Websites
Website Training
Creative Publishing are specialists in the construction of websites based on the open source platform Joomla. Joomla allows our clients to build state of the art websites which they can update themselves at any time with no additional cost. Our clients are able to upload images, articles, directories, contacts, banner adverts, video’s and a host of other items with no assistance once they have been properly trained. In addition we can load an electronic newsletter component to your site and allow visitors to sign up for your valuable information you may want to distribute.Each of our clients gets adequate training, a few hours of free support and is supplied with a pack of tutorials to assist them to update their own websites.
Planning is important
Creative Publishing sits with our clients to establish what they require their website to do. We also offer a host of ideas that can enhance their websites and after the planning is complete we create a platform for them to add content to their website.
We build websites with search engine optimisation in mind. This is very important when planning your site if you hope that people may stumble onto your website via searches on popular search engines such as Google. We try to assist you to achieve first page ranking.
Once a month we host a free seminar (It costs you the price of the coffee and muffin) on tips and techniques to optimise your website to create clients for you. Contact us to hear about our next session.
Content is King
The content of your website must be designed to deliver a solution to your clients needs. A website is a great portal to building relationships with your clients and should be a place where they can gather information.
Using your website to promote your products or organisation
Promoting your products and services on the world wide web is very easy if you know how. We can show you how to run an adwords campaign to drive traffic to your website. This short course is invaluable to taking your business online.
We can also integrate your website to your social media profiles. You can hilite new products and services on your Twitter account, Facebook, linked in and a host of other options. If you are not sure what these are the relax we can assist with that as well.
The Value of a good website: Can you afford not to have one?
Written by Hamish Pillay
In the corporate world the need for owning and utilising a website is often missed. Competitors have websites and therefore we should have a websites seems to be the prevailing thinking. However if a website is badly designed with equally or worse navigability then the point of owning a web presence becomes moot.
The great thing about websites is that it has made little Mom and Pop store equal to Juggernaut Corporates at least in the virtual world. Most potential customers and clients research a product or service on the Internet before signing on the dotted line. Increased Internet market penetration means that accessibility is slowly increasing amongst communities previously out of reach of basic telecoms infrastructure. All this leads to needing a web presence and on the web you can either being as big as you want or insignificant as you want irrespective of the size of your bricks and mortar sized business in the real world.
Your website is your business. Its is almost every aspect of your business. Its the building, its the shop fittings, its the sales representative, the customer sales consultant, the marketing officer. And that is the benefit of a website. You dont need deep pockets to have a web presence. If you have a good design team working on your website and its layout you can create the impression of a much larger business. The inverse is true as well, a badly constructed websitem, resembling a a design by a talented chimp with a dangerous LSD addiction can turn your potential customers to your competitors customers. All because you thought having a web presence meant sticking the proverbial stake in the ground with badly hand drawn “property of...” sign attached.
Before deciding on a website think about you intend on utilising it. If you still dont understand that you do need a website, irrespective of what business you're in, consider deciding to open a business. You don’t advertise it, you don't tell anyone about it and yet you wonder why you don’t have any customers. That is the equivalent of not having a website. If you are in the we need a website what do we do category as mentioned, you need to consider how you intend using it. Is a point of reference. Some place that houses your web address?
Even if you intend to have a single web page with basic information about your business and contact information, you need to make the effort to give the impression that your 5 year old didn’t get hold of your In Design programme and that is what you used. To be honest some websites are not even worth being classified as part of the fridge magnet gallery, but there they are, in all their glory, on the world wide web, representing your company.
Find professional webdesigners with the ability to offer you what works for your businesses. A lot of web design outfits will offer you standard packages, starting from basic 2 pager websites which most teenagers with a Mac and 2 litres of Karate Water could put together in an hour. In those cases I would recommend that a business opt out of having a websites. The modern website firm should be able to offer an analysis of the business and make recommendations on the actual needs of the business. The website is there to benefit your business and should be viewed and utilised as such. At the end of the day your website should be aimed at benefitting your business and well equipped marketing company should be able to provide you with the tools to utilise the website as a means of growing your business.
Considerations before deciding on your website:
- The name of your business and how you intend to represent it on the web. Long names can be abbreviated but will your customers and clients be able to find you?
- Web searches, is your website text heavy or image heavy? If the name of your company appears in an image instead of in the text, Google is not going to find it. Which is the most popular search engine?
- What will make customers come back?
- Are you as the company giving anything away to passers by? How are you staying in the mind of potential customers and encouraging them to come back or tell others about you?
- Accessibility: If your page is good to look at but takes minutes to load a single image, guess what? Customers don't come back where they have to wait. Think about a real store, if you wait just to get in the door what do you do? Stand around or find the nearest store offering the same product where you dont have to wait.
Organisations that still need to be convinced on whether or not they need a website should be asking themselves how much of their business is working for them when they sleep? The need for a website is a necessity. Much like owning a cellular phone is today in the world of business. The difference is that a good website can enhance your business and a bad website, badly designed and constructed can actually cause you to lose business.
Pay professionals to do your website based on your needs and the requirements of your business and your will get what you want and what you deserve. The maintenance of website shouldn't be hard and a professional outfit interested in improving your business should be able to teach you how to manage and control your website.
Contact us today to discuss your website needs...