AS Web Design & online Blog

Hi all,

Has been a great day for taking pictures and video clips for one of our clients in Cheltenham, we have been waiting for a great day and today was that day.

Just a quick blog about SEO and the realistic goals you should set for your website, there is nothing more frustrating that a potential client saying “Another Company said they can get me on the first page of Google search for ****** ******** keywords within a month.”

Really?

In my experience in SEO which is pretty reasonable I would say the chances of a Company employing “white hat” ethical techniques to your website suddenly on the front page above all the other well established websites is very remote. The only way I can see this happening is either the competition is extremely weak for those keywords, they mean Google maps or pay per click advertising.

From our point of view at AS Design…..

We say that medium competitive marketplaces on-line take on average between 3-6 months to start showing on the first or second page for your chosen keywords. Very highly competitive keyword and keyword phrases are probably better left alone, there are less competitive keyword phrases to go for. For example if the most popular keyword phrase shows 50,000 times a month in searching and the listings are dominated by aged aggressive SEO websites then your chance in beating them is very costly and time consuming, not impossible but expensive! You would be much better of finding a keyword phrase that gets say 3000 hits a month and the competition is a lot less.

Lets face it 100 clicks out of 3000 hits is much better than no clicks out of 50,000!

So you must understand where and how your website is going to tackle your marketplace.

Realistic goals, well you must look at a website as a medium to long term business activity, it is not a quick fix (of course pay per click can give quick results but still requires time and the right keyword density) nor a flash in the pan idea. The internet is HUGE business, it is where many people now search for services and products, it is a great way to get reviews and information. You need to carve out your Organisations online presence and maintain it for success. Look at 12 months to gauge your success not 5 mins!

I work closely with my clients at AS Design and if I think a client is not taking the internet seriously or has the wrong expectations I honestly and diplomatically correct

hope everyones mOnday has been good.

Thanks

Adam
Webmaster

http://www.gloswebsitedesign.co.uk

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Hi there,

Another video from me Adam, I have to confess my props are getting worse, fun though! Anyway on a more professional note social media is already important to business, many just do not know it yet! Social media should be embraced, especially by the small and medium sized Companies, as it is your way to get in front of the big businesses who are too worried about doing something wrong with social media, so they don’t bother.

Take where we are based in Gloucester & Cheltenham, using social networks locally like twitter can be powerful, for example I spoke to a window cleaner, our paths crossed, however if I need some windows cleaning professionally I would go to this guy…amazing hey?

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Well I have been given the lovely task of doing video Blogs for AS Design, apologies for my Ummm’s, I never like reading from scripts so i prefer to think on my feet so to speak. I am not sure of this is the best and most professional way to do it but it is me

Enjoy – your feed back most welcomed

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If you can be bothered reading the post please play the short video clip!

You only have to search online for web design and you will come across many solutions for building your own website, these solutions come in many different forms from those where you pick designs and add text to slightly more complicated software giving you a feeling of tailored web design. The prices range from a “one off” £99 to £20 a month plus. Sounds good doesn’t it when experienced web designers charge £500 – £3000 for a website?

Let us explore the financial side, for arguments sake lets say you decide on a monthly service costing £35 a month, in a year you have paid £420 for a basic do-it-yourself website. Yell.com charge around £600 a year for a 2-3 page basic website. So you now have your wesbite live, great exactly how are people going to find your website? Do you expect people to find your website when searching? Does your website have user friendly navigation, SEO (search engine optimisation), statistics to let you understand how your website is performing and is the design you have picked the same on many other websites who have used the same service?

The truth is the internet is HUGE business, with 80-90% of home owners searching for local services online, Yellow Pages & Thompson Directories dying a death, internet advertising over taking all other forms, 80% of home having access to high speed broadband and the young generations living on-line how can you even consider designing your own website? Those of us who have learned and keep ourselves up to date with the ever changing Google, Yahoo & Bing know how difficult it can be to get our clients towards the top ranking in these search engines. A website is an investment and you should get an expert to create and maintain your online presence.

A few questions you should consider, do you know what is involved in SEO? Do you know what the top keywords are for your industry and what your current keyword density is in your website content? How have you named your different pages and what navigation have decided upon and how will the search engines such as Google see this navigation? have you submitted a sitemap?

