blog

SilverStripe theme contest

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:43:00 +0000

Earlier this year SilverStripe launched the SilverStripe 3.0 Theme Design Contest where the winning theme would be the default theme of SilverStripe 3.0. Given how much we like SilverStripe and how our web design and development team enjoy working with it we couldn't resist submitting an entry.

The competition was to design a theme that worked on a variety of viewing platforms and worked well with SilverStripe 3.0.

The judging criteria is:

Overall aesthetic
Accessibility (graceful degradation, progressive enhancement techniques)
Usability
Quality of markup
Themability (flexibility of the theme in terms of usage)

Here's the designs we submitted:

Midnight theme home page

Midnight theme blog

For more information on the competition check out the SilverStripe Theme Competition Facebook page.

If you like our work don't forget to go to Facebook and like our entry

If you like our work dont forget to go to the competition Facebook page and like our entry. Click the image below to go straight to our page

Professional web design versus do it yourself

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:30:00 +0000

If you are considering building a website yourself for your business rather than using a professional web design company, here are a few things that you might need to consider:

Branding is not only your logo! There is much more to consider; the values of your business, the way you communicate, the style of language used, who you are, and what you are trying to achieve. A professional web design company are experienced with branding and will ensure that your website is “on-brand” and conveys the right message.
Your business is unique, so building a website using a template will not make it stand out from the crowd!
A professional web designer will know where to place items on your site for maximum impact, and how to get your visitors to the information that they need in as few steps as possible. This will improve the bounce rate on your website, and keep visitors engaged, and more likely to answer the call to action.
Web design takes time, if you focus your own energies on this, what could you have achieved if you had engaged a professional web designer instead? Often it’s false economy to build the site yourself (unless you have lots of experience) as you will spend more time building it than a professional, you’ll have a higher bounce rate, and it may look similar to other sites, and therefore you may lose traffic to competitors! All of these have hidden costs associated with them. What is the TRUE cost of designing your site yourself?
Getting your site ranking well in search engines is an imperative part of marketing online, if you build your own site, can you be sure that you know everything possible to ensure that your site can be found in searches?

As with all marketing, if you have built your own site, or are planning on building one, be sure to test and measure the effectiveness of it by reviewing your analytics regularly. If you’re not seeing the results that you need to from your site, and can see that there are benefits of professional web design versus do it yourself, please contact us: Tel 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Essex Web design tips for 2012

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:56:00 +0000

You might want to consider the following if you're thinking of getting a new website or eCommerce store in 2012.

A major trend in 2011 has been all about responsive design and this will continue into 2012. While you are sitting at your PC try and re-size your browser. How does it look? When designing or re-designing your web site, make sure that it can be accessed from a whole host of devices ranging from the standard desk top to an ipad to a mobile phone. If your site can only be accessed by one method, it is no longer acceptable and will ultimately cost you dearly! Keep an eye on your analytics, how are people accessing your site, and is there is bigger bounce rate for those accessing via mobile devices?
Keeping in mind the way that your website is being accessed, another tip is that sites now should be designed for touch screen navigation. Does your web site allow for both touch screen navigation and by mouse?
Everyone wants is to keep their visitors coming back to re visit their website and/or following a call to action (Call us, contact us)? Bear in mind the visitors to your web site are now in control of the viewing orientation so using a liquid layout should be a must.
An eye catching way to captivate your target audience is by using a large scale, high resolution photo. This will of course be content appropriate. Forget pretty and make sure that the background works harmoniously with any text you have. Optimise any images that you have on your page, so that these are also discoverable in search engines. Try where possible to use original photos rather than stock images.
Choosing a colour scheme has never been simpler. Focus on three main colours and then vary the colours by using different shades. This is simple but extremely effective as the eye will then be drawn to your company message or slogan.
Do you research on your competitors. Find out what they are doing online and howyou can get a commercial advantage over them.

Of course, designing your web site from scratch can be extremely daunting and unbelievably time consuming even with these web design tips to guide you. You will definitely find it far easier and see much greater results if you enlist the services of an Essex Web Design company. They will produce a website that will start creating interest from the moment it goes out.

