We are now a UK company!

This year we have transitioned our corporate structure to the United Kingdom.

Although the Estonian version of Arias & Thompson was successful, it makes more sense for us to bring the corporation into the United Kingdom.

For any more information, please contact us.

Get Your Vacant Job Postings on Google Jobs

The recruitment space in the UK has officially been shaken up with the official launch of Google Jobs on July 17.

For those of you who haven’t searched a job posting lately, Google has fully released its job posting aggregation service that was previously only available in the USA, Spain and parts of Africa.

I’m a Recruiter, How do I List my Jobs on Google?

There are a two ways to get listed on Google’s aggregate job boards, to post your positions to a third party site that is already integrated, or integrate your own site through structured data and optimized crawl rates.

Using Third Party Sites to Get Jobs Listed on Google

Google doesn’t provide a list of those who are already listed, but a quick glance at the job board shows the likes of Randstad, GumTree, Indeed, Hays and whole host more. If you already use a third party to list your job, chances are you have nothing to worry about. Check with your listing service and see if they are already integrated.

Get Your Own Recruitment Site Listed on Google Jobs

This is the fun part. You don’t submit your job postings to Google, but rather, Google crawls your site and finds your postings via structured data. Let’s have a quick rundown of how this works.

Structured Data and Job Postings

Using structured data is a way of telling Google or other search engines exactly what your page is about and the details of the page in a reusable, standardized format. That standardized format comes from schema.org and can be applied to job postings but also to recipes, articles and books amongst other uses.

To implement structured data, you have two approaches: adding inline data attributes to your HTML components or using JSON-LD code that is inserted into the head of your web page. Both are valid approaches however Google likes JSON-LD better (Bing also now supports it).

I highly recommend looking at Google’s guide on listing jobs and its structured data information and testing tool.

Although I am not going to go into detail of how to implement structured data into your site, I will give you a few hints. If you are working with WordPress, skip the heavier plugins and look to better options like Advanced Custom Fields and using a template/theme that allows you to attach custom fields to a custom content type or blog post. These fields can then be inserted into the header in the theme file.

If this makes no sense to you, contact us and we can optimize your site for Google Jobs.

The second part of the equation is to make sure Google is crawling your site effectively. One is to keep your sitemap updated with Google. This can be done by updating the sitemap that is uploaded to your site and then telling Google about it through the Search Console.

See, everyone needs communication.

Additionally, you need to set your site up so that it can be crawled frequently. This is done by informing Google in the Search Console that your site updates frequently and it should be crawled at least daily. Additionally, make sure you are using good hosting that allows for significant bandwidth usage. Having Google crawl your site more will add to your traffic consumption.

Can Job Seekers Apply Online?

The final piece here really comes down to user experience and I have lead with the assumption that the ability for a job seeker to apply online is already present. If that functionality is not in place, you will need to build out that workflow to meet Google’s guidelines.

If you check all these boxes, you can expect to see your job postings start appearing in Google’s job aggregations shortly. We advise keeping an eye on your Search Console to spot any errors and to troubleshoot accordingly depending on what errors come up.

Website Builders for Small Business

Website builders such as SquareSpace, Wix, GoDaddy or any other have become increasingly sophisticated over the past few years making them viable options for small and large businesses who need an off the shelf website created without touching any code. For a minimal fee you can be up and running in a matter of minutes with a decent website that will tick all the minimum boxes from design to SEO.

When are Website Builders Good?

When small businesses have very little budget to spend on marketing or website creation, the low cost options of the Wix’s or SquareSpace’s make for great, entry level websites that will provide a piece of digital real estate for them to point their customers to. They have made great strides to improve their mobile usability, SEO and responsiveness.

In our mind, they have met the basic minimum requirements necessary for a functioning website.

But do you really want your business website to function at a D+ level?

Why are Website Builders Bad?

There are several reasons why I take issues with the likes of Wix and SquareSpace, but let’s count down a few reasons.

Code Bloat

More notably used to describe backend languages or JavaScript, code bloat is essentially redundant, inefficient and mostly unnecessary code. Website builders require this level of redundancy in order to prepare for the unexpected. With customers creating their own website through drag and droppable entities, their developers need to create bomb proof code to account for every possible use case scenario.

