Category: Webdesign

Common Cloud Issues Limiting Your Business Success

The significant benefits of cloud operations can be quickly lost through misconfiguration. In this report we look at where cloud strategies are losing money or failing to realise their full potential because of misconfigurations.

Brits report they will start Christmas shopping earlier this year – will your business be ready?

Christmas is an important source of revenue for retailers – and a serious headache for their ecommerce managers. Traffic increases exponentially in the run up to December

Aspiring Panda featured in TechRound's 50 Best BAME Businesses 2020

We are delighted to announce that Anu Panesar of Aspiring Panda has been named as a finalist in TechRound’s BAME 50 Under 50, which ranks the top 50 BAME-driven

Diversity And Inclusion Advice For Small Businesses

Following the global Black Lives Matter protests, businesses across all sectors have taken to social media in a bid to show solidarity with the movement.

Increased Cloud Usage During The Pandemic

As businesses become increasingly more reliant on cloud services during the pandemic, Aspiring Panda shares their commentary on how businesses can work.

Top Ecommerce trends for 2020

With 2020 now in full swing, there’s never been a better time to reflect on some of the ecommerce predictions made towards the end of 2019.

Introducing the Aspiring Panda #AspiringWomen Community

Aspiring Panda is thrilled to launch our exciting new #AspiringWomen Community celebrating inspirational female business leaders.

Custom Webdesign

Three Things To Do When Getting A Web Design Quote

Post author By admin
Post date 21 June 2017

/ Insights / Three Things To Do When Getting A Web Design Quote

Three Things To Do When Getting A Web Design Quote

The dominance of the internet as a connector between businesses and their customers mean that a website is a must have for almost every type of business.

This has created the paradox that web design is a commodity where simply building a site will generate results. A web design quote can vary drastically with the same brief from company to company.

For a loosely defined project some companies web design quote may be a couple of hundred pounds, whereas for the same project a quote of tens of thousands of pounds may come back from a competitor.

This makes it difficult to work out which company is providing value and offering the service you need as part of your web design quote.

We have put together three things to do when getting a web design quote that will increase your chances of success.

Work Out The Scope Before Getting Quotes

Although you may not know the technical aspects of how a website works, by looking at other websites and those of competitors you can build a picture in your head of the functionality and design level that you will want to incorporate into your site.

When getting highly variable quotes it is often because the functionality that the web designer has included is different from one provider to another.

By working out what you want your site to do, it puts you in a better position to compare quotes from different providers on a like for like basis.

Look At A Company’s Portfolio

A web design company’s portfolio is its living and breathing CV, you can see sites the company has built out there working on the web.

Understanding the portfolio of a business allows you to see what kind of websites they have built before and whether that fits with the cost of their quote and what they can realistically deliver.

Speak To Other Businesses

At Aspiring Panda a large portion of our business comes from referral, this is because by speaking to your business contacts you can draw on their experience to find a company that has a good track record and can deliver the website that you need.

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

/ Related Content

Common Cloud Issues Limiting Your Business Success

Brits report they will start Christmas shopping earlier this year – will your business be ready?

Christmas is an important source of revenue for retailers – and a serious headache for their ecommerce managers. Traffic increases exponentially in the run up to December

Aspiring Panda featured in TechRound's 50 Best BAME Businesses 2020

We are delighted to announce that Anu Panesar of Aspiring Panda has been named as a finalist in TechRound’s BAME 50 Under 50, which ranks the top 50 BAME-driven

Diversity And Inclusion Advice For Small Businesses

Following the global Black Lives Matter protests, businesses across all sectors have taken to social media in a bid to show solidarity with the movement.

Increased Cloud Usage During The Pandemic

As businesses become increasingly more reliant on cloud services during the pandemic, Aspiring Panda shares their commentary on how businesses can work.

Top Ecommerce trends for 2020

With 2020 now in full swing, there’s never been a better time to reflect on some of the ecommerce predictions made towards the end of 2019.

Introducing the Aspiring Panda #AspiringWomen Community

Aspiring Panda is thrilled to launch our exciting new #AspiringWomen Community celebrating inspirational female business leaders.

