How do you design a website layout?

Parents sit on sofa resting using pc online researching how do you design a website layout?

You might think you need to be a professional graphic designer to build a site with an eye catching and unique web design. However, nowadays this is simply not the case; there are numerous website builders out there which offer ready to go sites and pre-made web designs so that you can build a site which looks great, but doesn’t take up endless amounts of time. 

That being said, whilst website builders do all the tricky stuff for you, you still need to have some sort of plan to ensure your web layout looks smooth and site users can navigate themselves around easily. We’ve put together a list to make the web design process all the simpler, so that you can build a website that looks like it was designed by an expert!

  1.  Stick to simple 

Not only does a minimalist web design look smooth and sophisticated, but there is also a scientific theory behind it in the form of Hick’s law. According to this law of attraction, the more decisions people are forced to make on your site, the longer they take to make a decision. 

So, if you have multiple images of your products on the landing page of your site, you might confuse users as they won’t immediately know which product they prefer. Whilst this does keep people on your site for longer, it can also frustrate them and cause them to delay their decision over whether or not they want to explore your products or services further, leading to a potential decline in site conversions. 

Instead, when building your website, use the best picture you have to either characterise your site, or to show off your best selling product; this will engage site traffic and capture their interest. 

  1. Don’t ignore negative space 

Yes, it’s important to keep your web design simple. However, this doesn’t mean that you should ignore any negative space (space which isn’t filled with a picture or text). Blank spaces between different sections on your web pages are important, as they help to direct the attention of site visitors to the key messages you want to get across, and they also prevent the overcrowding of your web design. 

Instead of simply using negative space as a way to break up different components of your web design, use it as a way to boost conversions. Focus negative space around a call to action to prompt users to consider purchasing your products or enquiring into your services. Google’s homepage is a great example of this: there’s little clutter, and you know exactly what to do. 

  1. Focus on a colour scheme 

The methodology of choosing a colour scheme isn’t as black and white as it might seem: colours can evoke emotions and trigger memories. This is key for your brand: to keep your image as a brand memorable, a strong colour scheme is important, as it means customers are more likely to associate a colour with your business. 

When building your website, picking an appealing colour scheme is also paramount to keep potential customers onto your site. According to Mallee Blue Media, 85% of shoppers claim that colour plays a big role in their buying decisions: choosing colours which clash, or aren’t visually appealing, can cause site visitors to leave your website as they aren’t attracted to your web design.

Although website builders offer customisable colour palettes for you to choose from when building your site, don’t just pick the prettiest colour, close your eyes and hope for the best. Conduct market research into your target market: see what colours they’re most likely to associate with your brand. Below are some businesses which have effectively utilised colour to correlate with their brand. 

  1. Responsive works best 

Building a website with a responsive web design is crucial in keeping site traffic on your site: as most people now visit a website on their mobiles, you’ll need to make sure your website is easy to navigate around on any device. Not only does a responsive website increase chances of conversions, but it’s also important for SEO

Considering that site traffic from mobile devices is five times more likely to bounce-off your site if it isn’t responsive, this could negatively impact your ranking on Google’s search engines. If people are clicking off your site at a rapid speed, this could tell Google’s algorithms that your site is of low-value, meaning Google ranks you lower on its search engine results page. 

Luckily, some website builders will offer a responsive website so that traffic to your website can access your page from any device. With Go Sitebuilder, this is included in our package, along with all the other necessary features for you to build your own website at a bargain price, but with premium results. We believe quality shouldn’t be overcomplicated, which is why our simple ready to go sites are perfect for those who want to build a website in a few clicks.

Our 14-day free trial lets you explore all we have to offer and more, completely obligation-free – try it today!

How do I attract customers to my website?

Shot of happy and successful business colleagues giving high five in office after attracting customers to their website

Every burgeoning business needs an online presence. Bringing your business online means you can massively grow your potential customer base, as well as giving you the opportunity to stand out amongst your competitors with a slick website. Already got your website made? Then you’re halfway there! The next step is attracting customers to your site, and we have some useful tips for you on how to do just that.

Not got your website made yet? Visit our site builder here and get started! 

Design the perfect site

One of the most important aspects of your website will be the web design. A well laid-out, easy to navigate online store demonstrates professionalism and reliability to your visitors. You don’t have to be a web design pro to help your online business flourish. Go Sitebuilder boasts a huge library of website designs that help you easily build your website exactly the way you want it.

