Part 2 – Using Title Tags & Meta Descriptions to Entice Prospects to Your Website

Our first blog in this series looked at how to build a profile of your ideal customer, how to understand what they’re looking for, what they’re worried about, and what will convince them to trust you.

Once you have clarity on these fundamental areas, you’re ready to move onto the next stage – making sure you win the battle of the search results.

Whatever products or services your business sells, for prospective customers, a web search will almost certainly be their first step on the journey towards engaging with you.

When Google lists your business in the search results, prospective customers are presented with brief details about your company. This is all the information they  have to help them decide which link to click on – yours or one of your competitors.

The search result for your business will consist of two pieces of information – a title tag and a meta description.

Title Tags

Title tags are the blue headlines / links that visitors have to click on to get from a search result to a website. They contain the keywords / phrases that are being used to make sure Google finds the site and includes it in the results it displays. If for example, you want Google to list you when someone searches for ‘Photographer in Reading’, this search term needs to be added to your title tag.

SEO Tip: How to find out which keywords your competitors are using

Make a list of the keywords and phrases your ideal customers are likely to put into Google at the start of their journey. Type each one into Google to see which of your competitors appears. Look at their title tag, and you’ll be able to see the search terms they’re using to optimise their site. Read our post on SEO for more information:https://www.massmediadesign.co.uk/organic-seo/

Meta Descriptions

In grey text immediately below the title tag is a short summary of the page content. This is the meta description.

Meta descriptions are only snippets of information – a maximum of 150 words or so, but they are one of your most important pieces of online marketing content. In just a second or two, they must convince prospects that yours is the business they should connect with. It’s imperative they work as hard as they possibly can to drive visitors to your website.

6 Steps to a Perfect Meta Description

Meta descriptions are small, but to be effective, they must be perfectly formed.

Make sure your meta descriptions…

1. … Directly address what your ideal customer is looking for & any concerns they may have

Finding the right words for your meta description will mean looking back at the notes you made about what your ideal customer is looking for. You can’t afford to waste words. Your meta description must instantly resonate with your prospect.

Let’s imagine you’re an email marketing agency. Will prospects really be interested in knowing which email clients you use? Will they care about your opening hours? Not in the first instance anyway. They’re far more likely to click on your link if you tell them you can use email marketing to generate high-quality leads for their business at a very reasonable price, so this is what your meta description needs to say.

2. … Are tailored to each page

Each page on your website should have its own unique meta description . This will improve the search experience, and ensure you attract the most relevant prospects to a page.

Take for example a photographer offering a range of specialist services. While the meta description on their home page will be generic, meta descriptions for pages about specific services – weddings, family portraits and so on – will focus on the product area, and will address the kinds of concerns prospects typically have.

3. …. Speak in an active voice

Use short, ‘punchy’ sentences that speak in an active – as opposed to a passive voice. For example, instead of ‘We can save you money on your email marketing and generate more leads for your business’. say ‘Email marketing that will generate more leads and save you money’. It’s more impactful and uses fewer words.

4. … Use a clear and strong call to action

Make sure you leave prospects in no doubt about the action you want them to take. Phrases like ‘Learn more’, ‘Get it now’ or ‘Try it for free.’ are good examples of strong calls to action.

5. …. Accurately reflect page content

Make sure your meta descriptions don’t mislead in any way. They must accurately reflect the content on the page. Besides doing nothing positive for the reputation of your business, Google will identify sites setting out to deliberately trick visitors – and might downgrade their ranking.

6. … Are SEO friendly

If you include the search keyword or term within your meta description text, Google will recognise this and will be more likely to give it priority in the search results.

Take Control of Your Meta Descriptions

If you don’t create a meta description for each page on your website, Google will do it for you. But it will do so by simply automatically lifting a chunk of content from the web page. How it looks will be down to luck, and the odds are that either key information won’t be displayed – or irrelevant information will be.

This is the second in a series of blogs about How to Get More Leads and Enquiries from your website. If you’re concerned about the number or quality of enquiries your website is generating then please contact us today by sending us a message or calling us on 0118 380 0131.

The post How to Get More Leads & Enquiries from Your Website – part 2 appeared first on Mass Media Design.

The open-source Content Management System powers around one in three of all websites in the world – including our own, and all the sites we create for our customers.

We love WordPress, and Project Gutenberg is set to make the platform even better, transforming the way website owners and web developers interact with it.

