Why Use Responsive Web Design?

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If you are planning your new website, you want to make sure that it is both informative and engaging. A good website can encourage customers to buy from your company or use your services. But there are many different reasons why you should invest in responsive web design. In this article, we’ll discuss what responsive web design is, and some of the main benefits of responsive web design.

What is responsive web design?

Fitting your website to your readers’ screens is increasingly vital for a number of reasons:

  • Enhances the user experience

User experience is one of the most important factors in web design. In order to make sales, you need to ensure that your website is easy to use and informative so that people will stay on your site, and it will generate more clicks and revenue. But, if someone visits your website and the images or pages take a long time to load, or they have to scroll and zoom to read your content or click links, then they may leave with a bad impression of your company. By using responsive web design, you will enhance their experience and will increase the likelihood of them using your company’s services or buying a product.

  • SEO friendly

Of course, no one can access your site if they can’t find it, and that’s where SEO comes in. If a website is SEO friendly, it means that it is more likely to rank on the first page of search engine results for specific search queries. The higher your web page ranks, the more views your website may get. Responsive web design is a key ranking factor for search engines like Google, meaning that designing your site so that it is accessible to more searchers will help your page to rank higher in SEO, which can help you generate more leads to your website.

If you are looking for a professional and responsive web designer in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, or Gloucestershire areas, get in touch with our expert team at Real Internet today to learn more about our web design services.

What to Look for When Hiring a Web Designer

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Building a well-performing website is crucial for any business in today’s digital world. Your website directly affects the success of your business, which is why you must find an experienced web designer to bring your vision to life. Here are a few things to consider when hiring a web designer.

Appropriate pricing

Different designers charge different prices. Web designing rates vary widely depending on the type of website you want, the scope and size of the project, prevailing market prices, level of expertise, and many more. To find agreeable pricing, ensure that you set your budget before even looking for a designer.

Experience in your industry

Once you find designers within your price range, begin the eliminating process. Working with a web designer who has experience in your industry should be a top priority because it makes the process easier for you. Since they are familiar with your industry, they will do a much better job prioritising your needs and even coming up with new ideas on how to make your site more competitive.

Knowledge and skills

A good designer should be fluent in programming languages like HTML, PHP, XML, and JavaScript. You will also want to work with someone who pays attention to detail because minor errors in website code could have dire consequences.

An expansive portfolio

Working with a start-up web design company is a gamble. Although new web designers have the talent and knowledge, they lack experience. Therefore, it is safer to hire someone who can show you a detailed portfolio of their work with past clients. This will help give you some insight into their capabilities, design style, work ethic, etc. Click here to see our portfolio.

Website maintenance

It is important to know what kind of support is offered after your website has been created. If you do not have the time or knowledge to maintain your site yourself, choose a website designer who offers website maintenance services to keep your site functioning properly.

At Real Internet, we design and build websites for companies all around the country. Contact us today for more information about our services.

What is Web Design All About?

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There are well over 1.7 billion websites in the world, and organisations of all types and sizes need one. Yet, there are still many myths and misunderstandings about them, alongside too much money wasted on sites that perform badly. So, what is web design all about?

Looks aren’t everything

It’s important to stress that the word ‘design’ in this context means a great deal more than simply aesthetics. Yes, an attractive website is important. It’s part of something called your User Interface, which includes making your brand obvious and attractive on every page.

However, good website design involves creating strong website performance too, the sort of architectural factors that ensure you get a good return on your investment.

What skills are needed for effective web design?

The above point is why so many DIY websites fail to generate sales or even to attract enough page visitors.

A website design company goes beyond appearances, as it knows how to:

  • Pin down business goals
  • Identify target customers
  • Research competitor activities
  • Innovate on graphical content
  • Build vital functions, such as search options
  • Streamline load speeds and navigation
  • Find relevant plug-ins
  • Make pages more ‘searchable’
  • Create user-centric web pages

What is meant by user-centric web design?

