Category Archives: Web Design

Food & Drink, News, Web Design

Anything launch new website for Cauldron Foods

Manchester, 13th May 2024; today creative digital agency Anything announced they have designed and built a new website for Cauldron Foods. The website has a vibrant new look and showcases a new range of products, packing a powerful plant based punch as part of the brand’s new look. The team at Anything has created a modern tech stack and new CMS to allow the brand to seamlessly add content such as new products, campaigns and recipes.

The project reinforces the long-standing relationship between Anything and Quorn (Cauldron’s sister brand in the meat alternative category) which has seen them launch together over 24 websites globally. Through meticulous planning, seamless interpretation and cohesive client relations, Anything has created a fully functional, customisable website that reflects Cauldron’s new vibrant identity.

 

Leanda Falcon, Client Services Director at Anything, said: “Our relationship with Quorn has grown from strength to strength and we were delighted to be appointed as Cauldron’s digital agency to design and develop the new website.

“It represents the brand beautifully and we look forward to continuing to work alongside the team to ensure we provide the best digital solutions and service. Cauldron will also be joining us on a continuous optimisation roadmap, where we’ll continue to create campaigns, new content and recipes with the Cauldron team to help grow and engage Cauldron’s fans.”

 

Quorn Foods, Head of Digital, Lindsay Winstanley, said: “Cauldron has a delicious product range bursting with flavour and the new branding really represents this energy. We needed our website to truly reflect the new look and feel for the brand. That’s where, Anything, stepped in. They have translated our new Cauldron brand identity into a fun, interactive and high performance website. “

“Users can explore our delicious products and recipes through a vibrant new website design, with a seamless customer journey. Working with the talented team at Anything is easy, they understand our business and always exceed our expectations.”

 

The new website brings Cauldron under the Quorn Foods global digital ecosystem with the same tech stack and environment. By adopting a Content as a Service solution and utilising Contentful Enterprise CMS, Anything ensured the team at Cauldron have a scalable, secure, and performance-optimised website that can grow and adapt with the business. The Contentful platform is a proven alternative to less flexible CMS solutions which can quickly become outdated and require regular updates to stay secure.

 

About Anything

Anything is a creative digital agency led by a team of industry experts who don’t believe in limits.

When recommending a creative solution to their client’s digital problems, Anything’s team of consultants purposefully avoid technical jargon. This open and honest approach has led to the agency’s long term relationships with some of the UK’s biggest brands.

With a dedication to future proofing client’s digital platforms with scalable technology, Anything will limit downtime effectively enabling businesses to expand internationally.

As the digital industry has evolved during the past 10 years so has Anything who integrate brand design, experiential, event builds, social media and any communication solution needed to make their client’s campaigns a success.

Led by Jono Brain and Mark Holt in Manchester, Anything’s client’s include, Quorn, Amtico International and Institute of Civil Engineers.

 

About Cauldron

For people who love plants. People curious about plants. And people who don’t think they like plants.

Plants are fantastic. There are no two ways about it. In fact, when it comes to plants and veggies, there are loads of ways about it.

And that’s where we come in. Mixing. Stirring. Concocting. Creating. Making delicious plant and veggie-based foods for you to enjoy. Full of flavour, goodness, and mind-boggling deliciousness.

Serious about sustainability. Cutting carbon. Picking plants carefully. Getting smart about packaging. You can read more about some of the ways we’re doing our bit (and more) over here.

Cauldron products are available from all leading supermarkets and health food stores, including Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Ocado.

 

International News, Marketing, PR and SEO, Recruitment, Recruitment News, South East England News, South West, USA, Web Design, Wiltshire News

Recruitment expert aided in US expansion by creative agency’s new brand and website project

NOTTINGHAM-BASED recruitment agency Distinct has been aided with a push into markets further south and in the US by a redesigned website and an updated brand.

Distinct, which specialises in recruitment for roles within finance, HR, marketing, IT and office support and supply chain and procurement, is opening an office in London to mount an expansion into the south and is about to open another in Boston to capitalise on its rapid growth in the North American market. It turned to Wiltshire design agency Milk & Tweed for its new brand look and an upgraded website with functions to help both clients and job hunters.

