Limenco Design – Websites Graphics Marketing

Do you also do printing or just designs?

We only do design. If you need a printer we can recommend a company called Printulu. We’ve used them personally and are very happy with the quality of their work and the speed with which they get the job done. Visit www.printulu.co.za to see prices and how they work. (PS we’re not affiliated to them and we don’t have any arrangements for commissions, our recommendation is based on a genuine admiration for the level of service we received when we used them)

Helpful Hint

South Africans love using Hello Peter. Always check Hello Peter before you try someone out. And scroll down. Don’t just take the first couple of reviews as being the whole picture.

Post press mistake detection.

This is an important question and one to take careful note of. Because if there’s a mistake and the job has already gone to the printers, we do not accept any liability. Which means that when we send work for approval you really do need to go over it with a fine toothcomb. Because once something has been printed there’s no going back and asking the printers for a refund and we specifically cover ourselves against being held liable for printers costs.

So ultimately you are the person responsible for ensuring there are no mistakes.

Pre press mistakes and additional charges.

We strive to ensure that as much as possible of the design process is written down. So if there ever is a mistake, chances are good our records will show exactly who was responsible for it. If that proves to have come from our side and it requires redoing work then we will do that work on our own time. Meaning any quotes you’ve been given will not be affected. If the mistake comes from your side we will bill accordingly for any additional time spent redoing work.

What if I don’t like your design. Do you still charge me?

Yes we do. Although we do work hard to make sure that does’nt happen, but it’s not impossible.

On a positive note please bear in mind that part of the signup process involves establishing your likes and dislikes.

Which Famous Design Wasn’t Liked When It Was First Presented?

The Answer : The Nike Logo

Back in 1997 the now billionaire Phil Knight asked a young designer Carolyn Davidson to design a logo for a shoe company they wanted to start. The first design she presented was the Nike logo we know today. But Phil didn’t like it and asked for more concepts. She came back later and presented him with more, which he liked even less. He grudgingly decided to go back to the first concept saying “Maybe it will grow on me”.

The rest is history although as a side note 12 years later they publicly acknowledged her as being one of the key minds that shaped the brand. Giving her a diamond ring and shares in the company. But let’s face it, at the time Phil paid for a design he didn’t like.

What sort of images are improved with 3D

Examples of times when it’s more cost effective to have 3D images are:

Product Shoots

Where a businesses has a limited range of products and relies on new images for advertising. Once the initial 3D build has been done it can be placed in a range of new environments with relative ease.

For example imagine wanting to present your product against a panoramic mountain valley, with blades of grass, dandelions and a butterfly gently touching down on the right corner. In real life you drive out there in the car (presuming you have a panoramic mountain valley up the road) and then go through a range of activities to get the perfect shots of your product range, all the while hoping they dont get dirty or wet and that butterflies just happen to be in abundance….. lol

Or lets say you go for a green screen and props. Well then there’s still the studio that needs to be set up. Lighting, Camera angles and props. And three months down the line when the season changes you need to go through all that again.

With 3D there’s none of that. Everything exists in a virtual world with endless possibilities.

Props and Scenery

Lets say you sell beds. You’ve been using the same images for years and it’s time for an update. You go through the whole process, get some wonderful photographs, show them to the boss only to have him complain that the red pillow at the end of the bed is a bit flat and he’d have preferred a fuller cushion.

What do you do? Go and redo the photoshoot. Get creative with photoshop?

Or your bed with all it’s fittings and surrounding furniture is built in 3D. Making the cushion fuller is a fairly straight forward process and everything from the camera angle to the lighting is exactly the same as the original shot.

Basic Logo Starts from 8 Hours

In the case of a basic logo we limit the time spent on various aspects of the graphic design process. For example during the presentation phase we exclude all but the most essential mock-ups. Pairing down the process to it’s bare bones. You still get a professionally designed logo however much of the process occurs without your input. In our experience this increases the risk of dissatisfaction and we try to steer clients away from this option.

However there are many situations where a Basic Logo package is the perfect fit. The basic logo package comes with one concept design and one redraw option. All correspondence takes place electronically and on completion your logo is presented in an svg format as well as a range of .png and .jpg images in various sizes.

What is an SVG image.

SVG or scalable vector graphic is as the name describes. When you open it in a editing program that supports .svg the image is made up of shapes that can be enlarged or reduced almost infinitely with no loss of quality.

This is a big step forward from the .png or .jpg image formats. Both .png and .jpg are essentially comprised of tiny squares. So if you enlarge them they pixelate eg they become blurry.

All our logo’s are created using scalable vector graphics editing software.

Logo Redraw Package Starts From 3 Hours

In the case of a Logo Redraw you already have a logo and it needs to be converted into an svg format. All we do is redraw the logo and match up existing colors and effects. You are then presented with the svg format file as well as a range of .png and .jpg images in various sizes.

Who Needs a Logo Redraw?

It often happens that as the years go by ones original high quality logo pdf gets lost. Or the high quality pdf document is still not high quality enough for today’s marketing landscape. Enter the Scalable Vector Graphic or .svg image format.

