Web Design

Type ‘Web Design’ into Google and you will get over half a billion results! Start checking out web designers and you will see that prices for their services range from unrealistically low to very expensive. Read any magazine dedicated to web design and you will see that some web design agencies charge in the thousands for their services.

Now I am not saying that they aren’t worth it, they probably are (at least someone must think they are to pay such fees). However, for most small businesses and organisations, the reality is that they don’t need the level of service offered by such agencies. Also, they certainly don’t need to be ripped off by web designers who charge basement prices but don’t deliver a solution that meets their needs.

Our approach is somewhat different. After years of trying out various approaches, including several of the cheap web design software packages (from the likes of Serif), as well as developing sites using open source software (Mambo, Joomla, Drupal and lately WordPress), we have discovered something that millions of other web site owners have discovered.

What we have discovered is that for the majority of small businesses and organisations WordPress is the best solution. Did you know that 22% of all new domains registered now use WordPress as the basis for the website? In fact, 14.7% of the top million websites in the world are now powered by WordPress and its growing all the time. See wordpress.org for the latest info.

What is WordPress you might ask? Well, put simply its the best platform on the planet for developing feature rich websites that are easy to update, maintain. That’s a bold statement but when we tell you that the software is open source (effectively free) and that most hosting packages available come with the option of installing it with just a few clicks you can begin to see why its proving so popular.

Why are we telling you all this? Because we love WP (as most folk refer to it) and in fact, we use it for this very site that you are looking at now. We also use it for all of our client’s sites. If you commission us we will design your site in WP. This offers several advantages to you:

1. Cost savings – as the software is free you save on expensive, bespoke software (sometimes costing thousands)
2. Further cost savings – as the software comes with a multitude of themes, widgets and plugins (many freely available) you get the benefit of thousands of web developers for free!
3. Flexibility – because you change the look and functionality of your site with just a few clicks its easy to tweak the site to your heart’s content (some might say ‘too easy’ as you can get distracted by all the choice!)
4. More cost savings – because you can maintain your site easily (its like using a word processor) by logging on via a web browser, you don’t need to pay a web designer to make changes.
5. Ecommerce on the cheap – WP started out as a blogging platform but is now so much more. You can use it for your blog, a customer support forum, an online portfolio and your online store, all at the same time or any combination! Instead of paying for very expensive ecommerce software or paying monthly subscriptions, you can use an ecommerce theme and plugins to link to a PayPal account, all for free (apart from PayPal fess for transactions – still cheaper than most Merchant Accounts via your bank).

These are just some of the benefits of going with WP as the basis for your site. Our role is not that of the traditional web designer but to help identify your needs and identify the best theme and plugins for your site, get it up and running and tweak it to help your organisation succeed and achieve its aims, all at the lowest possible cost. A traditional approach can take months before your site is up and running and costs thousands. Our approach can take as little as two weeks and cost in the low hundreds, depending on your needs.

Also, because we offer 100% Carbon Neutral Hosting on our own fast, secure dedicated server (meaning we have total control and access) we can provide you with the whole package, including domain registration, SSL certificates, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Google Analytics setup.

If you want to look at other examples of our handiwork (other than this site) check out www.plumeavenuechurch.org.uk and www.bestcoolerprices.co.uk. If you like what you see, why not use our contact page to request a ‘no obligation’ quote and some free advice.