If you have no idea what I am talking about and your so called “cheap” build your own website software does not answer these questions then you are wasting your time and money.

Be smart get a web master to do it professionally.

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We have the pleasure of a new client in cheltenham who is looking to really push thier online presence and move thier current website forward. We have to keep it under wraps for the time being but look forward to promoting it as a success.

Just a quick ramble about Cheltenham and web design it has to be noted that there is some pretty strong competition for web design, it is like Cheltenham is a magnet for web designers.

We are rated as one of the leading website design companies in Gloucester which is great however we feel we can offer soemthing to Cheltenham businesses as well.

Why?

Well we are affordable for a start with a basic website costing around £400-£500 and a monthly plan to help build it up and keep it up to date. Our content management websites start from £800. This makes us an alternative to those Companies who charge thousands in Cheltenham.

So you required an cheap or affordable web design  and you are based in cheltenham? Try us one of the leading Gloucester web design companies.

Call me Adam Senior Designer 07909 442819

http://www.gloswebsitedesign.co.uk

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You are a small local business who has built up a good reputation, you know you are good at what you do but enquiries have decreased over the last couple of years. Yellow pages, Thompson Directories and newspaper advertising just do not seem to generate the leads it used to.

You still get referrals which keep your business going, you are just confused as to why the phone does not ring quite as much, yet you are still spending good money advertising.

How can your business improve and change?

When investigated you realise a missing key marketing tool is a website, a good web design that can promote you locally and help keep your Company visible to customers. Other business owners you know keep mentioning the business they have gained from their websites, others who spent money on websites say it has not made much of a difference but at least customers can find your business on the internet.

Some startling statistics – over 80% of home owners search for local services online, finding some professional looking websites from local businesses and making an enquiry. How can you justify not having a website for your business to compete for your share of enquiries from customers searching online?

Yellow Pages, Thompson Directories, Local Newspapers & Free Newspapers are examples of advertising publications that you should NOT being spending much money on. You run the risk of not making back your investment, or at best making a little profit. When you advertise you should expect to get a good return.

Invest in a website; get a good web design and a Company that will work with you creating your online presence online. We have successfully helped our clients get their business online, creating the right web design that fits their business and gives potential clients confidence to make contact. Once you have a website on the internet you are ready to grab your share of online business.

Expectations – It is important that businesses who are going online for the first time realise that having a website designed and live on the internet will give you instant results! It takes time and skill from webmasters & web designers like us to fight off your competition and get you high up the search rankings. We would say a min of 6 months if required form the date a website goes live before any real results are seen from Organic searching – i.e. people search with Google, Bing or Yahoo (etc) and your Company is on the first page.

How to get faster results…

You can consider pay for click advertising online so you are at the top of the page when people search for what you sell or do. This can cost 10p a click to your website to £5 a click depending on how fierce the competition is to get to the top.

You can promote your website in all forms of advertising and even consider a leaflet campaign to boost your awareness promoting your website. Do Yell.com instead of yellow pages and investigate other website where you can advertise to gain enquiries.

The fact is if you provide local services and want enquiries your business needs a website now

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www.gloswebsitedesign.co.uk & www.allaboutonline.co.uk to check out our websites

email us info@gloswebsitedesign.co.uk

Your online partner

Hi all,

This subject to close to my professional heart!!

There are many different sides to the question of “how much should you pay” from the web designers who charge thousands for a website to those who would charge hundreds for the same size of website. Those who charge more would argue that they work many more hours, the design is better, it better for SEO (search engine optimisation) and those who charge less are devaluing the web design marketplace.

How would I answer such a question being as my Company charges less than many but more than the real cheap options? Well i would say the website must work and produce results, if your website is so poorly designed or will never come in the search engines you never gain any business from it then it doesn’t matter if you spent hundreds or thousands you have wasted your money! Worse still is the fact that whilst you have wasted money others who got a website that works are making your share of potential online business!!

Then there is afford ability, many of my clients would never have agreed to spend thousands on an unknown marketing tool at the beginning so Companies who charge such fees would never get the business.

Our theory at AS web Design is simple, we charge a fair amount to give our clients a step up into the online world and getting their businesses on the internet. Once we have proved it will be a success and they appreciate what goes into a good web design we forge a productive business relationship and over the course of a few years we would have made more money as a web design Company and our clients are happy with this because they are making WAY MORE!!