In the case of a website builder, this results in an intense amount of code.

Demonstration of code bloat with SquareSpace, so many body classes.

Demonstration of code bloat with SquareSpace, so many body classes.

From the image above, you can see the body of the html document has approximately 85 classes. The average website we build has somewhere between three to ten depending on which CMS we are using. These are used to create CSS hooks for specific design elements. This makes for very difficult editing if you ever need to customize anything. When I checked SquareSpace when writing this post, they say you can customize the site with CSS and JavaScript, however I would not want to be the one to try to target this.

Cost

Cost is a huge motivator when people go for website builders. In the UK, the cost of SquareSpace is £15 per month. The first meaningful Wix plan that doesn’t involve a Wix domain or Wix advertising starts at £8.50 per month (don’t get me started on how long it took me to find Wix’ pricing). Wix says it gives you one email account hosted through G Suite, SquareSpace does the same for the first year only. Any additional emails are at the standard G Suite cost.

If you were to go with a web host, you can have unlimited email, a WordPress, Drupal, or static site and access to your hosting control panel for as little as £2.00 per month (an example and definitely not an endorsement or affiliate). Other plans that range for a few pounds more will give you unlimited websites as well (not domains, those are different).

The point here is that people pay more for a product that might not be doing them that much in the end. They could have a better solution such as a WordPress site with a free or premium theme for less of a cost.

Scalability and Portability

A website builder does not scale well, nor can it be ported to another webhost. They are built using custom programs and codes that don’t play nice with anything else but the original environment.

Let’s give an example. Say the business has grown and it now requires another ten email addresses, more web and email storage, and faster bandwidth. Within a website builder, you don’t have the option to do all of these within their ecosystem. Some are achievable with additional cost, however if a webhost was in use, this could all be done or the website could be moved to a different webhost that offers these services.

SEO

This one is controversial and it is more of a commentary on those who build their own websites in general without seeking help from an expert. Wix and SquareSpace provide their users with enough flexibility to make their websites SEO friendly. You can see our post on getting your SEO basics right for more information, but in general you can get your basics right with Wix and SquareSpace or with any other webhost.

The larger issue here is whether the typical small business owner has the knowledge to get their basics right and acknowledge when they don’t. I spoke with a client recently who told me her website was in perfect working order, she had done all of her SEO correctly, but wasn’t getting any traffic. A five minute audit showed that she had in fact checked a lot of boxes, but had left off very significant semantic components, missed out on third party registrations, and was missing several opportunities to fill in meta data on her html components.

This scenario I find is relatively typical. My solution for most is to either have the website undergo an SEO audit from a developer or SEO specialist, or pay for a developer to populate the content on the site to set up the semantics and styles correctly the first time. This can be done with a WordPress theme or with a Wix or SquareSpace site and help get you set up correctly from the start.

What Are the Alternatives to Website Builders?

Firstly, there is no such thing as a free website. If you use Open Source software like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla, the software is free, but it does need to be hosted somewhere. There will be a cost here. There will also be cost for the domain name. Many webhosts in addition to Wix and SquareSpace will give one year free.

If the business is looking for growth, wants to get the best SEO, but has a next to nothing budget, find a WordPress-specific hosting package, a free theme that provides some customizable options like colour to ensure it has some relation to the brand, and create the website and company emails.

If there is budget, pay for an SEO audit to identify all the components that are missing (there is always more to be done), and get to it.

What is the Ideal Scenario for a Small Business Website?

The ideal scenario is that you pay a designer or developer to create a custom website that aligns with the business’ brand and ethos, that engages with its customers, and converts. Smaller agencies or freelancers can do this at a fraction of the cost of larger agencies. Find someone that is qualified, is used to working with SME’s, and is a good fit for the company.

The point of having a custom website built specifically for the company is that is the company’s main digital real estate. It will provide the best hope for success for the building.

If your business does need a website built, give us a shout, we’d be happy to help.

Getting Your SEO Basics Right

Search Engine Optimization or SEO, an evil necessity that has been born out of our obsession with searching online through a monopoly of search engines. For the past decade people of all industries have laboured endlessly to identify the best way to optimize a site for Google to crawl your site and generate traffic. This has lead to a shift of focus that has only started to recede. Rather than focusing on creating great content or a great service, competitive industries placed equal emphasis on generating content that was specific to keyword searches within targeted, geographical boundaries.

