THE SIX KEY ELEMENTS OF WEBSITE PLANNING – PART THREE

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In our previous posts we covered the first three of the Six Key Elements of Website Planning – Mobile first indexing and Website layout design, and Content.  In this post we’re looking at the final three – Your Vision, Differentiation and how to Stand Out from the Crowd.

Hampshire Websites

Your Vision

‘Not all of us can be an idea hamster’ source

Having a vision, a complete, technicolour, all singing, all dancing knowing of exactly how your website, its content and its function is going to be is a wonderful thing. And it’s exceedingly rare!

Most of us have an idea or two about what we want. Ideas are a bit like bricks in this respect. On their own they’re not a lot of use. But put a few well made, solid one’s together with a bit of cement and you can build a castle or, in this case, a vision of your perfect website!

Think of us as the cement that’ll help glue your castle together. And we’ll usually be able to throw in some bricks too.

If you’re really stuck at the ‘I just need a new website stage’, here are a few pointers to get you started:

  • Look at what other websites in the same market sector as you are doing and pull out ideas/images/layouts/designs that pop out at you
  • Think about things that make you go ‘wow!’ Try to work out why they make you go wow! Can you use this in your project?
  • Don’t be afraid to try new things. Trust your intuition (even if you’ve never used it before.) What’s the worst that can happen!
  • Take your time, don’t rush – this is the creative process at work
  • Find a translator – someone like us – to help you winkle out those hard to describe thoughts and give them a shape in the real world (it’s what we do and it’s not as painful a process as it might sound!)

Differentiation

Aside from your unique selling point (USP) – what you do or offer that’s better than, different to, cheaper than, more exclusive than, rarer than – you get the idea – if you really want to differentiate yourself from the competition – be true to yourself.

If you want to be truly unique, have our designers create something just for you. Have fun with it. Don’t be afraid to try something that might seem a little weird. When things are different, they capture attention. (We speak from experience here, have you seen our design team?)

Oh yes, and one more thing – HAVE A CONTENT STRATEGY

Stand out from the Crowd

This is easy to say, but in the digital world to stand out from the crowd is not as easy to do. Every pound you spend on making your website the best it can be is an investment in getting your business noticed.

Most importantly – Providing a positive and rewarding experience for your clients will help you separate your brand from the online noise and can even increase brand loyalty.

What else can you do?  Talk to us about how to build and implement some, or all, of these things:

Invest in a bespoke, custom built website
Implement Strategic navigation
Remove clutter – less can be more
Use Good typography
Use great images
Play with colour
Consider Interactive designs
Consider Image animation – huge trend right now
Get creative – it really is all about you – customers love authentic
Video, video, video
Provide a resource for your customer – 80% educational, 20% promotional
Keep your website fresh and updated
Keep an eye on the competition
Focus on your USP
Make strong promises you CAN deliver
Track your metrics

And the last two things to remember:
Be consistent with your message, your tone and the look and feel of your content
Interact with your audience to build and grow

Looking to discuss all your website needs in Hampshire and beyond, then speak to the Team here at Design Image.