Times are changing

Before 2005, most websites were created manually. By this, we mean that the source code is written by hand. A web designer has to know various programming languages such as HTML, CSS, javascript, and PHP, for example, in order to be able to deliver a professional website that meets the client’s requirements. Nowadays there are many more website software possibilities for creating a website. Even without knowledge of programming languages and source codes, you can have a professional website made. There are various software packages that write this programming language for you, as it were.

3 possibilities in terms of website software

Roughly speaking, the possibilities for creating a new website can be reduced to 3 main categories:

• Manually coded websites
• SaaS solutions
• CMS systems

This enumeration is somewhat simplified. There are solutions that fall between the above categories, so-called niche products. Because these niche products do not necessarily add anything to this article and we would like to keep it clear, these have been left out here.

1. Manually encoded website

Manually coded websites are tailored to the exact needs of the client. They can be as simple or as complex as you like. Design and functionalities can be put together completely according to your wishes. You really start with a white sheet and everything is built completely ‘from the ground up’. Commonly used software for creating manually coded websites is Adobe Dreamweaver, Google Web Designer, WebStorm, KompoZer and for example Coda.

Advantages of this website software

Because it is completely custom made, a manually coded website can fully meet your requirements. It has been developed specifically according to your wishes and situation. Another advantage of a ‘hand-coded’ website is that it is almost always safer than a CMS system, provided it is well developed of course. By ‘good’ we mean according to industry standards with an extra layer of security if necessary. Hacking a ‘standard’ CMS system is generally more attractive than hacking handmade software because with the popular software a hacker can abuse many websites at the same time.

Disadvantages of this website software

A handmade solution will cost you more time and money, as opposed to using a standard system. The starting rate for a complete custom solution is quickly about € 5000,- to € 10.000. If you have a more extensive website with specific functionalities, this can be as much as € 25.000,-. For an extensive website with advanced functionalities, the amounts can be as much as € 100.000,- or a multiple of this.

2. SaaS solution / Website builder

In addition to a hand-encoded website, you can also opt for website software in the form of a SaaS solution. SaaS (Software as a service) is a service in which a software application is offered via the internet instead of being installed on a computer or server. With a SaaS solution, your website is hosted on the server of the provider. You pay for the use of the software and receive a license that allows you to use the platform. You do not own the software, but by purchasing licenses you have the right to use the software. Examples of SaaS solutions such as website builders are Jimdo, Wix, and Weebly.

With ‘website builders’ you can build a website without design skills and knowledge of programming language. Website builders offer various themes (designs) and built-in functionality. You choose a theme and can start filling the content, i.e. placing text, images, and videos. With most website builders you can also make a number of standard changes to the design of the theme by moving certain blocks with the so-called ‘drag and drop’ function.

Advantages of this website software

The biggest advantage of website builders is, of course, the ease of use. Without technical knowledge, anyone can make a professional website.

Disadvantages of this website software

The main disadvantage of such solutions is their lack of flexibility. The adjustment options will be largely limited to choosing colors and shifting ‘movable’ blocks. So you can’t add custom functions or styles that aren’t included in the website builder. Although website builders like Wix or Jimdo seem attractive because of their simplicity, they lack a dynamic power compared to a CMS system.

3. CMS platforms

Content Management Systems are systems that allow you to create a professional website without any technical knowledge. CMS systems differ from website builders because they contain basic functionality that can be expanded with various ‘add-ons’.

A CMS is a piece of software that has already been built by a company or an individual and is now offered for mass use. Some of these CMS systems are commercial, so you have to pay a license or usage fee for them. Other CMS systems are ‘open source’ and therefore free to use. Open source means that the source code is completely open and freely available to absolutely everyone. You can download the code for free, after which you can get started yourself or together with a development team.

The CMS market is very diverse. The solutions differ per form, functionality, and cost. In general, CMS systems can be divided into 2 categories:

• Open-source CMS platforms (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal)
• Enterprise CMS systems (Adobe, Microsoft Sharepoint, Oracle WebCenter).

3a. Open Source CMS systems

Open source is software whose source code (sources) has been published and is freely available to everyone. Anyone can and may copy, modify, supplement, and distribute this software without any cost in terms of copyrights and/or surcharges.

An open-source CMS system can be used for free and can be modified as often as you like. A lot of work is done with add-ons, parts or functions that you can add to your website. Some parts (themes and plugins) can also be paid for or work with for example license fees. Even with paid parts, you are free to change them to your own wishes.

Because of the diversity, knowledge of the CMS is a prerequisite for a professional result. You have to think carefully in advance about which functions you want to implement and make a choice in the various add-ons (called plugins) that meet this need. In most cases, these plug-ins have to be configured manually.

For setting up a website based on a CMS platform, technical knowledge is an advantage. Basically it is possible to use such a CMS platform without technical knowledge to create a website. If you are not demanding and have the time to get to know such CMS systems, then this is certainly possible. If you really want to provide a professional website with various functionalities, then you still need to hire a specialist who can help you with the technical realization of your website.

TOP 3 CMS platforms

The top 3 CMS platforms are:

WordPress (58.9% market share)
Drupal (7% market share)
Joomla (4.7% market share)
WordPress is by far the most popular platform with a market share of almost 60%. open-source CMS is a perfect solution for small and medium-sized companies with an average budget. You can develop fairly quickly, are flexible and have a scalable website that can grow with your business. When it comes to webshops (e-commerce), Magento is the most popular CMS platform.

