The answer to this question is a lot simpler than you might expect, in that a responsive website is simply one which responds and adapts to the size of the screen it is been viewed on. For example, when it is being viewed on a desktop computer it will adapt to the monitor size and will do likewise for the screens of tablets or smartphones when being viewed on them.

With the adoption of responsive websites, the need for businesses to have a separately built web site for mobile devices no longer exists. Instead, the coding that is built into responsive websites means one website which will automatically adapt itself to whichever device it is being viewed on.

The beauty of modern website design is that there are so many options available for content that you are almost spoilt for choice. ideally, you should aim to have a mix of content, and more desirable than that, a content mix that research shows is popular with the sorts of visitors you are hoping to attract to your website.

The most common type of content is the written word, and it can serve several purposes. The first is that it engages your audience and provides them with information, advice and hopefully entertains them if that is what it is designed to do.

Another benefit of written content is it provides Google with information on the subject matter of your websites and the keywords you wish to rank for. Text can also be used to create hyperlinks to other pages within your website, or out to other websites as part of your SEO optimisation strategy.

The forms of content that you can use text for include case studies, white papers, blog posts, checklists, guides, ‘how-tos’, reviews and written interviews.

Video plays a huge role on the internet and is definitely a form of content that you should consider. A 30-second video can often be more effective in engaging a potential customer, than 500 words of text.

Images also play an important role, not just as a form of content, but in enhancing the design and user-friendliness of your website by breaking up pages and chunks of text. You could combine images and text to create memes and infographics which are extremely popular.

Web development is a function that relates to the coding and programming of websites. In effect, web development is what builds the structure and functionality of a website, rather than the visual design of it. It might be regarded as a more technical function than the design, although that is not to say that designing a website doesn’t take a lot of skill and technical know-how.

For web development, several coding and programming languages may be used such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. These not only allow the website to be built but once it goes live these programming languages enable the website to function. The functions can be many and varied depending on the size and complexity of the website.

Web development is also what allows visitors to the website to interact with it. Examples of this can range from a simple pop-up asking for the visitor’s email address, to a fully functioning e-commerce website, including product videos and payment processing.

The coding that web developers use can be from several sources and in most cases, a combination of these is used. They may be skilled enough to write their own code from scratch, they may employ a software company to create bespoke coding, and they may use numerous pieces of pre-written software which they incorporate into the website they are building.

Web development impacts on both the front end of the website and the back end. The front end can be the coding that allows an embedded video to play and be watched by visitors. Back end coding might relate to the SEO metadata, which is seen by search engine spiders, but not visitors to the website.

If you visit any website, on the left of where the URL is, depending on the browser you are using, you will see a padlock, or the words ‘Secure’, or ‘Not Secure’. This will certainly be the case if your browser is Chrome.

The significance of this is that it identifies whether or not the website in question has an SSL certificate. SSL stands for ‘Security Sockets Layer’, which may not mean much to you, but in effect, an SSL certificate is used to identify that the website which has it, is trustworthy.

Now, we must add, there is no guarantee that just because a website has SSL you will never be ripped off by it. It is not as if website owners who have an SSL certificate have gone through an extensive interview process, and their life histories have been analysed for dodgy behaviour in the past. However, what it does do is give visitors some reassurance that the website is secure, especially in relation to things like data.

As a website owner, it is the case that today you MUST have an SSL certificate. Google is at the forefront of this, and if you do not have one, your website is going to suffer badly with respect to how well it ranks.

But it is not only your Google ranking that is a reason to have one. Having an SSL certificate helps build customer trust in your brand, it protects server-website data such as passwords and credit card numbers from hackers, and also means you comply with PCI requirements for those businesses who wish to take online payments.

There tends to be a lot of confusion in relation to the terms, web development and web design, with the main one being that many assume they are the same thing. The truth is that while they are closely related in terms of building websites, they have two very distinct and different functions.