Milk & Tweed, which has offices in Chippenham and Brighton in Sussex, is building a reputation for excellence in website, brand and logo design and digital marketing.

Distinct Marketing Director Amy Robinson-Nunn said: “We’ve got exciting expansion plans in both London and North America, whilst also pushing to stand out in quite competitive markets. So, one of the things we wanted to do was make sure that our brand and our website supported this strategy.

“We wanted something that was fresh, confident, clean and modern, whilst still retaining the core of what the brand has always been – I think that’s been achieved here.”

Milk & Tweed’s design team refreshed the Distinct logo to give it a more modern feel, sharpened the colours and used cleaner typography. “While it’s not been radically transformed, these changes have made it look totally different,” said Ms Robinson-Nunn.

The agency’s website has been redesigned and features two new user-friendly tools. “For a candidate being offered a job, one of the first things you want to do is work out your take-home pay, so we’ve got a salary calculator where they can insert their wage and then the tax, student loan and pension deductions are calculated to leave the exact amount they’ll receive in their bank account,” said Ms Robinson-Nunn.

“On the flip side for our clients, we’ve got a wage insights tool which uses live data from the last 12 months, so if they are advertising a job in a particular area, the tool will display the going rate for that job title in their chosen location.”

She said the agency is delighted with the new site. “The development team in particular have been incredible,” she said. “Milk & Tweed’s Web Manager Jon Mynette has been leading the way for us from a development point of view and he’s been fantastic to work with.

“I think they’ve created something that I am genuinely proud of and would recommend them to others.”

She said the new website is particularly important, given Distinct’s ambitious expansion plans. “We’re really taking hold in the US and we’re working in roles within the public accounting and legal sectors,” said Ms Robinson-Nunn.

“We started off in New York and have since moved into Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut and Ohio, so we’re opening an office in Boston to further strengthen our operation in the US.

“Our refreshed brand and new website help us to stand out from our competitors and will certainly support our new strategy and exciting expansion plans.”

Milk & Tweed Web Manager Jon Mynette said: “The project was amazing to work on and the team at Distinct were great to work with because they were so organised, driven and ambitious. It really pushed us as a team and I’m very proud of the work we’ve done and the results we’ve achieved.

“Distinct had some amazing ideas around how they wanted their site to be presented and perform. It meant we had to push the boundaries of how we usually build, which I always enjoy. I must give a special mention to the lead designer Jon Francis and lead developer Sam Jones, who have both done fantastic work on the project. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we have.”

—

Pictured: Recruitment agency Distinct turned to creative agency Milk & Tweed to help prepare it for an expansion into the south of England and further into North America

Business Software, Web Design

How Businesses Can Use Bespoke CMS Systems to Maximise Efficiency

In today’s digital age, businesses need to utilise technology in order to stay ahead of the competition. One way to do this is by using bespoke content management systems (CMS) to manage, update, and publish content on their websites.

These customised CMS solutions can provide significant efficiency gains for businesses, reducing time spent, and allowing them to focus their efforts on more important tasks.

We took a closer look at just what a bespoke content management system consists of, and the benefits it can offer businesses.

 

What Is A CMS?

A content management system (CMS) is a software application that enables businesses to manage and control website content. It helps users create, edit, delete, and publish digital media such as text, images, audio, and video.

As the name suggests, a bespoke CMS is a customised solution tailored to the specific needs of the user. It is designed to streamline processes, reduce waste, and improve efficiency across multiple departments.

 

What Tasks Can A CMS Take Care Of?

You may be wondering just why you need a CMS, and what tasks it can take care of. Here are some of the main advantages and duties that it can perform:

 

  • Content Creation & Editing

A CMS allows users to create and manage web content, such as blog posts, images, videos and more. These can be updated quickly and easily from a centralised dashboard.

 

  • User Management & Access Control

A bespoke CMS enables businesses to control who has access to certain areas of the website and what they can do. This ensures that only authorised staff can make changes, and helps prevent unauthorised changes from being made.

 

  • Page & Site Management

Users are able to easily manage the layout and design of their websites, as well as create new pages, move content around, and delete obsolete items. This is important for keeping your site up to date – particularly if you are in an industry with high levels of competition, such as the automotive, retail or hospitality sectors.

