Web Design with a "Green" Flavour
Our web design projects have had a distinctly “green” taste lately. We like to think we do our best to help the environment (one of our directors cycles seven miles to work most days!) and were delighted to be appointed to work on these websites.
First up is a brand new website for the Norfolk Climate Change Partnership which is a group formed by all the councils in Norfolk who work towards greater environmental sustainability for the county. The new website called “Low Carbon Norfolk” has been designed to help people find out how they can switch to a low carbon lifestyle. It's packed full of tips and ideas on how you can save money and energy, live healthier and reduce household waste.
There’s also a list of events and several online resources for businesses and community groups. The website is designed for a wide audience so needs to be easy on the eye and simple to navigate. Its aim is to communicate and educate so key messages are very visual combined with a design that has a special Norfolk feel of local photos and rolling green landscapes.
Next up is the new website for Abel Energy. We were asked to improve their existing website to increase enquiries for their Solar Panels and Wind Turbines. Using our successful approach to web design we firstly produced a detailed web site plan. This included profiling the target audience, setting clear objectives and key messages, key word research and writing a comprehensive content plan.
The design was developed around the key content using strong images and colours. Calls to action were designed to prompt enquiries from visitors and to help achieve the prime objective of the website. The website was built on our easy to use Bigfork Content Management System so that the Abel Energy team can manage the content quickly and easily.
You can visit the two websites at:
Selling Online the Bigfork Way
Online shopping in the UK is huge. No other country likes clicking the “add to basket” button like us Brits, so much so we’ve decided to improve our ecommerce service to help companies who want to have a new online shop, or improve the one they've got.
So what's new?
We've invested in a new ecommerce platform that allows bespoke design and has all the features and flexibility you are ever likely to need. It's so good we decided to make our own site to show you what we can do, the snappy site is at www.krocodile-photo.co.uk so take a look around.
Sadly it’s only a demo and you can’t actually buy anything, but you can explore a sample of the various features that are on offer. Find out more on our ecommerce page or call us on 01603 513080 for more information.
Successful Email Marketing Design
If you use email marketing to promote your products and services then our downloadable "successful email marketing design" PDF is for you.
It will help you improve your open rates and click-throughs by showing you how to create the perfect email campaign.
Revitalise your Website
Have you given your website any attention lately? If not, why not? Maybe you're not sure where to start and just too afraid to ask?
Enter the Bigfork DIY Website Review.
Our DIY Website Review is the process that we use to review websites, we've turned into a friendly flowchart for you to download and apply to your website.
None of the steps are set in stone, it is designed to serve as an overview to give you ideas about what you could be doing to improve your website.
Going Mobile
The growth in mobile and tablet devices such as Blackberrys, iPhones and iPads means websites are now being viewed on a wider range of screen sizes than ever before. Research has predicted that by 2013, more people will look at websites on mobile devices than on desktop PCs (Source, Gartner, 2010) so you need to consider how your website looks and functions on mobile devices. You don’t want to lose out to your competitors, so what should your “mobile” strategy be?
First you need to research your existing audience and find out what their mobile usage is, the best place to start is with your website statistics (most likely the ubiquitous Google Analytics) which will show you how many visitors are using mobile devices to view your website. Even if it is a low percentage at the moment, you should start monitoring the numbers to plan for the future.
Some good figures to look at are the bounce rates and most viewed content. Are mobile users viewing different content to desktop users? If so it could be that people on the move are after different information. Higher bounce rates for mobile visitors suggest that your website is either too slow or too hard to use on a small screen.
So you’ve decided you need to make your website more mobile friendly, but what next? This will depend on what your current website structure is and what its goals are e.g. online sales, lead generation, brand awareness. For example, if your website aims to get people to call you, make sure your phone number is prominent and easy to spot. If you’re providing information then a single column of text is far more readable on a smartphone than a four column grid.
Once you’ve decided on a mobile website plan you typically have two options, the best approach depends on both your existing website structure and your goals.
- Adapt your existing website to display differently depending on the device and screen size, the advantage of this is that you only need to have a single website that then adjusts itself based on how it’s being used.
- Direct visitors to a “mobile” version of your website with different design and content, this allows you to create a relevant experience for your different types of users.
We are here to advise on strategies for all of your digital marketing, including mobile, so please contact us if you would like to find out more.
I want to know more about mobile
Further reading:
- Retailers need to optimise mobile sites or risk losing customers
- Responsive design at the BBC
- Good m-retail experience is a great brand builder, finds survey
Note: the image of the BBC Mobile website is used as a great example of a mobile view, Bigfork (sadly) did not have anything to do with their website.