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The iPad and what it means for web designers

Posted: February 3rd, 2010

It’s been a week now since Apple first unveiled their new iPad device. I discussed last week the subject of who it was intended for and why it would be a successful product. This week I’m going to examine what it will mean for web designers and developers and the potential impact it will have on our industry.

iPad changes everything?

This is the message that Apple were voicing at their conference last week. While they seemed committed to it, very few people expressed the same views. However, in a way it does change everything, in terms of mobile web, available anywhere. It’s already been reported that within a few years the most common way people will access on-line content and services will be through mobile devices. (read more about that here) There are a number of devices available right now that provide a better experience for certain on-line services than on the actual website (Twitter I’m looking at you). However, as good as these devices are for browsing the web anywhere, any time they all have one common limitation; the small screen size.

In my opinion the best mobile device for browsing the web right now is the iPhone. However, you still have to scroll around quite a bit on content-heavy sites and filling in forms is a nightmare. Not only do you have to scroll around the screen in order to see the fields, you also have to keep hiding and showing the keyboard and some forms just don’t work well because of this.

So size does matter?

Yes, for browsing the web size matters. The iPad has a 9.7″ screen, much larger than mobile phones. It is capable of displaying far more content on it’s screen and therefore provides a much better experience for web users. Take a look at the screens on Apple’s own website where the iPad is displaying the home page of the New York Times. It looks great.

It also has a much higher screen resolution of 1024 x 768. On a traditional PC this would be considered very low, on a portable device it’s amazing. Higher resolutions equal shaper images and text and better looking web pages. This level of detail on a single screen simply isn’t possible, at least not in a readable form anyway, on any phone.

Ok – I’m a web designer, how can iPad benefit me?

Well ok, this will take a bit of explaining. Firstly I believe that the iPad is going to be hugely successful for Apple. If it’s successful then a lot of people will buy it. This means there will be a lot of people browsing websites with it. When discussing projects with clients it’s another plus point for their on-line business because it’s another way for them to reach potential customers and make sales.

I’ve been mentioning the iPhone in sales pitches to clients for the last 12 months. I always take my iPhone into a meeting so that I can show them that sites we’ve written display correctly on the device. This usually impresses them as quite often they either have an iPhone themselves and have never thought about it’s impact on their online business, or they know someone who has an iPhone and suddenly they see the importance of having their site work well on a mobile device. The iPad will offer an even better experience on-line for the reasons I’ve already detailed above.

The real beauty of it is that because iPad uses the Safari browser we don’t need to make special CSS code for our sites to display correctly on it. It’s easy to show clients how good websites will look and how easy it is to use the device.

Ah, but the iPad doesn’t display Flash content

Completely true, it doesn’t. However, as a developer I always try to stay away from Flash as much as possible anyway. It’s buggy, it requires different plug-ins for different browsers and it’s not good for SEO. Usually if a client wants to achieve something in Flash I can get the same result for them using JQuery coding. Also, HTML5 is on the way, and embedding video content directly into a web page (something that Flash is currently used for a lot) will be a breeze and will not require any plug-ins at all. After that I don’t see much of a future for Flash in the majority of business websites, apart from dedicated applications and games.

In conclusion then – iPad offers a lot for web designers

So, after all that let’s summarise what the iPad will offer for us as web designers and developers:-

  • A great way to display websites on a mobile device without any CSS special coding
  • An extra way we can sell our design services to clients
  • A richer browsing experience
  • A sales tool – “yes, we can make your site look great on the iPad so you can reach more people
  • It may also be a really nice way of presenting a sales pitch to your clients – no more bulky laptop in the meeting room, just plug-in to a projector and go
  • It shows clients that you’re aware of the latest technologies and are keeping up with changes in the industry to provide them with the best possible service

Written by Ian Hazeldine, Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited

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Posted in Customer Service, Marketing, Web Design | No Comments »

Ipad – Who it’s really intended for & why it’s going to succeed

Posted: January 28th, 2010

Yesterday Apple finally unveiled their tablet PC called the iPad to the world and it was met with (mostly) negative feedback. After watching their conference it suddenly became clear who they were aiming the product at. Something I think the majority of people have missed. Read on…

I’ve got an iPhone

I use my iPhone everyday. It’s my device of choice for quickly checking on-line content, reading RSS feeds, listening to music and posting messages, links and pictures on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Yes, my iPhone is a gadget I could not live without. The iPad doesn’t do anything major that my iPhone can’t do except present me with a bigger screen. This is the thinking of almost all website writers who have posted their opinions on the new device. However, I think they may have all missed the point.

So come on then – Who is iPad for?

