Wednesday 20 April 2016

How service businesses like builders and plumbers can get more customers

In case you're a building developer, electrician or handyman then keep in reading as in this article I am going to let you know precisely how your business can get more clients and rapidly.

Online networking

Online networking is no more for kids or the unemployed.

social networking has changed the path in which organizations advertise their business. One post alone could get your content in front of 20,000 individuals.

By being social you can get your business before the right individuals who are scanning for what you are offering, at no other time as something so intense been accessible to business.

Online networking additionally permits you to stay in contact with existing clients furthermore answer inquiries of potential clients. In the event that you are not utilizing online networking for your administration based business then you ought to be.

Online networking is effective, in the event that you don't have sufficient time to look after your social accounts then you should employ someone to do so.

What makes your business one of a kind? 

Your business requires something that helps you emerge from other businesses offering the same service, offering a free quote doesn't offer your client anything diverse. Rather ensure your business offers something that no different does and you will emerge from the pack and chances are they will pick you to work with.

Be candid 

Don't be frightened of what others will think, it's your business you need to stand out and don't hold back.  Don't be frightened that others wont agree with you, speak your mind and build a following.  People will listen.

Conventional Marketing 

Keep in mind conventional marketing techniques as a few clients wont be on the web. Ads in the paper, signage, direct mail all work so don't forget about using them.

Web design and SEO 

In the event that you don't have a website, or you have a free website or one that doesn't work then what isn't right with you? A website ought to be one of your most vital aspects to getting your more business.

On the off chance that your searching for web design for plumbers or some other service based business then ensure you pick a web company that does good work.

By having a decent website with decent SEO you will develop your business over night. SEO can put your business before many additional clients who are looking for your product.

To sum it all up

Using all of the above will get your business extra customers, you shouldn't overlook any of the areas or your business is leaving money on the table for your competitors.

Saturday 2 April 2016

How to become a web designer.

Going to try something different today guys, a lot of my readers on here are interested in becoming web designers so I thought I would share a small article to get you guys started. For me personally I became a web designer by accident. Yeah that’s right, my whole career started off by me just needing to pay some bills. So here is my story.

 Like I said I needed to pay some bills and at the time I didn’t have a job and was still in school studying. I already had some knowledge with photoshop because I used it in school many times. So I came across a site online where people were selling banners and logos for $10-$15. So I posted on that site and within a few months I had paid off all of my bills and had paid for my very first holiday abroad to sunny Spain!!!

 Now I’m not a graphic designer, and the logos created were poor in my opinion, but my clients loved them, so that’s all ways good. I saw that on the job board that the developers were the real rock stars, so I began to learn development. I watched the same youtube videos over and over again, and eventually I could make a static html site with an external css style sheet. Crazy how long that took me to learn, but eventually I was hooked.

 From there I went to college/university to study software engineering.

While in college I carried on freelancing, and on completion of my college course I was hired by a digital marketing company in wales. I worked there for over a year and a half, working on small business websites to major brand names in the south wales area. After a little while I decided that I would like to work for myself and began putting together a small team of people to work with. Now I have started my own web development firm that specialises in responsive, easy to use, fast and search engine friendly websites. I hope that helps, any questions, let me know below.

One page flat website design tutorial

Mostly i blog for small business owners, but today i thought i would mix it up because i know alot of developers also browse this page. so check out this one page flat website design tutorial that i found.

What is responsive design?

Responsive design is when a web developer makes a site that works on all devices such as phones, desktops and tablet devices.  But instead of writing out a tonne, i thought i would share a video with you.  check this out below.


Thursday 31 March 2016

How to choose a website designer for your business

So you need a new website for your business?  Before you make the leap and buy a new website there are a few things that you will want to consider.  In this article I will discuss them with you.

When it comes to choosing the right web design company for your website you should always shop around to check out all the available options.  There are tonnes of web design companies out there, a lot of them selling the same service and most of them are pretty good at what they do.

However there are some companies out there that will buy a theme, change the theme logo to yours, switch up the colors and charge you the same price as some others would for a bespoke website. 

One of the most important tips is to check that agencies past work.  You can then see the quality of work that you could expect from them.   You will also be able to see that persons/agencies unique style.  Sometimes you will be able to spot an agency that uses templates because of all of their sites will look the same.

Now if you want a custom site but only have a budget of a few hundred then chances are your going to have to go with an agency that uses website templates.  A custom built site can run into the high thousands, and there is a good reason for that.

Custom website design and development can be expensive, simply because it takes time, a high skill set and the reward can mean thousands in extra business for your business.  Custom website design will also make your business stand out from the crowd as the agency will take into consideration your business goals and develop a website around those goals.

For example a website built for the purpose of collecting email signups is going to be designed in a different way than a website that is designed to sell products online. 

Another thing to take into consideration when hiring a web design agency is their communication.  Quite often larger agencies will have you dealing with 3-4 people at a time.  This works when you are a larger business, but for small business owners it quite often feels like your having the same conversations over and over again.  Time is the most important resource, you shouldn’t have to waste your time repeating the same thing over and over. 

Smaller website agencies have a smaller amount of staff and because of this quite often you will only deal with a dedicated account manager.  That way all of your communication will be with one person.

Website hosting is something you will also want to take into consideration.  Small business owners shouldn’t have to worry about the technical aspects of their websites, they are already busy enough with their own business.  For this reason I highly recommend buying a website from an agency that will sort all of the technical side of the project out for you.  Here at web design wales we offer hosting to all of our customers.  This is so our customers don’t have to deal with technical issues that they don’t understand or don’t need to understand.

Lastly you will need to consider that different web agencies specialise in different niches, for example one agency may work with a lot of medical clients, some may work with estate agents while other agencies will be experts on booking forms.  Then you will get some agencies that work with a wide variety of clients.  We personally tend to deal with more professional niches such as doctors, lawyers, accountants but we have also worked on personal blogs and garden equipment stores.

To make sure the web agency can carry out the work your looking for I would recommend having a good chat with them about your project requirements.  For example we specialise in website design for small business and we always discuss with our clients what they are looking to achieve with their new site. 

With this communication we are able to see what the client really wants from their new website, and what goals we can set so we can work on achieving them with our website design.

So to summarise this article, on choosing a web design company for your small or medium sized business I would recommend:

·      Shopping around
  • ·      Use a agency that doesn’t use templates
  • ·      Use an agency that offers hosting
  • ·      Define your requirements in what you want for your new site



By following the tips in this article you should now have a better idea on what to look out for when choosing a website designer for you your business.