Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited

06/05/2026

"How long does it take to build a website?"

It is the question we get asked most. And the honest answer is, it depends. 🤷

But once you know what it depends on, planning your project becomes a lot more straightforward.

In our latest guide, we cover realistic timelines for every type of website build, the phases involved, and the most common reasons projects can run over. 👇

👉 https://zurl.co/TzS0g

If you're wondering, how long does it take to build a website? This guide covers timelines, phases involved, and what you can do to keep your project on track.

01/05/2026

What makes a good website?

We’ve recently covered five things worth reflecting on about your own website. Here’s the overview 👇

👤 Is it designed for your visitor? Lead with their problem, not your story.
⚡ Is it fast enough? Three seconds is all you get. After that, people leave.
🗺️ Is it easy to navigate? If it takes thinking, it needs simplifying.
🔍 Is SEO built in? Not bolted on after launch, built in from the start.
✅ Does it tell people what to do next? Every page needs a clear, specific next step.

If your website is ticking all five boxes, brilliant. If not, now you know where to start.

Get in touch with us today to see how we can help 👉 https://zurl.co/seLV2

30/04/2026

Does your website tell people what to do next?

You can have the right visitors landing on a fast, well structured, easy to navigate website, and still lose them because nobody told them what to do once they got there.

Every page on your site should have a clear, specific call to action. Not tucked away at the bottom as an afterthought, but placed at the right moments in the journey, where the visitor has enough information to feel confident taking the next step.

Have a look at your own site. What does it ask people to do? 👇

Most businesses default to "Contact Us." It’s familiar, it’s safe, but it converts poorly.

"Book a Free Discovery Call" tells a visitor exactly what they are committing to and removes the uncertainty that stops people from clicking. That single change regularly makes a meaningful difference to conversion rates, without touching a single other element of the site.

A few things that consistently improve calls to action 👇

✅ Be specific about what happens next
📍 Place them where they naturally follow the content, not just at the top and bottom of the page
💬 Lower the commitment where you can, a free call, a quick chat, a no obligation quote
⭐ Add a testimonial or review nearby. Social proof next to a call to action does more than either does alone

A good website doesn’t just get visited. It converts visits into enquiries, enquiries into conversations, and conversations into clients.

27/04/2026

Is SEO built into your website, or was it bolted on afterwards?

This is one of the most expensive mistakes we see businesses make. The site gets built, it goes live, it looks great, and then someone asks why it is not showing up on Google. By that point, fixing it properly is significantly harder and more costly than if it had been considered from the start.

Search engine optimisation is not a separate project. It is a set of decisions that need to be made during the design and development process. Leave them until later and you are always playing catch up.

Have a think about your own site 👇

🏗️ Does your site have a logical structure that makes it easy for search engines to understand what each page is about?
🔗 Are your pages connected through sensible internal links, or are some of them effectively invisible to Google?
📄 Does each page have a clear primary keyword, a proper meta title, and a meta description?
⚡ Is page speed treated as a priority throughout the build, not an afterthought?
✍️ Is the content built around what your customers are actually searching for, or around what sounds good internally?

And it is worth noting that in 2026 this goes beyond traditional search. AI powered discovery platforms are changing how people find businesses online. The same foundations that support Google rankings also help your site get surfaced in those results.

Get the foundations right and the results compound over time.

One more post to go, and it might just be the most overlooked element of all 👀

23/04/2026

What makes a good website? Part 3️⃣

Is your website easy to navigate?

Good navigation should work without the visitor having to think about it. Someone landing on your site for the first time should be able to find what they need within seconds, without needing to understand how your business is structured internally to get there.

That sounds simple. But it is one of the most commonly overlooked areas we see.

A few questions worth asking about your own site 👇

🗺️ Can someone find your most important page within one or two clicks from anywhere on the site?
🏷️ Are your navigation labels clear to an outsider, or do they only make sense to someone who already knows your business?
📋 Do you have more than five or six top level items in your menu? If so, it is probably doing more harm than good
📱 Does the navigation work as well on a phone as it does on a desktop?

The most common mistake we see is navigation built around how the business is organised, rather than around how a visitor thinks. Internal logic rarely matches the way a customer approaches a site for the first time.

If you find yourself defending a complex menu as "showing everything we offer," that is usually a sign it needs simplifying.

Next up, the element that affects your rankings more than most people realise 👀

22/04/2026

What makes a good website? Part 2️⃣

Does your website load fast enough to keep people?