High quality descriptions of your product will also convey professionalism to potential customers visiting your eCommerce site. Sprinkle some key words and phrases that people would search for in your product descriptions to ensure that visitors stumble upon your website. 

Product photos are just as important as product descriptions; professional-looking photos of your products show a degree of credibility to your online store’s visitors. Make sure they show all aspects of your product and that you have at least two or three images for each one. 

When creating a website for your business, it is important to create a domain name that reflects your brand. Ideally, you want your domain to match the name of your company. This reinforces your brand and makes it easier for customers to find you and return to your online store. 

Understand the power of social media

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest. The list of possible social media platforms available is exhaustive. Share a link to your new website across all of your personal social media accounts to increase traffic to your store. Networking on LinkedIn, at both a personal and company level, will also be a valuable tool in promoting your business.

Don’t just rely on personal accounts, as it can look unprofessional. Create social media accounts for your business as well – social media is a great way for your business to interact with potential customers online. Maintaining a regular flow of updates helps to keep followers informed about your business, as well as bringing a sense of personality and approachability to your brand. As many as 80% of users on Instagram alone follow at least one business, so this is a channel you should definitely be exploring. 

For each of your business social media accounts, make sure you have a link to your website in your bio, as well as sharing it in individual posts.  That way, every time someone visits your page, they will always see a link to your eCommerce site first.

As well as helping your customers stay abreast of your business, social media is a great tool for learning about your customers. Using analytics (usually built into the platform) to stay informed of your customer base’s interests, demographics and what time they are online, can help you to create content valuable to them at times they’re most likely to see it.

A blog is a great platform to allow customers to keep up to date with any news or updates from your business. Sharing a link to your online store throughout your blog is an absolute must if you want to drive up clicks. Remember to keep up a steady stream of updates in order to build a bigger following. With Go Sitebuilder’s fully integrated blog platform you can get started on yours right away.

Promote your business everywhere

A bulletproof way of ensuring people hear about your new online business is to tell them about it. Simple, right? Tell your friends, tell your family, tell anyone who’ll listen. As long as you keep talking about your online store, people will keep hearing about it.

Post in local groups to get your website in front of a relevant audience. Most towns and communities have dedicated Facebook groups for their residents to post in. Utilise these to keep everyone in your area informed about your business.

If you’re using Facebook as part of your social media strategy, then you can reach potential customers through Facebook’s targeted advertising, where adverts for your website will appear in front of your target audience. You can apply the same principle to Instagram, who are also under the Facebook umbrella, but you’ll have to do some research to work out who is more likely to buy your products.  

For local businesses, registering your business with Google Places is really handy as it means it can be found more easily with Google searches, as well as ensuring it appears on Google Maps. Yahoo! and Bing have similar business databases which are also well worth signing up to.

The only thing left to do…

…is get your website started! We hope you’ve found this blog helpful. Make sure to let everyone know that your website is up and running and your online business will be flying!

Get your website set up now – Register for a 14 day trial today and see how our website builder can help you create a beautiful, professional blog hassle-free. 

What are the best restaurant websites for design inspiration?

Customers inside a restaurant discussing the best restaurant websites designs

Having a strong website design is key for all online businesses – considering that 38% of people will be put off a website if the content is unattractive, it is vital that your site design is aesthetic so you capture the visitor’s interest. This is even more crucial for restaurants: if your website isn’t visually appealing, then the user is more likely to form a negative impression of your restaurant, which means they probably won’t want to visit your establishment. 

Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that you have to have the skills of a top website designer to build a website that reels visitors in. We’ve broken down some of the best ways to build your own website for your restaurant, so that you can get some design inspiration. 

Strong colour pattern 

Source: Between The Bread

This restaurant has used bright, bold colours of its foods, and displayed them on a contrasting background. By using colours that pack a punch, the visitor is immediately drawn to whatever you want them to see first – in this case it’s the food! Using a variation of colours means your landing page stands out, meaning your website is more likely to stick in the minds’ of those who visit your site. However, it is important not to overload your website with colour, as this can lead to confusion: this restaurant has focused on reds, yellows and greens, telling the visitor that they can expect vibrant, colourful foods.

Focus on font

Whitmans text with burger

Source: Whitmans New York

Whilst a picture might speak a thousand words, the type of font you use also sends out a certain message. Here the casual, relaxed font suggests that this restaurant has more of a laid back atmosphere – the flavours are bold, but the establishment has a more chilled vibe.

