A joint blog from Sublime Designs Media and Workshop Digital.
In today’s world, it’s not enough for your website to look pretty, it also needs to convert and it needs to be optimized for search engines. From brand new websites that see a big drop in traffic, to websites with plenty of visitors that just aren’t converting into customers, it’s easy for your build to fall flat. Between our two agencies, we’ve had to rescue plenty of sites that launch without considering the customer journey and SEO from the start.
With the right process in place, you can have it all.
Our teams have been collaborating to refine our process for creating impactful websites that are easy for customers to find and use. Below we share a little more about our own process and why it works.
Why it’s important
Attracting the right customers to your website will only get you halfway to your goals – if you want to turn traffic into business, you need to have a website that looks great, is easy to navigate, and helps convert visitors to leads and sales.
“We love beautiful websites as much as anybody. Great design helps potential customers find what they need even faster. It’s up to us to make sure that a site is as optimized as possible on launch day. Our partnership with Sublime Designs removes a lot of the stress from an already complex process,” Andrew Miller, VP of Strategy at Workshop Digital
Just as importantly, if you haven’t set your website up using SEO best practices, those visitors may never be able to discover your content regardless of how well it performs or how good it looks.
“If you want customers to find your website, you need to have an SEO strategy in place, and that’s something that needs to be done by an expert. The team at Workshop Digital knows how to set your site up up correctly from the get go so you can achieve your business goals,” Megan Adler, President of Sublime Designs Media.
Working with Specialists
Having specialists handle their respective areas of expertise when you’re building or redesigning your website makes both of these components even stronger, so you can achieve the results you’re looking for in less time and look better doing it. This includes making sure every element of your website looks and functions as it should, while ensuring your site is optimized for search engines, so you can get the right customers to your website sooner.
You’ll likely also see improved efficiency from having a pair or group of agencies that have worked together on similar projects in the past, especially if they have existing processes in place and established and healthy communication channels. We’ve been able to work in parallel to get projects off the ground and to market faster, and we have a very clear understanding of who should be working on what. It’s also helped us work together better on those elements that need input from both perspectives, like creating the right type of content to populate a website.
The 5 steps for creating valuable websites that appeal to humans and search engines
Step 1 – Planning and research
It’s always smart to have a good plan in place so everyone understands the goal and each others’ roles in the project. Sublime designers conduct customer interviews, while Workshop Digital SEO specialists collect data, benchmark results, and do keyword research. Both agencies also take a look at competitors from design and SEO perspectives to find opportunities to stand out.
Step 2 – Workshop
During this phase the designers incorporate data and customer feedback to help map personas and user journeys. We’ll also determine the site map and begin to outline homepage content.
Step 3 – Build
During the actual build, all the preparation creates efficiency, and each agency begins putting together their piece of the site. Both agencies work together on wireframing, then fold in the visual and copy elements. Sublime puts the finishing touches on design, while Workshop Digital checks the mobile version, technical SEO, and site speed.
Step 4 – Launch
The new or redesigned site goes live! We complete our QA checks as the site goes live to ensure a smooth transition.
Step 5 – Monitor
Once the website is up and attracting traffic, Workshop Digital starts monitoring analytics to optimize and inform new content creation. Sublime keeps the site running smoothly and makes all necessary updates and additions to constantly improve the customer journey.
Like having the right group of contractors to build a beautiful, functional home, or all the needed services to throw a great wedding, letting people who can dedicate more time and skill to your website’s design and SEO do the work will make it more successful. Check out our conversation about collaborating to make better websites, see how Sublime Design Media is helping clients create striking, effective websites, and learn more about SEO solutions from Workshop Digital to boost your website’s performance.