Emmanuelle Harrington Emmanuelle Harrington

How to get started with your website

Whether you have engaged a professional for the creation of your website, or decided to do it yourself, it will demand your time and attention. Before diving into the design and production of the website, it is essential to reflect on where your business is today, what your plans are, who your customers are and what is driving you to embark on this website project.

CWC-DIY-website-tips-1.jpg

Whether you have engaged a professional for the creation of your website, or decided to do it yourself, it will demand your time and attention. Before diving into the design and production of the website, it is essential to reflect on where your business is today, what your plans are, who your customers are and what is driving you to embark on this website project.

 

The Road Map

Starting with a business analysis will set the direction for the project and help you achieve your goals. You need to be clear on your goals in order to reach them! There are lots of way to get to your road map, but here are some pointers to get you started.

Business goals

  • Do you want to expand your reach to a national and/or international level?

  • Are you going online to improve efficiencies and customer service?

  • Are you launching a new range of products, and looking to reach a wider audience?

  • Are you refining your services to focus on a specific niche market?

 

Competitors review

  • Who do you think your competitors are?

  • Take a look at their website and online communication; what do you think they do well?

  • How do you think you are different? What do you offer that they don’t, and vice-versa? Potential customers will be doing their research so what will make it easier for them to choose you instead of someone else in your market?

 

Who are your customers?

If you have been in business for some time, you would have seen changes in the market and in your customer base, and be able to form some typical user profiles. If you already have a website, take a look at your analytics and check where your traffic is coming from, what content is most popular, which calls to action are working, who is making purchases and where you seem to be losing traction. Whenever possible, make decisions based on data rather than assumptions.

 

User profiles and buyers personas

Understanding our audience means that you can create content that resonates with your buyers by addressing their needs, and overall help create a positive customer experience.

When you create some user profiles and buyers personas (which are fictional characters), think of them as real people, give them a name and refer to them with everything you create.

  • Demographics

  • What do they do, where do they live

  • What do they need and want

  • What are their frustrations, what problems do they face

  • Where and how do they shop

  • What are their preferred channels

  • What is their personality type

 

Brand review

  • What are your brand values

  • What do you stand for

  • How should you be perceived online

  • What is your key message

Addressing this will help develop your brand guidelines, from a visual point of view (i.e. colour palette, imagery, typography) as well as tone of voice.

First impressions count. What should the experience look and feel like for your audience?

 

Content planning

Now that you are clear on your business goals, your customers and your position in the market, it will be much easier to map out your content.

Remember, your website is for your customers, it is not about you. What do your customers want? How do you address their problems? What will help them make a decision?

Yes you need to talk about your products and services but people tend to be more reactive if something speaks to them. You only have a few seconds online to grab someone’s attention so, along with the visuals, these high level messages are critical. Once you’ve captured your audience, they will start digging deeper.

You can then decide:

  • What do you need to show and say?
    List all content that is important and relevant to your audiences.

  • How will you say it?
    You can use different content types: image galleries, blog posts, product description, page, FAQ, map, video, pull quote, list, etc.

  • How will you structure it?
    This is your sitemap, which will then help you work out the navigation within your site (one page will only be on a sitemap once, but there may be different pathways to this page on your website).

Out of this exercise, the functionality requirements will appear clearer. You may need to integrate functionality such as:

  • E-commerce

  • Blog

  • Email subscription

  • Online bookings

  • A membership area

 

Next steps

At this stage of the project, you should feel much more prepared to get going with the production of your website. I would recommend that the next steps to be:

  • The development of wireframes

  • Content production

  • Where will you source your content?

  • Will you be engaging a copywriter and / or a photographer?

  • And the fun part: design concepts!


Emmanuelle Harrington has been a website producer for more than 20 years. For the last 6 years, her focus has been on small creative businesses, helping them find their voice and connecting with their audience by creating beautiful websites and providing personalised training. Now based in the Adelaide Hills, she has recently joined creative agency KOJO as senior digital producer. Follow her on Instagram via @studiomanusha.

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Emmanuelle Harrington Emmanuelle Harrington

DIY vs professional websites

Building a website is getting easier and easier with a variety of user friendly “website builders” such as Squarespace or Shopify, and lots of resources online to learn and navigate your way around (just Google your question and watch a YouTube video, right?). Some of these platforms also have very comprehensive knowledge base websites, complete with video tutorials as well as customer service teams ready to answer your questions. 