For more information on our Essex web design services, please contact us: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Drive more traffic to your website

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:07:00 +0000

It goes without saying that the first place to drive visitors to your website is through search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. When designing and redesigning websites for our clients, we ensure that we optimise your site to be found in search engines during the build process.

Moving to first page position on search engines can take time, so if you wanted a quick boost in numbers to your site (For example, you may want to highlight a new product or service) then there is also the option of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising with Google and Bing. When your PPC campaign is structured correctly, then it can be incredibly successful, however, if you get it wrong, it can prove to be a very costly mistake. We recommend taking advice when compiling a PPC campaign.

Social Media sites such as Facebook and Twitter also now offer paid advertising services. Facebook Ads are incredibly targeted, you can focus on age range, certain geographical locations, and even go as far as only showing your ad to those individuals with your chosen interests. You are much less likely to make a costly mistake with Facebook Ads, as your ad will only show to those individuals that have the credentials that you have stipulated during the set- up of your ad campaign. Twitter are now offering sponsored tweets, and as it is not a targeted campaign (more about mass awareness) we would advise caution before proceeding with those until there is much more ROI information available (the sponsored tweets have only appeared in the last 2 months).

Blogging is not only a great way of getting fresh content onto your site (which search engines love!), it's also a way to demonstrate your expertise, the way you do business, and more about your niche market. Buyers want to be incredibly informed these days before making a purchasing decision. The more often you blog, the higher your site is found on search engines, and you will also be found for more keywords (of course, it's vital to ensure that you are blogging around your keywords). We can add a blog to any website for our new or existing clients.

As you are updating content or adding fresh information to your site, it's a good idea to syndicate this content to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter as this will help that content rank quickly in the search engines, and also sends the new relevant information out to your target audience. Be sure to add your social media sites to your website, so that new and existing clients can engage with you in the way that is most convenient for them (The UK population now spend an hour a day on Social Media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!)

If you're a member of any online forums, take advantage of your forum signature and include your website home page address, firstly, if someone wants to find out more about you from a comment you've made in a forum, they can click through to your website, and secondly, it acts as a back link, which also helps your website to rank well in search engines.

Christmas is the most important time for Online Retailers

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:46:00 +0000

With the festive season now less than two months away, and general retail sales down in the UK year to date, Christmas is THE most important time for online retailers! More and more people are doing their Christmas shopping online, avoiding high street and shopping centre crowds, so if you are an online retailer, have you got your online shop optimised and ready to go for the Christmas rush?

One of the firsts place that people start to search for the perfect gift is on Google (and other search engines) so it’s important to make sure that your products rank well in Google. For quick wins, make sure that each individual product in your online shop is optimised, as one product could be the hook to bring visitors to your site, but make sure once they've landed on that particular product that it’s clear at a glance what other products/categories are available for them to browse.

If you want to draw potential customers to your website, and keep them coming back between now and Christmas, why not add a wish list function to your online shop? This not only creates demand for one particular item, it will get people browsing through your site to find other items to add to the wish list, which will increase your average transaction value overall. Make it easy to share the wish list with their friends and families, and you are far more likely to get customers buying from your site, rather than shopping around for the “cheapest deal”.

Pull together individual items to create gift sets, as this approach will ensure that you maximise the basket value, and make sure that the checkout process is painless and completes in minimum number of clicks. As the customer reaches checkout, be sure to make batteries available for purchase if the product takes batteries, or offer suggestions to go with their selection to optimise sales opportunities.

Update the look of your website to reflect the Christmas season. If you were retailing on the high street or shopping centre, you’d have the Christmas decorations and POS out, so make sure you do the same online with a Christmas theme.

As Christmas is the most important time for online retailers, contact us for a free website review to make sure that your site is fit for peak season trade, or to discuss a new e-commerce/online shop. Tel: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Online Shop Website

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:51:00 +0000

Online retailers have many decisions to make when determining what their online shop website should look like, what functionality it should have, and how best to present their products and services for sales.

The most obvious indicator of how well your online store is performing, is of course how many completed transactions you have, the average checkout value, and total sales revenue. However, it’s essential to dig deeper into your website analytics to make sure that your online shop is providing optimum results.

