Web site Designers – finding the right fit and avoiding disaster!

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Administrator

These days mistrust of website designers is growing, we’re fast becoming the new breed of car salesmans, estate agents and mechanics.

I think this can be common in any industry that requires specialised expertise that goes way above the laymans head.

When you need a new website or website redesign you need to be on the lookout for:

The Shark

Sharks can be big or little companies, locally or anywhere in the world. So how do you identify one? Website design sharks will;

Promise you the world. Any questions posed to them will be immediately replied with slick yesses. They are going to deliver you the most amazing website ever built for a fraction of the cost you’d expect. It’s going to be the next Facebook and you’ll rank number in Google for everything!

Charge you the world too. Initially it mightseem that costs are quite low. Ask for a breakdown of all total costs. Ensure they are including hosting costs, all ongoing costs and allowing for unexpected costs. Be very wary of the hourly rate as this can quickly add up if they spend a day troubleshooting an Internet Explorer bug.

Be overly pushy. In the beginning you’d see a barrage of calls and emails, special offers, limited time incentives – anything to get you to sign on the dotted line.

Be unavailable. Once you’ve shelled out some cash you find the programmer is always in a meeting when you need to reach him.

Be sketchy on the details. Yes that’s all fine – of course it is, it must be because they said so, didn’t they? Ooops. Unless you’ve gotten it in writing and you’re clear on exactly what’s expected and when then you may as well forget it and take what you’re given.

The MegaCorp

Unless you’re searching with your location as one of the keywords, a generic term like ‘make website’ or  ‘cheap websites’ will likely bring up a plethora of MegaCorp options.

When I say MegaCorp I mean the numerous automated or semi-automated turnkey website solutions. Many major hosting companies, software companies offer free websites or extremely cheap website design.

It can be tempting to go with one of these huge companies offering to have your website up and running in under an hour for $5. But honestly? C’mon.

You get what you pay for and you’ll quickly realise it’s impossible to customize your website just how you’d like it, the website has a generic feel, doesn’t rank well in search engines or you are very limited in what you can update.

Suddenly that $5 isn’t looking so cheap and you’re stuck.

The Hobbyist

You’ve got a complex project and have been quoted $2000 by a your local team of web site designers but your co-workers’, brother in laws’ son can do it for $200.

He can do it at a reduced rate because he doesn’t have any overheads, he’s young, he just does it as a hobby, it’s good experience and it will build his portfolio etc etc etc.

BEWARE! Going with the hobbyist could land you with a website that’s outdated, cheap looking, slow loading, difficult to update or just doesn’t do what you want it to.

Aside from the final result the project is likely to be drawn out for a long time as Hobbyist has UNI finals or the flu.

Last but not least once your website is finally done the Hobbyist may move away from website design and leave you in the lurch with updates or a website redesign.

A hobbyist is very rarely a good choice unless you have only a small or extremely simple project.

The Freelancer

Using a freelancer can be a good way to keep costs down but make sure you’re prepared for the whole experience.

Pro’s of using a freelancer include reduced costs and… okay mainly reduced costs. If you choose a good freelancer you may find extra fast turnaround time and if you’re lucky person to person communication.

So what are the dangers?

Firstly a lot of freelancers are very inexperienced and may do the work part-time. As the pay is low and there are little direct consequences of doing a poor job, not sticking to budget or not doing a job at all you run the risk of receiving shoddy work, no work at all or ballooning costs.

Major freelancing teams from Vietnam and India are also common. They may take on hundreds of jobs in a short space of time. With these teams you won’t have any direct access to the coder and coders may change frequently. They can also be very hard to get in touch with, particularly if their day is your night.

Perhaps the worst part of using the freelancer is the language barrier. Are you ready to explain the same requirement five times only to have it misunderstood just as many? You also better be prepared to redo text throughout the website as it can often come out in less than perfect or even broken English.

Honest, friendly and professional web site designers

Sometimes a little hard to pick out from the crowd but we do exist!

A good website designer will

  • Provide you with a quote and sometimes a proposal before any job is undertaken.
  • Get written confirmation on job requirements so both sides are clear on what’s expected.
  • Be happy to answer any questions
  • Be able to show you previous work
  • Be realistic about what’s achievable, timeframe and costs.
  • Sometimes tell you ‘No.’
  • Complete work within the given timeframe and quoted cost.
  • Be available by phone or email to help you directly rather than bumping you to a ticketing system.
  • Cost a little more than the other options although that depends on how you look at it
  • Let you know in advance if there’s going to be a problem.
  • Be able to explain things to you in laymen’s terms
  • Deliver high quality results across the board. Your website should look great, load fast and be using the latest standard compliant, cross browser compatible code.
  • Be pleasant to deal with

So forget website design disasters and get yourself a good team of web site designers today!

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What’s all the fuss over? – Why you need an ecommerce website

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Administrator

What is Ecommerce anyway? Well when we say ecommerce we mean any kind of shopping that is conducted online.  So an ecommerce website is one that offers users the ability to buy and pay for a product or service online.

