Think about choosing a new kitchen for your home.  The cost will depend not only on how many cabinets you need, but also on the finish you’d like.  You could choose a budget DIY store flatpack kitchen or a high-end hand-built solid wood kitchen.  Then you’ll need to consider worktop material, the number and type of appliances, and so on.  You’ll face a similar number of choices when planning your website.

Website prices can range from free to thousands of pounds. In this article we explore the factors that will affect the cost of your website.  How much a website costs will depend on who’s designing and building it, what you want it to achieve, and the technology used to create it.

Typical costs for a WordPress website in the UK

So how much does a WordPress website generally cost in the UK today?

The average cost will typically fall within the range £1,000 to £20,000.  But as we have already established, the cost will depend on many factors, such as:

• The scale of the website – how many sections and pages
• The complexity of the design
• The amount of customisation needed in order to add the functionality you need

For small businesses, the average professional website build typically falls between £3,000 and £10,000. 

The table below sets out a very rough guide to website costs, depending on the type of website you need:

Don’t forget, if you need specific functionality for your website this will affect the price. You should treat the prices in the table above as a very approximate guide.

What are the factors affecting the cost of a website?

1. Project approach

DIY drag-and-drop websites

You could consider a DIY website.  There are now many providers that offer platforms allowing you to drag-and-drop pre-designed components onto a webpage.  This means that anyone can build a website even if they’re never written a line of code in their life.  There are many reasons why you should avoid DIY website builders. This type of website tends to perform very poorly and you will undoubtedly regret taking this approach.

Template-based websites

Alternatively you could use either a free or paid-for ‘off-the-shelf’ template into which you enter your images and text.  The good news is that these are less compromised technically than the DIY drag-and-drop style websites. However you will still end up with a generic website that might look similar to thousands of others.

Bespoke websites

If you have the budget it is always better to hire a professional to create a bespoke website, tailored to your specific needs.  It will have been designed from a clean-sheet and carefully considered to meet your business goals. It will have been hand-coded with care, and optimised for speed.  This approach will undoubtedly give you a result you will be more pleased with. More importantly it will give you a website that performs better with search engines – and your customers.

2. Hiring a professional web designer

The cost of hiring a professional to design and build your website will make up the largest proportion of the total cost of the project.

There are usually two stages in the process of making a website: Design and build.  If you can find someone with experience in both areas, you may find this easier as they will be able to handle the entire project for you from end-to-end.

It is always best to ask for a recommendation if you can.  If you can’t, search for a web designer that has many years’ experience. Also, check out their previous work to examine the quality of the design and user experience.

Avoid online services such as Upwork where you can connect with freelancers (typically overseas).  You will find they offer very competitive prices, but you must exercise caution or you may end up with poor quality work. You could be buying a DIY drag-and-drop website presented as a quality piece of bespoke work.

3. Functionality

Whilst there are some elements that are common across most websites, beyond this no two sites will be the same.  This is because your business goals will dictate that you need specific functions or technology to ensure the site is effective.

Examples of functionality that will increase your costs, are:

• Dynamic filtering or sorting of content such as your products or services
• Integration with third-party services
• A mailing list registration form that connects to your CRM

These are just a few examples, and you’re only limited by your imagination.  Most features that you can think of can be achieved if you have sufficient budget.

4. Hosting, domain name and SSL certificate

Aside from paying your web designer, you will also need to consider some ongoing costs to third parties.  You’ll need to keep paying these in order to keep your site working after it has been built.

• Hosting
  Hosting is space that you rent to house your site in order for it to appear on the web.
• Domain name
  Your domain name is your unique web address, which your customers will type into their browsers to find your site.
• SSL certificate
  An SSL certificate secures the connection between your customer and your website. This is now essential as most browsers mark websites without this as unsafe.

Hosting can cost around £10 – £20 per month.  A domain name is often around £20 per year, but can sometimes be bundled with your hosting for no extra cost.  An SSL certificate might cost you around £60 – £80 per year, but again some providers bundle this with the hosting for no extra cost.

Always ask your web designer about their recommendations for hosting, domain and SSL certificate providers.  They will have a wealth of experience and be able to advise you about reliability and customer service as well as price.

5. Search engine research and optimisation

Your website will only perform if people can find it on Google and the other search engines.  Having an SEO professional provide data-backed research that can inform both the design and structure of your site will pay dividends in the long term.  Whilst this work can be done retrospectively this is often more difficult. Reverse-engineering the recommendations into a completed website will take longer and be more expensive as it may require design changes.  It is far more effective to factor SEO into your project from the beginning.

How to minimise your costs

Ideally, ask your web designer to give you a fixed cost for your project, rather than simply paying them an hourly rate until the site is completed.  Hourly-rate projects can very easily spiral beyond initial expectations if you get carried away with design changes and feature requests that weren’t part of the original plan.

Even with a fixed price project, costs can escalate if you don’t work with your web designer in an organised way.  The fixed price will include a defined number of designs and design revisions.  If you can’t decide what you want or keep requesting changes to completed work, you will be asked to provide additional budget for this extra work which wasn’t part of the original cost.

Website maintenance and support costs

Finally, once you have completed your website, don’t forget to look after it.  It is vital to keep your website updated with the security patches and bug fixes.  Whilst you can attempt these yourself, if something goes wrong it can be tricky to get your website working again.  It is better to leave these updates to a professional.

Regular maintenance will ensure that your website will last for many years, and will help you get the best value from your initial investment.

The cost of website support and maintenance can vary.  Having the person that built your site deliver this support makes sense. No-one will know your site better than they do.  Running the regular software updates will only take an hour or two every month, but you may want additional time available each month for technical support with any issues that arise.

Conclusion

When considering the cost of your new website, always remember what the website can achieve for your business. A £5,000 bespoke website will quickly pay for itself if it brings 5 new clients each spending £1,000 within the first few months. Obviously this will depend on what you charge for your products or services, but the return on investment can be relatively speedy.

Contrast this with a DIY website that might only cost a few hundred pounds but which performs so poorly you need to scrap it and hire a professional web designer and pay for a new site. You will be surprised how many times this happens.

