified your goals in step 1 you will know what to measure.

Looking for more Leads & Sales?

Looking for someone to help you develop and implement an effective online strategy to get more leads? Contact Martec Web Design Galway and learn how we can help!

The content you add to your website is vital in converting visitors to leads and those leads into customers. Take the time and effort to do it right and the website will pay for itself in a very short timeframe and will continue to be an ongoing source of business for years to come.

1. Develop a Niche Audience for your Website

You must stand out from the crowd, be noticeable and memorable to prospects and clients so that they chose you amongst the others, here’s how:

Target specific clients that you can serve better than anyone else
Help clients to see how you are different from the competition
Create a simple “one sentence” view of who you are and what you do best
Break up your main services/products into 3 to 4 groups that are easy to understand
Tie each service/product to a pain point of the client and show your solution
Create a check-list of why the client should choose you (5 to 6 points)
Prove you are the right choice – give evidence (credentials, expertise, testimonials, case studies, experience, references, etc.)

2. Build Trust with Your Website Visitors

It’s vital you have a website that turns visitors into paying customers. You have to make people trust you, otherwise they’ll simply go elsewhere…Remember:

Clients will need to trust that you before they will pay you for your time.
Clients need to like you as person
Clients need know you have their best interest in mind
Clients need to feel comfortable that you can help them get things done.

3. Find the Ideal Client – Target your message and services to them

Discover what your ideal client looks like and then go about building your entire marketing strategy around attracting more of them. Follow these steps:

List Problems Your Client Faces
List Pain Your Client’s Feels
List Emotions Your Client’s Feels
List Wants & Goals of Your Client
List Reasons For Acting Now
List Reasons For them Not Acting/Putting things off
List Clients Most in Need and Why
List Clients who are the most likely to invest/purchase now
List the clients you love to work with and would like more just like them
List the reasons your happiest clients chose you and why they stay
List the areas of potential growth in your industry
List the most potential profitable areas to focus on

4. Don’t “Sell” – Help

Stop selling and help the customer to buy. Customers aren’t interested in you, they are trying to solve a problem. Understand all the customer’s needs, resolve any issues or concerns and present a solution for the customer to take action.

Identify the Problem: Identify concerns, fears, priorities, goals

Present the Solution: Show how you can help, results, proof, examples, testimonials, ideas

Call To Action: Target those ready to buy, get the client to take action – create a sense of urgency.

5. Writing your content – putting it all together

Using the advice given above, follow the steps below when putting your message together:

Make it person-to-person and conversational.
Use the words “you” and “your” throughout your copy.
Pose questions in your copy – and provide the answers.
Include emotional responses and reasons why clients buy.
Get them to imagine and experience the benefits.
Use SEO keywords and phrases but don’t overdo it and ruin your message.
Clarify the value you provide and demonstrate it with examples.
Use client testimonials and other social proof.
List any perceived negatives or objections and answer them.
People love stories. Use an anecdote or story.
Motivate people to take action with your offers and calls to action.

I hope you found this useful and if you need help developing a great website for your business get in touch. If you have any other useful tips add them to the comments section below.

If you fail to hire the right web design company, your website may turn out to be a complete disaster, causing you not only monetary losses, but also loss of online exposure and reputation. Therefore, you must consider carefully before taking on a website design company.

When it comes to web design the phrase “You get what you pay for”, couldn’t be truer….but sometimes you don’t even get that. There is nothing more frustrating than investing your hard-earned money, spending loads of time explaining what you want, only to end up with something that looks terrible, doesn’t work properly, can’t be found in the search engines, is impossible to edit, puts customers off and the person who designed it isn’t available, or isn’t able, to sort it out.

Often you’re quoted more money to “fix things” or “upgrade”, when you would have expected these to be done properly in the first place. This type of “Bait and Switch” marketing ends up giving all web designers a bad name, making it difficult for the customer to compare “like with like” when choosing a web designer. What are your options if this happens to you? Start again and do it right this time and end up paying again, or leave it there, bury your head in the sand and wonder why your sales are down.

Cheap web designers are cheap for a reason. Usually they have limited skills, very little business knowledge, unproven or non-existent processes and are typically using you as a guinea pig to learn on the job. Your website could be, and should be, your main source of new business, if done properly it can be. So why would you hand that over to some one who’s not going to make that happen?

Consider if you needed a heart operation. Would you choose the cheapest heart surgeon to operate on you? No, you’d want the best you could afford. It should be the same with your business. Why not use an expert to help you to make your balance sheet healthy rather than kill off any chance of success and strangle your cash flow in the process?

If you want to filter out the cheap web designers and you want to pick the best, most affordable web designer for the job, then pick one that is experienced whilst still being good value. Start with the web design company’s own website. A poorly developed website of a web design company indicates its lack of commitment towards its business and clients.

Does their website come up on top in the search engines? Does it come across as professional and up to date? Does it have an extensive portfolio showing their experience and skills working on projects similar to the quality you are after? Do they have testimonials stating what their clients think about them? Do they add extra value by helping you to develop a strategy for your business and provide the after sales support to help you get there?

The critical element is not the initial cost of the website but the value for money you get in return. The role of a website design company is not just to develop a website, but also to develop a performance-oriented website that gives greater return on your investments.

Putting things into perspective, when you hire a cheap web design company, you take on all the headaches and frustration of dealing with an inferior staff, lesser quality and questionable service. In this case, you get what you pay for. Everyone wants to save money, but just make sure that you don’t lose it in the long run. You can pay a fair price and get a great site or you can pay a cheap price and get something that might be embarrassing and that you can’t rely on.

Don’t waste your money on something that you’ll regret down the road. If you only have a small budget to spend, ask if there is a solution that can be created to meet your needs or a payment plan available so that you can get a better site.