Like any revolutionary change though, Gutenberg is likely to take a little while to bed in, and there will inevitably be some teething issues as initial glitches are ironed out.

If you have a WordPress website, here’s what you need to know.

• What is Gutenberg and why do we need it?

Gutenberg will replace the classic WordPress content editor, making it easier for anyone to edit their WordPress website – regardless of their technical ability.

The new editor uses ‘blocks’ to create all types of content, transforming the way website users and developers interact with WordPress to make building rich web content a much easier and far more intuitive experience.

• What are blocks?

With the current WordPress editor, making content changes requires a mix of different approaches that are not always intuitive. With Gutenberg, the process is simplified through the concept of blocks – a new, unified way to style content.

Blocks exist for every type of content; they’re easy to search for and easy to dynamically shift around the page.

• When will Gutenberg be here?

Gutenberg will be a core component of WordPress version 5.0 when it is released – possibly later this year. At the moment, Gutenberg is still undergoing beta testing and is available as a plugin for anyone with a WordPress site to trial.

• What will Gutenberg mean for your website?

Until it’s been thoroughly tested, compatibility issues with some plugins mean Gutenberg is likely to cause many sites to ‘break’.

As part of the beta testing process, the WordPress team are working with the major plugin developers to resolve any problems. By the time WordPress version 5.0 is released, the majority of these issues will have been addressed, and if you have a new WordPress website created, you’ll be able to enjoy the full benefits of Gutenberg as a core component.

In the meanwhile, if you have a WordPress site, you have two options:

1. You can opt to be part of the test community and install Gutenberg now. It’s simply a case of going to the Plugins menu on your site’s dashboard and typing ‘Gutenberg’ into the search box.

But if you do decide you want to migrate your current website to Gutenberg, be very careful. Firstly, as already mentioned, it may well conflict with plugins used by your site and cause it to not work as it should. Secondly, you’ll need to have some technical knowledge of web development as an absolute minimum.

2. Ahead of the release of WordPress 5.0, there is the option to simply turn the new editor off. This can be done either by using the official plugin, a number of unofficial plugins or by inputting a few lines of code.

Turning off Gutenberg will allow your site to continue functioning normally with minimal effort.

If you think your website may be impacted by Gutenberg, we recommend you contact your website developer for advice.

What about MMD Websites?

Here at MMD, we’re preparing for Gutenberg, and don’t anticipate any problems for our managed clients when WordPress 5.0 goes live. We’re liaising with plugin developers and conducting our own tests, and expect the key plugins we use in our websites to continue functioning normally after the release date.  Where necessary we’re updating our client sites to ensure smooth running with the latest versions of the software.

And in case you were wondering….

WordPress’ new editor is named after Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg. The German printer and publisher was responsible for introducing moveable type printing to Europe in the early fifteenth century, setting in motion the printing revolution.

If you’re unsure what you need to do with your WordPress website then you may want to think about our WordPress peace of mind hosting and management service.  We take the complexity out of having a website leaving you to focus on your business.  Contact us for more details.

The post Project Gutenberg: What Will It Mean for Your WordPress Website? appeared first on Mass Media Design.

It’s wrong of course. First impressions are superficial and can’t possibly convey all the information we need, but they are a short-cut we all use to help us narrow down choices in a busy world.

Like it or not then, first impressions do matter, and nowhere more so than in web design.

A new prospect arriving on your website will probably know little or nothing about your business. You might run a brilliant organisation and offer a much better service than your competitors, but they won’t know that. As they browse your site, they’ll be looking for indicators that confirm your credibility and give them the confidence they need to be able to trust you.

It’s no different to the visual reassurance you look for when you walk into an office or a store in the physical world. If things don’t look right for any reason, you’re unlikely to trust the business with your custom.

So, is your website making the right first impression? Ensuring it presents as credible requires considering a range of factors which, when addressed, have the potential to transform the overall effectiveness of your site.

7 Essentials for Establishing Trust & Building Credibility Through Your Website

1. Use attractive design

Exactly what constitutes ‘attractive’ design is subjective, but we all recognise bad design when we see it. Visitors landing on a poorly designed website are unlikely to give it more than a cursory glance.

If you’re planning a new site and weighing up the option of doing it yourself using a templated solution against briefing a web designer, it’s worth keeping this point in mind.

2. Ensure professional presentation throughout

If visitors are going to decide to trust you, they’ll expect to see your professional approach to business reflected in all aspects of your website. A lack of attention to detail anywhere could be all it takes to send them away.