Check out which products have the highest exit rates. Now, which traffic sources brought visitors to that product? Is that traffic source bringing your target market? What keywords brought visitors to that product? Are they the best words for that item, and could you change your description to optimise traffic that is most relevant to it? Are the images clear and do they present the item in the best light? Could your site benefit from close up shots of the product to help the potential customer make a purchasing decision?

Be sure to check to see if your website visitors are leaving the from checkout page without completing the purchase. Maybe you need to consider payment options to ensure you appeal to the widest audience for your website. If you ship internationally, do your website visitors have the choice to change currency to their local currency?

Choosing a designer who specialises in online shop websites (e-commerce) is essential to the overall performance of your online shop. If you have an existing site, ask your e-commerce web designer for their feedback on this site, as it will give you an idea of what they can achieve for you. Look at other online shops that they have designed and built to ensure that they have delivered other projects that have similar goals to your own.

At Covenant Solutions, we specialise in well built, appealing online shop websites. Fancy a free evaluation of your existing site? Please contact us: Tel: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Facebook: Covenant Solutions Twitter: @cslweb

Responsive web design

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:35:00 +0000

Responsive web design is used to describe the design of a website that allows the layout to change depending on what screen the website visitor uses. This means that the website will work well no matter if viewed on a PC, laptop, tablet or mobile device.

It is imperative that your site can be viewed easily on all devices, as more and more people choose to access the internet “on the go”, and use whatever spare time they have to access information online. No matter whether your site is aimed at the consumer market or the corporate market, if it cannot be seen on mobile devices/tablets, you will certainly have a higher bounce rate, and lose visitors to your competitors.

Web designers and developers work closely together to create a website that detects the size of screen that it is displayed in, and changes format of the site to reflect this. For example, a site that fits full width of your PC screen might have 3 columns, which would be really difficult to read on a mobile device, so the responsive web design team may change the format to one column on the mobile device, they may amend font size and image size to appear more attractive and readable on a smaller screen, and some parts of the site that are available on full PC screen may be discarded on much smaller devices.

As the tablet market grows, and new technology becomes available to work and to browse the internet on the move, it will become increasingly important to make sure that your website does not just fit devices today, but those of tomorrow too, and this is where responsive web design really makes a difference, as they are completely fluid designs, and reduce/increase in percentage size rather than in pixels depending on the device on which they are viewed.

For more information on responsive web design, please contact us: Tel 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Convenant Solutions

New Facebook

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:13:00 +0000

If you regularly use Facebook, you will have noticed that new Facebook has brought some massive changes. Most of the feedback that we’ve seen has been negative as lots of people are resistant to change, however new Facebook has brought many positive changes that can help you promote your business:

From 1^st October all custom Facebook pages must be hosted on secure pages (https) keeping you more secure online.
On the top right hand side of your homepage on Facebook, you can now see an up to date activity feed, this will give you more opportunities to see what others are doing, and to watch conversations and activity to make sure that you jump in to any conversations which could lead to an opportunity or referral for you.
You can now see more people who are online and available to chat on the bottom right hand side of your homepage on Facebook. Previously you were limited to people that you interact with frequently, now you can see all of your Facebook contacts who are online. Don’t forget that this is social networking, and it’s the social conversations (ie, what are you up to these days) that can lead to opportunities for you.
You can now subscribe to people’s updates, even if they are not your “friend” on Facebook. A great opportunity to watch your competition (although you won’t see all of the secrets, as they can choose which updates to make public) and to watch people that you would like to do business with.
It’s now more important than ever to make your Facebook status updates as engaging as possible, as those posts with more likes and comments will appear nearer the top of the newsfeed, so that they are seen more often. Engaging posts encourage interaction, and it is in the conversations and comments where opportunities present themselves.
In business page mode, there are now recommendations for pages that may be of interest to you. This is a great way to find out about people that you may be able to do business with in the future, as not every page owner has structured their pages to be found easily in searches.

Alongside the above positive changes, don’t forget that a custom Facebook page can make a big impact on driving traffic to your website, and to allow visitors to your page to see very clearly what it is that you do, so even if they don’t “like” the page, it’s far more likely that they will go to your website.

