Sold at Auction is the latest site for us to put online. It includes two editable pages (upcoming auctions & links) so that the client can edit and add new items at anytime they want. These edits can be done within the web browser without needing any extra software and are as easy to change as writing an email.

The upcoming auctions page displays all the latest auctions in sequential order. When a new auction is added by the client it also automatically appears on the site's left hand sidebar which is on the frontpage and most pages across the site. Users of the site can easily see and read more information from this sidebar and this info is automatically rendered as an RSS feed.

RSS Feeds

An RSS feed is what we are using here on our blog. RSS feeds are great because they help a site from an SEO standpoint but also automatically update users and other web sites of updates to a site, or latest auctions in this case.

Users of the site can subscribe to these RSS updates through their email client, an RSS reader or even their Google homepage so that they get sent updates to the site (the latest auction information in this case) whenever it is posted online, for as long as they subscribe to this information.

Using a free Google service like feedburner will give you even further reach by pinging web sites such as Digg or del.icio.us and show you how many users are subscribing to your feed. It will also allow you to automatically send updates via email to subscribers and even automatically add each post to your twitter feed.

Users no longer need to go looking for information; it automatically comes to them.

This is great for internet surfers and also site owners.

Go and view the site

Tags: new site, web design

After recently updating the pre-launch page of our latteperday service (otherwise known as a "coming soon" page), we thought it would be a good opportunity to share some of the best features often found in coming soon pages based on our own research and thoughts:

• Big, bold, clean graphics to keep the site clear and attractive
• Logo to drop hints on what's to come
• Bullet points to keep the text brief and clear
• List the benefits of using the product / service and some of the key features
• An email sign up box to collect the emails of visitors interested to hear about the launch - make it a clear and big one, as well as simple so that it only takes seconds to complete

Usually a good time to put up this kind of teaser / coming soon page is a few months before you are planning on launching. It gives a good chance to build some followers and momentum and get pre-signups to your service.

Screenshots, concrete features and other "real" stuff can come later.

Here's how we implemented those coming soon features into our pre-launch page:



Feel free to share your thoughts with us and any other common features found in coming soon pages!

Get in touch with us to help you with your designs. Here's a design questionnaire to get you started.

Tags: hints, web design

You need an online business, not just a website

Things have changed a lot on the web in recent years. Technology has become more accessible and freely available, designs have improved a lot and web sites are no longer static. Rather, they are in need of constant love and attention to keep them fresh and up to date. This has great benefit for search engines like Google, but also builds a brand, customer relationships and also an online business. Big businesses have teams of people to make this a reality, but what about the small business and individual?

And, how is it possible to marry all this together for the small business?

1. How can small businesses get a great, cool looking website designed with their brand that they can easily update themselves on their own PCs using just an internet browser like IE or Firefox, just as easy as writing an email? This also means adding new pages and making content edits without needing to contact their web designer.
2. How can they also get rock solid hosting so that their site doesn't keep going offline and costing money?
3. How can they also get intelligent web stats to help them make decisions?
4. How can they build up relationships with customers and prospects who just visit their website? A lot of sites aren't working properly to their full potential because they aren't capturing user information and helping small businesses to build up a list of real prospects interested to find out more about their products and services. Business is all about relationships and a website needs to build on that.
5. How can they create decent and powerful contact forms by themselves that capture leads and information from prospects and send the results to them in an email?
6. How can they easily create a web store within their site in minutes and collect money from sales of their products and services using a payment gateway like paypal that also eliminates the hassles of credit card transactions?
7. How can they get fast, easy and full support to creating this online business with a reference site of resources such as text tutorials and video as well as email support to help them along the way?
8. How can this be affordable and not cost the earth?
9. How can a small business get loads of pro-level features and capabilities in a small business system?
10. How can small businesses create an online business and not just a website?

We wanted to make sure that these small business customers get these same cool pro-level features at a small business price:

• Easy to edit and make changes to your website content in your browser without needing a designer
• Capture leads and information from prospects and make your website work for you
• Send out newsletters, keep customers coming back and build relationships with potential clients
• Full web stats and feedback on your site so that you know what is working and what needs changing
• Rock solid hosting so that your site doesn't go down and lose you money
• Create a store in minutes and collect through paypal. This makes selling easy.

These are just some of the great things that we are working on for this and hope to bring this all to the small business realm later this year. All for the cost of a daily caffe latte. If you can afford that, you can afford to get your online business in shape.

(We know people who drink 3-4 cups of coffee a day so think how much they spend a month? $2.50 for a cheap latte x 4 cups x 5 days at work x 4 weeks
= $200 per month!! Talk about the latte factor)

Great for small businesses, individuals and small teams

We had a coming soon page up for a while but wanted to redesign it as latteperday is now gathering momentum and will be released soon. Take a look at the before and after screens.


Before




After

Interested to find out more?

Head over to latteperday.com and register your interest. We'll get in touch when we're good to go.

(Of course it's free and easy to register for the launch notifications and we promise not to share your email address with anyone else and you can opt out of the emails at anytime at all).

Tags: web design, new site

New site for Enzen Trading

A modern new site built using javascript to navigate to each different page.

What does that mean?

It means that the site is nice and tidy and sits in one window. It's great for even the smallest laptop screen but more importantly it is fully compatible in most modern browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome) and also mobile devices (iPhones included).

If it was built in Flash, the site would be doomed

Social media buttons included (Skype, Twitter etc) and a Twitter feed to help with user interaction and marketing through these channels.

Happy Punter?

“I really appreciated your attention to detail and ability to visualize the concept we were trying to create. This site has created the perfect starting platform for our business. We will definitely be back for more.”

Get in touch with us to help you. Here's a design questionnaire to get you started.

Tags: web design, new site

After creating the original update to the Bosworth Independent College site in 2008, we felt it was time for a 2.0 update.

Bosworth's needs changed and the site needed to be modernised and rebuilt to reflect this. Here are a few of the updates:

• Modern, clean design based around new logo and brand
• New language sections created for 5 language versions of the site
• Media and video players for the new professional videos
• Interactive menus and navigation for more user interaction and interest
• Lots more information organised in a cleaner and easier to read navigation
• Clean "box" design to layout the content options in a clear and interesting way
• 4 call to action buttons at the top of every page to increase conversions of the site
• Photo gallery of new professional images
• Twitter feed added to connect with potential clients via twitter
• Social media links and buttons for SEO / SEM marketing

We regularly maintain and update the site to keep it fresh and alive on a monthly basis.

See the difference for yourself!


Before






After




Visit the site: www.bosworthcollege.com

Tags: web design, new site

We know what its like. You want a web site designed and we need more information to help you get there or give you an accurate estimate on how much we can do it for : )

Well, here comes the design questionnaire.

We have two flavours: the long one and the short one.

The one for those who want to dig deep

The one for those in a rush

Both come in .pdf and .doc formats (take your pick) and either print, write by hand and then scan back to us; paste your answers in the body of an email; or edit and attach it and send back via email.

We hope it provides you with some stimulus to think about your business in relation to the web and get the most out of your web design project.

Good luck and hope to hear from you : )

Tags: hints, web design