by Marelise da Silva | Apr 16, 2015 | Website Design, Website Optimization
We’ve all heard about quality web design being an invaluable investment; however, what are some of these benefits and how can your business profit from them? The following piece will take a closer look at how a beautifully designed website can help bring in new business.
It’ll Reinforce Your Brand Identity
Your business’ brand identity needs to transcend a number of different platforms whilst remaining consistent throughout. Your brand identity is the visual language that your brand “speaks” – its message is communicated through your business cards, marketing material, your logo and importantly; your website. Web design professionals are able to seamlessly incorporate this identity into your business’ website ensuring uniformity throughout all platforms.
Attention to Detail
Attention to detail is an immeasurably important skill that all top web design professionals need to have. The choice of font right the way through to imagery, spacing of text and hundreds of smaller details in-between all come together in the end to create a visually appealing website that your clients can easily access and use.
The Best Designers Leave Room for Further Development down the Line
Sound web design allows for improvements to be made in the future. This means that you will be able to add new product or service pages without having to overhaul the entire website – saving you both time and money.
Contact the team here at WSI OMS today to learn how your business can benefit from our professional web design service.
by Marelise da Silva | Apr 9, 2015 | Website Design, Website Optimization
When web design is done right, websites prove to be some of the most powerful tools in any business’ marketing arsenal. However, poor planning and cutting of corners during the development of these websites can often lead to more harm than good. Below we’ll take a closer look at a few web design tips that all business owners should be made aware of.
You get what you pay for
As with just about anything else in the world, you really do get exactly what you pay for when it comes to web design. Rather than looking around for cheaper quotes and less reputable companies, go straight to the grizzled industry professionals who will be able to create a website that matches your corporate identity as well as effectively showcases all of your products and services.
Try not to overcomplicate things
Try to keep your website design as simple as possible. There’s nothing worse for a potential customer than having to sift through mountains of website clutter to try and find the information that they are looking for. Ask your web designer to try and keep text, font, graphics and other images as simple as possible so as to make locating relevant information a lot easier. Websites need to be user-friendly, easy to navigate – yet effective in capturing the attention of your target market.
Feel free to contact the team here at WSI OMS today to find out more about our extensive range of services which include copywriting, web design, SEO solutions, social media management as well as mobile marketing.
by Marelise da Silva | Mar 25, 2015 | Website Design, Website Optimization
When it comes to web design, you want a website that has many functions: performs well in search engine rankings, gives your audience the information they’re looking for, generates leads for your business and is easily searched using social media sites such as Twitter. SEO plays a large role in the overall design of your website and whether you’re starting from scratch and creating a brand new site, or you’re re-doing your existing site, integrating SEO tactics into how you build your site is a must. Here are our SEO best practices for web design:
- Website structure. The structure of your site is one of the most important factors in SEO and it’s all about how well your web pages link together. All site pages should link to other pages and the flow should be logical and coherent. Don’t allow isolated or random pages to exist on your site. Users should be able to click through every page with ease.
- Meta descriptions. These are small pieces of text on each search page which give an overview of what each page is about. Generally 160 characters or less, it gives you a chance to include keywords and phrases your audience searches for and to give a descriptor about the page. Don’t give two different pages the same meta description.
- Absolute URLs for internal linking. There are two types of links, absolute and relative. Absolute links reduce server response time and contribute to a quick load time. It’s crucial that each page of your website loads as quickly as possible, or else you risk losing visitors.
Speak to us about developing a high impact Internet marketing campaign
For more information about how the digital marketing specialists at WSI can help you create a winning Internet marketing campaign, or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us today. Discover why so many businesses partner with us for web design, Internet marketing and much more. We look forward to hearing from you.
by Marelise da Silva | Feb 19, 2015 | Website Design, Website Development
If you’re building or redesigning your website, do you need a web developer or a web designer? Developers and designers do quite different jobs, so the service you require will depend on what kind of work you need done. Here’s a brief look at what each profession generally does.
