Author: admin-HMD

TIPS FOR PREPARING A GREAT WEBSITE BRIEF

Look at you main business objectives and target these.

Just because you are getting a website, this does not mean that you have to throw every new bit of new whizz bang technology at the designer. Try to work out:

– what you are trying to achieve from the website; that is, is it to drive sales, increase brand awareness, inform the users about a product or service or even to just have a basic online presence.

Once you have this one goal in mind you can then work out a clear website brief based on this information. For example, if your goal is to drive sales and traffic through to the site, then an important note to remember in the brief is to keep large amounts of heavy text to a minimum and use strong grab statements, like ‘ see why we are Sydney’s number 1 hotel’ or ‘ buy now and receive a 2 for 1 offer’. It is these kind of strong statements that will attract potential clients and funnel them right through to the end buying process.

Do you know your online audience?

The most successful web sites will do more than look great, they will also satisfy users expectations and requirements. Great briefing documents should clearly outline who your target audience is, their demographics plus as much information as possible about your market and what you believe they want to see online. Be very careful at this stage. There will be the temptation to over design for a wider audience, but this may just have the impact of turning people off. If you are a builder for example, you should know that your target audience is going to want to see a strong portfolio of past building projects as well as a list ( including names) of testimonials. If you are a bit unclear about what your target audience is going to want to see online then a good idea is to look at your competition and see what they have done online. Don’t ever copy them but just keep an idea of their websites style as well as look and feel. This should point you in the right direction.


Your budget guidelines as well as timeline/deadlines should be noted

It’s always a good idea to make note of your budget expectations or limitations in the brief. If you a scared to put in your budget for fear of insulting the agency or that you may miss out on an important part of the website if you go in too low, then this is a mistake. Be honest an open about your funds and have open lines of communication here. You never know what is now available online, that wasn’t for the last project. You may just be surprised with what you are able to get for your money. Technology is moving at such a rapid rate, and the unit costs are coming down so much that budgets can now often be met. So, basically be very clear about what you want and what you are willing to spend. Being cagey or tight lipped may end up costing you more money.
Website timings, if critical, need to be told to your web designer. If you have a PR campaign or need the site for a new product launch, let them know well in advance so the necessary steps and preparations can be put in order. There is no advantage to you as the client to hold off on this information as this may lead to issues later on when the pressure mounts up as the site gets closer to completion. Transparency is the key to web success here and you should treat your designers like partners not as just a basic service provider. Never be scared of what they will think or say and articulate all your thoughts, timings, expectations in the website briefing document.

Try to include some examples of websites you like.

Web designers are visual people and if you are able to provide some examples of sites that you like and give the reasoning behind this, then that is a great part of the briefing process. Look at as many sites as you can and cherry pick the components or parts of the sites you like. Look at colours, navigation, add-ons such as newsletter sign up area, blogs, horizontal versus vertical scrolling etc.


Last word on the subject

Most people when you mention the words, briefing documents, start to become glazed over. If they have never done something like this before then they may fear the unexpected. This does not have to be the case. Most decent web agencies will have a web briefing document that they use time and time again. All you need to do is follow the questions and if unclear about any part, the best thing to do is pick up the phone and make a call. Remember, its your business, your money and your website, so don’t try to cut corners or leave things out just because they may seem like a hassle. The more you can provide upfront the better will be the end result. Designers will work to a brief and if they have to improvise because you are not clear in your brief, then chances are that the initial designs presented may be some what off brief.
 

Get ready for Facebook Graph Search

The graph is developed with the ability to answer to very detailed questions regarding:
 – your friends
 – you personal data

as well as a whole range of other available free data and information floating around on the Facebook site; which I might add is enormous. Just think about all those exciting bits of information that is currently online throughout the Facebook platform.
For example you can search for: ‘ football teams my friends like’ and it will give you a list of all the teams your friends or family have been following throughout the year or a list of clubs or football associations that are are affiliated with or belong to, which are aligned with Facebook.

This might completely turn the whole search industry on its head.

Look at the progression over lets say the past 15 years. To begin with, people used the old yellow pages to search for businesses or services. This was great and helped many businesses grow and this was largely in part to the size of their ad as well as their advertising budget; the more you spent, the more ads you could have etc etc. The next phase was Google. People invested in large sums of money in what is termed search engine optimisation or SEO to get their website to the first page of Google for a variety of keywords and or phrases. And finally, we are at the next stage of Facebooks graph where users can search for lets say an ‘accountant in Sydney’ that their friends are using and get a whole list of accountants based on their experience and rating. No longer will you be given results based on what Google deems to be the best but now it will be based on what your Facebook friends have liked.

Businesses, companies and organisations worldwide could possible even search within their followers and target these followers based on their certain interest and likes.

This really is going to put a cat amongst the pigeons in the search world. People love Facebook and if businesses are able to capitalise on this Facebook graph search by incorporating tit into their marketing mix then this could have huge ramifications for the other major search engines.

Businesses are looking for an alternative to what Google can offer and perhaps another avenue by which to get their name out there and be found. If Facebook Graph can refine their process just a bit more to make it resonate with the business community then there may be some hope for it. But remember, Google is the mammoth search engine giant and changing users search patterns may not be as easy as it looks or seems. The public are just so used to relying on Google, that dislodging their prior search habits for the past 10 years may be too hard a task. If you look at Facebook trying to get into the pay per click market similar to Google, you will see the absolute failure of this. Businesses have not warmed to this and in turn Google has continued to dominate the paid search market hands down.