What is an SVG image.

SVG or scalable vector graphic is as the name describes. When you open it in a editing program that supports .svg the image is made up of shapes that can be enlarged or reduced almost infinitely with no loss of quality.

This is a big step forward from the .png or .jpg image formats. Both .png and .jpg are essentially comprised of tiny squares. So if you enlarge them they pixelate eg they become blurry.

All our logo’s are created using scalable vector graphics editing software.

New Logo

A new logo is for any business at any stage, not just for someone starting out.

With this package you have a lot more options. More concepts, more presentations and more redraws. All factored in to the process so that you can rest assured that you have our full attention and commitment to your project.

You get:

2 Logo Concepts
3 Revisions if required
SVG File
Png Files 16×16, 24×24, 32×32, 48×48, 156×156, 320×320, 512×512, 1920xwidth
Jpg Files 16×16, 24×24, 32×32, 48×48, 156×156, 320×320, 512×512, 1920xwidth

What is an SVG image.

SVG or scalable vector graphic is as the name describes. When you open it in a editing program that supports .svg the image is made up of shapes that can be enlarged or reduced almost infinitely with no loss of quality.

This is a big step forward from the .png or .jpg image formats. Both .png and .jpg are essentially comprised of tiny squares. So if you enlarge them they pixelate eg they become blurry.

All our logo’s are created using scalable vector graphics editing software.

How Long Does Logo Design Take

In most cases the logo design process can be completed from between 15 to 20 hours. But there are many factors that influence that so we don’t commit to anything until we have more details about the project.

Do you charge if I don’t like it.

Yes we do. Although we do work hard to make sure that does’nt happen, but it’s not impossible.

So if after we’ve exhausted the revision process you still don’t like what we’ve done then we call it quits and process the final invoice. Just bear in mind that you’ll still get the designs we submitted during the process.

Did You Know that when Carolyn Davidson presented the Nike logo in 1997 they didn’t like it. So she went away and played around with some more designs but they also didn’t like those. In the end they grudgingly went back to the first design, she invoiced them and walked away. No pat on the back, no wow factor. “I suppose it will grow on me” the words the now billionaire Phil Knight said.

12 years later they publicly acknowledged her as being one of the key minds that shaped the brand. Giving her a diamond ring and shares in the company. But let’s face it, at the time Phil paid for a logo he didn’t like.

What is a Concept?

Short version – A concept is a logo.

Long version – Ideas about how best to communicate who you and your product or service are in symbol form. The drawing might be imperfect or spot on, either way the basic ideas it represents will be evident.

Concept Presentation

Sometimes just slapping a couple of drawings down on the desk and saying “choose” is not helpful. This is when a concept presentation is required. A meeting where the shapes, colours and designs are discussed and clear associations made about the relationships and thought processes that were involved in the formulation of that logo.

Consider how much differently the billionaire Phil Knight (co-founder of Nike) and Carolyn Davidson’s the logo designer’s interaction might have gone if she’d presented the Nike logo as part of a presentation?

Instead he said “Well, I don’t love it, but maybe it will grow on me.”

Concept presentations have a valid place in the logo design process.

EXAMPLE CONCEPT PRESENTATION

What’s the difference between a Professional Logo and a Branding Logo

The quickest answer, is the amount of admin involved.

In the case of a Branding Logo it’s going to be at the front and centre of advertising campaigns and or physical products. So once the logo’s done, the investment is significant. It has to be right!

This means that every step of the project goes through an extended version. In the case of a professional logo it’s normally just the designer and one or two owners. In the case of a branding logo, it’s teams of people.

How long does logo design take?

On average logo design takes between 15 to 20 hours spread across anything from two two days to two months. It all depends on the associated factors.

The FEDEX logo for example took the designer Lindon Leader 9 months to design. While the Nike logo took Caroyn Davidson 17.5 hours, although Nike didn’t like it, so she spent another couple of hours on other designs which they also didn’t like, before giving up and invoicing them.

In our case, once we’ve accepted a job we most often set a target of around 2 weeks which excludes any time our clients take to review concepts and take care of admin. But each project is different so we don’t commit to anything until we know all the details.

Reasons why we decided on a single location specific service.

1) Location: Probably the best reason for adding a location is understanding the intent behind it. As consumers we tend to get location specific the closer we get to the buying decision. So even though web design is not an in store purchase this location intent has worked it’s way into the Google algorithm, now when you type “web design” into Google a recommended search term drops down.

2) Single Service: Pinning ourselves down to a single service. This was a tough one. In the end we established that what our target audience really wants to know is whether or not we can build them a website.

The logics behind using the location Johannesburg

It’s ones of those things that us Joburgers do without even thinking about it. Visit with anyone from another province or country and when they ask where we’re from we’ll say Johannesburg. Not Ekurhuleni or The West Rand. Why? Johannesburg is South Africa’s most well known city. Plus there was also the not so small question of how many people search for Web Design Johannesburg as opposed to Web Design Gauteng for example. Research showed that 96% of online searchers prefer the words Web Design Johannesburg as opposed to Website Design Gauteng.