Web Designers
Web designers are responsible for the overall visual design of your website. This includes everything from the colour scheme, to the graphics, to the layout, to the fonts and you can think of them as Internet artists. If you want to make your website more visually appealing, or want to update the look and feel of your current site, a web designer can certainly help. When a potential customer visits your website you should consider what their first impression will be because it’s very important. People like websites that are clean looking, clutter-free and easy to navigate.
Web Developers
Web developers do more behind-the-scenes work. They ensure all the buttons work, all the links lead where they’re supposed to, that your social media feeds are properly integrated, that multiple language pages are translated correctly and that any add-ons or widgets installed on your site are functioning as they should. Another important duty of web developers is to ensure your website is picked up by various search engines – this is critical and often involves a fair amount of search engine optimisation work. If you have an e-commerce page on your site, developers are responsible for providing customers with a seamless, easy way to purchase your products and services.
The choice to hire a web designer or a web developer will depend on the type of work your site requires, but we recommend hiring both so they can work together and make your website the best it can be.
For more information about how our team of web design specialists can help your business, or if you have any general inquiries about the digital marketing and web design services we provide, please do not hesitate to contact us today. We look forward to hearing from you.
by Marelise da Silva | Jan 22, 2015 | Website Design, Website Development
Great web design, with its unique look, functionality and feel is what brings any website to life. It is what makes the site’s visitors want to click around and, if you’re lucky, even bookmark the site for future visits. As any professional website designer knows, a lot goes into the creation of a website and even more to consider when designing the site.
For starters, you need to consider the elements of the company’s brand, the appearance and colour schemes of the site, usability considerations, functionality, image compression and screen resolution, browser compatibility and website architecture, etc. After this, other elements come into play such as search engine optimisation and content management, etc.
What are the web design best practices?
These are only a few of the things to keep in mind when designing a website. However, there are also a few important best practices which are essential to creating a fantastic website:
- A compelling layout design: By achieving an attractive layout design in your web design, your visitors’ attention will be arrested. It is really one of the main things that will keep your visitors exploring your site and delving deeper into the pages and information. A great layout design will require the use of basic design principles such as consistent header, navigation elements and logos among the web pages. It should also have a good contrast between the background and text.
- Balanced use of colours: Using too much colour is one of the best ways to ruin your website’s design. Mismatched colour combinations and too many interactive features are big mistakes to avoid. Use three to four colours to achieve a well-balanced design.
- Organised content: The look of the site will welcome your visitors but it’s the content that will keep them around. So use common fonts, using consistent font sizes, colours and hyperlink colours. Use an organised presentation of content, making content accessible with the minimal amount of clicks.
To learn more about effective and affordable website design, contact WSI OMS today.
by Marelise da Silva | Jan 16, 2015 | Website Design
If you don’t consider web design part of your marketing strategy then think again. Even if you’re a small business with a limited budget or a start-up with a very tight budget, it’s always recommended to invest in professional web design for a multitude of reasons. Design matters and you should think of your website as your most valuable piece of real estate. It’s necessary to invest in it, spend time on it and ensure it’s as close to perfect as possible.
Why web designers matter to marketing:
- The first impression is hugely important. Studies have shown 75% of people judge a company or a brand based on its website and the moment when they first visit your site is crucial. If your website is slow, ugly, or doesn’t perform well, you may have just lost a customer.
- Web designers are much more experienced in aesthetics and design than the average business or marketing person. You may have the best business plan in the world, but if you can’t put up a beautiful and attractive website, your efforts won’t be fully realised.
- Developing a relationship with a website design expert can be beneficial to your business as you both understand the direction in which you want to go. Perhaps you have some creative ideas but are struggling with how to carry out these ideas on your website; a professional designer can offer creative input and help you incorporate these ideas on your site.
Rather than spending your valuable time attempting to design a website, call WSI and let our team of experts know how we can help. We’ll work side by side with you to either create a new website or improve your existing site and we know you’ll be more than satisfied with the results.
For more information about professional web design services from WSI OMS or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us today. We look forward to hearing from you.