If you would like a custom Facebook page, or would like to find out more, please contact us: Tel: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Facebook: Covenant Solutions Twitter: @cslweb

Why use a content management system?

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:44:00 +0000

A content management system provides you with the means to update the content on your website at a time that suits you, and is easy to use (if you can send an email, you can use a content management system!)

Some websites are static websites, meaning that they were built with code such as HTML and means that the content is not easy to change, as you would need to know HTML to make the required changes. Therefore, it would mean consulting your website designer each time you wanted to amend the content, text, images or video on your website. This can become costly, and inconvenient (especially if you need to make an unexpected change at short notice for any reason).

By updating your website to include a content management system (CMS), you get control of your website. You want to make a change to text on your website with a content management system? It’s easy with a simple text editor! You don’t need any technical skills. The ability to be able to edit text (or copy) on your website is imperative for many reasons. Not only can you ensure that you have the latest information available on your website, you can also make tweaks to the content to help your website for SEO (search engine optimisation purposes), as Google (in particular) do not read the keywords field of your website any longer when determining which search results to produce, instead, they look at URL, pages titles and content to make sure that they deliver the best results for the person searching.

Adding and changing images are an important way to keep content fresh and to keep regular visitors to your site interested. Images can also be optimised to be found in search engines, and therefore in doing so, you draw more traffic to your website content in general. Images are very easy to add (if you’ve added a photo to Facebook, or to a word document, you can do it on a content management system) and amend with a content management system.

If you would like to find out more about a content management system for your website, or would like a review of your existing website and how it performs in search engines, please contact us: Tel: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Maximise your online shop

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:09:00 +0000

Whether you have had an online shop for a while, or you are in the process of setting up a new one, it is essential to create a great online shopping experience for your customer as well having an ecommerce site that can be easily found in search engines such as Google or Bing.

You can use many techniques to bring traffic to your online shop, including Facebook pages, twitter, leaflets, QR codes and SEO (search engine optimisation).

The way that your online shop is structured by your ecommerce web designer is essential to your site being found in search engines. They focus on your keywords to ensure that your site has the correct page titles, meta -descriptions and onsite copy (words) to give your website the best chance of appearing in search results.

Once you’ve got your visitors to your site, a well thought out online shop can make the difference between average revenues and great revenues. Make it easy for your visitors to find the product or service that they want. The less clicks it takes for them to get to what they require, the more likely they are to buy from you online. Easy navigation is key, be sure to break your product offering down into categories and then sections, so that it’s clear where the item is that they want to find. This style of navigation suits those wanting to browse, so they may come to your site with an idea of what they need to buy, but they need to find something that catches their eye, for example a dress, or a particular colour of product. For those with little time, you need to provide a search function, so that they can type in the product that they want to find, and it takes them directly to that product or section.

Product descriptions need to be written with both search engines AND your visitors in mind. Keep descriptions short for those who know exactly what they want, but add a “more” button for those who might want far more specifications of the product or service.

Images and videos can make a HUGE difference to the sales conversion rate of your online shop. If the product is well photographed, and offers the opportunity to zoom for a closer look at detailing, or if there is a video of the product, you are far more likely to get the sale. Imagine how much you would put into presentation in your physical store, the same attention to detail needs to go into your online shop.

Offering alternatives to the chosen item, or items that go with the chosen item can help to increase average transaction value.

If the payment and cart process are simple and quick, it will stop visitors leaving your site before paying for the goods that they have loaded into their carts. Help close the sale by providing a great online shopping experience.

If you would like a review of your existing online shop and how it performs in search engines, or would like to set up a new ecommerce site, please contact us: Tel: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Content for mobile friendly websites

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:47:00 +0000

Many users of the internet access information “on the go” via either a mobile phone, smart phone (such as Android or iPhone) or tablet (such as iPad), and therefore, it’s not only essential to have a mobile friendly website to get optimum traffic, but it also imperative that you provide content on your website that works well on mobile devices.

