Creating websites for locksmiths can be a daunting task. Having worked with Adelaide Auto Keys Car Locksmith - among other clients.

As complicated as it may seem, having a website should be a priority for any company. It boasts several advantages, including:

As essential as creating websites for locksmiths is, it isn’t straightforward. As a full-service web design company in Adelaide, we understand precisely what it takes.

When you’re creating your website, you’ll need to focus on multiple things. Six elements, in particular, should be considered essential.

6 Essential Web Design Elements To Include On Websites For Locksmiths

1. Optimised Images

Images are what grabs a reader’s attention. That’s been the case for as long as people remember.

Without them, a website can look dull and basic. The writing could also seem overwhelming if images aren’t used to break things up.

You shouldn’t add pictures for the sale of it. You should ensure that they’re related to your locksmith business and optimised for keywords.

2. Simple Navigation

Site navigation is one of the more underlooked elements of websites for locksmiths. The more confusing a site is, the less likely a visitor is to contact you.

That is, if they can even find your contact information. When you’re building your locksmith website, you should make navigation intuitive.

Making it easy for readers to find the information they need will improve the likelihood that they will contact you. If they can’t find out your contact information, for example, how would they be expected to get in touch?

3. SEO-Optimised Content

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of building your website so that it ranks well on search engines. Multiple factors are involved in this.

One of the most important is the content you include on your site. You’ll need to perform keyword research for this.

With websites for locksmiths, some obvious keywords could include ‘best locksmith [CITY],’ among similar terms. Optimising your website effectively will:

There’s no reason not to focus on this element of your locksmith website.

4. Clear Calls-To-Action

Calls-to-action (CTAs) are the parts of your website that encourage readers to perform a specific action. These can include multiple things, such as:

For these to be effective, they’ll need to be optimised. It can be challenging to get these done, although they’re an essential website element.

Websites for locksmiths need them to ensure that people contact you for help. Ensure that you have these strategically placed across the site.

5. Visible Pricing

When people look for locksmith websites, they’ll want to find out a few things. One is how fast you can get out to them, while another is how much you’ll cost.

Though it mightn’t be the most important factor in a potential customer’s decision, it’ll be a large one. Having your pricing on your website is recommended.

You might assume that showing prices could be off-putting to potential customers. However, these are the people that are likely to be deterred by the price itself.

They’ll likely walk away if they believe the price is too high. By having your prices visible online, you ensure that the people that contact you are already aware of and comfortable with your costs.

6. Customer Reviews

When people visit your locksmith website, they’ll want to trust you. You’ll need to give them a reason to. They’ll be placing a lot of faith in your hands, after all.

Including customer reviews or testimonials is a recommended way of doing so. These should be a priority for several reasons, including:

  1. They build credibility and act as social proof.
  2. They can help improve your online search rankings.
  3. They establish trust faster than many other measures.

While getting customer reviews can be difficult, it’s something you should focus on. Encouraging them to leave a review online will help you convert customers more than you’d think.

Building Websites For Locksmiths: Wrapping Up

Designing and building websites for locksmiths can seem like an overwhelming process. You’ll have multiple factors to consider.

Ensuring it’s a site that converts and works for your business should be prioritised. Working with a professional is recommended.

As a specialist web design company in Adelaide, Bold Web Design has worked with countless companies in the past. Alongside building websites for locksmiths, we have a wealth of expertise offering full-service web design to clients across multiple industries.

If you need a website, get in touch. We’re happy to discuss your needs.

Position
Full time

Annual Wage
$55,000 - $65,000

Position Description
We are looking for a professional and experienced sales representative to join Bold. The position will comprise off: answering all incoming phone calls (warm leads) and attending to new enquiries made via email. In addition, you will be working with Salesforce CRM to follow up leads.

Eligibility
The applicant must have previous experience in a sales position - we are looking for someone who has been very successful in phone sales (versus face to face sales). It is also favourable if the applicant has a good understanding of web design in general and knows a bit about website development.

Position
Permanent Full time

Wage
Annual : $45,000 - 65,000.

Position Description
We are looking for a creative UI/UX Designer to join Bold. At Bold we work on a variety of different projects so it is important that the applicant has a versatile design style. You will be working with a team of senior designers in our Halifax St office.

Experience Required
The applicant must have previous experience as UI/UX designer, and it is preferable if the applicant's portfolio shows a variety of web design projects. We are looking for senior designers so a minimum entry requirement is 3 years in the industry.

Regardless of the industry, applying for jobs can be daunting and exhausting. Sometimes you may have the experience but getting your resume to the top of the stack is the biggest hurdle. After all the words and titles, proving your creativity expertise on a sheet of paper can feel like a backwards battle.

The best solution to this? Show your creative capabilities. These creative resumes display their creativity through design that’s unique and eye-catching, to hopefully bring inspiration to your design resumes. Below you may find some ways to show off your talent when applying for your next job or project.

01. Andy Morris

Simplicity has always won the best design for the project. Andy Morris did that in his creative CV: a LEGO mini-figure. Taking out the picture that some resumes have, Andy took that 3D and used an imitation of himself, with a laptop and a resume in his hands. With a short and witty summary on the back, this packaging also includes contact information and a link to his website. Take a look at his own logo at the top left!

02. Victor Rodriguez

The resume could be fooled for a cereal box design, but up close it is so much more. His name at the centre is so integrated into the design that it looks like there’s an actual cereal called VICK. Not only does it show his ability to create a compelling graphic design that’s attention-grabbing, but also that he can craft a successful product design.

03. Pierre-Marie Postel

With a much different style, a graphic designer and illustrator named Paiheme created a fascinating illustration style that’s eye-catching. His integration of wordings and visuals is playful but mimics a Japanese printed advertisement. This design has quirks that brings out his personality while staying to the theme of the design. The design is much longer than one page but includes a top 3 skills, a phone number, email, age, dates available, education, languages, hobbies, and social media accounts.

