Professional Web Design and Web Designers in Bath Separating the Professionals from the Amateurs

Professional Web Design and Web Designers in Bath Separating the Professionals from the Amateurs

What distinguishes a professional web designer and therefore a professional web design, from the amateur web designer and therefore an amateur web design?

As with all walks of life there are those who can and those who try to

In this context those who can mean professionally trained and qualified people who have spent years developing and refining their skills. Those who try to, are people who have good intentions, but lack the knowledge and intellectual design capacity to come up with little more than a reasonable attempt at the real thing.

Separating the Professionals from the Amateurs

Its a bit like those times when you have gone into the home of someone who is a keen DIY enthusiast. 

On the surface what they have built looks good. You are initially impressed with their efforts and even congratulate them on such an amazing achievement. 

Not only that, but they tell you they have spent half what it would have cost if they had got a professional. 

Then you look a little closer. The finish of the build is a bit shabby. The doors don’t quite fit and the drawers stick somewhat.

There are gaps here and there and you can’t help noticing that the work surface, well it looks like its sloping to the left. Not quite the professional and high spec finish you would like for your home. Maybe it will be worth spending that extra money to ensure it looks right and everything works as it should. Not so impressed now, are you?

Well with professional web design it is even more important to get it right. As its about your business, your profits, your living, your way of life. There is so much more riding on the fact that it needs to work. I guess there lies the difference with the DIY homemaker. At the end of the day it is only he who has to see it and use it. With a website thousands, if not millions of people have the chance to scrutinise it. That’s if they can find it in the first place. 

Professional Web Design - Bath Business Web

What do you need to know about professional web designers? 

Remember, I am not talking about your sixteen year old son who has impressed you with his latest computer technology project at school. 

Just because you were born in the dark ages before the rise of the world wide web it doesn’t mean your sons efforts, as good as they are, warrants you taking the risk with your business.

Getting back to my point about professional web designers. Professional web designers are going to need to now a lot more than you may think. Below is just some of what they need to know and do to build you a fit for purpose professional website.

Initial planning stage of the professional web design process - a crucial element if you are going to get a professionally built website in Bath

This is the beginning. Getting the ideas flowing and starting to get an idea of design. All that knowledge, all that skill and all that design knowhow and flare will come to the fore with a professional web designer. As soon as you start talking to them about your business and what you want it to achieve will kick start their web design mind into gear. 

This stage is crucial as it is the planning stage and you need to get an idea of the structure of your website. How many navigational pages it will contain and what will these pages be called?  Will there be any pages contained within the main pages of the site? Ideas for links to other sites. What type of information is needed for pages and how much content will they need? 

This conceptualisation of the project will ultimately help the organisation and structure layout of the build. It will determine the usability of the website and determine the volume of content required.

Mainstream Search Engines

During this stage the web designer will also be creating an initial draft of the first page of the website, the home page, for you to look over to make any adjustments to the design or layout. 

There are many aspects to a website which need consideration, such as do you have a logo and where will it go on the site? Where will the content sit in relation to any pictures or images? Will you have a contact page for customers to email you directly via the website? 

The professional web designer will know all this and map out all the things you want, you require and which are necessary to ensure your website works well for your business.

What you’re looking for is a clean, well-organised, user friendly layout. You will need text which captures the essence of your business and at the same time talks to the search engines to make them sit up and listen, so they place your website high up in their rankings.

 

Some of what's needed for a professional website build

Once satisfied that they have the required content and images for the site, a professional website designer will then begin the construction using the following methods:
 

Create a site map and graphical user interface

Wireframe pages and assign a domain name

Set up customer email and create email setting information sheet

Write or edit copy for pages and write SEO meta date

Add focus keywords and activate plugins

Create child theme and design favicon

Set up header and footer information

Add layout template

Getting the idea why people train and become professionals in the field of web design? And there's more:

Header CSS styling, footer styling and home page styles 

Typography, background images and mobile/tablet styles

Create sliders and add graphic and buttons

Optimise pages and activate mobile menu

Create social media account and email account

Build in social media links and activate google places

Add cookie warning notice, site counter and customer login

Still not there yet as we haven’t taken into account any cross browser testing or carried out a website visibility test. Then of course there are those other little jobs such as assign a domain name, park domain cpanel/gridhost, map domain WP multisite, check site-map.xml works or test & submit site-map.xml.