Productivity web Webdesign

Many Business Owners Still Have Websites That Do Not Work On Mobile Devices

Post author By admin
Post date 22 February 2017

/ Insights / Many Business Owners Still Have Websites That Do Not Work On Mobile Devices

Many Business Owners Still Have Websites That Do Not Work On Mobile Devices

It has been nearly two years since Google announced that it was changing the way it displayed search results to penalise websites that were not designed for use by mobile phones and tablets.

Many business owners have updated their websites to meet the new requirements however we still encounter those that are not and therefore are not appearing on mobile searches.

This is significant as more than half of all internet searches are made from a mobile or tablet device. Meaning that websites that are not compliant with Google’s guidelines are potentially halving the amount of people that visit their website having searched for businesses like them.

If your business website is not optimised for mobile devices, this is important as these are people that are looking for businesses like yours.

If they do not find your business, then the likelihood is that the person searching for the service will end up using a competitor.

What To Do If Your Site Is Non-Compliant

The first step is to check if your site is mobile friendly. To do this you can go to the Google website https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly and take the test in the link.

If your site is not mobile friendly, then it is likely that you have not updated your website for at least three years. The internet and consumer trends have transformed in this time as has the possible things your website can do.

Therefore, it may be worth investing in an entirely new website to refresh the design and functionality and ensure that your website is mobile friendly.

If your site is not mobile friendly and you are not sure of the next steps then call us on +44 020 8861 0115

This is a guest blog by en-ACT member Kristian Downer a social media expert based in Peterborough

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

/ Related Content

Common Cloud Issues Limiting Your Business Success

Brits report they will start Christmas shopping earlier this year – will your business be ready?

Christmas is an important source of revenue for retailers – and a serious headache for their ecommerce managers. Traffic increases exponentially in the run up to December

Aspiring Panda featured in TechRound's 50 Best BAME Businesses 2020

We are delighted to announce that Anu Panesar of Aspiring Panda has been named as a finalist in TechRound’s BAME 50 Under 50, which ranks the top 50 BAME-driven

Diversity And Inclusion Advice For Small Businesses

Following the global Black Lives Matter protests, businesses across all sectors have taken to social media in a bid to show solidarity with the movement.

Increased Cloud Usage During The Pandemic

As businesses become increasingly more reliant on cloud services during the pandemic, Aspiring Panda shares their commentary on how businesses can work.

Top Ecommerce trends for 2020

With 2020 now in full swing, there’s never been a better time to reflect on some of the ecommerce predictions made towards the end of 2019.

Introducing the Aspiring Panda #AspiringWomen Community

Aspiring Panda is thrilled to launch our exciting new #AspiringWomen Community celebrating inspirational female business leaders.

Technology web Webdesign

Three 2017 Web Design Trends

Post author By admin
Post date 18 November 2016

/ Insights / Three 2017 Web Design Trends

Three 2017 Web Design Trends

The world of web design has continued to evolve during 2016 as consumer behaviours react to the latest technologies and trends. Aspiring Panda have identified three 2017 web design trends that could affect businesses across the UK.

The key 2017 web design trends we examine relate to content, SEO and mobile accessibility as the way the public consume information and buy products and services continue to evolve.

Video Will Continue To Dominate Online Content

Content is an incredibly part of marketing your business and making the most from your web design. In 2016 video really started to dominate and one particular trend that captured the imagination of the public was live video.

Facebook Live and Periscope continue to be powerful tools for business owners to tell their story and video content of all types are forecast to grow in 2017.

Within web design this will mean considering how video can be incorporated into existing and new build websites.

Mobile Accessibility

It has been nearly two years since Google made it clear that websites that were not mobile friendly would be negatively impacted in search engine results. During this time the amount of time people spend on the internet from a mobile device has surged to dwarf desktop usage.

2017 web design trends continue to reflect the relevance and importance of designing websites considering they will be accessed primarily by mobile devices.

SEO Will Continue To Be Local & Content Driven

Search engine optimisation continues to be a powerful tool for businesses to drive traffic to their websites. The way in which this works continues to evolve and in 2016 local search was a key factor for small businesses.

In 2017 this is likely to continue as is the need to have an active website posting regular content that includes related keywords to your business.