 

  • Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

With a bespoke CMS, businesses can optimise their websites for search engine rankings. This includes things like creating meta tags and optimising page titles and descriptions – all of which help to improve a website’s visibility online. Once again, this is crucial for businesses with a high number of competitors.

 

  • Analytics & Reporting

A customised CMS solution enables owners to track key metrics such as traffic, conversion rates and revenue. This helps them understand what is and isn’t working, so that they can continually improve the performance of their website over time.

 

What Are The Benefits?

There are many advantages to using a bespoke CMS for businesses, and some of the main ones include:

 

  • Enhanced User Experience

A customised CMS ensures that the user experience of a website is as streamlined and efficient as possible. This can help to reduce customer frustrations, improve engagement rates, and drive more conversions.

 

  • Improved Security

With a bespoke CMS in place, businesses have greater control over who accesses their data and can better protect sensitive information. Businesses are also able to quickly detect and mitigate security threats.

 

  • Cost Savings

It may seem strange, but bespoke CMS solutions are often more cost-effective than off-the-shelf solutions, as they require less setup and maintenance, and this is due to the fact that they are designed specifically for the user’s needs.

This can be particularly useful if you are working to a tight IT budget, or need to cut down on costs without compromising on the quality of your system.

 

  • Time Savings

Using a customised CMS means that business owners can save time when it comes to updating and managing their websites. This allows them more freedom to focus on other important tasks and grow their business.

 

  • Integration With Other Areas Of The Business

By opting for a CMS that is bespoke and unique to their business, companies are able to integrate it with other areas of their operations. This helps to create a more efficient workflow and can help to reduce the amount of time taken for tasks such as updating customer details or managing stock levels.

 

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, a bespoke CMS offers businesses a great way to maximise efficiency, increase security and save time. It also provides an enhanced user experience for customers, which can help to drive conversions and boost sales.

 

If you are looking to take your own business’s online presence to the next level, then you might want to check out MotorDesk’s car dealer management system, which will help show you that a customised CMS solution is the way to go.

 

Marketing, PR and SEO, Web Design

Making Your Website Stand Out From The Crowd – An Agency Guide

As a business owner, marketing manager, or decision maker, you understand how important it is to have a website that stands out from the crowd. In today’s competitive market, an effective website can be the difference between success and failure. But what makes a website effective? And how can you ensure that your website will stand out from the hundreds of others vying for attention?

An agency guide to making your website stand out from the crowd: If you want to make your mark on the web and attract more customers, pay attention to these key tips. From design and development to user experience and content strategy, we’ll help you take your website to the next level. With our guidance, you’ll be able to create a truly unique and impactful online presence. So let’s get started!

Define your target audience and what you want them to do on your site

The primary audience for our website consists of entrepreneurs seeking to start or grow their businesses. The goal of the site is to provide useful strategies, tips and resources that will empower them to accomplish the goals they have set for themselves. We want our visitors to feel supported in their endeavours and inspired by the stories of successful people in our industry. With each visit, we strive to offer readers valuable knowledge they can apply immediately in order to move closer to success.

Do your research and find out what similar sites are doing – then do something different

When starting any project, it is important to do your research and find out what similar sites are doing so you can create an effective strategy. However, simply copying existing strategies that have been used by other websites likely won’t make your project stand out or be successful. It’s important to take the time to analyze these strategies and then add a unique twist of your own. This could mean introducing new technologies such as a Webflow to build your website or creating a novel spin on an existing concept – anything you can do to differentiate yourself from the crowd and offer something that stands out. Taking the time to analyze what other websites are doing and then adding your own creative flair will enable you to create a project that is truly unique.

Use strong visuals to draw users in, including videos, images, and infographics

Leveraging strong visuals is an effective way to connect with your audience and draw them in. Videos, images, and infographics can help communicate complicated concepts simply and quickly, while adding an element of surprise and delight to capture attention. Research shows that visuals are processed faster by the brain than text, so using high quality visuals beyond just words is a must for any successful marketing campaign. Even minor additions such as colors or fonts can drastically increase user engagement. With the right combination of strong visuals you can achieve maximum impact and create memorable experiences for your users.

