Website Design For Professional Services

Website Design For Professional Services

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If you are a professional working independently or running a business, a good quality website is important in getting new clients.  Many people, particularly the young, go straight to Google as soon as they need a lawyer, accountant or any other service.  The peak of the phonebook has long since passed.  Here are some ideas on website design for professional services.

Services

The most important aspect of your website will be the services page.  If someone comes across it, it’s because they are looking at having something done for them.  List the range of services that you or your firm offer so that a potential client can easily see if you can help them or not.  A list or dot points can work fine, because this information doesn’t need too much detail.

Our Team or About Me

Having quick profiles of you or your team can help customers decide to use your services.  People like to familiarise themselves with businesses and feel like they will receive personal service, so having short biographies with a picture can be a great way for them to make that connection.  Remember to include their qualifications and also any special achievements that might seem relevant.

Case Studies or Testimonials

Many potential clients will want to see your previous work or hear from past customers.  Seeing a prior success or hearing from a satisfied customer can give them a lot more confidence in your business than the same words coming from an employee.  It is important to be able to demonstrate your abilities and show how you can solve a customer’s problems.  A strong testimonial can be a powerful tipping point for a customer to choose you over the competition.

Location and Office Hours

Because most customers will want to use professional services that are nearby to them, it is important to clearly show your location.  The suburb is enough for most parts of your web page, but a full address should also be easy to find.  Include your business hours as well, so that customers know when they can drop in and visit or make a call.

Contact Information

Keep your contact page updated with all of your latest details, including phone numbers, email and street addresses.  If any of the information is out of date, it’s an easy way to lose business.

Blog

If you want to be at the top of the pagerank for your area, keeping a frequently updated blog is a great way to move your site up the ranks.  Search engines like fresh content that features keywords, so a long term blogging strategy can help your business become higher on Google’s results page.  Write about industry related topics and give readers free tips.  Staying connected with your audience is a great way to keep your old clients and bring in more.

Email Newsletter

Another way to keep up with your clients is to keep an email list.  Sending out a weekly or monthly newsletter can put your business fresh in the minds of clients and hopefully help you get repeat business.  If you give them a punchy subject line and offer your customers news and deals, it can help bring in people who were previously unsure of your services.

This was a guest post by Jaroslava Vagner Svensson, Web designer at Website Adelaide

Are you looking at getting a website built?  Talk to us or look at our website design page

 

Website Design For Startups

Website Design For Start-Ups

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A strong web presence is important for any start-up that wants to expand quickly.  The fastest way to disseminate information is through the internet.  If you want your company to be innovative and  grow fast, having a cutting edge website is an important starting point.  Here are some tips on website design dor start-ups.

Landing Page

The landing page is the most important for any business, however it is even more crucial for a start-up, particularly if the business is not yet well-known or people are unfamiliar with the services.  A landing page needs to be visually appealing, but also get enough information across to make people want to keep going through the site.  You need to be selective of what information you include and where you put it.  Walls of text will kill your page and users will hit the back button instantly.  Choose what you think are the most important details; the things that will appeal to and entice customers.  You need to think from the customers’ perspective and highlight what they would want, or the value that they could get out of your product.  Give them just enough information to be interested in your product and to want to visit the other pages.  Scroll down pages are also an option, so that the customers don’t have to click away to get more information.

Branding

Thoughtful branding is imperative for any business that wants to expand rapidly.  The company needs a consistent name, logo, complete set of values, design scheme and strategy if they want to have a broad consumer appeal.  They need a thorough understanding of their target audience and to tailor their strategy appropriately.  If the values of the company and the audience do not align, the business will struggle to gain a foothold in the market even if it has an effective product or service.

Audience

Knowing your audience or target market is essential for any brand.  It is important in all stages of a business, from research and development of new products, to marketing and advertising them.  If you don’t already understand your audience, you may want to do some market research so that you can tailor your business strategy, products and advertising to suit their needs.

Products or Services

It is important that your website demonstrates exactly what you do.  You need to creatively use text, pictures and perhaps video to show off your products and services .  Illustrate the value that your company can bring to an end user and perhaps, depending on your business strategy, illustrate the key points to potential investors.  It is important to mix quality products with strong branding and differentiation from the competition.  This combination can help you stand out in the market.