A few years ago Nintendo released the Wii. A console that is still outselling it’s competitors every single month. The Wii doesn’t do as much as the Xbox 360 or PS3, yet it still dominates sales. This is because Nintendo made a console that non-gamers could use and enjoy just as much as traditional gaming fans could. It was removing the barrier of entry (the controller and interface) that has made the Wii so simple to use and so popular as a mainstream device, not just as a gaming machine.

iPhone – Ok, so what about the iPad. Apple said it fits in somewhere between an iPhone and a Macbook laptop. iPhones have a small screen, and whilst you can browse the web on them in a much better way than on most other mobile devices it’s still only on a small screen. The browsing experience isn’t as good as viewing content on a laptop or desktop PC.

Laptops – A laptop such as the Macbook is an awesome piece of kit. However, it needs to be operated in a traditional way i.e. with a mouse/keyboard. Users need to learn how to use Mac OSx. They need to know how to apply updates, install software, manage their disk space, back up data and lots more. This presents a barrier of entry to non-technical users.

iPad and who it’s really for

This is the point where we finally begin to see who the iPad is for. It will be a more mainstream device than a dedicated PC or Phone. It will be for all those non-technical people that don’t know how to use a laptop/desktop, but want to carry videos, books and music around with them.

A real-world example
Recently my mother in-law had a play around with my wife’s iPod Touch. She loved it, she told me it was so simple to use because you just touched the screen to operate it. She’s not technical at all, she’s constantly asking us for help with things on her mobile phone, but she was able to pick up and operate the iPod Touch without having to provide instructions.

She also uses the internet on a desktop PC. She gets by surfing the sites she knows about, but doesn’t really venture further. With a device like iPad she would find browsing the web, viewing pictures and videos on-line a lot easier because all you have to do is touch the screen.

Apple have created a device that can be used by non-technical people just as well as it can by technical people. It’s true that it doesn’t provide any major new features that can’t already be done on other Apple devices. It’s also true that it’s lack of multi-tasking and a camera are omissions that have been highlighted by the technical writers online a lot. However, to the people this device is primarily aimed at that won’t matter. They won’t even know what multi-tasking is. They will simply have a device that just works and does what they want it to do.

It’s a brilliant move. I’ve read more than once from many ‘experts’ that the iPad will be a flop, that it has no place or no real use. That’s because they’re looking at it from their own point of view and not looking at everyone else in the world that doesn’t possess the technical knowledge they have.

Final Thoughts

I too was unconvinced at first about it’s place in the market, having thought about it though I was compelled to write this article. Mainstream is where the device is heading, and that, as we’ve seen from Nintendo, does not equal failure.

Article written by Ian Hazeldine, Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited

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Posted in General Posts | 5 Comments »

How to plan out your website

Posted: January 20th, 2010

Like anything in business a website requires careful planning. This article will provide guidelines and tips for planning your web strategy. Not only will this help your web designer/developer when it comes to building your site, but it may even save you money too, as the site will be able to built quicker. Read on for more information.

The pen is mightier than the mouse

The first stage of planning your new website will involved sketching out a basic outline of the information you want to display on it. You should start with your top-level links (the main categories or pages for your site). You may find that certain categories/pages require sub-pages and categories. This will almost always be true if you’re planning on selling products online. For example, if your site is to sell pet food you will need to have separate categories of food for each animal that you sell the food for. Work your way through each of the sections for your site deciding whether you need additional pages for each. If you do list the sub-pages below the appropriate heading in your sketch.

Why is sketching out the page names important?
This first step is probably the most important step in the whole process of building your site. The number of pages you have can have an effect on the design of your site. If you have several sub-pages in each category for example, your designer may choose to build your site’s navigation system using a drop-down menu, something that wouldn’t work if you only had top-level pages (there wouldn’t be any sub-categories). The number of pages your site has can also affect the price of your project, or may influence the designer’s software solution for your project (it may be cheaper and quicker to use open-source software rather than building the site from scratch). The designer isn’t able to make these decisions without first know the approximate number of pages/sub-pages/categories you need in your website.

Branding your site

Quite often you’ll want to use the same logo and corporate colours on your website that you use on all of your other promotional material. This is a good idea. It maintains a consistent look across your range of offline and online material and also helps clients identify that the new website they’ve come across does indeed belong to the same company they’ve dealt with before in offline business. However, there are times when it may be necessary to creat entirely new branding. One example of this could be for a new product you’ve developed and are wanting to promote on it’s own self-contained website. Even if this is the case you should include your main company logo on the page somewhere, maybe in the bottom right-corner of the footer, so that people know your company has produced the product. Sites like this are often used for the promotion of iPhone Apps.