I guess only time will tell and we shall see the fate to the Facebook Graph unfold over the next couple of months. So watch this space carefully.
 

HINTS FOR BOOSTING YOUR MOBILE ECOMMERCE SALES

With this apparent movement away from the desktop environment it is vital for the success of any business relying on ecommerce online sales to be aware of this and design a site with mobile technology in mind.

If you look at the home page on a mobile phone, you will see that it is very different from the desktop homepage. In fact they are really worlds apart. On the mobile phone it is more about users being able to find what they are looking for in a quick, easy to find manner, where as on a desktop it is more about content and users using the navigation to get around the site. It is more of an experience, rather than a quick 1 step journey.

Following are a few easy to understand tips for mobile ecommerce sales.

Having a keyword search easily visible helps those who know exactly what they’re looking. Having large full screen buttons helps those users who want to browse a bit before making a purchase.

Since the screen is much smaller and fiddley on a mobile device, users would love all the pre-empted help they can get so a suggestive keyword search is so important. When a user starts typing within a search box a drop down should appear showing them suggested search terms. This decreases the time a shopper needs to type out a product name and increases convenience and usability of the mobile website.

Once a user has found the product they are looking for, it should be obvious how to purchase it. Designing a large bright button above the fold will make it easier for users to add the item to their cart. Information about the product can be displayed in an accordion style to better utilise the space available as well as minimise page load time as not all information needs to be visible at once.

Also, there obviously should be an image of the product visible. If there was a gallery of images to be shown, using the smart phones intuitive way of swiping through them should be used (i.e. if you are on an iPhone users should be able to swipe across to see more images).

The checkout process on a mobile site needs to be as streamline and simple as possible. The pages need to load fast and the form needs to be easy to use. Giving users the option whether to checkout using an existing customer account or just a guest account is a good way to speed up the process.

Users who are already members will have all their details already pre filled. The size of the form boxes are very important, users will need to touch each box and type within them.

If they are too small, a user might miss and click the wrong box causing frustration. Remember that this is the make or break point, a user is about to purchase your product, making this process harder than it should be might result in losing them.
Also only the bare minimum form fields needed to complete the purchase should be displayed on a mobile device, it is difficult enough to fill them out without having to do it many times over.

Mobile e-commerce sites are an increasing source of revenue for companies. Keeping the above tips in mind while designing your mobile e-commerce website will surely result in increased sales and happy customers.
 

Checkout design for ecommerce websites

Gear the process for guests

Hands up who hates to sign up and give all those details for the check out process on an ecommerce website. You have so many passwords and usernames to remember, the last thing you want to do is be forced to sign up and register your information each and every time a user goes through to a ecommerce website.
Both guest check out as well as the account registration process options should be made available to all users. Also, regular users should be able to have their details remembered on file so they do not have to go through the elaborate sign up process each time they return to the site. This part of an ecommerce website should be a no brainer and be a mandatory component. Remember, ease of use and simplicity during this process will keep users coming back for more and in turn more sales for your business.

Number of steps
Keep these steps to a minimum. Many websites will have a number of complicated steps till the check out process. This just frustrates and infuriates web users making them exit the site. The web interface should be intuitive enough to guide people in a funnel like manner through to the end buying stage in as few steps as possible. Again, the mantra you should be chanting is keep it simple.

Template Form design

Its wise to try to implement these form ideas as part of the ecommerce process.
• Go for a single column approach. Double or even triple columns will confuse users who like to tab through forms to complete them quicker.
• Show an example of how the form should be completed
• Make headings clear and large in text. Try not to hide or make points difficult to find as these will just lead to blank spaces, which is not the idea behind a form.
• If you require a certain bit of information, that to the user might seem unjustified, give them a reason why this information is necessary. Never assume that they will know the rationale behind your thought process.
• If you want to keep customers onside and loyal to you in the future, never auto enrol them into your newsletter subscriptions. If your customers start receiving newsletters without permission and on top of this find it hard to unsubscribe, you will be creating some tension. Be open and honest about the newsletter area and perhaps have a quick pop up window requesting them to sign up to your newsletter.

Prefill forms

Users are basically very lazy and I am speaking from experience in the industry. Where ever possible get users to fill in information only once and if the option is available ( like billing address and shipping address – if they are the same) get the form to auto populate. Users will absolutely love this and will make the buying process a lot easier.

These are just a few simple rules and tips to follow for your ecommerce web page checkout but if you would like to know more then please do let us know here at Hopping Mad Designs.
 

MOBILE SITE BEST PRACTICES FROM A SYDNEY BASED WEB DESIGN STUDIO

Avoid those nasty and annoying pop up windows
Nothing irritates people and mobile device users more than pop ups. Sure you want to be able to put as much product or service information as possible within this small environment, but , if you feel that this is necessary for your site then try to think of another way of displaying this information. Look at accordion style scroll features as an alternative, but never go down the pop up path.

Think about employing a copywriter that will be able to reduce your web content
At hopping mad designs we have an in house copywriter that can look at your current web copy from a mobile phone perspective and customise it to work within this platform. People using hand held devices need information fast and the last thing that they would be prepared to do it wade through reams of information to get to the point. This will have the effect of irritating them and resulting in a lost sale. Use the ‘ keep it simple’ principle, which will do wonders for the user experience. If you unclear about this part it is important to speak with a web copy professional who will be able to guide you through this area.