When you are creating content for your mobile friendly website, consider where your target audience might be at the time that they access your site. In an ideal world, we’d love to grab our visitor’s undivided attention whilst they are sat quietly at their desktop, but it’s highly unlikely to happen. They could be walking along a busy high street, sitting on a crowded train, or standing waiting for a friend/relative and making the most of the few moments “spare time” that they have. They may be in Wi-Fi coverage, or they may be sitting outside a tent in the countryside where mobile data coverage might be patchy at best.

When starting to create your content, consider the absolute basics of the information that you wish to convey to your mobile friendly website visitor. It’s a good idea to have this text easily available for those visiting via a standard mobile phone. Remember that web accessibility rules apply to mobile devices as well as standard desktop style webpages. Images, sound and video can work on mobile friendly websites, however if you want to add video to convey messages, you can do so, but consider making the content available in a different format for those who may not have the best mobile data coverage. Images make a web page look more interesting, but test whether they are necessary on your mobile optimised pages.

Highly technical data needs to be presented in the simplest way possible so that information can be easily read and understood by someone who may have a busy background around them. Short sentences flow better on a small screen. Bullet points can provide a good way to break information up and make it more memorable.

If you would like to find out more about mobile friendly websites, please contact us: Tel: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Website upgrade

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:48:00 +0000

Wondering if it’s time for a website upgrade? Do any of the following apply to your website?

You need more visitors and traffic to your website
You cannot find the information that you need in the minimum number of clicks
Your website does not display very well or the links are hard to use on an iPad, iPhone or Android mobile device
You need to make regular information updates on your website, but you have to ask your web designer to make the changes for you
Your online brand look and values no longer reflect your offline branding
You need a new look and feel to your website to keep regular visitors interested
You need to add your social network accounts to your website
You have launched new products and services, or need to amend the existing products and services
You need security upgrades on your site (this might be applicable to those already using Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal)
You need additional functionality on your website to “automate” some of your regular time consuming tasks
Your site looks dated
Your website visitors are telling you that they need additional information/resources/functionality on your site (many visitors loyal to your brand like a blog to engage with, or forums to discuss new products and developments in your industry)

A website upgrade is a great way to boost website visitor numbers, and you can use it for PR reasons to get your brand name out in front of your target market. A well written press release detailing your website address, and the changes that you’ve made to it, along with the reasons why (which must all be customer centric) and some of your latest company news, that is easily available to your target market can provide massive returns in terms of traffic, client goodwill and additional business.

If you would like to discuss a website upgrade or would like a free review of your website and how it performs in search engines, please contact us: Tel: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Custom Facebook Page

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 09:20:00 +0000

Facebook marketing for business is now becoming the norm for SME and corporate businesses. TV and Magazine advertising will invariably have a link to a custom Facebook page as well as a link to a website. There are several reasons for this. Facebook has become an essential part of our every day activity. According to the BBC the average person was spending a over 22 hours online in 2010 (65% more time than the previous 3 years) and Facebook is the number one website where they spend most of their time (comScore Data Mine). Facebook is a marketeers dream vehicle for engaging with their audience and measuring the impact. You can encourage people to "Like" you, your company or your product and then share content with those that have liked your page (they will see it in their news feed) to drive traffic either back to your website, or to drive telephone/email enquiries, and even business enquiries directly on your Facebook page.

Giving people a reason to become a fan of your Facebook page is key to being able to engage with them afterwards. A custom Facebook page should be a call to action and entice visitors to like your page. A reveal page works really well for this, as they only get the information that they really want from your custom Facebook page when they “like” it. Once they’ve liked the page, more content becomes visible, and could include your latest special offer, or informative blog post, or latest news.

If you want to make sure that your Facebook page is as current as your website, choose a non-static Facebook page, so that as you publish your most recent blog posts or news on your website, it automatically updates on your Facebook page.

Keep your Facebook page branding consistent with all of your online and offline marketing. This helps to create stronger brand awareness, and will make your page instantly recognisable to those who already do business with you. Sure you want new visitors to increase the opportunities of new leads, but your existing customers can do some of your marketing for you, as they’ll be more likely to post on your wall, and engage with your content that you share on your page, which will encourage those who do not yet do business with you to be more interactive.

