"Designing a new website is easy. Committing your time and following through with that original concept, that’s the tricky part."
Creating a website is crucial, for business owners. It’s essential to understand the various aspects. In this four- part series I will guide you through the process:
Creating Morphreq Website
1 • Introduction
2 • Themes and Plugins
3 • Branding
4 • Design
5 • Copywriting
6 • Conclusion
1. Introduction
I will explain the reasoning, behind the decisions I made when creating my website. First and foremost I began by sketching a wireframe for the homepage layout. The layout consisted of a header, name, title, hero section and footer. I opted to use pen and paper for this stage as I believe in keeping things simple. Starting directly with tools like Canva or Figma can be distracting because of the possibilities unless you have a clear vision in mind.
The foundation for my website was inspired by my project in “The Complete Web Development Course”, by Angela Yu. This project served as the basis on which I built the website. Now my focus shifted towards determining the style I aimed to achieve and identifying my target audience.
2. Themes and Plugins.
I started with the Astra theme and Elementor plugin working with WordPress. However, as I developed the site a number of issues kept coming up which I was unable to correct with the free versions of the themes and plugins. So after a few weeks of trying to fix issues with the free versions, I gave up and bought the pro versions of both Astra and Elementor. And all the issues that I had before disappeared because of the functionality of the pro versions. Footer and Header issues were the main issues that were fixed with the Pro versions.
3. Branding
The next issue I wanted to address was how would I like to be perceived as a focal point of the business. This is a tricky one especially if you are a solo entrepreneur. The 5 main attributes that you should possess is:
Passion.
You have to exhibit genuine enthusiasm and dedication for your work, as it will shine through in your interactions and inspire confidence in your business.
Curiosity.
You have to display a willingness to learn and adapt, keeping an open mind to new opportunities and ideas.
Perseverance.
Be resilient in the face of obstacles, understanding that building a successful business takes time and effort. When you speak and listen to people who are successful, you’ll realize that they have all had failures, but bounced back from adversity.
Business skills.
You need to develop a range of skills, including problem-solving, leadership, and financial literacy, to effectively manage and grow your business.
Communication.
You must possess strong communication skills to convey your ideas, build relationships with customers, and market your products or services.
However, all of these skills are constantly being updated by you learning everyday. But I also wanted to convey a fun side and creative side to my personality that would be present in the style of my writing and my presentation of what I would be offering. That is evident in my personal tag-line.
What type of client base would I be catering to. Due to the stylistic element of my site it would be more suited to the creative industries. However, I would also need to show that I am capable of designing websites for any industry and you can show this in your bio or with websites that you are currently working on unless of course you have to comply to NDA’s.
4. Design.
Font Choice.
I decided on the Poppins font, due to its simple and clean design, it also supports multiple languages, so content will be accurately displayed in other languages. It has gained a lot of popularity among web developers and it will suit various design projects. It came down to 2 choices when I was making a decision, either Roboto or Poppins – Poppins won the day.
Colours.
The 3 base colors I chose were Green, white and purple. It is well documented that Color psychology in branding is a powerful tool that influences consumer perceptions and behaviors.
Green.
Associated with nature, health, and sustainability. Brands like Starbucks use it to convey eco-friendliness.
White.
Represents purity and simplicity. Brands like Apple use white to convey a clean, minimalist image.
Purple.
Conveys luxury and creativity. It’s seen in brands like Cadbury, signifying indulgence.
With these 3 base colors I could develop a number of shades that would flow nicely together.
Creating Morphreq Website
Copywriting
I used the Aida copywriting formula (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) conveyed within a story. For example, my about page could have been presented like this:
Are you a business owner, in search of an on-line presence? Look no further!
Attention.
In this era having an engaging website is essential. I specialize in crafting custom website designs that are sure to grab your attention.
Interest.
With a focus on creating designs, your website will look stunning on any device be it a desktop or smartphone. I prioritize user satisfaction. Excel in designing user experiences (UX).
Desire.
I will bring your vision to life, using cutting edge tools like WordPress, HTML, CSS and Javascript. Your website will not only captivate visually, but also function flawlessly.
Action.
That’s not all! Building websites is the beginning for me, I ensure their success to the end. My expertise in search engine optimization (SEO) guarantees rankings for your site, attracting traffic and potential customers. Additionally, if you’re interested in selling online my proficiency in integrating e commerce solutions will surely boost your sales.
Moreover, I provide website maintenance and updates to keep your presence fresh and secure.
Don’t miss out on the chance to elevate your business! Contact me today. Let’s create a website that leaves a lasting impression and achieves tangible results!
Images and Animation.
The images were either created in photoshop or free to use from various sites and then edited for color consistency across the whole site. The animations are lotties files, which were edited in a lottie file editor or left as is.
Conclusion.
Choice of Themes and Page Builders.
Opting for themes, like Astra Pro and plugins like Elementor Pro provides opportunities for customization.
Lesson Learnt.
The selection of tools is crucial for enhancing flexibility and design freedom.
Designing Headers and Footers.
Leverage tools like Elementor to craft headers and footers that enhance the overall user experience.
Lesson Learnt.
Paying attention to the details of headers and footers can elevate the aesthetics of a website.
Creating Landing Pages.
Mastering the art of creating landing pages is essential for successful marketing campaigns and higher conversion rates.
Lesson Learnt.
Landing pages necessitate concise content accompanied by call to action elements.
Setting Up a Blog Section
Utilizing Elementor to build a blog section simplifies content creation and management, streamlining the process.
Lesson Learnt.
Regular blog posts contribute to search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, while engaging the audience effectively.
Efficiency in Website Building
Constructing a WordPress website can be time consuming. With practice it becomes possible to create a site relatively quickly.
Lesson Learnt.
Gaining familiarity with the tools and workflow significantly accelerates website development speed.
Integration of Newsletters.
The incorporation of Mailchimp enables audience engagement through newsletters nurturing leads effectively.
Lesson Learnt.
Collecting leads through newsletters plays a role in driving conversions.
Choosing Hosting on cPanel.
Decisions regarding web hosting directly impact website performance, in terms of speed and reliability.
Lesson Learnt.
Hosting with cPanel gives you control and stability for your website.
Conclusion.
To sum up the process of building a WordPress website teaches us the importance of selecting the right tools, while paying attention to design details which creates engaging content, while optimizing for a greater user experience. It’s an evolving journey that requires learning and adaptation to stay competitive in this digital world.
Currently there are a total of 24 pages and posts on the website. If I were to estimate the time it took to complete the site as it is, it would be around 12 weeks in total. The most time consuming aspect was ensuring that I was satisfied with the written content.
Once you have a framework in place, it’s about filling in the gaps with content.