Websites offer a highly comprehensive and cost-effective form of advertising for businesses today. Compared with traditional methods of advertising, a professional website enables you to market your business to a far wider audience, 24 hours a day, and with minimal cost.
A website enables you to offer potential customers the convenience of researching your products or services at any time. Unlike the restrictions associated with brochures and print advertisements, a website gives you the means of providing instant access to a wealth of up-to-date information on what your business has to offer.
A website can incorporate a range of tools to help you engage with potential customers and existing customers. Use your website to share your latest news, promote special offers, feature customer reviews and generate interest with social networking. Simply including your business email or an enquiry form on your website will also enable visitors to easily contact you for further information.
Recent figures for retail sales reveal UK shoppers spent £5.3 billion online in May 2011, an impressive growth of 18% compared to May 2010 despite the economic downturn. By contrast growth in UK high street sales slumped at -0.3% for May 2011 compared to May 2010. With strong growth in internet sales set to continue the opportunities for businesses to benefit from online trading has never been greater.
Following the unprecedented success of the internet the majority of people now use the internet to search for information, products and services. If your competitors already have a website you could be missing out on potential business.
By opting for a professional website you can enjoy all the benefits the internet has to offer without needing to be an IT wizard. We take care of all the technical details leaving you to concentrate on running your business.
Websites can be designed to meet a diverse range of business objectives, including single-page advertisement sites, multi-page brochure sites and e-commerce shops, to more complex content managed sites. Similarly websites can use a variety of tools to enhance presentation and customer interaction such as audio and video galleries, social networking, email campaigns and customer logins.
How much a website costs depends greatly on the level of complexity involved, so it is helpful to have a realistic understanding of what to expect for a given budget. Website prices typically range from a few hundred pounds for a basic starter site to several thousand pounds for more complex corporate sites. At Solid Designs we ensure that our websites are built to a specification that best suits your business needs within the budget you set.
Some of the key elements involved in creating successful websites include domain names, website hosting, website development, and digital marketing.
A domain name is the name given to your website and the name that is typed into a web browser to reach your site. For example, the domain name for Solid Designs is www.soliddesigns.uk. Domain names can have different endings depending on what they represent. UK companies commonly use a .co.uk ending whilst international companies often use a .com ending and non-profit organisations such as charities use a .org ending.
Before deciding on a domain name for your business it is important to check whether your chosen name is available to register and buy. Solid Designs can help by advising on suitable names, checking their availability and registering your chosen domain name(s).
Website hosting is the space needed to store websites and make them accessible via the internet. Websites and email accounts are held on web hosting servers (i.e. powerful computers built with the capacity to hold huge amounts of information and run on very fast internet connections).
Running a website on a server is very technical and it is important that this is managed professionally to ensure it runns well and fast yet is secure.
Solid Designs offer a range of professional web hosting and email services to suit businesses large and small.
Typical stages of building a professional website could include the following:
Digital marketing uses a series of techniques to promote your products and services over the internet. Examples include the use of search engine optimisation, online advertising, social networking and email marketing.
Solid Designs deliver digital marketing strategies tailored to the specific needs of each website to generate the maximum return on investment.