Make sure your site is responsive so it can be accessed from any device

As technology advances and more people move to using mobile devices for their internet needs, it has become increasingly important for businesses to ensure their websites are responsive. Responsive websites provide customers with a great user experience regardless of what device they are accessing the site from, be it a desktop computer, smartphone, or tablet. Responsive design also means that sites will scale and shift to display content optimally on any device. Creating a responsive website can require a bit of extra work up front, but it’s worth it in the long run in terms of providing customers with an enjoyable browsing experience and ensuring your business is ready to take advantage of today’s mobile-oriented web world.

Write compelling content that engages the reader and provides value

Writing compelling content involves engaging readers and providing them with value. What is considered valuable varies from audience to audience, so it’s important to read up on your target market and determine what matters to them. By understanding the needs of your readers, you can create relevant material that speaks directly to their interests. Additionally, delivering value means writing with clear and informative language; for example, avoid technical jargon when aiming for a general audience, but embrace terms that evoke emotion and action when messaging to professionals. Ultimately, the goal should be to present content in a way that is meaningful and accessible, ensuring that readers will leave having gained something significant.

Use calls to action throughout your site to guide users towards taking the desired actions

Calls to action are an important element of any site or blog. They help steer the user experience in the direction that you want it to take and guide them towards taking the desired actions. Calls to action should be used strategically throughout your site, but don’t let them become intrusive or overwhelming. Balance clarity with brevity, as too much information can distract users from taking the desired action. Place text links at the end of posts and relevant pages within the website, as well as on links and buttons that contain keyword phrases to invite users to explore further. Calls to action should always use language that is direct yet encouraging. Even small changes in wording can make a big difference in how successful they are at persuading users to act.

Conclusion

Taking the time to define your target audience and research what similar sites are doing is essential when creating an effective website. However, that content must also be well-written and engaging for readers, accompanied by strong visuals like videos, images, and infographics. By making sure your site is responsive across all devices, users can thoroughly engage with your site from wherever they may be. Finally, using thoughtful calls to action throughout your site can make all the difference in guiding users to the desired outcomes you have set out to accomplish. Taking these steps will surely ensure that you meet your online goals with a successful website!

 

Technology, Web Design

The Importance Of Web Accessibility

Building a company website is important to the growth of your business. It enables you to connect with target audiences globally. 

Additionally, a website ensures you can serve customers 24/7 and helps you to increase your sales. While that’s the, you won’t get better returns if your website isn’t accessible to many people. For that reason, you should work towards enhancing your web accessibility.  

Companies invest in web accessibility for various reasons. The most obvious one is to help people with disability to access a website and navigate it easily. However, the benefits of web accessibility go far beyond that. Ensure you find effective ways to make the web accessible to a much larger audience. 

Here are some other benefits of web accessibility for your business.  

1. Improves Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategy 

Building an accessible website will make your brand more visible online. It makes more people find your content by enhancing SEO. When your website ranks high, you’ll likely drive more traffic to your online store.  

Increased traffic leads to better user engagement and SEO rankings. This enables a company to generate more leads which may translate to higher conversion rates.  

2. Helps You To Reach A Wide Audience

Today, there are several people living with different forms of disability. These include visual impairments, hearing disorders, mental disabilities, and motor disabilities, among others. It’d be best if you considered bringing such groups on board to help grow your business as well.  

Improving your web accessibility enables you to accommodate everyone, including people with disabilities. Therefore, you’ll be able to reach out and connect with an enormous audience. Although it’s not practically possible to design a website for everyone, a few improvements can assist people with disabilities to browse your website with ease.  

3. Ensures You Get More Customers

Your company’s long-term growth majorly depends on the number of customers you serve. The more customers, the higher the chances of generating more sales. This helps enhance your cashflows for your company to remain afloat.  

As noted in the previous sub-section accessible website ensures you connect with more people with disabilities. This helps you to generate quality leads and grow your customer base. 

You also need to note that many businesses haven’t considered making their websites accessible to people with disabilities. This gives you a competitive edge, and you’ll likely get more customers.  

4. Enhances User Experience

If you’re looking for effective ways to improve user experience, you should consider working on your web accessibility. With a better user experience, you’ll likely attract more clients and promote your retention rate.  

