WebDesign > ABOUT
About websites
This page discusses the nature and effectiveness of websites and online marketing. Coloured links like this will connect you to other related information. If you are looking for technical information about the way I build websites, you can use the specific links on your right, or jump straight to the technical section.
Marketing
"More than 90% of people aged between 18 and 54 told America's Online Publishers Association in a survey that they would turn to the internet first for product information. The differences between the virtual and the bricks-and-mortar worlds do not worry consumers. But they should worry companies. Many consumers first encounter a firm through its website, and yet for too many firms, their online presence remains a low priority." From The Economist, April 2nd 2005
How will people find my site?
How easily your site will be found depends on two things: the way in which your web pages are written, and the knowledge of the person who is trying to find them. The first of these (called search engine optimisation) is covered in the technical section further down this page.
Even if people know how to target their internet searches effectively, they will still only find you if you meet their needs extremely accurately. This is because there are more than 8 billion pages on the internet, and so even if you fill the smallest specialist niche, there will probably still be dozens of other pages that contain content similar to yours.
People will find you more easily if they can link to your site from other websites. (This also has the added bonus of improving your page rank on search engines.) Local sites listing local businesses, or industry specific resources, for example, may even do this for free. And including your web address with all your other forms of promotion will help too, because if people read the address, or are told it by your existing customers, they never have to search for it in the first place.
For example, les-alpilles.co.uk (in the portfolio) advertises a house available for rent, and was also recently included on a listings site called HolidayLettings.co.uk; it has sold out for the coming year.
User friendly
Whether your new customers reach your site mainly through advertising, online listings or word of mouth, the primary aim is to make them feel at home, not to test them with confusing and counter-intuitive presentation. A poorly designed site is comparable to an endless automated maze, demanding that you press one for this and two for that, before putting you terminally on hold; a well-thought-out site will act more like a friendly, helpful guide.
Steps to creating a site that achieves this include: considering the tone of the text - tailored to your main audience(s), but suitable for anyone whom you might wish to read it; and organising information and design to emphasise usability, accessability, and functionality. Commmon industry phrases like intuitive architecture are devoted to this cause, all aiming to make the person browsing your site comfortable, and eager to take the next step to buy, to contact you, or even to visit.
Websites also produce many intangible benefits - brand affirmation, developing customer relationships, and adding value to other products and services, for example. They can also serve as an information resource, as does JanieHarris.co.uk. It is for all these reasons, including the current context of public behaviour changing towards prefering online research, that websites are now widely considered an essential communications tool. Even when they do nothing more than encourage people to contact you.
Different ways to build websites
Web Standard design
I build sites using xHTML, CSS and JavaScript. This means your pages will load quickly, and be widely accessible to users and search engines. It also makes your site easy - and therefore cheap - to change/update/redesign in the future.
Other approaches
Web design is an extremely large field, and I only sprout in one small corner of it. For example, I generally write flat pages i.e. not e-commerce sites or any other pages linked to a database, such as secure sites where users can login to members-only areas. I use JavaScript to produce some dynamic content, for example to show/hide menus on GrantEustace.co.uk. You may wish to create a more sophisticated feel for your site with an animated illustration, flash object or music file, for example: these are also things I can cater for. I do collaborate with other web developers who are able to meet most demands for content that all literally sings and dances; I avoid single-handedly creating fully flash-driven sites, nor streamed multimedia, asp, jsp, php, or other pages that use similar server-side techniques.
Search engine optimisation
Using web standards will make your pages as easy as possible to search, and having plenty of outside links to your site will improve your page rank. Metatags (keywords & content descriptions) and page titles are written with search engines in mind. An application will be made for sites to be listed in the two main online directories: Yahoo! & dmoz. This is included in the basic cost of your site. However, inclusion in either directory is NOT guaranteed. Your sites can also be registered with all the major search engines, at an additional cost (charged by a 3rd party) of around £10/year.
Other ways of promoting your website - such as buying sponsored links on major search engines, or paying specialist companies to improve your page rankings - are usually expensive. I would be pleased to help you explore these options, if you feel they might be useful.