If you are unsure if your website is ready for 2017 then give the Aspiring Panda team a call (+44) 020 8861 0115

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

/ Related Content

Common Cloud Issues Limiting Your Business Success

Brits report they will start Christmas shopping earlier this year – will your business be ready?

Christmas is an important source of revenue for retailers – and a serious headache for their ecommerce managers. Traffic increases exponentially in the run up to December

Aspiring Panda featured in TechRound's 50 Best BAME Businesses 2020

We are delighted to announce that Anu Panesar of Aspiring Panda has been named as a finalist in TechRound’s BAME 50 Under 50, which ranks the top 50 BAME-driven

Diversity And Inclusion Advice For Small Businesses

Following the global Black Lives Matter protests, businesses across all sectors have taken to social media in a bid to show solidarity with the movement.

Increased Cloud Usage During The Pandemic

As businesses become increasingly more reliant on cloud services during the pandemic, Aspiring Panda shares their commentary on how businesses can work.

Top Ecommerce trends for 2020

With 2020 now in full swing, there’s never been a better time to reflect on some of the ecommerce predictions made towards the end of 2019.

Introducing the Aspiring Panda #AspiringWomen Community

Aspiring Panda is thrilled to launch our exciting new #AspiringWomen Community celebrating inspirational female business leaders.

Tags business, design, digital, Web

Marketing Productivity Webdesign

Web Designers – How Partnering with An App Development Firm Can Increase Your Bottom Line

Post author By admin
Post date 3 October 2016

/ Insights / Web Designers – How Partnering with An App Development Firm Can Increase Your Bottom Line

Web Designers – How Partnering with An App Development Firm Can Increase Your Bottom Line

The web design industry is highly competitive with lots of different approaches to helping customers grow their businesses using the internet. This competitiveness means that web designers need to find ways to maximise the value of the relationship and trust they have built with their customers.

Offering Additional Services

Offering integrated or related marketing solutions such as social media and app development can be an effective way for web design companies operating in a highly competitive marketplace to increase their bottom line.

This means that many companies are now “full service” marketers offering a wide range of products and services. This creates a number of challenges in maintaining the level of knowledge and expertise across all product sets to their customers.

The App Development Opportunity

Instant internet connectivity and access to smartphones mean that many of the companies that start the process of improving their web presence can benefit from development of a bespoke enterprise app designed to increase sales or improve internal processes.

This app is designed to either interact with customers and be generally available, or it could be an app for use by the company itself to manage internal processes such as stock management, project management or HR.

Benefits of Outsourcing or White Labelling App Development

Partnering with an app development company can allow web design companies to provide an app to their clients and generate revenue whilst maintaining the customer relationship.

As Aspiring Panda, we are fortunate to have developed a team of developers with skills in web design and app design, this means that we are able to provide a full service to our customers and help them build a user flow that helps them develop.

So if you are a web design agency looking at ways to increase your bottom line, then

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

/ Related Content

Common Cloud Issues Limiting Your Business Success

Brits report they will start Christmas shopping earlier this year – will your business be ready?

Christmas is an important source of revenue for retailers – and a serious headache for their ecommerce managers. Traffic increases exponentially in the run up to December

Aspiring Panda featured in TechRound's 50 Best BAME Businesses 2020

We are delighted to announce that Anu Panesar of Aspiring Panda has been named as a finalist in TechRound’s BAME 50 Under 50, which ranks the top 50 BAME-driven

Diversity And Inclusion Advice For Small Businesses

Following the global Black Lives Matter protests, businesses across all sectors have taken to social media in a bid to show solidarity with the movement.

Increased Cloud Usage During The Pandemic

As businesses become increasingly more reliant on cloud services during the pandemic, Aspiring Panda shares their commentary on how businesses can work.

Top Ecommerce trends for 2020

With 2020 now in full swing, there’s never been a better time to reflect on some of the ecommerce predictions made towards the end of 2019.

Introducing the Aspiring Panda #AspiringWomen Community

Aspiring Panda is thrilled to launch our exciting new #AspiringWomen Community celebrating inspirational female business leaders.

Technology web Webdesign

5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

Post author By admin
Post date 12 September 2016

/ Insights / 5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

5 Quick Small Business Website Tips

A website is a huge opportunity for small businesses to attract new customers and strengthen relationships with existing customers.