Take a look at some of the Facebook pages that we’ve created to get an idea of what you can achieve, by clicking here.

If you’d like to know more about custom Facebook pages and how they can work for business, please contact us: Tel 0845 258 1208, Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

The CSL Web guide to starting an online shop

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:40:00 +0000

With over 46 million internet users in the UK, online shops and e-commerce sites provide a way to sell your products and services to a much wider audience than ever before. Before starting your online shop, there are many things to consider before engaging an ecommerce web designer to make your ideas a reality:

Who is your target market?

Knowing who will be buying your products and services makes it much easier to build your online shop. Who do you want to sell your products/services to? What area do they live in? Who do they associate with? What are their hobbies and interests? Where do they work and what do they do? How old are they? Are they purchasing for themselves or for a business? If it’s a business, what is their procurement process? How will they make payment?

You need to provide specific instructions to your web designer, if you give them a blank canvass, there are too many options available, and will take longer to reach your vision. Your website designer will want to know about your target market, so that they can ensure that your site has fonts, images and a style of language that appeals most to them. Delivery options that suit your target market lifestyle are also important, as the sooner that your customer can receive their product the better, and the less likely they are to “shop around”.

Products and services:

If you can package any services you offer to make them more appealing to purchase online, this would be of real benefit, as it can help to drive revenues and increase average transaction values.

When presenting your products online, the quality of the images must be professional, so that it presents them in the best possible way, provide close up images or the zoom function so that potential customers can see the smallest detail, as this can make the difference between someone purchasing or not from your site.

Your product/service descriptions will need to be optimised for search engines. More often than not searches are made for the actual product rather than who the well know retailer is of that product/service, so the more work you do on product/service description optimisation, the more likely you are to attract visitors which convert to sales on your site.

Let your website design team know if you want your website to upsell for you, or to make recommendations of other items to purchase alongside the chosen item. You will do this in store to increase revenues, so make sure you do the same online. Add social media buttons to each product item too, and you’re more likely to increase sales, as people can recommend your products to their friends and family.

Other functions:

An online shop can do much more than sell products for you, it can also manage your stock levels, capture customer details for future marketing and it can also create accounting reports for you, saving you time to get on with what you do best. Be sure to talk these options over with your ecommerce/online shop designer.

If you’d like a review of your current online shop/ecommerce site or you’d like to talk to us about a new site, please contact us: Tel: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Mobile friendly websites get much more traffic

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Over a third of all adults in the UK now own a smartphone (such as an iPhone, Blackberry, Android or Windows phone) with access to the internet. Mobile webviewing is on the increase and we are interacting online more than ever before. Almost half of mobile users make more than one purchase a month via their mobile devices. At a recent press launch we noticed that over half the people attending had looked at our client's website on their mobile device during the presentation.

In most instances it's not necessary to have a website specifically for mobile browsing. It is however important that your site is optimised for mobile to firstly keep the traffic that visits your site, and secondly, to increase revenues from your website.

Google analytics can show you which browsers your website visitors are using (via the visitors overview section) and if you have a fairly high bounce rate AND you have a decent share of your website visitors come via mobile, it would indicate that you need to improve the mobile browsing experience on your website. It’s essential to consider end user experience, as a hard to navigate cramped site on a small mobile device screen will encourage your visitors to leave just as soon as they arrive.

It is possible to build a mobile only site and there are good reasons for doing this. If your site is flash based or contains a large amount of flash content you should consider an alternative site as this wont display on iPhones or iPads, similarly you might want to change the layout of your site or reduce the imagery to make it easier to read on a small screen. When choosing a web designer or having a website redesign you should ask about this and if you need to have a mobile or device specific website.

Once you have a mobile optimised website, your visitors are also more likely to share your content with their friends, family and colleagues via social media sites! Those social media mobile users tend to interact on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/YouTube up to 18 times per day (pretty much most times that they look at their phones) so keeping your content relevant and up to date is a must, which is simply done with a content management system.

