In today’s digital world, simply having an online presence for your business is not enough. According to research, most Internet users will judge a business by its website. Meaning if your site isn’t making a great impression, there’s a strong possibility that a potential client will move on. We have several areas to consider when evaluating your site and whether it’s making the right first impression.

Impressions Are Fast

How much time do you think the average user spends on a site before making a final judgment? A minute? 30 seconds? It’s more like 1/20th of a SECOND. Yes! It’s that fast! When presented with several options from a search query, Internet searchers move quickly to sort through them all. Evaluating your website design to not only best represent your company but also to appeal to potential customers is key.

Looks Matter

A well-designed site is synonymous with a good business. Because your website is often the first time a potential client is encountering your business, making sure that the site design best represents your business AND is targeted to your customer is huge – don’t miss an opportunity to make that first impression! Knowing what your target market is looking for in a product and how they shop (literally and figuratively) is key to how your site is designed. Think of it this way: a Millennial and a Baby Boomer are likely looking for different products and are attracted to different things. Therefore, color, layout, questionnaires, interaction, etc., are all important aspects of the site’s design.

But It’s More Than Looks, Too

While the look of the website is vital, how it functions can be just as important. Site speed, load times, accessibility, navigability, and security are all crucial to your website. Your site may be stunning to look at, but if it takes too long to load, the chances of a customer sticking around are slim. In addition, if the information the user is looking for is too challenging to find or if pages are missing, a potential customer is likely to move on rather than continuing to search the site.

Don’t Forget About Mobile

With more than half of the world’s 3.9 billion Internet users doing so from a mobile device, not having a mobile presence for your business website is a huge no-no. Responsive website design is not only good for mobile viewing but also for SEO. Google Ranking Factors analyze and rank higher sites that are built with mobile-first design.

Hammersmith Support Has You Covered

If you are thinking now is a great time to redesign your site, if you have questions about our maintenance packages, or if you’re not sure what you need, schedule a complimentary 30-minute meeting and let’s talk through your questions.

When it comes to redesigning a website, one of the hesitations we hear from clients is that they don’t want to lose their long-term site SEO. Good news. At Hammersmith Support, we can redesign your site without losing your existing SEO. Here’s how we do it:

Staged Sites

The Hammersmith Support redesign process begins on a staged site. This duplicated site is where all the work takes place and makes it possible for your existing site to stay up and running during the design process. It’s business as usual for your customers and when the new site is complete, it’s simply launched with the established URL.

Assess Pages

Once the site is staged, we perform a full assessment of the site’s analytics. We evaluate each page’s performance and ensure that the highest performing pages’ URLs don’t change. This means that any links back to these pages will always be available, no matter how old they are.

Page Redirects

For any pages where the URL does need to change, a 303 redirect is issued. This allows any old links that may be out on the Internet to be redirected to the new version of the page. The redirect is invisible to the user and keeps long-standing SEO intact.

Consistent Content

By keeping page content the same while working around the information, we’re sure to keep the existing SEO as well. While the rest of the page is redesigned, leaving long-standing keywords on the page is good for maintaining SEO.

Redesign or Refresh

It’s important to remember that not every website needs to be redesigned. Many times a site can be refreshed with new images, logos, color schemes, layouts, and content can be updated to give your site a fresh look without disturbing existing SEO. However, if your site is built on out-of-date infrastructure or isn’t meeting your business needs, it’s likely time to redesign the site.

We would love to answer your questions about your business website and talk through any challenges and possible solutions too. Schedule your complimentary 30-minute consultation and let’s talk through your questions.

The list of available platforms to build a website on seems endless! While Hammersmith Support has a preferred platform (more on that later), we want to bring you some pros and cons of the available platforms so that you can make the right choice for your business – you can read our post about WordPress v Wix here. There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a platform, such as what kind of features you need on your site, how tech-savvy the person building and maintaining the site is, how quickly you expect to grow your business, and or how much help you’ll need in the design process. Knowing the answers to these questions can help guide the decision about which platform makes the most sense for your business.