It could be something relatively small like a broken link, a spelling mistake, a blog or social media feed that hasn’t been updated for ages. Or it could be something more fundamental that frustrates them, such as key messages not being aligned with what they want to hear, or a site not being optimised for use on mobile devices.

A website that’s left to become tired and dated is also sure to send the wrong signals to visitors.

3. Put on a human face

People connect with people, so don’t be shy about showing the human side of your organisation. You might run a very corporate business or even one that has little or no face to face interaction with customers, but images of your approachable-looking team or happy, smiling customers will help build the reassurance and trust visitors are looking for.

4. Use eye-catching imagery

The images you use on your website have an important role to play in helping to build credibility and trust. They are what will initially attract your visitors’ attention, and the right images can instantly convey your brand values, help reinforce key messages and reassure visitors they are in the right place.

Settling for second-rate photography is a false economy that you’ll pay for in the long run. For more information on selecting images for your website, take a look at our blog.

5. Show visitors they’re in good company

A sure-fire way to convince prospects they can trust you is to show that you’ve successfully delivered similar projects for other clients like them.

Testimonials from satisfied clients and case studies setting out project details are great ways to present this information. The prominent use of client logos helps to give instant credibility – especially if you are able to show you’ve worked with bigger brands, indicating you’ve been subject to due diligence checks.

Testimonials are an opportunity to confront directly any potential concerns that prospects might have. You will know from experience the kinds of specific questions that are typically raised and can address them in testimonials, so there is nothing to prevent a visitor from taking the action you want.

6. Display accreditations

Membership of professional associations, certificates, accreditations and the like are all proof of your credibility and trustworthiness. Make sure any logos you’re entitled to use are displayed prominently on your website where they will instantly provide visitors with visual reassurance.

7. Use contact details that reassure

Don’t fall at the last hurdle and fail to publish an address and landline on your website. If a visitor clicks on your contact area and your business appears to be of no fixed abode, it’s certain to set off alarm bells. It doesn’t have to be Mayfair or Pall Mall, it might just be a virtual office, but be sure to include a genuine address.

By the same token, although many of us depend on mobiles for work, a mobile as your main contact number is unlikely to inspire confidence. In contrast, a landline will indicate stability and security, and cloud-based solutions like Vodafone’s One Net make it easy to use fixed line numbers from mobile devices.

If you’re unsure about what impression your website is making, we offer a website review service where we’ll look at every aspect of your website (and how it compares to your competitors) to help you attract more business.  Call us or send us an email now.

The post 7 steps to ensure your website makes a great first impression appeared first on Mass Media Design.

The most effective way to do this is through imagery. Our visual senses process images instantly, conveying a message or emotion far more quickly than written text ever can. In the context of a website then, the job of images is to grab the attention of visitors and draw them into the text so they can begin their customer journey.

It’s crucial you select the right images, but what’s best – stock photos or professional photos you’ve commissioned especially?

In fact, as long as great care is taken over the selection, there is a place for both kinds of photography in web design, and in this blog, we’re going to consider each option in more detail.

Using stock photos

There are some excellent websites (such as iStock www.istockphoto.com and Shutterstock www.shutterstock.com) where you’ll find a huge range of high-quality, professional and royalty-free images you can purchase and download for use in marketing materials, including your website. There are also plenty of sites offering free to use images – but here the choice is much more limited, quality can be an issue, and there may be conditions about how you can use them. Some sites may require you to credit the photographer or the library or might restrict cropping for example, so you’ll need to read the small print carefully.

Advantages of using stock photos

• They can be very cost-effective

Even if you use paid-for stock images, they’re likely to work out less expensive than commissioning a professional photographer. If you have a large site and require many images, using stock photography can help you keep control of your budget.

• They can help make you look good

While we’re not suggesting you should ever mislead your customers, for smaller businesses that don’t have big teams – or maybe even an office as yet – carefully selected stock photos can help create the image the business is aspiring to become.

• They can be helpful if you’re stuck!

Even if you have built your own photo library of products, staff, premises and the like, you might occasionally find yourself needing something that falls outside of these resources. Whatever you’re looking for, the vast choice of images available from photo libraries means you’re almost certain to be able to find what you want – for a fraction of the price you’d pay if you had to create it yourself.

Disadvantages of using stock photos

• They can be easy to spot

If not selected with real care, a stock image can stand out like a sore thumb. It might be a lovely photo, but will that image of businessmen and women in designer suits, flashing unnaturally white teeth and sporting Californian tans really represent the face of your business?

