WEB
DESIGN

We take a surprisingly unusual approach to web design. Unlike more traditional website designers, the colours, textures and graphics used on the site are not what we focus on initially. So what makes a good website design, and why is the appearance not the most important factor?

Designed for Google

First and foremost, Google is used for approximately 90% of UK internet searches. So unless  you intend to market your website almost entirely offline, your website needs maximum visibility online.

First we ask you what you want your website to do - will it: Sell products? Be an online brochure? Gather information and sales leads? Showcase a portfolio? Something else? Or all of the above?

From your answers we'll find out more information on your products, services and target market, then research what people are typing into Google to find your products and services.

Optimising your website design

So now we know what terms people use to find you, we then design your site's structure around these phrases. Your site should read to a search engine as you would read a magazine. Your homepage is like an index (often called Index.htm) and should provide a summary of the articles it discusses, with inner pages dedicated to each subject (like articles). The articles then have a headline, a summary and body text, which are translated as various SEO attributes.

By designing your website in this way, we help make sure that your site has the best possible chance of being found. Check out some examples of where we've successfully done this, in our SEO portfolio get an SEO quote.

Web design for visual appeal

It's only at this stage in the design process that the aesthetics of the design are considered. A creative web design will ensure that the new website is a nice place to visit, and recommend to others.

Our in-house web designers and partner design agencies create your website design, depending on your niche. We provide these agencies with our services and support infrastructure; in turn they provide us with designs. This means that your site isn't being built by a designer, and it's not being designed by a programmer - both scenarios can have dire consequences!

So working in this manner means that everyone is playing to their strengths and you get a website that not only looks the part, but performs well too.

Website content management

All our websites, (including this) run on our Content Management System (CMS). This enables us, our clients, and their clients to edit the content on their websites quickly and easily, without waiting for their designer to do it for them, and incurring costs whenever they do.  

Our agencies use our CMS platform as it enables them to focus on web design, and us to focus on supporting their clients with website hosting, email services, using the CMS, SEO questions, email marketing, domain registrations and renewals. For you, it means that you have a team of expert UK support staff waiting to take your call, without queueing, who are ready to jump on top of your problem and own it until its resolved. We understand that your business is your website.

Web design to convert traffic

OK, so you have a great web design, and are getting lots of traffic coming to the site. But why aren't you selling? Why is so little traffic converted into leads or enquiries?

This is where conversion rates and landing page optimisation is crucial. A website design that's optimised to convert traffic will maximise the conversion ratio of the site - ie: how many people who visit the site make a purchase, contact you, or sign up to your email newsletter.

In the example of an online shop, this is achieved by funnelling traffic from the homepage into the product page the user is interested in, and then to the checkout in as few clicks as possible, while providing reassurance, trust, and overcoming any potential objections as they move through the sales process.

Accessible web design to W3C and standards

It's one thing having a site that works on your computer, but what about everyone else's?

By designing our websites to work in the following browsers, we can ensure that all of your website visitors have the best possible user experience:

We can provide backwards compatibility to ensure that even the oldest browsers, including the much bemoaned Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, (renowned for the headaches it gives web designers the world over), can display your website as closely as possible to how the designer originally intended.

As part of this process, we can also make your website comply with W3C standards, and our CMS even features a W3C compliance checker to make sure that the edits made to the website comply. Look for the W3C logo (above) on W3C compliant web designs. W3C are the standards commission for the World Wide Web - they agree on best practice methods for building and designing websites using HTML and CSS. By making our websites compliant with these web standards, you can be assured of best practice being followed at all times by people who pay attention to all the small details.

Mobile Web Design and Mobile Web Development

We can even design mobile websites to work on portable devices such as mobile phones and iPods. You can test this out by using your iPod iPhone (or Android device) to browse this website. Check it out by visiting this site on your phone, or visiting our mobile site So if you want a website design that works on mobile devices, please enquire about our web design and development services.

Why 16i?

Well, we've been at it for half a decade, our people are all experts in their own areas; be it SEO, HTML and CSS, ASP .Net, design, content management, hosting, email marketing, bespoke software - you name it, we have a resident expert.

We only have dedicated, passionate people here, driven to embrace the latest technologies and standards. They enjoy working here, and it's a great place to be. 

Our offices in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, are located within easy reach of Tewkesbury, Gloucester, Cirencester, Swindon, Birmingham, and Bristol and have all the facilities you could need. Click on our Flickr feed for some pictures. All our work is done in the UK - we don't outsource overseas.

We've worked with some demanding clients; from small local businesses to FTSE 250 global companies. We also have marketing agencies, web design companies, and local sole traders coming to us to provide them or their clients with the support and backup they need.

We're experts in our respective areas, which means that as a team, we've got a solid grasp of the bigger picture. We're not just another web design company, we're a one-stop internet marketing shop for agencies and clients alike.