Minimise and reduce overall site functionality
Mobile users are now so proficient in using their phones that anything that requires many navigational steps will be frowned upon. Too much functionality with too many levels will loose the customer as well as the eventual sale. Think carefully about what the user wants and how to get them there via simple, clear cut steps. Over complicating the interface is certainly not the way to go here.

Use PayPal
If you are a retailer or have a mobile site that is selling a product, you want people to be able to make the purchase in the most efficient manner. Paypal is a great platform that will facilitate this as users who are already a PayPal member only need to login and pay. If your customer has to fumble around with credit card details, and three digit pins, this is a huge hassle if they are on the go and you may wind up with a lost sale. Think like a consumer in this case and you will have a loyal customer for life.


Make sure that you are very kind to fingers and people with poor eye sight.
People hate to pinch and zoom. I know that I can’t stand it, and if I have to do it to find an important link in a body of text, I will exit the site. Plus as one ages, that small screen becomes harder and harder to focus on. This is why, you need to have larger, full, prominent buttons if you need people to see a link or go to a particular page within the site. These boxes should be easy to see and the text within those boxes, large enough to read.

Keep Branding Consistent.
Never dilute or create a mobile site that is not consistent with your branding. Ensure that the style you have created for your website is followed through all your branding including the mobile site. You will avoid confusing people who may be comfortable and come to know your image and branding
 

Responsive Web Design Sydney

One Great Looking Website That Automatcially Adapts to All Screen Sizes

Hopping Mad Designs brings your website out of the dark ages with 'responsive web design'. The concept is quite easy to implement and is now a must have for your business.

The idea is the same website is viewed across platforms: mobile, tablet and desktop. What we do is make coding adjustments so that your web site is viewed on these screens seamlessly. There is now pinch and grab, it is all done automatically. This improves the user experience massively and will help with sales, revenue and inquiries.

By making your website design responsive you give your brand and corporate image the best chance of looking its best online.

At Hopping Mad Designs we have been designing responsive websites for clients and businesses all over Sydney and Australia.

Don't miss out on this great new technology! Call 02 9360 8514 to get your new responsive website now.

 

Can I make my Website Responsive Without an Expensive Redesign?

You certainly can! It is alot cheaper and more affordable than you think.

Responsive website design involves reprogramming your website styles, therefore we can use the current web designs – all done quickly and very cost effectively.

Hopping Mad Designs can implement a responsive web design & keep your current website – this save you time and the hassle of getting a new website redesigned.

 

Responsive Web Design and WordPress

Since WordPress is our preferred CMS platform we can easily integrate a responsive site solution with your current WordPress website – we can create a new responsive theme easily based on your current web design.

Hopping Mad Designs can ensure that your next web project has had a responsive web design solution implemented so that no matter the size of the screen, your website will be resized automatically.

It is an awesome new technique and one that promises to make a huge difference to the way in which we look at the whole web design process.

In years to come all you will need to do is design and build one website and this will be able to be viewed across a range of screens, not matter their size.

A couple of interesting statistics:  below should frighten those marketing people and business owners who have yet to embrace this new mobile and tablet market:

– The total number of Australian’s who have bought tablet computers is approaching the 3.5 million mark
– by the year 2017 it is estimated that this new mobile market is to reach 12.5 million Australians. These numbers are staggering, considering the size of our population. That is nearly half of all Australian’s will own a mobile device by that time.

 

So why is this so important and key to the next generation of web design, website development as well as the  e-commerce market?

The advantages of being able to design and build three separate websites: tablet, mobile and desktop market, with responsive web design are enormous; cost and time savings, not to mention the hassle of designing and developing 2 to 3 sets of web interfaces. 

It’s a one size fits all approach If implemented properly, this will mean that once your main web site is up and running, it will now be easily viewable on all hand held, mobile and other tablets devices.

 

Cost of Responsive Web Design

Pricing is usually set on a project by project basis but a good indictaor at a per page rate (anywhere between $400 and $900 per page for your average website). For more information please contact hopping mad designs

 

HOW CAN HOPPING MAD HELP WITH YOUR RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN?

 

Responsive web design requires that the web agency knows that graphics are key to a successful web experience and it is the application of these creative items right through to the development process that will ensure that your new website has been optimized for responsive website design.

With over 18 years experience in web design and working with a range of clients Sydney wide, we know that we are best equipped to handle this new technology and apply it to your website effectively, maximising your online exposure, all in an affordable, user freindly way.

Responsive websites are also going to have an impact on your search engine optimisation: this is because Google will rank sites better that are responsive – the logic behind this is that they want to display sites that offer a better user experience – simple as that!

 

 

Custom Website Design for StartUp or Small Business

If you are looking for the right web company to design and build your website then Hopping Mad Designs is the best chocie.

CALL  02 9360 8514 for a no obligation chat about how we can get your business online NOW.

 

Small Business Web Design By Hopping Mad.

Getting all the right pieces of the website jigsaw puzzle to fit together nicely, is the job of a professional web design team. If you think it is just a matter of throwing a few images together and coding it up then you are completely wrong. For a website to work effectively you now need all variables such as: content, site graphics and speed, site architecture, usability and programming to all work in a cohesive well thought and planned out manner if it is going to work and bring your business.

