103. Chatting with Alex – Web Design Interview

We chatted to Alex, our head of web design to discuss some Web Design tips for beginners.

What eCommerce platforms would you recommend selling products on?

If you are new to eCommerce than I would push you towards Shopify, as this is very user friendly for beginners.

If you’re looking for something more advanced and you are looking for lots of integration and add-ons, I’d recommend WooCommerce. This can usually be customised to your liking (visually) more than Shopify and is built on WordPress.

What advice would you give to somebody trying to write up content for their website?

1. Write meaningful content which does not copy text anywhere else on the internet
2. Use keywords to make sure you start to rank on Google for certain terms
3. As with the answer to the next question, if you’re looking to get started with SEO i’d recommend installing Yoast

If somebody at home was designing a WordPress website, is there one plugin you would recommend?

If you are looking to instantly impact your search engine rankings, i’d recommend installing Yoast. This will guide you through getting content ready for websites and search terms.

Site speed is always important, what would you suggest to improve your WordPress websites speed?

1. Image File Size ⬇️

One of, if not the most important things to do is to reduce your image file sizes. I’d recommend keeping your images There are some simple online apps to do this. For example: Image Compressor, TinyPNG and Compressor. As a suggestion, I tend to keep all images under 100kb where possible

2. Remove Plugins ❌

Delete unwanted plugins. If you don’t need them, delete them

3. GZIP Compression ✅

Another way to speed up your website is to ask your hosts to use GZIP Compression. This may be installed by default, but often hosts don’t enable this option unless you ask

4. Caching Plugin (Advanced)

If you are on a WordPress website, I’d recommend installing a Caching plugin. These are usually specific to what server you are using, so i’d be sure to double check with your hosting provider to which would be recommended. Some of my favourites are: LiteSpeed Cache, SuperCache and WP Fastest Cache

When designing landing pages for advertising campaigns, what advice would you give the viewers?

– Be concise and straight to the point, nobody wants to read waffle
– Add call to action points regularly to try and convert the lead
– Don’t add more than 2/3 page folds, usually customers won’t want to read more than that. For an example please see this link
– Be trustworthy, make sure you’re brand is showcased in the best light possible
– Use your best imagery to really visually represent your brand

Are you looking for help creating your website? Speak to our Manchester based Web Design team today!