In enhancing your web accessibility, you’ll likely discover some major problems affecting online visitors. Once you discover and correct those mistakes, you’ll enhance user experience. This ensures you minimize bounce rates on your website.  

5. Helps Build A Positive Public Relationship

Today, many customers live to associate themselves with a brand that shares their values. Many potential customers will likely find assistance from your competitors if disappointed with your actions. Poor web accessibility is a major reason most people will walk away from you. By enhancing web accessibility, you’ll be creating a positive reputation for your brand.  

Moreover, disabled people with better relationships with you will likely spread the word about your products or services to their relatives and friends. All these helps you to build positive public relations.  

One of the best ways to attract people with disability and build positive public relations is to describe the steps you intend to take to improve your web accessibility. Anyone who sees such will know you’re willing and committed to accommodating groups with disabilities.  

6. Boosts Your Marketing Efforts

Although you might have high-quality products or services, you may not sell without marketing. Nevertheless, marketing can be expensive and will likely take much of your funds. So why not find free ways to promote the visibility of your business? You can achieve that by improving your web accessibility.  

There are many organizations committed to supporting people with disabilities. So, making your website accessible to disabled people exposes your brand to those institutions associated with them. And that provides a free marketing strategy to increase your brand’s awareness.  

Takeaway

Although web accessibility is designed to help people with disabilities, there are many other benefits to taking this initiative. These include enhancing SEO, reaching an enormous audience, enhancing user experience, building positive public relations, and so on.

You can implement several strategies to promote web accessibility. These include using colours appropriately, increasing page loading time, optimizing the site for voice searches, including captions and text transcripts, and simplifying website designs.  

 

News, Web Design

8 Top Bootstrap Video Templates for Creating a Responsive Website

Even experienced web developers may struggle when building a responsive site from scratch. To save time, they use templates created by experienced web designers and customize them to their liking. Bootstrap is a convenient framework used by many web developers. It is perfect for building mobile-friendly eCommerce platforms, landing pages, and portfolio sites. Below, we have listed the 8 best Bootstrap video templates that will help you build a responsive site without wasting much time.

What Is Bootstrap

This framework was initially released in 2011. Since then, more and more web developers started to use it. These days, there are plenty of templates based on this framework that make it easier to add videos to a website.

Bootstrap allows you to make your web design clean and consistent. The repository gets regularly updated, which explains the growth of its popularity among web developers on GitHub.

Top 8 Bootstrap Templates for Building a Site

There is a variety of Bootstrap templates available online. To help you save time, we have narrowed down the selection. Below, you will find easy-to-customize templates that will come in handy for web developers who need to create sites with videos.

Using these templates, you can create attention-grabbing landing pages with video backgrounds. Regardless of the area that you specialize in, you will find what you are looking for on this list.

#1 Buzz – Lifestyle Blog Theme

This template allows you to create over 2K of different versions of your homepage. Besides being compatible with Gutenberg, this Bootstrap-based template comes with a handy sidebar maker. It can be translated into other languages. Using it, you can create a design for your blog or online magazine.

#2 Berg – With Parallax effects

If you own a restaurant business, this template is what you need. It was written using CSS3 and HTML5, which makes it quite lightweight. This template makes it easier to add video backgrounds and Parallax effects to your site.

#3 DAdmin – Widely-Used Bootstrap Admin Template

This template was created with the help of the Bootstrap 4.1.1 framework. It allows you to build a responsive website with a streamlined design that can be accessed from different browsers.

#4 Lead Injection – For Creating Landing Pages

This customizable template will save you a lot of time. You can select different layouts and use a convenient Redux admin panel. The template is WPML and translation-ready as well as includes 800+ font icons.

#5 Expro – A Template for One-Page Sites

If you want to create a stylish HTML5-based site for a portfolio, take a closer look at this template. It will help you build a simple site based on Bootstrap and add a video to it.  In addition, you may add parallax and particle backgrounds. In case you are wondering how to add picture to a video, make sure to use dedicated software.

#6 Andior – A Collection of Bootstrap Templates

In this pack, you will find 100+ website templates and 13+ homepages that are perfectly suitable for building eCommerce stores and portfolios with a responsive design. In addition, you may use them for building a corporate site.