Small Business SEO – Get Your Basics Right

For small businesses, the jargon that surrounds SEO and the seemingly infinite web of complexity can be frustrating and create unnecessary hurdles to your success. We throw terms like on-site SEO, off-site SEO, technical SEO and others around expecting others to understand what we’re talking about. But let’s face it, those of us who work in this industry use this jargon every day. Other business owners or industry workers pretend like they understand us, but realistically, it’s just jargon.

To start with, I always recommend the following to my clients during our website builds to help them get a good foundation.

1. Write great content that works for your brand or company’s purpose

This is simple. Focus on your content and write proper about pages, detailed service descriptions, and in common use vocabulary that others will understand. If you are writing your content with your users in mind instead of yourself, you already understand one of the most basic tenants of SEO – write content that correlates to how people would search.

2. Abandon any measure of branded search in the conversation about SEO

Branded search belongs in a different category of marketing KPI’s. This is a brand awareness problem, not an SEO problem. Even terribly coded websites will still show up in branded search, particularly when geographic location plays a role. You want users to find you in unbranded search to attract new customers who didn’t even know they were looking for you. If they already know who you are, they’ll find you without the help of SEO.

3. Fill out all of the extra fields and meta data

The more information that search engines have to offer, the better. That means fill out your meta data and your image alt tags. Give search engines something to read and fully understand your page. Extra traffic from image searching is a good thing, not to mention it helps make your page more accessible.

If you have no idea what I mean by this, start with Moz’ Beginner’s Guide to SEO, or better yet, book us for an SEO Audit and we’ll help you out.

4. Use semantic markup for your content

If you code you already know what I mean. But for the basics, make sure your site has a good old fashioned title in h1 tags that relates to your page, and then give your subtitles proper h2, h3, h4 ranking. This gives search engines a tidy hierarchy to follow.

SEO basics - know your user - from Arias & Thompson Digital, a web design and development company based in Tallinn, Estonia

Know your audience and write as your user would find you, not necessarily how you would describe yourself.

5. Focus on page speed and mobile usability

This has been important for a long time in terms of user experience, but has now been codified into search algorithms. Your site should load quickly and be usable on any device, no matter the size or network speed.

This means get yourself onto Google’s Page Speed Insights or GTMetrix and see how fast your site is loading. If you use Wix or SquareSpace, you might find that it is pretty slow due to the amount of extra code. Other culprits are too many fonts or not optimizing your images for the web. This is an easy win.

6. Fix your website’s health problems

Get rid of your websites basic problems like broken links or images. You should be doing this anyway, but in case you are not, do it now.

7. Fill in your other profiles like Google Business

Alongside your site’s SEO, look at other profiles you can fill in. The first and foremost is Google Business which allows you to list your business on Google Maps and in the Google Business directory. If you are in hospitality, are you on Trip Advisor? These linked profiles help guide users to your webspace and ultimately will gain you traffic.

8. Save your hyper keyword focus for your blog

This is where your truly keyword dense content can shine. Your blog gives you the opportunity to focus on very specific, niche topics related to your service or product. This type of post lends itself to proper keyword focus writing much more than your regular content pages.

Bonus Hint – What not to do for SEO for your small business

Don’t get carried away with keywords! Keywords are great and do write with them in mind, but do so in a natural way. Focus on how you think customers would find your product or service, then have a look to Adwords Planner or other tools to see if there is quantifiable evidence to confirm that or, if you need to adjust.

If you can’t find relevant keywords associated with your product, you might be looking at issues with market fit as much as you are at SEO.

Arias & Thompson Digital offers a full service, SEO audit that can take your website to the next level. Check it out, or contact us and see how we can move your business forward.

Defining Your New Website Project Flow

Whether you are setting out on a mythical quest to find the only open White Castle or embarking on a new web design project, the most efficient way forward is to use a consistent plan and approach. This allows for expectations to be clearly defined, timelines firmly established, and projects to be finished on time.

Unfortunately this approach leaves little to the imagination and would make for a terrible movie. We say the less cinematic drama the better when it comes to digital project management and website builds but hey, we work in a judgement free zone.