Who is searching for Web Design Johannesburg
Establishing a target market is a key aspect in any advertising. For many, the first place we start is with an age category. According to research the majority of people who search for the term Web Design Johannesburg are between the ages of 35 to 44.

That’s Perfect For Us!
Not only is this an age category we understand well but it is also the age category of most of the managers and directors responsible for procuring their companies web design services. Our ideal client!

Web Design Johannesburg Search Volume and CPC (Cost per Click)
A keywords search volume and CPC is often a strong indicator of how hard that keyword is going to be to rank for. In the case of Web Design Johannesburg ranking for this keyword is not for the feint hearted. With a search volume of over 1000 pm and a CPC of over R70 this keyword is highly sought after and well worth every effort to rank organically for.

Getting to page one and maintaining that position remains a vital part or our business strategy.
If you’re interested in getting the data you need to make the right keyword decision, talk to us.

Logo Redraw

It often happens that as the years go by ones original high quality logo pdf gets lost. Or the high quality pdf document is still not high quality enough for today’s marketing landscape. Enter the Scalable Vector Graphic or .svg image format.

What is an SVG image.

SVG or scalable vector graphic is as the name describes. When you open it in a editing program that supports .svg the image is made up of shapes that can be enlarged or reduced almost infinitely with no loss of quality.

This is a big step forward from the .png or .jpg image formats. Both .png and .jpg are essentially comprised of tiny squares. So if you enlarge them they pixelate eg they become blurry.

All our logo’s are created using scalable vector graphics editing software.

Logo Pricing Variations

You’re probably wondering what the difference is between all these logo design prices?

The first place to start is with the time allocation. There needs to be a time limit to every job. Otherwise we could end up with a never ending design process, which is not viable for any business.

Secondly, there’s more to the design process than just the drawing. Probably the most important phase of any graphic design, is understanding our clients expectations. This can only be achieved through communication.

The better we understand each other the better the chances are that we get it right. This process of communication, research, conceptualization, graphic design, presentation and review takes time. Time which we factor into the prices we list on our website.

Logo Redraw max 3hrs

In the case of a Logo Redraw you already have a logo and it needs to be converted into an svg format. All we do is redraw the logo and match up existing colors and effects. You are then presented with the svg format file as well as a range of .png and .jpg images in various sizes.

Basic Logo max 8 hrs

In the case of a basic logo we limit the time spent on various aspects of the graphic design process. For example during the presentation phase we exclude all but the most essential mock-ups. Basically what we do is pair down the process to it’s bare bones. You still get a professionally designed logo however much of the process occurs without your input. In our experience this increases the risk of dissatisfaction and we try to steer clients away from this option.

New Logo max 19 hrs

A new logo is for any business at any stage, not just for someone starting out.

With this package you have a lot more options. More concepts, more presentations and more redraws. All factored in to the process so that you can rest assured that you have our full attention and commitment to your project.

Branding Logo

This is the logo that gets used in product manufacturing and or in major advertising campaigns. The design process extends beyond the single decision maker and will go through a variety of phases and presentations before final approval.

“Siri (or Alexa ) deliver 6 muffins to the office.” And that’s it, the transaction is done, you carry on driving. Half an hour later the muffins get delivered. If you’re a bakery that delivers fresh hot muffins, where does that leave you? The answer is nowhere. Unless you paid Siri to use you. Instead imagine if this future buyer said, Siri get 6 muffins delivered to the office from Joe’s Bakery.

The key is that he specifically asked for Joe’s Bakery. Because Joe’s Bakery had done a really good job of connecting and staying connected with the community around them. While there is still much to be done before we can enjoy this level of convenience. Thinking with this approach now, sets your business up for the future. The solution is brand building.

What is your quote reference number?

Getting help with your conditional logic form

Choosing a Plugin

There are many conditional logic plugins available. Some easier than others. Some free and some premium.

We’ve found that for complex conditional logic forms that premium plugins are the way to go.

We recommend:

Both these plugins have annual subscriptions. But if you choose not to renew you wont lose your forms functionality. Click on the images to go through to each plugins pricing page.

Getting help with the logic

Conditional logic is pretty straight forward. For example: If the answer to field123 is X, show field001 but if the answer is A then show field020. The further on you go with your logic the more fields you will have.

So while a site visitor may only see 4 fields after having answered all the questions. In the form logic you may have as many as 20 fields.

Let us know if you need help with that.

Styling your form

Most plugins give you a selection of themes to choose from. But if you want your form to match your organizations colors then you will need custom styling.

Here’s an example of the same form. The first has a theme applied and the second has been custom styled.

Would you like more powerful contact forms?

Why should I invest in a premium contact form plugin?

There are two reasons.

The first is that site visitors want more from you before they reveal more about themselves. So whereas in the past you made a message section available and let them type whatever questions they had. Now internet users prefer you to present them with an array of options which they can select from. The less typing and clicking the better.
The second reason is because it separates online sales pitches from real business. It also reduces the time your support staff spend attending to spam. Online salesmen prefer a websites general contact form, this is because it gives them the space to word their pitch. Whereas customized contact forms that only offer dropdowns and checkboxes push them into a sales cycle that they are not interested in. Thus leaving you to attend to genuine customers first.