If you’d like a review of your website to see how it performs on mobile, or you have any further queries about mobile friendly websites, please contact us: Tel 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Website Design - Back to Basics

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:42:00 +0000

Whether you already have a website, or considering starting a new website, it is always good to examine the basics of your website, to make sure that you are achieving your overall goals. It’s a good idea to review your website regularly, as it is often the first contact that a client or potential client has with your business and brand.

In this digital age that we live in, one of the most common terms you hear now is “Google it” as the internet can provide answers to practically anything that you are looking for. Your business solves a problem, answers a question, provides a service, sells a product that customers are looking for, and if your website is found through the search engines, and the customer can find what they are looking for easily, then you have the opportunity to grow your revenues and customer base significantly.

When planning your new website, or reviewing your existing one, go back to basics firstly, to ensure that you have the most important elements covered:

Structure – Is it clear what your website is for? Have you given your customer all that they need to know in simple headings that will become your website menu? Your website needs to be easy to navigate or visitors will click away to your competition.
Content –What content is going to be relevant to your target audience? Are you providing the most up to date information, and will this change frequently? If it does, consider a content management system, so that you can easily update the content on your own website.
How will you get traffic to your website? SEO (search engine optimisation – the method to rank as high as possible in search engines so that your site is more likely to be visited) is a key tool to drive traffic to your website, so be sure to do plenty of research around keywords. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter can also drive traffic to your website, so make sure that you have links to your social media sites on your website.
Use your website to streamline processes to improve your operating costs – Can any routine jobs be done via your website? (for example, if you have an e-commerce site, you can have it manage your stock levels and even produce reports that you will need for your accountant)
Branding – Your website needs to be easily identifiable for those who already know your brand. Keep online branding consistent with your offline branding.

If you would like us to provide you with a free review of your existing website and how it performs in search engines or would like to talk to us about a new site that you want to create, please contact us: Tel 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Online Sales - The additional revenue stream

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:21:00 +0000

Total UK online sales will have reached £69bn by the end of 2011 (Source: Marketingmagazine.co.uk), and online sales are growing at 6 times the rate of high street sales! These figures demonstrate that this is still an area of massive growth in the UK, so if your business does not already have a revenue stream from online sales, it is time to sell your products and services online with an ecommerce website. It’s not just business to consumer sellers who are seeing an increase in sales, ecommerce is as well suited to business to business sales.

Whilst there is a cost associated with developing and designing your ecommerce website, the return on investment from this will be an increase in sales and much wider recognition of your brand. The easier it is to buy your products and services, the more you will sell. The overall cost of sales are reduced, as there are less overheads when selling online than in a high street store.

Consider how you could sell your products and services online, no matter what industry your business is in:

If your business is service related, can you create a “package” for your target market, and sell this online? Example: An accountant may sell their services for £x per hour. This would be difficult to sell/purchase online, however, if the accountant created a package for £xx per month, and listed what would be included ie: Start Up package includes: Business registration at companies house, monthly P&L statement, x hrs of advice, monthly book keeping, payroll etc. It shows the potential customer exactly what they will get for their monthly fee, and makes it easy for them to purchase services from you.
Are you an expert in your niche? If so, consider selling whitepapers, audio downloads, instructional videos online. If you make it possible for your client to self-serve, they can buy and learn at a time that is right for them. Don’t worry about losing potential consultancy work from this, those that are really interested will always come back with questions and it’s at that stage that you can sell your consultancy services.
When selling your products online, make sure that the images of your products are crystal clear and show your product in the best possible light. Be clear on where you will ship your products to, and how you will get them there. Make it very clear how a customer can return an item if it is faulty, and provide clear customer service contact details.

It’s key to remember that the internet is available 24/7, 365 days per year, so your ecommerce website can develop online sales for you outside of your normal working day.

If you’d like a review of your existing ecommerce website, or you’d like to make additional revenue through online sales, please contact us: Tel: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

The CSL Web guide to choosing a web designer

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:58:00 +0000

When considering getting your website designed or redesigned there are several important factors that you should consider. We've put together a list that you might want to consider when choosing a company to design your website.