Advantages of this website software

Compared to website builders, CMS systems offer much more flexibility. You have thousands of themes (designs) to choose from that can still be adapted to your own wishes, provided you have the technical knowledge (HTML, CSS, PHP, javascript). In addition, you can add all kinds of functionalities with the help of plugins. These functionalities can also be adapted to your own wishes if you have the technical knowledge. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but start from a base developed by another company or individual and adapt it to your own wishes.

Disadvantages of this website software

A disadvantage of an open-source CMS system is that it is more vulnerable than a manually encoded website or an enterprise CMS system that we will discuss in the next chapter. This is mainly because it is more interesting for hackers to attack a popular open-source system than a custom-made website because with the popular systems a hacker can ‘abuse’ many websites at the same time. Technical knowledge and understanding of the CMS system is very important in this respect. You have to know the do’s and don’ts to be able to adequately secure your website. Open-source CMS systems are not necessarily unsafe, but you need to use them properly, secure them and keep the software up-to-date.

3b. Enterprise CMS systems

Enterprise CMS systems are complex proprietary systems designed for large organizations. According to research, organizations go for an enterprise solution in the following situations:

• Complex websites in terms of cross-channel, contextual and interactive customer experiences for robust websites
• Integrations with other systems
• System must support multiple websites with many languages
• Have a substantial budget
• In other words, these systems are made for large companies with complex user interactions and complex operations. Therefore, enterprise CMS systems are also robust and feature-rich to meet these needs.

Advantages of this website software

Enterprise CMS systems are highly advanced and rich in functionality. Because these are commercial products, there is often good support. This applies to both system updates and technical support.

Disadvantages of this website software

The main disadvantage of such solutions is the price. An enterprise CMS solution can easily have a price of six digits. Another disadvantage is the limited flexibility compared to a manually coded website. The capabilities of such systems are very extensive but at the same time the limiting factor.

Conclusion

Manually encoded website software

Manually encoded websites offer a great deal of flexibility. They are built from the ground up and can be developed entirely according to your own wishes. Yet, the development time is quite long and the costs are high. Manually coded websites quickly exceed € 10.000,- and can cost up to 6 digits depending on your wishes and the size of the website. Manually coded websites are in a good solution for large companies with a large budget and very specific needs.

SaaS solution

Website builders or SaaS solutions (such as Jimdo and Wix) are the easiest to use and the fastest development time. Nevertheless, you have to be satisfied with the functionality and styles they offer, because you can’t change much and the flexibility is nil. Prices for using a website builder are quite favorable compared to the other options and are about € 15,- per month depending on your needs. A SaaS solution is an excellent option for a hobbyist who wants to make his own website.

Open-source CMS platform

Open-source CMS platforms (such as WordPress and Drupal) offer more room for customization, but you do need to have some technical knowledge or hire a platform expert. Possibilities are almost endless, you are flexible and your website is highly scalable so it can grow with your company. The development time is short and you should be able to launch your website pretty quickly. Security is a point of attention, especially when processing personal data. It is important that you call in a platform expert who can take precautions regarding the security of your website. Prices for a website based on an open-source CMS are between € 500,- and € 10.000,- depending on your wishes and the size of your website.

Enterprise CMS platform

As far as enterprise-level systems (such as Adobe Experience Manager) are concerned, most of them offer advanced functionality for managing multiple websites, channels, and complex organizational processes. Enterprise CMS platforms are very expensive and quite flexible. An enterprise CMS is a good option for a large company with a large budget without very specific requirements in terms of functionalities.

About FML Marketing 

We thank you for reading our blog What website software? Choose the best website software! FML Marketing is a digital marketing agency located in Estepona. Our team specializes in web design, search engine optimization, social media solutions, and graphic design.

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FML Marketing is a professional website design agency based in Marbella, Costa del Sol. Fully responsive and mobile friendly WordPress websites. SEO-Optimized. Extra in this blog: 11 reasons why your website don’t get any traffic from Google.

We regularly speak with prospects who want to build a new WordPress website or WooCommerce webshop. We have learned to ask a large number of questions in order to collect as much information as possible about the customer and the new website or webshop to be built. The rule is that you can never have too much information beforehand. After all, getting stuck during the development process because the information is not clear is in nobody’s favour.

Few people ask questions

What strikes me is that actually few concrete questions are asked during a first meeting. If you are going to buy a new car, do you also want to know everything about that car and if you are offered a new job, do you continue to ask yourself if this is for you? I am happy when potential customers ask us questions as this indicates that they have thought carefully about what they want to achieve with their new marketing machine.

You and your web design agency

To help you with a conversation with a random web design agency, we have written down a number of questions that you could ask.

1.Experience with SEO – Search Engine Optimization?

If you ask what SEO experience a web designer has, I hope that the answer will be more extensive than: “I know how to get a green ball in Yoast.”

Unfortunately, it turns out in practice that SEO companies promise golden mountains, but that you end up with literally nothing.

Simply ask for results. A good web design agency will measure the positions in Google to show that after going live a redesign or a completely new website there is a measurable difference in the positions in the search engines.

Is it a bad sign if you are told that this is not being done? No. Simple answer. Unless it is sold as if it were to be done. It is only a sign to you that you have to look further for an agency or consultant for search engine optimization. 