A foot note anyone who charges less than £250 for a 5 page website are really not putting in the time to give an effective website, or they charge high monthly amounts after, either that or there time is cheap and there experience is limited!

Those that charge over £1000 for a static 5 page website are over charging, unless they are doing flash work, video work or other multi-media or design (logo design etc) that takes up a lot of time.

It is also fair to say that those who prove a track record of success (like us ) have a right to charge more than those who can not prove online success for your business.

We aim to the right balance between afford ability of websites and effective web designs that work.

Thanks for reading have a good day

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Hi all,

We have seen Google change the way searching is done over the last few months, we have noticed the testing at weekends and finally the new side options when searching. With Google still representing approx 80% of meaningful searches for products and services you can never ignore Google changes to searching. If you do you could see your website/online presence decrease and not even realise until you notice the negative impact on your business. What does the changes mean to you without being to nerdy or technical?

Well basically Google has started to give fresh content some meaning, new content will come up near the top, then when aged a few days will go back down the search engine rankings – having been judged on how popular web surfers have found it. This is a way of Google trying to get rid of that out of date info that plagues the searching and really it is a good thing for the users. We have been promoting Blogs & social media for sometime now and it is has just become more important than ever in keeping fresh relevant content to your business online. It is exactly what Blogs are designed for!!

We say dont let your online presence fade, keep your content up to date on your website, failing that get some kind of Blog going to help keep your content fresh and relevant.

Of course we can help with that www.gloswebsitedesign.co.uk

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Well i think there is nothing wrong in promoting success as we work very hard to provide our clients with affordable web design & hosting that works. Whilst it is true that you should invest in your website, keep the content fresh, spend money on online marketing & SEO techniques we take immense pride in awesome results from just a well done website.

Project: Acorn fencing (www.glosfencing.co.uk)

A small business located in Gloucester this fencing Company run by Gary has been trading for a good few years. Relying on word of mouth and traditional forms of advertising such as newspapers it has been a reasonable success. We provided an affordable website which costs less than a 6 week run in a local paper.

6 months after we built the website and made it live i had a quick meeting with Gary who said the work was coming in from the website and he is shocked by the amount of work he has gained!

8-9 months later – He can hardly cope with the work!!!

The moral of the story is very simple….

“Companies selling services or goods should invest in a website NOW”

Contact us now info@gloswebsitedesign.co.uk

visit: www.gloswebsitedesign.co.uk

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Web Design is a broad term and is the slightly shortened meaning of website design. There are three main areas that make up web design which are:

• Graphic design for website (images & Pictures)
• Coding to make it all work (behind the pictures & images)
• Content writing & SEO (The text content & titles)

You need to get all three elements of the web design done so you end up investing in an effective website for your business and Organisation. As a web designer it frustrates me when I come across a small business owner who had a real novice and poor website designed and after they get no benefits from their website they think the internet offers no opportunities to their business!

The fact of the matter is you need a nice professional looking website that will attract the right customers. It must be easy to use and navigate so it works well so they don’t get put off your website and go to another. When you have achieved this your content must make it easy for potential customers to act i.e. buy your products or call and inquire.

Never forget that even though you have a great web design & the best product if no one can find your website you will never have any visitors. So always keep your focus simple – I want customers buying my products online, or I want local home owners to find my service when they need it. The you need market, advertise and make sure your website is search engine friendly.

Your web design is your business window on the internet as a web designer it is my job to construct your online presence with an effective website. Always research your online partner carefully, don’t get over charged for a poor website.

Most recent example of how we changed a local Cheltenham business owners perception:

A Local Company based in Cheltenham had spent over £1000 with a so called web design Company, the website was only ever half completed and never provided any positive impact to this local Cheltenham business. So they carried on without a website thinking it was all just a waste of time, and who do you trust that does not charge a small fortune!

We made contact with this Cheltenham firm and discussed web design, how important it should be and although they got stung they still need an effective website. We agreed to start with a basic 3 page web design, as they got confidence in us they could build it up and see what it can do for their business -

One year later and they are top of Google for their local keywords in Cheltenham, they have grown the web design to over a 8 page website and have generated over ten times the cost of the website in profit!!!

So if we can help please do not hesitate to get In touch with us click here for our web design options

Cheltenham web design

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