Rather than being focussed on what the website costs, pay more attention to the process of selecting the right web designer. Make sure that all the factors you need are included in your quotation, so that there are no unexpected extra costs later.

The post How much does a website cost? appeared first on Jeremy Hickman.

‘If you build it, they will come…’

This idea may have worked out for Kevin Coster’s character in the 80’s film ‘Field of Dreams’. In the film he builds a baseball field that attracts the ghosts of baseball legends, who turn up to play a spectral game one evening.

However, this advice doesn’t work with websites!

Just because you have a visually stunning website built using the latest tech doesn’t mean anyone will actually find it.

a website that is designed without considering SEO will be lost in the expanse of the internet

Like a beautiful home without an address, a website that is designed without considering SEO will be lost in the expanse of the internet.

Considering SEO during web design lays a strong foundation for future organic traffic growth. 

By following SEO best practices from the start, you improve your site’s ranking prospects. Retrofitting SEO after the new site is launched is often a tedious and costly process.

Considerations When Designing an SEO-friendly Website

When designing a new website, there are several SEO considerations to keep in mind. These will ensure that your site can be easily crawled and indexed by search engines, ranks well in search engine results, and provides a positive user experience.

All necessary ingredients for organic traffic growth.

Keyword Research & Page Optimisation

Keyword research is an important first step before building a new website. Without keyword research you will have no way of knowing what pages are required and how they should be linked together (website architecture) to ensure the site receives the right type of visitor – potential customers for your business.

Keyword research is akin to understanding your target market before launching a new product. Here’s why it’s integral to the web design process:

• Keyword research sheds light on what your customers are searching for, helping you tailor your website’s content and functionality to attract them
• Keywords are the building blocks for your content strategy. By incorporating relevant terms throughout your website, you ensure search engines can easily understand and index your content, making it more discoverable

Clean Code

Clean code is a critical aspect of web design and SEO. By writing clean, well-structured code, you ensure that search engine algorithms can easily crawl and index your website. 

Clean code also contributes to faster page load times, which is vital for a good user experience (UX) – an important ranking factor for search engines.

Unfortunately, some drag-and-drop website builders introduce excessive code that can slow down your website and negatively impact search engine rankings. A skilled web designer focused on SEO will ensure your site’s code is streamlined and efficient.

Mobile First Design

Mobile-first web design is critical for SEO in today’s world as mobile users are often the majority of website visitors. In fact over 60% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. 

Search engines prioritise mobile versions for ranking, and mobile-first design ensures a seamless experience across devices.

Here’s why a mobile first approach is important for SEO:

• Google prioritises mobile versions for ranking.
• Mobile users expect a smooth experience.
• Mobile-first design encourages faster loading times. This benefits SEO.

Optimal Website Architecture for SEO

Website architecture is the blueprint of a website, determining how its pages are organized and linked together. 

It plays a crucial role in the overall SEO performance of a site. A well-structured website not only enhances search engine visibility but also improves user experience, leading to better engagement and conversions.

There are several key elements that contribute to an SEO-friendly website architecture:

1. Logical Hierarchy of Pages:
   Organizing pages into a clear and logical hierarchy is essential. This involves creating a structure that resembles an inverted pyramid, with the homepage at the top, followed by main categories, subcategories, and individual pages. This hierarchy helps search engines understand the relationship between different pages and their importance within the site.
2. Clear Navigation Paths:
   Navigation is a crucial aspect of website architecture. Users should be able to easily find the information they’re looking for without getting lost or frustrated. This involves creating intuitive navigation menus, breadcrumbs, and internal linking structures that guide users through the site smoothly.
3. Strategic Placement of Internal Links:
   Internal links are an essential part of website architecture as they help distribute link equity throughout the site. Placing internal links strategically can improve the visibility of important pages, enhance user engagement, and reduce bounce rates.
4. Flat Site Structure:
   A flat site structure is often recommended for SEO, as it ensures that all pages are within a few clicks of the homepage. This structure minimizes the number of levels in the website hierarchy, making it easier for search engines to crawl and index all pages efficiently.

It is vital that SEO is considered when designing a website’s architecture, because architecture has a direct impact on search engine visibility. 

Technical SEO

Technical SEO can be thought of as anything needed to help search engine crawlers find and index a website’s pages. Failing to address SEO during the web design process can lead to some serious issues with the website.

Here are some important technical SEO elements to think about during a web design project:

• Redirects. These are important if a website is being redesigned. Redirects are similar to a mail forwarding service when you move home. They tell search engines that a website has moved and enable visitors to be redirected to the new site.
• XML sitemap. This is a document search engines use. It provides a list of website pages to enable better finding and indexation of pages.
• Robots.txt. This is a small text file that is located in a website’s root directory. It tells search engine crawlers which parts of a website they can access and which parts are restricted.

How Does SEO Fit Into The Design Process?

Here is a 5 step plan for integrating SEO into the web design process. 

1. Customer Research
   It is important to understand who your ideal customer is before site design gets underway. As a business owner, you want your website to be an effective online sales channel. By undertaking customer research you ensure the design process is focused on creating a customer-centric website.
2. Keyword Research
   The information obtained about the customer feeds into the keyword research process. Keywords aligned with all stages of the buyer journey are listed providing guidance on how the site needs to be structured and what content is needed.
3. Website Architecture & Internal Linking
   The keyword research is used to inform the site architecture development. This results in a structure that’s aligned with the target customer and SEO best practices. 
4. Technical SEO
   If the project is a site update, a redirects list is created so that the old website redirects traffic to the new one. An XML sitemap and robots.txt file is created.
5. Pre Launch & Post Launch
   Once the website is ready to go live, a crawling tool is used to make sure there are no broken links and the old site can be redirected properly. After the site is launched, it is important that organic traffic and keyword rank are monitored closely so any potential issues are resolved in a timely manner.

Don’t Let SEO be an Afterthought

Like building a house without a solid foundation means you’ll need expensive renovations to make it liveable, ‘retrofitting’ SEO after a site launch can be extremely complex and costly.