Informative

man in kitchen making pasta

Source: Pastaria

Providing key information on your business, which can be clearly seen, is essential when you build your own website. According to KoMarketing, 44% of website visitors will leave a site if there aren’t any contact details. Providing the site users with contact information that they can clearly see, and giving them an option to contact you to make queries or reservations is essential. Considering that most people will make a booking with your restaurant either by phone or online, it is key that you make this process for them as easy as possible.

High quality images

filleted fish

Source: Catch

Using a high quality image, which isn’t blurred or poorly lit, shows just how professional your restaurant is. Considering that high quality images are a crucial factor in helping to sell your product – or restaurant – the best way you can create a good impression on someone is by using images which have been professionally taken. It’s important not to overcrowd your site with images too – just like this restaurant has done, keep things simple to achieve a sleek, attractive finish to your website design.

Appetising 

flatbreads on rustic table

Source: Lemonade

Of course, as a restaurant, if there’s one thing you want to get right, it’s how you present the food that you sell. People will want to come to your restaurant if you prove to them that you can serve them dishes which look great, and taste even better. As they obviously can’t sample the food by looking at your online business, they have to sample it with their eyes instead – capturing your tastiest dishes in a way that shows them off in all their glory will push people to make a reservation with you. 

Less is more

three juice bottles

Source: Foster Juice Co.

As you can probably see so far, these restaurants have stuck to a simplistic style of website design. Whilst some have taken the less is more approach more seriously than others, it is clear that these site designs have avoided overcrowding the landing page with multiple different pictures or crazy colour schemes. Instead, they’ve allowed the colours to bounce off each other to create a visually appealing effect. By holding back on wild, clashing colours and over the top images, you can build a website which delivers a pleasant site user experience. 

Atmosphere of the restaurant 

plates of mexican food

Source: El Burro

What kind of dining experience can your customers expect? When searching for a restaurant, people normally type in words that describe the type of restaurant they want to visit. Your website design must reflect the atmosphere of your restaurant, so that the user has some idea as to what kind of experience you are offering – here the bold, bright colours and rustic looking foods of this restaurant’s website design suggests they are a more casual establishment.

Welcoming 

Most importantly, your website should be welcoming! You want to create a positive image of your restaurant which sticks in the minds of site users. With Go Sitebuilder’s ready to go site, creating a captivating website design couldn’t be more simple. Or, if you find yourself completely pushed for time when you’re first building your website, why not browse our free stock photo gallery, so that you can use professional photos, completely free of charge?

Try Go Sitebuilder today; our free 14-day trial gives you the ultimate freedom to design the perfect website for your restaurant!

What are the different navigation options for a website?

A male and a female sat at desk, looking at a laptop. The male is wearing a red hate and pointing to the laptop. The female is looking at the male.

Navigation is an incredibly important aspect of web design. Navigation refers to how visitors move around your site, whether this is through links or a menu. If the navigation on your website is too complicated visitors can be put off exploring further around your website. If you need more convincing check out our blog on why navigation is so important.

There are a few different options when choosing the type of navigation you want. Often this is a choice between menu styles, but there are other ways in which good navigation can improve your website. With such a range of templates and layouts that come with many website builders, it can be difficult to choose the right one. With Go Sitebuilder we want this choice to be easy, so read on to find out the best navigation style for you. 

Header Menu

Website builder homepage showing video and navigation bar
Source: GoSiteBuilder

The first, and most popular, style of navigation is using a header menu. As you can see on our website this is the style we opted for. A header menu gives the visitor a clear range of options as soon as they enter the website. This means that there is no additional searching for a menu option, making this style the most simplistic. A recent study found that header menus are 22% quicker to navigate than other menus. 

Some header menus are static (meaning that they stay at the top of your page as you scroll), whereas others move off the page as you scroll. Neither option is better or worse, but having a static menu means visitors can change pages easier. Often these headers have between 5-7 options to click on, more than that and the web design starts to look cluttered.

Pros of a header menu: 

  • Visitors can easily find your menu
  • Easy to organise your website into specific categories 
  • Gives structure to your website 
  • Allows visitors to quickly move between web pages 
  • A very popular web design trend – for more web design tips read our blog on the latest web design trends

Cons of a header menu:

  • Takes up space on your website
  • Can be difficult to translate into a mobile format 
  • Some prefer a more minimalist homepage with a smaller menu

‘Hamburger’ Menu

Event website homepage showing a hamburger menu]
Source: Circles Conference
events website showing drop down menu
Source: Circles Conference

The ‘hamburger’ menu is often represented by 2 or 3 lines. When the lines are clicked on, the menu opens into the website, as you can see above with the Circles Conference website. Although this option is used less, there are still positive aspects to this design. 

