We want all of our clients to have a best in class website, that is customer led and at a price that works for you. The first step to any successful website development project is research. But what exactly does that entail? And what tools do we use to make sure we’re making the best decisions for you?

How to Research Websites

There are a few different ways to research websites. One way is to simply browse the web and look at what other rival brands are doing. This can give you a good idea of their website performance, what platforms they use to build their web platform and how they use UI/UX to engage their customers.

These tools can give you insights into how people are interacting with websites, what keywords they're using, and what their traffic sources are.

Finally, you can also research websites by talking to people who use them. This can give you valuable insights into what people like and don't like about websites, and what they would change if they could.

Tools for Website Research

At Yellow Panther HQ there are a number of tools we use to help us shape your website project;

• BuiltWith: A simple tool that shows you what your rivals used to build their website, from their CMS, CRM, chatbots, social media integration and accessibility plugins.

• Google Analytics: This tool provides detailed statistics on website traffic, including page views, bounce rate, and conversion rate.
• SimilarWeb: This tool provides information on website traffic, audience demographics popular keywords, and competition tracking.
• Hotjar: This tool provides heatmaps and session recordings that show how people interact with websites.

Using Research to Inform Decisions

Once we’ve done our research, it's time to start using it to inform your decisions. When working on a client brief, we will always run a DISCOVERY session with you to get under the bonnet of your website project, here’s what we uncover;

• Clients' goals: What does the client want to achieve with their website? Are you a sales platform, community platform or simply a brochure style website to showcase your services?
• The target audience: Who is the website for? The UI/UX is vital in ensuring we create a platform that works for your most popular audience type, there’s a big difference in how a website should look for Gen Zs or baby boomers.
• Clients' branding: Do you have a brand book? What are your brand values and messaging? We need to get a feel of what you stand for and how your website can elevate your branding.
• The competition: What are other websites in your industry doing? Who do you aspire to be and what do you like about the industry bigwigs that dominate your industry.
• The budget: We can work with clients that are bootstrapped and need a quick MVP or larger brands who need a full redevelopment of an existing website.

Once we have considered all of these factors, we can start to make decisions about the website's design, content, and functionality.

Conclusion

Research is an essential part of any successful website project. By taking the time to research websites and use the right tools, we can make sure that we’re making the best decisions for your clients.

If you have a website development project, then feel free to give us a scratch!