Now we’ve got that covered – do you really need an ecommerce website? I believe the answer is yes, absolutely yes in the majority of cases.

Don’t believe me? According to the latest Digital Futures Report from CCI (Scott Ewing and Julian Thomas). 57% of Aussies search the internet for something to buy at least once a week. In addition almost 9 in 10 internet users research products online.

Cashed up, time-poor consumers are heading online for their shopping needs in droves; yet a large percentage of Australian small businesses don’t have any kind of online presence – let alone an online shop.  In fact there are still a lot of businesses out there who slap together a brochure style and leave it at that when what they really need is an ecommerce webdesign

Why do people want to shop online?

I’d answer that with a fervent why not? But the main reasons consumers cite include;

  • Convenience
  • Lower prices
  • Wider range and availability
  • The fun of getting something delivered

Why should you have an ecommerce website?

Every Tom, Dick and Harry has probably told you that you need an online store but is this just the latest craze or are there real benefits here? Well if you’ve been online for awhile you should know the answer to that question already but let’s examine some of the benefits.

You can greatly expand your customer base and earning potential. With an ecommerce website you’re not limited to buyers in your local area, state or country – people can purchase from you from all around the world.

One of the best things about ecommerce webdesign is that you never have to close! With today’s hectic lifestyles not everyone can get into your store between the hours of 9 and 5. With an online shop they can come in and browse 24 hours a day. It’s been coined as selling ‘while you sleep’

You can use tracking services to monitor what your users are looking at and purchasing allowing you to make more informed decisions when purchasing stock and also allowing you to offer them other products they may be interested in.

Ecommerce websites can be largely automated. Your customers can be automatically emailed a receipt after purchase, order status changed to ‘confirmed’ once payment has been made and shipping calculated automatically which leaves you more time to focus on other things.

Ecommerce webdesign can be very cost effective. You don’t need to pay through the roof for a great looking, effective ecommerce website and once it’s up and running ongoing costs will be extremely minimal compared with that of maintaining a physical store.

People want to shop online, if you don’t have an ecommerce website you’re missing out on customers – it’s that simple.

According to The ABS Australian Social Trends 201174% of men and 65% of women are likely to make online purchases. That percentage grows even larger in the younger demographic with 82% of Australians aged 25-34 being likely to shop online.

Okay, so you do need one.

What do you need to think about when setting up an Ecommerce website?

There are a multitude of options when thinking about ecommerce webdesign.  From companies offering completely free setup to those charging $10,000 – you need to find a solution that’s right for you. So what are a few things to consider when you want an ecommerce website?

Budget

This is probably the first thing you’re going to have to consider. Many times people opt for the cheapest solution but it’s important to consider the long term cost. In the end you should go for the option that offers the best mix of price and function.

Onsite or third party hosted software?

First off, be extremely wary of hosted solutions. This is the type of ecommerce where the products are not stored on your website but on a third party, ecommerce site/system. The problem with this is that when Google visits your website they’ll only find a limited amount of pages and won’t be able to index all your products – which of course results in poor rankings.

An onsite solution is almost always the way to go which will eliminate most ‘free setup’ type e-commerce solutions but will pay off in the long run.

Search Engine Friendliness

The best ecommerce solution in the world is useless if nobody can find you to make a purchase. If your ecommerce website isn’t search engine friendly it’s costing you rankings.. and money. The ideal ecommerce website will offer the ability to rewrite product URLS to be human readable and include keywords.

Where will it be hosted?

You’ll need to choose one of the good Australian web hosts. Your data needs to be secure and your website reliable. Beware of any hosts offering ‘unlimited’ solutions or extremely cheap hosting – you do get what you pay for.

Open source, Proprietary or Custom?

This is going to depend on your business but in general we believe in choosing an open source Ecommerce system when dipping your feet into the world of E-sales.

The problem with proprietary software is that you are often locked in, forced to pay ongoing license fees and end up with limited or dated functionality.

If you have unique ecommerce needs a completely custom ecommerce website may be the way to go but be prepared to pay for it as good custom design work takes time and money.

Payment methods

Your solution should offer a selection of payment methods. The most common and easiest to setup is currently PayPal. To set this up all you need to do is create and verify a business account with PayPal and then link that in with your website.

You can also process credit cards live on your website. When wanting to process credit cards directly you’ll need

  • A merchant account with your bank
  • A payment gateway such as Eway
  • A dedicated IP address
  • An SSL certificate for the security of your visitors

This can be quite costly so generally is something to add on at a later time.

Finally you need to make provision for users who are still scared to make payments online. Offer them the option of paying via bank transfer, cheque or credit card over the phone if you have the ability.

Is your data ready?

If you have a lot of products and room in the budget we generally recommend having someone do this for you. Essentially the task consists of gathering all the information and images of your products and outputting it in a way your ecommerce website can read.

Depending on the system this can mean as a tidy excel spreadsheet or you may be stuck entering them all manually. Either way, don’t launch into having an ecommerce website developed until you think about how you’ll organise your product data.