What does a premium plugin give me that a free plugin wont?

When one considers all the activities that a genuinely interested site visitors submission can trigger, it makes sense to have automatic systems, set up. Standard contact forms do not have the ability to trigger and interact with the vast array of email, CRM and third party services that premium plugins accommodate for.

Premium plugins allow for complex calculations

Are your staff spending hours issuing quotes. Wouldn’t you prefer if the staff spent their time following up and closing the quotes that had been issued? This is just one of the ways that a premium contact form with calculations can save you time and free you up to do more of what really matters.

Which shipping option would you prefer?

Can we set your shipping up for you?

What is shipping?

It’s the process of how you get your physical product delivered to your site visitor.

Tip

If you are selling digital products you do not need this option.

Do you need a payment gateway?

What is a Payment Gateway?

A payment gateway is a plugin that enables your website to accept card payments. They provide a secure online environment, essential if you want people to pay for products online. Please note that the majority of payment gateways in South Africa will require that you have a merchant account set up with your banking institution.

Can you set the plugin up so that payments go directly to my bank account?

Yes, we link your payment gateway to your merchant account so that purchases made through your website go directly to your business bank account.

Can I choose my payment gateway?

Yes, although please bear in mind that the gateway must be able to accept payments in South Africa and must integrate with WooCommerce. Here are a list of gateways that operate in South Africa. Limenco Design recommends PayFast.

What is a catalogue only site?

WooCommerce can be set up as either an online store – Where visitors order and pay for products without contacting you directly. As well as a catalogue site – Where your products are showcased in the same format as an ecommerce site but there are no prices or payment facilities. Visitors who are interested, are instead advised to contact you directly.

Need more than 500 products on your spreadsheet?

Use this field to list how many products we need to add to your spreadsheet.

How many products can we add to your spreadsheet?

The best way to learn something is to see how somebody else does it first.

For this reason we can add all your products to your spreadsheet or a few to get you started.

Can we help you setup your spreadsheet?

The key to having all your products displayed correctly is to ensure that your spreadsheet data conforms to the formats required by WooCommerce. If you want to upload your products yourself we will send you a template for the format that the spreadsheet should follow.

If you prefer for us to do this for you, please select the ‘Yes Please’ option provided.

How many more products?

Use this field to list how many individually loaded products you need?

Tip

We recommend using the spreadsheet selection for when you have more than 20 products.

Number of Products

WooCommerce gives you 2 Options for uploading your products.

You can add your products one by one.
You can add your products via a spreadsheet. We recommend using the spreadsheet option when you have more than 20 products.

What if I want to upload products one by one but am not confident that Ill get it right?

We can upload the first few products for you and then teach you how to add the rest on your own.

Is there a limit to how many products I can have on WooCommerce?

Yes, WooCommerce has a 1 million product limit.

Is there a limit to how much information I can add to each product?

Yes and No, If we upload your product for you we set a 200 word limit. If you do it yourself, you can add more information.

Upload Images

When a website needs more than 10 images per page.

Depending on your business you may have lots of images that need to be uploaded. Here at Limenco Design we accommodate for up to 10 client provided images per page design.

Should you require more images you are welcome to upload them yourself or ask us to do this for you.

Our service includes optimizing the image prior to upload (reducing its kb size) as well as ensuring file names are relevant to the subject matter they are supporting.

Tip

Correctly naming your image files can help your search engine rankings.

Upload Portfolio

What is a Portfolio

Similar to a blog article, portfolio items appear on their own page and that page can be formatted in any number of layouts. The difference with a portfolio comes in the additional functionality

Upload Articles

What is a Blog

A blog (a truncation of “weblog”) is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Ref Wikipedia

What is a blog article?

A blog article is a single page. In WordPress blog articles are referred to as ‘posts’.

What sort of information can a blog article contain?

A post can contain pretty much any sort of information and can be laid out in a variety of ways. The choice is yours. For example you may have a collection of newsletters that you want site visitors to have access to.

Number of Pages

If you need a website with more than 20 ‘web pages’. List them here.

Bear in mind though, that a web page is different from a Blog Article a Portfolio Item or an E-Commerce Product. All of these look like a web page to site visitors, but they are not.

If you’re not sure how many ‘web pages’ you need. Start off by including about 4.

1 x Home
1 x About
1 x Services
1 x Contact

Keep your website safe.

What are the threats my website faces?

When it comes to a WordPress website there are a variety of ways to gain unauthorised access. The most common is with the admin username and password. Besides this hackers can exploit any number of coding vulnerabilities.

Once in a hacker has access to everything on your website. They can both access all the data stored in your website. For example form submissions. As well as add malicious code.

What are the consequences of being hacked?

Google is constantly on the hunt for harmful websites and as soon as it finds one, it blacklists it. This results in that URL losing all of it’s rankings and becoming virtually invisible. The fact that your website was hacked is not the issue, what is the issue is that your site contains coding that is harmful to others. You will be left with no choice but to start your rank building journey again.