Web design and SEO shouldn’t be regarded as separate functions. In reality they’re inextricably linked, both serving the overall goal of helping a website do what it’s meant to do – attract and convert the right traffic.

Web design and SEO shouldn’t be regarded as separate functions…they’re inextricably linked…helping a website do what it’s meant to do – attract and convert the right traffic.

Trying to ‘do’ SEO after a new website goes live often requires changes to the architecture to make it more SEO-friendly. This can cause traffic disruptions as pages and links are updated. Significant changes to a live site will lead to temporary dips in search rankings which impedes steady organic traffic growth.

And this all has negative consequences for any business wishing to acquire more opportunities and sales from search engines.

It is far easier to have SEO involved from the beginning of the design process!

The post Building a Strong Foundation: Web Design and SEO appeared first on Jeremy Hickman.

When designing a website, it’s easy to get lost in discussions about colors, fonts, and fancy animations. While visual appeal and functionality are certainly important, there’s a crucial factor that often doesn’t get the attention it deserves: buyer intent. 

Buyer intent describes how close a visitor is to making a purchase or taking a specific action—like filling out a contact form, signing up for a newsletter, or scheduling a consultation call.

Why does this matter so much? Because buyer intent shapes how visitors interact with your site. 

If your pages aren’t designed to match a user’s mindset and motivations, you risk losing them to a competitor whose website is more aligned with their needs. A website that effectively caters to different types of user intent can significantly boost engagement, conversion rates, and overall customer satisfaction.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the nuances of buyer intent, the types of content that address each stage of the buyer’s journey, and how to incorporate these insights into the design of every critical page on your website. 

By the end, you’ll have a comprehensive view of why buyer intent isn’t just another marketing buzzword—it’s a fundamental element of user experience (UX) that can define the success or failure of your online presence.

In this article:

• What is Buyer Intent?
• Buyer Intent and Content Type
• Buyer Intent and Webpage Design
• The Consequences of Not Considering Buyer Intent
• Closing Thoughts

What is Buyer Intent?

Buyer intent is essentially a measure of how ready someone is to take the next step in the purchasing process. Imagine two potential clients who arrive at your website:

• Client A is just beginning to learn about website design options. They might be asking basic questions such as “What is the difference between a CMS like WordPress and a website builder like Wix?” 
• Client B has done their research, knows exactly what kind of website they need, and is actively comparing different web designers or agencies to see who offers the best value.

In these two scenarios, each user’s primary goals and concerns are different. A single design or layout won’t work equally well for both. 

We categorise buyer intent into three main stages:

1. Informational Intent: People in this stage are in exploration mode. They’re not ready to purchase yet; instead, they want to learn about your field, understand best practices, and compare options. They’ll be looking for blog posts, explainer videos, how-to guides, and educational material.
2. Navigational Intent: Visitors know which brand, product, or service they want to explore and are seeking the quickest path to relevant content. This often translates into branded searches like “Shopify pricing,” “WordPress theme store,” or “[Your brand name] services.”
3. Transactional/Commercial Intent: These visitors are ready to engage in some type of transaction. They might want to fill out a quote form, schedule a call, or buy a product. At this point, they’re actively comparing prices, reading testimonials, and looking for the final push to convert.

Understanding these differences is crucial. If you offer a one-size-fits-all approach to your website—perhaps with a single page that tries to do everything—you risk missing the mark for every type of visitor.

Buyer Intent and Content Type

One of the most effective ways to accommodate various levels of buyer intent is to create and organise content that aligns with each stage of the purchasing journey. Let’s break it down.

1. Informational Intent

People with informational intent are looking for knowledge. They may not even know they need your product or service yet. They’re mostly concerned with solving a problem or gaining an understanding of a topic. 

For instance, a potential client might think, “What’s the best approach to building an online store?” or “What does a web designer actually do?”

Types of Content to Provide:

• Blog Posts: Detailed articles that address common user queries or industry-related topics. For example, “10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Web Designer.”
• Guides and eBooks: Deeper explorations of complex subjects, such as “The Ultimate Guide to E-commerce Website Design.”
• Videos or Webinars: Educational materials that break down industry concepts in an easy-to-digest format.
• Infographics: Visually appealing overviews of a process, timeline, or set of statistics.

The key here is educational value. The more value you provide at this stage, the more likely these informational users will remember your brand when they’re ready to move to the next stage.

2. Navigational Intent

Navigational-intent visitors already have a brand or website in mind. They might type your website’s name directly into Google or click on a link from another reputable source. At this stage, they want direct, streamlined access to specific information—perhaps your “Services” page, “About Us” page, or blog.

Types of Content to Provide:

• Clear Navigation Menu: Make sure your top-level navigation is simple, self-explanatory, and intuitive (e.g., “Home,” “Services,” “Portfolio,” “Contact”).
• Internal Linking: Ensure your blog posts and homepage contain relevant links to deeper pages on your site. If you mention your portfolio, link to it directly.
• Search Functionality: If your site has a lot of content, a search bar can help navigational users find what they need quickly.

3. Transactional/Commercial Intent

Your visitor is now ready to act. They’ve done their research, possibly evaluated other service providers, and want to see if you’re the right fit. The key is to reassure them that they’re making the best possible decision by choosing you.

Types of Content to Provide:

• Pricing Pages: Transparent, easy-to-understand pricing or at least guidelines on costs.
• Comparisons and Feature Lists: Show how your solutions differ from others in the market. This could be a comparison table or a list of service tiers.
• Testimonials and Case Studies: Social proof is critical at this stage. Showcase success stories and client testimonials that highlight real-world results.
• CTAs (Calls-to-Action): Prominent buttons or forms with text like “Get a Quote,” “Book a Consultation,” or “Start Your Project.”

By making content that specifically addresses these different stages, you guide each type of visitor through a natural journey, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Buyer Intent and Webpage Design

Now that we’ve covered the content side, let’s get practical about design. Incorporating buyer intent into your web design means each page or section has a specific purpose and is optimized accordingly. The goal is to avoid friction—any confusion or difficulty that might cause a visitor to bounce.

1. Homepage

The homepage is often the first impression, functioning like a lobby that helps direct visitors to where they need to go. 