Squarespace

Pros:

  • All-in-one platform – Widgets, apps, plugins, and even analytics are included with each site.
  • Ease of use – Extremely easy to set up and edit a site.
  • All-inclusive – Website, hosting and security are included with a monthly subscription.
  • Chat and email support are available 24/7.

Cons:

  • Photograph-heavy templates may be challenging to fill for businesses without many images.
  • Squarespace does not provide phone support.
  • Limited SEO makes it less likely that users will find your site organically.
  • Limited flexibility makes personalizing your site more difficult.
  • You cannot move your site to another hosting service.

Takeaway:

Squarespace is a great option for those who are less tech-savvy and yet want to dive into creating their business website. While more expensive than some available options, the all-in-one platform keeps things simple for users.

WordPress

Pros:

  • Portable content – If you change hosting providers, you can move your site and its contents easily.
  • Open-source – Resources are available to create a custom site using CSS code.
  • Built-in SEO – As Google changes its requirements, the built-in SEO settings in WordPress are adapted and updated by developers and users. If you’re looking to delve into your SEO and customize it, WordPress has options.
  • Scalable – No matter what size your business is now, a WordPress site can adapt and grow with your business.
  • Custom Designs – Seemingly endless options for design and customization.
  • E-commerce – WordPress makes it easy to integrate and set up a store using WooCommerce, Shopify or other platforms.
  • Speed – Especially when maintained regularly, websites load faster, which improves Google Search rankings and user experience.
  • Support – WordPress has a vast international community of users who are available to help and support others.

Cons:

  • Somewhat more expensive than other platforms – The framework is free, but you may need to purchase licenses for themes or plugins or pay for development if you’d like more customization.
  • Requires users to be more tech-savvy – WordPress is easier to use if you have more technical know-how.
  • Updates must be performed by the user – Regular maintenance is a must!

Takeaway:

WordPress should be your platform of choice if you need power and flexibility, and are comfortable with technology. A WordPress site is robust and has lots of options. More importantly, it grows and moves as your business evolves. You own your site and are not limited by a proprietary platform.

WordPress Is Hammersmith Support’s Preferred Platform

The ability to use open code to build custom sites on WordPress, along with the large support community that WordPress has fostered, allows Hammersmith Support to build completely custom sites for our clients. Unsure of what you need for your site? We’re here to help! Book a free 30-minute consultation and let’s talk about what Hammersmith Support can do for you and your website.

Hammersmith Support is proud to present the redesigned and rebuilt sites for GT Medical Technologies and GammaTile. This innovative company is working to create more targeted brain tumor therapy that produces less overall damage during treatment. GT Medical Technologies produces the GammaTile to do just that. And when it comes to marketing their product, they have two distinct audiences: the doctors who insert the GammaTile during surgery, and the patients who have the tile implanted. Knowing that their product would need to be marketed in different ways, GT Medical Technologies turned to Hammersmith Support for a website rebuild and redesign strategy.

One Product, Two Audiences

Considering that there are two very distinct groups that need information about the GammaTile, the company has two similar, yet distinct websites. Having two sites is important as a doctor or clinician researching the product would want and need much different information than a patient. Both of the existing sites were in need of being rebuilt and redesigned in order to provide better information in an organized fashion.

From Wix to WordPress

GT Med Tech’s original site was built on the Wix platform. The original site worked well for a time, but as the company grew, the platform could not scale with the business. The two new sites were moved to WordPress for scalability and functionality. Because the same product would be marketed to two audiences and across two websites, redesigning the sites with similar yet distinct colors, logos, and fonts was key to consistency for the brand.

How Design Plays an Important Role

For the GammaTile (patient-focused) site, including infographics was key. All of the design and layout were focused on the audience and remembering that either the reader or someone close to the reader was dealing with the fear of a brain tumor. Giving patients quick and easy-to-digest information in a hope-filled tone was important.