#7 IRA – Template With an Artistic Touch

This template has an edgy design and includes many elements that make it quite interactive. If you use it, your website will be easy to customize. It integrates with Campaign Monitor, MailChimp, and iContact. You can use AJAX forms and add mesmerizing background videos.

#8 Flone – Bootstrap-based Template for eCommerce Sites

This template was created specifically for eCommerce websites. It allows you to create 40+ pages, including 10+ homepages, 17+ eCommerce store pages, and 6+ blog pages. Your site will be accessible from different browsers and devices, including mobile ones. Use it to create an easy-to-navigate eCommerce site and boost your sales.

Summing Up

With the help of these templates, you can build a responsive website with a well-thought-out design and convenient layout. You can customize them to make them more unique and add various integrations. All of them allow you to add background videos to your site.

 

 

 

Healthcare, News, Web Design

England and Chelsea osteopath’s clinic flexes digital muscle as creative agency’s website rebrand sees 93 per cent rise in online enquiries

OSTEOPATH Carl Todd is used to seeing success after working with England and Chelsea footballers but he has been blown away by the results of a digital campaign to support his healthcare clinics.

Dr Todd and his wife Mel, who run healthcare clinics offering osteopathy, physiotherapy, sports massage, acupuncture and podiatry in Swindon, Corsham, Melksham and London, have seen enquiries up by 93 per cent since working with Chippenham creative agency Milk & Tweed.

The couple wanted a rebrand and a new website to keep pace with digital advances such as online bookings. The result is a fresh look and a completely rebuilt site that clocked up a 61 per cent rise in traffic in its first year.

“We are really pleased with the new site and Milk and Tweed have taken much of the pressure off Mel and I with managing that side of our business,” he said.

“It’s not just about building a website, it is managing it and making it run effectively to direct potential patients to our clinics. There doesn’t seem to be any task that seems too tedious for them if it has the right impact.”

The couple met while studying osteopathy at university in 1999 and opened their first clinic in Box in 2003 before relocating to larger premises in Corsham a few years later. The clinics in Swindon, London and, most recently Melksham, have been opened as a result of patient demand.

“We wanted to rebrand our business, over the past 19 years, we’ve had four or five different websites. We were keen on something modern, fresh and easy to navigate,” he said. “Milk & Tweed have laid everything out to plan and hit every marker we’ve asked of them.”

Dr Todd divides his time between helping his wife and their team of 17 clinicians treat patients at their clinics alongside working with elite athletes. He has been providing his services for the England team since being called in by then physio Gary Lewin in 2005.

He began working with Chelsea in 2008 and has travelled the world with the London club, including the recent World Club Cup in Abu Dhabi, and is looking forward to his fifth FIFA World Cup this year with the England national team.

He also works with British World 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith and will be supporting her at the upcoming European and World Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

But he stresses to his team that their patients in Wiltshire are just as important as those on the world stage. “I didn’t intend to work in elite sport, it just happened along the way,” he said. “I feel extremely loyal to our patients in Wiltshire who have supported our clinics over the years”.

“Every patient we treat is offered the same level of care as the top sportsmen and women.

“I get a real buzz out of working in our clinics because as clinicians, we all want to help people and that’s what’s really important. Educating patients and providing a pathway or strategy towards helping them is essential. All our practitioners train together regularly for their own continued professional development and this ensures that, as a team, we maintain a strong clinical ethos and practise with a similar philosophy for each patient’s care”.

Milk & Tweed creative director Jake Jeffries said working with the Carl Todd Clinics team has been rewarding. “We began with rebranding and I was really delighted when Carl was pleased with the logo and colour scheme we came up with.

“From there the relationship has really built and we went on to design the site and the online booking system, run his social media, utilise email marketing and use Search Engine Optimisation to make sure his blogs reach people. We’ve seen the blog traffic rise by 449 per cent year on year and referrals from Google increase by 365 per cent.

“We’ve been working on Carl’s marketing for more than a year and the results are a testament to the long-term benefits of making a plan and sticking to it.”

Dr Todd added: “We are absolutely delighted that Milk & Tweed have made a real impact on our business. We see a very good spread of new patient enquiries around all our clinics and that is really encouraging.”