One of the easiest ways to compare them is in relation to the building of car. The design of the car will focus on aspects like the dashboard layout, the upholstery, the shape of the car, the available colour schemes, front and rear lights layout, and many other elements that all go towards creating the appearance of the car.

If we apply that to a website and its design, this would be the equivalent of the colour scheme, what theme is used, where the elements appear on each web page, the logo, and which images are used. So, with web design what you are focussing on is the appearance and layout.

Now, for development, and sticking with our analogy of producing a new car, the specifics will include the fuel system, the engine management system, all the electronics that are used throughout the car, and even the gear ratios. In other words, development relates to all the technical aspects of the car and its performance.

Sticking with that thought, we can, therefore, regard web development as those elements which impact on the functioning of the website. This will be any coding that is used, plugins employed to add functionality, how the website’s load speed is optimized and aspects of on-page SEO.

You may also have noticed, that just like in a car, most of the elements which contribute to its development are mostly hidden from view, or ‘under the bonnet’, to coin a phrase. While users of a website will see most of the design factors, many of the development factors, are rarely seen, although they may be experienced by users.

An obvious example of this is the page loading speed that we mentioned previously. A visitor will experience this, and hopefully be impressed by it, but will never see what developments have been added to the website to make that happen. However, something they will see is the page layout, which is obviously a result of web design.

We’ll say from the outset that no web design is ever perfect, as there are always ways in which it can be improved, such as a better ‘Call to Action’, example. However, having examined countless website designs, here are five of the most common mistakes that are made.

Poor Branding: While everyone would like to think their website is memorable, the truth is, visitors are not going to remember everything about it. However, you should at least ensure that they have your business in their mind, and one of the best ways to do that is with strong branding. This applies not just to things like logos, but to the design. colours and consistency throughout. If your branding is weak, then a visitor will forget about you the second they leave, and most likely never return again.

Too Busy: While you should have plenty of useful and engaging content throughout your website and elements that encourage visitors to stay, it mustn’t be overdone. Filling every page with elements that overwhelm visitors will have them gone immediately. The sort of things we are talking about are too many colours, multiple fonts, and headlines, and images plastered all over the page.

Not Busy Enough: The opposite of the previous issue is that you have hardly anything on your website’s pages. Lack of content means a lack of engagement and basically means your visitors have no reason to stay.

No Clear Call To Action: We assume that you want a website designed for a reason, which could include generating new leads or making sales. Whether it is these or something else, for any of them to happen your website must have a clear call to action so that visitors have a way of doing what you want them to do.

Slow Load Times: If your website loads slowly it can be a double whammy. First, visitors will quickly click away from your website if it takes too long to load for them. Second, and increasingly important, is the fact that Google measures load speeds and factors them into their rankings. This means if your website’s load speed is not optimised properly, you have less chance of ranking highly whenever someone searches for the keyword you wish to rank for.

There are hundreds of hosting companies to choose from, but in truth, there are maybe only 20 or so that could be deemed suited to hosting a website that is primarily for business use. To choose we recommend you visit those you are considering and ensure that it offers the features that you believe you need.

Next, you should find the statistics for those hosting companies in respect of load times, and very importantly, uptime. You also should see how much bandwidth they offer, what security features they provide, and you might also want to take a look at their terms of service to see what levels of performance they guarantee.

Without a doubt, you need to look at the reviews which their existing customers have given, not just on the host’s website, but elsewhere on the internet. Finally, if you are using a web design agency to build you a website, their advice and recommendations of any hosting company should certainly be considered, including any hosting service that they provide.

There are several reasons why responsive website design is important.

The first is that businesses no longer have the expense of having multiple websites, each suitable for the various devices they may be viewed on. Instead, only one website needs to be built. but it responds to the device being used. Another benefit is that you only have to maintain and look after one website instead of two

Next, is the fact that responsive websites will load quicker on mobile devices than those which are classed as ‘mobile ‘ websites. This not only improves the users’ experience but is a positive in the eyes of Google, who reward fast loading websites, and penalise slow loading websites, with the respective move up or down on their rankings, to follow.