We have put together a set of five quick tips that will help small business owners get the most from their website.

Tip 1 – Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile Friendly

We have repeatedly spoken on this blog about the importance of your website by those using mobile devices.

This is especially critical for businesses that operate within a small local area as appearing in local mobile results means people can find you on the move when they may need your product/service urgently.

Tip 2 – Add A Blog

Google loves websites that have lots of fresh and relevant content, publishing a blog post once a fortnight will ensure that when Google looks at your site it can connect what you are saying to what your customers need.

Tip 3 – Make Your Contact Information Easy To Find

If people visit your website and want to find out more but cannot find a way to get in contact with you easily then they will leave and find a competitor.

We recommend you have your business phone number on every page.

Tip 4 – Make Your Site Visually Appealing

Images can help explain what you offer to customers and make your site more visually appealing. The more appealing your website to the eye the more likely people are to stay and assimilate the information on your page. This tip goes hand in hand with easy to use navigation so people can find what they need straight away.

Tip 5 – Promote Your Blog Posts More Than Once

Only promoting a good quality informative blog post is a wasted opportunity, use social media to repackage the content repeatedly to ensure

If you would like to know more about what your business needs to keep up with modern consumers and changes to the way online marketing works give us a call on 020 8861 0115

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

/ Related Content

Common Cloud Issues Limiting Your Business Success

Brits report they will start Christmas shopping earlier this year – will your business be ready?

Christmas is an important source of revenue for retailers – and a serious headache for their ecommerce managers. Traffic increases exponentially in the run up to December

Aspiring Panda featured in TechRound's 50 Best BAME Businesses 2020

We are delighted to announce that Anu Panesar of Aspiring Panda has been named as a finalist in TechRound’s BAME 50 Under 50, which ranks the top 50 BAME-driven

Diversity And Inclusion Advice For Small Businesses

Following the global Black Lives Matter protests, businesses across all sectors have taken to social media in a bid to show solidarity with the movement.

Increased Cloud Usage During The Pandemic

As businesses become increasingly more reliant on cloud services during the pandemic, Aspiring Panda shares their commentary on how businesses can work.

Top Ecommerce trends for 2020

With 2020 now in full swing, there’s never been a better time to reflect on some of the ecommerce predictions made towards the end of 2019.

Introducing the Aspiring Panda #AspiringWomen Community

Aspiring Panda is thrilled to launch our exciting new #AspiringWomen Community celebrating inspirational female business leaders.

Tags business, digital, marketing, Media, mobile, mobile friendly, start up, strategy, technology

web Webdesign

Three Questions To Decide If You Need A New Website

Post author By admin
Post date 17 June 2016

/ Insights / Three Questions To Decide If You Need A New Website

Three Questions To Decide If You Need A New Website

If you ask a web designer if your website needs to be redesigned, then without looking at your existing site they may be inclined to say yes.

This is because every web designer will feel they can improve your site and the speed of change within the industry means that most sites are behind the current trends soon after they are released.

The reality though is that for the overwhelming majority of the UK’s 5m businesses it would be impossible and impractical to redesign in line with design trends.

So rather than looking at the trends we ask businesses to balance the needs of their customers with the functional capabilities of their website. This can be split into three questions:

Is Your Business Mobile Friendly?

If your website is more than a couple of years old, then it may not be designed with people who use the internet from a smartphone or tablet in mind. The likelihood is that with more than half of all traffic coming from mobile devices this will include your customers.

Sites that are not mobile friendly appear too large or too small on a smartphone or tablet and can be difficult to navigate.

Google have recognised this and now do not show websites on their search engines when a user searches from a smartphone or tablet, which could see your website become invisible to half the internet.

If your website is not mobile-friendly (test it here) then it is time to get a new website to ensure that your customers can find your site and navigate it efficiently.

Is Your Website Easy To Navigate?

Modern consumers are incredibly impatient, if your website is difficult to use or they find it hard to find what they want, then they will simply give up and go elsewhere.

Therefore, if your website is confusing or hard to navigate then you need to seriously consider redesigning your existing site or building a new one.

Does The Design Reflect The Message I Want To Send Customers?

