FAQs

This is a difficult question to answer. No two websites are the same, and neither are their requirements. Naturally, the greater number of pages of your website, the longer its design will take. But it’s more than that. We specialise in perfection and exceeding expectations, meaning we sweat over each detail and produce the highest quality work within an agreed-upon timeframe. The quickest way to find out how long it would take to design your website is to get in touch with our design team and discuss what you need your website to do and how you want it to look.

Headless is an approach to web development whereby the front-end of a website (the head) is detached from the CMS, content and data (the body). They are hosted separately, load independently and communicate through an API, which improves speed, security and performance whilst eliminating the need for updates and multiple sources of data for different websites.

Conversely, with a traditional CMS such as WordPress, the front-end, content and data are all hosted together, resulting in a slower experience for the user – something Google does not look favourably upon – and requiring regular updates to remain secure and functional. While traditional CMS website can function perfectly if set up by an experienced web developer, the benefits of a headless approach mean it is likely to become the future of web development and getting ahead of the curve could set you apart online.

Without knowing the requirements of your website, it’s difficult to determine how much it will cost. Many factors can influence the time spent on design and development, which are better discussed in detail to provide a realistic timeframe and price. Get in touch, tell us about your website, and we’ll find the most cost-effective way to exceed your expectations.

Yes, it’s your website after all. At The Bigger Boat, we specialise in creating a back-end which is as clear and easy-to-use as the front-end, meaning that you can maintain, manage and change your website to reflect the ever-evolving offerings and needs of your business. While we’re on hand to help with any developmental inquiries post-build, our aim is to leave you with a website that you have full autonomy over. This is one of the many reasons we prefer a headless approach as it is simple to use in every way.

Yes, many of the websites we build use WordPress. It is the most common CMS for businesses due to its flexibility and generally wide-spread use. However, the staggering number of plug-ins and options can seem daunting if you’re unsure what you’re looking at. To improve site speed and provide the clearest user experience, we always try to build a website using as few external plug-ins as possible – letting our design and coding skills take the weight of your website so that it runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

Social media marketing is the strategic management of social media platforms, including the creation and distribution of content – including videos, images and copy – to increase brand awareness, audience engagement and conversions.

Yes, social media marketing has become essential for almost all modern businesses. According to DataReportal, there are over 4.33 billion social media users around the world – over half the global adult population. In addition, over half of social browsers use social media to research brands. Consequently, if you’re not on social media, you’re missing out on a staggering number of potential leads.

This means it’s not enough to just sign up to all the major social media accounts and start posting. With so many other businesses utilising social media effectively, you need a strategy to stand out from the crowd and make sure your audience sees and engages with you.

This is a difficult question to answer without knowing the industry and audience of your business. LinkedIn and Facebook are generally assumed to be the place for businesses, but there are a host of other platforms that could be of more benefit, including YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok.

However, producing unique, platform-specific content for every channel is likely to take a lot of time and resources, without necessarily yielding the results to make it worth your while. The Bigger Boat approaches social media by assessing where your audience is and where you’re getting the most interest from before tailoring a strategy and creating content to get the most from those platforms.

There are two overarching types of social media marketing: organic and paid.

Organic social media marketing relies on a well-conceived strategy – determined after a social media audit to determine its current effectiveness – and incredible content to drive engagement and brand awareness naturally (or organically). This is generally the preferred way of improving a business’ social media performance long term.

Conversely, paid social media marketing utilises audience targeting and data learning strategies to get your content where it needs to be quickly. This incurs additional costs, which is why paid social is often used as a quick win solution while organic social starts to gain traction.

Digital marketing is the process of promoting brands to connect with customers via online methods. It is a broad term which can incorporate a number of specific areas such as SEO (search engine optimisation), paid search, email marketing and much more. It is very reliant on analytics and reporting to determine what works, what doesn’t, and how improvements can be made to increase your audience and convert more customers.