Whilst you’ll no doubt have your own vision of how your site should look you should always listen to the web designer. They’re the professionals in this aspect of creating your site and if they tell you something won’t work you should take note, especially where colours and page layout are concerned.

The web: it’s a social thing

As well as planning out the site itself you should also be making plans for how you will drive traffic to the site once it’s completed and thus grow your user base. You may have heard the term ’social networking’ a lot recently. Social networkings sites are websites that allow users to communicate and share ideas and information. They’re also excellent tools for marketing your company’s products and services to a large number of people for free. Twitter is currently one of the most popular social networking tools and you should certainly be investigating ways you can use their service to help spread the word about your site/service/products. This blog is set to automatically post new entries directly to Twitter as soon as they’re published. This is a great way for me to tell everyone that there’s something new for them to read.

You should be prepared to spend some time cultivating your social networking sites. It’s often a good idea to appoint someone within your organisation to regularly maintain and update content for you in this area. A lot of people think that once a website is live you can forget about it and it will start working for you. This couldn’t be further from the truth. You need to constantly keep your site up-to-date with products and information, you need to tell people about your site, you need to advertise your site. If you don’t then you’ve wasted the money and time you spent having it developed.

One final tip in this section, and it’s one I’ve seen people ignore time and time again. Make sure your website address is on all of your company’s printed literature. It’s a no brainer, but is absolutely essential.

Final thoughts

In summary then, you need to start your planning way before a single line of code is written for your new site. You need to reflect your company’s corporate branding on your site in most cases and you need to continue to develop and promote your site once it’s live on the Internet. Follow these rules and you should end up with a professional looking site that helps generate extra income for your business.

Written by Ian Hazeldine, Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited, a web design and hosting company based in Staffordshire, UK

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Posted in Communication, Marketing, Web Design | 3 Comments »

How to choose a good domain name

Posted: December 2nd, 2009

Choosing a domain name is the single most important decision you will make when building a website. Your domain name is your branding, it’s your identity on the Internet. It’s how people will find your site. The key is finding the right domain name that people will remember, but will also suit your needs as a business owner. This article will show you some of the traps you should avoid when choosing a your domain name and provide helpful information and advice on exactly which of current types; .com, .co.uk, .net etc. you should choose and why. Read on.

What’s in a name?

Three and a half years ago when I was first setting up my company I was faced with the difficult task of not only creating a company from scratch, but also creating my branding, design and choosing a domain name for the website. As you can appreciate, there are a quite a few web design companies in the UK. It seemed that every time I had an idea for a great domain name and design I would look up the registration details and would find that another company or individual had already purchased that name. It took me a while. I was thinking along the lines of I.T and the web for my company, because after all, that’s would I would be doing. After about a week of getting nowhere I started to approach the problem from a different angle. I thought about Amazon. Here was a company that had nothing to do with the Amazon, but had chosen that domain name for their online business. This got my wheels turning. I didn’t have to choose a technical sounding name. I just needed to find something that was available and that would be easy to remember for people. If it worked for Amazon, it could work for me right?

With this thought in mind I remembered that a couple of months before I’d been asked to produce a new company logo for another web design company. Of the designs I’d submitted they narrowed their choice down to the final two. One of the designs featured a blue square and the other featured a yellow circle. In the end they decided to go with the blue square design as it used less colours and would therefore be cheaper for them to get printed. OK, I thought to myself, they didn’t go with yellow circle, so maybe I should. After a quick who-is search I found that the domain name; www.yellowcircle.co.uk was available. I registered it immediately. This was the perfect domain name for me. It had significance to me, so that whenever anyone asked “Why yellow circle?” I had an interesting answer and secondly it’s very easy to remember. It’s a colour and a shape. Far easier than something technical sounding. It also helped me to stand out and be different from my competition. Perfect.

Things to remember when choosing your domain name

Below I’ve listed some pointers for you to help you choose the right domain name for your site.

  • Keep it simple
  • Don’t choose words that people may misspell
  • If you’re only trading in one country you should obtain the domain name type for that country e.g. in the United Kingdom you would choose .co.uk
  • If you’re trading internationally then a .com domain name is the type to go for
  • If you’re a charity you should choose a .org domain name type
  • .com domain names are (usually) registered for a 1 year period. Registration renewal is required every 12 months
  • .co.uk domain names are registered for a 2 year period and require bi-annual renewal
  • A .com domain name usually costs a little more than .co.uk or .org domain name
  • You can transfer your domain name to any web hosting company, you don’t have to host your site with the company you purchased the domain name from
  • You can register more than one domain name for a website. Each domain name can be set up to point to the same website

Sites you can use to check if a domain name is available

You can use the sites listed below to check domain name availability.