Depending on the information stored on your website and what the hacker does with it, you may (unlikely but not impossible) be found liable for damages suffered by site visitors. And while you may or may not face legal repercussions the chances of losing market confidence are most certainly just as bad. Losing credibility can have far reaching consequences on your business.

In the case of e-Commerce websites the threat is even worse. Once they’re in they have access to everything your online store has done.

How do hackers get the username and password?

A common hacker tactic is called a ‘brute force attack’. Here a program is set to methodically enter username and passwords until the right variation is found.

How does website security work?

Website security focuses on making unauthorised access as difficult as possible. Limiting log on attempts and blocking known bad IP addresses are two well known ways of making your website less attractive to a hacker.

Premium wordpress website security.

Ignoring website security threats and leaving your website unprotected is never advised. Our premium security plugin offers the following:

A firewall
Leaked password protection
Advanced manual blocking
Live traffic monitor
File Repair
Country blocking
Two factor authentication

Select this option to find out more.

Keep Your Website Backed Up

What is a Website Backup

Your website is made up of files and folders which are stored on your ISP’s server. In simple terms a server is a large fast computer and accessing this server (through the internet) are your site visitors.

A backup of your website is therefor a copy of all of these files and folders saved in a location that is not accessible to internet users.

ISP’s Provide Backups

Most ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) make regular backups of the files stored on their servers. In the case of our ISP, copies are made 3 times every day. Then once on a Sunday (kept for a week) and then on the 1st of every month. (Kept for a month).

When it comes to internet hosting, security and safety is very important and there are a variety of security systems in place. As an example one of the security measures is that the physical location of these servers tends not to be made public.

However as important and safeguarded as these computers are, the saying ‘never say never’ exists for a reason. Should anything happen to a server that your website (and it’s copies) are hosted on then your website is gone. All of it would simply disappear.

External Backup Facility

Investing in a paid for and automated offsite backup up facility provides peace of mind. To find out more about this premium plugin please select this option.

Speed Up Your Website

What is Website Speed?

The amount of time it takes a browser to load your webpage.

What factors affect website speed?

There are 4 factors involved.

Your websites coding.
Your ISP’s Server Speed
The Site Visitors Internet Speed
The Site Visitors Browser

You can not do anything about your site visitors internet speed or the state of their browser. Further, with the most affordable hosting packages available at ISP’s being shared hosting. Your only option on a busy server is to upgrade to a dedicated server at an additional cost.

Fortunately Google does not penalize you for a slow #3 and #4 and server traffic volumes vary depending on the time of day. So in essence your real challenge comes in ensuring that your websites coding is as slim and trim as possible.

What are the benefits of improving your websites speed?

Google rankings are improved due to improved site visitor experience.
More site visitors stay on your site which leads to higher conversions.

With WordPress the most affordable way to do this is with the addition of a premium plugin. Select this option to find out more.

Search Engine Optimisation

What is SEO

SEO consists of a range of marketing, writing, designing and web development skills that come together with the aim of improving your search engine rankings as well as your site visitor conversions.

Why is SEO important?

SEO is what makes the difference between being found online and remaining buried way down the list of search results. It also plays a big role in converting visitors into customers.

How many types of SEO are there?

There are a multitude of ways to influence search engines and your target market into choosing your service or product. SEO methods and techniques are constantly changing.

Is SEO the same for everyone?

No, every business has different challenges when it comes to SEO.

What does the SEO Setup include?

Both the Standard and Premium SEO Setup packages include:

Metrics

Once your website goes live it’s important to track key metrics. In order to get this data you first need to link your website to analytics tools, namely:

Google Analytics
Google Search Console
Bing Webmaster Tools

Indexing

Getting found in search results means search engines first need to visit and categorize your site. To facilitate this there are files made up of coding that help them get that done correctly. We create and set these files up for you.

sitemap.html
sitemap.xml
robot.txt

Caching

Caching (pronounced cash -ing) every time a visitor visits your site a copy of the page they view is saved on their device. This can mean, many seconds saved in the long run. We set this up for you using WP Fastest Cache (the free version)

Keyword Optimisation

If you read the guidelines and info for copywriting then you’ll already have an idea of the challenges involved in getting search engines to rank your website. While every website is different there are some standard activities that take place no matter what the situation.

Keyword Research
Competitor Research
SEO Site Audit Analysis & Correction
1 x Keyword Optimisation (Based on your choice and research results)

Difference between the Standard and Premium SEO Setup Packages

The difference between the two packages comes in with the Yoast SEO Plugin. With over 5 million installs, Yoast SEO outperforms all other WordPress SEO plugins. To read more about the differences between the free and premium version, visit Yoast SEO Plugin

Once the plugin is installed we carefully move through the site making sure that each page is correctly setup according to their recommendations.

Is this all the SEO I need?