2. What is the experience with plugins?

WordPress uses a theme with various plugins for more functionality. I wrote several times about different plugins and the influence of plugins on the speed of your website.

Do we know a standard plugin as a solution to every problem? No. We also regularly look for a suitable plug-in for a new website. But in the meantime, we have built up a reasonable arsenal of reliable plugins that we can use.

Do you want a multilingual website or webshop? Then it’s really not useful if your web designer does not have any experience with WPML or another plugin that makes multilingualism possible.

Do you want a registration form on your website that links you to your accounting program, your newsletter system and that automatically sends a PDF invoice, including registration confirmation to your customers? Then it is nice if your web designer has experience with this and can advise you on the best solution for your specific issue.

When you go to work with a webshop, I would certainly ask your web designer if he/she has experience with, for example, WP All Import. With this, you can quickly update your shop via an Excel sheet if you have many products. This saves you after the construction of your webshop hours in terms of filling your webshop. And your time is also worth money right?

Is a web designer a bad web designer if he does not know the above plugins or does not know the operation? Not necessarily. If the person in question does not know them, you could easily question the knowledge and experience. But of course, these plugins have good documentation and support since they are paid premium plugins.

3. Ask for a Portfolio

Before you approach a company you can of course already view the portfolio and see if this appeals to you. Here, however, you can be mistaken as not everything has to be online. 

From an online portfolio, you can often already pick out the style of a company. Do they mainly make business websites with a business look, focused on conversion? Or do they make beautiful designs where your search starts with the menu that you can not find? Also check here what fits your company.

Of course, it is good to ask for recent projects. There is a big chance that more projects have been completed at every company than there are online in the portfolio.

4. Do you have experience with WooCommerce?

If you do not plan to start a webshop then you may think that you do not need WooCommerce and that a web designer does not have to have any experience with it either. I’m going to nuance this a little bit.

Imagine you give workshops or training courses and have them pay at the moment by means of an invoice sent from your accounting program. It is possible that you do not currently need to adjust this. A missed opportunity if you do not know what the automation options are. It could be of course that you will need this later if your company grows. And then it’s nice if your web designer already has experience with this.

5. What do you do after delivery?

And then the moment: your new WordPress website is ready! Of course I do not want to spoil your party, but actually, it only starts now. From now on you will have to monitor the positions of your website, where are you found, where do visitors turn and what happens in the market of your industry, do you have to grow in this or make adjustments to your website?

So ask yourself what happens when your website is delivered. Who will manage the website, who will make minor adjustments, what if you consider that you want to make an action and need a landing page? A recent example of a customer who had a WordPress website built: the costs of developing a simple landing page came to 1300 euros! Given the website and the requested page, this amount was not really in proportion.

Who will monitor the positions of your website?

A new website is fun, but the intention is of course that you will also be found better. In any case, your positions in the search engines should not deteriorate. Believe me, I regularly get customers who have no idea what their positions are and what their website scores well on. In order to be able to make a good business strategy, this is in my view essential information. If you have no idea of this, make sure that you get this clear first, chances are you will throw money over the bar.

6. Who will do the maintenance of the website?

In addition to the points mentioned in point 6, it is also important that the updates of WordPress, theme and plugins are implemented regularly. Why? With this, you largely ensure that your website remains safe as leaks are plugged into new versions. But plugins or themes can also implement performance improvements that are important for the speed of your website. An important part of your SEO strategy.

Roughly, you have two choices: you are going to take care of maintenance on the website yourself or you completely outsource the maintenance of your website. If you want to outsource it, ask how often updates are implemented. I regularly come across websites that are updated once a month. In our view, this is really too little. Recently, with the introduction of the new AVG, for example, we saw almost daily plugins that were updated to comply with the new legislation.

If you choose to carry out the maintenance yourself, make sure that this is guaranteed within your organization. If you are alone, set a number of fixed moments in your agenda for a year ahead. Or appoint someone within your company who is responsible and plan moments together. This prevents the updates from being forgotten in your organization.

Even if you outsource the maintenance of your website, make sure you have an administrator account of the website. In case of calamities, you can at least log in and change things where necessary. Discuss this in advance so that you will not be surprised afterwards.

About FML Marketing – Website Design Agency Marbella

FML Marketing is a young, digital marketing agency located in Estepona and Marbella on the Costa del Sol. We provide the following services:

• Website design services Marbella
• Website rebranding and restyling
• SEO consultancy
• SEO SEM Adwords management
• Keyword Research
• SEO-optimized content marketing
• Social Media Management
• Video Marketing

Visit our online marketing service page to learn more about how we work and the components of our marketing services.

EXTRA – 11 reasons your new website lacks traffic

You recently developed or commissioned a website. You are proud of the result and keep track of your statistics to know how many visits you make daily or weekly. Unfortunately, the result is disappointing and you hoped for hundreds of visitors, but it is only limited to a few per day. Do you recognize this situation and wonder why people do not visit your website? Perhaps one or more of these 11 options are the cause.

A possible cause could be that search engine Google cannot index your website. Check your settings to make sure your site is searchable by search engines.

It starts at the base

Other causes may be that the structure, the basis of your website, is not well structured or information is bad. Check whether your menu (the navigation of your site) is well structured and is tailored to the demand of your target group.

Content as a cause?

