Website design

Why you need a professionally designed web site

Virtually anyone can quickly concoct a web page in an editor such as FrontPage without much knowledge of web design. However, a site that suffers from poor code, design, functionality, bad content etc. can turn search engines away. This means they may not include it in their database of web sites.

Your web site is your shop window onto the world. Just as you would never consider printing your own advertising literature because it would look home built, a web site built by an amateur will appear just that to visitors and search engines.

Remember, just because your site is on the web it doesn't mean that people who don't know about your services can find you. Make sure your site is 'search engine friendly' so that it can easily be found on the web.

Your site needs to have a high position in the search engines. We have extensive knowledge of how search engines work and, therefore, the best way to get your site a high ranking, which takes into account all the factors outlined above. Not only that, we can also build you a great looking site!

Importance of design, colours, images... and search engines!

Web site design should always have visitor usability and appeal in mind. Above all, keep the design simple otherwise your visitors will get lost in your site and wander off... probably to your competitor's website.

When creating a website it is vitally important not to forget about your 'best friends', the search engines. For both humans and search engines it is vital to have a web site that is well built and easy to navigate.

Make sure your design company can not only build good-looking sites, but are also experts in doing what it takes to get their clients' web sites to the top of search results. Get this wrong and you could end up with a website that may look good, but sinks without trace on the internet. Designers may tell you how good their web sites are, but can they prove it?

Read more about the why search engines are a web site owner's 'best friend' »»

Every picture tells a story, or does it?

Search engines want to classify pages by text, not images. If you have a home page with a beautiful picture of mountains and just one word of text saying "Enter", then this page will not rank highly in searches for "mountain holidays", or similar search phrases.

Likewise, pages created using Flash, or purely from images are NOT search engine friendly. Flash can't be read by search engines, nor can they see what is in an image. Moreover, these types of websites are often not that user friendly either!

Remember: pictures tell, but words sell. This is largely true, although a web site without any images at all will be very tiring on the eye and dull for the user. Always try to strike a balance between informative text and images.

Can I use another site's content or pictures on my web site?

No! The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1998 was created to protect other people's hard work and intellectual property. It applies to any literary, dramatic, design (that includes web design!) , musical or artistic work, so long as the work, "exhibits a degree of skill, labour or judgement".

It makes no difference how the work is stored or published, copyright law still applies - even to content on the internet. Web pages should display a copyright notice on every page - usually at the bottom.

Under copyright law the copyright owner of a work (or his exclusive licensee) can bring legal action against the infringer. Download PDF from the UK Copyright Service [opens in a new window] with more details on how copyright works.

If you do not have suitable content for your web site we can help. We can also source reasonably-priced high-quality images if you do not have any that are suitable.

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