Web design in Boston
Boston's agricultural workforce is seasonal and multilingual, which affects how a consumer-facing website here should be written more than most businesses realise.
It is not a matter of translation. It is a matter of writing plainly enough that a second-language reader is not excluded by accident.
- Agriculture and horticulture
- Food processing
- Port and logistics
- Trades
- Retail
Selling to Boston
Worth knowing hereThe agricultural workforce here is highly seasonal and multilingual, which is worth considering in how a consumer-facing site is written.
Plain writing serves everybody
Short sentences, common words, explicit prices and unambiguous opening hours are easier for a second-language reader and no worse for anybody else.
Idiom, humour and regional phrasing are where confusion starts, and they rarely earn their place on a page whose job is to get somebody to ring you.
Showing prices as figures, times as times and distances as distances removes most of the ambiguity without any translation at all.
Seasonal population, seasonal demand
Housing, transport, food retail and services all see demand rise and fall with the agricultural calendar, and it is predictable enough to plan for.
Businesses that adjust hours or staffing seasonally should publish that clearly rather than leaving people to discover it.
Food processing and the port
Commercially, Boston runs on horticulture, food processing and port logistics, buying on compliance, traceability and reliability.
Questions people here ask
- Do we need the site in other languages?
- Usually not. Plain English with explicit prices and hours serves second-language readers well and stays accurate far more easily.
- What should we avoid writing?
- Idiom, humour and regional phrasing. They cost clarity and add nothing to a page whose job is to get somebody to make contact.
- Is the seasonality predictable?
- Largely, because it follows the farming calendar. That makes it something to publish and plan around rather than react to.
Sites we have built
Live, working businesses. Visit them and judge the standard yourself.
Also across the East Midlands
Tell me about your business.
One message is enough to start. I’ll read it and reply myself, usually with a couple of questions and a clear price.
Liam Tapp, Website Builds