For those with informational intent, provide easy access to blog posts or educational content. For those with navigational or transactional intent, make key links—like “Services” or “Contact”—highly visible.

Best Practices:

• Use a clear headline that summarizes what you do or offer.
• Incorporate brief calls-to-action for multiple segments (e.g., “Learn More” for informational users and “Get Started” for transactional users).
• Ensure the navigation bar is prominent and easy to read.
• Highlight unique selling points or your brand’s value proposition.

2. Service/Product Pages

Service or product pages aim squarely at transactional intent, though you can still cater to visitors who are somewhere between research and action. Provide detailed explanations, but keep it concise and scannable. Use bullets, short paragraphs, and clear headings.

Key Elements:

• Compelling Headlines and Subheadings: Immediately tell users what problem your service solves.
• Visual Aids: Photos, screenshots, or videos to showcase your offerings.
• Trust Indicators: Badges, client logos, awards, or certifications.
• Testimonials: Embed short quotes from previous clients explaining how your service helped them.
• Clear CTAs: Don’t bury your “Contact Us” or “Purchase” buttons.

3. Blog & Educational Content

Blog sections should cater to informational-intent visitors. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t also incorporate navigational or transactional elements.

Ideas to Implement:

• Category Organization: If you cover multiple topics, arrange them in easily searchable categories.
• Related Posts: Encourage binge reading by suggesting other articles that are relevant.
• Subtle CTAs: You can embed a CTA banner or text link within your posts, leading to relevant service pages.
• Content Upgrades: Offer a downloadable guide or checklist in exchange for an email address—great for building leads at the informational stage.

4. Contact & Quote Pages

These pages are where transactional intent really shines. Visitors who arrive here typically want to speak with you, get a quote, or start a project.

Crucial Elements:

• Short Forms: Only ask for the information you genuinely need—long forms can scare people away.
• Multiple Contact Methods: Some users prefer email, others prefer a phone call, and some might want live chat or even text messaging.
• Strong Validation Messages: If a user enters incorrect info, provide helpful guidance so they can correct it easily.
• Thank You Pages: After submitting a form, redirect them to a personalised thank you page with next steps or additional resources.

By tailoring each page to address a specific type of buyer intent, you create a seamless journey. This not only boosts conversions but also fosters trust and credibility.

The Consequences of Not Considering Buyer Intent

What happens if you ignore buyer intent altogether? Your website might still look great, but it could inadvertently push users away. Here are some common pitfalls:

1. High Bounce Rates: If a user with transactional intent lands on your website and can’t find clear pricing or a contact form, they’ll leave. Similarly, if someone in the informational phase can’t find resources or guidance, they’ll bounce, too.
2. Lost Sales Opportunities: Without strategic CTAs and well-structured pages, visitors who might have become customers slip through the cracks.
3. User Frustration and Confusion: Cluttered or confusing navigation can irritate visitors. When users don’t find what they expect, their trust in your brand diminishes.
4. Poor SEO Performance: Search engines like Google pay close attention to user signals. If your site has high bounce rates and short session durations, your rankings may drop over time. Moreover, Google’s algorithms are increasingly focused on matching search queries (and thus intent) with the most relevant pages.
5. Damaged Reputation: Word of mouth travels fast online. Negative experiences, even if it’s just from confusion or misalignment with buyer intent, can lead to poor brand perception.

In essence, ignoring buyer intent is like trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. You might eventually force it in, but you’ll damage the peg—and the user experience—in the process.

Closing Thoughts

Buyer intent isn’t just a marketing buzzword—it’s a lens through which you can evaluate every piece of content, every design choice, and every navigational element on your website. 

Ignoring it can be costly, leading to lost conversions, higher bounce rates, and frustrated users who quickly move on to competitors. 

On the flip side, incorporating buyer intent at each step can streamline the user’s journey and make your website a powerful tool for turning casual visitors into satisfied customers.

For web design, this means going beyond the superficial aspects of aesthetics to consider what visitors genuinely need at each stage of their journey. It requires careful planning, user-centred thinking, and ongoing testing.

Remember, not every visitor is ready to purchase on day one. By offering the right mix of educational resources, easy-to-navigate pages, and compelling calls-to-action, you can cultivate relationships that lead to loyal clients and sustainable growth.

If you’re ready to design or overhaul a website with buyer intent at the forefront—and see real results, send me a message today. 

Together, we can create a seamless, user-centric experience that meets your visitors where they are and guides them toward becoming loyal customers.

The post Buyer Intent and Web Design appeared first on Jeremy Hickman.

What is Google Consent Mode?

Google Consent Mode (GCM) allows websites to measure conversions and collect certain data while respecting user consent choices, specifically regarding cookies. When a user consents to cookies, data collection functions as usual, covering analytics, advertising, and other Google tools. 

However, when a user declines cookies, GCM adjusts data collection, gathering only anonymous data that supports basic functionality.

One of the standout features of GCM is its ability to use data modelling to estimate lost conversions for users who did not consent to cookies. This approximation helps businesses maintain some insight into user behaviour even when direct data isn’t available. 

Why is Google Consent Mode v2 Important?

Businesses that fail to adopt GCM v2 by the March 2024 deadline lose access to valuable data on users from the UK and EEA across Google platforms, including Google Ads and Google Analytics.

This potential loss of data comes with the following implications:

• Limited Remarketing
  Without the necessary data, remarketing to new users in the UK and EEA becomes impossible.
• Reduced Conversion Accuracy
  Google’s algorithms lose the ability to track and predict conversions accurately, impacting overall campaign performance.
• Optimisation Challenges
  With restricted data access, optimising Google Ads campaigns effectively becomes difficult.

Key Changes in Google Consent Mode v2

When GCM v1 was first launched it let you tell if people had provided consent to store analytics and advertising cookies in their browser. To do this we could set values for two parameters:

• analytics_storage
• ad_storage

GCM v2 introduces two additional parameters, enhancing how data collection aligns with user consent:

• ad_user_data
  Governs whether personal data is shared with Google for advertising. If a user consents to advertising cookies, this parameter is set to “granted.”
• ad_personalization
  Controls the use of personal data for personalization activities, like remarketing. It’s set to “granted” when users agree to personalised advertising cookies.

