Wake Up! Get your website before your competitors do.
A website is not a bland online brochure— it should WORK 24/7 to bring you customers!
Many Trinidad & Tobago businesses miss this fact by not taking websites seriously- big mistake! Your customers are online looking for you but you’re not there. Putting up a simple website is not enough. You need a professionally designed website that looks great, is easy to navigate, easy to get found, that works 24/7.
More and more people turn to the internet to obtain info about the most mundane and simple things. Therefore the success of your website hinges on it’s credibility.
Website Design- For Looks!
Your website should be pure synergy- where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, one part being the visual appeal. While templates make it easier to create and configure a site, picking the right template is an art by itself.
There are literally hundreds of templates themed for specific businesses like photography, restaurant, children, fashion, technology, retail, corporate, marketing, all with their own unique styles. I normally browse through and bookmark those I think would be ideal for a certain business, so when I do get a client who needs such a website, I already have a few templates to recommend.
Website Design- For Functionality
The second part of web design is functionality. This includes the proper navigation and layout to make it easy for your visitors to find what they came for, or be pleasantly surprised to find something they never knew you had.
Navigation should also be intuitive and all your pages relevant and informative. Using suitable images for illustration, appropriate links where needed and especially perfectly visible CALLS TO ACTION to make your visitor act- either by submitting an email, or downloading something, liking your Facebook page etc. When I sign with a client, I don’t just give them a website, as we say in Trini- “for style”.
Website Design- For SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a science by itself and is big business apart from the visual aspect of website design. The fact that Google is the number one website on the planet testifies to the heavenly status of the search engine.
It’s good when your customers know where you are but what about those who don’t? All over Trinidad and Tobago customers are feverishly typing your keywords everyday. What’s your business- tyre repair, hairdresser, party supplies, clothes store, upholsterer, contractor? Don’t ever think that your business isn’t glamorous enough to have a website.
I pay careful attention to ensuring that your site’s content and structure is search engine friendly, and that all the keywords, meta descriptions, site maps, tags, links are geared towards improving your search rank. SEO is a process and I pay strict attention to these details.
10 Tips for website credibility
- Make it easy to verify the accuracy of information on your site
- Show that there’s a real organization behind your site
- Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site
- Make it easy to contact you
- Design your site so it looks professional
- Make your site easy to use- and useful
- Update your site’s content often
- Show restraint with excessive promotional content
- Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem