How to Choose a Website Designer

Posted On March 11, 2020 By Torrance Websites In Updates, Website Tips /

Looking for a website designer to help with your business website? A quick search on Google and recommendations from friends will present many options, leaving you spoiled for choice. With many professionals to choose from, how do you find the right one? Well, the following are some tips on how to choose a website designer in Torrance:

Find a designer who can help you achieve the goal of your website
You need to compare several designers to assess their unique offerings. After being impressed by their sample websites and service offerings, you want to be confident that they have the expertise to design a website that will help you accomplish your specific business goals.
The best way to know for sure that the seemingly impressive designers are not a one-trick pony is to contact them directly and set up an initial consultation call. Be sure to explain what the goal of your website is so that they can tell you if they can get the job done, and what your budget is. Pay attention to their responses and decide if they seem knowledgeable and are reassuring enough.
Ask relevant questions
You want to be on the same page with the designer when it comes to what to expect. The following are the important questions to ask the designer to see if they can help meet your goal:
- Do you use templates or build custom websites?
- What is the communication process during the project?
- What are the expectations and requirements for both parties?
- Will the website be coded for responsive design?
- How many rounds of edits and revisions I’m I allowed?
- What support do you offer after the website goes live?
- What SEO will you do for the website?
- Do you offer online marketing services?
- How do you structure your charges?
- Can you provide references or a list of websites that you have designed previously?
- Can you help with copywriting for the website?
Check for qualities of a good web designer
There are certain traits of a great website designer to look out for. For instance, a good designer should be knowledgeable, able to adapt and integrate, have proactive behavior, and have excellent communication and listening skills, among other traits. When asking prospective web designers the above questions, be sure to score each designer on a scale from 1-10 based on the following:
- Did they appear credible, professional and knowledgeable?
- Did they ask the right questions or have a methodology to assess your specific needs?
- Did they demonstrate a thorough understanding of your business needs and objectives?
- Did they communicate clearly?
- Are they prompt with feedback to your questions?
- Did they offer unique and innovative ideas and solutions?

You obviously want to choose the best website designer in Torrance. You can never go wrong by choosing UmeWorks. We are a professional, credible and reliable website design company that gets the job done right the first time. Besides web designing, we offer a wide range of services, including copy writing, content marketing, logo design and graphic design.

Download a free copy of our interview form that will help you compare different website design companies and choose the right designer to help you accomplish your business website goals.

Ready to get started? Request a quote from UmeWorks today!

What are the Basics for a Website for Manufacturing and Industrial Companies?

Posted On November 13, 2019 By Torrance Websites In Website Tips /

In the twentieth century, production was a roller coaster, with the vast majority of manufacturers and industrial companies coming out on top of their game. It actually didn’t take much to win customers over. Directories, word-of-mouth and direct mailings were enough to do the trick. Fast forward to the 21st Century, a large part of the B2B buying process is being accomplished anonymously online.

What does this mean to manufacturers and industrial companies? Well, it simply means that a website is a must-have marketing and sales tool if they want to attract more customers and increase revenue. So, whether you are a custom manufacturer, industrial distributor or an OEM, you should have a company website, if you don’t have one already. If you’re wondering how to go about it, the following tips for designing a website for manufacturing and industrial companies in Torrance will help you get started:

Determine your Marketing Goals
Firstly, you need to establish why you’re creating, redesigning or upgrading your website in the first place. Is it to increase website traffic, increase qualified leads, increase conversion rate, or enhance product awareness? Be sure to identify measurable, achievable outcomes that will lead to your business’ bottom line.

After identifying your marketing goals, you should then communicate your marketing goals to your in-house team or choose a website designer. Whoever that you delegate the task to, be sure that they have the expertise needed to build a website for manufacturing and industrial companies that will help you achieve your marketing goals.

Identify your Unique Selling Proposition
Not creating a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is one of the most common mistakes that manufacturers and industrial companies usually make. If you’re a new business, chances are that your visitors don’t know what your business is all about.