In addition to causes in the structure and structure, the problem can also be the content on your website. By regularly publishing relevant and interesting content for your target audience, your website will be included more quickly in Google’s search results. Check what your target audience finds interesting and find out which keywords they use in Google to find a solution to their problem or question.

Do you want to know all 11 possible causes and improve your website? Then scroll down to view the infographic.

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Web design agency Marbella – 4 features of a killer website

Not only in the IT-sector, but also for small and medium-sized businesses, a good, optimally functioning website is very important. After all, it is the online business card for the company, and for many potential customers the portal to the use of your product or service. But how should such a website look like and where should it comply? Especially when it is not your core business, building and maintaining a website can be a difficult task.

Web design agency Marbella – 4 important website features

In this blog, we share the 4 most important functions and features of a website for small and medium-sized businesses. 

1. Clarity

Make sure that the website is not too “busy”. When trying to put as much information as possible on one page, things quickly become chaotic. People don’t like that, and this results in a high bounce rate on your new website. Keep it clear: choose a clear, unambiguous layout and show only the necessary information. Less is more we say!

Check out this infographic by Hubspot on how to reduce your websites bounce rate effectively.

2. Usability

A good website is easy to navigate. Make sure that you can easily jump through the different pages. Not too many buttons, not too many pages. Make sure that the visitor knows from the landing page how to get to a specific page. this page could be a service or product, but make sure that the ‘path’ is clear and easy to navigate.

3.Safety

Offer your visitors (and not unimportant: yourself) a secure website. Ensure that entered (personal) details cannot be provided to third parties. This can be achieved quite simply by using an SSL-certified connection. This can be recognized by the letters https and the presence of a padlock in the address bar.

4. Contact

Make sure that the contact with the visitors is made as optimal and easy as possible. Mention e-mail addresses and telephone numbers on a contact page that is easy to find and possibly refer to your own social media channels. This may all sound very logical, but remarkably, many websites lack contact details, or they are extremely difficult to find. You can also make it easy for prospective customers by setting up an online contact form.

Web design agency Marbella

Naturally, a good website contains more important features and plugins. In this post we have shares the 4 basic for example:

• Schema markup
• SEO
• Analytics and monitoring service
• Page speed optimization
• high-quality content
• Mobile features
• etc.

FML Marketing specializes in delivering high-quality WordPress Web Design and Brand Identities for companies in Estepona, Marbella and San Pedro de Alcántara on the Costa del Sol. If you have a question about web design, or if you are looking for a new website, please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can find our contact details easily on this page in the header and footer, or simply fill on the contact form below.

Thank you for reading our Costa del Sol marketing blog!

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Small businesses, freelancers, artists, bloggers, webshops…we all need functional and beautiful websites. But for real estate businesses its increasingly important. Take for example the real estate sector on the Costa del Sol. The market is thriving! New developments are ‘showing up’ everywhere. Mostly in and around Estepona, or located on the so-called New Golden Mile. 

Web Design ideas for your Marbella real estate business

In this post, we have gathered some material purely for inspirational purposes. If you would like more information about the possibilities of WordPress, or the SEO capabilities of modern web design, please contact us at the bottom of the blog.

Real Estate web design ideas

Did you know The New York Times, The Huffington Post, BBC America, and Sony Music all use WordPress for their websites? This CMS (Content Management system) is best practice today. Mostly thanks to its flexibility, ease of use and the numerous amount of useful plugins. The examples of real estate websites that we re about to unveil are all developed with WordPress.

The search starts online

Nowadays, most of the real estate customers begin the search for a home online. Of course, the sales are still made in and around the office, but the sales journey start online. 80% of real estate buyers, both private as corporate, consult Google or other search engines before they make their first contact to real estate agents.

So your online presence i.e. your website is the first real impression they have about your company. Needless to say, make it count! Your possibilities are endless. View all example websites on our Pinterest page and get inspired! Use the button to access. 

View real estate examples

Thank you for your time reading our web design blog. If you would like more info, please use the contact form here below. And…don’t forget to like, share and inspire!

CONTACT

Learn more about modern web design and the SEO benefits of working with FML Marketing.

about us read more

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Website Design: What is an SSL certificate?

An SSL connection is an encrypted connection between the visitor of your website and the server. You can easily identify an SSL connection with the URL in the address bar of your browser (https://www.domain.com), the lock before or after the URL or a green bar.

Why an SSL certificate?

An SSL certificate gives a visitor the confidence that their personal data is handled securely and that malicious parties can not intercept the data if they are entered on the website.

Moreover, you comply with the new legislation in this way, because you ensure that the traffic to and from your website proceeds securely. The certificate provides for the encryption of the connection and for checking the identity of your website. This prevents others from being able to read, but you also prevent information that is sent to your website or sent from the website can be modified.

Different forms of SSL certificates:

• Extended Validation (EV): this is the highest level of validation and gives the visitor 100% guarantee that the visited website is optimally secured;
• Organization Validation (OV): just as with EV, your company is controlled by the Chamber of Commerce, but if you do not use any financial or personal data on your website, you better opt for OV;
• Domain validation (DV): limited level of protection, intended for websites with few visitors or an intranet;
• Multi-domain: if you have multiple websites this is the best solution and cost-saving. There are also multi-domain certificates with EV, so extra safe;
• Wildcard: if you have multiple subdomains on one server that you want to secure, this is a cheap and easy solution.

