SEO Guides, Tips & More!

Choosing to undergo a website redesign is a huge task with many important items to consider. After all, your website is often the first “touch” that influences how prospects feel about your company and services. Simply stated, a website with poorly thought out design and functionality can get a user to leave the site as quickly as they arrived.

Great web design assures every visitor they’re about to have an enjoyable experience the moment they land on your site. When done correctly, a visitor is lead out of the unknown and into the known, because your website should quickly provide knowledge about and access to a solution that meets their needs. More so, a quality web design should lead visitors exactly where they need to go. It’s imperative the design offers every visitor specific actions to take before leaving the website, whether that’s filling out a lead generation form, subscribing, or making a phone call.

To establish a well thought out and beautifully designed website, and before any of the above can come to fruition, there are essential questions, research and considerations that must be made first. To help our clients better understand, FlashPoint Marketing has outlined these requirements below

• Does your company have a branding guide? 

Why is this important? A designer must to be able to see specific rules and guidance that has been established for your brand to translate and best interpret how your website should appear visually. The reason is because you wouldn’t want a designer to showcase your company or brand in a fashion that is unacceptable according to these guidelines. For example, if the use of illustration is frowned upon and not currently used in company marketing, you wouldn’t want a designer to use illustrations in the sliders and/or other imagery. Additionally, brand guidelines determine acceptable fonts and logo colors used as well as how the logo should be handled and the amount white space needed to surround it.

• Are there color palette requirements or preferences?

Why is this important? In addition to logo colors being defined in a branding guide, often brand guidelines define supportive color palettes that are acceptable. It is important for a designer to know what these colors are so that they can be implemented into the designs. If green is a no-no color for your brand, you wouldn’t want a designer to show you layouts with green accents. A designer wouldn’t know that green is a no-no unless they’d had previous access to the branding guide.

• Will you need a new logo, an updated logo, or no updates to the logo at all?

Why is this important? Prior to any website designs being started, it’s important for a designer to know if there will be a new logo or updated logo to be used. If a logo is going to be overhauled or updated it is needed before the designer begins the project. The reason is because a logo can have an impact on specific design considerations. This pertains to font choices as well the artistic thought process.

• What are 3 sites you like and why? What are 3 sites you dislike and why?

Why is this important? The reason it is important for a designer to see what you like and don’t like is quite simple and it boils down to time. Here are two examples:

If you know you don’t like websites that utilize megamenu dropdown systems, knowing that information before a site is in design mode is key so that a designer doesn’t waste your valuable time showing you one in their design.

If you know you like long content organized into accordions vs. big blocks of copy and you can reference a site that utilizes this style, it’s important for a designer to see that so they don’t show you something you know you don’t like or want to see.

• If you close your eyes and imagine your site, what adjectives come to mind? Organized? Symmetrical? Clean? Modern?

Why is this important?  The reason it is important for a designer to hear what you envision for the final site is because adjectives are descriptive words that translate into visuals for a creative person. 

• Do you have professional photography or will the designer need to purchase royalty free stock photography?

Why is this important? A designer likes to understand all the rules of creating a website before they begin. Hence, if you possess professional photography of your company, staff, etc. such assets should be given to the photographer before the design process begins as the images can have an impact on layout and composition of your website. If no photography exists, this allows the designer to look for royalty free photography which can support color, layout and composition choices.

Closing Thoughts

What your online design presence – or lack thereof – says about your business can mean the difference between new business and no business. Clients and prospects expect the best even before they surf into your site. In a competitive online space, a well-designed website is a clear reflection of the professionalism of your business and is the ticket to a more successful and accessible company. If you are thinking about a website redesign and would like to further discuss the process contact us today. We eat, sleep and breathe web design, content development and SEO and are happy to help.