The main reason this is chosen over a header menu is that this design is more minimalist and takes up less room on the homepage, which leaves more room for a bold header, as seen in the images above. Also, as this menu opens out there is more space and there can be more sections of the website. If you have lots of navigation options, a header menu can look cluttered, so a hamburger menu could make your web design look more streamlined. 

Pros of a hamburger menu: 

  • A more minimalistic look
  • A larger range of menu links 
  • Easily transferable to mobile websites 

Cons of a hamburger menu:

  • May be harder for a visitor to find the menu if they don’t know what the symbol means
  • Visitors have to spend more time finding your menu

Drop Down Menus

Source: Asos

This option is often used for online shops as visitors may want to find a specific item. This example of the Asos website essentially has three menus. The first is the option between Women and Men, then they categorise the product by general product type such as clothing, then more specific fits or clothing types. This allows for multiple options when organising your website. 

However, unless you need lots of options an overly organised menu may distract from the content of your website. For example an accounting firm would not need as many options as a site such as Asos. 

Pros of a drop down menu:

  • Site content can be organised into more specific categories
  • A good way to organise for e-commerce sites
  • Gives structure to your website 
  • Visitors can easily find the menu and navigate through your website 

Cons of a drop down menu: 

  • You may be tempted to make too make categories and over complicate your website navigation
  • Not every website needs this many categories 

Whichever type of navigation you choose, remember these 5 assets of good navigation:

  • How quickly can visitors change pages? 
  • How easy is your menu to use?
  • Does the style fit with your web design?
  • Is it too complicated?
  • Can your navigation be translated to a mobile site?

If you are ready to start building your website, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. We offer a wide range of features including a range of design templates, which give you multiple navigation options. Our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

What’s the difference between local and global web design?

Pleasant conversation. Pretty young woman holding her kid while having telephone talk about the difference between local and global web design

If you’re building a website for the first time, or want to improve the web design of your site, you’ll need to work out whether you want to target a local or global market. Whilst it might be tempting to create a web design that falls into both of these categories, if you’re building a website from scratch for a brand new business, then it might be a good idea to focus your web design on just one of these categories. 

Go Sitebuilder offers ready to go sites which are completely customisable, so that you can build your website with a web design that perfectly suits your business, whether you’re aiming to keep it local, or to make it global. We take a look at some of the differences between local and global web design to help you decide which is the right web design for you. 

Colour scheme 

The psychology behind the colour scheme of your website is more important than you might think. According to TrueList, 42% of shoppers base their opinions of a website on the overall web design, and colour is an incremental factor when it comes to forming these judgements. When selecting the colour scheme for your site, think about what emotions you want to evoke, and what emotions the colours might inspire. 

If you’re building a website with the aim of targeting local customers or clients within your area, consider if there are any colours you can use that resonate with your locality. For example, if your town or city has a renowned sports team, you may choose to select a colour scheme which slightly mirrors the colours of that team. However, you also want to have a distinctive colour that resonates with your own brand – see if you can incorporate a colour which is unique to your business into your web design. 

On the other hand, if you’re building a website with the purpose of selling your products or services globally, you’ll want to pick a colour scheme which is more general. For example, some colours have negative connotations: in South Africa red is the colour of mourning, so you might want to opt for a more neutral colour scheme to ensure your web design is appealing to your global audience. 

Images 

Images also play an important role in the aesthetic appeal of your web design, as they not only add to the overall appearance of your site, but they help to convey a message. Using images is one of the quickest ways to communicate with your target audience – according to MIT, the human brain can process images in 13 milliseconds. That means it’s crucial to choose the right image for your website, as it is a great way to capture the interest of site visitors. 

If you’ve created a web design targeted at a local audience, one of the best ways to boost your image as a trusty, local business is to use local images. This doesn’t mean uploading a few snaps of some local landmarks onto your site – try snapping images of your products being used in a local area, or maybe upload a picture of your business collaborating with another local business. 

For a global web design, images of your local area are much less important: you don’t need to use images to highlight the fact  that you are a local business targeting local audiences, so you have more freedom in choosing which images to add to your web design. Use more general photos: stock images are a good way to add a professional touch to your website, without the cost of hiring a photographer. At Go Sitebuilder, we offer a huge range of stock photos to choose from, helping you build a website perfect for a global market within a few clicks. 