VIDEO – How to apply an SSL certificate to your website

Contact FML Marketing is you would like to learn more about the benefits of SSL secured websites, or advice when purchasing an SSL certificate. We will gladly help you!

FML – The creative marketing agency in Marbella, Estepona and San Pedro

FML Marketing is a creative, digital marketing agency located in Estepona. You will find our office on Avenida Litoral 45 when entering Estepona from the A-7 from Marbella. We support local and International businesses with Web Design, Website Maintenance, Search Engine Optimization, and digital marketing (social media). Contact us via (+34) 6 50 80 12 43 or via info@fmlmarketing.com

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Typography Web Design

For those reasons alone, typography, the art of designing text, should be a top priority for any web designer. And, a readable website is a better website, something that every marketer likes to work with. In this blog post, we will review 7 simple rules that you remember best for your next project.

1. KEEP THE NUMBER OF FONTS MINIMUM

When using 3 different fonts you get the feeling that the website is unstructured and unprofessional. Also keep in mind that different sizes and styles will benefit your layout apart from each other. Try to limit the number of font families (two is a lot, one is often sufficient) and stay through the entire website with your choice. If you use more than one font then make sure that they complement each other on the basis of their letter width. The combination of Georgia and Verdana are made for each other while Baskerville and Impact will never know a ‘happy ending’.

2. CHOOSE STANDARD FONTS

Services such as Google Web Fonts and typekit have made it possible to use sexy and exotic fonts that can give your website that extra fresh, unexpected touch. But people are simply the habit of reading animals and texts with a familiar letter type easier and easier. If your website has a valid argument for an alternative font, such as branding or creating a compelling experience, you should stay with standard fonts such as Arial or Calibri.

3. REST LIMIT LENGTH

To promote readability it is very important to use the correct number of characters per line. Do not let design decide on the width of your texts. A pleasant average is 60 characters per line. If a line is too short, the eye must constantly move forward, which disrupts the reading rhythm of the user. If the rule is too long, the eye has difficulties to focus on the right rule and it strays quickly. For smaller screens, we recommend 30-40 characters per line. Below we see an example of 2 mobile websites. The first one uses 50-75 characters per line (which is ok for print and desktop), while the second website uses 30-40 characters.

Read more about web design 

1.What makes a web design and development agency good?

2.Website Builder: 8 characteristics of an effective website

4. CHOOSE A FONT THAT WORKS FOR ALL THE BIGS

More and more people visit your website mobile, which ensures that you have to take into account different sizes and resolutions. Many interface elements are scalable (buttons, labels, headers, etc.). It is important to choose a font that is readable in different formats. The standard format for websites is 16pt. Do not be tempted by the sexy curves of Vivaldi and avoid cursive fonts at all times. Always go for the most readable option.

5. SELECT A FONT TYPE WITH DISTINCTIVE LETTERS

Many fonts have similar characteristics for letters, especially i’s and l’s are a problem. Another problem that often occurs is between r and n. Due to a limited number of letters, it seems that both letters form an m.

6. DO NOT REDUCE THE SET DISTANCE 

A correct line spacing promotes reading. It has even been proven that a correct line spacing also benefits reading comprehension by 20%. A good line spacing is 30% larger than the font size. Some factors that play a role in the line spacing are: size, thickness, capitalization, spacing, etc.

7. CARE FOR SUFFICIENT CONTRAST

Ensure sufficient contrast between the color of your font and the background. The more contrast the text is, the faster the user can read your message. Do not forget to test on different screens. Each screen has its own specifications regarding contrast, saturation, sharpness, color temperature, etc.

The post 7 important tips for typography in web design appeared first on FML Marketing.

The purpose of a website is selling, convincing and informing. So we have to look for an agency that focuses on making the company more successful instead of creating a nice website.

Average costs for having a professional website made

How is the price for a new website established? The price of a website is generally determined by the hourly rate of the designer (and the other employees involved in the design) x the complexity of your desired website. The hourly rate of the designer is determined by his experience, knowledge and the overhead costs of the agency. A freelancer costs + -35 euros (beginner) 175 euros (very experienced) per hour A small web design agency costs 50 to 125 euros per hour And large development agencies can ask 75 to 250 euros per hour. With web design and development, in general, applies; the more costs, the more you get. Experience, knowledge, and creativity simply cost. Fortunately, the investment in a well-designed website is a long-term investment  (Return on investment/ROI).

The situation of what a website exactly costs is more complex

There are self-employed people who offer a website for 800 euros on a custom website (but technically they are never quite well). Two web design agencies that resemble at first sight, can come up with two totally different quotes for the same job. Due to the process used, the number of employees, the support, the expertise, creativity and the experience of the employees, the price can differ by a few thousand euros. And unfortunately, it is not easy for the untrained eye to see which web designer and web builder delivers quality and which does not. What a website looks like does not immediately say something about the quality of the website.

How much does web design and development cost?

Let’s start with a simplified answer.

1. With many (starting) independent web designers, you can get a nice simple website for around €800 that is reasonably structured (in terms of user-friendliness and design).

2. At web design agencies you can have a good website built for 1,500 and 5,000 euros. You pay for the extra experience, a team with specialists who will work on your website and that everything works just as well in 5 years from now. A professional, well-connected website.