Yes, most businesses need some level of digital marketing if they’re hoping to increase their revenue and customer base. Over half of the global adult population are online and using digital marketing is a way of connecting to this vast audience. Importantly, many of your competitors may already have digital marketing strategies in place, meaning potential customers are going to them when searching online.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the practise of tactically adding and changing on-page and off-page content to ensure a website ranks higher on search engines. With so many businesses using websites to promote their services, SEO is vital for you to stand out and be noticed when potential customers are searching online.

SEO is not an overnight venture; it can take a number of months, even after optimisations have been made, for search engines to identify changes and rank the website accordingly. As well as this, SEO is an ongoing process which often has to adjust to Google updates in order to capitalise on ranking factors and avoid penalisation. The good news is, while it’s not an instant win, it’s comes with long-lasting benefits including increased website traffic, brand awareness, conversions and revenue.

Paid search or pay-per-click (PPC) is a keyword-focused approach to driving relevant traffic to your website. In essence, you pay a search platform, such as Google, to advertise your products or services when users search for a matching keyword. This means that anyone who clicks through the ad and to your website is already looking for a relevant service or product, meaning they are more likely to make a purchase or inquiry. As an approved Google partner with over 15 years’ experience, The Bigger Boat focuses on results and ROI for its PPC clients.

Content marketing is the strategic creation and distribution of online materials to promote your brand, products or services. This may include videos, social media posts, blogs and newsletters – whatever generates interest, recognition or trust for your business. 

Depending on the effectiveness of your current copy, you can expect to see measurable results from our content marketing services within six to nine months.

However, content marketing is an evergreen endeavour. While an initial content audit – the process of thoroughly reviewing and analysing all your website’s content to identify areas for improvement and optimisation – can be completed in a matter of days, creating engaging content to captivate your audience requires us to keep our fingers on the pulse of your industry and capitalise on trends as and when they arise. Not only this, but changes in keyword rankings can mean adapting copy on a regular basis to increase SEO value.

A good content marketing agency doesn’t just react to change; it predicts change. This is why The Bigger Boat fully immerses itself in your industry and becomes an extension of your team. We take as much interest in your business as you do.

• Provides high levels of ROI through cost-effective organic lead generation.

• Creates trust and authority in your brand by providing consistently useful content your audience benefits from.

• Engages your audience over a long period of time and creates long-lasting customers who are likely to recommend your brand.

• Spreads brand awareness and expands your audience.

• Refines customer journey and increases conversions on your website.

Content marketing can be measured in a variety of ways and a combination of metrics is the most thorough way of determining its effectiveness. While metrics used to report content marketing may vary depending on your goals, we take everything into account to give you confidence in achieving ROI.

Brand awareness: website traffic; page and content views; social media mentions; referral links.

Engagement: scroll-depth tracking; blog comments; social media shares/reactions; time on page.

Lead generation: form completions; email subscriptions; conversion rate; downloads.

No, content marketing is not the same as SEO, although they do often work together to yield the best results for your website. Content marketing is a broader strategy which can inform and be informed by SEO. For example, a content marketer could identify an SEO opportunity in targeting a specific keyword and tailor content to increase search engine visibility.

Web design is the art of making a website look perfect for the user. Focussing on user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), designers seek to create meaningful experiences that capture users, increase engagements, and make converting as simple as possible.

No, but they are two sides to the same coin. If you think of your website like a home, web design is the furniture and decoration while web development is the foundations and walls. Web design focuses on the appearance of your website, communicates your brand perfectly, and ensures a clear user journey for simpler conversions. Generally, when building a website, we’ll start with design to make sure your website is exactly how you want it to look, before letting our developers work behind the scenes to bring it to life.

Yes, we are passionate in providing clear and personable branding that is unique to your business. Whether you’re looking to revamp your current logo, or come up with something completely new, we’ll work with you to discover exactly what you want before using our design expertise and experience to take it to the next level and bring it to life.