Some of the best website designs ‘on paper’ fail to hold on to their target customers, such as a website that’s stunning on large screens, but fiddly to use on smartphones, alienating younger users instantly.

User-centric design links to another commonly used term in website design; user experience or UX. Put simply, things like SEO and online ads are a waste of money if you leak leads from your web pages. The best website management company will provide you with strong UX and a web design that converts leads seamlessly and consistently by matching user expectations, preferences and behaviours.

Constant evaluation

When considering, ‘What is web design all about?’, it’s also important to understand it’s not a quick fix for business success.

The best website designs are constantly assessed and improved. This is another reason DIY websites fail, and why website hosting and management services are so invaluable. They provide you with proactive and creative help to keep your website relevant and successful.

Web design Gloucestershire

Real Internet offers affordable, adaptable web designs that are about performance as well as aesthetics, so contact us today to learn more.

What is User Experience in Web Design?

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Your business website is a digital portfolio that tells your target audience more about your company and your products/services while persuading them to take action. However, to achieve this, you need to provide customers with the best user experience so that they can do repeat business with you and recommend you to friends and family.

But, what exactly is user experience?

User experience can be defined as any interaction a user makes with a certain business and its products/services. It includes everything from how a user feels to what they see and hear and their emotional reactions.

What is user experience in web design?

In web design, user experience focuses on practices that make a website easy to use and appealing to consumers. A good user experience in web design means that:

• Your customer visited your site
• They scrolled through the different web pages
• They understood what your site is all about and what you sell
• They got what they wanted and took action, e.g., contacted you or made a purchase

Many factors influence a user’s experience with your website, but the main ones include:

• Usability: Is your site easy to use and navigate?
• Value: Does your site’s content/service/product make the time spent on it worthwhile?
• Credible: Does your brand build customer trust, belief and loyalty?
• Usefulness: Does your site satisfy visitor needs and requirements?
• Desirable: Does your website evoke or create an emotional reaction with the end-user?
• Accessible: How easily accessible is your website?

Achieving all these aspects might seem challenging, but it’s not impossible. Working with an experienced web developer or designer will help you improve your website, which improves user experience.

Importance of improving your website’s user experience

User experience is vital in web design as it significantly affects conversion rates. For example, if visitors find your website difficult to use and navigate, they’ll log off within a few minutes and find another site to purchase from.

Similarly, if your website looks outdated and functions poorly, visitors are less likely to purchase from it. Ultimately, if you want to improve your conversion rates, ensure you’re offering the best user experience.

Get in touch with us today for affordable, and adaptable web design services.

What is Meant by Web Page Design?

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Websites are integral to the effective and successful operation of a business, but when it comes to putting a website together, what does web page design mean exactly?

Web page design explained

When a web design company creates a website, it needs to consider the functions and goals of the site, as well as the target audience. This information is used to decide how to put each page together, and how each page will contribute to the look and feel of the entire website.

Each page will be designed with a focus on aspects such as appearance, layout, choice of colours, text, and fonts, using specific design software or templates. Special attention will be paid to making sure that the brand elements of a company are included on each page, whether that’s on a home page, an about us page or a contact page.

When designing a web page, it’s not just how information is put together that matters. Designers will also make sure that the white or empty space on the page allows the rest of the elements to easily flow together to enhance the user experience.

Page design

Web designers have a choice of various software and design templates they can use when putting a website together, and which one they choose often depends on what the site or pages are intended to achieve. E-commerce pages may need a different design structure than a simple information page, for instance, while a contact page will need a form layout, including buttons and a drop-down menu.

Some pages of a website can, however, be designed using the same template, so that their background, menus, and header images all look identical on each page. Each page may then be given its own specific design elements to differentiate it from the other pages.

User-friendly design

In order to create a successful web page design, a website management company will need to ensure that users can view the site on all different types of devices, including desktop computers and smartphones.

Web pages will be designed for use on different devices using either adaptive or responsive design. In adaptive design, web pages are designed in fixed layouts that match different screen sizes, while page content moves dynamically to suit the screen size in responsive design.

