MAE Landscapes Web Design Project

The Solutions…

1. Brand New Website and Google Business Listings plan

New Website: With Martin having only just set up his landscape gardening business it was important for him to keep costs to a minimum.  That said, he understood that he also wanted a quality website that would make his business look really professional.

Google Business Listings:  Not only did MAE need a new website, it was really important for him to rank in Google.  As such he would need his Google Business listings set up for him.

Here’s what we offered Martin:

• A new 10 page Premium Website for £600 delivered within 8 weeks
• Go Local plan per month to help achieve page 1 ranking for his keywords in the natural search listings for Google Business listings
• A FREE advert every month on St Helens Life
• A FREE article written for him every month for his website

(scroll back to top of page to read about what Hot Web Design HOW we achieved this for MAE Landscapes)

2. Brand new logo and business cards designed and printed for him

Our Roadmap to success

PART 1: LOGO & BUSINESS CARD DESIGN.

Designing a new logo is one of the most fun yet challenging design projects you can undertake.  One its been agreed, it will be used on anything from social media profiles, to websites, business cards, leaflets, flyers and more.  So its really important that the design is in keeping with the image you have for your company and what you want your customers to remember you for.  Therefore we have addapted a simple 8 step process for all our logo design projects to get this right.

1. Design Brief – Get to know the client’s business
2. Research – Conduct research focused on the industry, its history, and competitors
3. Brainstorming – Think of ideas and make decisions on the possible design directions.
4. Sketching – Sketch the logo design concepts around the brief and research.
5. Design Execution – Select promising logo design concepts and execute them digitally.
6. Presentation – Present logo designs concepts in context of applications relevant to the client.
7. Revisions / Approval – Make changes where necessary with the client arrive on the best solution.
8. Delivery – Deliver the final logo artwork and identity guidelines.

For MAE during the project we designed 8 different verisions of the logo.  During each iteration we saved our work in a secure shared folder with the client so that they could give us instant feedback on our work.  This enabled us to finish the design of the logo in just a matter of days rather than weeks that some logo designs might take.  Martin was very happy with the new logo and the professional business cards we created for him.

PART 2: WEB DESIGN PROCESS:

PLANNING, DESIGN RESEARCH & DISCOVERY

For all projects its really important that we Understand the target audience, competitors, and goals.  During this phase, we work out a proper site map and flow, create mood boards, structure content,and gather all the appropriate assets like content for each page, relevant images from the clients work and stock images preferred for the project.  . This phase helps us make sure that not only do we create a website that looks really professional, but it is also quick and easy for the target audience to find what they are looking form. If a client is searching for fencing or gardening, or something more specific as a tree surgeon, its really important that we enable to get to that information as quickly and clearly as possible.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE AND WIREFRAMING

Before we start designing the site, we create wireframes that outline the general layouts and components the designs should include. This can be a combination of sketches, whiteboard diagrams and/or wireframe prototypes. This process maps out and helps ensure that all of the most important information and expected elements are in place, and gives us a good guide on how the site pages should be laid out and flow. Think of this as the blueprints or plans you need before building a house.

To help keep the project always moving forward we keep our work in a secure cloud environment so that the client has live 24/7 access to all the work we do.  Right through the process the client can watch the website being built from the comfort of their phone, laptop desktop or relevant device.  In this project , for MAE Lanscapes this enabled us to gather realtime feedback from Martin  rather than just wait until the end of the project where too much time would be lost if didnt like our work.

This for us is the best way to build; the client is contstanlty working with us to make the improvemnts needed to build the perfect website for their business

DESIGN PHASE

Working closely with our creative director, our lead designer will design the graphics and mock up a concept for the new website’s home page, relevant to your industry, your preferences, and target audience in mind. Our standard projects generally include multiple design concepts with revisions, as needed, to finalise the design.  Just as we do with the wireframe stage of the website, the design of the homepage remains accessable to our client at all times.   In following this process for MAE, it was very easy for us to get sign off on the initial structure and design of the website.  Within Martin providing regular feedback our process enabled us to deliver in a matter of weeks what most design agencys might take months.

In getting sign off on the home page, and the design and layout of the website, this allowed us to start adding all the content and landing pages for all of the services provided by MAE Landscapes.

FINAL CHECKS, QA TESTING & TRAINING

When all of the website has been completed, we will review and test the entire website with the client. We then provide training for any administration tools that your site may require. Finally, we always carry out a thorough audit and the finishing touches will be completed in preparation for launch.   Again, due to our process and giving MAE 24/7 access throughout the whole build and design process, this was the least challegning part of the project.  We already new Martin would love the final design as we had been in open communication thoroughout the 8 weeks.

PART 3: Google Business Listings

Once the website was launced we moved to the Google listings.  For this stage we needed register the business in Google and devleop a plan to rank in google  that included:

• Creation of Keyword target list
• Directory Listing updates for key local online directories
• Appear in Google for searches relevant to there target location – in MAE’s case St Helens
• Target keywords and locations that users search
• well structured Landing pages for the services provided by MAE
• Google Business registration
• Google Analytics registration
• Google Webmasters installation
• Competition analyisis
• Website content
• Onsite Meta Titles and Descriptions
• Back link profile
• Internal link profile

Google looks at over 200 different factors when considering the ranking of each web page.  By using our knowledge of these factors we were able to apply changes to the new MAE website and Google Business listing to help improve its position in Google.  When done right, its very easy to see your business in the top spots in the search engines.  This is exactly what we achieved when you type Gardeners St Helens into Google….

(scroll back to top of page to read RESULTS about what Hot Web Design do now to ensure continued success for Widnes Auto Electrical)

SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS

As part of our strategy to deliver high search rankings for the natural listings we can safely say that Widnes Auto Electrical services are achieving Top rankings for all the targeted key words in and around Widnes:

• Gardeners
• Landscape gardeners
• Tree Surgeons
• Decking
• Garden Design
• and many more related keywords and phrases

In addition to the website, seo, and google adwords, for no extra charge, we have negotiated a 12 month relationship with St Helens Life for adverts and editorial content on their new local website.  This has seen an increase in visitors to our website and as part of our package we get an advert on the St Helens Life Websiteand  free shares, likes and retweets of our work.