No, SEO is not a one time activity. Because not all websites are the same, the ideal situation is to assign your SEO activities to someone who is going to work on it constantly. Monitoring analytics, keyword analysis, content strategies, content creation and site audits should be a monthly activity at the least, if not a weekly activity.

SEO is very much the kind of activity where if you are not watching it you can miss important opportunities. To find out about our SEO packages visit…

Stock Photos

What is a stock photo?

Hiring a professional photographer is expensive. But thanks to a couple of really good image banks. its now possible to buy professionally taken photographs online.

Whats the difference between a stock photo and a photo that I took or paid to have taken.

The difference is that you don’t own the image outright. Meaning the image still belongs to the owner but you are licenced to use it on your website or in a pre approved publication.

In what situation would I not be able to use a stock image

For example, lets say that you launch a major advertising campaign where an image you purchased becomes synonymous with your brand. In a case like that you would need to either buy the copyright or an extended licence for that image.

What happens if I use images off the internet.

The days of downloading an image and using it in your website unnoticed are gone. Now days there are programs (similar to search engines) that scan through every one of the billions and billions of websites on the internet specifically looking for copyrighted images and videos.

And when they find you, they have the ability to have your entire website removed. Not to mention they are protected by each countries laws and can come after you legally.

Using legal images, audio and video makes sense in the long run.

Can I use free images?

Yes, there are plenty of websites that offer free images legally. Bear in mind though, that free image banks don’t have the same resources as professional stock image banks. Which means that finding the ‘right’ free photograph for your business can take much longer than expected. And as the saying goes time is money.

How Many Words

How do I work out how many words I need?

If you haven’t created any website copy yet, then a good rule of thumb is as follows.

Average Word Counts

Webpage, starting from just below the menu navigation all the way down to the beginning of the footer bar. – 300 Words
Product Pages Excluding specifications, which are normally provided by manufacturers. – 150 Words

As an example this popup contains 68 words.

Copy and Copywriting

What is copywriting?

Copywriting is the re-arranging of words to make things sell better. It is a text form of salesmanship. But there’s a lot more to it than that.

What is copy?

The word copy can have slightly different meanings depending on what industry is using it. In advertising and marketing it means wording that is arranged in such a manner as to encourage consumers to buy goods or services.

But when it’s used in publishing for example a book or magazine, its generally considered as the text material found in that publication.

What is website copy or copywriting?

The text information you put onto your website will play a big role in your site visitors decision making process. How you say what you say can be the difference between a sale or no sale.

However website copy fulfills another purpose as well. To better understand this we need to look across into the field commonly known as SEO or Search Engine Optimisation.

Simply put this means, that in order to be ‘found’ online, aka appear high in search engine results. Your text content must also accommodate for the words and phrases your buying public use when searching for your industry online.

So not only must your websites content be accurate and written in a way that is easy to read and gain knowledge from, but it must also include the words and phrases that someone who has no insight into your industry is most likely to use when searching for the service or product you provide.

How you write depends on your target audience.

The days of writing copy that appeals to everyone are gone. There are a multitude of of audiences in the world. Each of them having the ability to click out and away from your website without explanation. Keeping your audience depends on speaking the right language.

For example we would expect the text on an investment bankers website to be very conservative, slang words would be considered inappropriate.

However a website selling makeup products to the younger generation would need to be more snatched.

Definition Snatched in 2020: The word “snatched” has two common definitions. The first is when someone is wearing something that is very fashionable, or looks really good. The second refers to ganging up on someone who has already lost an argument. So instead of giving the loser sympathy one supports the victor with the phrase Snatched.

Getting help with your websites copy can make a huge difference in the long run and is well worth considering.

Banners and Sliders

What is a banner?

For a good few years now the first thing you see when a home page opens is a banner image, also called a hero image. It fills the screen and normally has some sort of headline text.

Whats the difference between a banner and a slider.

Banners are static and sliders are animated. Meaning text and images move onto or off the page while the background image remains static. By adding sliders (images) a new arrangement of images and animations can automatically slide onto the screen.

Can I have a video banner?

Yes, A video banner uses slightly different coding but is essentially the same as a static image banner. This is because there are no animations that move across the screen.

Can I have a video slider?

Yes, although we would caution against this as a video set to autoplay with animated graphics moving across it can come across as being too busy.

Who provides the images or videos that go into a banner or a slider?

The images that make up the background of a slider or banner can come from you or you can purchase stock images through our stock image section. Bear in mind that this image must be available in high resolution. As any pixelation will be noticed on large screens.

How many animations can I have on each slider.

Our banner designs accomodate for up to 8 animations per slider.

What does animation mean when referring to a slider.

Slider animation is different to movie animation in that the element that moves eg text or an image is itself static. Behind the scenes it is encapsulated in an invisible container. This container is then moved onto the page in a variety of ways. For example it can slide in from the left or right or top or bottom. Or it can fade, or bounce or wobble onto the page. There are a multitude of ways sliders can be animated.

Can I Only have a banner on my home page?

Banners or sliders can be put onto any of your webpages. Although most websites tend to forgo full screen banner on their subpages.

What is a Favicon?

What is a favicon?