While mentioning Google it is also important to note that Google now sees mobile searches as having a higher priority than searches made on desktop computers. This means that their search results are going to be biased towards responsive websites that can be viewed perfectly on mobile devices.

You also have to take account of the fact that many, if not most, of your potential customers, are more likely to use their mobile devices as they go about their day, than their desktop computers. You want to be in front of those customers when they are searching for what you offer, and if your website isn’t responsive, then they will never find you.

The simple fact is that people, and more importantly, customers, are changing the way they purchase goods and services online. For a start, the amount of information available to them is greater than ever before, so in advance of any purchase they have the means to check out the company’s track record, and in particular reviews from its customers.

The most significant change is that mobile traffic on the internet has overtaken desktop traffic which means your potential customers are more likely to be visiting your website on a mobile device. To ensure that you take advantage of that fact, it is essential that your eCommerce website is suited to mobile devices. The way this is achieved is by making it responsive, and thus able to adapt to the screen size of the device being used.

If it is responsive then your eCommerce site can more or less operate as it would on a desktop computer, albeit there may be some visual elements that change. That being said, in terms of visitors being able to browse through your website, gather information about your products, and ultimately being able to purchase them, should be as straightforward on a mobile device, as it would be on a desktop one.

A number of key elements obviously have to be in place such as payment processing, and security. Normally, these would be part and parcel of the development of your eCommerce website when it was being created, or subsequently upgraded to include them.

There are many things you can do that can help improve your Google ranking, and having good website design is one of them. A properly designed and optimised website is the foundation upon which your Google rankings can be built, so getting it right is paramount.

The first thing a well-designed website will have is an underlying structure, which helps Google understand what your website is about. This relates to coding and metadata, which help identify the keywords you wish to rank for when Google comes crawling your website.

Next, there is the content which you plan to have on your website. Again, this forms parts of the design process, and if done correctly, content can have multiple benefits for your ranking. Again, Google will see the content and use it to further identify your website’s keywords. Content also helps your website engage with visitors. The more engaged they are the more likely they are to like your website, take an interest in your business, and become a paying customer.

The engagement we mentioned also plays a role in the length of time visitors spend on your website. There will be other design factors that contribute to this too, such as the layout, the colours and how easy it is to navigate. The longer visitors stay on your site the better, for a couple of reasons.

One is if they remain on your website, the more chance there is that they will take one of the actions you wish them to. As they browse through, read content, or watch a video they become more interested in what’s there and may leave their email or phone number, to receive more information

The other is that Google can measure how long someone remains on a website, having clicked through to it from their search results. If Google sees they land there and then click away immediately that is a red flag for them, and likely to see that website’s rankings drop. However, if visitors stay on a website for a decent length of time, it is what Google likes to see, and of course, they’ll boost the ranking of that site.

Once your website design is completed, the first thing that needs to happen is what might be referred to as a test drive. Depending on how and where it is being hosted, this would involve checking all the functions the website has, as seen through the eyes of a visitor.

This would be things like checking that videos play properly, contact forms are working, and spell checks on all the content. There would also be some test purchases to ensure those processes are working too, if it were an eCommerce website.

A number of technical tests would also be carried out such as ensuring the page load speeds for every page are acceptable, that all the links within the website are working and that all the code is functioning as it should. Another check will be to see that the website loads properly on all the main browsers and that it is responsive when being viewed on different devices.

The simple answer to this is ‘Yes’, but there are some caveats. The intention should be that at the planning stage of your website, every aspect of it is agreed, and then implemented. However, it is reasonable to expect that there may be some minor changes that the client may wish to make. If these are relatively simple design changes or the editing of some content, then there should be no reason why they couldn’t be done.

Where problems may arise is if the changes requested are comprehensive, or that they require a complete redevelopment in respect of the structure or the coding, for example. These would be seen as more than simple changes and most web design agencies would quite reasonably charge an additional fee for this work.