For the GT Medical Technologies main site, the focus was to provide medical information including medical journal citations, along with clinical trial information and results.

On each site, Hammersmith Support created a library section to house videos, articles, blogs, and more for users to be able to sort by topic and media type. This allowed users to find useful information and in a medium that worked best for them. Color coding each medium made each site’s library visually appealing as well as easy to navigate.

Hammersmith Support Can Support Your Business Too

We would love to answer your questions about your business website and talk through any challenges and possible solutions too. Schedule your complimentary 30-minute consultation and let’s talk through your questions.

We are excited to bring you this client highlight for Root + River! Emily Soccorsy, co-founder of Root + River, is a W Source Scottsdale Arcadia chapter member along with our founder, Heather Locke. It was a fantastic compliment that Root + River reached out to Hammersmith Support when they were ready to rebuild their site to not only change the look and feel, but also to improve the infrastructure of the site.

Root + River

Emily and her co-founder, Justin Foster, created their company out of a deep passion for helping businesses discover and then master their brand. As a brand strategy business, they want their clients to not simply sell a product. In their words, they are “… a brand strategy team. We guide leaders to master intrinsic branding. Intrinsic brands are known by their consistently evocative language, standard-setting experiences and legendary storytelling.” In other words, they aren’t your everyday marketing company! Emily often draws on a board during strategy sessions to help create a visual motion to the work being done – in fact, she created all of the icon graphics on the new site, giving it that personal touch that fits the Root + River brand perfectly.

The Challenge

With the previous Root + River site, there was a lot of information. And rightly so – Root + River’s process and vision is a beautiful story. The look and feel of their site needed to be changed to align with the company’s brand standards. Lastly, the team wanted to update photography as well as color schemes and the overall feel of the site.

The Solution

Hammersmith Support enlisted Jena Gribble of Blush Cactus to create a design that embodied the Root + River brand. The rebuild included streamlining the look and feel of the site by visually breaking it into sections that could be more easily digested. By taking some of the verbiage out of the home page and replacing it with short descriptions and snappy headlines, visitors are now able to get a bird’s eye view of who and what Root + River is before diving in further. Icons, created by Emily, were added in place of and in addition to some descriptions, and the overall colorscape was updated for a look and feel that aligns with the brand’s standards. Lastly, we used new and existing photography but gave each image the same filtered view, which made the site feel cohesive and also gave a visual glimpse into the history of the company.

Now that their site is live, Root + River is continuing as a Hammersmith Support monthly maintenance client. In addition to updates, backups, and lead testing, we will also provide any content updates and development support that the company needs.

Root + River & Hammersmith Support Branding Event

Hammersmith Support is proud to be partnering with Root + River for a branding presentation: “Your Brand Is Not What You Think It Is,” coming up on April 28th at 4pm. Led by Emily Soccorsy, CEO and co-founder of Root + River, the event will focus on what branding is and isn’t and will re-frame brand experience, brand message, and ideal audience. Emily will share insights into how to stand out, and be genuine and original while you do so. She will also dive into a new way to connect with your ideal clients and help you determine how to know if you have a resonant brand message. Emily’s insights make branding less complex and more effective because they are based on brain science, who you really are, and what will most effectively differentiate you in a highly competitive market. Click here to register!

Thinking Your Site Might Be Ready for a Rebuild?

Not every site needs to be completely rebuilt. Often, if the infrastructure of the site is in good shape, visual changes may be all that it needs. Not sure where your site falls on rebuild or refresh? Visit our Calendly page and schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation and let’s talk.

When it comes to building and maintaining your business website, there are lots of options out there! How do you know which platform is right for you and your business? We’ve got the breakdown on some of the differences between WordPress and Wix and who they might work best for. And we’ll tell you Hammersmith Support’s preferred platform and why!