• They’re not unique

Multiple uses of generic images by different brands can be an issue when using stock imagery. Because you can’t have exclusive rights over stock photos – and the best images will always be in demand, there’s the possibility a competitor may select the same image. Most sites will allow you to see how many previous downloads an image has had, so you can get an idea of how likely it will be to appear in someone else’s marketing campaign.

As stated already, there’s a place for stock images in website design, but if you go down this route, it will be essential you have a strategy to inform the selection process and to make sure all images you choose are a good fit with your brand identity.

As a professional website design agency, we’re certainly not averse to using stock images, but we’ll always make sure we invest time in the selection process, making certain we only choose images that reflect the look and feel of our client.

Commissioning a professional photographer

Although engaging a professional photographer will cost more than using stock images, if you plan time properly it’s not necessarily that expensive. You can use the opportunity to capture images for use beyond just your website; for other marketing collateral and social media for example, and many photographers will offer a range of packages to help you make the most of their time.

There are many advantages to using a professional and creating your own images. You can dictate exactly the images you want, include your own products, use models that genuinely reflect your customer profile, in settings over which you have full control.

A well-planned photo shoot will result in a stock of bespoke images which you’ll own and be free to use however and wherever you want.

Finally, 2 pieces of advice. Never use an image without permission; if you do, you’re likely to find yourself on the wrong end of an expensive lawsuit; and unless you’re a really good photographer, never be tempted to have a go yourself – it always ends badly!

If you’re thinking of refreshing your website or using new imagery on your website then we’d be happy to help.  Contact us today by sending us a message or calling us on 0118 380 0131.

The post Stock Photography vs Bespoke Photography appeared first on Mass Media Design.

Part 1 – Get Inside the Mind of Your Ideal Customer!

Do you know what visitors are looking for when they land on your website?  Are you clear about what it will take to convince them that yours is the business they should deal with and what will persuade them to make an enquiry?

At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, if your website is going to maximise the leads and enquiries it generates for you, it has to instantly reassure visitors they’re dealing with a business that:

• They can relate to
• Empathises with the challenge they’re facing
• Can provide them with the ideal solution
• They can trust

Making sure it does all these things means getting inside the mind of your ideal customer and thinking about things from their perspective. It means defining exactly who your ideal customer is, answering key questions about what will take them from visitor to hot lead, and using this knowledge to inform the content and messaging of your site.

There are 2 steps to this process:

Step 1: Create a profile of your ideal customer

The first rule of selling is knowing everything you possibly can about who you’re selling to. So do you have a clear vision of what your ideal customer looks like? Perhaps you do, but documenting it so that it can be used as a reference point whenever you – or someone working on your behalf is planning sales activity is a savvy move.

A customer profile – also sometimes referred to as a customer persona is a document that sets out everything you know about the person you are targeting. It can be as comprehensive as you like, but at its most basic level should include things such as gender, age, education, socio-economic group and whether a buying decision is likely to be based on emotion or on factual detail.

When it comes to designing your website and creating content, your customer profile will provide your web designer with valuable insights into the way it should look and speak.

Step 2: Get inside the mind of your ideal customer

Now you’ve listed the key characteristics of your customer and created a profile, it’s time to take on their persona, think as they do, and answer 3 key questions:

1. What are they really looking for?

Finding the answer (or answers) to this question can help you focus your website even more closely on your ideal customer. It’s important to remember that your customers are not looking for products or services, they’re looking for solutions, and understanding this can have a significant impact on the messages you use.

At MMD for example, our own website messaging has evolved as we’ve come to focus more closely on what our web visitors are looking for. Of course, the reason they are on our site is they’re in the market for a new website – but why is that? In virtually all instances, it’s because they want a website that will deliver more leads and enquiries.

It’s not rocket-science, but looking at things from our customers’ perspective changes the key messages we use. Instead of being generic and simply talking about how we design great websites, we can be far more specific using headlines such as ‘We Build Websites that Generate High-Quality leads to Help Your Business Grow!’

By using a much more targeted message like this, we set ourselves apart from our competitors and instantly engage with the kind of customers we want to work with. What’s more, by making our specialism clear, we increase the quality of the leads we generate.

2. What are they worried about?

Next, still with your customer head on, think about any ‘blockers’ that might potentially get in the way of a decision. If you’re a wedding photographer for example, you might come up with a list of concerns that include things like cost, quality, experience, reliability and punctuality.