If you’re looking for effective web design services to create a web page design for your site, get in touch with us today.

What is Adaptive Web Design?

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Adaptive web design allows users to view a website on multiple devices, but what does this involve and how does this differ from other types of web design?

Adaptive web design explained

First coined by web developer Aaron Gustafson back in 2011, adaptive web design is, essentially, a way of allowing a website to be viewed across multiple devices. More of us now use a range of devices to view web pages, with smartphones now trumping desktop computers in terms of use, and web design services have had to change to accommodate the different ways we look and search online.

Adaptive web design has become one of the leading solutions used for browsing on different devices. It involves the creation of different web layouts that are fixed, and which can be adapted to suit various sizes of screen. Therefore, instead of having a single, static page that looks similar across all devices, with adaptive web design you get a number of web page versions that fit a particular device.

This means that a website design company might develop different designs for various screen widths to suit mobile phones, laptops, desktop PCs and tablets.

Benefits of adaptive web design

A web design company may choose an adaptive design because it offers a number of different benefits. Since it is designed for various resolution sizes, it is considered relevant and specific to a user’s needs. It also delivers faster loading speeds, particularly compared to other types of design.

Isn’t it the same as responsive design?

If you’ve heard of adaptive web design, then chances are you’ve probably heard of responsive design, too. These phrases are often used interchangeably, and many people assume they are much the same thing. However, there are subtle variations between the two. While adaptive design consists of different layouts, there’s only one in responsive design, which responsively adjusts to fit the user’s screen. It is the browser window that decides on the layout with responsive design, while the back-end, as opposed to the browser or user, determines the layout in adaptive design. The server selects the correct layout according to factors such as operating system and device type.

Find out more about adaptive design for your website, by contacting our expert website team today.

What is a Web Design Company?

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Having a top-class website is a must for digital marketing in the modern age. To create a great website, you’ll need to work with a reputable web design company, but what are they and what do they do?

What is a web design company?

In simple terms, a web design company is a company that designs and builds websites for businesses, public bodies, charities, and personal use. During your first consultation with a web design company, they will sit down and find out more about their client. They will also dig deeper into what the client needs their site to do, how they want it to look and what features they need on it. Once this consultation phase is complete, their team of expert web designers will build the site according to the client’s wishes.

Web hosting

Although designing and building websites is their prime service, many web design companies also offer web hosting services. This makes it convenient to find reliable hosting in the same place you have your website built.

In addition, some can bring existing WordPress sites into their hosting plans, even if you do not want a new site built. Some web design companies also specialise in areas such as graphic design and branding, which can be useful if you need help in sourcing the best marketing materials to stand out from competitors.

Why hire a web design company?

Some business owners may wonder why they should spend money hiring a web design company. After all, could you not save money by designing and building it yourself? While this is possible, it is likely that the site you end up with will almost certainly not be as responsive, stylish, and practical as one built by professional web designers.

Contact Real Internet today

At Real Internet, we have many years of experience in building websites that are not only feature-heavy and fast, but great to look at too. We also offer a range of additional services to clients in South West UK, from web hosting to graphic design and branding. Get in touch with us for more details.

 

 

North Bristol RFC and Real Internet

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At Real Internet, we are passionate about supporting and helping small organisations and businesses. We work with one-man bands to national businesses, and we believe that every business deserves affordable and adaptable website design. We love all things digital, but we don’t talk tech; at Real Internet we live in the real world!

We provide complete website design, creation, and hosting packages – which means that we can build your site and keep it running smoothly and securely.  Whether you want to improve your ranking, generate more sales leads, reach new markets, or show off your services, we can build you a site that will make it happen.

We’re passionate about providing the best possible websites at affordable prices.  We’re techies, but we’re approachable and friendly!

Our small, experienced team are based in Wotton-Under-Edge, Gloucestershire and our clients are from all over the South West.

When the opportunity arose to sponsor a preseason friendly match for North Bristol RFC, who are based at Oaklands, Almondsbury, we were delighted to be asked to support a local team.