Find out more about the clinics at www.carltoddclinics.com and about Milk & Tweed at milkandtweed.com.

Pictured: Osteopath Carl Todd, right, with Milk & Tweed Creative Director Jake Jeffries

News, Web Design

How To Find The Right Web Developer For Your Business

Websites are one of the essential elements any business can invest in nowadays. A solid online presence boosts the company’s image and draws more customers to invest in its products or services.

When something affects the bottom line, businesses need to take extra care of it or lose their income alternatively. A website may be the first contact that potential clients have with the company, and first impressions are crucial for the brand’s reputation. 

Finding the right web developer for your business could improve the influx of customers, their experience with your company, and the probability of repeat purchases. The question remains: How do we find the right one?

  • Look At All The Options

Each web developer would have its unique design style, and it would need to match the vision you have for the company. A mismatch here is visible to customers visiting the website. They will quickly see that the way the website communicates differs from how the company operates, which could lead to distrust.

Finding a developer online could make the search effortless, with many to choose from at any given time. Companies should look for developers that can integrate their ideas and improve the brand image.

 

  • Use Listings And Portfolios For Reputable Finds

Asking for a design portfolio is not too forward. Companies need to know that the developer has produced quality websites before and will do so again for their business. Reputable web developers would be able to provide all the information needed to decide. 

Alternatively, you could go fishing for developers with a good reputation. Companies that contact Lisnic for web development agencies and other online listing sites as well, have seen how easy it is to find developers with years of experience in the field.

  • Ask For References

Friends and business associates may be good sources of information about web developers. Even if friends don’t have direct contact with the web developer, they would likely be familiar with a good, working website that they enjoyed visiting.

Associates provide insights into the process and how they found working with their developer. Discussing their experiences with them could prevent pitfalls in the process.

Companies are also free to ask the developer themselves for references to other company websites they have developed. This way, a first-hand experience can provide more information and an idea of what the finished product could look like once the site launches.

  • Question Their Work Process

Web developers should be able to answer all the questions potential clients pose to them. Like any other business, web development isn’t a niche everyone would understand. Gaining knowledge about the process would help companies form a good idea of what they can expect.

During the initial conversations with the web developer, ask all the questions needed to avoid having surprise costs later. 

  • Inquire About Their Services

Not all developers would offer the same services at the same prices. Companies often underestimate the effort to design a fully functional, visibly pleasing website. Business requirements differ.

Although it’s possible to add services later, it may come at additional costs. Developers should be open and honest during their feedback and explain how the different services they could add to the website would benefit the company.

A standard service to look for with any developer is that they optimize the site with SEO strategies so that more customers can find the website when searching online. It’s worth noting that not all developers have this in their repertoire.

  • Decide On The Budget

There should be expectations regarding the amount a company wants to spend on web development, but it has to be kept in mind that there may be unexpected costs throughout the process. Someone unfamiliar with the process would have to get all the information before setting up a budget.

  • Sign A Written Agreement

An agreement between two parties is vital for the relationship between them to be fair and equal. In a world where a gentleman’s agreement is not enough, written agreements are king, and it ensures that everyone gets what they hope for from the process. 

If web developers are not open to signing an agreement, they may not be the ones you’re looking to trust.

 

The Takeaway

Now that almost everyone has access to the internet, a website is critically important to companies worldwide. A well-designed website would improve the image of a company and promote its brand for increased sales. 

A reputable web developer with years of experience gives the best advice regarding what companies need for a workable, streamlined, and visually pleasing website for their clients. Businesses that follow the tips mentioned here should be able to walk away with an excellent return of investment with a website that works perfectly well.

News, PR and SEO, Web Design

RAF Benevolent Fund launches new web platform

The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund has launched a new web platform https://www.rafbf.org/ to drive more online donations and provide a comprehensive audience-focused resource that can better support those who need the charity’s services.

The new platform has been designed and developed by digital experience agency Access.

The RAF Benevolent Fund assists veterans and serving Royal Air Force personnel with welfare support. This also extends to their families.

The new website introduces innovative technical features including a support finder tool, which provides faster access to relevant pages; a new online beneficiary form to replace a PDF process and a Progressive Web App to enable quick app installation to devices.