Having identified all the things that might be concerns, you can set about addressing them in your web content, proactively reassuring visitors on these critical points.

3. What will convince them to trust you?

By addressing their concerns head on, you’ve removed virtually all the reasons your ideal customer might have for not converting into a lead. There’s just one more thing you must do: convince them to entrust you with their business.

Once again, you have to channel your customer. This time, ask yourself what is it you need to do to prove yours is the best solution?  Depending on the nature of your business, demonstrating your credibility and expertise is likely to involve considering things like customer case studies, testimonials, media articles, white papers, photo galleries and awards.

What next?

By now you have a much better idea of who your ideal customer is and what they’re looking for. As a result, you’re far better equipped to start work on designing your website than if you’d simply dived in head-first. Although you might well have ended up with a beautiful looking site, if it failed to produce the quality leads you need, you’d have been wasting your money.

But this is only the first stage in the process of creating a website that will get you more leads and enquiries.  Our next blog in this series will be considering the customer search experience. Make a list of the key words and phrases your ideal customers are likely to put into Google at the start of their journey, and we’ll look at how you can use this information to attract more quality leads to your site.

This is the first in a series of blogs about How to Get More Leads and Enquiries from your website. If you’re concerned about the number or quality of enquiries your website is generating then please contact us today by sending us a message or calling us on 0118 380 0131.

The post How to Get More Leads & Enquiries from Your Website – part 1 appeared first on Mass Media Design.

Chrome already protects web users from sites that use password and credit card fields and don’t have an SSL digital certificate, flagging up a warning message to advise that the site is not secure. You can find out more about SSL certification here, but in very simple terms, it provides visitors with the assurance that any personal information they type into the site will be instantly encrypted.

Google Chrome version 68, due to launch in July, will take things a lot further, highlighting ALL websites that don’t have an SSL certificate.

What will this mean for you?

While there’s no legal obligation to have an SSL certificate, and not having one doesn’t affect how a website functions, it’s been a necessity for e-commerce websites for a while now. It gives visitors the assurance they can trust a site and use it to shop with confidence, knowing their credit card details and any other personal data they share will be encrypted.

From July though, SSL will no longer just be a concern for businesses that take payment over the internet or use forms. Even if your website is only a ‘brochure site’ or a blog, when prospective customers visit it, Chrome will display a ‘Not Secure’ message.

Here’s what they’ll see:

You may not require a visitor to input any personal data, but in the light of public concern over internet security, it’s likely the message will cause them to consider your trustworthiness.

Put yourself in your visitors’ shoes – if you saw this message, would you feel totally confident about working with your business?

But not everyone uses Google Chrome, right?

True, there are other web browsers out there, but Chrome is the biggest and it continues to expand its market share. According to statistics published by Statcounter Global, Google Chrome represented nearly 60% of the world browser market as at March 2018 (link to http://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share), leaving the other major browsers trailing in its wake .

Can you afford to risk dissuading 60% of your web traffic from opening your site?

Where leaders go, others are sure to follow, and there’s every reason to anticipate that other web browser companies will soon introduce similar policies, making this a standard protocol. And from here of course, the next natural step will be to mark non-SSL sites in the search results.

What should you do?

Our recommendation to anyone with a website is to make sure it has an SSL certificate installed before July. Purchasing a certificate is easy, but installing it on your website may require some technical knowledge. Adjustments may be needed to ensure the website continues to work as it should – so you’d be well advised to ask your hosting company or web developer to install it for you.

Check if your hosting company provides a free solution such as Lets Encrypt, a free certificate which renews automatically. If they don’t, you might want to consider using Cloudflare, a security solution that sits in front of your hosting platform. It’s not ideal, because it doesn’t encrypt everything between browser and server, but it does enough to prevent the ‘Not secure’ message from being displayed. If you choose this option, you’ll need to repoint your domain, so some technical know-how will still be needed.

Let MMD Take Care of Things for You!

The premium web hosting and support packages we provide ensure MMD clients have total peace of mind on all issues relating to their websites – including SSL certification. If you’d like to know more about the benefits of our proactive service, contact us now by sending a message or calling us on 0118 380 0131.

The post How to fix the ‘Not secure” message in Google Chrome appeared first on Mass Media Design.

So, when someone finds your website – whether it’s from a Google search, a paid-for advert, a social media post or an email campaign, you want them to land on the page that’s most relevant to them.