You may find that a domain name you’re seeking has already been registered. However, it may be possible for you to be able to purchase the domain name from the current owner. Often contact details of the domain name owner are displayed on the websites mentioned above. If you feel that you need the domain name someone else already has you can get in touch with the current owner and ask if they’re prepared to sell it to you. Obviously this costs money, but sometimes it may be worth it.

Final Thoughts

I’m hoping you find the above information useful and will consider it when you need to purchase your next website domain name. I’m happy to provide help to anyone (whether they’re a client of mine or not) on this or any other matter relating to web hosting, web design and SEO services.

Written by Ian Hazeldine, Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited, a web design and hosting company based in Staffordshire, UK

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Posted in Domain Names, Web hosting | 7 Comments »

Gaming and the power of the web

Posted: November 11th, 2009

So this week I’m talking about something a little different. It’s my other passion, besides web design/development; videogames.

Gaming and the web

A few years ago gaming was seen as a solitary pastime. More often than not videogames were a single user experience. With only one person being able to play at any given time it wasn’t a very social platform.

More recently, the release of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles has seen gaming become a much more social activity thanks to the increase in broadband usage and the speed at which data can be transferred over the web.

Play together

The development by Microsoft of their Xbox Live service has pioneered the way for online gaming on consoles. Xbox Live is an online infrastructure that allows anyone with an Xbox 360 console to connect to the service via their home broadband connection and enjoy playing games online with other people all over the world.

Similarly, Sony Computer Entertainment developed their own online platform called Playstation Network (PSN) which, although not as robust or feature rich as Xbox Live, does provide a similar online experience.

Of course, PC gamers have been playing online games much longer than their console owning cousins, but the main difference is that the consoles are now located in the living room of many households, not confined to a bedroom or office like most desktop PCs.

The consoles and their online abilities have bought the web into gamers living rooms.

Biggest game of the year

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released on 10th Nov and we’ve been playing it a lot. The game uses the web (specifically Xbox Live, Playstation Network and IW.net servers) to allow gamers to play competitively against each other in many different types of game.

Staying connected

Modern Warfare 2 uses some pretty fancy technology to ensure that the online experience is the best it can possibly be. For example, if the host disconnects then instead of  everyone being kicked from the game the game pauses and automatically searches for a new host from the group of players in the game. This means that after a few seconds delay the game can carry on and the user experience is all the better for it.

Talking, talking talking happy talk

Other features such as online chat between players enable real-time communcation. Whilst this has existed for some time it’s important to not forget that technology like this is only possible thanks to the web. 10 years ago it wasn’t commonplace to be able to talk to the people you were playing with unless they were sitting in your house with you, nowadays thanks to VOIP technology we can communicate with people all over the world in our games for free, once again enhancing the user experience.

Final thought

The internet brings us all much closer together and makes the world a much smaller place. Videogames show that this can be used for entertainment purposes as well as business use. Who knows what type of games we’ll be playing in 10 years time, but one thing I am confident of is that we won’t be playing them alone.

Written by Ian Hazeldine, Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited (and an avid gamer)

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Posted in Communication, Gaming | 4 Comments »

Social networking and your business – starter guide for beginners

Posted: November 4th, 2009

With the development of the Internet, Social Networking means its possible to communicate with people worldwide in seconds and often at no cost.  20 years ago this simply wasn’t feasible and so small businesses and start-ups tended to concentrate on their own local markets. Today however, its a different story. This article will focus on ways you can use the web and some of the most popular social networking sites to drive your business forward and grow your company.

Grow your business online

Anyone with a good business idea can set up a website and reach millions of people through a single point of entry worldwide. A website allows you to sell promote your products and services online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Of course, you can’t just build a site and expect people to know about it. You need to get the word out to people. This is where social networking excels.

Social networking – an explanation

You may have heard the term ‘Social Networking’ before, but are unsure what it is and how to go about using it? Basically social networking involves using a website or online service to interact with other individuals. The sites allow you to post messages, ideas, offer your services and promote what you do to other people. The idea behind it all is that people tell other people about you and your business, you gain more followers on the website and eventually the followers can turn into real customers. Some of the most popular social networking sites are listed below:

twitter (visit twitter.com)

VERY popular service that allows you to send, read and receive messages from anyone using the service. Twitter is fast becoming the most powerful marketing tool on the web with businesses using it attract new customers daily. It’s an effective and simple way to allow you to keep people interested in your product informed of developments, sales, new offers etc. It’s also great for learning from other business owners. Twitter restricts the length of messages that can be posted to just 140 characters. Whilst this sounds very limited it means that you get concise updates from people and don’t have to wade through paragraphs of text to get to the information you’re interested in. Twitter can also be used on a wide range of mobile devices including iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia and other phones. In fact, most people interact with Twitter on their mobile.