Branding is used to describe any part of your business that allows a customer to make a judgement about your company. If your website is tacky, lacks detail or has obviously not been attended to in years then your potential customers will make decisions based on that.

So if you look at your website, and you do not think it reflects the values of your customers it may be time to redesign your website.

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

/ Related Content

Common Cloud Issues Limiting Your Business Success

Brits report they will start Christmas shopping earlier this year – will your business be ready?

Christmas is an important source of revenue for retailers – and a serious headache for their ecommerce managers. Traffic increases exponentially in the run up to December

Aspiring Panda featured in TechRound's 50 Best BAME Businesses 2020

We are delighted to announce that Anu Panesar of Aspiring Panda has been named as a finalist in TechRound’s BAME 50 Under 50, which ranks the top 50 BAME-driven

Diversity And Inclusion Advice For Small Businesses

Following the global Black Lives Matter protests, businesses across all sectors have taken to social media in a bid to show solidarity with the movement.

Increased Cloud Usage During The Pandemic

As businesses become increasingly more reliant on cloud services during the pandemic, Aspiring Panda shares their commentary on how businesses can work.

Top Ecommerce trends for 2020

With 2020 now in full swing, there’s never been a better time to reflect on some of the ecommerce predictions made towards the end of 2019.

Introducing the Aspiring Panda #AspiringWomen Community

Aspiring Panda is thrilled to launch our exciting new #AspiringWomen Community celebrating inspirational female business leaders.

Technology Webdesign

3 Ways A Responsive Website Increases Profit

Post author By admin
Post date 15 April 2016

/ Insights / 3 Ways A Responsive Website Increases Profit

3 Ways A Responsive Website Increases Profit

Having a responsive website is a vital component of a modern marketing strategy, it should be the starting point before you start thinking about other digital marketing disciplines such as social media, email marketing or blogging.

This is because none of this matters if nobody can find your website, or when they do, they find it difficult to navigate or complete a purchase.

Responsive Website Increases Profits – Your Customers Are Mobile

Mobile internet connectivity means that customers could be accessing your website from anywhere at any time of day.

With more than 50% of web traffic online, it makes sense to have a website that is designed to be responsive to the different devices they use to access your website.

Responsive Website Increases Profits – Makes Your Site Easier to Use

Websites were originally designed for large computer screens, however, when people start using mobile phones and tablets to access the same sites the pictures, text and layout do not fit onto the smaller screens. Whereas a responsive website is designed to display the content of the website tailored to the size of the screen.

A responsive website increases profit by making it easier for your customers to access and engage with your website, this makes them more likely to take actions that result in sales directly or indirectly.

Responsive Website Increases Profits – Get Your Website Found

The use of mobile devices to access the internet has led to search engines such as Google to tailor their results to favour mobile friendly or mobile responsive websites to users searching using mobile devices. Therefore, having a mobile responsive website makes sure that your customers can find you when using a mobile device.

If you need help creating a responsive website that increases profits within your business, then contact our team at Aspiring Panda.

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

/ Related Content

Common Cloud Issues Limiting Your Business Success

Brits report they will start Christmas shopping earlier this year – will your business be ready?

Christmas is an important source of revenue for retailers – and a serious headache for their ecommerce managers. Traffic increases exponentially in the run up to December

Aspiring Panda featured in TechRound's 50 Best BAME Businesses 2020

We are delighted to announce that Anu Panesar of Aspiring Panda has been named as a finalist in TechRound’s BAME 50 Under 50, which ranks the top 50 BAME-driven

Diversity And Inclusion Advice For Small Businesses

Following the global Black Lives Matter protests, businesses across all sectors have taken to social media in a bid to show solidarity with the movement.

Increased Cloud Usage During The Pandemic

As businesses become increasingly more reliant on cloud services during the pandemic, Aspiring Panda shares their commentary on how businesses can work.

Top Ecommerce trends for 2020

With 2020 now in full swing, there’s never been a better time to reflect on some of the ecommerce predictions made towards the end of 2019.

Introducing the Aspiring Panda #AspiringWomen Community

Aspiring Panda is thrilled to launch our exciting new #AspiringWomen Community celebrating inspirational female business leaders.

