12 | Greenstone business august 2017
12 | Greenstone business august 2017
The importance of a( good) website
When searching to find a service or product, the majority of people begin and end their search online. Why? The internet offers easy access to an array of shared knowledge – the good, the bad, and everything in between. We put some common questions to Paul Nicolson from Electro Web Design to find out more about creating websites:
Q I want a website for my business / blog – what are the first steps? In addition to considering all of the visual elements that go into creating a website, the first step would be to define what function you would like your website to perform. Will you be selling products directly from your website or is the goal to direct customers to your brick and mortar store? This goal will differ from business to business and determining what you want your site to achieve is critical in ensuring your website’ s success. Once the planning phase has been completed we can then move on to the design phase where we look at layout, content and images.
Q Why is a website important for a business? A website adds credibility and weight to your business. Most businesses have a Facebook page, but by investing in a professionally designed, well thought out website you can immediately put your business’ image above the competition. The time and money spent working with a professional web designer will definitely be noticed by customers. Having a professional, user friendly, and mobile friendly website can definitely be make or break when it comes to customers making a purchase.
Q What makes for a successful website? In the context of business websites, a website would be considered successful if it gen-
erates leads and sales by reaching the appropriate target audience and inspiring action. People get preoccupied by measuring the success of a site by the quantity of site visitors, but the real measure of success is in what percentage of these visitors take the next step and make a purchase or send through an inquiry. We work with and advise our clients on what steps to take to ensure that their website not only looks amazing, but performs well too.
Q How much does it generally cost to get a functioning website online? Prices vary quite a bit depending on the unique requirements of each project, and as with most things you do get what you pay for. For a basic business landing page prices generally start at R4 950 including hosting. Online stores, magazines, and sites with custom functionality can cost more depending on the amount of work required.
Q Are websites easy to keep updated – can someone without any experience do it? At Electro Web Design we build websites using the Wordpress content management system. The biggest advantage of using a content management system is that once the design and development phase has been completed the site can be updated with a very minimal learning curve. Editing text and adding images are all fairly straightforward, and we offer great support when it comes to assisting clients with more in-depth changes.
Q What‘ maintenance’ needs to be done on a website to keep it fresh? For a website to stay current we would recommend an annual design update. This will ensure that your website always looks fresh and in line with the latest web design trends. In addition to this, we also handle the daily, weekly and monthly updates to the software behind our clients’ websites to ensure that everything keeps working smoothly.
Q Okay, so now I have my site up on the world wide web, how do I get people to visit it? One of the best ways to get people to visit any website is by providing visitors with quality content. For example, if you run a plumbing business your website could feature a section with water saving tips and tricks. For an online store your website could offer customers in-depth reviews of products. Using content to engage with customers and ideally build up a mailing list is a great way to keep people coming back to your website, and it is a major factor for ranking well in online search results. about Electro Web Design
Paul Nicolson is the freelance designer / online marketing expert behind Electro Web Design. He started designing websites in 2009 and ever since the beginning he’ s been fascinated with the internet and how connected the world has become. In his capacity as a freelance designer he has created websites for small businesses, non-profit organisations, churches and online magazines. The process of dealing with people from so many different backgrounds and with so many unique goals is what he finds most thrilling about creating websites.
“ The reason I started Electro Web Design was to bring effective, reliable web design to entrepreneurs with an emphasis on giving each client and each project a uniquely personal touch, free of call centres and support tickets,” he says.
For more information, visit www. electrowebdesign. co. za, email paul @ electrowebdesign. co. za or call 078-918-1561.