Twitter software for PC/Mac/iPhone/Mobiles

There are several twitter desktop clients (software) available free of charge, these allow you to view, post and reply to messages from your desktop computer or laptop. A list and explanation of some of the best ones can be found here: http://lifehacker.com/5368817/five-best-twitter-clients

If you own a Symbian OS mobile phone such as a Nokia n95 then Gravity is a great twitter client

If you want to follow me on Twitter you can do so by clicking here

Linked-In (visit LinkedIn.com)

This site offers networking for businesses, allows them to share ideas with each other, post advertisements for work opportunities and to post referrals from other LinkedIn users they may have conducted business with in the past. It’s free to sign up to and you can post images showcasing your work to others. Groups are also prevalent on this site. For example, I’m a member of several web development groups on the site, because that’s the industry my business is in.

digg(visit Digg.com)

Digg is a little different than the other sites. Basically if someone has found something interesting on the web that they think may be useful to others they can ‘Digg’ it. The more a web page is referred to Digg, the higher up the rankings it will appear on the Digg website. Essentially this makes Digg a great place to check out the latest news and happenings on almost anything. You can use this service for your business by integrating the Digg technology into your own website. People visiting your site who like what they see can then refer it to Digg and help promote you.

facebook (visit Facebook.com)

Facebook is also a very popular social networking site. Almost everyone I know is on it for personal use, but it can also be an effective way of keeping people informed of your business activities. You can create a page for you business within Facebook at no cost. People can then view details when they log-in to the site. Of all of the social networking sites listed here, Facebook is probably the one you’ve heard of the most.

All of the above sites offer their services for free and when used in the right way they can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Yes, the web provides free ways for you to advertise your business to others. Can you imagine the TV companies or radio stations ever giving you that opportunity? Even the local newspaper charges you for every ad you place!

Some words of warning

Don’t spread yourself too thinly on the sites. Have a look at each of them and what they offer and then decide which one would be the most beneficial for the type of business or service you’re looking to promote. There’s nothing worse than telling someone to follow you on Twitter and then never posting a single update. It doesn’t instill much confidence in your brand. Make sure you inform people of the site(s) you’re on and then keep updating your pages/profile on the site(s) regularly.

Give it a try

Hopefully you’ll now know a little more about social networking and will feel confident enough to try it for yourself. As you may have guessed, my favourite is Twitter and this is the one I’d recommend you start with, mainly because of it’s short, simple message system. It’s by far the easiest to get to grips with and is the most popular social networking tool around at the moment.

Written by Ian Hazeldine, Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited, a web design and hosting company based in Staffordshire, UK

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Posted in Communication, Marketing | 1 Comment »

Build trust with your clients – get more business

Posted: October 28th, 2009

building-trust-with-clients

This industry of web design and development that we all work in can often lead to clients and customers feeling confused, overwhelmed and daunted by the prospect of dealing with us on a day to day basis. Indeed, it may even put them off even calling us in the first place. If they don’t call, we don’t get new business and hence don’t make money. This is not a situation that you want to find yourself in. So how can we prevent this from happening? How can we earn a prospective new client’s trust before they’ve ever met us? This article aims to help answer that question – read on.

Starting a new relationship

In the beginning, when first meeting a client the initial rapport built up with them is going to influence their attitiude towards you throughout the entire project development cycle. It’s important right from the get-go that the client feels comfortable talking to you and is trusting of what you’re saying. We always arrange a face-to-face meeting at the client’s own premises when we are working with someone new. This is very important in laying the foundations of a good working relationship. Firstly the client is in an environment they’re familiar with, this immediately puts them at ease. Also, it’s far more convenient for them, they don’t have to take time away from their work to travel to meet you, so you’ve immediately given them a benefit before you’ve even met. We’ve often agreed to meet clients outside of normal office hours in the comfort of their own home. This has helped to start the working relationship off on a good footing.

Talking like people, not like IT Experts

Just because we web designers know what CSS, PHP and FTP mean doesn’t mean that our clients will. It’s vitally important to remember that your client doesn’t work in the industry that you do and (in most cases) may not have much techinical knowledge. Don’t baffle them with technical terms, talk to them like people, explain things in a way that they will understand and always ensure they do understand what you’re saying before you move on to something else. This seems to be something that a lot of technical people either forget or are not good at. We’ve heard time and time again from clients that they didn’t understand what the people they used to deal with for their website needs were telling them. Remember, you want the client to feel comfortable when speaking with you. If you overload them with technical jargon you will not achive this.