WordPress

Pros:

  • Portable content – If you change hosting providers, you can move your site and its contents easily.
  • Open-source – Want to customize? The resources are there and getting more user-friendly with every release!
  • Built-in SEO – As Google changes its requirements, the built-in SEO settings in WordPress are adapted and updated by developers and users. If you’re looking to delve into your SEO and customize it, WordPress has options.
  • Scalable – Are you running a small business or a large, international company? WordPress works on any scale and grows as your company grows.
  • Custom Designs – Do you have a vision of how you’d like your site to look and function? With WordPress, the design and customization options are endless.
  • E-commerce – WordPress makes it easy to integrate and set up a store using WooCommerce, Shopify or other platforms.
  • Speed – WordPress sites, especially when maintained regularly, load faster, which improves Google Search rankings and user experience.
  • Support – WordPress has a vast international community of users who are available to help and support others.

Cons:

  • Somewhat more expensive than other platforms – The framework is free, but you may need to purchase licenses for themes or plugins or pay for development if you’d like more customization.
  • Requires users to be more tech-savvy – WordPress is easier to use if you’re more technical know-how.
  • Updates must be performed by the user – Regular maintenance is a must!

Takeaway:

WordPress should be your platform of choice if you need power and flexibility, and are comfortable with technology. A WordPress site is robust and has lots of options. More importantly, it grows and moves as your business grows. You own your site and are not limited by a proprietary platform.

Wix

Pros:

  • Inexpensive to start – Wix charges a minimal monthly fee for access to its platform and resources.
  • Easy to manipulate and change – Wix is a simple drag and drop design.
  • All-in-one – A standard site comes with hosting, SSL, domain or CDN – they’re all included in the basic package.
  • SEO – If you’re looking for basic SEO that you don’t need to tinker with, Wix has what you need.
  • Maintenance – Site updates are done automatically by Wix.

Cons:

  • Limited features – Templates are not customizable, so you are limited by the resources available.
  • Speed – Wix sites load more slowly than do WordPress sites and allow for less optimization.
  • Not scalable – If your business grows exponentially and you’d like to add functionality and customization to match your expanded needs, you may find Wix to be too limited.
  • Proprietary – Your data is not easily portable. If you decide to move to another host, you’ll have export your content in XML format and build your new site from scratch.
  • E-commerce – Wix’s options for building an online store are much more limited in terms of customization and integration with the most robust and commonly used platforms.

Takeaway:

If you have a small budget, are not very tech savvy, and don’t need a very robust site, Wix is a great place to start! Another way to think of the differences between the two is that a Wix site could sell a few items, while a WordPress site could launch an entire online store.

Hammersmith Support’s Preferred Platform

You guessed it, WordPress! The platform is scalable, customizable, portable, and if you’re looking to delve into your SEO, the bells and whistles just can’t be beaten. We also appreciate the large support community that WordPress has fostered and the open code format that allows us to build completely custom sites for our clients. Unsure of what you need for your site? We’re here to help! Book a free 30-minute consultation and let’s talk about what Hammersmith Support can do for you and your site.

Happy new year! This year is bringing some exciting new trends in websites. From behind the scenes to landing pages, websites of 2021 will be visually and functionally different from those of the past. Here are the top 5 website design trends for 2021, and the 2 design standards that will continue to have a huge role.

Asymmetrical Design

The boxy, standard layout of websites will begin to give way to a more asymmetrical approach. Being balanced yet uneven in image and graphic weight makes pages visually interesting and provides new opportunities for conveying information.

Bold Color

Calm, quiet, and flat color is taking a back seat to bold and exciting palettes. Bright color combinations and everyday life views of products, verses stocky images, give new life to visual representation.