North Bristol RFC is known across the County for their outstanding Minis and Juniors sections. The quality of players and coaching across all age groups is second to none.

On Saturday 4th September, we were honoured to be match day sponsors for the Men’s preseason friendly at Oaklands against Yate RFC. It was a wonderful day and the sun shone! It was an exciting match and NBRFC won 56-28, a thrilling match for all who watched. We cannot wait to see how the team get on in the League this year.

#OneClubOneLove

Real Internet Managing Director Andrew Reynolds with members of North Bristol RFC.

If you would like to find out more about Real Internet, contact us now or call 01453 806570

 

What is a Child Page in Web Design?

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Websites are key in modern business and give companies an effective digital marketing tool to build their online presence with. Of course, the key to this is great web design which focuses on speed, responsiveness, and user experience. One web design term you might have come across before is a child page. But what are they and why should websites use them?

What is a child page in web design?

In short, a child page is a page on your website which is found underneath another page. The page it is underneath is usually referred to as the parent page. A good example is a ‘Company History’ page on a website which is accessed via the overall ‘About Us‘ page. In this case, ‘Company History’ is the child page as it is placed underneath the parent ‘About Us’ page.

Why are child pages useful in web design?

One major advantage using child pages in web design brings is easier site navigation. It allows you to form relationships between relevant web pages and makes it easier for people to get around. The knock-on effect of this is that your site becomes more user friendly and enjoyable to spend time on too.

What else makes child pages worth using in web design?

Child pages also help to give a professional look to your website and make it obvious to users that you have invested time in creating a quality site. This is great for your brand image and may help persuade consumers to shop with you or hire you. Using child pages is also a good move for SEO. Search engine robots who crawl websites usually look more favourably on those who make navigation simpler with features like this. It will be a lot better than having masses of individual pages to crawl which exist on a standalone basis.

Let Real Internet help you get the most from your website

While the above points set out what a child page is and why they are worth using, you may not know how to implement them. If this is the case, contact Real Internet today on 01454 806570 for assistance. Based in Wotton-Under-Edge, Gloucestershire, we are a web design company that serves the whole of the Southwest UK.

Get in touch today, so can we unleash the power of child pages on your website!

How to Pick a Web Design Company

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There are lots of web design companies that will promise to build you the perfect website, but how do you know which one to choose, and which is going to deliver? Here are some top tips for picking the right website design company.

Understands your vision

A reputable web design company should be able to listen to your ideas and understand your vision and goals, while translating these as closely as possible into reality, utilising their skills and expertise. Crucially, you shouldn’t feel that you’re being talked into something that isn’t right for you, just to suit a particular web developer.

Complete package

Choose web design services that incorporate all aspects of web development, from the initial design concept to website development, as well as secure and reliable website hosting, digital marketing, and SEO. A website doesn’t stay still once it has been created, so a company that can provide ongoing maintenance will ensure your site continues to thrive long into the future. By picking a website management business that provides a complete package of services, you can enjoy a seamless experience when getting your site designed and developed.

Keeps up to date

When deciding on which web design services to use, ask about what systems, methods, and strategies they use to keep on top of the latest industry trends. A website hosting and management business that stays up to date is more likely to offer web solutions that will be secure, responsive and adhere to the latest SEO guidelines.

Look at examples

There’s no better endorsement for choosing a good web design company than finding examples of other websites online that you like the look of, and then seeing who designed it, which is usually written somewhere on the individual site. Any decent web company should also be able to show examples of sites they’ve designed and developed, so you can see their standard of work for yourself.

Don’t just focus on price

If you’re driven by a tight budget, it’s natural that price might be the deciding factor when picking a website design company. But, be cautious. Opting for the cheapest quote from a web company might not deliver a site that meets your needs, and their web hosting services might not be as secure and robust as you’d expect. While price is an important factor, don’t let it be the main consideration when picking a web design business.

When you’re looking for the ideal web design company, South West UK based business Real Internet ticks all the right boxes, so get in touch with us today.