3. Large complex websites, such as government websites, large web shops, well-known brands or companies with a lot of content, can even expect prices between €8,000 and €100,000 

4. If you have a limited budget as a starting self-employed person and / or a lot of time, you can of course choose to create your own website (manual), blog (manual) or webshop and buy a professional WordPress template. at Themeforest. You spend approximately €50 euros (and a fair amount of time).

Are there any costs per year or month?

Yes. With each option comes the costs of web hosting and the costs of a domain. A good professional WordPress hosting package costs around 10 euros per month. A domain name costs about 5-20 euros per year.

What makes a web design agency good?

What should you look for when choosing a web design agency? An excellent question. However, This question is difficult to answer. ‘How do we know that web design agency X is better than web design agency Y? The purpose of a website is selling, convincing and informing. So we have to look for an agency that focuses on making the company more successful (online) instead of creating a nice website.

Help to distinguish the good from not so good

• Read the text on the website. What is it about? Do they mention something about goals, sales, and conversion?
• How does their website work? Was it immediately clear what they are doing and what makes them unique? View the portfolio. Are these websites also easy to use? Is it obvious on every website in the portfolio what they do and what the visitor has to do? No? Then it is possible that they have only used their ‘skills’ with their own website.
• Are they moderately readable standard (bullshit) texts? Then chances are that they do not pay attention to marketing, usability, and conversion. Or do not value this.
• You can request a quote or information from the agencies where you have doubts and look at the professionalism of their offers.
• Do they ask before they send a quote to you about your goals? What do you want to achieve with your website? Then there is a reasonable chance that they have an understanding of things.
• Do they have a personal ‘about us’ page? Do they show their employees? Often the more personal and open they are, the more proud they are of their work (and that usually means that they also do a good job).
• Do they use a hard-to-read font? Then it may be that they do not focus enough on usability.

Web Design and Development: Price buying not recommendable

Do you want something that looks okay and costs a few hundred euros or do you want a user-friendly website with a wow factor that sells?

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Website Builder: 8 characteristics of an effective website

This manual is intended for entrepreneurs and self-employed people who wonder what a good website should look like. With this knowledge, you can confidently evaluate various web design agencies based on, for example, their portfolio. Once you work with a professional web design partner, you can think along with the tips below.

1. Clear targeting

Do you see a visually striking call within 3 seconds that stimulates the visitor to take action?

What is the main purpose of your website? Do you want to generate more online sales?  

Pick a clear target

One single target. It is advisable to pursue one single goal. Combining multiple goals brings risk along that the website visitor gets signals in different directions during his visit. You do not want that. You want everything to point in one direction.

A precise goal. Formulate your goal very precisely. This makes it easier to adjust each part of your website accordingly. Generating more income is too vague.

Examples. Some good examples of website goals:

1. Subscribers to your newsletter
2. Improve relationship with customers
3. Quotation requests via your website or by telephone
4. Reservations or bookings via your website or by telephone
5. Attract extra visitors to your store
6. Online sales
   

Secondary Goals

There are also secondary goals, which can easily be combined with one of the above goals. For example, increasing brand awareness, informing customers they can count on 24/7 support instead of having to call you all the time (eg address, opening hours, price list, etc.), etc.

Translation to call to action

If you want something, sometimes you just have to ask. Ask your website visitors to do what you expect from them. This is often called the call to action. Examples: Subscribe now to our newsletter!, Participate in the competition!, Request a free quote, Book online, Buy now

Short and powerful. You notice that every call to action is formulated briefly and powerfully. Preferably in the imperative way, which is the most action-oriented approach. Besides, Your call to action must at appear in the visible section at the top of your home page and at the bottom of all other pages. It must stand out. That is why the call to action is often placed in a framework and reasonably space is provided for. The call to action is almost always clickable, with the link leading to a next window in which the visitor can proceed to take effective action.

2. Customer orientated 

Is it immediately clear who the target audience of the website is?

Your website should not be about yourself, but about your customers. Few are interested in your history, strengths, awards or unique approach. Your website visitors only want to know how you are going to solve their problem. Therefore follow these tips: Replace the words “I” and “We” with “you” or “you” everywhere. Describe who you are, what your target audience is. Clarify which problem you solve and preferably also for which price. Do not mention the technical characteristics, but the advantages the customer gets from your solution compared to that of your competitors. Check which important questions your customers are asking and make sure that you answer them all on your website. Do not create pages that do not answer any customer request. These only ensure that your customer finds the important pages less easy. Speak in a language your customer understands, instead of trying to make an impression with jargon. A good website is therefore focused on the visitor, not on the owner of the website.

3. Get to the point

Does the website count a limited number of pages and are the texts short and to the point?

Your website visitors are impatient: The more information you provide, the less you will read. People have very little patience when they surf the web. When someone hits your website, you have to awaken his or her interest within a few seconds or your visitor has already left. (Tip: Check your websites bounce rate. Anything above 60% is a problem!) 

Less is more

Limit the amount of information on your website. You thought one A4 was enough? No! Time to cut. Show only the red meat. In most cases, 3 to 4 short paragraphs are more than enough. If people only spend a few seconds on your website, you can not distract them with all kinds of irrelevant information. You want them to immediately see the main message. It goes without saying that you limit yourself as much as possible to conveying that main message and omitting the details. The reason that many people fill their website with all kinds of details is because they are not aware what the most important message is. Think carefully about this! Do not try to entertain your visitors! Your visitors are not interested in beautiful animations or technical design delights. They come to your website to solve a problem. Everything that distracts them from it is a waste of their time and your budget.