Technology web Webdesign

Three Ways To Improve Your Website This Spring

Post author By admin
Post date 8 April 2016

/ Insights / Three Ways To Improve Your Website This Spring

Three Ways To Improve Your Website This Spring

In the UK, as the weather starts to improve, spring is in the air, our thoughts come to how we can give our company a spring clean and keep things moving as we enter the second quarter of the year.

Here are three ways that you can clear the cobwebs out of your website this spring:

Check Your Website Is Mobile Friendly

If you have not developed your website recently then it may not be mobile friendly. This means that the design may not be responsive to the different kinds of devices that people may use to access your website.

With more than 50% of web searches now via a mobile device, it is important everyone that visits your site can get the most from it.

You can check your site is mobile friendly here

Check All Your Contact Information & Calls To Action

Making sure that the information is right on your site, is up to date and there are clear calls to action can be the difference between a site visit and a conversion.

If someone cannot quickly find the way to contact you or buy directly, they will get frustrated and leave, so make sure everything is clear and all the links work.

Write A Blog Post

Having recent and relevant information on your site is important from a search engine ranking perspective and the impression this creates with your customers.

It is an opportunity to showcase your knowledge of your industry and build trust with your audience, so even if it has been a while, now is the perfect time to get back into blogging within your business.

If you have any questions about your website and how to make the most from your web presence, contact the Aspiring Panda team.

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

/ Related Content

Common Cloud Issues Limiting Your Business Success

Brits report they will start Christmas shopping earlier this year – will your business be ready?

Christmas is an important source of revenue for retailers – and a serious headache for their ecommerce managers. Traffic increases exponentially in the run up to December

Aspiring Panda featured in TechRound's 50 Best BAME Businesses 2020

We are delighted to announce that Anu Panesar of Aspiring Panda has been named as a finalist in TechRound’s BAME 50 Under 50, which ranks the top 50 BAME-driven

Diversity And Inclusion Advice For Small Businesses

Following the global Black Lives Matter protests, businesses across all sectors have taken to social media in a bid to show solidarity with the movement.

Increased Cloud Usage During The Pandemic

As businesses become increasingly more reliant on cloud services during the pandemic, Aspiring Panda shares their commentary on how businesses can work.

Top Ecommerce trends for 2020

With 2020 now in full swing, there’s never been a better time to reflect on some of the ecommerce predictions made towards the end of 2019.

Introducing the Aspiring Panda #AspiringWomen Community

Aspiring Panda is thrilled to launch our exciting new #AspiringWomen Community celebrating inspirational female business leaders.

web Webdesign

Three Small Business Website Trends For 2016

Post author By admin
Post date 15 January 2016

/ Insights / Three Small Business Website Trends For 2016

Three Small Business Website Trends For 2016

One of the reasons for hiring a professional web design company is that the industry is constantly changing and evolving. Hiring a company that works on websites on a daily basis can help your business keep in touch with the latest developments and generate more revenue.

Last year was one of change in the web design industry, the big change was that building websites that were easy to read and interact with on mobile devices became critical.

A change in the way Google ranks websites in search means that from April 2015 sites that are not “Mobile Friendly” found themselves harder to find for their potential customers.

Here are three trends we think will impact small businesses in 2016.

A Focus On User Experience

For small businesses the website is no longer a poster for the bricks and mortar presence, instead the site needs to be easy to access and active. This means that it needs to engage users, providing convenience and ease of use, whilst compelling them to take an action.

Sites that do this well will convert more customers and see a greater return on all their online marketing including social media and paid advertising.

Increased Links Between The High Street and Online

With 86% of people using the internet whilst in shops to research products they are considering buying, retailers and service providers will need to make sure that their online and offline offerings are integrated to maximise the potential of both. Businesses need to think of them as the same thing as we move into 2016.

Renewed Focus On Driving Traffic & Retaining Data

With social media becoming more and more saturated, there will be an increased need to advertise on these platforms to reach your audience.

To ensure this is of benefit businesses will need to ensure that they put the right mechanisms in place to maximise the effectiveness of any traffic driven to their website and capture as much data for retargeting and email marketing campaigns.

Anoop Panesar

Business Development Manager

/ Related Content