The sites featured on this page all show different aspects of the sites we can provide, as well as some notes on the requirements and specifications of the owners.
www.bssteels.co.uk showcases Portsmouth-based steel business BS Steels.
BS Steels, previously a relatively basic steel stockholder and fabricator, had been acquired by experienced ‘steel man’, Roger Slade. Initially we sought to change perceptions of the business, as products, services and capabilities offered by Roger’s previous business were added. By showcasing complex structural steel projects, we seek to help validate decisions by contractors, architects and engineers to use the company.
The business developed so strongly that we soon needed to launch a ‘version 2′ of the site, and it continues to be developed to reflect ongoing progress. In particular, expertise has been built in repairs for highways and railways; a bespoke page ensures that we rank highly on Google for terms relating to this activity.
We have produced also an attractive and informative PDF brochure, which can be updated, sent out to clients, and printed off when required – a good deal cheaper and more flexible than a traditionally printed brochure!
Link to site: BS Steels, Portsmouth-based steel stockholder, fabricator and installer; on-call highway and railway repairs.
www.adviser.co is a website built for Cornwall-based Independent Financial Adviser Simon Holdsworth.
The site was designed with care to express Simon’s values and approach through its design and content.
The economically-written Home page seeks to deliver its message clearly – adhering to the guideline that as much of the initial message as possible should be visible to the visitor without the need for extensive scrolling. Concise text is complemented by rollover images, each suggesting an investment need likely to be experienced by potential clients. This is reinforced on subsequent pages by testimonials from existing clients.
A WordPress platform allows Simon to write articles and case studies for information purposes, and also to ensure that fresh, relevant content is available to search engines. These are then arranged by category and placed on appropriate pages through the site.
Stop Press! In January 2013, Duchy Wealth Management was awarded Investment Adviser Firm of the Year for 2012 by Sesame, the largest financial services network in the UK. Sesame states that the award recognises some or all of the following: “effective use of platform technology; a well structured client investment proposition; an innovative approach; and a record of profitable new business growth in investment business.” What tiny piece of reflected glory from this success that we can claim, we are happy to do so!
Link to site: Cornwall-based independent financial adviser Simon Holdsworth.
www.lifestyle-construction.co.uk is the site for the building and construction business of Lincoln Pools Limited.
Since 1967, Lincoln Pools has operated as swimming pools specialists in the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire area. Lifestyle Construction was set up to handle building projects, with a particular emphasis on lifestyle, leisure and entertainment.
The business owners decided it was time to advertise the construction side separately, and to give it a stronger separate identity. There is a strong visual emphasis to the site, so as to let images drive home the message. Sections on Leisure Complexes, Extensions and Annexes, Pool Buildings, Landscaping, Bathrooms and Wetrooms, and Shepherd’s Huts, are backed up by slideshows of completed projects.
Though we didn’t launch a specific Facebook page or Twitter account, visits to the site immediately after launch were given great impetus by a push on Facebook, in particular by the wife of one of the owners! A Facebook ‘Like’ widget in the header enables visitors to ‘Like’ the site, or to ‘Send’ it to a friend, whilst also displaying the current total of ‘Likes’.
Link to site: Lifestyle-Construction, specialists in recreation and leisure building, serving Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
www.londonhistoryguide.com advertises the diverse offering of London Blue Badge Guide and lecturer Sue Jackson.
Sue leads regular, scheduled walks around London from April to October. One of the features is a rolling calendar of walks, always starting with the next scheduled date. This is achieved through a CSV (Excel) file, read through a program in PHP. Thus the list is always current, without visitors needing to scroll through already-completed walks. The CSV file itself can easily be edited in Microsoft Excel, should further walks need to be added.
To advertise further her diverse interests – as well as to help build profile with search engines – Sue intends to be an active blogger, and the most recent blog posts and ‘hot topics’ are also featured on the front page. This is achieved through using a WordPress platform.
Link to site: Sue Jackson, London Blue Badge Guide and history and art lecturer; specialist on London’s Huguenots
www.harlynresearch.co.uk creates a platform for independent investment strategist Simon Goodfellow. The site showcases six of Harlyn’s flagship models, displaying recommended weightings produced by his probability-based approach, and the superior long-term returns from the models.
The site has a registration and login system for visitors, with content reserved for logged in users. A particular feature of the site is the interactive graphs, which enable visitors to view weightings and performance for periods which they can select and interrogate. Data for the models is uploaded weekly, which the client is able to do himself, via Excel spreadsheets which are then read and converted into tables or graphs.
The client’s brief included a tight schedule for ‘phase 1′ of the project, to coincide with an investment conference, and development of a platform to allow further extension of the site’s scope and functionality. The schedule for phase 1 was duly met, and the launch of phase 2 brought in more models, added functionality and improved navigation around the site. The site is likely to grow further, particularly by the addition of bespoke products to be held in protected client areas.
Link to site: Harlyn Research, designs tactical asset allocation systems for professional investors.
www.britishandirishart.co.uk was built to showcase the writings of Adrian Clark, a City lawyer with a growing body of articles, commentary and his first book on 20th century British and Irish art.
The site needed to showcase his book, act as a repository for his articles, and also be somewhere that he can add further thoughts on his very frequent visits to galleries, exhibitions and the like.
The original goal was to look to build greater awareness among the art and academic world of his fascination and research into this period of British and Irish art.
We therefore turned to a blogging platform, WordPress, and wrapped the web site around it. This enables the site owner to blog away to his heart’s content, whilst letting the rest of the site do its job as a more conventional web site. A very welcome spin-off has been some useful contacts created for the purposes of future books that Adrian has been researching and writing.
Of course, using WordPress as a content management system, the owner can edit pages and posts as he wishes.
Link to site: Adrian Clark, commentator on 20th century British and Irish Art.
The owners of www.cheltenhamvacation.co.uk asked me to revamp their site, as well as expanding the original site to include an additional property. They were keen to preserve the original colour scheme and feel of the site, but needed to attract more traffic and higher search engine rankings.
An excellent set of photographs made the task of designing an attractive-looking site that much easier, and should enable the accommodation to ‘sell itself’ – if we can get potential clients to the site!
The site also features embedded availability calendars for both properties, which the clients can update online.
www.guidebritain.com is the site for London Blue Badge Guide and NADFAS-accredited lecturer Ian Gibson. The site is partially bilingual, offering a German version of the front page. Sadly, Ian Gibson passed away in 2012.
This started as a conventional ‘brochure’ site, ie not based on any content management system, though it was migrated subsequently to Joomla! The front page features a daily historical fact on London, changed daily to be relevant to the current date.
This site generally rated well with search engines. Search terms such as ‘blue badge london guide’ and ‘german speaking london guide’ showed up consistently in the top 10 on Google – sometimes at the very top.
Link to site: Ian Gibson, London Blue Badge Guide and NADFAS-accredited lecturer.
www.ivy-grange.co.uk advertised a substantial holiday letting property near Chichester. It was built on the Joomla! content management system, which enabled the site owner to make changes, edit, upload images and so on – or ask us to do so.
The site was put together in around 3 weeks from start to finish, in order to be up and running before Easter, and try to catch summer bookings. Interestingly, the only communication with the owner until the site was quite advanced was by e-mail, showing that distance need no be a barrier to creative cooperation and an attractive and effective end result. The property has now been sold, so the site has become inactive.