04. Brennan Gleason

Cheers to the new creative director at a Vancouver digital marketing agency, Brennan Gleason, an interaction designer. Not only did Brennan creatively relate his skills to a beer and display them on it, but he also made the beer himself. This resume is a full product design, as it intended was to create an experience with the hiring manager: a space to talk about his experience while drinking a beer. From the label on each beer, actual cardboard holder, to the design on the holder - Brennan delivered a full product in the efforts to show his experience.

05. Linda Nakanishi

What better way to promote your ability to create infographics, then making your resume an infographic itself? Linda Nakanishi, a creative director, and designer, made this resume that looks like a professional poster. With a jolly tone, her writing is creative and complements the wonderful infographic that is at the front and centre of her design. A perfect mix of professional and personal, Nakanishi makes herself not only a well-designed infographic but also a human that highlights talents she can’t show in her design: life skills.

06. Curriculum 3D

Inspired by the famous Jimmy Raheriarisoa’s flat CV, this design uses the illusion of 3D to create a visually pleasing and interesting resume. The Paris art director and motion director, used Cinema 4D, Octane and After Effects, this design uses playful designs and bright colours to bring to life his experience. It has an elaborate attention to detail that almost looks waxy.

07. Robby Leonardi

This interactive resume will remind you of your favorite high school video game. This genius idea requires employers to pay full attention, as they navigate through the resume. Robby Leonardi is a multidisciplinary design that clearly has a knack for animation. Not only is his resume fun to navigate through but he mentions having worked for big names like Fox and FX Networks.

08. Robynne Redgrave

Nowadays, resumes are usually sent online. In fact, websites have come to fruition to show off work but this tops the cake for delivering experience. Robynne Redgrave stands out by sending a mail package including a portfolio book, a letter of intent, application form, CV and her diploma. The design is impeccable and attention-grabbing, replicating an order you may have received at your own house for a product.

09. Jimmy Raheriarisoa

This resume design could be placed in a hipster coffee shop and be mistaken for a trendy work of art. The flow of this design starts with the most important information at the top in the biggest lettering and slowly shrinks as it gets into the specifics. Not only does it display the programs he has expertise in but the design itself shows his ability to pair fonts, complement different designs into one project and creatively use the space that’s given. Almost like a puzzle, this design is sure a pleasure to look at.

10. Julia Miceli

While this isn’t a video game or a pack of beer, it’s in its simplicity that lies the real creativity. Designed like a folder with business cards and a CV, this design is clean and shows the personality of Julia Miceli, a graphic designer from Buenos Aires. She’s created the whole stationery set of a resume: the A4 sized CV, a folder to fit all the components and business cards with a cut off to display them neatly. Her graphic design skills show through in the way it works collectively as a creative resume.

11. Zhi Liang

It’s true that we process pictures faster than words. And this resume, made by Zhi Liang, is a great example of an infographic resume that thrives on a lack of words. This resume was an assignment for the end of semester for this Singapore student. It includes all the important details and a few extra (his stamp collection is a playful touch) that showcase his skills simply.

12. Gisele Henne

When you think of design, you usually think of the colors and shapes that create a beautiful design for most projects. Gisele Henne, takes this a step further. She shows how her designs have delivered results, a metric that’s not commonly thought of in regards to design. This includes 20 corporate projects, managing 40 books, 70% print and more every year. Not only does it just show her metrics, but the creative process when working with her and a few clients she’s worked with. Her logical resume is overly impressive.

Conclusion

When you’re in the design industry, the job market can get overcrowded with job seekers just like you. The great thing about the industry is that creativity is applauded and encouraged. Show who you are as a designer and as a person through a creative way. It sets you apart from the rest and get your experience looked at. At the very least, it doesn’t hurt to try!

Typography explained

When thinking about art, fonts are probably not the first thought that pops up in your mind. In fact, when you’re reading a text whether it’s an ad on the train, an instagram caption or a billboard, fonts aren’t usually what you’re paying attention to. Whether you notice it or not, fonts impact the way we read a message, feel about a message and interpret a message. The reason why? Fonts themselves are part of the design. When you add art into the mix, it brings meaning. This complicates things because if your font and message don’t match, it confuses the reader. Add to the mix, two different fonts and it can become a huge headache.

When it gets to the nitty-gritty of fonts, there’s a lot of different aspects that make a font, a font. After all, there’s much more involved than just style and spacing. Let’s go over the basics.

Terminal

This is a type of curve that’s most would define at the end of a stroke, whether this is straight or curved, that doesn’t have a serif. Keep in mind this can include a serif font, just on curves that don’t have a serif such as the bottom of an “n”.

X-height

This encompasses the height of a letter from the baseline to the mean line of a lowercase letter. Think: the height of the letter “x”, “w”, or “z”. Cap-height This is the height of a capital letter that’s above the baseline, but only capital letters that are flat like “N” or “L”, not letters that are round or pointed (“A” or “O”).

Counter

This is the fully or partially enclosed circular or curved white space of certain letters. Think of letters like “a”, “o”, “B” and “P”.

Baseline

This is the line that the text sits on. Bowl Just like the name, this is the rounded part of a letter that is fully closed (“d” and “b”). Ear Similar to where your ear would be on your body, this is a stroke that comes out of the top right side of the bowl of a lowercase “g” or in the angled or curved lowercase “r”.

Descender

This is the portion of the letter that goes below the baseline. Descender Line This is an invisible line that marks the lowest point of a descender in a font. Ascender This is part of the letter that extends above the mean line of a font.

Ascender Line

The opposite of a descender line, this is the invisible line that marks the height of ascenders in a font.

Serifs

These are the little strokes that are at the end of the main vertical and horizontal strokes of certain letters in a font.

Stem

This is the main stroke in a letter, usually vertical.

Just like humans, fonts come in many different shapes and sizes. Just as you would wear a dress to a wedding or a costume to Halloween, you would use certain fonts in certain situations. These different kinds of typography are useful, as they can enhance or change the message you’re looking to convey in your design. There are a few words that will be useful to you as you continue to learn font pairing. These include: serif, sans serif, script, slab serif, alignment and hierarchy.

Serif and sans serifs explained

Serif and sans serif fonts are like the yin and yang of fonts. These divide fonts into two different categories, each with their own unique characteristics that impact the feeling and style of the font. If a font is a serif font, it means that there are little feet at the ends of each character, while sans serif fonts are without these feet. Serif fonts were created first and tend to have a more traditional style to them, while sans serif fonts may be considered more modern.