Blog

Having an effective and informative blog is important for engaging with your existing and potential customers.  You can give them interesting industry information, or just details, tips or tricks on your own products.  In an age where content is king, maintaining a blog that appeals to your audience is important for connecting with your market.

If your start-up needs a new website, contact us or visit our website design page.

Website Design For Small Business

Website Design For Small Businesses

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For a long time, small businesses could hold out on getting a webpage.  Now, small business who either lack a webpage or have an outdated page are missing out on potential customers .  In a lot of situations, it could be costing the business a lot more in lost sales than the cost of either constructing or maintaining a modern page.  Here are some simple tips to consider to make sure that your webpage is effective in representing your business and bringing in more clients.  Of course, the exact needs of a business will differ, but these general ideas can help with website design for small businesses.

Products/Services

Above all else, you need to make it clear what your company does and what it does best.  Tell your customers the specifics of what you do or sell and highlight points of difference from your competitors.  If your company has higher quality products, better quality service or is known to go the extra mile, make sure that your customer is aware.

Case Studies

Particularly if you are a small business that offers services, having a case study of your previous work can be a great way to appeal to new customers.  If you are a tradesmen, some pictures and a few words to describe one of your past jobs can be excellent in convincing people to use your services.  If you do something else, find a way that you can show off your great work.  If possible, include a visual element, because this makes things more appealing to people.

Testimonials

Get a quote from one of your previous clients and put it on the page.  This can be a great way of getting customers to trust your business, particularly if the person is well-known and respected within the community.  Their words vouching for your product or service can do a whole lot more than your words alone.

About Us

Include some information about your business’ current situation as well as its background and history.  Customers like to be able to familiarise themselves with a business, so this can be a great way to get them to trust you.  Don’t forget to include any awards or special achievements that you or your company may have received in the past.

Blog

A blog can be time consuming and expensive for a small business to operate, but it can also be beneficial.  If you or someone you know are a capable writer, feel free to do some research and try it yourself.  If you aren’t confident, consider hiring a professional service or a freelancer.  It can be cheaper than you might think.  A good blog can help you engage with your customers and also keep you at the top of the search engine rankings.

Newsletter

Like blogging, a newsletter can be a great way to keep up with your community.  You can even recycle some of the blog’s content.  To make a newsletter that is effective in bringing you more business, make sure that it has a snappy title and also include some offers or discounts to entice your customers.

Contact

Keeping updated contact information is pretty straightforward.  Don’t miss out on business by letting people call up your old office number.  Keep your email, phone number, social media, address and operating hours accurate.

If you own a small business and need a new website or a website makeover, contact us or have a look at our website design page.

Website Design For Life Coaches

Website Design For Life Coaches

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A life coach needs a top-of-the-line website to help sell their brand and their services.  In such a cutthroat industry, both image and substance are particularly important to attracting and keeping clients.  Self-promotion is an essential aspect, so content needs to be added continually to the website to connect with clients.  Website design for life coaches can be a confusing process, so here are some tips to optimise it.

Home Page

The home page for a life coach needs to sell the branding and services as quickly as possible so that a potential client will look through the rest of the website.  It needs to be visually appealing and attractive, including testimonials and the unique points of difference from the competition.

Branding

Branding is key in the life coaching industry.  The websites of the competition are filled with slogans and specific jargon that set them apart from each other.  If you really want to distance yourself from the competition and stick in people’s minds, you need to come up with a cohesive brand.  This can include a range of things; from slogans to specific words or techniques, to a logo and colour scheme.  Understand your target market and brand yourself in a way that appeals to them.  If you want to appeal to twenty-years-olds, your branding and marketing strategies will need to be very different to if baby-boomers are your target.

Case Studies

A page dedicated to case studies is necessary to show the product or services in action.  They need to show a transformation that would inspire a potential client to join with the life coach.  A good story that demonstrates the positive change and value that a client could get from using the service will help to convince potential customers.

Testimonials

Just as important as case studies are testimonials.  People are much more trusting of words from happy customers than they are of those from people within the business.  Good quality testimonials can give validity to your services and help to increase sales.