But the challenge is that most businesses offer more than one product or service, and many will target groups of customers with differing profiles, so sending them all to the same generic home page is unlikely to result in high conversion rates.

Take for example a photographer whose specialist services include photographing things as diverse as children, pets and weddings. A bride looking for a professional to capture her once-in-a-lifetime day is unlikely to dig deeper into the site if the first thing she sees is images of cats and dogs.

So how can you tailor your home page to make it appeal to all visitors – whoever they are and whatever they’re looking for?

The answer of course is that you can’t, and this is the reason why, if you’re not doing so already, you need to make landing pages part of your marketing strategy.

What is a landing page?

Essentially, a landing page is a stand-alone web page dedicated to a specific product or service – often created to support a marketing campaign. With clearly focused content and well-defined objectives, a landing page is designed for the express purpose of persuading visitors to take action.

The singular focus of a landing page means Google will identify it as the best place to send visitors; and because your visitors are only presented with information they’re interested in, they’re far more likely to take action. What’s more, while you can only have one home page, you can create as many landing pages as you like.

Why you need to make landing pages part of your marketing strategy

• To improve SEO & get more web visitors

Because you can create multiple landing pages, you have increased opportunities to improve your ranking in the search engines, so more prospective customers will find you.

• To increase sales

Unlike a home page where visitors are likely to find generic messaging and encounter a range of potential distractions, landing pages take visitors straight to where they want to be. As a result, conversion rates are higher.

• To make your marketing campaigns more effective

It’s not always easy finding a home on your website for promotional offers or marketing campaigns. Landing pages are ideal.

• To generate more leads

Sending search traffic, email and social media leads to a home page is like sending them into a black hole. Targeted landing pages make it possible to capture valuable sales leads at a much higher rate.

3 Essential Ingredients for A Great Landing Page

Good design has a key role to play in how a landing page performs. How it looks will be informed by your goals, your target audience, and your industry sector, but there are some crucial elements that will influence its effectiveness:

1. An eye-catching headline

With just seconds to attract attention and draw visitors further in to your message, a powerful headline is vital.  It will need to be something that instantly acknowledges the challenge / problem / pain / opportunity they’re facing. Posing a question is a good way to grab attention.

2. Beautiful images

Visitors are here because they’re on the verge of making a decision, so use beautiful images to help them make up their minds and take the next step!

3. A strong, clear message

Your message should be simple and to the point, providing all the information your visitor needs to convince them to act. If you want them to make a purchase, ensure all the information they need is on the page and instil a sense of urgency. If the objective is to collect data, provide an incentive for them to share it with you, be open about what your collecting it for and what future communications they can expect from you.

4. A Compelling Call to Action

Everything on your landing page should guide your visitor to the Call to Action. Be clear about what they need to do and make sure that doing it is as easy as possibly can be.

If you’d like to use landing pages to get more business, MMD can help. To discuss your requirements, send us a message or call us on 0118 380 0131 now!

The post Land More Business with Landing Pages! appeared first on Mass Media Design.

If you get it wrong, the consequences can be serious. You’ll almost certainly pay the price in wasted time and lost revenue. To help ensure you make the right appointment, we’ve put together a checklist of things to look for and questions to ask prospective partners.

Top tip: It’s a good idea to begin your search by reaching out to your network of contacts and asking if anyone you’re connected with has had great service from a web design agency recently. Nothing beats a personal recommendation, and it’s just possible you could save yourself a lot of time.

When you’ve shortlisted agencies you’re interested in, follow our checklist to help determine if they’re the right partner for your business.

11 Point Checklist for Choosing a Web Design Agency

1. Check the agency’s website. What does it reveal about them?

What are your first impressions? You don’t have to love how it looks – design is subjective and a good agency will adapt their creative approach to suit their client. But it should convey something of the agency’s personality, and clearly demonstrate their skill at taking visitors on a journey, telling a story and communicating messages with impact.

Design aside, a website will provide you with plenty of indicators as to how professional and attentive to detail an agency is. Check that written copy reads well and there are no typos, that blog and news areas are up to date and that social media feeds are active – all positive signs.

2. Ask to see examples of recent work

Seeing an agency’s portfolio is essential. It will give you an understanding of their design capabilities and breadth of creative styles. Make sure that you are being shown recent projects, and ask if the agency is happy to put you in touch with one or two clients so you can talk to them about their experience. Many agencies will have examples of recent work on their own website.

