Brentwood Website Design
We design and build websites that are focused on growing your revenue by attracting and converting new customers and clients. Get an Instant QuoteBespoke Design & Development
We have designed and built websites for a wide range of clients from local businesses to UK national companies.
We have created websites for start-ups and established businesses.
We offer web design in Brentwood and service clients throughout Essex and the Greater London Borough of Havering and beyond.
Our designs are modern and responsive so they look equally great on desktops. mobiles and tablets.
We use industry standard software that can be understood by any good website developer so ongoing maintenance and support is simple and straightforward.
Plan for Success
You know your business better than anyone so we’ll keep you involved in the project at every stage.
We’ll start by sitting down with you to get a full understanding of your business and what you’re looking to achieve from your new website.
The Planning Phase
What constitutes a good looking website is highly subjective so one of the first steps is to ask you to provide us with some examples of websites that you like the look of. We’ll ask you what you particularly like and also what you don’t like. We’ll discuss branding such as colour schemes and logos.
From there we’ll put together a wireframe that will show how your website would be structured.
You want your website to be found by your target audience so we’ll consider search engine optimisation (SEO) at this stage and structure your website with search engines as well as humans in mind.
We’ll show you how the menu items and pages will be structured.
The Design Phase
Once you have approved the wireframe and structure we’ll move into the design phase.
At this stage we’ll add your colour scheme and logo and any images and content.
We’ll create page templates that can be used to expand your website in the future.
We’ll create all of the pages that have been planned for your new website.
The Build
This is where we start to add the functionality to your website using HTML, CSS and Javascript. This is where your website starts to become interactive – where the various website pages are linked back to the menu items.
We’ll start the build with your home page. Once you have agreed the format of your home page we’ll move on to complete the other pages.
At this stage we’ll ask you to supply the content for your pages (we can assist you by providing SEO friendly content if required).
We’ll also ask you to provide us with any images or videos that are required for the website.
Once we have completed all of the pages we’ll ask you to check them and note any amendments that are required.
Once we’re both happy with the website we’ll move onto testing where we’ll check how the website looks on various devices such as mobiles and tablets and make changes so that the website is fully responsive and looks equally appealing across all formats.
Once the final changes have been made your website is ready to go live. In consultation with you we’ll launch your new website.
The 3 steps to your new website
Consult
Firstly, we’ll talk with you to learn more about your business and gain some feedback on what you would like to see, and not see, in the finished website design.
Prepare
While we’re working on the website design we’ll ask you to prepare the content that is going to go into the website.
Launch
Once we have completed the website design and you have provided the content to us we’ll bring the two together and launch your new website.
I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for helping me create my website & to help promote a supply of new clients through the use of online marketing. I have no hesitation in recommending you and will continue to do so.
Our Websites are Designed to Convert
Websites typically fall into two categories – brochure websites and ‘direct response’ websites.
Brochure websites are, as the name suggests, a digital representation of a physical medium such as a brochure that provides information about a businesses products or services.
A direct response website is designed with the goal in mind of guiding a visitor to take an action. This might be requesting a quotation, downloading valuable content (a lead magnet), completing an enquiry form or signing up to a mailing list. It might be adding a ‘click to call’ button to the mobile version of a website to make it easy for the visitor to contact the business.
Each of these is termed a ‘call to action’ (CTA) and a direct response website is structured in such a way that these CTA’s prominently placed and highly visible.
Your website should be a part of your marketing strategy that is focused on converting a prospect into a lead and eventually a customer or client.
For this reason our websites are designed to convert.
The Complete DFY Website
From our experience not every business owner wants to be fully engaged in their new website. They understand the benefits and necessity for their business to have a website but would prefer not to be involved in the process.
If this sounds like you then we can offer a complete done for you service.
You’re free to have as much or as little involvement in the process. You can leave us to come up with the design, provide the search engine optimised content and provide a number of stock photo images.
We’ll give your business the online presence that it needs.
Your Website Post Go-Live
So what happens to your website once it’s gone live?
As part of the launch process we will submit your website to the Google and Bing search engines. The search engines will then start to index the pages in your website. They will begin to record the types of search terms or phrases that people are using to find your website and how many people are clicking on your search listing and visiting your website.
If you’re keen to understand what actions people are taking once they reach your website then we can install Google Analytics onto your site.
This additional tracking mechanism will show you which pages your visitors viewed and if you would like to track particular call to action engagement then these can be configured for you.
What is Included with Your Website as Standard
We build all of our websites on WordPress. WordPress is by far the most popular website building platform accounting for around 40% of all websites on the internet.
The platform’s capabilities have encouraged companies of all sizes to move to it. This means that it’s possible for small businesses to compete with some of the largest global brands with huge marketing budgets.
Websites that are build on WordPress are well understood by search engines meaning there is no barrier to ranking well in the search results.
WordPress sites are also relatively easy to manage, making it possible to edit existing or add new content once the website goes live (tip: Google likes to see new content). We can always provide you with video tutorials if required to allow you to make changes yourself.
As standard we will include a number of additional software plugins to extend the functionality of the website.
The speed at which a website loads will affect its overall performance. As standard we will install speed optimisation software to ensure that the website loads as speedily as possible.