About Me

A stimulating About Me section is crucial for a life coaching website.  Potential clients want to see that the coach is successful in life, because if a life coach can’t sort out their own problems, how can they help to fix someone else’s?  The About Me section should include past achievements, adversity that has been surmounted and a story of the coach’s rise to success.

Services

The services of a life coach can differ from things like one-on-one coaching, group classes, seminars, eBooks and more.  It is important to list the exact services and products that are offered, how they differ from the competition and what value they will deliver to the client.  To help with boosting sales, it is important that clients are clear about how the product will help them and how it can give them something that they want.  If you offer seminars or classes, setting up an events calendar is a great way to advertise them and let people know when things are happening.

Blog

Blogging is very popular with life coaches.  It is an effective way for them to continually connect with their client base and also to market their ideas, products and services.  A blog full of useful tips can help to attract more people into paying for your other services.

Videos

Posting regular videos or hosting a Youtube channel can be another great way to connect with an audience.  A significant portion of people are better at learning through videos rather than reading, so it can help you reach a demographic that would have otherwise skipped over your information.

Email Newsletter

Email newsletters are another popular way that life coaches can get their message through to people.  Catchy and intriguing subject titles can ensure that more people open them, while concise, informative and engaging content will keep them reading.  They can also include offers for products, services or discounts in order to help entice people into making purchases.

Contact

A good contact page is important so that people can contact you and your business with any potential queries or if they would like to make purchases.  The page doesn’t have to feature a lot of information, just reliable ways that people can make contact, such as email, phone numbers, social media and office addresses.  It may also be a good idea to mention office hours or hours that your business is able to take calls.

Build Your Business

Having a well designed and effective website is a vital way to bring in more customers and build your business.

Do you need a website? Have a look at our page on website design for more information.

Website Design For Software Companies

Website Design For Software Companies

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There is a large variance in website design choices for software companies and it all depends on the type of software as well as the market.  If the company is a software giant, their website needs will obviously be different to a start-up or a niche software company.  Likewise if the focus is on business-to-business or business to customer sales.  Software as a service will also have divergent needs to software as a product.  Here are some general ideas to consider in website design for software companies.

Product

The most essential page is your product page.  Depending on the company, it could also be called services or even solutions.  Regardless of how you title the page, it needs to highlight what products or services your company provides and how you can help the consumer.  It needs to clearly show the value and how the product can solve problems that a potential customer might have.  It is important to think about the product or service from a customer’s perspective so that the most important features are highlighted.  The key to getting more sales from the product page is to make the customer think that the product or service will solve their problems or add value to their life.

Support

It is crucial for a software company to have a good support page.  As there can be a learning curve to using software and things can also go wrong, it is important that customers can easily find solutions so that they can have the most seamless user experience possible.  A good support tab could include many things, such as an FAQ, a forum or community where users can discuss their problems, tutorials, training and a helpline.

A good FAQ should have comprehensive answers to all of the common problems, while a forum can foster a sense of community and also come up with solutions to rarer problems.  Simple to follow tutorials or complete training programs are essential for helping users find the most effective ways to use the products or services.    If the information in the FAQ, forum, tutorials and training is comprehensive, their will be fewer people who will need to ring the helpline to get one-on-one support.

Downloads

If your company offers updates, extras or anything else that a user might need or want to download, a specific page is a vital resource.  Depending on the quantity of downloadable content, it needs to be well organised and easy to find things, perhaps with a search function.

Store

Being able to sell your software online can be a selling point or even an expectation for many modern consumers.  The importance of this option is will vary with the size of your company, type of product and whether it is business-to-business or business to customer enterprise.  If this is a viable option for your company, it can simplify the purchasing process for the consumer, which can lead to more sales.

Testimonials

Testimonials from businesses or customers who are using your product are a great way to convince potential buyers of the value that they could receive from a purchase.  An honest person’s opinion and positive experience about a product can be a great way to convince those who are on the fence.

About

Keeping up-to-date information in your About section is important for potential customers and clients who want to know about the history or background of your company.  This can help them learn about your company, its development, values and if it is reliable.

Blog

To stay connected with customers and to rank highly for SEO, it is important to post regular blogs.  They can include specific product information, industry related news or anything related that could be informative or helpful to your readers.