The Arias & Thompson Approach to Web Design Projects

We follow the same process with all of our clients working on web design projects and only make amendments when absolutely necessary to accommodate additional processes.

Kickoff

Contract Signing, Conversion Goal Mapping

The kickoff or initial phase is the getting to know each other time. Although most particulars will have been sorted in the web design proposal and contract signing, it is best to spend 1-3 days going over each other’s internal processes and expectations to avoid any obstacles later on.

During this phase we like to help our clients define what they want from their website. Sometimes this is obvious in terms of e-commerce where conversion is the purchase of a product. Sometimes it is less clear such as reputational builds for small businesses where conversion is achieved offline, but the website functions as a reference piece. The point here is to line up a client’s conversion goals with their larger sales or corporate strategies so they are set up for success and can maximize their return on investment.

Site Outline

Site Outline – spreadsheet, Site Map – user flow

Moving straight on we begin with outlining the website’s architecture. This will take some back and forth between us and the client to generate a relatively accurate map and structure. This phase really sets the stage for the rest of the project as it will dictate how the entire website will hold together.

Wireframing / Architecture

PSD wireframes

Wireframing helps to visualize how a site’s layout will direct a user through the flow to conversion. By using repeatable, standardized forms for images, text boxes, buttons, and navigation, the designer can iterate quickly through a number of scenarios to find the most useful layout and functionality to best engage with the user and achieve the conversion goals set out in the first phase.

Visual Design

Template Design, UI Design

Finally, the fun part. Once your wireframes are ready to go and the client has approved them, it’s time to move on to implementing the visual design. This will be well informed by the wireframes and additional research regarding the industry, geographical location amongst other factors.

During this phase we also take the time to outline our approach to the user interface so that we can save time during development by creating repeated patterns of elements that can be applied to multiple features.

Content Development

Copywriting

We list this here but it goes side by side with the design phase. Content can take a long time to develop given its scope and importance. If the client is developing their own content, we encourage them to get started almost immediately after kick off. For larger corporations or entities, achieving sign off on content can take weeks. Better to start early.

Front End Development

HTML, CSS, JavaScript – Chrome, Feature development

Turning the design into a coded reality has to be one of the most fulfilling feelings in any creative’s daily grind. This is when we build the website in its most ideal state. One browser, no CMS. It allows us to focus on achieving the best optimization and most efficient code as possible. Load speed and efficiency are the prime goals here.

Speed is of the essence for all websites looking to compete in search engine results. Not sure what that means? Get in touch today and we’ll give you a hand.

This time also allows us to fully explore different features and how we are going to achieve them. For many, the aesthetic is achieved during this phase with the functional to occur only in the next phase.

CMS Development

Integration into desired CMS -Chrome only

We work regularly with both Drupal and WordPress as these two open source platforms are flexible and user-friendly. Really, you can do anything with a Drupal site, as long as you are willing to maintain it and update it (hint, it’s not that easy).

This phase is all about how the site will be updated and building the back end into a user friendly editing experience. The lengths to which we go to facilitate the user’s administrative experience depends on who is going to be managing the website. If it’s self managed by the client, that means almost zero code in the editing process. If it’s us or another developer, we have more flexibility.

Cross Browser and Device Testing

Firefox, Edge, IE 11, and Safari, Code verification

The most frustrating experience but a necessary evil, cross browser and cross device testing is where we iron out all the kinks in different browsers. Although this is easier to achieve between browsers than when we started ten years ago, differences crop up sometimes in the most bizarre locations.

Public libraries can be great places to test on different browsers as they often either have older versions of Windows or older browsers installed on their PC’s, or, if you are a PC person, a Mac to try out.

The main complicating issues now are more centred on device testing. Emulators for different browsers and devices are good starting points, but nothing is better than the real thing.

User Testing

Test of user journeys

We base our user testing in Agile methodology to apply user stories that have been generated from previous research or align well with conversion goals set in the initial phase. Here we want to make sure that the user experience is seamless and identify any kinks in the armour.

It is best to use external testers to the project at this phase. Given that the project team has likely been looking at the website for the past few months you will not be in the best position and will bring bias for existing features that may not be deployed as efficiently as you think. Time to swallow the ego and hand over the reigns.