A favicon /ˈfæv.ɪˌkɒn/ (short for favorite icon), also known as a shortcut icon, website icon, tab icon, URL icon, or bookmark icon, is a file containing one or more small icons, associated with a particular website or web page.

Favicons are the small 16px x 16px icons that sit to the left of your browser tabs wording.

Do you need a favicon?

All internet browsers are configured to include this tiny image alongside the tabs wording. Its the first thing visitor see as they wait for your page to load. When no favicon has been provided, browsers default to a ‘no favicon’ image which gives the impression that your webpage is incomplete or has a problem.

All About Logo's

What is a Logo

Online Dictionary – ‘a symbol or other small design adopted by an organization to identify its products.’

Where does the word Logo come from.

The word logo goes all the way back to ancient Greek times, deriving from the word ‘logos’ which translates loosely as a combination of the word ‘word’ and ‘imprint’.

How is a website logo different from a normal Logo

Ideally your logo should stay the same across all your communication channels. However this isnt always possible, and today many companies create versions of their logo to suit the application they are being used in.

How has logo design changed since the internet?

Logos go electronic. Logo’s designed pre-internet were meant to be displayed on printed media. Such as signs, business cards and letterheads. Logo’s that occupied a square of space were common.
Design format changes. As email became more prevalent in day to day business the first big change occurred when logo’s were converted into .bmp or .jpg formats. Now everyone had a small image file of their companies logo at the bottom of their emails.
Logos change shape. The biggest change came as the popularity of company websites grew. Logo’s that took up more height than width were being reduced to sizes that were too small to clearly see. And so it was that many companies transformed their logo’s into landscape versions.
Image technology improves. The most recent change has been to the image files’s format. For many years company logo’s were used in a .jpg format. While small and compact this format easily becomes pixelated when enlarged. A solution needed to be found. Enter the scalable vector graphic or .svg. This method of designing means that you have a virtually infinite zoom ability, where a diagonal or curved line continues to be a line, as opposed to a .jpg which degenerates into an arrangement of squares.

Choosing a New or Refreshed Logo

A New Logo

The first is a new logo. As you would expect we are looking to assist you to find the best graphical representation of your core values. Once the questions have been answered we design three separate logo’s in the first round of design mockups. From there we take the elements you like best and refine your vision through a further two step modification process.

Finally we present you with the following four file formats.

- PDF File
- .png file
- .jpg file
- .svg file

2. A logo refresh

It often happens that a company loses it’s original high quality logo file. Or that a logo designed in the 90’s is simply no longer up to the job required by today’s high quality screen.

When this happens you need your logo converted into an .svg file. You might also want to take the opportunity to get different arrangements. For example rather than having your company name appear below your logo’s symbol you want it alongside or visa versa. Or you could want design effects removed and a smoother more modern looking design.

Based on the brief, we present you with between two and three upgrade versions or your original logo. From there you have up to 3 opportunities to refine the design.

Logo Design

What is a Logo

Online Dictionary – ‘a symbol or other small design adopted by an organization to identify its products.’

Where does the word Logo come from.

The word logo goes all the way back to ancient Greek times, deriving from the word ‘logos’ which translates loosely as a combination of the word ‘word’ and ‘imprint’.

How is a website logo different from a normal Logo

Ideally your logo should stay the same across all your communication channels. However this isnt always possible, and today many companies create versions of their logo to suit the application they are being used in.

How has logo design changed since the internet?

Logos go electronic. Logo’s designed pre-internet were meant to be displayed on printed media. Such as signs, business cards and letterheads. Logo’s that occupied a square of space were common.
Design format changes. As email became more prevalent in day to day business the first big change occurred when logo’s were converted into .bmp or .jpg formats. Now everyone had a small image file of their companies logo at the bottom of their emails.
Logos change shape. The biggest change came as the popularity of company websites grew. Logo’s that took up more height than width were being reduced to sizes that were too small to clearly see. And so it was that many companies transformed their logo’s into landscape versions.
Image technology improves. The most recent change has been to the image files’s format. For many years company logo’s were used in a .jpg format. While small and compact this format easily becomes pixelated when enlarged. A solution needed to be found. Enter the scalable vector graphic or .svg. This method of designing means that you have a virtually infinite zoom ability, where a diagonal or curved line continues to be a line, as opposed to a .jpg which degenerates into an arrangement of squares.

Number of Pages

If you need a website with more than 20 ‘web pages’. List them here.

If you’re not sure how many ‘web pages’ you need. Start off by including about 4.

1 x Home
1 x About
1 x Services
1 x Contact

Tip

Remember to include any special index pages you may want.

Uploads

What does ‘Content Upload’ mean?

This section is for those who are upgrading their websites and already have a lot of online content that needs to go into the new website.

For example years worth of photographs or newsletters.

Page Sections

What is a Page Section?

Similar to most written documents, website pages are often broken up into sections. For example your first section could have information and images that you feel is the most important for your site visitor to see. Then as they scroll down the page to the next section they might find more detailed explanations relating to specific aspects of your product or service.

