Our approach
Many a web design agency will design and build you a website. Many will do some digital marketing and optimisation. But, without a complete process your project is unlikely to deliver to its full potential. At Heckford, a web design agency based in Preston, Lancashire, we call this process “The five steps to digital success”.
Step 1: Exploration, Analysis & Strategy
Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” and nothing is truer with a Digital Project. Planning isn’t always fun. But, at Heckford we’re fanatical about it as it forms the foundation of a successful on-going partnership.
Step 2: Web Design & Implementation
Are you happy with the way your current website looks? Has it aged well? Is it fast, secure? Does it generate the revenue and leads you expect? Design and implementation is the bit all agencies do. Some do it well. Some launch your website then go quiet.
At Heckford, designing and launching the website isn’t the end. You’ll notice it’s just step 2 of 5…. we’re not even halfway done yet!
Step 3: Digital Marketing & Website Promotion
Broadcasting your message, interacting with customers, advertising your products and services to people specifically interested in your niche. Does your agency currently do this? Does it generate revenue and leads? At Heckford, we can use the most effective methods of modern marketing to deliver results. Measured against the goals set out in step 1, including PPC & Display advertising, Social Media marketing, Email campaigns, Blogging & Content Marketing.
Step 4: Website Design and Functional Review & Optimise
So we’ve set out a digital strategy, we’ve put it into action and then promoted your web presence to drive revenue. It’s going great, but it can be improved even further!
Though a process of continual improvement, Heckford can review and optimise your web presence against the goals set out in step 1, keeping everything on track, spotting new opportunities and applying design or functional refinements. Continual improvement is a key part in the journey to Digital Success and ensures the best return on investment. Many strategies involve renewing a website every 3-5 years, but once your website is with Heckford you won’t need to, as it’s already ahead of the game!
Step 5: Maintain Website
Website maintenance is an important, but slightly unsexy, cornerstone of your digital marketing strategy. Technical aspects like hosting, backups and software updates along with content updates for new banners, new pages and implementing new design or functional features are key to your digital marketing success.
Working with Heckford, you’ll find these requirements are a breeze, especially when working with us on a retainer basis. Our in-house web design agency team work swiftly, to maintain and make changes to keep your digital engine purring.
WordPress at Heckford
WordPress is a fantastic package, but it’s vital to configure and maintain it properly to ensure your website has a long life, on a fast and secure platform. The web design agency team here at Heckford have industry experience of implementing and maintaining hundreds of WordPress sites, for clients ranging from small non-profit organisations to High Street brands with hundreds of stores. Have a read of our blog post, Why We Use WordPress at Heckford to learn more.
At Heckford we’ve refined our WordPress package to include:
- The highest level of security – by wrapping WordPress in a rock-solid application firewall, which protects the website at server level
- Blazing-fast speeds – with a page caching mechanism that’s tuned just for WordPress, along with customised server and database configurations that really make WordPress fly
- Nightly backups – taking a snapshot of the website automatically, to give you peace of mind
- Managed updates – our team actively manage your WordPress installation, to keep the core software and plug-ins updated with the latest patches and features.
If your business or organisation wants help in creating a new website, mapping your user journeys or refreshing your website both technically and with it’s design, we would love to hear from you and you can read more about our services here.