It's a question most businesses face at some stage: Rely on off-the-shelf software or commission bespoke tools for the job?
Often, it comes down to a matter of cost. But does packaged software really save you money in the long run? Let's take a look at some of the reasons to consider getting tailored software:
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Have you seen the Microsoft Certified Partner badges on some web development company sites and wondered what they mean?
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Content management systems can free your business from having to phone up the web developers every time you need a website change. They can empower your creative, editorial and marketing teams.
Yet, there is a bewildering array of CMS options out there – and it's hard to know what to look for. At the very least, your CMS should let you:
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Sometimes it seems like there are more web designers in London than there are traffic wardens. Yet, it can be harder to find the right agency than it is to grab a decent parking space.
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Business + social media. Is that a hard equation to make work?
Well, companies as diverse as shoe retailers (Zappos) wine sellers (Stormhoek) and news sites (The Telegraph) have found ways to expand using online social networks.
It's not about jumping on every latest fad. It's also not about shoehorning in social tools that don't fit with your business style. Some methods will work for you, some won't.
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Sure, Flash can look stunning. For certain businesses (like media companies, games sites etc.) it's a brilliant way to show off animated content. For other organisations, Flash clips can inject movement and life into otherwise static pages.
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Most successful shops freshen up their front window display regularly.
Yet, many businesses don't change their website until it's absolutely essential. And by that time they may have lost out on countless new sales and opportunities.
But how do you know when it's the right time to change?
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It may sound like something out of The Terminator films, but in fact a robots.txt file can help you streamline your site for the search engines.
The robots in question are the various programmes that search engines use to crawl and index sites. These are sometimes called “bots”, “spiders” or “crawlers” - and different search engines use different versions.
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Imagine you're settling down with a reference book or newspaper. You want to find a particular article. But, in the reference book there are no chapter headings or index. The newspaper has no headlines.
You'd probably struggle to find the most relevant content, right?
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A website without good content is like a shell without the oyster. It may be nice to look at – but where's the nourishment?
Web content refers to all the useful text, video, audio or images on your site. So what do you miss out on if you don't have good content?
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So, you're thinking of commissioning or updating a market research website?
It pays to consider some of the functionality and features that could help you attract many more users and delight your client brands.
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Training and assessment websites are excellent ways of filtering job candidates, developing staff skills, or offering tutorials for new software systems. But what's the right way to approach training website design?
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What makes a successful eCommerce site? No matter what your product or market, some core website development principles apply.
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Pay Per Click advertising (or PPC), can be one of the most powerful and cost effective ways to get traffic to your site.
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Thousands of websites are putting themselves at risk of litigation in ways that are very easy to rectify. Instead of wading through mountains of paperwork and guidelines, here are five quick areas where your business website could be falling short of the law.
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Have you ever clicked a link or search result and arrived at a webpage – only to leave quickly when you realise it doesn't have what you need?
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As much of the web continues to move from static to dynamic content, many automatically generated URLs result in clunky strings of numbers and script parameters.
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Credit crunches, recessions, depressions, bank collapses, job losses - the papers have made for pretty gloomy reading lately. In fact, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the economy has rewound to the 1930s.
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Whether for registration, site login, newsletter signup, contact or buying products, forms are everywhere online.
However. many webmasters don't consider the effect that their website forms could be having on their customer conversion rates. And of course, the more people that are completing your forms (whatever they are) – the more profitable your business can become.
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Understanding intellectual property and copyright is tough at the best of times. On the internet these issues can be even more confusing. However, it's important to get a grasp of key IP rights online to protect your business, and avoid any possible legal trouble.
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Your website is the online face of your business – so it's important to look your best. However, it's not enough just to look nice. Business websites, particularly e-commerce driven sites, need solid, reliable and secure coding and development under the hood.
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According to AdMob, the iPhone has an 8% share of the market in terms of handsets sold – yet their users generate 65% of mobile web traffic. Make no mistake: Apple's latest baby is changing the face of mobile web access.
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You've probably seen RSS icons on all kinds of websites, from the BBC to personal blogs. But, have you ever considered how RSS can be used on your own website?
RSS can be a great business tool – even if you're not a media portal or news site with endlessly updated content!
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Accessibility is one of the big buzzwords of web design. But, how many businesses only pay lip-service to the idea and don't implement standards that make it easier for disabled visitors to use their site? Maybe you're wondering how you go about performing an accessibility audit?
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If you could take your website to a virtual mechanic, would it fail its MOT?
W3C standards effectively help you measure the “road worthiness” of your website. While you may not face a stiff fine for operating outside W3C guidelines (though there is that possibility), compliance can make your website leaner, more efficient – and much better for your business.
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Customers love to hear from other customers. Yet testimonials are an under-appreciated way to build trust and credibility online. They can even help you tell people how great you are without sounding like an arrogant bore! But what's the best way to go about featuring testimonials?
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Imagine a man arrives at the door asking to check your gas meter. So far, so normal. Except that this time the man isn't wearing overalls, he's wearing jeans and trainers. He isn't carrying a clipboard. He doesn't have an obvious identification tag. In fact, when you ask for ID, he looks through his pockets and says he can't find it. You ask him his name and he won't even tell you that.
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How do you go about building a site that fits with your brand and your business goals? Here are a few things to consider before you get started on the design and development
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With a web development project plan hurdles can be foreseen, targets can be met, and the best possible website delivered. Any professional web design company should have a tried and tested method to follow. (Usually, the longer a company has been around the longer they've had to refine this process.)
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Every website has a purpose. In the case of an eCommerce site, it's to make sales. A news site may exist to make content readable and searchable. Facebook allows friends to share updates online. Whatever a site's purpose, its design should focus on allowing users to achieve the stated goals.
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Many businesses still view their websites as digital brochures - just static marketing pages summarising their great selling points. However, while the branding may be the same, websites and brochures are fundamentally different beasts.
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Love it or hate it, Twitter is now well and truly part of the mainstream. However, as with every new social media darling, it's left marketers scratching their heads and wondering: “how can we use this thing for our products or clients?”
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User-generated content has changed the way companies do business forever. The top-down marketing of twenty years ago no longer works. Customers now expect interaction, community – and to be able to give their own opinion on products and services.
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Are we in the age of the spam avalanche? Some reports suggest that up to 85% of all emails are spam related. California legislature claims that spam cost US organisations over $13billion in 2007 alone.
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Are websites like clothes? Do they start to look tired after a few years? There are some sites out there that seem stuck in a time-warp. Designed with tables, big blocks of text and no interactive functions whatsoever.
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We're now seeing the first generations of teens and young adults that have grown up with the internet. For them it's an essential way to do homework, find music, play games, connect with friends, read up on sports teams, find relevant news, read up on issues which affect them, and buy a wide variety of goods.
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Web design is not solely a creative or a technical skill – it's a combination of both. The best web design agencies have the ideas and the visual flair to make your website look fantastic.
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You've paid to have your website designed and it looks great. Your message is clear, you're getting plenty of site visitors, your CMS is working smoothly and your e-commerce functions are all set up.
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Some industries fit perfectly with the way the web works. Recruitment companies, with their need to reach a wide audience fast, post regular job opportunities and target specific regions and markets, are one such industry.
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