3. What’s their process for design & development?

Ask the agency to explain their web design and development process from start to finish. Be wary of an agency that wants to jump straight into the design stage. To create a truly effective web solution, you should expect an agency to want to spend a lot of time with you upfront, getting an in-depth understanding of all aspects of your business including your product and its benefits, your customers, your competitors, the market place you operate in, and your brand values.

4. Do they have a USP?

Can the agency tell you what makes them different to all the other web design businesses out there? And does what they have to say fit with what you’re looking for? Some design-led agencies for example may put form over function. While a website needs to look great, at MMD our primary focus is on creating websites that are commercially successful and bring our customers a real return on their .

How do we do this? For a period of 6 months following launch, we test and measure the performance of every website we create to ensure it’s providing the best quality leads for the business.

5. Do they specialise in any particular business sector?

A good agency will be able to apply the principles of great web design to any business. While it’s not critical for an agency to have worked in your specific sector, they should be able to demonstrate experience in a similar field.

6. What platform will they use?

Find out what platform your website will be developed in.  Is it a platform another supplier could easily take over if your agency went bust, or if you fell out with them? Some agencies develop their own web software and this has the potential to cause real problems in the future. Because all MMD websites are built using WordPress – the most popular platform in the world, our clients don’t have to worry about getting caught out.

7. Will you have access to the code behind your website?

Following on from the above point, if you should need to move your site for any reason, will you be able to access the code behind it? This is something that’s often overlooked and well worth establishing upfront.

8. Do they outsource specialist areas to trusted partners?

Few agencies – apart from the really big ones (with price tags to match), will have every web-related service in-house, so be dubious of anyone that says they do. There’s nothing wrong with an agency outsourcing specialist areas to trusted partners – as indeed we do with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) at MMD. It’s a critical area that we believe requires expert input.

9. Will they follow Google’s best practice guidelines?

It will be crucial for your website to perform well with the world’s most popular search engine. To make certain it does, it must be built according to Google’s own best practice guidelines. Check with your agency that they will follow these guidelines to the letter – if Google doesn’t rank your website, it can’t drive traffic to it.

10. Will they be responsible for hosting your site?

It they offer the service, it makes sense to keep web hosting with your design agency, but you need to be clear about exactly what you’re getting. Is it premium hosting? Where will your site be hosted? If there’s a problem, will it be your agency’s responsibility to manage it? And what service level guarantees will you have regarding response times?

11. How does their pricing compare to other agencies?

You’ll find considerable variations in pricing between agencies. In making your decision, be sure to compare like with like and remember that the value of your new website will be in the level of revenue it will generate for your business.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it should at least help you to get started.

And there’s one final thing we’ve not mentioned yet. Make sure you choose a web design partner you like and will enjoy working with. Your website will play a vital role in your business success, so it’s crucial you have a good relationship with your agency.

If you’re looking for the ideal web design partner, send us a message or call us on 0118 380 0131 and let’s arrange to meet for a coffee and a chat!

The post How to Choose a Web Design Agency That’s Right for Your Business appeared first on Mass Media Design.

We’re often asked to advise which route is best and as an agency specialising in bespoke web design, you won’t be surprised to hear which side of the discussion we come down on.

But there’s certainly a place for templates. They provide a simple, inexpensive website solution which can be right for some businesses, and in this blog, we’re going to look at the pros and cons of using templates – and at the benefits of having a bespoke website created.

Web Templates

Even just within our own preferred web platform WordPress, there are thousands of free and low-cost templates available. Creating your own off-the-shelf website can be as simple as selecting the design theme you like and dropping in your copy and images. Just get the site hosted and you’re good to go.

 Advantages

• Inexpensive: As mentioned already, web templates can be low cost or even free to use, making them very attractive to businesses on a limited budget, particularly start-ups.
• Quick to get up & running: Because you’re doing things yourself, you’re in control. There’s no agency asking you questions about your brand, customers and services to inform their design, so you can just get on and populate your template with content and have your website live in no time.
• Can include some flexibility options: Some (though by no means all) off-the-shelf templates allow a level of customisation. So, you might for example be able to change the layout of different pages to give your website a degree of personalisation.
• Newer templates are responsive: It’s crucial your website is responsive, automatically adjusting to fit any device it’s viewed on, and most newer templates will meet this requirement.

But there are drawbacks too.