While very different from each other, serif and sans serif fonts pair extremely well with each other. Their different attributes complement each other, rather than compete with each other. When pairing together, allow one font to take the spotlight and the other to take a back seat. Two fonts that are bold or have a loud look to them, do not pair well together. Pairing fonts is like a balancing act that gets more complicated with the more fonts you add to a design.

Bold's list of 30 font combinations

1. League Spartan with Libre Baskerville

Kanku-Breakaways Conservation Park, Coober Pedy (by Elise Cook)

Libre Baskerville is a traditional font that has an elegant characteristic to it. Light and airy, this font pairs well with the bold and geometric modern font of Libre Baskerville. This is a great example of a serif and sans serif font that balances each other out, with League Spartan as the title font.

2. Julius Sans One and Archivo Narrow

Hugh Hamilton Wines (by Sam Noonan)

These fonts are similar in style, both having thin strokes and a lightweight to them. While separately these two fonts have a lot in common, comparatively, Archivo Narrow is a much more geometric while Julius Sans has a smoother and delicate look to it. Both fonts are extremely versatile and easy to read.

3. Archivo Black and Archivo Narrow

Palm House, Adelaide Botanic Garden (by Frankie the Creative)

Think of bold. Archivo Black holds a rounded, bold and wide characteristics that make it great for titles and headlines. Paired with a condensed and light Archivo Narrow, create a light-hearted serif combination. Archivo Narrow nicely takes the back seat, serving nicely as body copy and is great when you’re in a cinch for space.

4. Libre Baskerville and Libre Baskerville

St Agnes Distillery (by Jonathan van der Knaap)

Wait, the same font paired together? That’s right! Within each font there is weight, size and space can change the way a font looks, even next to the same font. Sometimes a design just requires a simple look and even a simple italicization can provide a differentiator between a heading and body.

5. Bebas Neue and Montserrat

Trestrail Cottage (by South Australian Tourism Commission)

Sophisticated doesn’t have to mean crazy. These two sans serif fonts are both clean and contemporary fonts, with Bebas Neue as a condescended both bold font. Montserrat on the other hand also yields clean lines but is much more wide. These differences in spacing balance the combination, providing a clean and tidy look that’s also modern.

6. Lora with Lora

Cape Willoughby (South Australian Tourism Commission)

It may be surprising, but this is another same font pairing that can look extremely different depending on the way you use it. Lora can be portrayed as a flowy and graceful font, while also traditional. If italicized it has a femine touch and bolded it can read as sophisticated. Don’t stray away from using the same fonts together by playing with their different characteristics in other forms.

7. Open Sans Extra Bold with Cooper Hewitt

Lanzerac Country Estate (by Justin Carter)

Talk about an attention-getting, Open Sans Extra Bold is exactly as its name implies. The thick lines of this font work well with the light lines of Cooper Hewitt. In all caps, Cooper Hewitt provides a much modern look and can provide separation from headlines to body paragraphs.

8. Roboto Condensed Bold with Roboto Condensed

Seppeltsfield Vineyard Cottage (by Sam Kroepsch)

Simple and versatile, Roboto Condensed is an easy to read font. Its simple nature makes it straightforward and able to pair well with most fonts. It can be used as a title or in a paragraph, and both provide a sophisticated style to the design. Play with bond and unbolded to differentiate between sections of your project and provide further entertainment for the eye.

9. Cooper Hewitt Heavy with Cooper Hewitt

Henley Beach (by Kane Overall)

A classic typeface, Cooper Hewitt is known for its curves and arches, which makes it a classic font. Simple yet a flare of personality, this font can be used in many different design projects and works well with many different font types. Versatile in nature, it pairs with itself nicely.

10. Playfair Display Black with Playfair Display

Umpherston Sinkhole (Offroad Images)

If you’re looking for a font with a flavor of personality, Playfair Display Balck is a playful serif font that doesn’t shy away from making a statement. Playfair Display compliments it well by bringing a timeless sense that provides a unique look compared to other classic fonts.

11. Norwester with Kollektif

Thorngrove Manor Hotel (by Hiro Ishino)

If you’re looking for a structured combination, you’ve landed on one. Norwester provides a geometric and bold font that works extremely well at grabbing the attention of the reader. Kollektif provides a supporting structure with rounded and spread out features. Together, these fonts create an image of strength and stability.

12. Source Serif Pro with Source Sans Pro

Seppeltsfield Vineyard Cottage (by Sam Kroepsch)

As the serif and sans serif versions of each other, these fonts organically work harmoniously together. This makes it like the yin and yang of fonts. Source Serif Pro works effectively as a headline as well as supporting text. Source Sans Pro provides a clean break from the detail in Source Serif Pro.

13. Yellowtail with Open Sans

Aldgate (by Brad Griffin)

Yellowtail is a fun script font that looks like handwritten lettering. This is a great option if you’re looking for an embellished title or quote on your design. Due to its statement, it’s best used in moderation, which is why it works so well for headlines! It pairs well with basic and simple fonts, like Open Sans.

14. Raleway with Roboto Condensed

Clare Valley (by Justine Taylor)

Simple lines work well for spotlight text and supporting text, making these two fonts versatile and a great combination. Raleway is an elegant sans serif that looks modern and sophisticated. Roboto Condensed offsets the wide letters of Raleway, creating a perfect balance.

15. Cinzel with Quattrocento

Mount Lofty Botanic Garden (by Jonty Paterson)

When in Rome, use Cinzel. Inspired by the classical Roman style, this serif font uses characteristics of old inscriptions but with a contemporary flair to it. Quattrocento brings a delicate supporting classic font with wide and open letterforms. Together the combination brings a modern twist to traditional fonts.

16. Oswald with Montserrat Light

Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary (by Chris Bray)

Inspired by an alternate gothic typeface style, Oswald works especially well as a headline in all caps. It’s closely knit letters and bold weight, makes it a great centerpiece of a design, while staying easily readable. Montserrat Light brings a geometric cleanness that brings an editorial or corporate feeling to the combination.

