web designer
The purpose of this guide is to educate and inform. Ultimately giving you the resources you need for seamlessly crafting a website that converts from the mind of a web designer.
We’ll start by analysing the basic anatomy of a website and defining commonly used terms and jargon. Then walk you through how to plan for your website.
Subsequently we’ll dive into the content, with a lot of practical advice and how to’s.
This guide was designed to serve you as the one and only, the ultimate… guide to captivating content so without further ado, enjoy!
Table of Contents
LEARN
Learn the basic structure and elements within a website as well as terminology that many come in handy along your journey.
ANATOMY OF A WEBSITE
Let’s get you up to speed on the current anatomy of a website, see the example below showing key sections that most websites embody.
TERMINOLOGY GLOSSERY
Here are some key terms and commonly used jargon that will help you in the process of creating a website.
This is your URL address www.your business name.com.au you buy the rights to use this domain from a domain registry
Think of hosting as a rental agreement for your patch of the internet. You can build a website on it via a CMS (like WordPress) and can connect your domain name to it, this is your address pointing people to your website. You never outright own your domain name or hosting environment but you own all your website files and data.
Widgets are areas of functionality mainly in the header and footer of the website.
Plug-ins allow for customisation on your website, think of a hair salon that would like an area on their site for customers to make bookings; in this case you would use a booking plugin.
This is the little icon or coloured square that appears next to your URL address in an internet browsers tab.
Are certain words or phrases that you want your business to register with online. For example, the business Sydney’s car wash would ideally want their website to have a lot of keywords like ‘Sydney, car, wash, best, affordable, vehicle, airport’ so if someone types into Google search bar ‘Sydney car wash’ then their website will appear higher than a competitors website that didn’t have those keywords within their website.
Search Engine Optimisation – free things you can do on your site to make it the most optimal to be found by search engines like Google. Adding Meta-data, alt-tags on your images and keywords for what you want to be found for all will aid in getting the site found online.
Search Engine Marketing – this is paid for marketing to allow your site to register higher than others for certain keywords.
Call to Action – This is a paragraph of text that is asking its reader to do something, to make an action on your website. For example, a button reading ‘book now’ is a call to action to book now, most likely leading them to a booking page / contact form.
This is a layout of your website that Google uses to read your website so it can prioritise certain pages.
PLAN
Now we’re into the planning stage, what needs to happen and how do you incorporate these elements.
SITEMAP
What is it and why do you need one?
What does your page structure look like? The sitemap isn’t just a list of your pages, it is a list organised in hierarchy. See the example below, viewers start at the top level navigation and then can click through to additional pages in the second level content. Then to the third level content which is where you want to lead them to make a sale or lead.
You should aim to create a sitemap that is no more than three clicks to navigate to any page on your website.
Any good WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast or Rank Math will create this for you automatically once the website is built but it’s a great idea to plan this step out so you know what pages you need to create content for. The website Octopus.do is a great free tool to be able to DIY a simple sitemap.
Pages
What pages does your business website really need?
The pages on your website should educate, inspire or sell – anything else is fluff. Make each page contain between 300-800 words with a mixture of images/ video. White space is important to break up large bodies of text. Below are some examples of popular pages for certain industries:
Services Website
HOME | SERVICES | PRICING | PORTFOLIO | FAQS | CONTACT | BOOKING
Education Website
HOME | HISTORY | STUDENT/PARENT PORTAL | FAQ | ENROLMENT
Retail Website
HOME | COLLECTIONS | SHOP | CART | CHECKOUT | SHIPPING POLICY
If you don’t have a great deal of content for a page you can consider merging pages if it feels natural to do so. Not everything needs its own page. For example, you can have a services page that features your FAQs and pricing. Anchor links are a great way to jump/link to certain sections on any page on your website, you see this a lot on one page websites.
Mandatory Pages
Every website needs a page detailing their privacy policy and what you do with your traffics data. It’s mandatory and you must have one, many website builders will have a template that you can add to as a starting point. If your website is available to Europe then you need their specific privacy consent. Ibuenda is a terrific company which make it easy to create your cookie consent, privacy policy.
Terms and conditions, shipping and returns policy is more for the business owner rather than by law. It’s a great page to explain what your customer/client will expect from your service or product. It’s handy to link this information on the checkout page via a check box before they have agreed to the sale and made their purchase. You can always have these pages available in the footer of your webpage which is an ideal location for these types of pages.