 

Web Copywriting for Business Start-Ups

Having professionally written content for your website is a critical component of your website. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, if you want web users to stay on your site, the content must be easy to read and informative. Secondly, if you want your website to rank on Google,  your content must be relevant, on topic and unique. The search engines, especially Google love to index new content – hence well worded content will do wonders for your SEO ranking.

Most start up businesses have little or no clue how to write web and SEO friendly content so this process, if you want it done correctly, must be handled by experts that know what it takes to keep users on the site as well as satisfying the stringent criteria set out by the search engines. At Hopping Mad Designs we know that we have the best web copywriters on board.

 

Graphic Design for Small Business Websites.

Internet users are actually quite savvy when it comes to doing their online research. When searching for a product or service they may spend hours online looking for that right fit.

Most people will use Google to narrow down the search field and conduct their research based on say 10-20 companies or businesses they have found. If your business has any hope of making an initial impression and standing out then it must have web graphics that are eye catching.

A great example of this is the Hopping Mad home page. You can see that we have created a combination of very striking images, combined with text that really grabs the users attention. This is managed through a carousel or rotating graphics that sell our message in a clever fashion that actually means something. We have also played on our name ‘hopping mad’ by incorporating a hopping mad frog image. People ring us up and say: love your home page and they always, even after many years remember and refer to the frog.

Having a web studio with a strong focus and background in graphic design is the key to website success.

 

Small Business Search Engine Optimisation.

There is no point in having a web site if no one is able to find you online. If you are going to go to the trouble of getting a website designed, then you also need to drive traffic through to the site.

This is known as search engine optimisation or SEO. SEO is the processes and techniques employed to get a site ranking ( preferably on page 1) on the search engines. There are many different ways to get a site ranked and these vary from company to company and the trick for small business owners and start ups is to find a SEO company that will do the best possible job for your business, using the best SEO practices.

 

When is Comes to SEO: Be Careful

There are a few tell tale signs of these kinds of dodgy businesses and possibly the easiest way to tell them apart is by looking at the following few points:

They promise extremely quick results they may be using bad SEO practices to achieve this, but the quicker you rise, the quicker you fall. SEO takes time and proper, credible rankings can only be achieved and maintained through solid, long term strategies. Quick fixes never work and only result in big issues for your website when you get found out.

SEO takes time and human resources and therefore like any professional this must be paid for. Cheap SEO packages, will mean that your work is outsourced to third world countries where the work carried out on your online strategy will be handled by a group of amateurs who are unsupervised and may not comply to the rigorous Australian web + SEO standards.

They try to lock you in to a contract for a lengthy period of time with no option of breaking this contract. This means that what ever they do and what ever work they carry out, you have no option of escape. They could be doing a really bad job, and doing damage to your brand and online marketing with no option of escape. Look for companies that are prepared to work on your SEO on a month by month basis with no lock in long term contracts.

Engaging the services of a professional group of SEO experts like Hopping Mad Designs means that you can be rest easy that we will rank your website using tried and proven tactics.

 

At Hopping Mad we feel that we have the best in the business working with us and this is just great news for small businesses and start ups looking to drive more visitors to their site.

 

Easy to Use WordPress Content Management Systems.

Businesses are dynamic and always changing. People come and go, products change, services and divisions are added, whilst internal company news is constantly evolving. To keep your customers up to speed on these changes you want to be able to have access to your website and make these updates when ever you feel like. For this reason, Hopping Mad will develop your new website around a very robust content management system, allowing you easy access into he back end to make site wide amends and changes.

WE USE WORDPRESS AS OUR CMS SYSTEM – EASY TO USE – EASY TO UNDERSTAND

One important note to make is that Google now looks to web content when ranking sites. If the algorithm detects that your site is constantly being updated with new copy that is topic specific, you will find that you web ranking will skyrocket.
Once you start seeing your articles appear in the search results you will see the value in having a CMS.

 

Domain Name Registration, Web Hosting and Email Set-up

 

Hopping Mad Designs can help you with choosing your domain name or URL as well as the web hosting and email set-up.
Choosing a domain name for your business is now a fundamental component is getting your site ranked and for this reason you do need a company that knows SEO to help you out with this.

In regards to web hosting, Hopping Mad offers a local web hosting that is speedy, secure and 99.99 % reliable. Our servers are all securely located in Sydney with regular system updates and security patches added. Our hosting allows for up to 1GB of diskspace per month which is ample for any small business. We also allow up o 10GB of storage per mailbox which again is more than enough for start ups.

We can even set up emails that match your business name and spread these over different departments within your company e.g sales@ or marketing@.

 

Super Friendly Staff

Working on a new website can be some what intimidating and overwhelming process for some people. They might never have been into a design studio and a little unsure about how to deliver a design brief. On top of this they are also unable to clearly define or articulate exactly what they are after design wise. T

As design industry veterans Hopping Mad knows how hard this can be for the average person, this is why we encourage a face to face meeting where we can site down in our office, in a very relaxed environment and go over the whole web process. Plus we can also explain clearly to you the very many online marketing options available for your start up.

Our down to earth, friendly manner means that we are able to get the best possible design brief from you and deliver superior designs all at very small business start up rates.

 

Mobile Website for Small Business

We are able to design and build your website so that it can be viewed on all hand held devices. This is called responsive web design and is now possible for your small business.