Depth and Parallax

Flat and uniform sites will begin to fade as sites with depth and movement come to the forefront. Sites will utilize the parallax effect – where the background moves at a slower rate than the foreground. Think of some of the 3D images you’ve seen posted on social media where the depth of the objects in the image seemingly changes as it is moved or scrolled. In addition, those bold colors will create additional depth through shading, resulting in a more dynamic visual representation without using additional colors. The bold color palette stays true and visually pleasing without appearing flat and lifeless.

Dynamic Questionnaires

Goodbye boring forms, hello exciting and dynamic questionnaires. As companies continue to work towards creating unique experiences for their customers, they will utilize lively and fun ways of collecting information in order to deliver a more personalized shopping experience. Think moving pages and objects, fun questions, exciting layouts, and easy navigation that will keep shoppers engaged and moving through the process.

Causes and Movements

We will begin to see a rise in websites dedicated to causes and movements in 2021. Most sites are backed by an organization, but as we see more social justice movements, environmental needs, and other important topics gain more attention, groups will begin to utilize websites in addition to social media to gain followers and spread information.

Accessibility

While accessibility is not a new trend, we will continue to see this important aspect of website design play a big role in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced everyone to utilize technology more than ever. As companies and organizations pivot to accommodate additional traffic and business, that strategy needs to include adapting design for differently-abled individuals. Interestingly, many of the visual design element trends for this year, such as bold colors and shading, pull double duty with accessibility. In addition to being beautiful and interesting, they are also very useful for the visually impaired.

Mobile First

For the same reasons that accessibility is still a strong element in web design this year, so is mobile-first design. As most of the world will continue to work remotely, socially distance, and shop online, creating a website that is mobile friendly is a must.

How Hammersmith Support Can Help

Thinking that maybe your website is ready for some updates with these exciting trends? Or are you wondering where to start with your site? Ready to finally get your site cleaned up with a monthly maintenance package? Hammersmith Support can help! Visit our Calendly page to schedule your free, 30-minute appointment to talk through all of your questions.

It’s that time of year! Time to look back and reflect on all that has happened over the last 366 days (it was a leap year!). For us at Hammersmith, it means that it’s time to count down our most popular blog posts! We posted, you read, shared, and commented to let us know what you were most interested in reading. So without further delay, here are the top 10 Hammersmith Support blogs of 2020!

#10 Website Accessibility

Consumers who are differently-abled account for 15% of the 4.66 billion internet users in the world. Ensuring that your website is accessible to anyone is essential for good business, and good SEO.

#9 Certified Woman-Owned Business

Find out what it takes to be a Certified Woman-Owned Business and the benefits that the certification had for Hammersmith Support.

#8 Blogs and SEO

You know that having a blog is great for SEO, but did you know that the blog structure can contribute to SEO as well?

#7 The Roots of Women in Tech

Did you know that modern-day Wi-Fi was developed by an actress during WWII? Click to read more about how women are at the roots of today’s tech.

#6 Business Blogs

Still on the fence as to why your business needs a blog? We’ve got your answers here.

#5 The Future of Women in Tech

Even in today’s seemingly male-led world of tech, the future for women in the industry is bright.

#4 An Interview with Allison Kierman of Kierman Law

We loved interviewing Allison Kierman of Kierman Law about her best advice for female entrepreneurs and business owners, and we know you will enjoy it too!

#3 An Interview with Founder, Heather Locke

It’s no surprise to us that one of the top posts of 2020 was an interview with Hammersmith Support founder, Heather Locke!

#2 What to Ask When You Have a Website Built

Even though you’ve hired a professional to design your business website, there are still some questions you will want to ask to ensure that your site is built the best way for you and your business. Read 5 questions by clicking here, and we have 5 more available in a download for you too!

Drum roll please! And the number one most read blog post of 2020 is……

#1 Google Ranking Factors

It’s no surprise to us that everyone is curious about how Google ranks websites. We’re here to help take the mystery out of the process by bringing you what you need to know about Google Ranking Factors and how you can work with your site to boost your SEO organically.