17. Cooper Hewitt thin, with Cooper Hewitt Thin

Flinders Bush Retreats (by Pamela Inverarity)

Light may be an understatement with this font. Delicate is a great way to describe Cooper Hewitt Thin, as it’s thin and straight lines have modified geometric curves that give it additional structure without becoming overpowering. This structure allows it to work as a firm headline, but also as a great supporting text. This font is easy to read and looks great on the web!

18. Kollektif with Gidole

Hutton Vale Farm (by Dragan Radocaj)

Bold, round and strong maybe a few words that come to mind when you look at Kollektif. This font has certain letters that are shorter such as “k” or “t”, that curve the letters next to it. Different from most other modern fonts with straight and geometric lines, not all words may look good in this font. Paired with its opposite, Gidole, that represents a compressed and smoothed lines.

19. Bodoni with Bodoni Italic

Pike & Joyce (by Isaac Forman, Serio)

Crafting a magazine design? If so, you probably saw Bodoni. It’s an elegant and timeless style makes it a statement when you’re trying to convey sophisticated content. Not only does it look especially well as a headline for a contemporary design, but it pairs well with itself italicized. Other characteristics of the design, like color, can also aid in separating the fonts from each other and help to bring contrast.

20. Merriweather with Merriweather

Naiko Retreat (South Australian Tourism Commission)

Merriweather was specifically designed as a web font, so stray from using this on any print projects. It’s an emphasis on the feet of each character, making it easily legible and defined. Both as a focal font and as a support font, Merriweather comes in many different weights and styles, making it a classy option to any design.

21. League Gothic Bold with Kollektif

Naiko Retreat (South Australian Tourism Commission)

“Unique” is one word that comes to mind when looking at League Gothic Bold. It has a distinctive style to the way its letters are close together, vertically stretched, and a revival of a classic font. With its feeling of strength and easy to read from far away, it pairs nicely with the short and round, Kollektif. The difference in space between the letters and the height, make a perfect balance act.

22. Lato Heavy, with Lato

Paringa (by Isaac Forman, Serio)

A great website font, Lato adds a warmth to the cold blue light that the digital screens brings us. It has partially rounded characters that bring a friendliness to the bolded font. Lato that’s not bolded is seamless and integrates with most designs. Together with the difference in weights, creates two different fonts that are stable yet delicate.

23. Alfa Slab One, with Coustard

Lapito House (@lapitohouse)

A slab serif font, Alfa Slab One is a style that’s not for the faint of heart. Its loud personality makes it only suitable for certain messages; ensure yours is correctly reflected with this bold font. Paired with Coustard, another quirky font, these two make an eccentric pair. With a thinner font-weight, Coustard works nicely off of the thick boldness of Alfa Slab One.

24. Sifonn, with Bebas Neue

Villetta Porcini (by Dimitra Koriozos)

Art deco doesn’t just have its place in architecture or paintings. Strong geometric letters make Sifonn a stand out for any design. Make this font your focal point and your sure to gain the attention of whoever you’re targeting. Working best with less words, Sifonn works off of the straightforwardness and elegant shapes that Bebas Neue portrays. Have a picture you’d like to display text over? These fonts are a great artsy option!

25. Montserrat Hairline, with Montserrat Light

Flinders Bush Retreats (by Pamela Inverarity)

The pin of fonts, Montserrat Hairline is almost as thin as it gets. This fine weight provides a modern style that’s crisp and clean. Looking especially well as a light font against dark backgrounds, this font looks cool as a cucumber. Montserrat Light keeps the boxy design but evens out the weight with a slight thickness. Together, they make great lines for any project.

26. Source Sans Pro with Open Sans

Hentley Farm - Restaurant (by Erik Rosenberg)

When you’re looking for an easy to read font that works well for corporate documents like reports, Source Sans Pro is a great go to font. Its smaller letters have a higher height, aiding in the readability. Both Source Sans Pro and Open Sans bring a neutral tone to any design, creating an objective outlook for business needs.

27. Six Caps with Archivo Narrow

Naiko Retreat (South Australian Tourism Commission)

Imagine squeezing and stretching the words on your page and you’ve got Six Caps. The font is so smooshed its best used for titles and headlines, as it would be very hard to read in a space with a lot of words. Also having a condensed font, Archivo Narrow looks airy next to Six Caps. When combined, these fonts create a 60s retro style. This could be an opportunity to incorporate some bold colors into the design as well.

28. Anton with Open Sans Light

Paringa (by Isaac Forman, Serio)

Think big block letters and you’ve got Anton. Or even bubble letters you may have made on posters in grade school, but with an edge. Anton is the definition of traditional advertising, that uses the shock factor of a large letter to gain attention from the reader. To offset this heavyweight, Open Sans Light provides a refreshing lightness and structure with its geometric features.

29. Sacramento with Montserrat Light

Umpherston Sinkhole (Offroad Images)

With a touch of authenticity that a script font provides but the perfection of even lines and adequate space, Sacramento is a smooth spotlight font. In fact, this is the font that many wish their handwriting looked like, with its semi-connected lines that provide an effortless typeface. With Montserrat Light, this mixture is delicate and feminine. Montserrat Light allows the script font to take the spotlight, creating a beautiful contrast.

30. Aileron Heavy, with Aileron Light

Henley Beach (by Kane Overall)

Just like a pair of flare jeans, Aileron Heavy has the structure of straight lines with a bit of flare at the end of each character. These characteristics make it functional and clean, making it perfect for a headline or for a body paragraph. Its simplicity makes it especially great for documents with a lot of copy.

Conclusion

When it comes to font pairing, the most important aspect is testing out the design you believe your message needs. Trial and error is a large portion of the design process and yields the opportunity to see what doesn’t work, with the intention to get a better idea of what may work. There isn’t a set playbook that lists out which fonts should be paired together and which ones shouldn’t (although there are a few that may fall into these categories). Think about your project as a whole including how much space is on the page, the colors you want to use, the message you’re trying to send and the overall theme. Once you’ve got this covered, then think about the font, and its font parter, that will help put all those pieces together.