4. Be crystal clear

When you ‘enter’ the website, is it immediately clear what you are doing/offering?

This has everything to do with removing mental barriers. People experience all sorts of questions during their visit to your website. For example: “what is this about?”, “Where do I click now?”, “How can I contact?”, Etc. A clear website answers each of these questions the moment the visitor asks them or, better still, just before. Avoiding questions is better than answering questions. The first thing you see The first thing your website visitors see is the top part of your homepage. A clear website provides at least the following crucial information in this visible section in order to avoid asking questions immediately:

Company name (logo)
Slogan
Service or product offered an
Attractive call to action
Link to contact page

5. User-friendliness

Does the website count at most 5 pages in the main navigation and do you find the contact details at a glance?

Make sure that people can navigate to the page they want in a matter of seconds. One long list with 10 pages or more is not a good navigation structure. Your website visitors do not know what the most important pages are in this list. If you think that your visitors find the pages “price”, “product properties” and “contact” the most important of the 10 pages on your website, put these pages in the main navigation and link to the other pages via a secondary navigation or via links in the pages themselves. Left Put enough internal links. These are links that go from one page on your website to the other page on your website. By placing these links in places where you know that the visitor poses certain questions, you reduce the chance that he will drop out. Also make sure that the links are visually easy to distinguish, eg. via a different color and/or bold font. Contact details Put your contact details preferably on every page, for example at the bottom of the footer website. Especially when customers often need your telephone number or address, this is essential. In addition, create a contact page with your company name, address, telephone number, email address and possibly a ticket and contact form. Keep the contact form as short as possible. Here too, the less fields one has to fill in, the greater the chance that something will be filled in at all. If you have enough with name and telephone, do not ask for an email address.

6. Mobile experience

When you visit the website on a mobile device, is the content clearly displayed?

The internet is becoming more mobile every day. People not only search information on the internet from their computer in the living room, but also from their smartphone or tablet. If your website is unreadable on a smartphone, you visitor and therefore lead, is gone! It is therefore important to optimize the mobile views of your website. Making a mobile version of your website often costs the same amount as your website itself. A more affordable alternative is to make your website “responsive”. This means that the design is automatically adapted to smaller screens, so that everything remains user-friendly and workable.

7. Attractiveness

Do you think the website is beautiful and pleasant to look at?

People consciously or unconsciously form an image of your business based on your website. An attractive website contributes positively to your image, while an ugly website can damage your image. This is largely subjective, but we try to give some guidelines. Some of these guidelines also apply to painting, the design of car models, etc .: At most 2 or 3 different colors are used (in addition to shades of gray). The colors fit well together. The whole has a symmetrical and harmonious appearance. Sufficient whitespace is used to prevent the website, and different elements, from looking cluttered. At most 2 different fonts are used and 3 different font sizes. Next, there must always be at least one creative element, something surprising. Finally, all photos are of the same quality and breathe consistency. Old-fashioned illustrations or clip art is anno 2018 like cursing in the church as an old Dutch saying goes!

8. Findability

Do you find the website when searching for it specifically in Google?

Importance of findability

In many cases, the purpose of a website is to attract new customers. It goes without saying that it is a huge plus if the website is easily found on Google. These are free leads. A website that is not found in search engines like Google, loses a large part of its usefulness. It can only be used as an information channel for customers or as a supporting sales tool for convincing potential customers.

Minimum requirement

Free potential customers via Google sounds like holy music to many, but it is not easy. Not everyone can be in first place in Google. So a lot of money is invested to take that first (or second, third, …) place. So you have to decide for yourself how much budget you have to score high in Google. And that depends on what a potential customer found you through Google can deliver you. The minimum requirement, however, is that you will be found in Google if people search you. If you type in your company name and related services in Google and your does not show …, then something is wrong.

FML Marketing – Website builder Estepona & Marbella

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Why free websites are often not a good idea

In today’s article, we share 4 important reasons why free web pages really are not a good idea for businesses. However, free websites could be feasible solutions for other purposes, mostly hobby related purposes.

1. Free Web Pages look like Free Web Pages

When someone visits your website for the first time, the first thing he or she will do is judge (unconsciously) your company through the impression given by the appearance of the website itself. Therefore, the first thing that catches the attention of a web page, is its aesthetics. With a single glance, practically everyone is able to discern, if the website has been made by a professional or if, on the contrary, it is the result of the personal effort of someone without technical knowledge. Free web pages seem exactly what they are: free. This type of web pages is recommended for personal blogs, leisure activities, travel journals etc. But free websites are not suitable to become the showcase of a business that wants to give a professional image. If you want to project a professional image, your website will have to be designed by a professional.

2. Dedicated Time…is money

It is completely logical that someone who needs a website (quickly) values the possibility of using a free tool to save money. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons why nobody stops to think when they embark on the creation of their own website. But the results are often disappointing: A lot of hours spent creating the free website often entails in loss time = loss money, a waste for the person who undertakes the task of creating their own website. The final result is also often far from what was initially expected, and its final appearance often does not seem very professional.

