Need a website but not sure where to start?
I’ve put together this handy guide to help people who are a little technophobe and don’t understand or know what is involved when commissioning a website.
Generally a website designer will build a package and have all of the below included but it’s helpful to know what we mean when we’re building these bundles. All of which are important in building a professional and secure website.
Website hosting - What is it?
It’s an internet hosting service that hosts websites online for clients. Basically it makes your site live on the world wide web, without this you couldn’t have it visible online.
This is usually an annual fee and can cost anything from £100 plus with a website agency.
Domain name
A domain name is basically your website address for example www.vantablackds.com
These domains need to be purchased and registered. You will have to check a domain directory to see what is available to buy and you can check who owns particular domains by visiting whois
This is usually an annual fee and can cost anything from £10 plus with a website agency.
Security for your site - SSL - Secure Sockets Layer
This is a technology for keeping an internet connection secure. Preventing and protecting sensitive data being read, transferred or modified by online hackers. It’s an important security measure that you can add to your site for not much money. Definitely worth it!
This is usually an annual fee and can cost anything from £10 plus with a website agency.
Business mailboxes
So often I see companies using email addresses that are associated with gmail/outlook etc and they just don’t look professional. With any website domain you can link a professional email address like hello@vantablackds.com or sales@vantablackds.com
This is usually an annual fee and can cost anything from £10 plus with a website agency.
Fully responsive website
A fully responsive website will rescale itself to preserve the user experience and look and feel across all devices. All functionality will remain in tact without disappearing boxes or pages that won’t work.
Search engine optimised - SEO
Your site should be fully optimised with the latest guidelines to help drive unpaid traffic from search engines. This involves making sure the content is relevant on your site, includes key words (relevant to your business), meta descriptions, tags etc.
Meta description – is a description tag that gives a small snippet of the information about what info can be found on that page. It’s like a pitch to convince the user that this page contains exactly what they are looking for.
Google Analytics
Google analytics integration is set up and linked to your website to provide valuable analytics about your site visitors and more. This can help with marketing campaigns and give you a good insight to your customers behaviour.
Photography - on your website
It’s important to have high resolution imagery that isn’t too large in size. Large photos can delay loading time on pages and make a bad user experience. So make sure you provide your designer with quality photos or use a photographer to capture the all important main shots on your site.
Website build
Typically a website consists of the following page set up:
- Homepage
- About page
- Product/services page
- Contact us page
Additional pages might include an online shop, blog page, booking page etc. Design and accessibility should strategically thought out and implemented to create the best user experience for your customers. Using clear messaging and call to action points to guide the user around your site. Providing them with all the key information they need to know about your business and services.
Website design
The design should reflect your current brand and be consistent with your brand values and messaging. Tone of voice and call to actions should also be in keeping with the brand style. Photography used should be high quality and professional.
