Is Web Development Part of Digital Marketing?

By now, most business owners know what digital marketing is in general. For those who are unsure, digital marketing is marketing your company online via digital channels. Although it sounds simple to grasp, the individual parts which make up online marketing can sometimes be less clear.

In this blog, we’ll be taking a look at whether web development can be classed as part of marketing via digital channels.

Can web development be included in digital marketing?

The simple answer is that web development is part of digital marketing. This is because any website you develop exists online in a digital format and has a direct impact on how your business is perceived. Even if you do not use the site you develop in marketing campaigns per se, it can still be the first place people interact with you online and can help you to attract new customers.

In addition, a website that has been expertly built can be a valuable marketing tool for showing consumers you are a professional company. When people use your site and see you have invested resources into its core functionality, they will view you in a more positive light.

Web development takes the basic design of a site and brings it to life for consumers with scripts, dynamic content and coding.

Web development is key for SEO

It is not just the impact on brand image and showcasing your business online which makes web development essential for digital marketing. The functionality of your website also has an impact on SEO.

Search engines will take into account how well your website functions, how easy it is to navigate and how long it takes for pages to load. By getting the development of your website right, you can improve your SEO and move your website up to the top of search engine results pages.

At Real Internet, we know how important expertly built and developed websites are for digital marketing. Based in Wotton-Under-Edge, our affordable web development services help clients get the functioning, agile websites they need.

Get in touch today for more details.

 

How to Achieve Responsive Web Design

One of the biggest directions in digital marketing and website management is responsive web design. This is something that all brands and business owners need to be aware of, especially if they are hoping to attract online visitors, build engagement, and win those all-important conversions.

But what, exactly, is responsive web design?

Essentially, responsive web design is a tech-led, intuitive way of designing websites so that they integrate and work seamlessly with a host of other online technologies, across a range of different digital devices and interfaces. Why does that matter? Because your customers expect to have exciting, seamless, and fast online experiences that allow them to do what they want to do.

Remember too, that today’s online customers have varied needs and different preferences in the way that they interact with brands and spend money online. Many will go online via smartphones. Younger buyers, in particular, will expect to see products and services advertised on social media and then click to buy in just a couple of swipes. Others will want to use web chats to make bookings, find information rapidly, or switch between branded platforms to engage with a range of content.

Designing with different users in mind

Most digital devices are now touch screen enabled, so websites now need to be designed with mouse and touch screen users in mind. Responsive design means thinking about these aspects and adjusting the design accordingly. For example, drop-down menus are fine for mouse users but less so for touch screen users, hence the rise of single-page scrolling sites.

The rise of the fluid grid

Most web designers are now using fluid grids to achieve responsive design. These fluid grids intelligently scale website components for better sizing, which adjusts to every user’s screen. This prevents users from needing to zoom in and out. Users must be able to enjoy the same great experience on your website, whether they access it via a smartphone or desktop PC.

Achieving responsive web design

For better digital marketing, most businesses are now outsourcing their website design to a professional website design company that can deliver a responsively designed website that is future-proofed to integrate with all emerging technologies and to engage customers. Contact Real Internet to find out more about our excellent web design services that are designed to help businesses of all sizes enjoy better results from their digital assets. We provide affordable and adaptable websites, and cover the whole of the South West.

How Does Web Design Work?

Web design is what creates the overall look and feel of a website. It involves planning and building the elements of a website, from its structure and layout to its colours, fonts, and graphics. Web design is not to be confused with web development, which is the coding that makes a website work. Here are the four stages of the web design process, from beginning to launch.

Web Design Project Discovery

Project discovery starts with defining the project. You will need to work with business analysts and researchers to help you identify existing problems in your industry, define your product’s unique selling points, and learn more about your customer segments. You’ll also need to conduct competitor analysis to help you to get a general idea of what has been done in the past to see what design improvements you can offer.

Architecture and Layout

Website architecture begins with code. These code templates determine how elements such as graphics, ads, and text will be represented. Simpler code results in fast page load speeds, less maintenance, and lower bandwidth and labour costs. Website architecture also encapsulates the functionality shown through templates like search, commenting, RSS, etc.

User Interface Design

User interface design is all about creating the visual components of a website. Besides the visual appeal, UI design helps establish your brand identity, draws visitors’ attention and keeps them engaged with your website. During this stage, your web designer defines the visual direction and layout of your site. After that, they decide on a preliminary product structure and conduct a series of interviews to establish a visual language that your business needs. Based on this information, your web designer should be able to create two or three mockups for you to choose from.

Launching, Analyzing, and Revising

This is the last stage of the web design process. The website is ready to go live at this stage, and all internal reviews have been completed. After a successful launch, a comprehensive review will be required to prove that the design is functioning as expected.

If you’re looking for web design services in Gloucestershire, get in touch with us today for more information.

How Long Does It Take to Design a Website?

Creating a website from scratch can take days, weeks, or even months. With so many variables in the website development process, the time required varies from one project to another. While we cannot give you a definite answer of how long website creation takes, we will be sharing the four steps of website creation and will give you a rough estimate of how long it takes to design a website.

Planning process to design a website

Without proper planning, you will lose sight of your goals and end up creating a website that isn’t suitable for your business. Therefore, the first thing you should do when developing your website is gauge your needs and create a plan. Communicate your primary goals with your website developer and let them know the pages and functionality you want your site to have. The planning process for a standard website takes about one to two weeks.

Design process

Once you have a plan of action in place, it’s now time to start designing your website. At this stage, your web designer should give a mock-up of how your website will appear based on your requirements. If there are any changes that you want to be made, communicate them early before development begins. The design process can take anywhere between one to three weeks.

The development phase

In this next stage, your website developer takes all the information you’ve given them and turns it into a fully functional website. Your web designer should always keep you in the loop of the progress being made because you may wish to change a key part of your website once you see it in action. As expected, this stage takes longer to complete because changes take longer to make. In most cases, it takes at least one month to fully develop a standard website.

Final review

Before any website is officially finished, it must go through one final round of revisions. This is to ensure that it looks and works as you anticipated. If there are no major changes required, then this process should take no more than two weeks.

At Real Internet, we cover the entire web design process from initial design to build. If you are looking for a reliable website design company based in Gloucestershire, contact us today to speak to our team of experts.