Content 

When building a website, your content not only conveys a message to your audience, but it also plays a big role in SEO, which affects your ranking on Google. You’ll need to decide how you want to structure your content for your web design: if your aim is to build a website for the global market, then you might want to focus mainly on keywords referring to the the products or services you sell, so that Google’s algorithms rank you higher on its search page results when someone searches for a specific item or service. 

If you’re a local business, you’ll still want to use keywords for your product, but you can also capitalise on local keywords, as it is fantastic for SEO: if you incorporate your location within your content on multiple pages then Google will rank you higher when someone searches for your products or services within the area. 

Whether you’re building a website for a local or global market, it’s important to find a website builder that is easy to use, but also offers quality services; Go Sitebuilder offers ready to go sites with completely customisable web designs, so that you can build a site that’s perfect for you. Our 14-day free trial gives you all the freedom you need to try our services, completely free of charge – try it today!

What are the steps involved in building a news website?

Portrait of handsome young man using his mobile phone in the kitchen finding the steps involved in building a news website

With the amount of website builders available on the market, starting up your own news website has never been easier. Local newspapers are bearing the brunt of the rapid decrease in revenue for print journalism, and as they sadly start to shut down they create a gap in the market for online hyperlocal news sites.

In fact, between 2016 and 2018, there was a 50% increase in membership to LION, a US-based hyperlocal website association. It doesn’t have to be local news though; there is also a market for nationwide or global news, as long as you find an original angle to take your news website. To make the website part easier, Go Sitebuilder is a website builder that can have your news site up and running in a few minutes – but you need to do more than just find a website builder that works for you! Here are the steps you need to take to set up your own news website. 

1. What will your publication be about?

There are thousands of news websites out there on the internet; you need to make sure yours is unique if you want it to stand out. This is easier with hyperlocal news, as you’re unlikely to have too much competition, but if you’re planning on a more global approach, what will your publication have that will make it different? 

It’s a good idea to focus on a “mission statement”, where you define what you want your publication to achieve, and who your target audience is. Maybe you want to focus on sustainable technology, long form analysis of current affairs, or just short and snappy pieces on your local area for residents to stay informed. 

2. How will you make money?

Starting a news website is not a way to make fast cash. Although online news can be lucrative, you’ll have to commit your time to creating high quality content regularly and gather a decent following before you start to see a significant return on your investment. However, it’s good to think about the way you plan to make money as you start, so you can drive your site in the right direction.

There are multiple ways to earn money from your news website. Advertising products on your site is easy, especially using a platform like Google Adsense, but you may find you are advertising products completely unrelated to your site, and it can make your site look a little cluttered.

Sponsored content is another possibility, and as you start gaining traction with your site you’ll probably find that you will receive multiple emails from content creators wanting to pay you to publish their content on your site. This seems like a win-win situation, but you should be careful that their content doesn’t devalue your site as a whole; only accept content that is genuinely relevant and interesting to your target audience. 

Another way to get revenue from your site is to create a subscription model. This is risky, as you risk losing many readers who don’t want to pay for their news content, but it can be very valuable if you have a loyal audience. There are two ways to do this; either by blocking all of your site content unless the visitor has a subscription, or allowing unpaid views to your site, but a subscriber gets extra benefits, like a weekly email with the latest news or access to long form investigative journalism that took more time and money to create. 

 3. Choose a platform

When you start looking for a platform for your news site, it can get overwhelming trying to choose between all the website builders available to you. The best way to choose is to create a list of things you’ll definitely need for your news website, and go with a website builder that provides all of them. 

You want a website builder that is both flexible and scalable; the last thing you want is to start making some headway with your news website and then have to change to another platform. Check that it doesn’t have a limit to the amount of pages you can create, or images you can upload. Many people check their news on their phone, so having a responsive web design is paramount, as well as having an integrated SSL certificate and being SEO friendly. Before you ask – Go Sitebuilder has all this and more.

4. Create your content

This is the fun part! Make sure your content is high quality and original, and embellish it with images, infographics and videos to make it more dynamic. This is also a good test period when you start, and will help you decide whether you can create all of the content on your own or whether you will want to hire other writers or editors. 

Make sure you are writing and producing content on a regular basis to improve your chances of people seeing your articles. 

5. Create a digital marketing plan

This isn’t as scary as it sounds! Seeing as many people get at least some of their news from social media (in the US it can be as much as two thirds), creating a social media strategy is a great way to get your content in front of your target audience. For hyperlocal news websites, join local Facebook groups and publish your content there, or for wider reaching news, make the most of hashtags on Twitter. 

