01.-
Brief
Problem statement
SGS, a small electrical firm based in the heart of Yorkshire, did not have an online presence and
their branding was almost non-existent. They felt not having a professional online image was holding
them back somewhat and wanted to expand into the digital market to help their electrical service
business grow.
The website was to be kept simple but effective in getting their message across - they offered quality
electrical services to the local area and were proud of their roots. They viewed their friendly nature
as in common with that of the local people, and they wanted a site that would leverage this to attract
customers to their brand.
02.-
Project Goal
To build a professional and enticing website to build SGS's social media presence around.
Not every job is glamorous, with electricians being the first to
admit that. Beyond this, much
of the work undertaken by electricians is highly specialised and may not be readily understood by those
outside of the field (i.e. the customers!). Many websites within this sector are filled with complex
images and content that goes over the head of the majority of people.
Therefore, I thought it was important to again do something a little differently, presenting a
simple, appealing and identifiable image to end users, no matter their level of expertise.
I made it a key focus to showcase the strengths and personality of the business in a way that
would appeal to a wide customer base. Cutting out complexity ultimately meant having less content to
build around, and so the design of the site needed to accommodate this. This is a challenge I
particularly enjoy tackling - creating an open and expansive design that can appropriately and
seamlessly integrate varying levels of content. Though it requires more creativity and expertise, this
approach makes much more sense to me than trying to artificially make content fit a design.
0
Unique page designs
0
Total pages
0
Megebyte website
03.-
The Outcome
Going forward
The result was a bespoke website handcrafted in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. What does that mean?
Fundamentally, that the website is lightweight, runs quickly and responsively on every device. Having
less dependencies, it is much more future proof. This is extremely important to a small business as it
means that future maintenance costs are kept to a minimum.
Another aspect I am proud of is the size of the resulting website, which is testament to the
efficiency of my work. Websites built through WordPress can be huge, meaning slow loading and
unresponsiveness in use. In contrast, I managed to keep the entire website project to 5 Megabytes,
including images. Most modern internet speeds can download that in less than a second - this
ultimately means that the user is guaranteed a faster, snappier, more professional experience.
Further, a website built in this format is flexible and can be easily updated in the future to
guarantee its longevity. Unlike many bloated websites which can look dated within just a few years,
the aim of this website is to still look fresh in years to come.
The team at SGS are thrilled with the site I built for them - I'm pleased to say they are now
building their social media presence around it and are relying on the website for general enquiries
and as the core of their online brand, in line with the project goal. They and I are set to expand on
the website further to show the additional services they can now offer with their continued expansion.