Seriously though are you telling me that your sixteen year old knows about all this? How to do it, when to do it, how much of it to do, what links with what and the relationship between all the different aspects of the build? Well if they do they should contact Bath Business Web because we may well be able to offer them a position within the Company. The chances are they will have knowledge of some of the things I have listed. 

However, the professional web designer in Bath Business Web will have knowledge of all these things and more. And I have left out some of the good bits. The internal bits of a website which really get that site up the rankings of Google, Firefox and other mainstream search engines. 


Professional Web Design in Bath and the South West

Ensuring to follow a well-structured and planned website design process is the mark of the professional. To follow this process will mean your website will be well organised, easy to navigate and have all the relevant parts. It will work efficiently and effectively and be very user friendly. 

As the customer you will want and require a ‘high quality design’. Remember the DIY handyman. Not that. We are talking a professional web designer in Bath Business Web. Our web designers in Bath Business Web will follow a number of simple rules within the conceptualisation of your website to achieve this:

• They will create balance. This means the equal distribution of the heavy and light elements on each individual page
• They ensure unity. This refers to the way they keep all of the similar elements in a website alike and those that are diverse further apart, thus pulling everything into one integrated whole
• They craft emphasis. This emphasis involves all of the main points where the eye of the viewer is drawn into the design (also now as the focal points)
• They use design flare for contrast. That is the contract of colour, contrasting shapes, sizes, textures and typography
• They build in rhythm. Otherwise known as repetition. Rhythm brings an internal consistency into the web design

The professional web designers at Bath Business Web know of these elements and use them each time they design and build a website. They also know that getting the balance of content and imagery is crucial, not just for the look of the design, but for the everyday functionality of the website itself. 

Cramming too much information or text into a website can lessen its chances of being found, or totally baffle and confuse the viewer. Sometimes less is definitely more. 

A website needs to be clean and easy on the eye. For years in marketing and advertising they have talked about ‘white space’. That is literally the space around text or images which is all part and parcel of the overall design. White space is crucial when creating a professional layout for your website. 

Professional web designers know how to manipulate the white space and make it work to your advantage and make it a key element in each and every design.

Bath Business Web - Websites

One of the most difficult and time consuming aspects of professional website design is making sure the website is standards compliant. 

In other words if you want your website to be considered as a professional one, then it must look and function the same in all major browsers. 

Professionally designed websites need solid SEO (search engine optimisation) friendly foundations.

Attention to detail is crucial. It will be the detail in the design which will make your website designed by a professional website designer at Bath Business Web stand out from the competition. 

People get bored with the same old designs being pumped out into the internet. 



The general public are not fools and want something different, unique and appealing to look at. They will recognise a website which has a strong identity and image and will go back to it time and time again. 

The success of any website is usability

Basically the usability of a website refers to how well viewers learn to navigate it to achieve their goals and how satisfied they are with that. This means doing so swiftly and easily to accomplish and fulfil their online needs. If a website is not built to the necessary standards, then the viewer (a potential customer for your business), can easily become frustrated and move away from your website.

 

The web designers at Bath Business Web place a great deal of importance on positive and productive website usability. They do this knowing that if they do it will lead to a website of professional quality and design. It is this, which often highlights the difference between the amateur and the professional built websites. Everything that has been done previously with the design and build of the website is totally wasted if the finished product does not achieve usability. This one element is by far the most crucial aspect of a professionally designed website.

What separates people like the professional web design company of Bath Business Web, from non-professional people, is whether or not the web designer or the web design company takes into account all of the above, whilst constructing a customer’s website. 

Bath Business Web - Professional Website Design Company
 

Web design companies such as Bath Business Web do cost more than the amateurs or less qualified professionals. And there’s a reason for that. Because you then get a much superior product, which will make you money not waste it. After all with a professional web design company you’re getting more than a website, you’re getting the total package of web design professionalism. That professionalism will show itself more easily to the untrained eye, by the nature of the website which they construct that will have all the necessary features that ensures its usability for you and your customers. 

All the best,                           

Bingham

Blogger for Bath Business Web Ltd 
Your local Internet Marketing Specialist, Business Directory and Website Design Company

Bath Business Web Ltd - Bringing your Business to Life 

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