If you’re ready and raring to go with your online news site, then why not register for a free 14-day trial with Go Sitebuilder today? Our platform offers ready to go web designs, unlimited blog posts, fully responsive design and more – and it only takes minutes to set up. Spend your time creating quality content, and let Go Sitebuilder take care of making sure your news website looks stylish and professional. 

What are website templates?

Portrait of nice lovely attractive cheerful cheery positive couple choosing their website design on Go Sitebuilder

When using a website builder to design your website, the first step will often be to pick out a website template. A recent study showed that 88% of browsers will not return to a website if they experience a single poor user experience. Therefore, having a great website design is incredibly important, and website templates are the start for this. 

Website templates provide a structure and web design to your website. They often come with a pre-assigned layout for menus and navigation, but can also be easily changed if you want to personalise them. 

Often the design of your website template will impact the theme of your website and how visitors interact and view your website. Depending on which website builder you use there will be different website templates and designs, often grouped by type of website. 

How to choose a template

Often when you sign up to a website builder you are given a range of templates to choose from to build your website on. Each template will have slightly different designs and (potentially different) features, therefore choosing the right one for your website can be difficult. Look through a few designs in detail before choosing one to use for your website. With Go Sitebuilder, we help you choose a perfect template for you by showing you preferred templates according to your industry. For example, this is the selection  you’d see if you were trying to build a website for a beauty salon:

The Importance of Choosing the Right Template for you

Given the wide range of website templates on the various different website builders, choosing the right one to suit your business or blog is very important. Your website theme will be impacted by which template you choose. Therefore, the web design and navigation aspects of your website will also be affected depending on which template you choose and how you personalise it. 

When picking your website template consider the following questions:

Does the design link to my brand image? 

Does the design immediately tell your customers the type of business you are? If you are running a travel blog your design will be very different to that of an accounting firm. 

Do I need to pay for this website template? 

Website builders often have a range of templates, some of which are free website templates and some which have a fee attached to them.

Does it have the features I need?

For example, a photography business will need to be able to show a gallery, whereas a business which uses online sales will need an e-commerce website template. 

Does the website builder allow me to modify the template?

There is no point choosing a website template if you are not able to change aspects of the website to incorporate your information and style. 

Different features of website templates to look out for

When choosing your website template there are a number of different features you may want to look out for. Some of these features will depend on the type of website you are building, whereas others are good to have no matter what website you are designing.

Some of the most common features to look out for are:

E-commerce website templates: these are useful for business selling products online. Features to look out for on e-commerce website templates are:

  • The ability to take payment
  • How products are shown on your website 
  • Ability to show discounts of offers on your products 
  • Delivery options 
  • Ability to group products into categories, thus making the user experience easier to find the products they are looking for 
  • Order status – the ability to keep your customers updated on the status of their purchase 

Image galleries: particularly important for photography businesses or travel businesses. Look for different layout options and the ability to add more information about each photograph.

Image editor: useful for quickly editing your images as you upload them

A blog feature: the ability to create informal content will increase interaction between visitors and your business. Look for features such as the ability to categorise your blog posts and an unlimited number of blogs.

Contact forms: this allows customers to contact you easily from the website, allowing you to respond and foster a customer relationship easily.  

Responsive design: the ability to view and edit your website for mobile phones or tablets. This is especially important as many people will be viewing your website on a mobile device 

Social Media Integration: this could include the ability to link certain blog posts to Instagram posts or simple links to social media profiles in the header of your website.   

If you need a great website builder, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range of website templates, our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

What are the best designed football websites in 2020?

Group Of Children In Soccer Team Celebrating With Coach

Looking for inspiration for your football website? Have an amazing club that needs a website update? Or simply wanting to share your football commentary? Look no further than this blog post! Here are some of the best football websites in 2020. With professional designs and interesting information these websites are some of the best examples out there. 

Best Websites for Clubs:

Below are some of the best examples of football club websites. Although these examples are of professional clubs with large budgets, you will still be able to achieve a professional website with many of the same features with a website builder. Look at some of the best features of these websites and consider including them in your own. 

Manchester United

Screenshot of https://www.manutd.com/ homepage
Screenshot of https://www.manutd.com/ homepage

The most visited football club’s website in the world with a staggering 8.6 million visitors per year a list of the best football websites could not be compiled without mentioning Manchester United. With video clips, photographs and bold eye-catching design it is no wonder so many visitors are attracted to it. Even without the name of Manchester United your club can benefit from learning from their website, especially the use of contrasting colours and fonts.