Also check out: Try our font combination tool
We hope you enjoyed our photos from Adelaide, South Australia.

Elegant Hire had previously paid an agency to create custom landing pages with some success, however they were looking for more increase. In our experience big conversion rates come from big changes, so we started from the ground up.

The design and re-marketing tactics we used were directly responsible for the business growth to a national company. Conversion rates increased by more than 120%, allowing the company to increase the product hire price by 85% (which is unheard of), producing huge profits of over $1 million. It is important to mention that it was a team effort between Bold Web Design (our research and design) and Elegant Hire (with a quality product and a willingness to action ideas quickly).

Phase 1 – Researching the target audience & designing a more effective landing page.

It’s a timeless business rule to listen to your customers, but we took it one step further. We ran a series of in house primary research groups, interviewing people that matched Elegant Hire’s target audience (i.e., women getting married). We presented them with designs, headlines and more importantly learned about their fears and any objections they would have about enquiring with a hire company for their wedding. In an effort to be thorough and have quantitative research we also conducted over 1000 questionnaires on new and previous customers.

Here are some of the methods we used.

We asked Elegant Hire’s existing customer base – why did they choose Elegant Hire? Was it pricing, was it the product, the sales pitch over the phone? We found that the existing customers booked in spite of the current website and that the sales pitch over the phone was what pulled them over the line. What was interesting was that they had a series of questions not answered on the landing pages but rather over the phone.

Next we interviewed potential customers to find out what questions they had:

a) What were they expecting to see when they landed on the page?
b) What would excite them to enquire with Elegant Hire?
c) What would turn them away from enquiring?
d) What information did they need to even consider enquiring?
e) What feeling or impression did the current landing page give them?

Next we interviewed people that didn’t book with Elegant Hire and booked with someone else. We asked them the obvious question of why they didn’t book? What was it that made them book with another company?

We became the customer ourselves – going through the sales process from the beginning of a Google search through to the end of the sales call. We wanted to find out what questions were being answered and more importantly what wasn’t.

We then crafted in our research answers into wireframes and layout designs. The idea behind wire-framing allows us to make sure we have all the research objections, questions and motivators for customers in order of priority. It’s a way of making sure the user is fed all the content in the correct order we want.

Then we used some of the previous research candidates to go through our wireframe just for some fresh eyes on the overall design. Through intensive testing, modifying the page layouts, we then moved onto graphic design and photography.

Every design change was based on research.

Our research showed that most users had no idea about the quality of the photography an Elegant Hire booth produced. Photography was the main point of difference for Elegant Hire as their booths had been put together by professional photographers and produced amazing photos. We decided to create a new industry term “Studio Booth” as a way of clearly communicating the difference to Brides who were familiar with “shopping centre booths”. The term proved so successful the sales team adopted the same headlines in their phone pitch.

Original headline “Photo booth Hire Brisbane” changed headline: “Experience Studio Photo Booths”

The changed headline communicated a national brand and a new professional style photo booth which perfectly suited those one in a lifetime events. Other headlines and helper copy was continued down the page based on a percentage of researched objections or questions.

Clever call to action – ‍We crafted in a pricing and availability call to action button.

It was a clever way of including the two most asked questions within the call to action itself. Using “availability” it also communicated to the user that there was a limit to the number of clients Elegant Hire can service, motivating the user to take action. We overhauled all the photography with modern professional photos that showcased their photo booth larger than life.

The logo

Originally a text based logo we changed it to a new design that left the user feeling like they had contacted a premium wedding hire company. As David Olgivy said it always pays to present a company as a premium brand where possible. What better industry to do that in than the wedding industry.

Photography & Videography – Anyone who thinks photos are not important is dead wrong.

We overhauled all the photography with modern professional photos that showcased their photo booth larger than life. ‍ We also created an in depth video answering customer questions in order of importance. (See Alecia here doing a fantastic job presenting Elegant Hire’s photo booth).

We also placed the promotional video on the post enquiry page to prepare the prospective customer before the return phone call from the Elegant Hire sales team. (The client didn’t feel comfortable featuring in the video so one of our staff members took the opportunity to present the booth in the video).

From $590 per hire to $990 per hire

We received permission to share these numbers. A unique insight into this project is the huge price jump Elegant Hire was able to do as a direct result of the design. Over the period of 3 months they gradually increased the price of the photo booth from the original $590 per hire all the way up to $990 per hire. Customers responded so well to the branding and unique promotion of the “Studio Booth” that they were willing to spend almost double to get a hold of a booth for their special day. Increases in sales conversion in addition to landing page conversions is a common story – It’s simple, brand trust coupled with a better perceived value for a product or service.

Handy Lessons

Most businesses presume they know what their customers require and what they are looking for. The problem is most businesses are mainly educated with customers that converted rather than those that didn’t. Putting aside our own ideas and letting the customer speak is crucial.

Wire-framing based on research.

Once we found out what the customer was looking for it’s not enough to just put it up on a landing page. It’s about order of priority that is crafted into the wireframe.

Headlines are important, but are not enough on their own. In the online world a design (good or bad) gives of an overall feeling to the customer.

Separating Elegant Hire with a new industry term helped differentiate them from their competitors. Long landing pages vs. short landing pages, it makes no difference.

Focusing on educating the user rather than worrying about the length of the page. Direct copywriters have been telling us for years that long copy sells better than short.

Remember when you overcome customer objections face to face you only need to overcome a limited amount of objections. When you sell on the web you need to focus on every customer’s objections. ‍

It takes big changes to get big results.

Recent studies from Adobe show that given fifteen minutes online, two-thirds of people would rather read something that is designed beautifully than something that looks plain. Information such as this is showing that psychology plays a large role in how people process information online. In response to information such as this, more and more web design companies are considering psychological data when building websites.

Psychology has played a major role in the advertising world since the days of Mad Men because it is clear that tapping into the way a consumer thinks will influence how they make certain decisions. Today, the same principles apply to website design. When it comes to designing a website, web design companies are not only thinking about how a website looks, but also how it makes a user feel. For example, the same study shows that 38% of users will stop engaging with a website if the content or the layout appears unattractive to them. But what exactly is attractive?