CTA
Call to Action buttons are important to have strategically placed on your website to funnel your traffic and lead them to do what you want them to do, like become a client or a customer.
What makes a good CTA?
First of all, let’s think about what is making you money, is it people enquiring to work with you (ie. leads)? Is it people buying from your online shop? Is it someone signing up to your membership? This should be where you are trying to direct people to. No point sending people to the about page when you can send them to a shop page where they can fall in love with your pieces for sale.
Now, think about this, you are browsing some websites looking for, let’s say a pair of shoes. You have found the pair you love on two websites. Website 1 underneath the shoes on the homepage is a button which reads: ‘CLICK TO BUY’ and website 2 has a button which reads: ‘MAKE THESE YOURS’.
Both buttons lead the viewer to buy the same shoe but both have different vibes. Website 1 is a hard sell and Website 2 is a soft sell.
Which would you be more inclined to press? Which button works best?
How to word a CTA depends on your brands tone of voice
Is your business seen as a guide to their audience? An expert? A confidant? Knowing what your business brand of voice is so helpful when it comes to crafting the wording of your website.
Try using the formula in the next section to be able to craft the wording for your CTAs
Content
Here’s where we dive into what to include on your website, the absolute essentials in captivating content.
- List your unique selling points [ex: 10 yrs experience – Australian made] ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________
- List the benefits your audience will get [ex: energy, time, weight loss] ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________
- How does your business speak to their audience? Select from the below: – Authorative – Conversational – Friendly – Humorous – Professional – Trustworthy – Playful – Enthusiastic – Nostalgic – Romantic – Edgy – Caring – Witty – Respectful
- List the page/s that make you money [ex. shop / contact – this is where your CTA should link to] ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________
- Consider urgency [- is there a promotional period? – do you often sell out?] ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________
- What are your services / products [- what do you want them to buy from you?] ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________
List of power words
Authoritative:
Absolute
All-inclusive
Authentic
Proven
Complete
Expert
Final
Genuine
Official
Surefire
Masterclass
Budget:
Affordable
Bargain
Bonus
Cheap
Free
Now
Unlimited
Friendly:
Heartwarming
Inspiring
Profound
Adorable
Genius
Impressive
Light Up
Gorgeous
Stunning
Swoon
Life-changing
Professional:
Basic
Cheat-sheet
Easy
Effortless
Ingredients
Minimalist
On-Demand
Painless
Rules
Savvy
Simple
Step-by-Step
Tricks
Tweaks
Romantic:
Begging
Crave
Decadent
Delirious
Fantasy
Naked
Irresistible
Sexy
Satisfy
Sinful
Forbidden
Upbeat:
Bold
Exciting
Intriguing
Riveting
Tempting
Transform
Amp
Ignite
Jumpstart
Kickstart
Launch
List of action words
Get Your
Click Now
Find Out
Go See
Discover
Click Here
Learn
How Make Room
Join Us
Learn More
Sign Up
Subscribe
Get Started
Try Out
Send Me
I Want
Enter
Claim
Continue
Launch
Follow
Take Me
Download
View
Grab
Now try inserting your answers into the CTA Formula:
action word | power word | product/service | unique selling point | URGENCY
example: “Get your affordable website custom made NOW”
action word | benefit | power word | product/service
example: “Find out how to gain more time with my proven method”
Creating an engaging and captivating CTA can sometimes seem a bit daunting but hopefully these tips and our “crafting your CTA” guide will help you. You can also book a consultation with us or learn more about our services here.
KEYWORDS
It is very handy to know what keywords you are wanting to be found for online. Ideally you want to litter these keywords throughout your website in pages, meta descriptions, and in image alt tags.
A page of key words and phrases in a separate text document will be highly regarded although not a requirement to launch your website.
I recommend going to Google Keyword Planner for help with choosing yours.
SALES COPY
How to write persuasive sales text in a non-sleazy way
Sales copy is any body of text that wants to persuade its reader to take a specific action, similar to a CTA but longer! Writing copy is a skill and I urge anyone to hire a copywriting professional, as a good sales page will give you a great return on investment. If you want to DIY to save money for now I have curated 5 key points on writing good sales copy.
- IDENTIFY – Identify who it is who will be buying your product or service. Picture them when you are writing your copy.
