Why We´re Not Your Average Teesside Website Design Company

I'm hoping that once you reach the end of this article you'll understand why we're not and that it will also answer that question we get asked allllll the time. In fact, maybe we should start a FAQs page of our own. One for the to do list, maybe.

New clients are always very surprised when we answer their question with;

Just recently, a client who was about to receive our terms of business sent over an email with ‘some words for the new website’ in it. I had to go back and say ‘Sorry. That’s not how it’s going to work. Here’s what we will be doing to make the magic happen for you.'

When we begin a new web project our terms of business express that we work in partnership with our clients. That the project will only be truly successful if we all agree to this. We want the best for our clients. There’s often a bit of a pain barrier to get over first, though.  Everyone struggles to share what their business is  all about. We have to prepare our clients to get into this way of thinking especially if they are just tipping their toe for the first time into the world of online. That’s okay, though. We are very used to hand holding. What we can’t do is wave a magic wand and click our heels and a website will magically appear. You wish! Actually I wish  .. how great a business model would it be if we had that skill?

As web designers we embed ourselves into yiur business with a process we've created that is above average.

This is where we totally embed ourselves into understanding your business and what your goals are and what you want your website to achieve. We have our unique discovery document which involves a couple of hours of input by the client. It's here we find out about an existing website and ask for  logins and passwords and hosting information but also where we get the client to think about goals and actions and competitors. 

This is where we look at the structure of an existing website via their sitemap or we create one if we are building a brand new site. It’s important to understand what pages the site needs and also the flow of the site from a user’s perspective. Once we are all happy then the client signs off to phase 3.

A site won’t generate any leads or sales  without the right words. In the discovery document we ask our client to list key words and phrases that they think users would search for out on Google to find their website. Words that aren’t related to your brand or business terms. These are called non-branded keywords.  A branded search term for example would be ‘Asos’. A non-branded search term would be ‘ladies fashion clothing’.  A brand driven search would be someone who knows your name and your business and shows a sign of intent to take an action. Keyword research will be the make or break of all content that is created both for launch and forever afterwards. Some keywords have zero to little search volume so it’s important that we have content on a website that will drive targeted traffic.  Clients who have had experience of previous web designers are often surprised that we do this. This is our USP. We have lots of experience in content creation and SEO. We want your site to have the best possible start no matter what else you go on to do after launch to drive sales. We also research your online competitors after all, they’re always only a click away so you need to know what they're up to.

Words on the page and behind the page {otherwise known as on page SEO} is the part that will really help your website fly right from the outset. I wrote about meta titles and descriptions in my DIY SEO post. Sometimes, people think this is included in the price. No way! We are the designers and builders. A bit like designing and building a house. You have to buy the furniture to put in it.  That’s the content creation part. This is a skill in itself and we work with some fantastic, experienced copywriters who will quote us on your behalf to craft discoverable content for your pages. Clickable copy that both visitors and search engines will love. This can take anywhere between 1-4 weeks depending on the size of the website. The best copywriters are always super busy, too. You can also repurpose existing content.

Once all of the content, meta titles and descriptions for the main service or category pages are signed off  we are then ready to design your website. Notice how much has  gone into the process of building your website so far? We take your content and we design for the user experience and look and feel.  We don't design something beautiful and then try and force the words into a design that wasn't made for them. This is often where we hear of client's frustration with an off the shelf template. We design the homepage first because this gives a sense of how everything can tie together. Remember that we already designed the menu architecture back in phase 2 so that's another item ticked off the list that helps the project run smoothly. We then design all of the main pages that we've talked about in the menu structure. The design of some of them will be similar especially where sub categories are involved. Once the complete design is signed off then we go to the build phase.

This phase is  where we have a little less contact with the client but we communicate regularly after our daily and weekly scrums. Where  the project is up to so far, what is happening next and whether there are problems that need solving to keep the development of the website moving. This is collectively part of a Sprint. Not anything really a client needs to worry about. It's simply how we manage a project internally.

This is it. Your website is now live on our development site. The public can't see it. We make sure Google can't see it to index it. It's here that together with the client we go through everything with a fine tooth comb. Testing forms, creating accounts, adding products to shopping bags, adding more content, images and video. Making sure everything works as we all expected. The landscape of web browsers and devices changes regularly and our approach is to look forward, not back. With that in mind we will test for all major desktop browsers to ensure that we make the most from them. Users of older or less capable browsers or devices will experience a design that is appropriate to the capabilities of their software.

We also test that the site performs well on Apple’s iPad. We don't test old or abandoned browsers, for example Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or 5.5 for Windows or Mac, previous versions of Apple’s Safari, Mozilla Firefox or Opera unless otherwise specified. 

It's also the phase where we give you access to the test site especially if your site is ecommerce. Now it's time to start adding products or blog posts or  more service pages.

The exciting part! The day has finally arrived. We hope by now that we've also educated our clients enough to know that this is just the beginning. The really hard work starts .... NOW. It's now as well that we create a sitemap and submit your site to Google so that it can be picked up as soon as possible and start getting that sought after visibility. This is where your website needs to start earning its keep right from the get go. We also help you set up Google Analytics so that we can start to track  traffic and what users do when they visit the site. 

Just like a new house there will be teething problems. You might think something doesn't work as you expected or someone might tell you something isn't working properly for them. This is an ongoing process. Things change all the time and sometimes breakages occur especially where third party integrartions have  been added to a website. We have no control over those so they have to be checked frequently to make sure they are operating correctly. Keeping everything running smoothly is key to the success of all websites. So many businesses don't ever check things once their website is live. 

Our EVOLVE guarantee gives you the piece of mind that we'll always fix something we've built. This guarantee is in place for the life of a website we've built providing it's hosted by us and that any breakages aren't incurred by a third party.

Our websites are built around our own bespoke content management system. We all tell everyone how we've made it wonderfully intuitive to use. From our experience we knew we needed to create a CMS that anyone could use. From a sole trader to a full marketing team. Our technical director, Gary waxed lyrically about it in his post  'Why Choose A Custom Website Over A Wordpress Website?' but then again he did build it. He's very clever!  We train and create persoanlised videos for you so you can work your way around it and add content such as blog posts or new products quickly and easily, even from your phone. Yes, it's that simple and you can't break it!

As I said earlier, getting through the nine phases of designing and building your website is just the beginning. The hard but rewarding work follows and our support comes in two ways.

Firstly, just like a new car, a website needs maintenance to keep it up to date. It's not a case of going live, firing up the engine and that's it. A website is never truly finished and actively encourage continuous upgrades and improvement. We know how overwhelming it can all feel even though you'll have had your training and an understanding of how you can make your website work for you. That never ending list of uploading and formatting blog posts,  content tweaks, third party fixes, checking for broken links. We are your website's best friend. Our support packages are extremely cost effective and can be scaled up or down depending on the needs of a growing business. Best of all they are contract free. We're not here to tie you up in knots. We are here to help you grow.

Secondly, we don't like to leave you on your own. We have so much we can offer you in terms of support to grow your business through our talent pool of highly experienced 'gene-iuses'. From social media management to SEO, content marketing to paid search, digital consultancy and mentoring. 

Why a custom project like a website should be a serious business consideration and investment? Why it can take weeks and months to create for you something that is going to stand the test of time and can grow as your business grows?  Why we stand out from the crowd and why we want you to as well?

Get in touch if you'd like to have a chat about a new web design project.