Constantly ask for feedback

At all stages during a web design project we ask the client for their feedback. The benefits offered by this are twofold. Firstly, it reinforces the building of trust for the client. They’re being asked for their opinion. It tells them that they have a say in what happens with the building of their website and that they’re not being steamrolled over by a bunch of technical guys. Also, having regular contact with the client is essential to keep the rapport that was built up during the face-to-face meeting(s) going. If a client is happy to talk to you and gets what they want for their website then it’s far more likely that they will do business with you again. Ignore them and only email them once asking for money when the website is finished and they may be left feeling with a product they don’t really like and a company they have no faith or trust of. That will not get you more business from them.

Get client testimonials and put them on your site

As basic as the paragraph headline above sounds you’d be amazed at the number of companies who forget to do this or simply haven’t thought of doing this. You’ve built a great website and you have an excellent working relationship with your new client. You need other prospective clients to see this. It’s vitally imporant that your website (in whatever industry you work in) has testomonials from clients on it.

If you’ve not done this yet, then now is the time to start. Client testimonials are a much better sales too than anything the slickest of sales people can come up with because they’re genuine thoughts and feelings of people who have used your services. For new clients this will immediately help them gain an overview of how you work and how easy you are to work with.

You may have a great design portfolio but simply displaying that on your website isn’t enough. People want to know that they’re going to get good service from you, that they’re going to be able to contact you if they need to and that they can ask you things without feeling like they’re asking something silly.  Testimonials give them the best insight into your company they can have without actually having work done by you.

Keep up-to-date

Again it may seem obvious, but not everyone does it. If you have client testimonials on your site (and if not why not?) you need to keep regularly updating them. If a new client visits your site and sees that all of your testimonials are from 10 years ago it will not present you in a great light.

Final thoughts

As we’ve discussed, building trust with your clients is vital to having a good working relationship with them and increasing the chances of them doing repeat business with you. So far we’ve had repeat business from almost all of our clients so we know the way we’ve detailed things in this article works. Next time you’re with a client think back to this article, it may help you secure the business you’re trying to get.

Written by Ian Hazeldine – Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited based in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire

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Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

Think of your home page as your shop front window

Posted: October 14th, 2009

home-page-is-your-shop-window
This week we’re going to be concentrating on argueably the most important page in any website; the home page. Quite often when carrying out work for clients, especially site re-designs we’ll encounter a home page on their site that looks more like a word document than a web site. You should think of your home page as the virtual window to your store that can be used to entice customers (users) further in.

With this in mind we’ll explore some of the most common mistakes that we’ve found on client sites (before we’ve worked on them) and how you can change these for the better.

Too much text will kill you

Probably the most common mistake we encounter on client sites is that they simply have way too much text on their home page. Think about the content that you’re writing for your website, do you really need to put it all on the first page? Probably not. This is certainly not a good way to entice users to explore your site further. If you present a page that’s full of paragraphs and paragraphs of text your user will quickly navigate away from your site as they can’t immediately see anything to interest them. When a user first visits a website you only have their attention for a few seconds. If your site doesn’t grab their attention they will certainly be able to find one that does and this means you’ve lost them and hence lost any chance of them doing business with you.

Don’t waffle

Remember, a user wants to see what you can offer them. They are not interested in how proud you are about your business or how you feel about a product or service you provide. They’re interested in what’s in it for them. Keep your text relevant, concise and enticing. A simple introductory paragraph of 3 or 4 lines will usually suffice for your home page. If you lose track of this think of what you see in the high street when you’re out shopping. Shops put posters and offers in their shop windows, they don’t put paragraph after paragraph of text telling you how happy they are with their business and your website home page shouldn’t either.

Make your text relevant

Not only is relevant text important for keeping your user interested and wanting to read more, but it’s also good for gaining a high rank within popular search engines such as Google. The text on your home page should provide the user with a clear idea of what services or products you provide. Concentrate on your main area of business on the home page. If you diversify and offer other services or products to a lesser degree then by all means promote them on the site too, but ensure they don’t encroch too much on the home page. The main factor in gaining a high rank in google is good relevant content.

If you’re not too good at writing copy yourself it would be wise to seek assistance from someone to do it for you. If you know someone personally (a friend or family member) that can write content well ask them to help you out. If not then there are professional copy writers who can provide this service for you. Of course this will cost you money, but remember, this is your business we’re talking about. If you had a high street shop you wouldn’t let just anybody put things in your shop window. Your website should be no different.

State your unique selling points

Every business has a unique selling point of some sort. A short time ago we had a meeting with a client that wanted us to re-design their existing website. We took a look at their site and and were met with a home page that contained way too much text and absolutely no points of interest. We asked them what their unique selling points were and they replied “we don’t really have any.” This was not the case and with a little probing we found that they were a family run business that had been successfully trading for over 20 years, they had full approval from the industry bodies for the product they provided, they were the exclusive provider of  a range of products and they operated on a national basis. None of these points were on their website and all of them should have been.