Thank You!

We want to say thank you for reading our posts and letting us know what you want to know more about! Got more ideas? Email us at info@hammersmithsupport.com to tell us what you want to read more about in 2021.

“He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice! Gonna find if your site is naughty or nice…“

While it may be a lesser-known holiday song, it is true: Santa does put websites on the Naughty List too! Not sure which side of the list your site will be on? We’ve got a list of offenses that will get your site on the Naughty List for sure. But don’t worry, Hammersmith Support can help get it on the Nice List just in time for the holidays!

Naughty: No SSL Certificate

Nice: Updated Certificate

No matter what you use your website for, lead generation only or for full-scale e-commerce, you really need an updated SSL certificate. SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and it’s the “s” in “https.” Not having an updated certificate can leave your site vulnerable to hackers and malware. An expired SSL certificate will result in some browsers blocking access to your site and displaying a warning that your site is not secure. Lastly, Google Ranking Factors hate unsecured sites. Bad security leads to bad SEO.

Naughty: No Image SEO

Nice: Alt Text, Captions, Descriptions

Web crawlers utilized by Google Ranking Factors just love image information. And including all of the descriptive information in each image – tedious as it may be – is worth it for the boost in SEO. Crawlers are bots and they can only interpret so much from an image. Giving written descriptions helps them return correct information faster, which is a great boost for your SEO.

Naughty: Not Accessible

Nice: 100% Accessible

With nearly 15% of the 4.9 billion internet users in the world being differently-abled (that’s 735,000,000 for those doing the math), it just makes good sense to have your website accessibility certified. While they may seem like minor things to add to your site, these things can make a huge difference for users. Some accessibility requirements include text that’s able to be converted to audio, large print, or braille, tab navigation, and alt text on images.

Naughty: Stale Content

Nice: Fresh Content

There’s nothing a web crawler hates more than a stale website. Google Ranking Factors look at the content on your site from several angles, but age is a major factor. Keep your content fresh and updated by swapping out or adding images, creating blog content or adding testimonials.

Hammersmith Support Can Help

If you’re worried that your site might be on the naughty list this year, Hammersmith Support is here to help! Visit our site to book a free, 30-minute consultation and we’ll talk through your concerns as well as what options are available too.

‘Tis the season for gift giving! And while you’re making your list, we have some things to add to it for your business website…that’s right, your website needs some presents too this holiday season!

A Blog

We’ve said it before and we’re saying it again; your website needs a blog! Not only does a blog add value for your clients and potential clients, but it also is important for good SEO. There are over 200 Google Ranking Factors and a blog can help with a TON of those. Blog posts bring fresh content for your clients, images for web crawlers to analyze, and links, too.

Plugins

Speaking of SEO, utilizing plugins on your site will help to improve user experience as well as your site’s SEO. Yoast SEO will help you by evaluating your blog posts and then optimizing them for the best SEO possible. Smart Crawler is also great for full-page SEO analysis and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) will ensure that your site loads quickly on mobile devices.

Site Maintenance

There are two ways to give your site the gift of maintenance. First, you can update the site’s plugins, as well as the theme and WordPress versions. Updates should be done consistently to ensure that the site doesn’t crash due to too many changes / catch up updates being made. Not running updates regularly can also leave your site open to security risks, which are patched by WordPress developers.

The second way is to invest in a monthly maintenance package with Hammersmith Support. Each month, we’ll back up your site to ensure no data is lost. Then we’ll run updates, check lead generators, make any changes or updates that you request, and more to keep your site running smoothly and securely.

A New Website

Make this the year that you invest in a new site! If your current site is more than 5 years old, built on a template, or isn’t performing optimally for your business, it may be time for a new, robust site that can meet all of your business needs.

Hammersmith Support is Here to Help

We are always happy to offer a free 30-minute consultation to talk through your site needs and how Hammersmith Support can help you! Visit our Calendly page to book your time.