So, even before you start crafting your website content, you should identify your USP that will convince potential buyers to stay on your page and buy from you. After identifying your USP, ensure that it’s consistent across your entire website. Remember to create content specifically for your buyer personas.

Optimize your Website for Search Engines
What does it matter what your Unique Selling Proposition is if buyers don’t get to find your website in the first place? What you want is for your website to be easily found by prospective customers. The key to your website being found is to create content that is relevant and helpful to your visitors when they have a goal they want to achieve or a problem they want to solve.

To optimize your website for search, you need to use terms (keywords) that your buyers are most likely to use when searching for your products online. So, be sure to determine the kind of content you need to provide so that online buyers can easily find your website on search engines.

Want to find out more about the basics for a website for manufacturing and industrial companies? UmeWorks can implement the best website solution to help you position your company for further success.

Give us a call at 323 638-9328 or email info@umeworks.com today to tell us about the goals you want to achieve with your website and we will help you every step of the way.

How to be Sure Your Website is Effective

Posted On October 28, 2019 By Torrance Websites In Updates /

Your website is perhaps your most powerful marketing tool. Whether your objective is to boost brand awareness or to sell a service or product, effective web design can be the difference between a new lead and a lost prospect. So, if you’re losing visitors within 5 seconds of landing on your site or you’re not ranking highly on search engines, you should take a hard look at how your website is designed and optimized. The following are 5 simple ways of creating an effective website:

Make it aesthetically appealing
The design and presentation of your website are powerfully visual and visitors are known to make aesthetic judgments of a website in an instant. It takes about 0.05 seconds for visitors to form a first impression of your website. In that lightning-fast moment, visitors’ perception induces different emotions and attitudes towards the content, advertised services/products and the brand.The important question here is – what makes a website aesthetically appealing? Well, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Use high-quality graphics and high-resolution photos
- Invest in your own photography as opposed to using stock photography
- Replace blocks of text with infographics
- Choose a color palette that has a perfect balance of contrast and harmony
- Choose a font type and size that conveys the nunace you want your site to engender
Choose a simple design layout
When it comes to effective website design, simplicity is key. Simple, sleek designs are known to withstand the test of time. In fact, some of the most effective website design layouts are the simplest. Simple layouts are effective in the sense that they are user friendly. This means that they allow visitors to navigate the website easily and to find the information they want quickly.
Optimize it for search engines
You can have the most aesthetically-appealing and user-friendly website in the world, but if your target audience can’t find it, then all your efforts will be in vain. Therefore, your website should have basic on-page SEO elements that will make it easy to find. The elements that help with website optimization include Meta titles, Meta descriptions, and relevant keywords and phrases. You should also optimize your images, and remove broken/dead links. More on how to SEO your website here.
Use social proofing strategies
To fully convince new prospects that you are reliable and can be trusted, you must provide social proof that shows that others have been happy with your products or services. There are various social proofing strategies to adopt. One of them is testimonials. Be sure to use real customers and photos, as well as feed reviews from third party review sites to ensure authenticity. In case there are websites or blogs you’ve been mentioned, be sure to provide links to articles with the mention.
Include calls-to-action buttons
Call-to-action buttons are a key element on a website. They act as a signboard that tells visitors to take a specified action such as ‘Buy Now’, ‘Sign Up’, ‘Download Now’, ‘Join Us’, etc. You can include several calls-to-action buttons on your website if there are several desired actions for the visitors to take.

Creating an effective website sure sounds like an intricate task. Good thing is that you don’t have to do it all. You can delegate the task to a professional. A professional will not only incorporate the latest design trends and coding standards, but will also match the look and feel of the website with your brand. A professional will also know the steps to take to optimize your website for search engine ranking results.

Want help with your website? Contact UmeWorks in Torrance at 323 638-9328 or info@umeworks.com to discuss your website needs.

Request a Free Website Evaluation

First things first: How to start selling online

Posted On September 9, 2019 By Torrance Websites In Ecommerce, Website Tips /

So, you have a great new product. Yours is special. Yours is unique.