Always ensure you think about what your business has to offer and how that can benefit your customers. If you have to be approved to operate in your line of work make sure you get the logo stating you’re approved onto your site home page. If you’re able to exclusively provide a product or service shout about it on your home page. But remember, don’t achieve that through paragraph after paragraph of text. Use graphics, or highlighted text to catch the user’s attention.

Use good quality images

Images can make or break a home page. It’s vitally important that you use good quality images that clearly illustrate what you’re trying to show to your customers. Taking your own pictures is fine as long as they look good. Again, if you’re not able to do it yourself ask friends and family to help you out. If you don’t know anyone personally that can do this then there are several good image library websites that have hundreds of thousands of royalty free stock images for all types of  businesses. A few images from these sites won’t cost you much money and can give a professional, high quality look to your site.

Here are links to a couple of good image library sites that we use when building websites.

Also, don’t be put off from looking at free image resource sites too such as Flickr. If you see an image on a site that a user has submitted that you want to use on your own website, make sure you ask them for permission first. Quite often you’ll find that they’ll be only too pleased that you chose their picture.

You wouldn’t put small, blurred posters up in your high street shop window so don’t do it on your website home page either.

Some examples of good site home pages that we’ve created for clients

We’ve put a few links to client sites that we’ve created to demonstrate all of the above points and how they can be used to achieve good home page design. Feel free to comment on them or any other aspect of this post.

  1. Mellor and Mottram
  2. Curtain Magic
  3. Showerwall UK

We hope this will help you when thinking about the design for your own home page. Thank you for reading.

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Posted in Communication, Home Page Design | No Comments »

Communication is key in web design

Posted: October 7th, 2009

communication-is-key

In today’s modern world there are more ways to communicate with people than ever before. Communication has become a key part in our daily lives, both personal and professional. It’s important to remember that when working with a web designer communication is key to getting your site right both now and in the future.

Client to web designer

Quite often a client who doesn’t have a great deal of technical knowledge may feel intimidated into asking questions or seeking advice from the web designer as they don’t want to ask something that might make them feel stupid. This should NEVER be a factor. Your web designer should encourage you to ask for help and explain things in a way you understand. You’re the customer, the designer is here to meet your needs, not their own. You’re paying for the service so feel confident in asking anything you like about the project. If you’re not happy with the answer or need further clarification ask again until you are satisfied.

I’ve been working in the web industry as a professional designer/developer  since 1997 and I don’t know everything – far from it in fact. Truth is neither does anyone else. We’re constantly learning new things as new technologies are born and development tools evolve in our line of work. If I need the answer to a question from someone I will ask. It’s always better to ask, than to try and guess at something. My point is that if you come to me as a web expert you shouldn’t be afraid to ask me anything. I’m learning all the time just like you.

Bottom line: If you don’t like something, or you dont’ understand something you’re being told – please, speak up about it.

Web designer to client

To ensure you end up with happy clients at the end of a project communication is key from the designer to the client. You should always ask your client for feedback on the project at key stages. If something isn’t quite right for the client you can amend it to suit their requirements during development rather than having to go back once everything is done and alter things then (which can be a headache for more complicated sites).

I’ve already mentioned the fact that as web experts we should explain things clearly to our clients in lay terms. I cannot stress this point enough. Over the past decade I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve talked to clients who had dealt with another ‘web expert’ before me and during my initial meeting with them they’ve told me that ‘we didn’t really know what the other guy was talking about so we just paid him’. This is NOT how you build a relationship with your clients. You need to remember that just because you know what you’re talking about doesn’t mean they will and it’s wrong to expect them to know. Don’t be patronising to them, but after you’ve explained your proposal for their project ask them if they are happy and state that if there’s anything they need clarifying they should feel free to ask – even after the meeting has ended.

Finally you should always try to make yourself available for a client when it’s convenient for them, not you. If you provide a telephone number always try to answer calls. If a client leaves a message make sure you call them back and even if they’re not available leave a message yourself so that they know you’ve responded.

Similarly, it’s important to respond to emails and, if you’re going to be away from the office for a while, set up auto-responders to let clients know that you’ve received their email and will deal with it once you’re back in the office (including the dates you’re away from and to is also a good idea in this case).

Again, countless times I’ve met with clients who have dealt with other web companies who before us and told me they could never get hold of a person to help them. They received no response to either telephone calls or emails. That, in my view, is totally unacceptable. I always explain to clients that if I don’t answer the phone it will only ever be for 2 reasons; I’m driving and don’t have handsfree or I’m in a meeting with another client. If either of these circumstances arises I always ensure I call the client back the same day. It’s reassuring for a client to know that you will be there when they need you and it will help build a great relationship with them.