Creative-Womens-Circle-DIY-website.jpg

Building a website is getting easier and easier with a variety of user friendly “website builders” such as Squarespace or Shopify, and lots of resources online to learn and navigate your way around (just Google your question and watch a YouTube video, right?). Some of these platforms also have very comprehensive knowledge base websites, complete with video tutorials as well as customer service teams ready to answer your questions. 

So why would you pay someone to create your website for you, especially when they use these platforms themselves? Would the end result be drastically different than if you did it yourself?  Let's break it down...

A balanced investment (time vs money)

No matter how the website will actually come to life, it will demand some time and effort on your part to make it happen. Building a website is more than just design and development. It is first about understanding your audience, what they need and how you address these factors. Then it is about finding your ideal customers, driving them to your website and giving them the best experience (online and offline) so they quickly become loyal customers. 
 

What to consider if you choose to DIY your website

Assuming you have worked through this, you have now mapped out your content and started putting all the elements together (copy, images, functionality required), you are happy with the platform you have chosen and you are ready to build your website yourself. 

Time: how much time do you have? 

It is important to be realistic about the time it will take to put it all together, especially if you are busy running your business (and perhaps your family and/or another job or commitments). The more organised you can be in the preparations, the faster it will be. For example, before diving into it:

  • Map out the content of each of your pages;

  • Choose and install a theme that will fit with your aesthetic and functionality requirements;

  • Resize your images so they are optimised for the web;

  • Have all your content written in Word or Google Docs, including little details such as wording for “call to action” buttons, form autoresponders, email addresses and other external links;

  • Know what plugins (if any) you need to install and activate them.

Interest: How keen are you?

While the resources are there for you to learn, if it doesn’t interest you and are just doing it to “save money”, you are more likely to give up and waste time going to market. So you may want to reconsider your approach. 

If you are keen and have a genuine interest in understanding how it works and how it all fits together, go for it! If you are running an online business for example, it would be very beneficial for you to gain some in depth knowledge. You could also join some Facebook groups relevant to your chosen platform and your industry, so you won’t be alone on your journey.

Discipline

Building your website will be an important project and needs to be treated as such if you want to see it come to life. Schedule some time in your week dedicated to your website. Put everything aside and focus on this only for the time allocated. It is easy to prioritise client work for example and to keep pushing your website project to the bottom of the list but it won’t make it happen. My tip would be to set some deadlines and stick to them. You could even start talking about it on social media to make yourself accountable!
 

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What to expect if you do call on a website specialist

After thinking about this more, you may decide that you need help and it is OK to ask for help! When we are so involved in the business, it is easy to lose perspective. Your website is not about you, it is for your customers, it needs to speak to them so they can make a connection with your brand and start or continue a relationship with you.

The benefits of working with a professional when creating your website would include:

  • A sounding board for your business
    Working with a pro would be an opportunity to analyse where your business is at and where it is going. They would help you set the digital strategy and planning so your website is just the first step to your business growth.

  • Digital expertise
    They know how things work and what is possible, so their job is to find solutions for you and recommend certain platforms or plugins that will work for you. They can show you how things work and train you (if you are interested!). They also know the little details that make a big difference to your website such as naming your images correctly, as well as cross browser and speed testing to make sure your website works well on all devices.

  • A more custom solution
    They can design layouts and build functionality especially for you, to create a more unique experience. That would add to your budget, but if it fits with the business plan and strategy, the investment may be easily justified.

  • Keeping you on track to get there faster
    Last but not least, they want to make it happen fast for you! They will guide you and support you when needed and once all the elements are there to populate the website, they will be dedicated to this so a beautiful and solid website can go live as quickly as possible.

 

Emmanuelle Harrington has been a website producer for more than 20 years. Her focus is on small creative businesses, helping them find their voice and connecting with their audience by creating beautiful websites and providing personalised training. Now based in the Adelaide Hills, she continues to work with clients all around Australia.
website
studiomanusha.com | instagram @studiomanusha

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Advice and Tips, Starting a Business Emmanuelle Harrington Advice and Tips, Starting a Business Emmanuelle Harrington

How to choose the best platform for your website

When it comes to designing a website for your business, which platform should you choose? To keep it simple, I’ve narrowed it down to the three platforms I use most: Squarespace, Shopify and WordPress.

Most likely, you want a website that will promote your business, generate leads and ultimately sell your products or services. It might be tempting to only focus on what you want your website to look like — and aesthetics are indeed important to generate an emotional response. But your website ultimately needs to convert visitors into customers, and for this it needs to work well.