Launch

Go Live

Launch, go live, press start, whatever you want to call it. The day where you actually turn the damn thing on! This day is often met with revelry and it should be, the work has been done and it’s time to celebrate. Just remember, there are many pitfalls and traps you can fall into so make sure your preflight checklist is all ticked off before flipping your DNS settings or you might end up with a few surprises.

Followups

Search Engine submission, Analytics Reporting, Debrief Meeting/Communication

Regardless of who is going to be managing your site, we take the time to address some of the outstanding items that can only be done after the site is live. This includes registering the site with relevant search engines or updating sitemaps and settings within existing accounts, setting up analytics reports and tests and other trade secrets (our clients already know what I am talking about).

We also take the time to have a debrief meeting with our clients to learn from the experience and to improve our internal processes. We are committed to a life-long learning cycle and want to provide the best experience for our clients.

Looking for help with your next web design or website project? Reach out to us through our contact form and let us know how we can help.

Arias & Thompson at Latitude59

Arias & Thompson has been a registered company in Estonia through the Nordic country’s E-Residency program since April of 2017. We were invited to Tallinn by the E-Residency government program to attend the country’s flagship tech event, Latitude59 that was held between May 24-25 in the capital Tallinn in order to demonstrate a use-case and the possibility of success that can be had using E-Residency.

The post that gained us this opportunity is available via our founder’s Medium blog here.

What is Latitude59?

Latitude59 is Estonia’s flagship startup and tech conference that features speakers leading tech innovation in northern Europe and further abroad, investors looking to provide seed or later stage funding, and a whole host of startup tech companies ranging from local Estonian ventures to individuals from further abroad.

In other words, Latitude is a startup founder’s dream injected with a spike of Estonian entrepreneurship.

Housed in Kultuurikatel, Tallinn’s old power plant near the Baltic Sea, the venue is absolutely breathtaking. The old brick walls matched with modern tech startup demonstrators reproduce the feeling of the city: old architecture meets digital society.

Arias & Thompson Role in Latitude59

Arias & Thompson was invited through our participation in a competition designed to demonstrate our use of the E-Residency program that Estonia offers. Once there, our main principal and development lead Ian Philip Thompson had the opportunity to meet with individuals interested in the E-Residency program to learn what it means, how it can be used, and if it is suited to their use cases. Additionally we were there to meet new contacts, generate new business, but most importantly immerse ourselves in Estonian startup culture.

A Meaningful Breakfast

As part of our participation in Latitude59 we were invited to a morning breakfast featuring the Managing Director of the E-Residency program, Kaspar Korjus, the youngest minister in Swedish history Aida Hadžialić, Arnaud Castaignet, Head of Public Relations for E-Residency and the former Digital Strategist and Communications Officer for President François Hollande of France, fellow E-Residents Ian Wagner of Stadia Maps and Gabriel Stürmer of Cupcake Entertainment and a number of local media outlets looking to learn more about the E-Residency program.

Besides our obvious demonstration that E-Residents were in fact real people, the conversation turned to a very serious tone regarding the nature of open governments, new initiatives that could be coming from neighbouring Baltic and Nordic states, and how education can feature in new tech developments.

Letting go of us being the oldest people in the room, we could not be more than impressed in the goals, initiatives and other topics covered. As current residents of UK the topics discussed were cutting edge and contrary to many opinions that are prevailing today. Open borders, transient, nomadic populations and disparities within Estonia regarding digital adoption were all touched on. Although challenging, one could not only marvel at the level of conversation amongst the youth of the country, the future of Estonia and the broader area.

This experience has led me to one conclusion: the future of Estonia will be bright.

E-Residents and Immigration

Among the E-Residents I met during the event, one prevailing commonality was that we all loved Estonia, Tallinn in particular. The question becomes how you deal with a number of global citizens who not only enjoy the digital services provided by the Estonian government, but also are looking to relocate, either temporarily or permanently, to Tallinn. This was not the intention of the E-Residency program, however it is becoming more and more common as more E-Resident’s are “forced” to visit Tallinn to open bank accounts. Turns out, after we visit, we all love it.

