Emily Cagle Communications new website and blog

Most small businesses have a web presence these days but, in my experience, few are capitalising on the multimedia and social nature of the internet.

At the very least, a website should fulfil the core functions of:

• positively representing your brand
• attracting interest from potential customers
• providing information on products and services

But in fact, a well designed website can perform a multitude of additional functions, including:

• keeping customers informed of company news and offers
• providing an alternative way to converse with customers
• offering a value added service in the form of forums, tools and advice articles

As you may have noticed, my own website has recently undergone a major redesign, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to look at what has been achieved and why.

Better visuals

There can be little doubt that the first impression a site gives is largely down to the way it looks, so the first aim was to bring the site’s aesthetic up-to-date and to give a level of visual polish that complemented the written content.

The motif of the old website was of ink flowing into clear water, chosen to represent the art inherent in good writing and the fluidity of style required to make any piece of writing effective. The new motif was chosen to communicate those same messages and, thanks to Wayne Smallman at Octane, the web design consultancy behind this project, it is now better integrated into the overall look of the website, illustrating just how effective words and images can be when they are working well together.

Improved navigation

The original website was organised quite logically according to services offered, so the overall structure of the website has remained untouched.

However, the new design gives the services special prominence to make it easier for clients to find what they are looking for. In addition, the homepage has become a showcase for some of the key services on offer.

Integrated blog

A key factor in my decision to have the website redesigned was the need for a blog.

Following on from the theme of fluidity described above, one of the key requirements I passed to Wayne was that the blog should be seamlessly integrated into the main website. I think the results speak for themselves.

If you’re able to commit to posting regular content, blogs can offer a range of benefits, including:

• providing a channel to keep customers informed – posting company news and offers in one place is convenient and helps build trust in the brand;
• improving search engine visibility – sites with regularly updated content will generally fare better than static ones;
• offering a useful resource for customers – posting advice articles relevant to your customer base will also help frame you and your company as experts in your field;
• increasing your visibility via word of mouth – with the prevalence of social media such as Twitter and Facebook, an informative post can quickly spread across the web.

With the above points in mind, my own blog offers PR, marketing, copywriting and proofreading tips for small to medium businesses in the UK and Wayne has installed plug-ins so that every post comes with the option to share via Twitter, del.icio.us, Facebook, StumbleUpon or Mixx.

Since the redesign, I’ve written several advice-based posts, including:

• Six reasons why business awards are worth entering
• Four things to consider when preparing a marketing brief
• Ten steps to better customer testimonials

In addition, I’ve been providing updates on all awards relevant to small businesses and aim to begin doing the same for business events in the coming months.

If you have any feedback about the new design, or the new content, please feel free to post your thoughts via the comment box below. I’d also love to hear what others have done to improve their own websites.

Tagged as: blogging, web design, website