Final thoughts

Hopefully this article has helped you out and hopefully, if you’re a designer, you’ve been doing all of the things I’ve mentioned already. If not, then now is the time to change that. Clients, you should have the confidence to ask for help from your designer and if they’re not serving your needs it may be time to look elsewhere.

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Posted in Communication, Customer Service, Web Design | 2 Comments »

Choosing a good web host and the right hosting package for you

Posted: September 30th, 2009

web-hosting-advice

So you’ve got your new website built and it’s ready to go live. Now you need to host it somewhere so that it can actually be viewed by users on the Internet. But how do you know which company to put your site with? After all there are literally thousands to choose from. We’ve put together a list of features and things to consider when choosing the right host and the right hosting package for your website.

Choosing your web hosting company

There are several factors to consider when choosing a web hosting company, the most important of which we’ve listed below.

  • How reliable is their service? It’s no good having a website if the server it’s hosted on keeps going down. You need to look at the level of service guarantee offered by the hosting company. No company can say for certainty that they are able to offer a 100% uptime guarantee, but a good company will be able to offer (and more importantly deliver) a 99.9% uptime guarantee for your site.
  • Technical support - This is extremely important. No matter what there will be a time when everyone, experts and non-IT experts alike will need to contact their hosting company for some sort of techincal support. A company that doesn’t provide good techinical support is no good at all. You should look at the different methods available for obtaining technical support from your web hosts. At the very least they should provide email and telephone support and a good company will also provide further levels of support on top of that for businesses and organisations that require a higher response rate than normal.
  • What limits do they place on web traffic? - something that non-technical people may overlook is the fact that a lot of web hosting companies charge extra for sites that have a lot of web traffic. Your hosting may have been cost effective when you set it up but if you’re getting additional bills each month because your website is generating more traffic than your current host allows it may be costly in the long-run. Make sure you read all the details of the hosting package that you’re purchasing so that you know what your limits are before your site goes live. You should also be aware that not all web hosting companies place limits on web traffic.
  • Which server type should you choose Windows or Linux? – the answer to this questions is pretty straightforward. If your website uses PHP coding then you should choose a linux server, if you’re using classic ASP or ASP.NET then you will need a windows server. Your web designer should also confirm this with you if they’re arranging hosting for you.

Choosing the right hosting package for you

You will find that a web hosting provider has several different packages available so you should be able to find one that’s right for your site. The list below details some of the factors you should consider about your own website when choosing your hosting package:

  • How large is your site in terms of number of pages? - larger sites need more web space than smaller sites
  • How many visitors do you estimate your site will receive on a monthly basis? – remember those web traffic limits we’ve talked about previously? Now’s the time to check out exactly what limits (if any) will be imposed. The higher your number of visitors, the more web traffic your site will generate
  • How often will your site be updated? – again look at the web traffic limitations when factoring in site updates as changes you make to the site when uploading new files will be counted as web traffic
  • Are you using a content management system? - if so you will need to look at a hosting package that provides database support such as MySQL and PHP Scripting. Cheap and cheerful hosting packages will not allow you to do this.
  • Does your site use video or audio files? – If you’re using a lot of multimedia files within your site you will need to ensure that your hosting package provides enough space on the server for all of your files. You may even want to look at hosting packages that offer unlimited web space in some cases.
  • How many email addresses will you be requiring? – this can quite often be overlooked and it’s an important factor to consider. You don’t want to be paying £25 – £50 each time you want a new email account adding to your domain. Make sure you double check the number of email accounts the hosting package you’re choosing provides so that you don’t get caught out by further charges later on.

All of the above questions will determine the type of hosting package you will need. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the site and the more often it is updated, the higher the grade of hosting package you will require.

So what can I do if I’m not happy with my current hosting company?

Firstly, don’t worry. It’s entirely possible to change hosting companies. You should consider all of the points above when choosing your new web host. As always it’s adviseable to read customer testimonials, or even better speak to people that you know who have a website and ask them for an account of their experiences with their current host.

We’ve helped out lots of people that have approached us as they were not happy with either the price they were paying with their hosting company, or the level of service they were receiveing. They asked us to find them a new and better service and we were able to do just that often providing more features for a lot less money.

If you need any help, feel free to ask us

Should you wish to find out more information about the hosting packages that we provide for clients please visit our web  hosting page. We can offer unlimited web hosting with unlimted emails and a free .co.uk domain name for £75 per year. Or if you simply want some information, but are not looking to buy right now please feel free to leave a comment on this blog or contact us directly.

Thank you for reading.

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Posted in Web hosting | 7 Comments »

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