Please send your application to info@access-bydesign.com with CV, covering letter and two web designs.

All applications must be received by 5pm on Tuesday 14th September.

I would like to thank you again for what you’ve done, as upon looking back, my old website was like a ball and chain around my business

Thanks again,

Luke Mead
Director, LMS Computer Services

Gary Watts
Managing Director, GWA Cars and Finance

(woooh!)

The date the article is being published?  20th December 2010!

Although it’s horribly scary to think of Christmas whilst still enduring this awful wet excuse of a summer, every business person needs to remember that NOW is the time to market your website in magazines, newspapers, industry journals, trade papers, Christmas newsletters and even the 2011 New Year promotional media resource.

At Access-by Design, one of the saddest parts of our job is watching a client who has;

• thoughtfully and carefully created their website copy
• embraced our design ideas and contributed excellent ones of their own
• diligently taken on board all the training
• met every deadline in the design schedule

…but after their website is launched

• stops writing their blog
• doesn’t add news items and
• overlooks any form of marketing for their website

No press releases are sent out; No promotional offers appear in the media.; Not a handout or a sticker is seen on anything, be it a billboard or a car bumper.

Here is the basic fact.

It does not matter how great your website is, how many pages it has, how many special effects or gizmos it has…or even how far up the search engines you are, if you do not

a) keep your website up to date and

b) market it

it is unlikely that your website is going to grow your business.

It is VERY RARELY the case, if a site is dynamic and has strong SEO ,that what it needs is more SEO or that the website is somehow ‘broken’.

• What have you done on your website to prepare for the busiest period of the entire year?

• What have you done outside of your website to make sure people know about you and your business/organisation?

Here are 10  quick things you can do RIGHT NOW to raise the profile of your website.

• 1) Write a news item (200-500 words)  in your website describing something special you have done in the last 6 months (as if your did it yesterday!)
• 2) Write a blog entry (if you have one) on your website. Make it about 100-300 words giving your views on something in your industry. For example;
  • If you are a retailer, talk about ONE new item that you sell that  you PERSONALLY love and give reasons why we should buy it NOW;
  • If you are in the hospitality or leisure industry, write YOUR thoughts about the chilly, bright sun and cold windy days to come and why booking a holiday, break, visit or daytrip NOW is a must;
  • If you are a service provider, talk PERSONALLY about why booking your businesses services will make your clients’ lives easier this Christmas and why they should book NOW;
  • If you are a sole trader, talk about something funny (withholding names and dates) to illustrate how your actions/interventions/talents/skill saved the day and why people should hire you or your products NOW because of it!

• 3) If you sell a product, create a press release suggesting that your product would make an excellent present and send it to the media that best suits your industry from glossy mag to industry newsletter.
  If possible include some human element in it for example:
  • has your product helped someone overcome a difficulty?
  • Are you a ‘rags to riches’ business person who has a great story to tell?
  • Did your business beat the odds in these hard times?
  • Are you a designated contractor for the 2012 Olympics?
  • has someone in your company won an award, got a fantastic grant, been given an amazing  qualification?

• 4) As magazines and journals gear up for Christmas and the New Year have you got a product that is original, innovative and can’t be bought on the High Street? If the answer is yes, find a name in the magazine/journal and tell them about it.

• 5) Start a Christmas countdown group as an offshoot in Facebook and add a product a day.
• 6) Join Twitter, get an app on your mobile phone and try and ‘tweet’ once a day NB ONLY ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS – NOT  trivia.
• 7) Join linkedin and get yourself found (this is particularly good for sole traders).
• Organise your Christmas event NOW whist a few good venues are still free and invite the key people you want as clients NOW before they get 50 other invitations to similar events.
• 9) Invest in a short run of postcards. (One of our printers has just done a run of 250, double sided glossy postcards for £20. Call us today to see if this was a one-off or if we can talk them into doing it again!) and spend a day:
  • putting them through every letterbox of every house that looks like it belongs to the kind of client you would like to have
  • putting them in every corner shop and post office between Brighton and Portsmouth
  • giving them out on the Friday market (with council permission) which is the only day that a person  holding leaflets is not treated like a leper!
• 10) Spend a day ringing as many existing clients you can and offer them a free ‘add your product here’ if they can get you one new client.