Email Newsletter

This is a classic way to stay connected with your customers.  You can recycle content from your blog if necessary and also combine the emails with offers or discounts.  Appealing titles are important in getting people to open your newsletter.

Contact

If your customers can’t get in contact with your business, you will lose a lot of potential sales.  It is simple to keep updated contact information, including email, phone numbers, social media, office address and contact hours.

Optimise Your Business

A thorough and visually-appealing website is important for any software company.  If you fail to consider some of the import aspects of the design, it could cost your business in sales.

Do you need a website? Have a look at our page on website design for more information.

Website Design Building and Construction

Website Design For Building and Construction

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It is a simple fact of 2016 that businesses in almost every industry need a website to be able to market themselves effectively, find a wider client base and increase their revenue. The building and construction industry is no different. Many people, particularly the young, will consult Google when they have a problem or need something. If your business doesn’t have a website or the current website is in poor shape, potential customers are going straight to your competitors.

If you have finally decided that you need a website for your building company or you want to make your current one more effective, here are some considerations on what to include to keep you on top of your competition.

Services

One of the most important pages to include is your services page. The reason people are looking up your business is because they want to use your building or construction services. What are the main services that your company provides? Whether you supply materials, work on new constructions, renovate existing ones or do something else, you need to let your customers know exactly what you do and how you can help them. You can also include information on what qualifications your business has and which projects you specialise in.

About You

This is another important section to include. If the customers have seen that the business can provide the services that they need, they may want to learn more about the company. This information can help them see if your building or construction company is reliable. Include when the company was established, the key people involved in it, how it has grown, important moments in its history, what kind of training or experience the company has and also any industry relevant awards that the company may have received.

Past Projects

Have a section that talks about your past building and construction projects so that customers can get an idea of what they can expect from your company. It is best to include pictures and descriptions of your biggest and best projects to show off what your business is capable of.

Testimonials

Contact some of your previous customers and see if they will give you a testimonial for the website. Positive reviews from people who have previously received your services will help to convince potential customers of the high quality of your work.

Blog

Keeping a blog updated can take a lot of work, but it’s a great way to stay connected with clients and it will help you keep your website closer to the top in Google’s ranking. You can talk about news in the building and construction industry or post tips and tricks for various projects.

Email Newsletter

A newsletter is another good way to keep up with your past clients and to tempt potential clients into using your services. Over time, you can build a mailing list of people to send special offers or new developments in your business. With the right incentives, you can turn contact information into future work. You can also recycle some of your blog posts into the newsletter to save time.

Contact Details

Providing detailed and accurate contact information is essential to converting client interest into a sale. If the client has any questions or wants to use your services, they need to be able to get in touch with you. It’s also best to include the hours that you are contactable or that your office is open. The address of your business, phone number and email address all need to be included.

Bring In More Customers

If you take note on including all of these aspects, you can have an effective website that helps to bring more customers to your business.

Need a website? Have a look at our page on website design for more information.

online store web design geelong

Online Store Website Design

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When you’re an online web store, your website design must make it easy for customers to do business with you. There are already challenges to shopping online, such as not being able to see a product in person. So, for those who dare to buy things on the web, they want an experience that’s worth it. They want to shop at a web store that offers clear product pictures, easy-to-read descriptions, and intuitive shopping from start to finish, so that they feel confident in the buying process.

If you offer all of this to your potential customers, and your current ones, you’re in the running with the competition. But, if you want to distinguish your web store from the others, you need to think about even more when it comes to web design. This is why it pays to hire a web designer to create your online store. This is the benefit of turning to someone who’s experienced in online web store design.

As you think about your web design, the following is what a good web designer must implement for successful selling online.

Basics of Design

When you think about your website’s design, think of it as an extension of a brick and mortar store. If you have a actual storefront, your website should offer the same look and feel as your physical location. It should reflect your existing brand’s space in terms of colors, style, and industry.

If you only do business online, think about your brand and what it would look like in physical form. Make your online store a place where people feel welcome shopping, where it’s inviting, and where branding is clear. Your online store should offer an aesthetic that a brick and mortar store of its kind would have, such as a sterile look if you’re selling medical equipment or a earthy appearance if you have a health food store.

All web stores should be designed so that they build the buyer’s trust. They should an easy-to-find product page, shopping cart, and return and shipping policy page. A good web store will be mobile friendly for people who like to shop on the go.

