Scroll stopping, Google friendly, fast and responsive websites aren’t just a myth. But finding the right team of professionals to bring this together can be daunting.
Are you confused on the difference between a website designer or website developer? Or to add another to the mix – a UX designer! I can see why you might be confused!
Traditionally a website designer designed the layout, look and feel of the website. A website developer would have created the website using code and focused on the backend, technical requirements of the build.
But with website platforms and builders improving constantly the difference between these roles have blurred a little.
A lot of people will have a combination of these skills. Like me 👋
Welcome to the era of the Website Designer / Developer!
Today a website designer may also be a full stack website developer. And if you’re not new to The Design Room you’d know that also being a brand designer will be the cherry on top so you have a website that aligns with your brand identity. (Read more on Why your brand designer and web designer should be the same person HERE)
And yes, I’m yet to write a blog or piece of content that doesn’t link back to brand identity. #cantstopwontstop 😆
Instead of going too deep into the differences of these roles, lets focus on what skills you need to look for when choosing a website designer / developer!
Brand Design Strategy
At this point you will already have invested in a brand identity that you’re in love with. A lot of time and strategy went into each element of the overall identity so it’s important that your website designer / developer understands how to implement this correctly.
Your website should feel consistent to your branding and the same strategy should follow through. Being able to visually communicate your brand is not a skill everyone will have.
A Creative Designer
I know a lot of clients will have checked out my previous brand and website projects before getting on a call with me. These clients have already seen the range of design skills that I have and feel confident that I will create a relevant, custom and beautiful website or them. Some people may be more technically minded than creative. For the design of your website, you need a creative designer.
Creative Problem Solving
Problem solving and the flow of a layout is important to the success of a website. My role is to make sure a website visitor is engaged enough to stay on your website. Understanding UX (user experience) considers the flow of the website, how a user will move through the website and how to encourage the user to take your desired action (for example, buying your product or booking a call with you).
You now understand the skills needed for the design and flow of your website to work. Next is putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.
On Page SEO
You need to work with someone who has the technical skills required to make a fast and responsive website and who understands SEO. Google LOVES well coded and structured websites. This is how Google makes sense of your site’s information.
To build your website, we would first work with a SEO copywriter who will have completed keyword research and will infuse those primary, secondary and long-tail keywords into engaging copy that your visitors will want to read. This will include page titles, headers, meta descriptions, image titles and descriptions.
This content is then added and implemented into your site correctly.
HEADERS, KEYWORDS, ALT TEXT
Our lovely copywriter will have provided the SEO copy which I will correctly implement into the website platform. A Search Engine Optimisation plugin for WordPress will allow me to input the relevant page titles, headers, meta descriptions, image descriptions correctly.
IMAGERY
will be optimised correctly with the provided customised file names and uploaded with the correct dimensions and file size. The provided alt text and captions will be added to the SEO plugin.
SPEED
is critical for a well performing website so the overall page size of your website is always front of mind. Adding a caching tool will help speed, limiting too many plugins and always using correctly compressed images are a few of the ways to help the speed.
Keeping Google Happy
A website that cannot be found is a wasted investment so getting on Google’s radar is crucial.
Each website I build will be linked to Google Analytics so you have the insights and capabilities to understand your data.
Having a good site structure is important so users can find the information relevant to them. Submitting a XML Sitemap to Google Search Console is an important step and a part of my website build process. This is also where you can measure your sites search traffic and performance.
Having a mobile friendly, responsive design is also a top priority.
You’ve made it to the end! There was a lot of website terminology used here but I’ve tried to keep its as brief as possible. The goal is for you to be aware and understand what you actually need for your website. It’s important that whoever you choose to work with can provide you with all of the skills mentioned above and should be familiar with them.
If you’re still searching and figuring out who you’d like to work with I’d love for us to chat. Book a free discovery call to discuss your website (or brand identity).