The human mind is a complex organism that processes information and makes judgements based on visual cues. The vast field of psychology is well ahead of the tech world when it comes to understanding how this process works. For example, the field of colour psychology is an extensive sector that looks at how colour effects humans, and how the brain processes visual information, as well as the kind of sensations induced. The colour blue evokes a feeling of calm, while a more vibrant colour like red makes viewers feel a range of negative emotions ranging from hungry, to uncomfortable. While every individual sees the world differently, there are certain triggers that cause most of us to respond in certain ways, or that draw our eyes towards certain things. These factors are thus being considered by website design companies when designing webpages, in order to engage with users on a deeper level.

A study from the Cardiff Business School titled ‘the interactive effects of colors and products on perceptions of brand logo appropriateness’ shows that brands need to be extremely conscious when developing their image, as colours need to not only make users feel good, but also need to fit their expectations of the products and services on offer. Website design is no longer as simple as just choosing what looks good to the owner; it is now a complex field incorporating many disciplines.

In this increasingly competitive and tech savvy market, it is not uncommon to find psychologists working in web design firms. Take, for example, the work of Alecia Abigail at Bold Web Design in Adelaide. Alecia uses her degree in psychology to assist her and her team to step inside the shoes of the viewer and to make sure that the interactive website experience on every project is intuitive and inviting. Her understanding of psychological processes is vital for identifying any issues that may arise in usability. She began working at the firm because more and more clients are wanting the edge on understanding the inner workings of their audiences’ mind.

Psychologists understand the effects that web design has on the brain, because they have an indepth understanding of how the brain works. For example, Alecia commented that one of the most common things that the brain craves is order. “A hierarchical website without clutter is a good start,” she says, “tapping into the brain’s desire for organisation makes for a more user friendly experience.”

Another thing that may seem like a simple choice, but carries a large amount of weight in web design is the typeface, and how much text is on the page. In the early days of the internet, it wasn’t uncommon to see pages with thousands of words of text. Now, it certainly appears that less is more in most instances. Commonly, serif fonts (such as Times New Roman) evoke professionalism and structure. While sans serif fonts (such as Helvetica), are often used to make something appear more creative, modern or fashionable.

There is also ample research that explains how images relate to emotions. It is important to keep in mind what an image says, because pictures receive far more attention than words. A cartoon conveys something entirely different to a black and white abstract scene. Psychologists in web design firms, such as Alecia at Bold Web Design, often work to test how images work with audiences, and analyse responses to see whether the desired information is being conveyed. Alecia says that understanding the user is a multi-faceted approach, and even with her degree and background working in psychology, she is still learning new things about how the brain interacts with the world of technology every day.

When it comes to web design, the golden rule now seems to be that there is only one chance at making a first impression, so it is important to make it count.

In today’s tech-savvy world, website design carries more weight than ever before. A website not only needs to grab the viewer’s eye, but it also needs to work across more and more platforms. Industry statistics from IBIS World Analysts show that, in Australia, web design is an upwardly mobile sector due to an increase in web traffic from mobile devices and a growing demand for web design services. Further, the city of Adelaide is fast becoming one of Australia’s largest tech hubs due to the comparatively cheaper costs of services than cities like Sydney and Melbourne, and the growth of the sector via immigration and diversification.

Over the last two decades, the web design services industry in Adelaide has seen continual growth due to an increasing societal-wide reliance on the internet, especially on mobile devices. From looking at maps to sourcing a restaurant, researching a holiday, or finding a job: many of the things that used to require interaction with businesses face to face, or the consultation of hard copy products, are now redirected to website landing pages.

In the last five years alone, an increase in website browsing speeds, greater access to internet connections, the affordability of mobile phone data and improved mobile phone technology, has boosted website traffic significantly across the board. Such surges in traffic have prompted businesses to enhance their web presence by enlisting the services of professional web developers and investing extra capital into website design.

IBIS World’s statistics also report that the website design industry is currently valued at over $1 billion in revenue per annum, and has grown by approximately 3% annually between 2013 and 2018. Growth is expected to continue at this rate in the coming years. The increase in web traffic that has contributed to this growth is predominantly due to users of smartphones and tablets using their devices to view online content in a variety of locations that previously did not have internet access.

Sam Jean Marc, the founder at Bold Web Design in Adelaide, believes that website design will continue to be an essential vehicle for capital growth across all sectors. Even those sectors that used to be able to rely more on other means of business generation are now finding it necessary to rethink their online presence.

“In our office, our design team are required to come up with more and more creative products and services every week. And not only that, they need to ensure usability and interactiveness across platforms. In this market, it is vital to continue to learn and develop, because stagnation is fatal,” Sam says.

In order to remain ahead of the game, website design companies such as Bold have a range of tools in their belt. Companies are employing staff with a diverse range of backgrounds including design, project management, psychology, visual arts, programming, entrepreneurship and more. Adelaide is leading the way in this regard, with companies like Bold investing time and energy in staying ahead of the competition, while reaching out to interstate and international markets.

“To tackle the mammoth task of remaining in step with what the tech companies are coming up with, we need to source a wide range of knowledge from diverse fields. We also need to find a way to make sure our different disciplines are all speaking the same language, and that the products and services we develop are high-quality, but can also be turned around quickly.” Because, as Sam says, time is of the essence in this tech-savvy market. Research by the NN Group recently showed that users are likely to stay on a website for as little as 10 to 20 seconds unless they see a value proposition that entices them to stay longer.

If users find value in the website they will often stay for many minutes, but the largest percentage of drop off occurs in that first 10 to 20 seconds. Sadly, when users leave a page in that initial time period, they are unlikely to return. With many companies recognising that their websites are not captivating audiences, the fear of losing potential customers every minute is vastly increasing. The pressure is on website design companies to quickly improve existing websites, build new websites, and provide the value propositions that were previously lacking.

These could be in the form of something as simple as an inviting image that takes the user further into the website, an enticing piece of website copy that will engage the reader for long enough to read an article while also subtly suggesting products or services, or competitions and offers that will provoke sales. It’s clear that the rate of technology development is not slowing any time soon. Adelaide will continue surging forward as a tech leader and a place to source high-quality web design. As Sam Jean Marc said at a recent ‘Market by Design’ Conference, companies such as Bold will continue to drive future growth in Adelaide via innovative online marketing strategies.