Your website will be optimised such that search engines can index your website pages and get them in front of the people who are searching for your product or service.
As standard we will install search engine optimisation software to support this process.
It’s an unfortunate fact that all websites are targets of attack by bad actors. With this in mind we aim to make your website as secure as possible by installing a firewall. This is designed to prevent attacks through known exploits.
As standard we will install the free version of the Wordfence security software. We also offer a paid upgrade to the enhanced version which provides additional security features.
Just like anything that is reliant on software; security fixes and updates will be released from time to time. Your website is no different and it is highly recommended that the underlying software is kept up-to-date on a regular basis.
If you would like us to take care of this for you then we have an extremely competitive website maintenance and support care plan available. You’ll find all the details on this link.
Under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) guidance website owners are legally obliged to inform visitors if small pieces of software called cookies are used on their website and if so provide the visitor with a means of opting out of having those cookies stored on their device.
As standard we will install software which presents a cookie notice to new visitors and provides them with an opt-out mechanism.
Hosting
We should say a few words about hosting. Your new website will need to be placed somewhere where it’s accessible to anyone in the world with an internet connection.
When we launch your website we load it onto a computer that typically sits in a data centre. The technical name for the computer is a server because it serves copies of your website pages to people.
Website hosting will typically be charged on a monthly or yearly basis and price varies across providers. It’s one of those areas where you get what you pay for so be wary of low cost providers of hosting.
Where you ask us to provide the hosting we partner with one of the best hosting providers. Your server will reside in a UK data centre (that’s not always the case with all providers).
Our hosting includes a free SSL certificate (this means that the connection between your server and the visitor is secure).
Do I need a website?
You’re probably aware that the vast majority of people will turn to the internet to find companies that are relevant to their needs; the days of the phone book are far behind us. If your local business hasn’t got its own website then our website design service can ensure that you’re not missing out on the potential to gain new customers.
A business website should be seen as a vital component of any business irrespective of size. It should act as the shop window to your business, providing information to your potential customers 24 hours a day. In fact, the absence of a website may negatively affect your customers’ perception of your business.
It’s quite surprising then that research carried out by small business funding specialists Fundera highlighted the fact that over a third of small businesses do not have a website.
By far the largest proportion of the SME market without a website are those with no employees (sole proprietors or a self-employed owner/manager). It’s understandable when considering the costs involved in starting and running a business that a website gets pushed to one side and that could be a false economy. When done properly a business website has the potential to return that initial investment many times over.
Far too often we see businesses where their only online presence is on a third party platform such as Facebook, a platform over which the business has zero control.
Imagine if that platform disappeared tomorrow – the business no longer has a business. Whilst this scenario seems unlikely history points to the precarious nature of relying on a third party. There was uproar a few years ago as Facebook transitioned to a pay-to-play platform where post reach was reduced to the point where only around 2% of a business’s followers got to see a new post (assume 1000 followers – only 20 people will see the post in their news feed).
Failing to create a website for a business on a perceived notion that it is too expensive is a false economy.
Here are five good reasons why every local business needs a website.
- It’s close to being a prerequisite for local search engine optimisation – while it’s still possible to get a business listed in the Google 3-pack without a website it is far more difficult.
- Consumers expect it – a couple of stats to bear this out: (i) 63% of consumers used the website to find the local business or interact with it and (ii) 8% of consumers never look at websites when choosing a business.
- Website content improves relevance and links – this ties in to the content creation service that we provide. When a potential customer in on their phone or computer searching for a local product or service a business with optimised, high quality content is far more likely to get in front of that person.
- A website is essential for brand building – Imaging how difficult it is to build a brand inside of Facebook; the business simply gets lost inside of Facebook’s brand. A website gives the business the space to develop their brand, establish their authority and share their values and culture; the very things that will attract their ideal customers, clients or patients (depending on the nature of the business).
- A website is a great tool for customer service – it is becoming increasingly common for customers or potential customers to reach out via social media for help or to ask questions. Limitations within these social media platforms mean that it can be difficult to respond with in-depth answers. A better solution is to create an area within the website that is focussed on providing answers to those questions and simply pointing the person to the website by sharing a link to the answer.
A website should be viewed as an asset that has the potential to attract new customers and generate additional revenue.
If you already have a website is it mobile friendly?
Around the middle of 2015 Google made some changes to the way it ranks websites, the effect being that if a website isn’t mobile friendly then Google will penalise the site and place it lower in the rankings.
Google have very kindly provided a tool that will test your website for mobile-friendliness. You can find the tool here. Check your website and if it doesn’t pass the test then talk to me and I’ll advise you on what needs to be done to update your website design.
Ongoing Support
Your website is the foundation of your online presence.
It's critical that it remains available 24/7.
Once your website is live we'll place you onto one of our monthly care plans.
Strategic Marketing
A website that isn't attracting a consistent stream of targeted visitors is a wasted opportunity.
We'll work with you to create a marketing strategy that delivers results.
Interested in learning more?
Please call on +441277 552040 or click the button below and fill out the contact form and I’ll get back to you.
Call: +441277552040
Email: [email protected]