Experience

Ask your website designer if they have built anything similar to what you want
Ask if they have experience in the industry you're targeting and your audience
Ask for examples of similar websites that they have built

Understanding

Does your website designer know and understand your objectives?
Have they made recommendations to help you achieve your objectives?
Have they provided you with options to extend your brand presence online and to drive traffic to your website?
Do they talk about the user experience?
Do they talk about accessibility and the legal requirements your website should fullfil?
Do they talk about security?
Do they understand your target market, and make suggestions about mobile internet options?
Do they discuss SEO (search engine optimisation) with you?
Do they discuss social media and marketing with you?

Costs

How much will it cost to get your website designed and built? Does this match your budget?
How much are the on-going costs for hosting your website?
Are there any other on-going costs?

There are other factors regarding the design, (including how it looks) but if you cover the fundamentals above, the end result will be a website that is engaging, on-brand, intuitive and reflects your business, built with SEO in mind, and with options to extend your brand presence online. If you’d like a free review of your existing website and how it performs in search engines or would like to talk to us about a new website that you have in mind, please contact us: Tel 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Facebook competition and promotion

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 10:10:00 +0000

Facebook competitions and promotions are a great way for you to raise the visibility of your brand/product/service, as it can be available for the 750 million Facebook users (Source: Techcrunch). However, there are rules around running promotions and competitions on Facebook, and as we don’t want our readers to get in trouble and have their Facebook access removed or accounts deleted, here’s the definitive guide:

Promotions/competitions cannot be published directly onto your Facebook page wall. They must be made available via a Facebook app, so that the competition/promotion is not hosted directly on Facebook. For a Facebook competition/promotion app, go to a reputable web designer who has experience with Facebook page design.
On your Facebook competition/promotion page, you must ensure that you provide a complete release of Facebook by each entrant/applicant, ensure that it is clear that the competition/promotion is in no way associated with or administered by Facebook. It must also be clear that the participant/entrant is providing their details to you not Facebook.
Facebook features cannot be used to enter the competition – For example, you cannot use pressing the like button as a way of recording an entry to the competition/promotion.
You must not ask your users to either press like or check in, in order to take part in a competition/promotion.
You inform any winners by a means OTHER than Facebook, so you may not use Facebook chat, messages, wall facility or any other means on Facebook to inform a winner.
You may not use the Facebook name to promote your competition or promotion.

Once you’ve determined that you can comply with the Facebook competition and promotion rules, the next step is to ensure that your competition is branded in the same way as your website design / online branding.

If you wish to run a Facebook competition or promotion for your business, and need an app to do so, please contact us: Tel: 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions

Facebook marketing for SEO

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:36:00 +0000

Facebook marketing provides you with a means to engage with your target market, drive traffic to your website and increase your visibility in the search engines.

A Facebook page for business that is managed correctly can really raise the profile of your brand/company online, and is suitable for a vast range of industries, no matter what size the business. A custom Facebook page (such as our Covenant Solutions page) will help you to convert your Facebook page visitors into traffic to your website, as you can showcase key parts of your website on your landing page, with links directly back to your site (it also opens a new window, so that visitors can find their way back to Facebook quickly and simply).

You can optimise your Facebook page by including your keywords/phrases in the title of your page once you secure your vanity URL, (ie www.facebook.com/covenantsolutions) so that your page ranks in Google (particularly useful if your website is not yet performing as you would like in the search engines).

We recommend adding the Notes application to any Facebook page for business, as it provides you with a means to communicate key business offerings and thoughts/comments about what is happening in your industry (a bit like a blog on Facebook) and you can add hyperlinks back to your website, if you use anchor text keywords, this becomes more powerful for SEO.

Photos get a lot of impressions on Facebook, so upload photos onto your Facebook page where possible, and give them a description that contains your keywords. An impression on Facebook is the term given to the number of times a Facebook page is seen in someone’s newsfeed.

Finally, make posts that encourage your page fans to interact with you, either by pressing the like button, or adding comments to your post, this helps get your message even further, as it will appear on more newsfeeds.

To get a custom Facebook page to increase your brand visibility and traffic to your website, please contact us: Tel 0845 258 1208 Email: info@covenantsolutions.co.uk Twitter: @cslweb Facebook: Covenant Solutions