Product pages are a critically important element of your e-commerce website. You can spend countless hours optimising your homepage, blog and checkout funnel, but it’s not going to drive sales unless your product pages can convince shoppers to make a purchase. Regardless of what your site sells, you can achieve higher conversion rates by optimising your product pages.

Create Detailed Product Descriptions

According to a study conducted by Nielsen Norman Group, one in five failed online purchases are caused by poor or incomplete product descriptions. When a shopper reaches a product page, he or she will probably look at the description first. To compel shoppers to make a purchase, you must create detailed product descriptions that accurately describe the product you are selling.

When writing product descriptions, try to avoid using unsubstantiated superlatives. In other words, don’t say your product is the “fastest” or “strongest” or “longest lasting” or “highest quality” without backing up those claims.

You can focus on the benefits of your products, like how they help the customer, in the description, but you should still talk about the features and specifications. Doing so allows you to create longer and more detailed descriptions while increasing the perceived value of your products in the process.

Emphasize the Call to Action

Every product page on your site needs a call to action (CTA). This is the clickable button with a text overlay that allows shoppers to purchase a product. If a shopper can’t easily find the CTA, he or she will probably leave without making a purchase. Whether you use “Buy Now,” “Order Now,” “Add to Cart” or “Add to Bag,” you need to emphasize CTAs so that shoppers will click them.

To make your CTAs stand out on the product pages, follow these tips: 

• Place CTAs in an open, uncluttered area above the fold. 

• Design CTAs with colors that contrast with your website’s background. 

• Use all uppercase letters or title case for text overlay. 

• Avoid drop shadow effects and instead, use clean lines to define your CTAs. 

Allow Customers to Leave Reviews

Some e-commerce webmasters are hesitant to implement a review feature on their product pages, fearing it will attract negative reviews from customers. But if your site sells high-quality products at competitive prices, and follows through by processing and fulfilling orders, it shouldn’t receive many negative reviews. Rather, you’ll attract positive customer reviews on your product pages that compel other shoppers to make a purchase. One report found that customer reviews increase e-commerce conversion rates by an average of 18 percent, making it an effective optimization tactic for your product pages.

Allowing customers to leave reviews on product pages is easier than you may think. If your site is powered by Shopify, you can use the Product Reviews app. If it’s powered by BigCommerce, you can enable product reviews from your account settings. For WordPress sites, there are product review plugins like WP Customer Reviews and Customer Reviews for WooCommerce.

Upload High-Quality Product Images From Multiple Angles

Since they can’t see the product in-person, online shoppers rely on images to understand what a product looks like. Using just one or two low-quality product images won’t work. Online shoppers want to see products in detail and from multiple angles, and if you don’t provide them with this content, they won’t purchase your site’s products.

Each product page should have a primary, default image that best portrays the product. Upon loading the page, however, shoppers should have the freedom to view images of the product from alternate angles. And if the product is available in different colors, include images for each of these colors. By touching up your product images, you’ll experience more conversions on your product pages.

Add Product Videos

According to a study conducted by Adobe, online shoppers are nearly twice as likely to purchase a product after watching a video about it compared to looking at photos of the product. This doesn’t mean that videos are a viable substitution for product images; you should use videos alongside images to provide shoppers with increased transparency. A short 30-second video depicting a product in action allows shoppers to see details like motion, movement, and relative size that aren’t present in photos alone.

Cross-Sell Related Products

Amazon does it, so why aren’t you? Cross-selling is a time-tested optimization strategy for increasing conversion rates on e-commerce websites. Amazon has even stated that cross-selling is responsible for more than one-third of its total sales revenue.

Cross-selling involves displaying relevant products on a product page that you believe shoppers may be interested in purchasing as well. On a product page for a golf club, for example, you could display links to other golf-related products on your site, including other golf clubs as well as golf balls, tees, and bags.

There are apps available for Shopify and BigCommerce that will automatically display related products on your site’s product pages. Alternatively, you can cross-sell manually by choosing the products yourself and then adding links to them on the product page.

Display Trust Seals and Badges

The conversion rate of your site’s product pages is heavily influenced by how much shoppers trust your brand. If a shopper has purchased from your company in the past, you won’t have to earn their trust. But others will need convincing that your e-commerce website is trustworthy, which is why you should use trust seals and badges.

Trust seals and badges are official graphics that are only granted to websites if certain requirements are met, such as using HTTPS encryption or verifying the website’s identity with a third party. Common trust seals and badges used on e-commerce websites include Norton Secured, McAfee SECURE, TRUSTe, PayPay Verified, Sitelock and Better Business Bureau (BBB). By displaying them on your product pages, visitors will have greater confidence in your brand, resulting in more sales.

E-commerce sales are heavily impacted by the design of product pages. When a shopper reaches a product page on your e-commerce website, he or she must decide whether to make a purchase. This is the moment of truth that can make or break a sale. By creating high-converting product pages for your e-commerce website, however, you’ll have an easier time convincing shoppers to make a purchase.

How long do visitors typically spend on your website? According to HubSpot, more than half of all online users spend less than 15 seconds when visiting a website. It’s difficult to convert visitors into customer in such little time, and search engines may lower your site’s rankings if it has a low average session duration for its niche. But there are ways to encourage visitors to stay on your website for longer.

1) Clean Up the Design

Visitors won’t stay on your website if it features a cluttered design. A study conducted by Microsoft from the average person’s attention span is now just eight seconds, compared to 12 seconds in 2000. If your website features a cluttered design with an excessive number of visual elements all crammed together, you’ll struggle to capture visitors’ attention, resulting in a shorter session duration. To keep visitors on your website for longer, use a clean, modern design that focuses on your brand message.

2) Improve Navigation

The way in which your website’s navigation is structured will affect how long visitors stay. Displaying a link to each individual page in a sidebar or header menu isn’t an effective strategy. As your website grows and encompasses more pages, you may have hundreds of unsorted links in the menu, making it difficult for visitors to find content on specific topics. Instead, use a breadcrumb-style navigation structure that involves hierarchically organised category pages. You can then include links to only the top-level category pages on your website’s sidebar or header menu, which visitors can click to find links to other pages of related content.

