Probably the biggest mistake made by web designers is not focusing on the online customer journey and simply relying on creativity to generate business enquiries. Another common error is not focusing on the mobile version of a website or having a mobile site which loads very slowly. Google can penalise websites which aren’t mobile friendly or are slow to load.

Another common mistake is keyword stuffing which despite web developers being aware that the practice is counter-productive, many SEO professionals still choose to keyword stuff at the expense of writing intelligent and easy-to-read content.

WordPress sites can be built using the WordPress block editor and/or free or paid-for templating systems.

There are a number of pre-made templates which allow for quick creation of a new WordPress site, however, the better sites are usually created using paid-for ‘bespoke’ templating systems.

The paid templating systems differ from a traditional template in that you usually start from a blank page and build the design of your own choice using the tools provided by the ’templating system’ provider. Realistically these systems aren’t templates at all.

WordPress also has a huge number of free and paid plugins which can be used together with most templating systems to add extra functionality (for example a forum, a contact form, shopping cart, etc). WordPress web pages are either ‘pages’ or ‘blog pages’, making WordPress the ideal platform to generate new content on-the-fly.

No matter how your WordPress site is built, you will need additional security to harden against attacks, a good hosting provider to host your website, plus you will need the services of a web development company or marketing agency, to ensure that your site is being developed in the way you want it to look and function.

Around 65% of web sites using Content Management Systems are developed using WordPress, with the nearest competitor (Shopify) having a market share of only 6%. The alternatives, such as the brands you see advertised on TV account for around 3% market share each; and are mainly used by small and micro businesses looking to develop in-house web sites. Although WordPress itself is free, the majority of professional business-level functionality (plugins) available are paid once or SaaS add-ons.

Working with the right WordPress development team, like at Thinktank, WordPress offers outstanding value and provides a fast, reliable development platform for small, medium and enterprise-level businesses.

It’s true that there are enterprise grade options available such as Adobe Experience with Adobe Cloud, however, these enterprise-level AI, CMS systems with built-in Asset Management can cost anything from £200,000 upwards and require a specialist Adobe Experience dev team to support their use.

Whilst they may be a viable option for some of the world’s leading brands, it’s good to remember that mega brands such as Sony Music, Playstation, CNN, BBC America, Renault and Toyota and Walt Disney all use WordPress as their go-to CMS system of choice.

Short answer. No. Long answer. Yes. It’s entirely up to you and everything depends on the value you place on your web site.

For example, if you’re using your website just for the sake of having one and you don’t feel that it adds anything to the bottom line then you can simply leave the site you develop in place until you decide to change it in a few years’ time.

Even if you decide to do this, you are going to need to pay for annual hosting fees and it’s really wise to have a backup in case your site goes down for any reason (database corruption, security violations etc).

In reality, most WordPress sites use somewhere between 3-20 plugins – with many of them requiring updating from time to time. In an average year, you will need to make about 30-50 updates – they are usually quick, but there is always a risk of them going wrong, So, a simple basic maintenance plan can take care of your site in the event that an update causes any issues with its functionality (it’s not common but it can happen a couple of times a year). Updates usually add security hardening, improved speed or extra functionality. And, there are often updates which are critical updates because they provide a security fix for recently discovered security vulnerabilities. So again, a simple basic maintenance plan will help protect your investment and keep your site going (or be able to put the site back in place again) in a worst-case scenario.

Some clients place a high value on their website and want to go beyond the basic maintenance plans, making continual improvements so that they keep the site fresh and engaging for site visitors.

The bottom line is that the choice of whether to keep a website maintained is optional, with the caveat that you understand the risks of choosing to leave your new site without a support and maintenance plan.

Nobody can guarantee a number one position on Google Search Engine Listings. And, nobody can guarantee that your site will feature on the first page. Reaching and staying on the first page depends on a number of factors including how competitive the market is and what Search Engine Terms that you want to be ranked for.

Google tweak their algorithms hundreds of times per year and sometimes there are well-publicised major changes which are given names such as Florida, Big Daddy, Penguin, Panda, Fred, etc.

It can be relatively easy to obtain a position on the top page for a search term or market which is not competitive, however, if you’re trying to achieve the number one ranking position in a highly competitive market, it is likely that you will need to focus significant resources into working towards achieving your goals. Even moving from position 4 to position 1 can take a great deal of effort.

We work with clients to achieve the most cost-efficient solutions to organic search engine rankings and deliver cost-appropriate plans to work towards reaching the optimal search engine position.

Any kind of short-term fix or attempt to manipulate search engine results is very likely to result in Google penalising or at worst, sandboxing your website for trying to ‘cheat the algorithms’.

Adding more words or increasing word count on a web page has exactly the same effect on Page Ranking as adding more words to a newspaper does for sales. It all depends on whether it enhances the page and gives visitors or readers a better experience.

Adding extra words allows Google to obtain a better understanding of what your web page is about, however, increasing page ranking is achieved by having a page which engages, is shared more frequently and provides a better, information-rich experience for site visitors.

So, if you want to know if increasing word count makes a difference, the answer is, ‘only if it is the right content, unique and it achieves significantly better engagement’.

In the 20^th Century, John Wanamaker, US entrepreneur and founder of what would become part of Macy’s, famously said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” The late Mr Wanamaker’s adage still rings true today! But it’s probably a lot more than 50% which is wasted nowadays because of the sheer volume of advertising options available and the challenge that clients often have choosing the best option for them.

It’s important to have a good understanding of the options that work best for your product or market, for example Out of Home (OOH), DRTV and Radio advertising may work wonders for some B2C products, however for B2B, the options are entirely different.

And, even if you select the right advertising channels, in the right ratio at the right time, you still need to make sure that your campaign has sufficient reach, impact, memorability and has a clear call to action when delivered to the target market customers you’re aiming for.

Boring the life out of  your audience! That's the biggest no-no.

The label PowerPoint presentations may be a thing of the past, but ‘Death by PowerPoint’ is still as relevant today as it has always been. Too many slides; cluttered content; talking at the audience; repeating every word on-page and failure to have an engaging journey – these are the big fails often associated with poor deck design.

Thinktank creates Decks which are immersing, thought-provoking and brilliantly designed. If you place great value on your Pitch Decks or perhaps want to find out how to win new business at C-level with a Deck which will impress, you need to talk to us. We can help you produce Decks to help you win business.

A CTA is a Call to Action and it is a message, element or button which is used to provoke an action from a target customer, so that they do something – like fill in a form, pick up the phone to you, receive a quotation, etc.

CTAs are an essential component of every online marketing campaign. Want to find out how to improve your conversion rates with a better CTA? Call thinktank Marketing Manchester now on +44 161 826 0106. (click here to phone Thinktank - this is a CTA).