A point raised by Kaspar Korjus both during the breakfast and during his moderation during the Latitude59 conference was, could an E-Residency program be the precursor to full immigration? Could this be innovation in immigration? If a talented person likes the services a government offers, could they choose to immigrate? In other words, should governments be adopting similar approaches to Estonia in order to attract specific groups of people or talent in similar ways that large companies already do?

In fact, Estonia is currently looking into creating a year long nomadic visa for people like us to spend a year in Estonia working remotely. When we are done in Manchester, this could be an option!

New Discounts Offered for Manchester Small Businesses

To celebrate our current residence in Manchester, Arias & Thompson are offering small businesses based in the Greater Manchester area discounted rates on several of our digital support services.

Why Discounts for Manchester Small Businesses?

We have worked with clients across the world including Canada, Qatar, Estonia and the UK, however we want to give something back to the city where we currently call home. This means providing support to businesses in our own backyard. In turn, it will help us grow our network and continue to increase our services in the long term. We are hoping that through this program we can make long term connections and partnerships that outlast our current residency.

Discounts on Offer

We are happy to announce the following discounted rates for small businesses in the Greater Manchester area:

  • 10% off our hourly rate
  • 15% off our daily rate
  • 10% off any hosting package
  • 10% off any web development or design project

What Do I Have to Do to Qualify for a Small Business Discount?

Your business must be registered in the Greater Manchester area and have less than 50 employees. That’s really about it. We are hoping to fill gaps in digital expertise for small businesses so they can concentrate on their business, not their website or social media.

How Do I Get Started?

If you are interested in any of these discounts or, just want to have a chat, get in touch with us via our contact page or read more on the discounts on offer for Manchester-based small businesses.

Competitor Analysis: Benefits and Dangers in Web Design

We recently worked with a client to redesign and redevelop their corporate website and, as part of all of our projects, we were tasked with conducting market research to see where they stood in relation to their known competitors. While conducting competitor analysis is important, there are benefits some dangers that you should be aware of.

The Benefits of Using a Competitor Analysis

Knowing what your direct competitors are up to is business and marketing 101. You can learn how to get a competitive edge, gain insights on pricing, as well as identifying gaps that no one else is filling. Specifically for web design, it can provide you with some valuable information as to what technology your competitors are using, what features they have employed and the level of engagement and interactivity that you need to meet and, hopefully, surpass. Additionally it can help you reinforce industry standards making it easier for your customers to find you online.

The Dangers of Relying too much on your Competitor Analysis

In web design, there are a few clear dangers that many fall into when it comes to studying competitor designs. The first and foremost is copying or plagiarism. Intentionally or not, the more you focus on your competitors, the closer your new design will come to them. It’s important to chart your own path and carve out your own creative space regardless of what you might have observed in your analysis.

What to Include in your Competitor Analysis

When you start looking at your competitors’ websites, it’s advisable to start with sections you want to cover and come up with metrics that are meaningful given the context of your website. We normally include the following sections in a competitive marketing analysis:

  1. Technical Overview

    What CMS are your competitors using? How about hosting? This is the area where you get to know the systems your competitors are using. Focus here on what you can learn from them, especially if you are new to the digital world. Every time we conduct market research for clients of this type we learn something new that we can later implement where appropriate.
  2. Speed and Optimization

    The faster the page load, the better the user experience, and now the better the search results. Knowing this information can help you benchmark your own site speeds and optimization to gain a competitive edge over your competitors.
  3. SEO

    What keywords are your competitors targeting? Have they optimized all of their pages or just specific landing pages? This is where you can identify gaps to target with your own SEO or SEM strategies to bring in traffic.
  4. Social Media Integration

    Are your competitors using any particular API to enhance their users’ experience? Have they implemented Open Graph and Twitter Card metadata successfully? This is all about competitive edge and benchmarking. Remember that context is key here. Not every website needs enhanced social media sharing functionalities or social embeds.
  5. Style

    Are your competitors using modern styles? Are they relying on Bootstrap’s UI? This is less about what style they have but what style they don’t. You are looking to differentiate yourself. Don’t fall into the trap of copying your competitors. Be vigilant!
  6. Content What we like to do is look at what industry standard information that different competitors include on their website as a norm. This is normally indicative of items that should be on the website we are working on. It should also help you identify other areas to cover with your own content that is missing from your competitors.
  7. Website Features

    This section is all about interactivity and engagement. Are your competitors offering something new and innovative? Is this something you need to be worry about in terms of customer retention? When you are designing your new website you want to create your own user experience, so just make sure not to adopt functionality that does not fit into that experience.