These parameters offer a more nuanced approach to consent, allowing businesses to tailor data collection according to user preferences.

Implementation of Google Consent Mode v2

Implementing GCM v2 requires adjustments to a website’s cookie policy and consent settings:

• Update Your Cookie Banner
  Ensure the language aligns with Google’s privacy standards, reflecting the new options for consent.
• Revise Your Privacy Policy
  Clearly outline how user consent is collected and what happens to the data based on their choices.

If your business uses a Google-certified Consent Management Platform (CMP), these updates may happen automatically. However, it’s a good idea to verify this with your CMP provider. For businesses without a Google-certified CMP, adding the ad_user_data and ad_personalization parameters through Google Tag Manager will be necessary.

Basic Consent Mode vs. Advanced Consent Mode

GCM v2 offers two implementation options that website owners should consider:

• Basic Consent Mode
  Implementing consent mode in its basic form ensures that Google tags remain inactive until a user interacts with the consent banner. This means no data is sent to Google before the user makes their choice. If consent is granted, the tags load and activate the consent mode APIs. If consent is denied, no data—including the user’s consent status—is transmitted to Google. The tags remain entirely blocked from firing. In such cases, Google Ads relies on a generalised conversion model to estimate performance.
• Advanced Consent Mode
  With the advanced version of consent mode, Google tags load immediately when a user visits your website or app. Upon loading, the tags initialize the consent mode API. Advanced implementation supports enhanced modelling by using advertiser-specific models rather than the general model applied in the basic version.

For most website owners, Advanced Consent Mode is recommended. Its ability to capture anonymous pings helps Google’s algorithms create more accurate estimates, leading to better optimisation of ads and a more complete understanding of user actions.

Closing Thoughts

Google Consent Mode v2 is a substantial upgrade, impacting how businesses handle user consent and data collection. Implementing GCM v2 not only ensures compliance with data privacy regulations but also mitigates negative impacts on marketing effectiveness. Although transitioning to GCM v2 may seem daunting, the benefits of compliance far outweigh the potential penalties and lost data.

The post Google Consent Mode v2: A Guide for Website Owners appeared first on Jeremy Hickman.

You know nothing about website design, and could hire a professional to do the job for you. What if you could do it yourself for a fraction of the price? It sounds attractive and the cost savings look useful.  Why would you want to avoid DIY website builders? If this sounds like you, read on.

What is a DIY website builder?

A DIY website builder is a platform that lets you make a website without any technical or design knowledge. A key feature is drag-and-drop functionality. This allows anyone to easily put together a website by pulling pre-built components onto the page with their mouse.

There are many options including the well-known providers such as WIX, Squarespace and Shopify.  Some hosting providers such as IONOS also now offer this option, too.  If your website runs on WordPress, drag and drop theme builders such as Elementor or WP Bakery offer the same approach. This can look attractive as it gives the impression that anyone can build a website themselves. You don’t need any specific knowledge: Just drag and drop pre-built elements into place and add your own content.  You will see numerous options for colours, fonts, different functions and layouts.

So, what’s the problem with this and why should you be worried? All is not as it seems underneath what appears to be a nice looking website.  There are many reasons why you should not tackle the process of building a website yourself:

1. A DIY website will be generic and won’t stand out
2. Poor performance and slow loading times
3. You (and your content) are tied to your provider
4. Poor SEO support
5. Ineffective content
6. Lack of technical support

Reasons to avoid DIY website builders

1. A DIY website will be generic and won’t stand out

Sites built this way are put together from pre-designed components, and they tend to look formulaic and similar to other sites built in the same way.  You’ll find plenty of scope to alter colours, fonts, images, and add your own text. However, you won’t have any ability to add bespoke design flourishes that will set your brand apart.

As well as finding more customers, one of the most important functions of your website is to build your brand.  This means that you’ll need your site to exactly match your brand. You might want the freedom to place your logo in the most effective place, or need to arrange your content in a way that communicates your brand story.

You will find it very difficult to achieve these factors effectively without the help of an experienced web designer. A professional will bring a wealth of knowledge in areas such as user experience and marketing techniques.

2. Poor performance and slow loading times

You will be impressed by the numerous functions and elements available within the drag-and-drop editor.  However all of these features are included in the code that makes up your site. This is true even if you don’t use all of the features available to you.  Your website code will be bloated, inefficient, and take up huge amounts of space on the server.

Why should I care about this, you ask?  The problem is that all the extra code will slow down your site.  This matters because statistics show that nearly half of all users expect a website to load in less than 2 seconds. Further, over a third of all users will abandon a site completely if it takes too long to load. The average page load speed of sites appearing on Google page 1 search results is 1.65 seconds.  This is what you’re up against, and why you should avoid DIY website builders. A slow loading site just won’t perform for you.

A custom-designed site which has been professionally made will only include the elements you need. This means that the site will load much more quickly using efficient code.  Your users will thank you for this, and are far more likely to engage with your site.

3. You (and your content) is tied to your provider

Once you’ve built your drag-and-drop site you’re tied to the platform you’ve built it in.  You’re also nearly always locked in to their own hosting, too. This can be much more expensive than you initially expected.

A factor that is often overlooked is that you will have to learn a proprietary system when building the site. This knowledge is not transferable to other systems you might use in the future. If you take the time to learn something, you’ll want that knowledge to be useful in the future. This alone is a good reason to avoid DIY website builders. Your knowledge is tied to that one particular platform, which you might never use again.

Furthermore, you won’t be able to easily move your website to a new provider. This is because you’re unlikely to own the underlying code.

If you might decide to cut your losses and move to a website created by a professional designer, you’ll find your content can’t be easily exported from the DIY site. This can complicate the move, and increase your costs.

With a custom website built to your specific requirements you will own the code. If you own the code you will be able to move the site to different hosting providers in the future. This allows you to be agile in response to costs and service provision.