Create Great Content

Your online web store design should focus on great content, and it should include content that does an excellent job of showing, explaining, and selling your products. Since content is the driving force on the internet, you need to have quality pictures, product descriptions, website text, and infographics that tell why someone would want to buy what you’re selling.

All of your images, infographics, videos, and text should also be Search Engine Optimized (SEO) so that consumers will be able to find your web store in a Google search.

Your content should be relevant to the products that you sell and it should establish you as a leader in your industry. Keep an eye on your website frequently to see if you need to update any pictures, product descriptions, or other content so you don’t appear outdated or ill-equipped to conduct transactions online.

Furthermore, you will want to make sure that your website design offers a link to your social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. It’s a good idea to also incorporate a blog into your web store website design, so that you can offer valuable commentary on your products and your industry. This helps to establish you as a leader and expert.

Call to Action

You may have great pictures of your products and amazing descriptions of your items, but you need more than this to sell effectively online. You need a clear call to action to direct consumers to your shop and to every specific item you’re selling. Incorporate an easy-to-find “Shop” text link at the top of your web store, and include a “Buy it Now” or “Add to Cart” button for each product you sell. You need to be able to direct your shoppers from looking to buying, using specific directional clues that take them exactly where you want them to go. Your customers need obvious instructions on what you want them to do once they get to your web store, and once they get to each product page.

In addition to using text links and buttons to persuade a consumer to take the action to purchase, you can also place a call to action in a blog post. As you talk about a specific brand you sell, or item, use links to direct people to the product description page where they can then click a “But it Now” button.

Payment Processing

The ability for a consumer to securely pay for their item online should be of the utmost concern for a web store. Five years ago, people were scared to enter their credit card information anywhere on the internet for fear of fraud. Today, it’s commonplace to buy products online with a credit card, but stories about hacking and security breaches can still leave your customers a bit weary of doing business with you.

Your website design should incorporate icons and descriptions of security measures that have been taken to assure credit card entries are safe on your site, like “Verified” or “Secured” icons. Think about using payment systems that are known for being secure like PayPal, Square, or Stripe.

online store web design geelong

Content Management

Your online store will need several types of content, including a blog and a shopping cart. Luckily, there are some great products that you can seamlessly integrate into your web store to give you effectively blogging and selling capability.

For your online store, which is most important, you can turn to Shopify or Squarespace. Shopify is a platform that has been built especially for online shops. It offers easy-to-use web shop templates that you can drop pictures and descriptions into, and then start selling right away. Many top brands build beautiful web stores with Shopify. Monthly subscriptions to this platform start at just $20 per month, and for this price your cart will be completely hosted with full support.

Squarespace is another low-cost, monthly-subscription website platform that offers templates, shopping cart capabilities, and blogging abilities. Squarespace is known for putting out some gorgeous web designs that can be used straight away or customized for a unique look. Like Shopify, Squarespace is reasonable in terms of price. For about $20 per month, you can have a fully functional web store with a blog and shopping cart. But, plugins are limited on Squarespace.

For your blog, we love Word Press. WordPress is the industry standard for blogging and it’s super easy to use. It’s free too. You can customize your WordPress blog to match, almost identically, your website design in terms of layout, colors, and fonts. WordPress offers many useful plugins for online stores, such as a shopping cart called WooCommerce. If you go the WordPress route, you don’t need to deal with a separate web or shopping cart template like Shopify or Squarespace. It’s a one-stop-shop that is easily customizable.

Putting it All Together

Even though many online selling platforms have made it pretty easy to market, and sell, products online, there are still several decisions that have to be made and brought together to produce a successful web store. This is where a web designer comes in. A good web designer is experienced in all ecommerce platforms. He or she will be able to take your brand, and products, and then integrate them into an online store that is most appropriate for meeting your sales goals.

When you hire an experienced web designer, you can sit back and let an expert turn your vision for your business into an online vision of perfection. One that will ultimately attract more customers for you, keep your current customers loyal, and generate tons of sales for your company.

If you would like to speak with us about our web store design services, please call us or fill out our contact form. We have created beautiful, intuitive, and successful sales-generating websites for many clients, from small mom-and-pop stores to large retailers.