Time is money – and that goes for your customers as much as for you. People aren't going to hang around to wait for a website to load like they did in the dialup world of the 1990s. They'll switch away, very probably to one of your competitors. Speed is of the essence – but how can you add that extra zip to your business website?

We've all been there: a website that looks great but just isn't bringing in the customers. Why? More often than not, it's because it's just not well optimised. You're not going to rank highly on Google without that, and without a good Google ranking you're in trouble. Let's look at some of the things your in-house developer may not be telling you about SEO – but a good digital marketing agency will.

More and more people are researching online before making purchases. In some sectors, over 80% of people now do this. Your website will be the first point of contact for many of them, so it's crucial it's a good experience. How can you make it as good as can be?

Here's a quick run-down.

WordPress is the single most widely used CMS and web development platform on the Internet, responsible for over 75 million active websites worldwide – that’s 34% of the total number of websites. You don’t have to look far to discover the reasons for this success. WordPress is free to use, easy to learn, requires no coding knowledge, and is supported by a community of millions of keen developers. What’s not to like? Well, nothing – but does that make WordPress the best platform for marketing and lead generation?

It may be a cliché to say this in 2019, but yes, it is essential for all businesses to create a website as soon as possible – even start-ups and local businesses. Many small start-ups used to depend on local advertising, referrals and word-of-mouth to get their first few clients, and only then invest in a website, but this is a risky strategy these days because of the way people research information.

It doesn't matter how much traffic your company's website is receiving if those visits aren't likely to generate leads and sales. Therefore, if most of the traffic you're getting is from visitors outside of the geographical areas in which your business operates, you may need to take action. Let's take a look at some of the techniques you can use.

When your organisation owns more than one company, the question of how closely associated these firms should be can raise complex issues. If you're in charge of branding and promoting these companies, one of the key decisions that you'll have to make is whether you should set up a separate domain for each one or design one website that includes information about multiple companies. Let's look at the pros and cons of each option.

In today’s competitive and digital world, successful businesses need to have an attractive and professional-looking online presence. However, there is little point in spending thousands of pounds on a website unless it works well for customers – both at a technical and a personal level. Unfortunately, clunky, unreliable pages or inadequate content means poor or zero ROI (return on investment).

So you have decided to set up a website for your business – congratulations! Now that you have started to visualise how your business website will look and all the benefits it will bring, chances are you’ll also want to know when it will be up and running. So how long should you expect your new website to take?