Site editors can also easily create and update microsite pages using the new platform. Microsites include RAF Widows’ Association, the RAF Disabled Holiday Trust and the Alexander Duckham Memorial Schools Trust. These microsites contain alternative brand colours and content. The build process included utilising a colour palette option in a settings area for the content types, and setting up a series of pages and content related to one site, where site editors can alter the colour palette for each page.

Ruth Patterson, Digital Engagement Manager, from the RAF Benevolent Fund said:
“Through in-depth audience research and user feedback we have created a web platform that will better meet the needs of all of our audiences. Our website serves two core functions, and we’ve facilitated the best user journeys for each.

“For those wanting to support us, the means to donate or get involved in fundraising is a much simpler, audience-focused journey. We’ve developed a suite of features that will help us to build stronger ongoing relationships with supporters, and promote
advocacy to get involved with us.

“For those that need support, we’ve expanded our services to beneficiaries and improved accessibility to our resources so that they are clear and easy to find. Our new site also hosts an array of content so being able to access this in a more intuitive way is a huge step forward.”

Patrick Hamilton, Operations Director at Access, said:

“Central to the new platform is that different user’s needs have been considered at all stages of the journey, alongside a fresh and inspiring design. Our development process began with in-depth audience research, creating personas and holding interviews, before moving on to prototyping and validation.

“Using our Drupal experience we’ve created a best-in-class experience that is both user friendly and easy to manage, to meet all of the charity’s objectives including a need for greater efficiency and measurability. Accessibility and the user journey is front and centre at all stages, alongside a fresh and inspiring design.”

 

News, Web Design

The Top Principles in Design You Should Follow for Your Website in 2021

The best websites will always have one thing in common: they will all exhibit great design. Good design is the core of your website’s success, and it will only be effective if you make it a point to follow some proven principles when it comes to design. For example, if your website is confusing and overwhelming and you can’t seem to retain visitors long enough for them to convert to leads, it may have something to do with your design. In fact, it may be precisely because of it! But what can you do to improve its design and ensure its success in this day and age? Here are the top principles in design you should follow for your website in 2021

 

  • The importance of hierarchy

Visual hierarchy is one of the most critical design aspects for any website, and it’s a fundamental requirement. Know that some portions of your site are more crucial than others, so you want your visitors to pay attention to these portions through forms, calls to action, and propositions.

You can create visual hierarchy through colour, size, contrast, imagery, white space, typography, style, and texture, as explained by the creative website designers from Expre Digital Ltd. It helps you provide a focal point for your site visitors to see the most essential info easily. For instance, if you want to improve your calls to action, do it with different sizes, fonts, styles, and colours from the rest of your site copy.

 

  • Accessibility as a priority

You can’t afford to ignore the importance of accessibility, either. Once visitors arrive at your website, can they easily access the information they need? Your site should showcase legible text and display colours that are not too strong or harsh. Your site background should also blend seamlessly with your content and mustn’t overpower it.

In terms of accessibility, ensure that your website is also easily accessible through various devices, from tablets to smartphones and laptops and desktops. You should also be consistent with your menus and recommend fixes if visitors make any errors, and use labels and headings that are clear and legible. You can even go as far as offering different ways to find your site pages and make sure that the focus on your keyboards is clear and visible as well.

 

  • The relevance of white space

In the 90s, website owners were all about cramming their websites from top to bottom with an overwhelming array of information. But designers have always stood for the relevance of white space, and white space is crucial if you want your site to appeal to users and grab their attention. If your site is too complex and cluttered, your visitors will undoubtedly become overwhelmed, failing to see and understand your main message and take action. A clean and simple website has been proven better by science, and negative (or white) space is another fundamental principle you should follow.

 

To give you a better idea: it’s the space you often see between margins, graphics, copy, columns, and other site visuals, and it lets your pages breathe.

 

  • The Golden Ratio rule

Lastly, remember the Golden Ratio – it’s a time-tested principle in design that is still as reliable and relatable today as ever. When you follow this pattern, which is naturally occurring, it will make your site more appealing and pleasing as well.

 

Image attributed to Pixabay.com