 

If you are a start up or a small business looking to get your first website then why not give us a call on 02 9360 8514.

 

 

Finding a Quality Creative Digital Design Studio

Grow your business online with a digital partner

Your Creative Digital Design Studio should be able to help you bring your brand or product to life online. From social media marketing to online advertising, website design, SEO, content marketing, remarketing & Adwords management your Creative Digital Design Studio will be able to use graphic design and digital media strategies to positively build your online presence and grow your audience. If you are not working with a digital agency then your business in missing out on massive online opportunities. There are so many juicy new digital platforms you can use to grow your business and at Hopping Mad Designs we know the right ones to help boost sales and get more of those great new sales leads.

We are the sales lead generation experts

Below, we’ve highlighted some of the key services your Creative Digital Design Studio should be able to provide:

Creative Digital Graphic Design
Like most forms of visual art, digital platforms offer a world of opportunities to both capture and reshape your brand. The flexibility and vast possibilities provided by digital design, means there are many ways to achieve this—knowing what works is ultimately what separates the highly skilled from the rest.

Sadly, knowing how to dress does not necessarily mean you know how to design which is why getting to know your designers and determining whether you can create an inspired partnership is so important.

We believe creative digital design adheres to the fundamentals of good business—if there’s talent, strategy and a willingness to work collaboratively, then you’ve probably got yourself the start of a beautiful (business) friendship.

Creative Digital Website Design
Your website has rapidly become the key platform for digital interaction. It’s your brand’s online presence and remains both the place where users are invited to visit and where they’ll make their first impression of your business. Many companies have potential customers visit their websites daily, but unless they are impressed, these customers will now and forever be merely potential. This is why your digital agency must know about conversion rate optimisation.

Does your website convert online browsers into buyers?

That is the ability to design websites that are able to convert browsers into buyers. The need to be able to create intelligent landing pages designed to get them to click, call and buy. THIS IS A MUST!

Website designers, like digital design studios, are rapidly growing in numbers. To sort the wheat from the chaff, you have to look beyond their often-impressive portfolio. We recommend asking to see the brief behind the work to be able to truly assess whether the website was written in a way to accommodate both the practical and the pretty aspects of the site.

Websites, like many facets of creative digital design, can be subject to trends. While aesthetics change, the appropriateness of a design to your brief likely will not, and it’s important to work with a designer who has survived the fickle waves of web design popularity to ensure your final product is tried and true.

The time it takes to build a well performing website may also be a factor to consider. When it comes to websites, quick is often a fast way to raise suspicions as to the originality of the work.

A website, designed and built to brief, will typically take a minimum of six weeks for a basic website, and many months for a website that is more complex. Taking the time to test, refine the design, and ensure the brief is met in full, are all key qualities of a quality digital agency. If your website designer promises you a site in a week, it might be better to resist the temptation of a tight timeline in favour of a website that will stand the test of time.

Is your website ranking on Google?

Ranking high on the search engines, such as Google is a key part of any digital strategy. Gone are the days of cold calls, as SEO brings the searchers to your site, where hopefully you can entice a conversion from prospect to customer. SEO is also a multifaceted strategy, and whenever you’re looking to add content or online elements to a digital campaign, how these elements will ultimately serve your SEO should be well considered. Make sure that the agency you decide to use has a thorough understanding of SEO and for gods sake NEVER choose an agency based on price or false SEO guarantees. These are scams and must be avoided.

Digital Advertising Strategy
Adwords, banners, placement, frequency, campaign length and content, are all services your Creative Digital Design Agency can provide. Unlike traditional agencies, which tend to favour a mix of mediums, Creative Digital Design Agencies are focused on all things digital—and it’s their clients who stand to gain the most benefit.

Traditional forms of advertising can be expensive, but a professional digital design agency can show how the addition of an online advertising strategy can enhance your ROI for your traditional campaigns. Unlike press, radio and television, the online arena is one with few creative limitations. It’s a space where people are more willing to experiment and engage through interaction.

Digital Copywriting/Online Content
Like digital design, digital copywriting is both technically and stylistically different from its print-based cousins. The online audience requires shorter, punchier and more easily digestible content, and the content itself should ideally be written in a way so as to maximise your online marketing (i.e. SEO).

Specialist writers with specific digital copywriting training and experience are needed to achieve both flawless and engaging copy, written to truly maximise your online presence. Sadly, we live in an era where the skill of a writer seems less appreciated, yet the opportunity that quality writing offers your business is now surprisingly greater.

In a world where spelling errors abound, grammar and punctuation are all but forgotten, and the considered articulation of meaning is often an afterthought, your brand can immediately present as a mark above its peers through quality writing— especially online. Be different, be brilliant, and ask your Creative Digital Design Agency for the qualifications of their copywriter and content editor (which they really should have).

Articulating your Brand Online
You may have a well-defined visual identity, but keeping that identity fresh and relevant to an ever-changing online audience requires a certain degree of strategic planning. Every brand has points in its evolution, and how this is achieved can be through engaging a fresh team to assist with your strategic and creative output.

If you’ve never considered using a Creative Digital Design Studio, we recommend that you spend a moment online to see what your competitors are doing. Take a moment to think about the brands and products you enjoy engaging with online, and ask yourself, why?

