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website design

We specialise in website design and website strategy.

We are website designers in South Africa, but we build sites for customers all over the world. Our office is in Ballito, just outside Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal. Thanks to services like Zoom – we can be face to face with you in your office, in an instant! Trade and Lateral Development has been building WordPress websites for more than ten years. We can build your website wherever you are in the world. Our team has been through the website design process so many times, with so many different customers. We know what to ask and how to get the job done.

Website Quote
Website Strategy
Website SEO

This is what’s included on this page:

  1. Our Website Design Process
  2. There are 2 Main Types of Websites
  3. How do you decide which website to buy?
  4. Why we Choose WordPress
  5. Why do you need a website designer?
  6. What will your new website design need?

We ask a lot of questions before we start on your website design – questions about what your business does and what your website design needs to be able to do for you. Your website design needs to fulfill all your business objectives and make it easy for your customers to do business with you online, and offline. Want to know more about us?

Please contact us if you’d like a custom website quote.

Website Quote
Website Strategy
Website SEO

Our Website Design Process

01.

Website Strategy Meeting

In a time of online meetings and phone calls, we’d still love to chat to you about what your business does, what you need from your new website, or how you would like to revamp the website you currently have. We’ll ask about your business objectives, and how your website can help to fulfil those. You can also ask us about our history, our experience, and our expertise.

02.

Website Plan & Quote

We will plan out everything we think you’ll need in your new website, along with a suggested structure, a list of the plugins you’ll need to make your functionality work, some professional WordPress theme examples, a list of everything else you’ll get with your website, and an itemised quote. You’re welcome to tweak this job spec and once you’ve approved it, we’ll arrange the paperwork to get started.

03.

First Website Design Draft

This is when you’ll send us all the content you’d like on your website. We will design a few pages of your site to show you what they look like, so you can see the design and layout direction in which we’re headed. We’d love your feedback on our suggested layout, and we will tweak this until you are happy for us to continue to build the rest of the site.

04.

Final Website Design Approval

We will continue to build the rest of your website and often, depending on the size of your site, will ask you to proof sections as we go, to ensure that you are completely happy with the final product. Once the build is complete, you will be able to test every element and check every page to ensure you are perfectly happy with the end result.

05.

Publishing your Website

Now, it’s time to publish your website live on the internet! We will arrange all the setup and any file transfers that are required. We can host your website on our servers, or you can choose a different website host – it’s entirely up to you. Now your website is up and ready to go!

06.

Security & Maintenance

We like to stay in touch with our customers and look after their websites as if they were our very own. We can update any of your content whenever you’d like, or you can do it yourself if you prefer. Our customers usually choose our Software Maintenance Package, which means we will keep your website software updated, will manage and monitor your website security, and will fix a hack should one ever occur.

Website Quote
Website Strategy
Website SEO

There are 2 Main Types of Websites

1. eCommerce Online Shop

These websites are online shops and they sells products to your customers. Website Visitors select their products and pay for them on your website, using a payment portal. Products can be simple (i.e. one price per product), or more complicated.

More complex product pricing might mean that your product comes in several variants, sizes, or colours, and each has a different price. Products may also have “add-ons” like monograms, or a gift-wrapping charge. Your eCommerce website is also built using a Content Management System (like WordPress) so you can update the content yourself if you prefer. This site will have a payment gateway to accept payments online.

2. Standard Information Website

These websites are information-based websites. They display all the information a visitor might need to know about your business and can be very simple (Home, About Us, Contact Us) or more complicated (Home, Full List of Services, Detailed Product Catalogue, FAQ, Company History, Blog, Contact Us). They usually include a blog for SEO and customer-service purposes. Visitors could compete an enquiry form or subscribe to your newsletter, download your brochure, or generate a quote request, but they wouldn’t make any purchases online.

These websites are also built using a Content Management System (like WordPress) so you can update the content yourself if you prefer. If you don’t want to update it yourself, we can always do it for you.

Website Quote
Website Strategy
Website SEO

Which website is right for your business?

Your business website should serve a purpose.

What do you want your customers to do when they visit your website?

  • Would you like to simply share information about your business?
  • Should you website include more comprehensive information about the wider variety of products and services you offer, or do you perhaps want to include a “Frequently Asked Questions page”, or maybe a “Download Manuals” page?
  • Do you want visitors to look through a catalogue of your products or should they be able to request a quote for your service?
  • Should they be able to buy your products online?
  • Maybe you want them to join your membership so they have access to your unique content?