It can help many people: (check boxes below)
___ be successful
___ be happy
___ feel beautiful
___ spend more time with their family and friends
___ work more efficiently
___ become a Guardian of the Milky Way Galaxy
___ other: fill in the blank ________________________

But sadly, you have a stack of boxes sitting in your ex-roommate’s bedroom. You’re relying on your BFFs to tell their BFFs about your widget; then drive over and sell them the inventory from the trunk of your car; and then ask them for cash or to Venmo you.

You want an online store, but don’t know how to get started. You’re a product maker, not a website maker.

Here’s how you can get started selling online:

1. Decide on your budget. It’s best for all to know that upfront, so we’re not pricing an Amazon-look-alike site when you can only afford a simple buy now one-page website.
2. Who is your target market? Who would most benefit from your product?
3. Understand how your product benefits your customer. NOT a list of features.
4. What would those folks in your target market search for online to find a product like yours?
5. What does success look like to you? Do you want to sell one widget a month? Do you need to sell 1,000 widget a month just to break even?
6. Take some awesome pictures or how-to or testimonial videos of your product. Depending on your budget and product, you can hire a professional or take your own. There are some inexpensive light boxes available now, or even some DIY YouTube videos on how to build your own. Stuck? Ask us for referrals.

UmeWorks can help you set up your online store.

Set up a free initial consultation call with us.
Don’t worry you don’t know everything your website needs. Review the How to Get Started items above, and then let’s talk. It’s our job to ask you the questions about your business and product to figure out how we can build an ecommerce website for your needs within your budget including:
- SEO’ing your website
- Capturing leads online
We build your ecommerce site.
We work with you to create an online marketing strategy.
You sell!
You empty that spare bedroom.
Time to refill it!

READY? Set up a free initial consultation with UmeWorks now.

Don't forget to add fresh content to your website

Why is it important to keep your website updated?

Posted On July 15, 2019 By Torrance Websites In Website Tips /

Bill Gates wrote an essay titled “Content Is King” back in 1996, and more than two decades later, the 3-lettered title is still the most popular maxim in the digital marketing world. To ensure that this famous marketing catchphrase better suits the present moment, it has been modified to emphasize the critical need for fresh content above all else. Today, “Fresh Content Is King”, which means that you need to keep your website updated if you want to stand out from the competition.

Why Fresh Content is Important to a Website’s Search Engine Rankings

All search engines rely on webcrawlers (a.k.a. robots or bots) to identify and index content that’s to be included in search results. The webcrawlers index websites based upon various algorithmic factors, including how frequently a website is updated.

Websites that don’t have updates of any kind are viewed by search engines as “dead” entities that have no life and nothing new to offer. So, such websites are ranked lowly on search engines. Being ranked low is something that you wouldn’t want for your website.

As you keep your website updated with new articles, images and videos, the more frequently webcrawlers will notice each new activity you make and report to their respective search engines. When search engines take note of your regular updates, your website will have the opportunity to attain higher rankings based on the content you provide.

It’s a well-known fact that a site’s search engine ranking has a huge impact on the number of visitors and potential customers it attracts. By earning a high ranking, your site’s prominence is highly likely to improve among visitors and potential customers.

How to Clean Content to Keep your Website Updated

Since search engines like to reward websites that are continually updated by ranking them highly, “cleaning” up your website is certainly a good idea. The process of cleaning up your website may involve:

Removing outdated and irrelevant posts and replacing them with fresh, relevant content.
Removing service pages for services your company no longer offers and replacing them with new service pages that you company currently offers.
Removing old photos that are no longer in use and replacing them with new ones.
Removing old bios and profiles of former employees and replacing them with those of new employees.
Removing broken links and replacing them with working outbound links.

Cleaning up your website can be an intricate task, but it’s all worth it. When you keep your website updated, you’ll not only breathe new life into it, but you’ll also improve its search engine ranking, attract more potential customers, and ultimately boost your sales.

Want help with your website and Internet presence? Contact UmeWorks in Torrance at 323 638-9328 or info@umeworks.com to discuss your website needs.