Disadvantages

• Easy to spot: Template websites are generally fairly easy to identify and if you land on one, you’ll probably be able to tell that it’s been bought off-the-shelf. This may not matter for some smaller businesses, but if you want to create a distinctive brand identity and convey personality, using a template will make this all but impossible.
• Not unique: The best-looking templates are the most popular, so if you find a theme that you think works well for your business sector, there’s a good chance one of your competitors will be using it too. Setting yourself apart from the herd is not easy when you’re using a template design.
• May not be a good fit for your business: A successful website is one that gets results, not one that simply looks pretty. Design is subjective and It’s easy to select a template you like without questioning what will attract the visitors you want, or considering whether the layout will be effective in converting them into customers.
• Can be slow: Speed of loading affects both visitor experience and search engine ranking, and depending on how a template has been created, speed can sometimes be an issue. It’s not something you’ll be able to see just by looking at a template, but as a rule, the more flexibility it offers, the more complex the coding, and the more likely it is to be slow.
• May be vulnerable: Because you can’t know the full provenance of a template, you can’t be certain how robust it is in terms of web security and compatibility with other software programmes. At one level, this might expose you to risks from viruses or hackers; at another, it could give you problems if you add in plugins that don’t want to play nicely with your template.

Top 4 Reasons to Choose Bespoke

Having a bespoke website designed and developed will require investing more time and budget than using a template and doing it yourself, but a bespoke website will have none of the disadvantages associated with a template.

Here are our top 4 reasons to choose bespoke:

1. Tailored to YOUR business

The clue’s in the name. A bespoke website will be created just for your business, so there will be no compromises when it comes to design, layout, structure or functionality.

2. You don’t need to be a designer

You’re an expert at what you do, but you’re not a web designer, so why would you rely on your ideas of what will attract visitors and persuade them to engage with you? Using an agency frees you from this responsibility, bringing an external perspective and professional expertise to ensure your site is built to work hard, not just look good.

3. Faster & more secure

Because it’s built just for you, there will be no redundancy in a bespoke website. And as long as it’s built properly, it will be faster and much less vulnerable to security issues than a template.

4. More effective – better results!

We’ve saved the most important reason for choosing bespoke until last. Because your agency will spend time understanding your business in detail, all elements throughout the site will be crafted to resonate with your prospective customers, focused on getting them to take the action you want; whether that’s making a purchase, picking up the phone, downloading a document – or anything else.

Is your website giving you the results you need? To find out more about the difference a bespoke website can make to your business, send us a message or call us on 0118 380 0131 for a chat now!

The post Template or Bespoke? Off-the-shelf website templates vs bespoke design appeared first on Mass Media Design.

This will give the data’s owner (usually the person that it’s about) more rights and impose greater fines and penalties on businesses that misuse personal information. It also increases the regulation of data security and data processing.

Does it really matter?

So, will GDPR requirements really affect your business? Well, if you collect or handle any personal data, the answer’s a resounding ‘yes’! You’ll need an updated privacy policy in place by the deadline which must be clear, concise, and easy to read. It also applies in a B2B context where owners or employees use an email address from which they can be identified.

What do I need to do?

Under the GDPR your privacy policy must specify:

1. The identity of the data controller

This will be you – the organisation that has collected the data subject’s information.

2. What choices the data subject has

The principle of ‘fair processing’ under GDPR means that individuals must have control of their personal data. Individuals must be able to request the deletion of their data and it must be clear how they can do that.

3. What information is being collected

You’ll need to be clear and specific about what data you’re collecting and why you’re collecting it. This will most likely be an individual’s name, address and email.

4. How long is the personal data kept

Under GDPR, it’s necessary to tell the individual how long the data will be kept for. If this cannot be determined, then the data subject must be notified within the Privacy Policy. You can no longer state that the data will be kept for ‘as long as necessary’.

5. With whom you will share the information

Government agencies may have a right to request certain data and if you share it with others then you need to specify this.

There are a few other requirements in the new legislation too and you can find a full list of new detailed requirements in Legalo’s helpful blog article here.

FREE legal policy templates for MMD customers!

We’re also excited to have partnered with Legalo to be able to offer FREE access for MMD clients to some of their most popular web compliance templates:

• GDPR-compliant privacy policy (including a cookies policy)
• website terms of use (including an acceptable use policy)
• email disclaimer

If you’re an MMD customer and would like to claim these, just get in touch!

The post How will GDPR requirements affect your business + FREE legal templates! appeared first on Mass Media Design.