Scalability and flexibility

If you’re doing everything right then the plan is that your online store is going to grow but surprisingly this isn’t something most people plan for. The ecommerce solution you choose should be able to expand to match increased products and traffic and be flexible enough to adjust easily as your business grows and changes.

Research! Research! Research!

Before you launch into setting up your online store RESEARCH YOUR COMPETITORS. Examine what they’re doing right and what they’ve gotten wrong. You need to improve on their offering if you want people to purchase from you instead.

But the research doesn’t stop there, research your target market – find out how to best meet their needs, what new products they’re interested in and so on.

Finally research search traffic relating to your business and identify keywords that you may want to rank for.

If you’re ready to take the next step why not contact us today for a free Proposal and Quote on an ecommerce website?

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Is your website on its last legs?

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Administrator

The internet is constantly evolving and trends change quickly so an outdated or static design can turn your customers away in seconds.

If your website was built more than 2 years ago chance are your customers can see the virtual cobwebs and you’d probably benefit from a redesign

  • Is your website costing too much to update because it was built on old technologies?
  • Has your business changed or expanded since you got the website?
  • Is your website user friendly and easy to navigate?
  • And finally, Does your website look fresh or is it obviously dated?

If your answer to any of those questions was yes, then read on.

Websites do not age like a fine wine

Sometimes they age like soda, the fizz just disappears after a while – not the end of the world but sometimes websites age like last weeks’ pizza and yours may be beginning to mould.

If you’ve just spent a few thousand on a website this is not news you want to hear but it’s true.  Styles and features that were all the rage just a few years back are now so ‘yesterday’.

This isn’t as fickle as it sounds. In many cases tools for developing graphics and websites themselves have simply improved and the current crop of websites will reflect that.

It can also be as a result of the industry gaining a better understanding of what internet users want. For example we know that including a limited number of graphics on a web page will increase user satisfaction as they don’t like to scroll through a ‘wall of text’ – something that used to be very common.

If your website is even slightly dated you can count on your visitors noticing.

Older websites may not be search engine friendly

Another reason to update is that a lot of older website are not at all search engine friendly, this will affect your search engine ranking and by extension how many visitors you get to your website which will ultimately affect your profits.

A good website rebuild will ensure your content is arranged semantically and is readable to the search engines.

You need to become Bugs Bunny to your competitors – one step ahead

People aren’t just going to go to your website; they will compare it with at least one of your competitors and often will close a website in seconds if it doesn’t stack up. If you’re going to get that business your website needs to out-do your competitors.

If you’re thinking that your website is ‘about the same’ as the competition then now is not the time to rest on your laurels it’s better to be a step ahead than trying to catch up when they launch their redesigned website first.

Remember what they say about first impressions ? – Dress to Impress!

Your website reflects on your company, the question is – does it reflect positively or negatively. You wouldn’t turn up to meet prospective client in a suit from 1989 and a pair of flipflops so your website should be ‘dressed to impress’ too.

Ask yourself how you want your company to be viewed – Professional? Helpful? Leading the pack? Blue ribbon?

Now ask what your website conveys ‘in between the lines.’ Is it professional, modern and full of useful content or does it look amateur, ancient – cheap even? If it’s the latter, then your company looks amateur and dated by extension.

Good websites are fresh and change with the market

In an ideal world your website should be updated weekly but oftentimes there are websites that haven’t been updated in years.

A good example of this is a moving truck rental company I tried to hire recently. Their website was very out-dated and had the wrong phone number and address listed. I didn’t find this out until I had driven to the address to meet with the company. If that wasn’t bad enough the address had a sign stating the address of their new premises. Upon arriving at the second premises I found they had moved again! Needless to say they lost the business.

That’s an extreme example of course but fresh content is one of the most important means of getting your users to return a second time (hopefully more). Honestly, would you regularly visit the same 5 page website that hadn’t updated their content in 2 years?

Old Brochures will not do

Chances are when you originally got the website online the content was dropped in from old brochures or advertising with little or no changes.

The content on your website should be written specifically for that purpose. It should be to the point, engaging and containing relevant keywords to boost your search engine rankings.

It’s time to get on the bandwagon

I’m referring of course to Social Networking and Bookmarking. If you’re not taking advantage of Facebook, Twitter, AddThis, Digg and so on then you’re missing out.

Many small businesses in particular are extremely reluctant about this, thinking that it’s just for teenagers but it’s a crucial way to grow your customer base.

This is how people find you, interact with you refer you!

If your website doesn’t have social bookmarking icons or a Facebook like box – you probably need a redesign.

A 90 year old should be able to operate your website, blindfolded and with one hand tied behind their back.

You heard right. Examine your website critically (perhaps even consider testing with some people who haven’t used your website before.) Is your website dead simple to use?

It should be quick and simple for your visitors to locate information, buy from you, contact you. If it’s not – why should they bother?

An updated, modern look and feel can quickly pay for itself so consider contacting us today for a free website redesign quote.

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