4. Poor SEO support

No matter how good your website looks, it won’t help your business at all if no one can find it.  Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of fine-tuning your website to help it rank more highly in search engines such as Google.  DIY website builders don’t offer great potential with your SEO.

Most DIY builders don’t allow Google to verify your website in their Webmaster Tools. This will harm your ability to rank in search results.  You may also not be able to integrate Google Analytics with your site. Without this information you will be unable to see key statistics that will tell you how your site is being used.  This means that you can’t work out how effective your site is, and what changes you need to make to improve it.

SEO is a complex area and needs specialist knowledge.  You’re also aiming at a moving target because Google regularly updates its algorithms and parameters that will affect your ranking.  Unless you are experienced in this area it is unlikely that you will be able to effectively master SEO optimisation yourself, especially when you consider how limited the SEO capabilities of DIY website builders are.  Working with an experienced web designer or SEO specialist is essential if you want your website to be found by your target audience.

5. Ineffective content

Following on from the previous point, you need content that is directly informed by your SEO considerations.  There are so many pitfalls you can walk into when working on your own.  Unless you know what you’re doing, you’re unlikely to make the right choices. Your content needs to speak to Google and the other search engines effectively.

There’s a careful balance to be achieved. You need to match your message to potential customers with techniques that will help your site rank.  When you use a DIY website builder you’ll be responsible for making all the content decisions yourself.

Poorly written content can make your website look unprofessional and less likely to engage with your audience.  Consider the most important H1 heading on each of your pages.  How many times do you see ‘Welcome to my website’ in that important position on a homepage. This heading should actually be a keyword-rich statement.  Not knowing this can cost you dear, and is another important reason why you should avoid DIY website builders.

When you work with a professional, they can help you with your content and share their marketing expertise.  They will help you write for both your audience and search engines. This in turn will increase the potential for success of your website.

6. Lack of technical support

If something goes wrong, you might need some technical support or advice.  You’ll need to turn to the customer support team. This is often via online chat before you eventually get to speak to a real person by phone, typically overseas.  In the worst case, you’ll need to open a support ticket and explain everything in a written note. You’ll then need to await an reply that will hopefully address everything you wanted to know.

You will undoubtedly wish you had bought a custom-made site. If you had you’d have the ability to speak directly to the web designer. Any issues can then be resolved by the person who actually built your site.

Watch out for covert drag-and-drop websites

Finally, beware of rogue ‘web designers’ who sell themselves as professionals. They actually don’t know how to write code or make a bespoke website for you.  They will use a drag-and-drop theme editor such as Elementor, Fusion, WP Bakery or similar. Sometimes they may even modify a third-party theme that they’ve downloaded from somewhere else.

The client is often unaware of what they’ve paid for and the web designer will present it as a quality site with a price tag to match. This will lead you to believe you’ve bought a quality piece of work.  The website will look ok, but you will unwittingly fall victim to the disadvantages of a DIY website.

How to detect that you might not be getting a custom site:

• Not being provided with a PDF mock-up and an opportunity to request design changes before the site is built;
• The web designer gives the impression a feature you request could be difficult to make. This probably means it’s not in their drag-and-drop kit-bag;
• All the websites in the web designers portfolio look similar;
• They have only been in the industry for 5 years or less.

Conclusion

A DIY website might sound really attractive if you have a modest budget and you’ve time to tackle it yourself. This approach is often a false economy and you will end up paying for it in the long run.

Talk to an experienced web designer to see what can be achieved within your budget. This is worthwhile even if it means that the site has to be fairly small to start with.

A small site can be expanded later when you have more to spend.  It’s far better to have a concise, well designed, well built, and well optimised website. Your main focus should be for your potential customers to be able to find you!

Get in touch today to talk about your bespoke website project.

The post Why you should avoid DIY website builders appeared first on Jeremy Hickman.

What is Schema markup?

Schema markup is a form of microdata. It is a semantic vocabulary of tags which are set out in full at schema.org.  You can add these schema tags to the HTML of your website.  Doing so will enhance the way that search engines see your content and represent it in search engine results pages (SERPs).  The Schema markup creates an enhanced description called a rich snippet which appears inline within search results.

Schema has been around since around 2011 and was created by a collaboration between Google, Bing, Yahoo and Yandex.  It was conceived as a way of helping search engines understand website content to provide more accurate search results.  This is especially helpful where the content within a webpage might otherwise be ambiguous.

How does Schema help to explain your website content?

The easiest way to explain this is with a practical example from schema.org.

Most webmasters are familiar with HTML tags on their pages. Usually, HTML tags tell the browser how to display the information included in the tag. For example, <h1>Avatar</h1> tells the browser to display the text string ‘Avatar’ in a heading 1 format. However, the HTML tag doesn’t give any information about what that text string means — ‘Avatar’ could refer to the hugely successful 3D movie, or it could refer to a type of profile picture — and this can make it more difficult for search engines to intelligently display relevant content to a user.

Schema.org

You can now understand how these hidden tags can help the search engines understand the context of otherwise ambiguous text strings.

What does Schema markup look like?

The Schema tags can be added to existing HTML to explain the context of your content.  In the following example, we’re displaying the headline of a blog post along with its author:

<div>
    Mary Makes it Easy: The new ultimate stress-free cookbook
    Mary Berry
</div>

You can see how this may be ambiguous to search engines.  It’s not clear which text string is the title (name) of the book, and which is the author.  With Schema markup, we explain the context as follows:

<div itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Book">
    <span itemprop="name">
        Mary Makes it Easy: The new ultimate stress-free cookbook
    </span>
    <span itemprop="author">
        Mary Berry
    </span>
</div>

You can go further by adding customer reviews.  You could add the following Schema markup within your product page content:

<div itemprop="aggregateRating" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/AggregateRating">
    <span itemprop="ratingValue">4</span>stars –
    <span itemprop="reviewCount">250</span>Reviews
</div>

Adding schema will enhance the rich snippet that is shown beneath the page title in SERPs.  This example shows the aggregate star rating, number of reviews, price and stock status:

Does Schema improve your search ranking?

There is no evidence that adding Schema markup will improve your search ranking.  What it will do is make your pages appear more impactful in SERPs, which in turn will help with click-through-rates, and a better user-experience generally.

