Blog
We are putting our prices up. We aren't sad about that; neither should you be either.
We have, like many a craft-based business, been gently letting our margins seep away as price-competition increases. After all, you can get a website for free so why are we charging at all?
The trouble is cheap isn't what people want; not what serious business people want anyway. So, from today our basic web site package starts at £600 and rises from there depending on the level of design or programming needed to meet your needs.
£600 doesn't sound much but it is a doubling of our existing prices, but this time it is worth us taking the work on and starting a proper business relationship with you.
Not so long ago the web was new and business owners viewed websites with suspicion.
They did so for a variety of reasons. Web designers were often very technical or very arty people who didn't talk like business people, or anyone else for that matter.
Websites were felt to be of little real value, yet they cost thousands to set up.
That's all changed of course and no business, from a painter & decorator to a multinational corporation would feel complete without at least a basic website.
Today, though, business are looking at social media in much the same way they did about websites years ago.
Not sure of the point, not convinced of the value and worried about the expense.
As a long established web builder I have seen these technologies arrive and have taken the time to get familiar with them and how business can benefit from using them.
If you are puzzled about social media drop me a line and we can have a chat.
I'm pleased to annouce the long-awaited arrival of our Testimonials page.
The majority of WebsiteBuilders' business is repeat and I have finally begun plucking up the courage to ask customers whether they would be willing to write a few words.
How many of your customers reach you through your website?
If it is 30% or over then you may be surprised to discover that a growing number are using their mobiles to view your website.
So what?
Websites designed for large screens (desktop and laptops) are often hard to see or impossible to use on a mobile phone screen.
You might be thinking "Surely that's what zooming is for?"
Most smart phones allow users to zoom into a page to make it easier to see the content BUT there are several reasons why zooming (which can be pretty fiddly to start with) doesn't help.
If your site uses a lot of graphical images the site may take a long time to load, even on a 3G connection.
"...I needed their number in a hurry... I used my iPhone to get their web page but it was so slow, I just gave up."
Even when zoomed in the navigation buttons and links on a site can still be difficult to use with a finger (they will have been designed for use with a mouse).
"...we just needed to check the directions to the restaurant, but when my wife used her Android phone she found it was impossible to get to the directions page on their site. Had to ring directory enquiries. Got there late."
Adjusting the size of the page on a mobile phone is an extra, unwelcome, step for your customer to have to take before getting what they want on your website.
What can you do?
You might think you need to pay thousands to have an iPhone App built but almost certainly you don't.
For many businesses the best solution is to have a separate, simplified, version of your website designed especially for users on mobile devices like iPhones, iPads, Androids and Blackberrys etc.
That way, when a visitor arrives at your website the software automatically detects whether they are using a mobile device. And if they are, they are shown the mobile version of your website.
Naturally, we can help you with getting mobile website (<-- the sales pitch!)
Indeed it is! Catherine Jones, the popular piano teacher based in rural Coaley in Gloucestershire, has asked us to create her new website:
http://www.timetolearnpiano.co.uk
A lot of the power of this website goes on behind the scenes.
Catherine has private pages she creates for each student, where she can place notes and links to music as well as a private forum where her students can iinteract.
We are really pleased to have Catherine as one of our clients!
We are delighted to welcome Ian from JFR Equipment to our list of clients.
Ian's new site is being built www.jfrEquipment.co.uk at the moment so there may not be much to see for a few days!
We've almost finished creating our first Web App for a client.
iDrinkBuddy is an interactice shopping list app for people going drinking in a group.
The web app runs on iPhones and Android devices and looks and feels like a normal native app on the device.
We've designed it so it can be converted to a full native app in due course. We're very pleased with the results, especially as the client is delighted.
WebsiteBuilders is offering a very special price to start up businesses at the moment.
You can have your new business website for just £147 (the Regular Price is £297).
This is a massive discount (saving £150!!) but it is strictly time limited. The offer ends at midnight on the 30th November and the price returns to its normal (sane) level.
So, if you are starting a new business and want to take advantage of a superb offer, pick up the phone to Hugh now:
01453 549048
Full details here: £147 Special Offer
As a general rule, yes, it does.
A blog is a page on you website that is frequently updated with current information.
It acts as a way of demonstrating to visitors that your site is very much alive and open for business.
Even if you don't need to update the other pages on your website frequently, updating your blog regularly, daily, weekly or even just montly, means a potential customer can see that there is a heart beating within.
But a blog does more than simply show the site is being maintained. It allows the business owner to add part of the missing human touch, the conversational element that, despite its many benefits, the Internet lacks compared with face to face meetings.