- PAIN POINTS – Discover your audience’s pain points. Pain points are things that challenge your audience, obstacles that get in their way or daily annoyances.
- BENEFITS – Now that you know what your audience struggles with, see if you can tie in your product/ services benefits as a way of squashing them.
- CLEAR – Be clear with your writing style and words you use, don’t get too technical as you don’t want to confuse the reader you want to convince them to convert.
- TELL A STORY – Telling a story around your company product and brand is a tried and true method. The reason it works is because it resonates with your intended audience
HOW TO PREP & SEND CONTENT
Dealing with large digital files can be frustrating if you don’t know how to correctly transfer and send everything.
How to prepare
So, you have all your notes and images but how best to send it to your web designer? All written copy should be sent in a Word/Pages document not a PDF because you can’t copy/paste from a PDF as easily. Copy should be clearly organised under page headings with titles and call to action suggestions. Again, try and keep your copy to 300-800 words per page, any more is excessive and any less isn’t great for SEO.
Image Specifications
Landscape format preferable. Image size to be a minimum 1000 px wide and whatever size height it resizes too – you or your designer can crop more if necessary on upload. Image file size max. 300MB for thumbnail type of images and for large hero images no more than 1MB. Further optimisation before adding to the website may be required.
File Organisation
Label your images clearly as this makes it easy work to add relevant alt tags. It also helps when uploading images to the shop or portfolio of work (if applicable). Create folders for HOME | ABOUT | GALLERY and fill those folders with the images you want to appear on those relevant pages. If you don’t have a preference then you can skip this step.
How to send
Images and copy should be sent via Dropbox or Google Drive – there are others but these two are the most highly used. Images should be clearly titled and organised in sub folders if need be. Landscape images are perfect for website design due to the width of the screen and length of the web page. Images should be under 300KB, larger image files will slow down your website and you will lose traffic because of it.
Organise all files neatly into folders within folders where necessary.
How to upload and share files via Google Drive:
Step 1. Open up your Google Drive account or sign up
Step 2. Click top left + NEW select Add New Folder
Step 3. Give your new folder a name
Step 4. Drag your files in to upload them into this new folder
Step 5. Click the three dots on the right hand side of your folder, from the dropdown select Share. You have two options to share from here, the most secure is to click + Share and enter in the persons email address you wish to share this folder with. The recipient will receive an invitation to join this shared folder. Only those with allowed email addresses have access to these files.
You also have the option to copy link, this allows anyone with the link to be able to view the folder and to share with other people.
How to upload and share files via Dropbox:
Step 1. Open up your Dropbox account or sign up
Step 2. Click in the top menu the + Create folder button
Step 3. Name your folder and click create
Step 4. Add your content by dragging in your files
Step 5. To share this folder with others hover over the folder and select Share
Step 6. You can then choose three ways to share. You can add people where you enter in their email address, copy link to get a unique URL you can send to people to grant access or transfer a copy where anyone can download a copy (even without a Dropbox account!) you also have the ability to track opens and downloads. 👀
How to upload and share videos:
Option 1 - Youtube
For video, it’s best if you upload to Vimeo or YouTube using your business channel and send to your designer via a link to embed on the site. This ensures the fastest load time for the website.
Step 1. Sign into your Youtube channel or sign up
Step 2. On the top right click Upload Video
Step 3. Click Create
Step 4. Drag your video files into the next screen or click select files to search your computer library for the video file you want to upload
Step 5. Once selected the file will begin to upload and you will need to give your video a title, description, a thumbnail.
Step 6. You can then choose the video’s visibility. You have the options for the video to remain private (accessed via link only), public (anyone can access) or not listed (the video won’t be searchable). If the video is going to be used on your website you will want to choose public.
Step 7. Once the video has finished uploading you will be sent a notification from YouTube with a link to view and share.
Option 2 - Vimeo
Step 1. Log into your Vimeo account or sign up
Step 2. Click the top right button +New
Step 3. Drag your video file into the screen or click Upload File to search your computer files
Step 4. You will be prompted to give your video a title, description and content rating
Step 5. Once your video has finished uploading you can then choose top right to share
Step 6. If you are on a free account you have the option to share publicly or privately. If you are using this video for your website you select public and copy link
Thank you so much if you have read to the very end – you deserve a gold star!
Hope this has made your website content curation much easier.
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