Website Design & Development
Whether it’s improving what you’ve got, developing or integrating functionality, or just starting from scratch – I’ll make sure you do it in the right way.
How to design and build a good website
Over the last 20 years I’ve been responsible for delivering over 500 websites with my team of designers and developers. In that time technology and technique has changed, but the fundamentals to delivering a good website haven’t.
Finding a good agency to build your website
Website agencies are ubiquitous these days, there are no official qualifications or skills that you need to call yourself a website designer, so with a website agency on almost every corner, how do you work out who is good, bad and ugly?
Very good web design skills are rare and while there are many good and competent designers out there, very few agencies use a good balance of data, psychology and user experience. But there are some good ones out there, to help you work out who knows their stuff, follow my 6 rules.
My 6 rules of a good website
1) Understanding of the users needs
At the heart of every good website is the understanding of the end users needs. Why are they there, what are they looking for, and how can I make their journey as easy as possible. Understanding your users and being able to pre-empt their needs and wants so that they have a smooth journey moving through your site is more than common sense, it’s good customer service.
2) Basic principles of psychology
Our human brains seem to be hard wired to the Golden ratio (a mathematical ratio found throughout nature) and when this is applied to design, it often results in organic and natural looking design that is pleasing to the eye. When you combine this with Hicks Law (paring back the choices users can make) and Occam’s Razor (the simplest option is often the best) the resulting website is often much more effective.
3) Define your commercial objectives
The commercial outputs, be this sales, enquiries, bookings, signups or whatever they may be, should be central to the design. With clearly defined user journeys in place, calls to actions should always be guiding the users so that the commercial outcomes are achieved.
4) Search engine optimisation
SEO – ‘I love the look of my website, but it doesn’t rank well in Google’ – A good website should not just fulfil the needs of the user and organisation, but it should also follow Google’s guidelines for SEO. Relevant, structured and human centric content, with clear semantic markup will ensure that Google can also access and index the site.
5) Speed and technology
Beautiful 4K images and widescreen videos look great, but they need to be implemented correctly to ensure that Google doesn’t penalise your site for being slow. Excessive code, often found in themes and templated websites can also impact how fast your pages load. A good bench mark is to aim for at least 85/100 on desktop and 65/100 on mobile using Google’s developer speed test.
6) Good eye for design
Icebreaker
In order to find out if we’re the right kind of fit for each other, I ask all clients to fill out my icebreaker. This allows me to follow up with meaningful responses so that we can get down to roots of where you need help.
The true purpose of design is to solve a problem, not to make things look pretty, but with that said, how your website looks is of massive importance. Without a doubt a designer with a good eye for photography, layout and typography is worth their weight in gold.
A successful website combines good customer centric content, aesthetically pleasing design and photography, intuitive navigation and clear ‘calls to action’.
My 7 steps on how to get a good website
Write a good brief
Writing a good brief so that you can easily go out to tender is essential, if you don’t have a template do a search online, there are lots of good free ones available.
Define what good is
A good website is not just one that looks good. Use my 6 rules above to help define what you are looking for and build this into your questions when talking to agencies or freelancers.
Choose the right tech
From bespoke builds in .NET, Python, Java or Ruby or CMS builds in WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Magenta. Deciding which tech platform to use should really be considered before you go out to get quotes as agencies often specialise in a particular technology.
Set a budget
You’ll find that many agencies won’t even respond if you don’t set a budget. Setting a budget says you’re serious about the project and want a proper quote.
Think ‘partnership’
From independent designers/developers through to large agencies, you should be looking for a partner who will work with you for the next few years, not someone who will just deliver what you need now.
Set expectations
What matters to you? An improved conversion rate, better rankings in Google, more sales or enquiries, more visitors, a lower cost per acquisition? – Set these expectations clearly in the brief and measure success by them.
Launch and improve
Your website will never be 100% perfect. Get all the basics right (design, code, SEO, content, useability, speed) but don’t fret if it’s not 100% – it’s better to launch at 95% and then keep working on improving it.