Page Sections as they relate to a One Page Website

You’ll probably already have noticed that all website pages have sections. What makes the sections on a One page website different is that instead of clicking a menu bar item and being taken to a new page, you’re instead treated to a smooth scroll down to that specific section.

Section Limits

Here at Limenco Design we set a 4 section limit for One Page Websites. This doesn’t mean that your web page cant have more sections, just that we’ll need to find out more about what you need in order to provide you with a competitive quote.

Web Pages

What is a Website Page?

A website page is an online document with it’s own unique address. To see this for yourself watch how the address in the website address bar changes each time you click into a new page.

A One Page Website

As you would expect choosing the one page option gets you a one page website. One pagers have become very popular with the mobile device generation. Instead of clicking and having a new page open, all your content is placed on a single page and clicking simply scrolls you to the relevant section. These websites are designed for mobile but look just as good on a desktop pc.

How much content can I put onto a webpage?

Technically a web page can be as long or as short as you want it to be. Please bear in mind though, that here at Limenco Design we have a 400 words per page limit. This doesn’t mean that your web page cant have more sections or words, just that we’ll need to find out more about what you need in order to provide you with a competitive quote.

Web Pages

Web Pages on an e-Commerce Site

Besides your products, your website will also need to give site visitors information about your company and how you do things. For example you can have an About, Contact, FAQ or Blog page. There really is no limit to the number of pages you can have on your website. Links to these pages will appear in your sites Menu bar.

Page Length

Every page can be as long or short as you want although please bear in mind that here at Limenco Design we have a 400 words per page limit. This doesn’t mean that your web page cant have more sections or words, just that we’ll need to find out more about what you need in order to provide you with a competitive quote.

Tip

Do not include products in this selection. There is a section further down where we ask about how many products you have.

Type of Website

Standard Website Design

As you would expect a Standard Website has a selection of pages which your visitor can navigate to by clicking on any of the menu buttons. Traditionally these websites have a Home page, an About page, a Services and or Products Page and a Contact Page. They allow you to feature information and images about your service or product. A standard website can be arranged or organized in many different ways. With links to pages that feature popular products in the text of your home page as well as through buttons in your navigation bar. Except for the navigation and footer bars every page on a Standard Website can be completely unique.

An e-Commerce Website

An e-Commerce website is similar to a standard website with the exception that it includes a product database with an associated set of templates to display these products. So while it is possible to have unique pages on an e-Commerce website. For example the companies About page or a Blog Page. The product section of an e-Commerce website is more structured. Each product is displayed on it’s page in a uniform way.

WordPress

All our websites, both standard and e-commerce are built using WordPress.

“Siri (or Alexa ) deliver 6 muffins to the office.” And that’s it, the transaction is done, you carry on driving. Half an hour later the muffins get delivered. If you’re a bakery that delivers fresh hot muffins, where does that leave you? The answer is nowhere. Unless you paid Siri to use you. Instead imagine if this future buyer said, Siri get 6 muffins delivered to the office from Joe’s Bakery.

The key is that he specifically asked for Joe’s Bakery. Because Joe’s Bakery had done a really good job of connecting and staying connected with the community around them. While there is still much to be done before we can enjoy this level of convenience. Thinking with this approach now, sets your business up for the future. The solution is brand building.

Reasons why we decided on a single location specific service.

1) Location: Probably the best reason for adding a location is understanding the intent behind it. As consumers we tend to get location specific the closer we get to the buying decision. So even though web design is not an in store purchase this location intent has worked it’s way into the Google algorithm, now when you type “web design” into Google a recommended search term drops down.

2) Single Service: Pinning ourselves down to a single service. This was a tough one. In the end we established that what our target audience really wants to know is whether or not we can build them a website.

The logics behind using the location Johannesburg

It’s ones of those things that us Joburgers do without even thinking about it. Visit with anyone from another province or country and when they ask where we’re from we’ll say Johannesburg. Not Ekurhuleni or The West Rand. Why? Johannesburg is South Africa’s most well known city. Plus there was also the not so small question of how many people search for Web Design Johannesburg as opposed to Web Design Gauteng for example. Research showed that 96% of online searchers prefer the words Web Design Johannesburg as opposed to Website Design Gauteng.

Who is searching for Web Design Johannesburg
Establishing a target market is a key aspect in any advertising. For many, the first place we start is with an age category. According to research the majority of people who search for the term Web Design Johannesburg are between the ages of 35 to 44.

That’s Perfect For Us!
Not only is this an age category we understand well but it is also the age category of most of the managers and directors responsible for procuring their companies web design services. Our ideal client!

Web Design Johannesburg Search Volume and CPC (Cost per Click)
A keywords search volume and CPC is often a strong indicator of how hard that keyword is going to be to rank for. In the case of Web Design Johannesburg ranking for this keyword is not for the feint hearted. With a search volume of over 1000 pm and a CPC of over R70 this keyword is highly sought after and well worth every effort to rank organically for.

Getting to page one and maintaining that position remains a vital part or our business strategy.
If you’re interested in getting the data you need to make the right keyword decision, talk to us.

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