3) Publish Long-Form Content

Long-form content has become the cornerstone of an effective search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy. In addition to driving higher search rankings, though, it also encourages visitors to stay on your website for longer. Research shows that the average adult is capable of reading about 250 words per minute. If you publish a short 250-word article on your website, visitors may stay for just one minute, even if they read the entire article. By stretching out your website’s content to 1,000 words, visitors will spend about four minutes reading your articles.

4) Use Contextual Internal Links

You can keep visitors on your website for longer by guiding them to other relevant pages on your website. The more pages a visitor accesses, the longer he or she will likely stay. Visitors can always use your website’s primary navigation menu to find other pages, but you should use contextual internal links to further guide them around your site. Contextual internal links are words or phrases in your website’s content that are linked to other relevant pages on your site. If a visitor comes across a linked word or phrase while reading an article, he or she can click it to learn more about the linked topic on another page.

5) Limit Use of External Links

Use caution when adding external links to your website’s content. Unlike internal links, these links send visitors away from your website, so using too many may result in a shorter average session duration. External links can make your content more valuable by guiding visitors to other relevant websites, but you should use them in moderation. A good rule of thumb is to use no more than one external link per 100 words. And if you’re still worried that external links will hurt your website’s average session duration, place them at the bottom of your content rather than within the content itself.

6) Optimise for Mobile Viewing

Mobile devices now account for 52 percent of all global internet traffic, compared to just 31 percent in 2015. Unless your website is optimised for mobile viewing, though, these mobile users may encounter usability problems like hard-to-read font sizes, touch points too close together and horizontal scrolling, in which case they’ll quickly back out of your site. To keep visitors on your website, optimise it for mobile viewing by using a responsive theme or template that automatically adjusts to fit the device on which it’s viewed.

7) Add Images to Text

Images do more than just improve the aesthetics of your website; they help convey messages presented in the adjacent text while also encouraging visitors to stay for longer. As visitors read through your website’s content, they stop to take a look at the images. Even if it only disrupts a visitor’s reading for a split second, it still slows down the speed at which he or she consumes your website’s content, which means a longer session duration.

8) Publish Videos

Whether you host them yourself or embed them from YouTube, publishing videos on your website may encourage visitors to stay for longer. According to the video app company Animoto, visitors spend an average of two minutes longer on pages with video than pages without video. Visitors can simply scan text and images, but to watch to watch a video, they must click the play button and wait for it to finish.

9) Cut Back on Ads

Publishing ads on behalf of another company or an ad network is a great way to monetise your website. However, you should be conscious of how those ads affect user performance metrics like average session duration. Displaying too many ads on your website, especially intrusive ads like autoplay video with sound or pop-ups, may irritate visitors as they try to distinguish between organic and sponsored content.

10) Improve Speed

Fast-loading website usually have a longer average session duration than slow-loading websites. With high-speed broadband services becoming more common, visitors expect websites to load almost instantly after clicking a search listing or link. If there’s a long delay, visitors may leave before their browser finishes loading the page. For a higher average session duration, optimise your website so that it loads more quickly. Enabling browser caching, deploying your website on a content delivery network (CDN), adding expires headers to your .htaccess file and using web-optimised images can all improve your website’s speed.

Attracting visitors to your website is only beneficial for your online business if they stay for a meaningful amount of time. While you can’t prevent visitors from leaving, you can encourage them to stay longer by following these tips.

We are looking for an efficient individual to work as a Virtual Office Assistant for Bold. The great news is the successful candidate can work from home!

The position is full time and pays a competitive annual salary of $60,000 - $65,000.

Your role will primarily involve:

Previous experience is desired but not essential for application.

We are looking for a friendly, and outgoing office admin staff member to join the Bold team.

The position is full time and pays a competitive annual salary of $60,000 - $65,000.

Your role will primarily involve:

Previous experience is desired but not essential for application.

The following is just one of the many success stories we achieved for our clients. Join Them

What caused the increase? Dolittles is a multi-location chain of pet retreats that had recently been acquired and was in desperate need of an entire website rethink. While the site was converting well, there was still a lot of room for improvement. We spent time researching customer objections, worries and any hesitation the customer had to make an online booking.

Bold Web Design found the majority of concerns could be addressed before the scroll and provided reassurance the further the user scrolled. Customer concern is not always the key, but for Dolittles enquiries soared as users felt that Dolittles was a safe place for their furry best friend. Often high converting design is not always about changing a headline or the colour of a button rather giving an impression or a feeling to the user that conveys trust. It’s a combination of photo selection, design and typography coming together that causes the user to say “I trust this brand.”

What did the customer say about Bold? “Hi guys just wanted to say that we have seen a large increase already in online enquiries, I knew the new design would work well the moment we saw it. Thank your team for me.”

The following is just one of the many success stories we achieved for our clients. Join Them

The photography industry is filled with photographers promoting their work, but often not speaking to the heart of their customer. Bold Web Design quickly identified that the site visitors were after more than just a photo shoot. They were beginning a journey with their newborn, it was going to be a new way of life, and we wanted to speak to that in a fun, but thoughtful way, after all, it’s an emotional time. We carefully searched through hundreds of photos to find just the right photography that matched our emotive and creative headline. We continued the branded feel by causing a mouse controlled photo parallax effect, which is memorable to the user and was hard for competitors to replicate.

The result is a stunning, truly memorable experience and the numbers speak for themselves. Precious Pearl more than doubled their enquiries with the same advertising spend and created a lasting impression which worked very well with retargeting.

What the customer said about Bold?

“Absolutely thrilled with my website! I’ve previously had a website that didn’t covert well or load almost at all. Bold Web Design has managed to make my website not only look and run amazing, but convert browsers into buying clients. I love the animation on my site and the way the team at Bold Web Design have an eye to present my work beautifully and professionally. Thank you for your creative skill, and I’ll be recommending you. 10 stars from me!” – Precious Pearl Photography