Six Ticks have developed hundreds of websites for businesses of all sizes.

Our latest is a beautiful new site for Shropshire-based training and apprenticeship providers SBC Training.  We worked closely with SBC Training to develop the beautiful, high performing website. Take a look at the mobile and SEO friendly site.

So, after another happy client and another beautiful new site launched into the webiverse, we got to thinking about the wonderful world of web design and what makes a great website.

Great Web Design

Everyone designs websites nowadays, from do it yourself website builders, and your mate Dave from down the pub, to huge international design companies.

So, what makes a great website and how do you know which web designer to choose? Unless you’re a techie master, it is very difficult to know where to start. So, with another great website just launched for training and apprenticeship providers SBC Training, we thought we’d grab a cup of tea and jot down our 5 top tips for choosing a web developer.

Here we go:

1. SEO Friendly

We find the biggest mistake people make is thinking that if a site looks great, then it performs great. It might look good, but if it hasn’t been coded correctly, under the bonnet, your site’s engine could be public enemy number one for Google!

SEO performance is so important and is so often misunderstood. If your website is poorly coded or has security issues, then it will be on Google’s naughty list. The good news is that your website can look AMAZING and be well-coded without costing the world. You just need the right developer who creates beautiful websites but also understands SEO and codes their own sites.

Hey, that’s Six Ticks!

2. User-Friendly

More people access websites on mobile devices than desktops nowadays so your website absolutely must be mobile-friendly. It must look great on all mobile devices and be able to adjust to different screen sizes and devices too.

It’s also super important that your website is quick, not only for SEO purposes but to keep click-happy fingers from leaving your site. And when we say quick, we mean QUICK! For every one second of extra loading time, your site will experience a 10% drop-off in visitors, a 16% reduction in customer satisfaction, and an additional 7% reduction in contacts and/or sales. Google recommends page loading speeds of less than 2 seconds! Again, this comes back to great coding. Why not challenge us to see how much better your site could be?

3. A Great CMS

So, you’ve found a web developer who will build you a site, they’ve given you a great price, and shown you some amazing design mock ups. But have you asked about the Content Management System (CMS)?

CMS is the behind the scenes system that you will use to update your website. It is very important that you have a user-friendly CMS and that you are able to make changes to content and images whenever you want.

Many web developers hold their customers' ransom, by making it difficult for customers to update their own websites – sometimes even charging for the tiniest tweaks and sometimes taking weeks to implement changes. Or they just throw a bunch of 3rd party plugins together and cross their fingers that it’ll be okay.

But not us! Six Ticks websites are designed to give our customers control. We provide full training on our CMS system and our system is super user-friendly - if you can use Word, you can use Six Ticks CMS.

But why stop there? Six Ticks also develop integrated, custom built CRM systems, which are proven to help businesses say goodbye to spreadsheets, and help supercharge productivity and sales.

4. Keep it FRESH!

Fresh, relevant content is key to SEO, and adding regular new content to your website is so important for helping your business to creep up search engine pages. It’s therefore vital that your new website has a blog so you can share news, stories, and updates about your business. If you are blogging regularly it will be a great boost for website's search engine rankings. Remember, content must be natural, and ‘keyword stuffing’ is a big no, no.

5. A Great Web Team

When you’re running a successful business, it’s not easy to put websites at the top of your list. So if you want to make changes to your website, or if something goes wrong, you need a great web developer who is on hand to help whenever you need them. That means you can concentrate on what you do best, rather than wasting time on boring techie stuff.

If you’re looking for great customer service then look no further than Six Ticks. We provide exceptional customer care. And don’t just take our word for it. See what one of our clients has to say, Stuart Smallwood from E-Drive West Midlands says “In all my last 10 years of networking, I’ve met a lot of web developers and Six Ticks are the most proactive and supportive company I’ve ever met. You didn’t just build my website, but you provide advice and guidance on the bigger picture, best practices and what I should (and shouldn’t be doing).

Ready for a New Website?

If you’d like a website which ticks all the boxes, then Six Ticks is the web designer for you. Our experienced team are experts in web design, SEO, CRM, and CMS. Why not grab a cup of tea and get in touch to tell us about your project.