3. Bad Web Positioning

Another implication of choosing these platforms for creating free web pages is usually in those fine details that are not visible to the naked eye. And you guessed it already,  these are precisely the elements that someone who is not professional can not control: the source code. Everyone wants their website to be well positioned in the search engines. It is completely logical. What is not usually known is that free website tools not help, at all, to meet that goal. To help the website position in search engines like Google, it must use an optimized source code for this purpose. They should help to implement the different meta-tags (title, description …) that search engines use. Not to mention the domain of the website, which serves only to publicize the website that has been created. For example, http://tuempresa.es.wix.com would be the domain name for a free page created in Wix.com. Needless to say, not a very good domain structure for SEO.

4. Free Websites means free Technical Support (Bad Technical Support)

Or is simply non-existent. If you use a free tool, you can not expect the technical support service to be the same as if you are paying for a service. It is something that you will be mentalized from the beginning. If the website you have created is, in addition, the web page of your business, when problems arise you will want them to be solved quickly, and of course, you have no idea and you need someone to lend a hand … you will want to go to support. Or it may happen that you want to customize the operation of your website or integrate a virtual store in it … You simply will not have the option to solve that problem or will be paying for additional services. Was not it going to be free?

About FML Marketing Marbella & Estepona

We not only create professional web pages, but we deliver SEO-optimized websites for our clients. The result, an integral service by which the client knows that his web page is working 24x7x365 and found by customers online! If you are not yet a customer of FMLmarketing.com contact us, we will be happy to assist you without any commitment.

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Tip 1. What do you want exactly?

Before you contact a website builder, it is good to start by asking yourself a question: What exactly do you want? What do you want from your new website? Who are the customers you hope to reach with your new website? What are my customers looking for? Why are they looking for your company? What do you have to offer them? These are the kind of questions that we will always ask you, as well as other good web builders. You save a lot of time, and also money if you have made this VERY clear to yourself beforehand.

Tip 2. Ask your customers

If you find it difficult to answer these questions, ask your customers. Your customers usually want to help you. Their help will support you to set up your own website right from the start. Just as in sales, your customers are a useful source. A source to learn more about yourself, the image that you really have. Moreover, its very often a source that is completely forgotten and ignored by people. 

Tip 3. Find a good web builder

Your own website is the calling card for you and your company. A good website builder is an important condition for the success of your website. Do not just believe a web builder who brags that he can deliver both a beautiful and a well-found website and the lowest price. Someone who is very good in graphics is technically often less capable, and the other way around. If you want both, then you are best off with a website builder who works together with a graphic designer. You are also immediately certain that the graphic designer is specialized on the internet, which does not apply to all designers.

Tip 4. Be careful with free

You often see that small entrepreneurs are very active on Facebook or other social media and have built up a great community there. Nice and easy and free, great right? You can question that. What if Facebook is suddenly no longer as popular, as happened with Hyves? Or if Facebook suddenly starts asking money for its services or worse, it stops? You have lost your entire community. Your details are yours on your own website. Before you start, think about giving away your customers to Facebook, Flickr or other social media. You better spend some money and have a website built than the costly mistake of losing your community in one fell swoop.

Tip 5. Consult from the very beginning

You usually start by choosing a domain name. It is wise to involve your web builder in this process. A good domain name is important in connection with the optimization of your website, it does not always have to be the name of your company!

Tip 6. Make sure the domain name belongs to you

Domain names can be obtained for free. For example, you can choose a free subdomain on wordpress.com. Nice and handy. The same applies as for Facebook and Flickr. In addition, you run into technical limitations if you want more with your website. For your company, I really advise you to take a free domain name. Your own domain name and a hosting package cost a few bucks per year. Cutting back on this could well be “penny wise and pound foolish”.

Tip 7. Personal data and security

If you request personal data via your website, and you already do this when you request a name and e-mail address for your newsletter, you are legally obliged to secure it properly. Your hosting is also important. Where are the servers that have your data on? If they are in another country, you have to deal with the legislation of that other country. It is therefore wise to opt for hosting in the Netherlands if you are based in the Netherlands.

New website Estepona

Tip 8. You can not outsource everything

Many web developers will guarantee that your website will be well found on Google (good search engine optimization). Unfortunately, they can not guarantee that. At least not just like that. Of course, having a new website made, means that you discuss website optimization and that the foundation must be good. But optimizing a website also means actively using social media and collecting links to build a reputation, regularly adding new content to your website, writing good SEO texts and managing your website for example by deleting dead links. You might do this sort of thing yourself and determine the success rate of your website.

Tip 9. Provide insight into all costs

Having your website made is not the end of the story. When your website is ready, it must be managed. From time to time, you want to make changes. You want different content or perhaps the whole structure differently. It is useful to have clear information at the start of what it will cost if you want something. You avoid surprises. There are also still web builders who charge extra for things that should be standard, such as a responsive website (a website that adapts to tablets and smartphones). So your new website seems cheap, but it is ultimately not.

Tip 10. Know your limitations

Many entrepreneurs do everything themselves. they build and manage their own website, writes own texts and is active on social media. That is sometimes such a shame. Then an entrepreneur is very good at his job, but he has a clumsy website. Writing texts is a profession, building a website and creating a beautiful design is also. Know your limitations. If you want a professional website, take it professionally.

Are you looking for a new website Estepona area?

We are more than happy to support your company with the development of your website and digital strategies. Our unique approach to web design originates from many years of SEO experience, graphic (web) design and social media. We, therefore, have a holistic approach to web design, focussing on full digital performance with a strong flavor of inbound marketing.

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