With so many brands trying to stand out in this transient and attention-poor era, using a traditional agency for your digital design needs could spell disaster. A Creative Digital Design Studio can demystify the online world and enable your business to benefit from it.

What to look for in a Creative Digital Design Studio?

> How long have they been in business for? are they a start up with little experience or do they really know their stuff?

> What brands or businesses have they worked on in the past?

> Do they understand SEO and how to rank a website? This is really an important point and something you need to keep an eye out for.

> What can they do for your business in the social media space.

> Can they manage your Adwords campaign and can they also look after your Google Remarketing?

> Do they have a good team of web copy writers?

At Hopping Mad Designs, we offer a range of professional digital design and creative services. From strategy to execution, our  team of leading creative professionals can help your company generate sales leads from our proven digital strategies. Give us a try and see the difference we can make to your bottom line.

Ready to get those juicy new sales leads?

Call us on 02 9360 8514 or click here now.

Tips for a great web designer-client relationship

Truthful

One very important factor that you must note is the ability to be able to communicate truthfully with a client or designer. If you are open and honest from the very beginning of the web project then the final outcome will always be a lot better, with very few road bumps along the way. Over promising and under delivering from the web designers perspective is a very common mistake. More often than not, in the rush to get the job on board and to keep a client happy a designer will commit to more design time than was quoted and this can lead to unrealistic expectations from the client. Being honest from the beginning about design, navigation and site size will save everyone time, money and ensure that the project remains on target. At Hopping Mad, to avoid any such situations we do mitigate any web derailment by fully scoping out the project by providing a comprehensive set of wire frames before any design work is carried out. This is based on the initial brief given by the client. Of course in some cases, the client will try to push for a bit more but we are able to ensure that expectations are maintained by setting everything out in writing from the outset. This does include site architecture and graphic/web design ideas.

Being truthful through out the whole design process means that all parties will be happy upon project completion. There is absolutely nothing worse than hearing that the client is unhappy with the end result even thought there have been rounds and rounds of design amends. Being clear with your thoughts and honest in your opinions all the time during this process will mean that the final web solution is what was expected.

This collaborative process also works in the other direction as well too. For example, at Hopping Mad Designs we are simple not order takers or ‘ yes people’. We are not afraid to speak out and tell it is, like the way it should be and what our thoughts and opinions are. This is what we are paid for and as web designers our clients do expect our honest and forthright opinion on all web matters. If we are truthful and open about our design ideas, site navigation and content then the final result will be better all round. The client has to remember that we are the experts and sometimes its vital that we express our opinions.
Saying this, honesty and communication is a two way process and at HMD we always conduct ourselves in a very professional manner. Honesty can sometimes be brutal, but we look upon this as communicating it in a friendly and very constructive manner. This way we can ensure that the web project will be finished on time, on budget and with every one smiling at the end of the project.

Professional Attitude

This pearl of wisdom might appear to be plain as day but still does need to be looked at. At all stages of the web project or any graphic design project the communication between client/designer needs to be handled in a highly professional and very courteous manner. Leave the egos and attitude at the door as all parties are here to work together. If the designer is very opinionated and stubborn this may lead to complications, conversely if the client is over bearing and dominant this may affect the communication process. The best way forward with any web design project is to start off on the right footing so that each party is on the same page. Friendliness and service with a smile is what its all about and this is something that we do value highly at Hopping Mad Designs. All our web team are easy going, professional experts that are able to contribute their design advice and input without the attitude. This means that the project will be off to a good start from the get go. If we are relaxed, then you will also be. Tempers are never raised here and the whole office vibe is one of web collaboration and forward momentum.
Some clients need to understand that most designers are university trained experts when it comes to building and developing web sites. They will have had years of design experience based on previous assignments and therefore any arguments that they put forward should be listened to carefully and their advice should be taken with a certain amount of respect, which they deserve.

Transparent Fee Structure

Being upfront about your fees and on going costs associated with a web site build and development in my opinion is critical to the success of the relationship. There are far too many web companies who will quote low to get the business and then slug you, the client, with additional fees. What can happen, and this is a huge issue in the web industry, is that designers will quote a low, basic, one off fee for a website. What they never tell you is:
 – The cost to make any design amends. The surest way to get someone off side is to keep hitting them up with a cost each time they need to make a design change. At Hopping mad Designs we detail the amount of design iterations allowed in our quote and will let you know when your limit has been reached. Obviously, we do not have the meter running like a taxi and are flexible in the amount of design amends allowed. Our design approach ensures that the relationship that starts out smoothly and friendly, ends in the same way.
 – The yearly cost for hosting. This is an ongoing fee as all websites need to to be hosted somewhere. But, what they don’t tell you is that it has to be hosted with them and that the CMS platform that the site is built around needs a certain type of hosting which only they can provide. It is these snippets of information that need to be clearly stated at the commencement of the project to avoid any fallouts.
 – Note that some companies will offer varied payment structures. Its good to know what these are in advance prior to any work being done. A good idea to keep the relationship on an even keel is to get an initial deposit and then get paid in stages. Say one further payment after initial designs are presented and then one final payment prior to site deployment. Having a fee structure like this ensures that all design and development milestones are met and that payment has been made based on these achievements. If the designer is not delivering then you should not have to pay, and conversely if the website has been completed to your satisfaction then it is your duty and obligation to pay for this service.

