Web Design Services lichfield birmingham, staffordshire the midlands

A Full Website Design, Build, SEO & Marketing Service

We are effective because we...

Design websites that work - for high appeal and usability
Optimise for search engine visibility - SEO
Help you with the critical Backlink building process
Help you write search friendly, keyword rich content
Create web graphics, digital videos and eBooks
Provide detailed site performance and visitor traffic data
Can service manage your e-commerce, RSS, Blogs, emails
Advise on and assist with online marketing strategies
Can manage Google Adwords and Facebook Advertising, email and viral marketing, etc

In other words - we provide most of the crucial services needed for online marketing success - not often found within in one company.

We also like to keep things simple; that's why we won't be bothering you with the inner workings of XHTML, CSS, XML, JavaScript, DHTML, FTP, etc - see you're bored already! www.w3.org or Wikipedia is the place to go if you want to know how it all works.

We work with clients all over the UK - particularly The Midlands, Birmingham, Staffordshire, Lichfield, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Sutton Coldfield, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Coventry, Nottingham, Warwickshire, London and the South East. International clients hire us for targeting the UK market.

The Basic Concepts of Web Design

Content: should be relevant to the website and aimed at its target market.
Usability: user-friendly with simple and reliable navigation.
Appearance: the graphics and text should be in a consistent style that flows throughout - professional, appealing and relevant.
Visibility: a website's pages must be easy to find using search engines.

Website Objectives, Design & Build Processes

The first step is for us to work together on a Project Brief which will include -

What are you trying to achieve with your internet strategy?
What does your offering, service or product help people do?
Who is your target market? Where are they?
What is unique about your offering? Why should people be interested?
What are your competitors doing?
What features will your website need?
What should your communication strategy include? Etc

Using a Project Brief we can help you construct an Online Marketing Plan. We know the issues and the questions that need answers; so don’t worry, call us now for a chat about what you’re trying to achieve and we’ll try to fit it around your budget.

Written Content & Keywords

The content in your website is very important as it either helps or hinders your visitor's efforts to find what they want. Written content should appeal to both the reader and search engines - but without too much compromise to either. Don't just lift wording from your brochures.

For search engine marketing purposes you need the right density of carefully chosen keywords and semantically related words that your target market is likely to use when searching for your type of offering. We provide keyword research and can assist with writing optimised content too if you are lost for the right words.

Web Design - Style, Graphics and Video

Put simply - your web site should look good and function well. We design layouts and styles to suit our clients' particular offering. The design style should be consistent, professional, appealing and relevant. Images and videos are used to compliment the text; they should have a reason to be there and not get in the way of the overall objectives of the web site. We mostly develop tailor-made websites rather than using templates and offer our marketing advice on how a website should look, work and produce results. We design fast loading website graphics and digital videos and commission photography when needed.

Web Coding and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Once the look, feel and content of your web design have been agreed with you our designers start to write the code in XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. We check to see that your website works properly in various internet browsers - Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8, Firefox, Safari, etc; and we ensure it complies with W3C Coding Standards.

During every stage we take into account Search Engine Optimisation - SEO is another crucial aspect that is often neglected by some web designers and badly done by others. We use, ethical, up-to-date and effective SEO techniques - compulsory if you want your website to be found by people searching for something you offer. Your website is ready to go live once we've checked it all works and you are happy.

Ongoing Website Management

Our commitment to you doesn't end at the going-live date. There's usually onsite amendments and corrections you wish to make and extra content to add. Over the years we will help you ensure your site stays contemporary in terms of coding, design and functionality.

Using Google Analytics we provide regular inside information about visitor traffic and how it can be used to make onsite improvements. How users feel about your website is fundamentally important - so their feedback can also be taken into account to make necessary changes over time.

Online Marketing and Offsite Optimisation Plan

An Online Marketing and Offsite Optimisation Plan needs to be researched, produced and implemented in order to drive visitors to your site. We can help you decide on the suitable methods of promotion and produce a practical tailor-made plan.

One method is Search Engine Marketing (SEM) which includes Organic Search Engine Marketing and Pay Per Click advertising (PPC) like Google Adwords.

Organic Search Engine Marketing is about getting both your onsite and offsite optimisation strategy and tactics right; working at it regularly and amending where needed in order for your website to achieve higher and higher organic search engine ranking for the relevant keywords and phrases.

The key to appearing high in Google's organic searches is building your Google PageRank; although you still need a decent website with useful fresh content too. PageRank can be increased by gaining strong backlinks (aka inbound links) - other relevant and high ranking sites linking to yours (not you linked to them).

Ideally backlinks should come naturally over time because your site should be worth linking to. However you can set some up yourself (or ask us) - the more links the better - but "No Follow" links from for example social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube do not count for much with PageRank - although they can still generate visitors.

A link from another website with a Google PageRank of n/a or 0 doesn't help increase your PageRank either - unless it has a realistic capability of improving.

There are a few other important aspects to effective "ethical" link building - call us and we will be happy to discuss further.

Our Website Services

Online marketing advice
Domain registration
Site hosting
Keyword Research
Bespoke website design
Overhaul of an existing website
Website coding - W3C compliant
Full website managed service
E-commerce - shopping sites
Website graphics
Website videos
Content copywriting
Website performance and visitor data reporting using Google Analytics
Search engine optimisation - SEO
Backlink and PageRank building services
Search engine marketing - SEM
Google Adwords PPC management
Facebook advertising management
Affiliate marketing management
Offline publicity for websites
Content distribution e.g. RSS
E-mail systems
Online magazines - ezines
eBook creation and sales systems
Broadcast E-mail marketing systems
Blog design, set-up and management
Content management systems - CMS

Why you Need a Well Constructed Website

We all recognise the value of a website for communicating messages to the world in an effective and efficient manner - whether you have something to sell or just to keep relevant people informed.

Although the same may be true for printed communications; the difference is

A website is always there 24/7/365
Available to the world
Easier to find
Easier to update
Can be interactive
Can sell whilst you sleep
And is more effective...

...for communicating with and selling to clients, customers, readers, fans, etc.

The internet and computer technology has changed so much since we wrote and produced our first website in 1999.

Many websites still act as online brochures but are poorly written, designed, coded and search optimised.

There must be careful consideration of many factors to ensure your web site and messages are seen, read and acted upon by your target audience.

All communication, whether in print or via the internet needs the touch of a designer to enhance the textual information - making it more attractive, readable and therefore effective.

Get the strategy, design, coding, written content, SEO and promotion right and you’re well on your way to effective communication on the web.

The Rise of the Internet

Due to a combination of the global recession and the ever increasing use of the internet by consumers - commercial organisations are focusing more and more on online marketing strategies.

Traditional forms of advertising e.g. on television, in newspapers and magazines - are less effective nowadays as consumers grow more cynical, better informed and buying less printed media.

There are now many online magazines, news websites, blogs, forums and RSS feeds - taking the place of printed media.

Over the last few years there has been a massive rise in the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter - bringing more people online and more often.

The continuing spread of faster broadband services over recent years means more people are doing more online, more often and expecting more. What was impossible or unthinkable 5 years ago is now reality.

Modern Consumer Preferences and Greater use of Technology are turning the tide from Interuption Marketing to Search Marketing - Don't miss the Boat!