FC Barcelona

Screenshot from https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/ homepage
Screenshot from https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/ homepage 

FC Barcelona has created an effective, informative website regarding their players and games. The scores for their most recent games are visible on the homepage of their website, with a feature that allows visitors to scroll through their three most recent games. 

Another great feature of this website is their meet the players section which gives statistics on different players. This allows fans to connect to individual players. If you are designing your own website for a club consider having a section to introduce different players to add a personal touch to your website. 

Best Opinion/Information Websites:

Do you aspire to be on Match of the Day? Or do you simply enjoy sharing your football knowledge with the world? The way you present your ideas and opinions on your website will make a difference in how many people keep up to date with new content. A well designed website can mean more interaction from fans which will help you keep your ideas fresh and relevant. 

101 Great Goals

Screenshot of https://www.theanfieldwrap.com/ homepage
Screenshot from https://www.101greatgoals.com/ homepage

This website updates regularly with football news and opinion pieces. The layout is simple with each story linked to a photograph, making a visually appealing website design. Another interesting feature of this website is the live streaming feature. Although this may not be feasible with your website, having video and photographic content can help more people engage with your ideas and news. 

The Anfield Wrap

Screenshot of https://www.theanfieldwrap.com/ homepage
Screenshot of https://www.theanfieldwrap.com/ homepage

The Anfield Wrap is run by avid Liverpool FC fans and keeps other Liverpool aficionados up to date on all news related to the club. Immediately upon entering the homepage you are struck by a bold red header which clearly shows the title of the page and has images relating to the content of their blog. 

Another key aspect the Anfield Wrap utilises well is the use of a bold header linking to many other different parts of their website. This header stays in place as you scroll, allowing the visitor to click to any section whenever they like. 

Caught Off Side

Screenshot of https://www.caughtoffside.com/ homepage
Screenshot of https://www.caughtoffside.com/ homepage

Caught off side is an iconic football blog informing visitors of news and gossip from the football world. The eye-catching design of cartoon versions of clubs kits is colourful and effective, and links to more information about each club. 

They keep their website updated regularly with the position of clubs in the league tables. Football news is also relevant and organised by the league so visitors can easily find the type of news they want. Remember; your target audience is a key consideration when building your website and will help you decide what content to update your site with.

If you are looking for a good website builder to create an engaging and informative football website, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder! Our simple software means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes, and you can try different templates to find the one that fits you – and your favourite team – best. Try our 14-day free trial today.

How Can I Promote My Graphic Design Business?

Young people work in modern office discussing how to promote their graphic design business

There are many ways to promote your graphic design business to get the highest number of new customers. From social media to blog collaboration there are multiple options you can consider to increase the number of people who are aware of your business. Some of these options are more time consuming, whereas others are simple and efficient ways to increase your number of clients. Keep reading to find out more!

Social Media 

Social media can be one of the most effective ways to market your business. The volume of people you can reach easily through social media makes it one of the simplest marketing strategies for your business. However, you will not be the only graphic design firm to have an Instagram account. This means that you need to ensure that your posts are original and highly engaging. Some key aspects to think through when making social media content are: 

High Quality Images: You may want to showcase your work on social media with a post containing some of your graphic design content. This is very effective at showing the quality of your work, but you must ensure the images you post are high quality. 

The concentration of accounts on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook means that to compete you must post unique, interesting images to entice people to click on your profile and find out more. If you are new to social media check out this blog for tips for graphic designers. 

Up to Date Information: With any business having current information available is incredibly important. This should include information such as:

  • A short description of your business
  • Website link
  • Contact information
  • Address/location (if applicable)

Presence Across Platforms: A successful business will have a presence across many social media platforms. This increases the chance of more people finding your profile and therefore increases the chance of new customers. Platforms you should consider are: 

  • Instagram: a great platform for visually showing your work. Ensure to update regularly in order to get the most exposure across the site. 
  • Facebook: the most important aspect of your Facebook page should be to have up to date information and post regularly about your business.
  • Twitter: good for sharing news and photographs. Also useful for linking with other businesses and new clients. 
  • Linkedin: great for networking with new clients and other businesses.

The most important aspect across all these platforms is to have up to date information and make sure that they link back to your website.