Please note that adding Schema markup code doesn’t guarantee that Google will show your page with rich snippets like the example show above. Even if Schema markup is present, Google can sometimes choose to show your listing in a regular blue link format. We can supply Schema markup, but utlimately, Google will decide whether it wants to show rich snippets or not.

What should Schema be used for?

Schema can be used to mark up various pieces of content on your site, but is most often used to provide additional information about:

• Businesses and Organizations
• Creative work (such as Books)
• Events
• People
• Places
• Products

This list is certainly not exhaustive and you can see the full list of options available at Schema.org.  Each category has different properties that can be used to give further detail.  The earlier example of a book can include the title (‘name’), ‘author’, as well as even more detailed information such as ‘price’, or even ‘isbn’.  How many or few properties you use is up to you, and depends on how much detail you wish to provide to describe the item.

How to add Schema to your website

If you’re an experienced coder, you will find it relatively straightforward to add Schema markup directly to your page templates such as product pages, blog posts, and so on.

Some WordPress plugins such as Yoast SEO include built-in options to apply Scheme for you.

If you’re less experienced, why not try Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper Tool?  Using the tool you select your content type (article, event, etc), paste your URL and then click ‘Start Tagging’.  The tool will load your page and you can start tagging your content by selecting text and choosing the appropriate Schema tag for it (such as ‘name’, ‘author’ and so on).

When complete, click ‘Create HTML’ and you’ll be provided with your Schema ready to be added to your page either as JSON-LD (added to your page as a script) or as Microdata, as shown earlier in this article.

How make sure you have added Schema to your website correctly

There is plenty of really useful guidance at Schema.org.  There is information about the various Schema tags and how to apply them to your web pages.  Once you have done so, you can check your work by using the useful Google Structured Data Testing Tool.  Simply enter the URL to your page and the tool will check your Schema and report any errors, missing crucial items and may suggest other tags that you might want to add.

Conclusion

Hopefully, after reading this article, you will see the advantage of having Schema in place on your website.  It is easily overlooked but can help your website really stand out in SERPs.  A professional web design will find it straightforward to add Schema to your pages or templates, and should be doing this as already as a best practise.  Schema requires a little thought and effort, but is certainly worthwhile and nothing to be afraid of.

The post What is Schema markup and why is it important? appeared first on Jeremy Hickman.

WordPress is a website Content Management System (CMS).  It has evolved from a tool used to publish blogs to become a fully-featured CMS that can be used to create any sort of website.

WordPress is popular with web designers and users because it is versatile and easy to use.  Since its launch in 2003 WordPress has grown to be the most popular CMS in the world. Nearly half of all websites today are built on WordPress.

Since its launch in 2003 it has grown to be the most popular CMS in the world.  Nearly half of all websites today are built on WordPress.

What does WordPress cost?

WordPress is open-source software.  This means that it doesn’t cost anything to download or use it.

There are a number of commercially available additions available for WordPress to add functionality (plugins) or provide styling (themes) for your website.  Whilst many of these are free, some are not. The core functionality of WordPress is always free.

WordPress is open-source

Open-source software is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify or change, and redistribute without needing any specific permission.  This arrangement encourages people to contribute their ideas to improve the software, adding features or fixing things that don’t work properly.

Contrast this with most software which usually only the person, team or organisation that created it is allowed to alter or distribute.  This type of software is called ‘proprietary’ or ‘closed-source’ software. 

What can I use WordPress for?

You can use WordPress to create a variety of websites.  Your imagination is the only thing that limits you.  The following list gives some examples of websites that could be build using WordPress but the options are endless:

• Personal blogs
• Professional portfolios
• Business websites
• Online shops for physical or digital product
• Sites with content that you need to be a member or subscriber to view 

Because it is a CMS WordPress makes it easy to add content. You manage your content with an easy-to-use dashboard.

Managing your content through a CMS makes it much easier to look after your website yourself.  Without a CMS you would need to code your content directly into the HTML of your web pages.  Unless you have technical knowledge you’d have to pay a web designer each time you want to change an image or alter a passage of text.

You will find that WordPress can handle your content requirements with ease.  It supports text, images and videos and makes it easy to insert content into your pages.

A variety of templates, collectively known as a theme, displays your content on your website.  A theme dictates the styling of your website, including the colours, fonts, and layout.

You will find numerous helpful tutorials and guides online due to WordPress’ community-supported ethos.

Is WordPress secure?

Being the most popular CMS today means WordPress can be the unwelcome target of hackers.  Security is a concern for most businesses and a secure website will give you peace of mind. To ensure the safety of your data, hackers and data breaches need to be kept at bay.

WordPress includes a number of features that will help to safeguard your website.  It will log out users that have been idle for a period of time, and provides for two-factor authentication.

The open-source license of WordPress allows for the community to make constant improvements to the software. Through software updates, new features are introduced, bugs are fixed, and security enhancements are delivered periodically.

It is essential that you install the software updates in a timely manner to implement new security features.  Having an effective website support arrangement in place is a good idea. This will relieve you from having to keep an eye on this area yourself.  You’ll avoid exposing your site to risk if you forget to carry out the updates, or carry them out too late.

You may want to consider WordPress-specific hosting for your website. WP Engine provide managed hosting specifically for WordPress sites with the emphasis on security and reliability.

How can I add new functions to a WordPress website?

The core functionality of WordPress is comprehensive, yet there will be times when your specific requirements require something different.  You can add additional functionality via a huge library of plugins.  There is a huge variety of free and open-source plugins to choose from.  You might need to pay for specialist or premium plugins for more specific needs.

Your WordPress web designer will be able to develop custom functionality that isn’t currently available through a plugin.  Their programming knowledge and the approachability of WordPress should mean it is possible to make a bespoke solution for you.

As with everything, you can have too much of a good thing. For the novice with limited coding knowledge there is a temptation to install dozens of plugins to solve even simple requirements. This can make your website less reliable.  A professional web developer will have a better way to give you the functionality you need, without relying on too many plugins.

