Research Your Industry
If you are entering a section of the market that could be seen as over subscribed, such as the Wedding or Holiday markets, you need to make yourself stand out from the crowd by offering something that nobody else does, or your USP (Unique Selling Point).
The first point of call should be the internet. Cast a wide net with your searches. Use as many search terms as you can and keep an eye on the sites that repeatedly appear. Do some sites come up even with widely different search terms? Keep a note of the site names and let your designer know.
The more research you do, the easier it is for a designer to hit your brief and to get you riding high in Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Research Your Competitors
Make your internet searches more specific by targeting your proposed services and adding a locality, as in 'Removals Cumbria' (effective for Steeles Removals: Page 1 on Google for over three years).
Now you have found your direct competitors you need to do research on their websites.
Which keywords brought results?
How prominent are they?
What are their pages called?
How much information do they have?
What can you do better?
Each search term can be incorporated into the design and used to bring prominent positions. Although this is something we do as standard, it helps the process and results if you also understand where your market is and how to reach it.
Make your internet searches more specific by targeting your proposed services and adding a locality, as in 'Removals Cumbria' (effective for Steeles Removals: Page 1 on Google for over three years).
Now you have found your direct competitors you need to do research on their websites.
Each search term can be incorporated into the design and used to bring prominent positions. Although this is something we do as standard, it helps the process and results if you also understand where your market is and how to reach it.
Research Your Clients
When you are researching search terms, make sure you jot down which ones you have used, which ones brought results, which ones didn't. The last thing to do is to make sure who you are selling to.
Ask your family, friends and business contacts what they would type if they were looking for your service. This is especially handy if you are selling to a specific age range. Having this feedback can bring up results that you (or your competitor) have never thought about.
The more research you do on your possible clients, the more effective a designer can be... we are not just here to design nice sites, we want results as well.
When you are researching search terms, make sure you jot down which ones you have used, which ones brought results, which ones didn't. The last thing to do is to make sure who you are selling to.
Ask your family, friends and business contacts what they would type if they were looking for your service. This is especially handy if you are selling to a specific age range. Having this feedback can bring up results that you (or your competitor) have never thought about.
The more research you do on your possible clients, the more effective a designer can be... we are not just here to design nice sites, we want results as well.