Ideas, Ideas and even More Ideas

Communication is the most important component in any relationship. Whether it be personal or profession the key to the success of a working partnership is the ability to relate ideas to each other. This also applies to the design world where ideas presented at the beginning of the project are vital to the success of the site. Working within a design environment we see graphic and visual ideas each and every day. No matter how simple, complex or silly they may seem its is a great idea to get all these out in the open. As a client, you may like to show us sites that you like/don’t like or bring a collage or mood board to the table at our first meeting to give us an idea of the design direction you would like to move in. As designers, it is our job to take all this on board in a very open minded approach. This open working relationship, and the discussion of ideas means that the project will have gotten off on the best possible footing. Holding things back, being afraid to articulate thoughts is what can lead to relationship breakdowns. At Hoping Mad, our professional, friendly approach to customer service means that we are able to get all the information from you needed to start the design process. No matter how insignificant or small you think an idea may be, we just might be able to take it and use it at a later stage. The more ideas you can come up with the better it is for our web team.

Set Realistic Expectations.

Be honest and realistic about the web process and what the website can achieve. This can often lead to big issues and client/designer relationship breakdowns if mishandled. Never say one thing in order to please the client as you may feel pressured to do so and then do another. The best way to keep things happy is to document all amends or changes and email them to the client for confirmation. There are so many areas involved in web design and internet marketing that you have to be realistic c about what the website will be able to do for their business. Saying comments like this will bring in heaps more business is simple not true and can lead to problems later on when this does not happen. One important and vital point is to never discuss or promise SEO rankings unless you have the backing of a expert. Over promising web rankings once site is completed is a sure way to mess a fine relationship up.

Speak in a Common Language.

OK, so you are a web experts. You know all the lingo, slang and cool new buzz words that are sure to impress. But, the layman business owner has never heard of these before and speaking to him as though he understands what you are saying will only aggravate things. For these business people the web process can often be intimidating and uncomfortable. its the job of the web designer to ‘dumb it down’ and speak in a language that is easy to understand and makes the whole process a lot simpler. Its always a good buzz, dazzling the client with your knowledge and jargon, but what may seem like fun at the outset will just annoy them when an issue needs to be resolved. This is why at HMD all designers are in-house and have a knack of getting on the same wave length as our clients. Just imaging if your work was all out sourced and you had to work with a designer who did not understand the Australian work ethic/culture and was also speaking to you in ‘geek speak’. This would only lead to a relationship breakdown and fast. This is why its best to have local people working on your site who can understand what you want and can clearly explain things if needed.
 

Web Design SEO Company Sydney

If your website design has not been designed and developed properly, then chances are that you are not getting the online SEO rankings that your business deserves. One way to test this out is to type your service or product offering into the search box in Google and see the results. Ask yourself these two fundamentally important questions: 1) is my business on page 1 of the search results and 2)  are my competitors on page 1? If you have answered ‘no’ to question (1) and ‘yes’ to question (2), then you need to take a good long hard look at your website and make some serious design and programming amends.

What could be the issue?

There could be a number of problems with your site, and some of these are listed below. If you recognise any of these, then please get in touch with your SEO web design company and have these corrected immediately. Don’t take no for an answer from them, and if you have to pay a fee to get this done then you should be a little concerned–as these are web and SEO basics that should be a part of each design and build.