Popular plugins for WordPress websites

Some popular plugins include:

• Yoast SEO
  Helps you boost your search rankings by allowing you to enter key information in an easy interface in the WordPress dashboard.  A traffic light system will guide you, allowing you to see the impact of your optimizations..
• wooCommerce
  A comprehensive e-Commerce system.  wooCommerce allows you to add physical and digital products to your website, and process payments online. 
• Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)
  ACF allows you additional pieces of information (fields) to website pages, by altering or adding to the standard WordPress interface.
• Contact Form 7
  You may want a form on your website to allow potential customers to contact you.  Contact Form 7 makes it easy for you to build a form for your website containing the fields you want.  You will receive an email with the information the viewer inputs into the form..

WordPress Themes

Whilst you enter the content for your web pages into the WordPress dashboard, the way this is shown to the world on your website is determined by a theme.  A theme is a collection of templates and other assets that make your website look a certain way.

It is possible to download free or paid-for themes.  Using an off-the-shelf theme means that will be limited to predetermined layouts and options available within that theme.  Invariably these options won’t precisely match your requirements, leading to much frustration. There are some very good reasons why you should avoid DIY WordPress themes.

Hiring a professional to make a bespoke WordPress theme for you will always yield a better result.  Your web designer will talk to you about your specific requirements for design and functionality.  You’ll avoid the time and effort of trying (and failing) to force an off-the-shelf theme to look how you want.  You won’t need dozens of plugins to give you the functionality you need.  You’ll end up with a site that looks and works how you want, and will be reliable and secure.

Conclusion

WordPress is a fantastic platform for your website. It is easy to use, and can be reliable and secure if used correctly.  You’ll find it simple to add new or amend existing content on your site yourself.  This means you’ll avoid the overhead of hiring a professional every time you want to make a small change.

If you would like to discuss your website requirements, reach out today for a no-obligation free initial discussion.

The post What is WordPress? appeared first on Jeremy Hickman.

Responsive Web Design became more important as the adoption of smartphones became widespread. Smartphones had smaller screens than the previously-favoured desktop or laptop computers.  The users of these devices soon became the majority of all website visitors.

Traditional web page layouts didn’t fit smartphone displays which were typically portrait in orientation and narrow.  Responsive Web Design allows the web designer to offer different page layouts to suit these new screen sizes. In 2015 Google started to boost the ranking of mobile-friendly websites in its search results, in a decision dubbed ‘Mobilegeddon’.

Responsive Web Design is device agnostic

Today, there is a huge range of devices on the market today with different screen sizes and resolutions.  Some are landscape, some are portrait, and others are square. Many can switch from portrait to landscape depending on the way the device is held by the user.  The iPhone and iPad are good examples of such devices.

This presents a challenge for the web designer.  However, techniques such as flexible or fluid grids have become a popular way to create responsive websites.  These grids use relative units or percentages to specify their proportions rather than absolute units such as pixels.  Combined with CSS media queries these layouts can adapt to smaller screen sizes. This means the web designer doesn’t need to create separate designs for every device on the market. This makes today’s responsive websites device-agnostic.

Who benefits from Responsive Web Design?

A responsive website will benefit all users and improve their user experience (UX).  The web designer and developer will benefit as they can build one site which works on a range of devices. This is far more economical and efficient than developing separate sites to suit each specific device.

Responsive Web Design improves the experience of all users that browse websites on their mobile devices. This applies whether the user is browsing for pleasure, shopping, banking or for business.  As of 2024 over 60% or website traffic comes from mobile devices.  Over 92% of users consider accessing the internet on their smartphones compared to other devices ¹.

With this level of mobile traffic it is easy to see why Responsive Web Design is an essential technique today.  Search engines such as Google now favour websites that are mobile-friendly, responsive, and fast to load in their search results.

What elements are required for Responsive Web Design?

• HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
  This is the language a web page is written in, and determines the content and structure of the page.
• CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
  This is a programming language that determines the design of a web page a web page written in HTML
• Media Queries
  A the part of CSS that allows the developer to specify different designs and layouts depending on the screen size the user is viewing the page on.
• Flexible grids or fluid layouts
  Provide for a content layout (specified in relative units) which can adapt to fit different screen or browser widths.

How does Responsive Web Design work?

When written with RWD in mind, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) provide for different settings and styling properties depending on the user’s screen size, orientation, resolution or other characteristics.  One of the most common CSS properties related to RWD are viewport and media queries.

Mobile-first design

Your web designer should work on a mobile-first approach.  This is important now that Google and other search engines place so much emphasis on websites which are mobile optimised.

A mobile-first approach means that the designer will consider how the website will look on a mobile device in the first instance. They will then use progressive enhancements to alter the design and layout as space progressively increases on larger screen sizes.

Ideally the website content will be the same across all devices. Early websites developed for mobile devices presented an abridged version of the page with some content omitted. Today, we should show the mobile user all of the content. The page design should make this content easily accessible by the user, given the available screen space. As screen size increases on different devices, the layout can adapt to present the same content in an appropriate way for the additional space available.

The mobile-first approach to Responsive Web Design contrasts to the former graceful degradation approach. This method meant the website was developed for larger screens first, without consideration for mobile. As page elements stopped working on mobile devices, techniques were employed to allow the site to continue to function without the failing elements.  This generally gave mobile users an inferior experience to their desktop counterparts.  With the high level of traffic coming from mobile devices today, the mobile-first approach is essential.

How can I tell if my website is responsive?

It is possible to quickly see if your website is responsive:

• Open your website in Google Chrome.
• command + alt + i to open Developer Tools
• command + shift + m to toggle the Device Toolbar
• Choose a device to view your page from a mobile, tablet or desktop perspective

You will be able to see how your website looks on a simulation of a wide variety of devices.

You may find that your website isn’t responsive or that it gives a poor experience on mobile devices.

Even if your current site is built with Responsive Web Design techniques many weren’t designed on a mobile-first basis. This means that mobile users weren’t considered as the priority. In this case you will almost certainly benefit from a website redesign. Contact me today to discuss your options, and request a no-obligation initial discussion.

¹ https://whatsthebigdata.com/mobile-internet-traffic/

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