Here's a stat worth sitting with. Visitors start abandoning websites that take longer than three seconds to load. Every second after that, more people leave.

Three seconds sounds like nothing. But for someone on their phone, mid-scroll, with other tabs open, it's more than enough to make them hit back and try the next result instead.

And the impact goes further than just user experience. Google's Core Web Vitals directly measure loading performance and factor it into where your site ranks in search. A slow site costs you twice, in traffic and in conversions, simultaneously. 🐢

Have a look at your own site. When did you last check how quickly it loads on a mobile connection?

The most common causes are usually straightforward to fix 👇

🖼️ Unoptimised images are the biggest culprit. Compress everything before uploading
📁 Use modern file formats where possible
🔌 Reduce the number of plugins running across every page
🖥️ Make sure your hosting is built for performance, not just chosen for price
📊 Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights and work through what it tells you

Performance is not a one-off job. It needs consistent attention, which is exactly why it gets overlooked.

Next up, is your website easy to navigate? 👀

15/04/2026

What makes a good website? Part 1️⃣

Is your website designed for your visitor, or for yourself?

It's an honest question, and most people haven't stopped to think about it.

When a potential customer lands on your site, they're not interested in how long you've been trading, your company values, or how passionate you are about what you do. Not yet anyway.

First they need to know, quickly, that you understand their problem and that you can solve it. 🎯

If your website leads with your story before it's answered their question, most visitors will have already moved on.

A website designed for the visitor looks different to one designed for the business:

👤 It leads with their problem, not your credentials
🗺️ It's structured around what they need to find, not how you're organised internally
✍️ The content speaks to their situation, not your preferences
🔍 Each page matches what they actually searched for to get there

Have a look at your own site with fresh eyes. Does it open by talking about them, or about you?

Next up, does your website load fast enough to keep people? 👀

13/04/2026

We get asked a lot, what actually makes a good website? Not just one that looks great, but one that genuinely works for the business behind it. 🤔

Most businesses have a website, but far fewer have one that's actively bringing in leads, building trust, and doing the job it should be doing every day.

So over the next week, we're breaking it down for you, the crucial elements that, when combined, make for a genuinely strong website. Each post will cover a different piece of the puzzle, so we'd encourage you to grab a coffee, take a read, and reflect on how each one applies to your own site. ☕

Some of it might reassure you. Some of it might make you think. Either way, it's worth knowing!

Keep your eyes peeled 👀

30/03/2026

Really pleased to share this one, we've just launched a brand new website for Hewlett Insurance. 🎉

Hewlett are a Manchester-based commercial insurance broker, specialising in bespoke cover across commercial, construction, tech, property, and private clients.

Their whole approach is built around tailored solutions, there are no one-size-fits-all policies, just the right cover for each individual client.

That ethos needed to come through clearly on the website. Because in a sector where a lot of insurance sites feel clinical and impersonal, Hewlett's strength is their personal approach and genuine expertise.

The new site gives clear structure to a wide range of services, makes it easy for visitors to find the cover relevant to them, and builds the kind of trust that encourages someone to pick up the phone.

Take a look 👉 https://zurl.co/AFDsH

27/03/2026

Choosing a web design agency is a commercial decision, not a creative one. 💡

That's something a lot of businesses don't realise until they've already made the wrong choice.

A website in 2026 directly influences your visibility in search, how much trust a visitor places in your business, and whether that visitor becomes a lead or a customer.

Getting the agency decision wrong doesn't just result in a disappointing website, it creates friction across your entire marketing and sales process.

So here's what to actually look for:

🧩 Strategy before design. A capable agency will want to understand your business goals, your audience, and what success looks like before a single design decision is made. If they're jumping straight into visuals, that's a red flag.

🔍 SEO built in from the start. Site structure, page speed, internal linking. These aren't things to revisit after launch. They need to be considered during the build. An agency that treats SEO as an add-on is setting you up for problems.

📈 Accountability over delivery. There's a difference between an agency that launches a project and moves on, and one that treats your website as something that needs to keep performing long after it goes live. You want the latter.

🤝 Experience that reduces risk. A good agency has seen the problems before. That means issues get anticipated and resolved early, not discovered once you're already live and underperforming.

The question isn't who can build you a website. It's who can build one that performs under real conditions, scales as you grow, and keeps supporting your business over time.

We've written a full guide on this over on the blog, link in the comments 👇