The right web designer can give your business an advantage

Back to other tips and tricks.

Transcript from the Northern Stars feature article 21-05-2013. Web designers may be easy to find, but effective, truly creative and solution-oriented ones are a rarity.

After five years operating from the Northern Rivers, Catchy Pages has cemented its reputation across the country as one of those rare gems of value for money within the web world.

Catchy Pages was founded in 2008 by Mark Heywood and in that time it has successfully helped hundreds of businesses from all throughout Australia with their web design and online marketing needs.

Mark started his career in graphic design 11 years ago and expanded his knowledge base in 2007 when he shifted his focus to web design and online marketing.

“We have worked extensively, gaining immeasurable business experience that has made us a sought-after commodity in the field. We took that vast range of knowledge and used it to create catchypages.com.au,” said Mark.

While many web design companies are good at coding or creating a visual display, many lack the intensive business sense necessary to excel in the field.

“The key is to understand the client and easily capture their needs as they arise. Our proposition is not just web design but creating overall business success,” he said.

Mark explained how he learns about the client’s needs. “We do it in person, by arranging a meeting at their place of business. We also email out website requirement forms, to gain a greater insight into exactly what they wish to achieve.

“We then research the industry itself and the client’s main competitors. We discuss our findings and bring forth suggestions in moving forward.”

The main challenge and biggest opportunity for businesses creating a new website is to make it responsive, meaning that the website is able to perform well whether it is accessed from a mobile phone, a desktop or a tablet.

A successful website needs:

  • Attention-grabbing Visual Appeal: It is more important than ever to make sure that your website design stands out from the competition and immediately engages your target audience’s attention.
  • Ease of Navigation: The best websites allow people to know where they are and where they need to go next at all times. A visitor to your website should be no more than a couple clicks away from the content they seek.
  • Content Rich: A picture may be worth a thousand words, but no matter how many pictures are included on a website, there has to be some content to draw people in. Website content is an important element of any site, providing concrete information to inform, amuse, or persuade customers.
  • Responsive Design: Analysts predict up-to 60% of website visitors will be via a mobile device come 2014. Having a mobile friendly designed website has never been more important.
  • Targeted Marketing: An excellent website design is an important part of building a successful website, but it alone is not enough to bring your website success. Promoting your site is a fundamentally important part of running a business. A marketable website allows you to take advantage of online marketing techniques such as, search engine optimisation (good website search engine ranking), social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn & so on) & email marketing. All three can produce high amounts of traffic, with a high return on investment.
  • Website Statistics: There is no use flying blind, with any business a good operator needs to know what, how and where their clients/customers are being generated from. This is no different with a website. By integrating tools like Google Analytics gives you a greater insight into how your website is performing. When it comes to marketing for example, you’ll have the ability quickly work out which advertising medium (Yellow Pages, Local Directories, Google and so on) is delivering the most traffic to your website, in-turn giving you clear direction on what avenues to channel your marketing dollars $$$.