Graphic Design Blog

A graphic design blog can allow you to showcase your best work and keep clients updated about changes or news in your business. Writing a blog can build a community around your business and allow more informal engagement with visitors to your website. Some aspects to consider are: 

  • The right website builder: one of the most important aspects in building a blog is finding the right website builder for you which allows you to create a professional blog without high costs. 
  • Creating regular content: ensure that you create content regularly so that your blog does not become detached from your business.
  • Making related content: the blogs you produce should be related to your business and have links to other sections of your website to encourage visitors to stay on your website. 

If you need more inspiration check out the best graphic design blogs for 2020.

Show Your Credentials 

A common mistake with many businesses is not showing off their achievements clearly on their website. By not clearly presenting your assets (such as awards or notable clients) you are not allowing clients to see you in the best light possible. Ensure to show these on the homepage of your website so that visitors can see them as soon as they enter your website. 

Collaborate with Others

By collaborating with others in the field you may gain more exposure through their website or social media channels. Find blogs that showcase graphic designers and contact them for interviews or guest articles – if you mention them in your work they are likely to share your content. Through collaboration with your peers and role models, your work can reach a larger audience and help spread awareness of your business and graphic design style. 

Strong Brand Image

An important aspect of any business is to have a strong brand image. In terms of promotion this relates to aspects such as a logo, colour scheme and brand ethos. These are all aspects of your business you should be absolutely certain of before trying to promote it. Once you have a strong brand image you can start to create business cards and email signatures, which can further promote your business.

Ready to promote your graphic design business? If you are looking for a good website builder for your company, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder! Our simple design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today.

Why you should have a sports fan site

Homepage of Bayern Munich, the largest soccer club in Germany using Go Sitebuilder for sport fans.

If you are a serious sports fanatic then you might find it slightly frustrating trying to tell friends and family about the latest sporting updates. The more excited and in-depth of an explanation you go into, the more their eyes glaze over and the more disinterested they seem.

That’s why being a part of a sports fan website can be a great thing for a sport-lover: you are able to share your interests with countless numbers of like-minded people, safe in the knowledge that they will listen to your every word. Having a sports fan site creates a real sense of community within your sports area of choice, and it allows you to engage with your hobby as much or as little as you desire. In order to grow this sense of community, it is important that you include a few important functions within your site so that it can prosper. 

Social media 

If you use social media regularly then you will understand the importance of its use in the sporting world. By being able to link your social media to your sports fan website, other users will be able to see what kind of sport-related information that you’re posting. This doesn’t need to be a time-consuming essay: Twitter only lets you write 280 characters at a time, meaning all sport updates have to be kept short and sweet. 

Linking your social media to your website also shows other fans that you know what you’re talking about. For example, if you’re posting live updates of results and commentary on the latest footie game then it’s clear you’re a true fan, and are committed to ensuring that your website is useful for other sports fans.

Having live updates which are shared both on your website and your social media is also a great way to reach out to professionals on the go who might not have the time to always keep up to date with their favourite game. By keeping them in the loop, you’re more likely to build a strong sports community that includes everyone.

If you want a live chat room then linking your Facebook messenger is a great way to keep everyone connected so that you can share your love for sport with others at any time of day.

Blogs 

If you want to commit a bit more time to your fan site, then blogs are a great way to draw others to your website. By writing opinion pieces about certain matches, providing history on a certain popular player, or even offering information pieces about the importance of your sport of choice, you are bound to get more people interested in your content, thus inspiring them to become a member of your fan site. 

Writing blogs can also increase the visibility of your fan site. If people are googling questions online, and Google’s search engine picks up on the key terms from the question within your website, it is more likely to boost your website further up the search index. This is something called SEO – search engine optimisation. This is important if you want to increase your membership number: the more people who find your fan site, the more likely it is that you will generate larger numbers of interest. 

Upload photos 

Uploading photos is a great way to add some visuals to your website: whether you’re posting pictures to show support for your favourite player or want to post your own snaps from a live game, it’s a good idea to have a photo gallery to display all of this. It adds a personal touch, and allows you to share your opinions about a game/players in an authentic way.

If you want to get other site users involved then you could encourage them to send you photos of their own about the chosen sport – why not encourage them to send you their pictures through social media, and then you can upload them onto your fan site? This would encourage others to become actively involved with your fan site, ensuring that you have a steady stream of people who want to become a part of your community. 

How to set up a fan site 

Whilst setting up a website might be daunting, don’t let this stop you from building a thriving online sports community. Go Sitebuilder does all the hard stuff for you, meaning that you can start your fan site free from any hassle. Not sure if you’re ready to commit yet? Their 14-day free trial gives you all the time you need to decide whether or not you want to start your sports fan site today!