If none of this post makes sense to you, or you are looking to get started on your own website, get in touch with us and see how we can help your organization or small business conduct an efficient and engaging competitive analysis of your competitor websites.

Should My Small Business Have a Website?

Websites are the cornerstone of a small company’s digital presence. Regardless of recent opinion pieces predicting its sudden death, a website is an essential marketing and sales tool for any small business regardless of industry.

Recent research coming out of the US indicate that 64% of small businesses surveyed have a website, meaning 36% did not have a website at all. This is down from 46% from 2016 showing a general adoption trend for small businesses with significant regional variation.

Why Should My Small Business Have a Website?

An owned, controlled digital marketing channel

This is your own space and the online extension of your brand. You might have a Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter or SnapChat account, but those cannot ultimately replace your website.

The website is your digital hub. Everything else is an extension or a limb to distribute and engage.

Let your customers find you where they are, online

You might not like the internet. Hell, you might not have a computer. That does not mean your customers are the same. Put yourself into the user or customer’s shoes. If they are looking for a good or service, chances are they are looking for them online first.

Search engines have ultimately replaced the yellow pages and telephone books. Without a website you risk losing out on sales and revenue.

Legitimize your business

Customers expect your company to have a website. They don’t necessarily expect a blog or eCommerce depending on what goods or services you offer, but they do expect a professional, mobile-friendly site where they can find out basic information about your business.

Create Your Small Business Website

Small Budget Websites are Now Possible

Some companies spend millions on website design and development to compete at the highest echelons of different industries. For many smaller businesses, this is not the goal. If you are willing and able to do the work yourself, you can have a WordPress-based website up and running for around £10 per month including hosting, domain registration and other charges.

If you need help building your small business website, find an agency that specializes in small business websites and can provide more value for your money. Many smaller agencies will also host and manage your site for a small monthly fee that, depending on your business’ current marketing budget, might be a worthwhile investment for peace of mind and efficiency of updates.

Go simple

Not every website needs to win an award. You want to put your small business’ best face forward, but this means having a clean, professional website that servers your users’ needs. Sometimes simplicity and minimalist solutions work best to get the information you need out into the public.

Find someone to help you manage it

While it has never been easier to manage and edit content on your small business website, sometimes you just don’t have the time or skill set to do so efficiently. If that describes your situation, find yourself a freelancer or independent agency that can tailor a website management plan that meets your budgetary requirement.

New Pricing Model, Same Free Stock Photography Library

In addition to offering free stock photos, to better meet the demands of our users, we have changed the premium subscription model of Stock by Arias & Thompson to offer individual purchases of our premium photos. The photos will still be offered under the same licensing.

All premium images will be offered at high resolution for the standard, low price of €20.00.

Volunteer at the Color Run in Qatar by Ian Philip Thompson - premium image on Stock by Arias & Thompson

Volunteer at the Color Run in Qatar by Ian Philip Thompson – premium image on Stock by Arias & Thompson

What Functionality Have We Added to Stock

In addition to the change in pricing method, we have also added the ability to directly order prints of all of our photos listed in the Stock by Arias & Thompson website. This means that for both our free and premium photos available, you can now directly order a printed version that will be delivered to your door. We have provided this functionality through our partners Fotomoto.

How Do the Updates Affect the Free Images Available?

Our free stock photos are still available for our users to use. There is no change in that. You will, however, be able to order prints of the photos if you wish.

Free Stock Photos to Download, Royalty-Free

Currently, Stock by Arias & Thompson Digital offers 420 completely free to download stock photos from our travels in 21 different countries. In addition to the free stock photos, there are an additional 500 premium photos that are available for purchase.

We add new photos over the course of every month to continue to expand the library and support our users as they use our photos in their creative projects or for use on their websites and blogs.

You can read more on why we created Stock by Arias & Thompson, or go ahead and visit the free stock photo library.