  1. Many web designers know how to design and develop awesome looking websites–but unfortunately Google just doesn’t register them. Have a look at your site and check if there are moving or animated images; commonly referred to as Flash animation. All SEO website designers know that search engines do not recognise flash programming. In the past this was a common trend in website design as flashy, moving, colourful images were very eye catching. Many web programmers and designers ignored this negative component of flash as they were able to use other techniques to rank a site. Today with the many algorithm updates and changes, ranking a site is no longer as easy as it used to be and as a business owner having flash on your site will hurt your ranking. Get your SEO web designers to take down all flash animation and if you must have rotating images get them to program it in java or another SEO web friendly language.The sooner you do this the quicker you will see your rankings start to improve.
  2. If you are going to have images on your site and if it is going to be content heavy make sure that the site loads quickly. Users do not want to be waiting around whilst a site is loading. Having them wait will result in massive site exits, lost business as well as a poorer SEO ranking. Reason being, Google now looks at site bounce rates; that is people coming to your site and leaving quickly. The higher the bounce rate, the lower the ranking. A useful tip here is to keep image size small, say no more than 72dpi and if you must have animation, keep it in the banner area and to a minimum.
  3. Is the content on your website too thin? Are there just a few paragraphs on the home and and internal pages? If so you may need to start looking at beefing up content through out your site. Google love content so the more you have the better your ranking. If this seems like a hard task and you find that you don’t have the time or ideas its probably a good idea to get a copy writer on board like us here at Hopping Mad Designs. Copy writing is now the cornerstone of any (SEO) search engine optimisation campaign. People need to be engaged with your site and its only the combination of graphics and content that will keep users on the site and keep them there for a long period of time. The search engines now recognise this even more and reward sites that cater for this. If you are the kind of person that want to do things yourself then a blog is a great way to add content. In fact, there is no reason why you can’t write, say 1 article a week, that is industry specific. Most blogs a very easy to use your web designers should be able to install a blog to your site easily. Open source, free blogs such as WordPress will enable even the most non tech savvy user to start writing away. One important rule to note is that everything that you post on your blog has to be unique as well as relevant. Remember that people who come to your site or blog are there for a reason and want to be either entertained or leave with some handy information. Never bore them and never copy articles or content from other websites. This will be picked up immediately by the search engines and will not work in your favour.
  4. Try to limit the amount of links leaving your site. There are two reasons for this; firstly you do not want users exiting your site and secondly, external links drain your page rank authority. Its OK to have 1 or 2 links to external sites as this seems natural and organic in the eyes of the search engines but having pages of links might seem a bit spammy and will hurt your SEO ranking. Any web designer should know this and advice you against too many links. If you must link to external websites make them very industry aligned such as associations or organisations. A golden rule to remember is that once people leave your site through a link, the chances of them getting lost online and nor coming back to your site are very high. To maintain page rank authority to help with your SEO, try to get in bound links to your site from these associations. Generally speaking, they are perceived as sources of authority and a link from them can only help with your SEO. I know, as a graphic design company Hopping Mad Designs are members of AGDA (The Australian Graphic Designers Association) and have a link from their site pointing to our site. This helps immensely with our SEO. Just type graphic design into Google and you can see that we are on page 1 for this search query.
  5. Have your checked your webmaster tools account in Google yet? If not, do so immediately. A reason why you site might not be ranking as well as it should be might be because there may be an important message for you from the search engine that you have not seen. Google communicates to web owners through this account and if there are any issues or problems with your site they will let you know. Addressing issues will result in SEO rankings improving. Your web company should be advising you about this and act on any correspondence quickly.
  6. Install Google Analytics through out your website. This is a very useful tool as it lets you know site wide statistics and can be used to your advantage if understood. One main aspect of analytics is the number of site visits and how long they have stayed on the site. Poor rankings will mean site visits and a poorly designed site will result in high bounce rates. Addressing these 2 factors with your design team should see an overall improvement.
  7. There is a very fine line between web design and SEO. More often than not business people want to have as many visual and creative features through out the site regardless of how it affects their site indexing. Reining in the graphic a bit and focusing on site usability, navigation, user interaction and content are all necessary variables that now need to be taken into account for online rankings.Try not to get carried away with placing as many graphics, moving animated banners and images on the home page. Try to spread it out evenly so the site has a consistent look and feel. There is the tendency to cram as much information as possible on the home page but this will only result in the users getting information overload and existing the site. Keeping the user experience as simple as possible is the key to online success. You will notice that the websites that have the biggest names and brands are all designed in a very stylish and simple manner. Their interface is simple and buys/clients/customers are led through the site in a seamless fashion.
  8. Make sure that your URL’s, titles, and H1 headers are all consistent as well as relevant to the page that the user is on. For example if the web page is about about superannuation then make certain that the URL, title and header has the word superannuation in them. This is called site semantics and if they all line up correctly, then this will result in a higher ranking for that particular page. Make sure also that this page has well worded content of over 500 words. A warning however, never stuff as many keywords as possible into the content thinking that this will help your ranking. Sure, it used to work about 10 years ago, but keyword stuffing will only result in a page penalty by Google.
  9. If you are going to engage a web firm to implement your SEO strategy, be realistic about how much things actually cost. If you are promised super fast rankings at very cheap rates then you must be careful about what is on offer. Generally speaking, fast rankings mean that ‘black hat’ non compliant SEO techniques are being used and this will result in future ranking suppressions. To be properly ranked you must use SEO techniques that take time and use a fair amount of human resources. Depending on the competitive nature of the keywords being targeted you might be looking at around 10-20 hours work per month per website for say 4-5 keywords. If your web designers also offer a SEO service its best to use them and keep everything under one roof. But remember, cheap and quick SEO rankings are no longer an option and are no longer able to be achieved. Algorithm updates by Google will see any unusual spike in activity and this again will result in your website being suppressed. SEO is all about the ‘long term’ and it is these companies that are prepared to partner with their web designer and pay for this premium service are the businesses that will see all the benefits.
  10. If you are business owner and are very concerned about getting the very best possible ranking for your website and SEO is something that matters a great deal, then you really must use a web design company that has experience in this field. Choosing such a company can prove very difficult and making the wrong choice at this early stage in the design process can and will lead to issues once the site is deployed. If you follow these 3 simple rules you may just end up making the best marketing decision of your career.
  • Choose a company that has a good ranking themselves. You can do this by checking their ranking and if they are on the first page for the keyword graphic design, then you are on the right path.
  • Use a web design company that can prove that they have not only designed many great looking sites in the past but have also been able to rank them. Ask for some testimonials and do your phoning around. Don’t just believe what you are told. Clearly web companies will only give you the best references but call a few from their online portfolio that they haven’t provided.
  • Use a company that has experience and longevity in the industry. The barrier to entry for web designers is very low and any person with a Mac and a bit of programming skills can claim to be a designer. Avoid these people like the plague. You might pay next to nothing for your site now but you will end up having to go through the whole exercise again once you see the final result. Believe me, I have had people call me up in tears, having been ripped off by these so called web designers. What they do is quote so low that you think why not give them a try. But, once they have your deposit you are left hanging. What follows is scrappy, poor design with no regard to your business or SEO. Plus customer service is generally non existent. They are super friendly to begin with but will soon turn cold once you start asking some design questions. Pay the bit extra now by using a credible and professional design team and you will start reaping the benefits immediately.