At Strand Creative, we want to help freelancers, small businesses and private customers reach their potential with a website that does exactly what they want, when they want, and is easy to use, run and look after. We enjoy working through the design of a site and getting it right. It is not only a good idea for it to look good for your customers: you need to like it too, and know where everything is, so that you can point people in the right direction when they ask.
What a website actually does for a growing business
A website helps a business grow in a few plain, practical ways. It gets you found by people searching for what you do, often at the exact moment they need it. It answers the questions you would otherwise answer on the phone, so prices, opening hours, areas covered and the things you do not do are all there in black and white. It gives people a reason to trust you before they ever speak to you, which matters enormously if you are competing against bigger names. And it keeps working outside your hours, taking enquiries or orders while you are asleep or on a job.
It also lets you see what is working. Knowing which pages people read, which search terms bring them in and where they give up tells you far more about your customers than guesswork does. That is usually where the real growth comes from, because it shows you what to fix next.
Work out what you need the site to do
When you are deciding what sort of website you want, it helps to understand what it will do for you. If you are setting up an online shop, you need to be able to take payments, and you need product listings with photographs, prices, perhaps recommendations, and clear links through to the rest of your pages.
If you are a private customer, you might want a blog, a portfolio for work or for university or college, or an affiliate site. That means separate pages for the sections you want to showcase, a straightforward way to add new articles, the correct policies in place, and a layout that works properly on mobile as well as desktop.
A small or medium business will want its website to look inviting, professional and clear. The people arriving might be potential clients or suppliers, so it is vital that the site is concise, easy to navigate and explains exactly what you do.
How we can help
We can work with you to create the website you have in mind, building it in WordPress and adding any integrations you need, or using Shopify or WooCommerce to put together a shop you can start selling from.
We will use your brand colours and logo throughout the pages so that everything stays on brand, and we can help with the copy if you would like us to. That covers product pages, payment integrations, how your blog posts and other content will look, and giving the site as a whole the professional finish it deserves.
There is nothing worse than a site that does not load quickly enough, or that does not work properly because of broken links. With our web hosting services we can not only design your website, we can host it and keep it running, with regular management checks, reports on performance and general maintenance.
FAQ
Do I really need a website if I get most of my work by word of mouth?
Usually yes, because word of mouth and a website work together. When somebody recommends you, the first thing the other person does is look you up. If there is nothing to find, or only an old social page, that recommendation loses some of its force. The site does not need to be large, it needs to exist and look current.
How long does it take to build a website?
It depends almost entirely on the size of the site and how quickly the content comes together. A straightforward brochure site is a much shorter job than a shop with hundreds of products. The part that slows most projects down is not the building, it is waiting on photographs, text and product details, so having those ready makes a real difference.
What do I need to have ready before we start?
A rough idea of the pages you want, your logo and brand colours if you have them, any photographs you would like to use, and a list of the questions your customers ask most often. If you sell products, a spreadsheet of names, descriptions and prices saves a great deal of time later.
Will I be able to update the site myself?
Yes. A WordPress site can be set up so that you can add blog posts, change prices or swap photographs without needing to understand any code. If you would rather not touch it at all, that is fine too, and plenty of owners prefer to hand that side over and get on with running the business.
What happens after the site goes live?
A website is not really finished on launch day. Software needs updating, links break over time, and the content that made sense at launch will need revisiting as the business changes. That is the thinking behind our hosting and management checks: keeping the site quick, safe and accurate rather than leaving it to drift.
Strand Creative want to help you and your business get off to a good start, and a well designed, well managed website will do exactly that. Contact us today to talk through what you need. We are based in Sale, South Manchester.