What to look out for
It’s really not so much as what you need your website to have, but more about what your web designer / developer or agency knows. Their knowledge and expertise will determine what goes into your site and what will ultimately result in a successful or unsuccessful project. However, there are some basic things to look out for as you go out to tender.
Good signs – your agency knows their stuff!
Lots of questions – Good agencies will have a scoping document and will collect a whole raft of information on your organisation as well as profiling your customers.
Setting expectations – A good agency will ask about your expectations, take down your KPI’s and agree shared achievable objectives for the project.
Research – A good agency will ask for access to Google analytics – they will want to see your current marketing plan and get an understanding of your current digital footprint.
A clear schedule – The old saying of failing to plan is planning to fail rings true. Seeing a clear delivery schedule is a prerequisite for starting a website project.
A project manager – Designers and developers often are not good project managers, good agencies tend to have a dedicated project manager who will manage the delivery and your expectations.
Content writers – An agency with inhouse copy writers is a good sign, not just that they realise content is key, but having this resource will be valuable and will help ensure your project is delivered on time.
User journeys – talking about and seeing evidence of user journey planning is a positive confirmation that this is being thought about in the design.
Process – Seeing a clear process for your project and understanding the key sign off stages such as research, wireframes, design, development and testing, is a sure fire way of knowing that the agency knows what they are doing.
Bad signs – your agency isn’t that clued up!
Timescales – Anyone promising to deliver your site in less than 4 weeks should be treated with caution – In my experience a quality job takes between 8-16 weeks.
Free mockups – Some agencies do free mockups to get the work. You can’t blame them for being keen, but most good agencies get paid to do work. Is there a reason why they are giving it away for free?
Content– Content is often the downfall of a project. If this is not discussed early on with the needs and responsibilities clarified, be cautious.
Costs – clear and broken down costs showing time and day rates is normal. A lumped together price should be a warning sign.
Bigger picture – If all talk is about design then they may be missing the bigger picture of what the commercial outcomes need to be.
SEO is done after – Good SEO is always part of a website build. It’s never an afterthought or a job tagged on to the end, so they should be asking about this at the briefing stage.
Rankings and ratings – Do they have a good ranking in Google and do they have good reviews? If they can’t deliver the results for their own website, will they be able to for yours?
Frequently asked questions
The price of a website often depends on who is building it and of course how big the project is. Using a freelancer or contractor can be the cheapest route, but only if they are managed correctly. Most agencies typically charge 3-4 times what a freelancer or contractor would. Agency prices vary enormously, often increasing with the agency size, location or specialism.
UK digital agencies tend to charge between £300-£1200 a day. Agency prices vary enormously, often increasing with the agency size, location or specialism. If you are looking to work with an agency on a retained basis try negotiating a discounted day rate.
If you signed a contract, the details of the copyright should be contained in there, but beware, if you used an agency or contractor, then legally the copyright belongs to the creator of the work. So, unless you specifically requested ownership within the contract, you probably don't own the copyright for the creative and code of your website.
It's rare (but not impossible) to find individual with the right skill set to deliver an entire website, so bringing someone in-house isn't always the right thing to do. A good agency will have a mix of marketing, creative and development skills which is what is often required to deliver a website project.
There are dozens of content management systems out there. I normally advise people to choose a platform that has been widely accepted, is well supported by other agencies and has a good development roadmap. I normally recommend WordPress - with 28 Million websites, it's the largest CMS and is 10 times larger that it's nearest competitor.
This depends on your priorities as a business, type of product or service that you are selling and what your budget is. I normally recommend WooCommerce, which is based on WordPress, the basic plugin is free and it is very well supported. Shopify is also good, but not as flexible as WooCommerce in my opinion.
That depends on how big the project is. Small projects can be delivered by freelancers and agencies in just 4 weeks, but larger projects tend to take 12-16 weeks.
How I can help
From small boutique sites, through to large corporations, over the last 20 years I’ve delivered over 500 websites with my team of designers and developers. If you’re looking for some independent advice about your website, want to find out how I help people, or just want to pick my brain about a project – drop me a line, i’d be delighted to have a chat.