There are many different things they could do on your website to engage with your company and your brand. Whatever strategy you decide on, remember that your website must be updated regularly with new, exciting content so it entices your customers to come back over and over again.

Website content must be updated regularly!

Interesting and engaging websites attract new visitors. They are updated often and provide new content on a regular basis. Static, boring websites that don’t get updated get lost on the Internet. They are eventually left alone completely as no one ever visits them.

Website Quote
Website Strategy
Website SEO

Why we Choose WordPress

There are so many reasons to love WordPress…

1. WordPress is free!

WordPress is free because it’s open source software. All you need to do is to install WordPress on your hosting platform and you’re ready to get started.

2. You can update your own website design easily

Remember that website with good traffic are the websites that are updated regularly with excellent content. WordPress makes it very easy for you to update your own website as often as you like, so you don’t need to pay us every time. It has an easy to use, ‘drag and drop’ backend so you just drag your information where you want it, upload an image with a few clicks, publish and you’re good to go!

3. We can build your new website quickly

There are thousands and thousands of plugins available that we can use to add functionality to your website. This means we don’t have to build amazing new features from scratch. We can find the right plugin and customise it to your website. This also means you don’t have to pay for hours and hours of development time, which will save you a lot of money.

4. Your website design will look spectacular

There are thousands of incredible themes to choose from. We’ll customise the theme you choose so your website is stunning and unique. You’ll get a magnificent, professional website for a fraction of what it would cost to design and build it from scratch.

5. Your website will be search engine friendly

Google will love it because WordPress is written using high quality code and it produces semantic mark-up that makes your website very attractive to search engines. We’ll also show you how to optimise your content, so it’ll rank even higher in Google’s search results.

And the best part…

6. WordPress is very customisable and will grow with your business

The vast selection of themes and plugins means you can add almost any functionality you like to your website design. You can start with a small website design, and grow it as your business grows, adding new and more complicated functionality as you need it.

How do WordPress websites work?

A WordPress website is practical, versatile, and easy to use.

WordPress websites require the WordPress software, a theme, and plugins.

A theme controls the look of your website. You can choose a theme that you like the overall look of, and we will customise it with your colours, photos and content.

A plugin is a piece of software that can be uploaded to your WordPress website to add a new function or feature, like a forum; a support ticket desk; specialised contact forms; specialised image or video galleries; an online shop; security features; etc. There are thousands of both free and paid plugins to choose from. Your choices are endless!

Website Quote
Website Strategy
Website SEO

Why do you need a website designer?

WordPress is easy to use and incredibly versatile but, like anything, website design is a skill. We give our customers (like you) value by advising on website strategy, designing your website, and customising and building your initial website for you. Once your website is published online, you can add blog posts, change text or images, or even add pages, as often as you like. You’ll never need to ask us to make changes for you (unless you want to, of course!).

However, the initial setup, the customisation of the theme, sourcing and customising plugins and optimising your website for speed are all specialised skills that we have a lot of practice doing. After building websites for more than ten years, we’ve learned some tricks along the way!

We are longtime website designers. We ask the right questions upfront, so you don’t get stuck with a site that’s missing something important. Our team will help you to optimise your website to boost your search engine rankings (hello, Google!). We will also show you how to optimise your pages so your customers buy what you’re selling.

There are so many details that go into building an amazing website. We will walk you through the process, so you don’t miss a single step.

Website Quote
Website Strategy
Website SEO

What will your new website design need?

  1. Website Copy – Will you be writing this yourself, or will you hire a copywriter?
  2. Images – Do you have images, or will you hire a photographer to take them? Would you prefer to source stock photography or illustrations?
  3. Hosting – We’ll set this up for you.
  4. Domain Name – We will also register this for you. Do you want to register a domain name in your own country, or do you prefer a .com domain? If you’ll be servicing a local audience, stick to your local extension. If you’re servicing an international audience, rather register a .com domain.

You’re now ready to get started on your new website design!

Please contact us so we can get going and get your business online as soon as possible.

Domain Registration Tips

Here are some quick tips to remember when registering your domain name:

Keep it short and make it easy to type. Use keywords and target your area if applicable. Make it memorable and avoid numbers and hyphens. Choose the right extension for you and act quickly so that no one else registers it first!