CWCBlogPost1.jpg

When it comes to designing a website for your business, which platform should you choose? To keep it simple, I’ve narrowed it down to the three platforms I use most: Squarespace, Shopify and WordPress.

Most likely, you want a website that will promote your business, generate leads and ultimately sell your products or services. It might be tempting to only focus on what you want your website to look like — and aesthetics are indeed important to generate an emotional response. But your website ultimately needs to convert visitors into customers, and for this it needs to work well.

What would you like people to do on your website?

Take some time to reflect on the following questions when you start planning your website:

  • What do you think potential customers need to see and read to start engaging with you?

  • What do you want them to do (such as buy something, sign up, make a booking, etc.)?

  • Is there anything you are likely to need in the future?

Once you work out what you need on your website, you will be better able to assess which platform will be most suitable, both in terms of design and functionality.

Squarespace website for Creative Women’s Circle, created by CWC board members

Squarespace website for Creative Women’s Circle, created by CWC board members

How tech savvy are you?

Assuming you will DIY your website, think about how comfortable you are online, especially when it comes to:

  • custom design

  • CMS (Content Management System) interface

  • customer support

All three platforms offer both free and paid ‘themes’ (or ‘templates’, as they’re called in Squarespace), which you can customise to a certain point using the CMS.

If you choose a Shopify or WordPress theme, make sure you do so from a reputable source. Read reviews and check the developers. The theme needs to be well coded and well supported; otherwise you might end up with a slow site and conflicting plugins.

As far as interface is concerned, WordPress has the steepest learning curve and, unless you have access to a developer, you are pretty much on your own! Being an open source platform, it requires you to take care of everything to build a website. There are lots of how-to resources out there, but think about how keen you are to learn and how much time you have.

Wordpress website for the Grace Files, created by Studio Manusha

Wordpress website for the Grace Files, created by Studio Manusha

Squarespace and Shopify, on the other hand, are ‘hosted’ platforms, which means that not only do they take care of the technical side of things, but they also provide customer support. This is part of your subscription fee, so make the most of it! There is a certain comfort in knowing you are not alone.

Note that with these hosted solutions, you need an active subscription to run your site and you cannot download a full copy of your site. If you decide later to leave Squarespace or Shopify, you will be able to download some of the content but you will need to rebuild your website. You cannot just switch to another host.

Shopify website for Maapilim, created by TVP NYC

Shopify website for Maapilim, created by TVP NYC

So, what do I recommend?

Squarespace is a great solution if you are just starting out, need an information or portfolio website and are on a tight budget.

Advantages:

  • Squarespace offers a good range of templates that you can customise with your branding.

  • All templates are responsive and work well on all devices.

  • There is enough functionality to set up beautiful pages, have a blog, build a mailing list and even run an online store.

  • The drag-and-drop interface will appeal to those who are not tech savvy, and you won’t need to worry about technical maintenance or updates, which are included in your subscription.

Limitations:

  • You have to work within their templates and functionality, which can be frustrating if you want something specific.

  • On the e-commerce side of things, it is not possible at the moment to display multiple currencies, which can be an issue if you sell internationally.

Despite these limitations, the initial investment (in time and money) is usually lower than with other platforms and you can achieve great results.

Shopify is best for retailers. Whether you already have a brick-and-mortar store or are just selling online, Shopify is a comprehensive e-commerce platform.

Advantages:

  • It is easy to navigate your way around.

  • There are lots of themes available to purchase and customise, and with so many apps to choose from (including free ones), you can really push your online store.

  • Unlike with Squarespace, you can access and modify code to design and develop custom layouts. You may need a pro for this but there are plenty of Shopify ‘experts’ available.

Limitations:

  • The focus is on the products and the homepage. Any other page apart from those can be bland and a bit difficult to manage, though there is the customization option noted above.

WordPress will suit you best if you want flexibility and are tech savvy.

Advantages:

  • You can essentially do anything!

Limitations:

  • The flexibility often requires more time and more expertise. However, you can always get help for the initial setup and then learn to manage the site yourself once it is up and running.

Emmanuelle Harrington has been a website producer for more than twenty years. Her focus is on helping small creative businesses find their voice and connect with audiences by creating beautiful websites and providing personalised training. Based in the Adelaide Hills, she works with clients all around Australia. Visit her at studiomanusha.com or follow her on Instagram (@studiomanusha).

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