There is no need to use language that makes you sound like you are auditioning for a role in “The Apprentice”. Keep it real.

Everyone who is in business or has a website has a skill, talent or simply a story to tell. This is what you use to bring in customers/clients/readers.

Your website becomes important ONLY WHEN IT ATTRACTS VISITORS. And that, quite simply is up to you.

Finally

Remember – a website is not just for Christmas. It’s for life.

Now get going and market it!!!

* btw If you are lucky enough to be picked up by a glossy magazine do NOT expect payment and be prepared to be shown the way THEY want to show you.

Access- by Design will be on hand to talk about how we can help your business or organisation boost it’s web presence, whether your just starting out or are an established organisation, we will be there to show you what our websites could do for you.

If you want to protect yourself, it’s worth searching for your own name using some common search tools and see whether you feature as a Search Engine result. When you have worked out where the details have come from you can remove them if necessary.

If you have serious concerns about identity theft, visit the government advice site at www.identity-theft.org.uk.

Due to the nature of my business it was apparent from the offset that the best medium of promoting my new venture was to develop a brand and design a website around the concept of the business.

It has to be said that there are cheaper websites out there but I am a great believer in “you get what you pay for” and this has certainly been the case with my website. I myself am a bit of a technophobe so needed guidance and a certain amount of patience from the design team but the whole process from start to finish has been an absolute pleasure. The first meeting was a fact finding mission where both Clive and Pollyana Popov (website designer) spent an entire morning with me to evaluate the needs, the design and feel of the site. They not only listened and understood what I wanted but suggested some innovative design features which have made my site come alive.

After this initial meeting I provided as much information as I could to assist with the content of the site and Luce Wright (copywriter) did an outstanding job making sense of the information I provided.

The next meeting was with Pollyanna once again to take the first look at the website that had been created. This was the first time I had seen the site and I was amazed with the overall professionalism, and more importantly how well Polly understood what I wanted from the site. This meeting was to assess the site and make any changes before signing off the design, this was an easy process as they had surpassed my expectations and there was very little to change.

The site went live very shortly after this meeting; Kate Heron (office manager) kept in touch ensuring I was happy and kindly assisted with setting up my new email accounts.

Clive then explained to me how the site works and how the optimisation works which basically puts your site on the front page of Google. We then had a training session to teach me how to keep my site fresh and optimised and the beauty of this is that it is not only user-friendly but allows you to edit your site as often as you see fit. By having the ability to edit add content yourself you actually have complete control instantly and moreover there are no additional costs involved.

Although I was initially worried about the process of having a website created, I can only reiterate that the team at Access- by Design made what I believed would be a real nightmare an absolute pleasure. They were on hand every step of the way providing an outstanding level of professionalism and service (nothing was too much trouble) and I would have no hesitation in recommending there services to not only colleagues, but friends and family in the future.

Here are four tips to use your Twitter account effectively:

• Following other Twitter accounts that are in your target demographic will help you get an idea of what the conversation is.
• Then you need to post updates about your company, brand or product.
• As with any online medium, you want to be very careful to never spam any of your followers.
• Lastly, make sure that you follow successful online marketers, and look for other participants who are in your industry.

Follow this link to view the source article and find out more details about using Twitter for business>>>

Oracle Catering Services is a catering consultancy business based in Pagham and run by Chichester businessman Garry Wilberforce.

This website displays Garry’s business services but is also a great resource for wannabe chefs with a whole host of recipes and culinary tips and tricks.

If you like the look of this clean and contemporary website and you think that your business could benefit from a fresh website, then contact Access – by Design to discuss what we can offer you.

The Rent a Friend site is at pains to point out that it isn’t a dating site and that friends are for platonic purposes only.

Maybe I’m old-fashioned (my colleagues already laugh at my addiction to a pen and paper whilst they tap away on their keyboards) but I’m a little apprehensive at this next step in the dominance of the internet in daily life. Rent a Friend will soon replace the need to actually pluck up the courage to make new acquaintances, just like MSN has replaced my daughter’s need to physically go out and meet her friends after school.

But on the other hand I quite fancy going to see a film at the cinema tonight and I’ve got no-one to go with – let me just log on…

By Luce Wright