Photography plays a really big part in a visually strong website, bad photography can reflect badly on you – but good photography can give the impression that you’re a quality, respectable company. In most instances, unless you have some pretty good skills with a camera you wont be snapping the sort of photos you want to represent your business. Try to budget for professional photos – remember, 6 professionally done photos is better than 60 amateur photos!
Eggplant Studios has connections with local photographers, and we can negotiate and arrange all the photo shoots for you. Also, you may want to consider stock photography, which can sometimes be your best option.
As with photography, good writing skills aren’t in everyone. It’s even harder to find someone whose able to write good marketing material. Good marketing copy needs to address a specific audience – and professional copywriters are amazing at this. Because setting a tone, and speaking to your target audience in a clear and concise way, while addressing their needs and leading them towards your goals, is so important it should be forefront of your considerations. Your readers will appreciate being able to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, without being bogged down by an online novel.
Eggplant works very closely with some of the most talented writers in the valley (such is the benefit of working at the local newspaper), not only are they experts at editing, they often deal with local businesses for profiles and magazine features. Additionally, Eggplant Studios works closely with marketing professionals who can help you come up with content that works!
Consider the types of features you want in your new website. Do you want an events calendar? Restaurant menus? A booking system? Would you like to have slideshows, image galleries or nice pop-ups for your photos? Would you like to have a blog? Would you like to edit your own site with a powerful CMS (content management system)? These sorts of interactive bits really take a website to the next level, plus, they can be really fun to put together. We know this stuff works is a mystery to most, so ask – we’d love to explain it, talk about the best way to implement it, and see if they’re worth it for your business.
Next we need to think about how it’s all going to come together. What sorts of pages do you need? Most sites have 3 key pages, a landing or Index page, an About page, and a Contact page. Really focus on what you want to feature on your website, and see how you can categorize that into pages. Most websites have between 3 and 7 main pages; see if you can find a way to pare-down your ideas to the most important aspects. Sometimes, the fewer the pages the better.
