Websites

Introduction

Every business, regardless of age, size or industry needs a website.

Here is a brief list of the benefits of having a well-designed, content rich website:

• Sell more - communicating visually increases conversions
• Grow and develop your brand within the target market
• Increase website traffic
• Satisfy customers by creating relevant content
• Create memorable, credible experiences for website visitors
• Grow your customer base and establish their loyalty
• Convince, track and convert prospects

Besides following our usual process, we adopt a slightly different approach to web work than most agencies. Nicework subscribes to an agile approach to web work. As long as everyone works collaboratively toward creating a user centric experience for website visitors, we seldom miss the target!

How do we do it?

Discovering User Needs

Websites are not created for your company. They function to fulfill the goals of your potential and current customers (more leads, more sales, more profit!). Therefore, it stands to reason that every effort and resource should be dedicated to creating a website guided by user-centric principles.

So, first things first - we all spend some time discovering who those users are and how they use (or how we want them to use) your website.

Why? Well, for starters, knowing about users:

• Directs the design process
• Avoids guesstimating
• Uncovers problems early
• Cuts out things that aren’t essential
• Keep everyone focused on getting the best possible website done
• Sets a baseline from which you can measure ongoing improvements
• Is a massive competitive advantage

See value? We thought so :)

In-depth Strategy

To us, delivering websites that are benchmarked against the world leaders in a given industry is very important. At this stage we uncover who the domestic and international competition is and conduct a competitive analysis to uncover insights and potential improvement opportunities.

Deciding on the architecture of the website is imperative. What content does the website require? How is it presented? How does this impact the design? How do we balance the information with user needs? We create models to illustrate business processes and website interactions to help shed light on more complex challenges.

All of this helps to create a multi-faceted view of the project.

Crafted Content

In some ways, design is just a way to package content in a convincing way. If the content is not relevant and well conceived, search engines will not pair users with your content (less traffic = fewer conversions). Once a user arrives at the website, they should be able to get the required information very easily. Good, consistent content will help grow your customer base and establish their loyalty. Copy that is written specifically for the web is an essential part of the online success.

For the initial launch of the website, a lot of content needs to be produced. That said, a good ongoing content strategy is key to maximising value.

Great Design

At its most basic level, design should bridge the gap between logic and emotion to deliver your message clearly and effectively. Before any graphic design is done, we go through the wire framing process. Wireframes are a bare-bones representation of the website. They show how the pages fit together and what the layout of the information is. This serves as a reference for interface design – a process that injects life into the whole project!

Powerful Code In order for a website to become more than a design, there has to be an engine that drives it. Depending on what the functional requirements are, we will make sure you get a solution that is appropriate.

All the code that leaves our studio is standards compliant, accessible and lean. In addition, we usually implement a content management system for each website so that clients can take control of their content. Unless you want us to manage your content, which we will do with pleasure.

Every site we do features analytics to track your online performance. This information helps you to make strategic choices to target relevant audiences, create loyalty programmes and keep customers in touch with your business.

To make our clients' lives easier, we offer bulletproof, scalable hosting in the cloud.

Support
Some people spend years staring at code, writing manuals and training non-techies. We are here to answer all of those technical questions.

What does it cost?

The price of a website depends largely on how much work is involved. The number of pages, level of functionality, complexity of design, amount of research and strategy, technology required and time available all impact price.

Generally speaking, however, Nicework websites cost between R 20 000 and R 150 000. We are an honest bunch, so get in touch and we can discuss what your budget allows for.

Ok, I want it!

Great. We would love to hear from you. Download the NW Website Worksheet, fill it in and return it. This nifty little questionnaire will help you ask the right sorts of questions and give us a clear idea of how we should approach your project. Should you wish to talk to someone before this, please fill in the contact form or call us!