Are you looking for some effective SEO tips and techniques that will make your site easily available to the potential customers? Consider working on page ranks as they are really important in determining the overall position or ranking of your website on the popular search engines. These page ranks are not only crucial for getting your website the incoming links from trusted and reputable sites but they also contribute tremendously in making your own outbound links valuable to the other sites.

Continually fine-tuning your website and keeping it up-to-date needn’t be hard labour – all you need is back-up support.

The maintenance and updating of your website is vital to its continuing success.  Having current content not only makes your business look good through evolving, but can help in improving your search engine rankings as well.

Update your web content

With OwenDevelopment, you can rest easy knowing that your website maintenance is in experienced hands.  Just call or email me your changes and I will upload the new content.

Our experienced and professional website maintenance and support team will make any of the following changes to your website quickly and cheaply.  These could include:

• Product changes and additions
• Pricing changes
• Calendar updates
• Updated Banners
• General content changes
• Image changes
• Highlighting specials or sales
• Company news updates

Additional web maintenance services

You want your website visitors to keep coming back, and you also need to know if your website promotion is hitting

the mark.  As well as doing standard web content updates, contracting OwenDevelopment for your website maintenance also gives you access to the following skilled services, including:

• Copy writing
• Website analysis
• Graphic design
• Flash
• Search engine optimisation
• Online marketing

I have the latest technologies and knowledge to ensure that your website maintains its relevance and keeps improving.

For pricing info, please see our pricing page.

Nowadays, there are many different ways to achieve building a  website.  It used to be that websites were solely built using just hand-coded HTML.  We now have XTHML, CSS, Drupal,  Blogger, Joomla! and finally WordPress – an amazingly powerful content management system that is FREE to obtain and install – also known as ‘Open Source’.  And it has a lot of power ‘under the hood’ for a small or medium business looking for an easy way to manage their web site.  Very flexible and extremely robust.

WordPress was designed as a platform for blogging initially, but you don’t have to use it as a blogging tool at all.  With a few tweaks it can be used to run your website, with or without a “blog”.  The fact that WordPress was designed as a blogging platform gives it some compelling advantages, plus there are literally thousands of ‘plug-ins’ that are used to enhance and add pretty much any capablility you can think of into your wordpress site.

It is optimized for easily publishing and constantly-changing content. And getting good search engine rankings requires fresh, unique content.  You need a system that does not get in your way when you want to update your website with a new article or newsletter.  Wordpress (once set up) can be maintained by anyone, and any clients that OwenDevelopment set up Wordpress sites for, recieve step-by-step instructions on how to maintain your site once it’s been customized and set up for you.

So why is WordPress such a good choice?

Top Reasons to Use WordPress for Your Website

• SEO – WordPress provides excellent search engine optimization (SEO) right out-of-the-box. There are a few tweaks you need to make initially, but there are many seo benefits that WordPress provides for free. In fact Google’s own Matt Cutts says WordPress is “made to do SEO well”.

• Content – it is easy to update content on your website without knowing any HTML.  Do you hate the idea of having to learn to use a complex HTML editor tool like Dreamweaver? Do you have to “ask” your webmaster every time you want to make a small change to your website?  Well no longer – once WordPress is set up for you and fully customized, you can easily create new pages or edit existing pages using a simple rich text editor.

• Extensions – There is a thriving ecosystem of developers creating themes and plug-ins – imagine free design themes, or the ability to extend your website with polls, contact forms, ratings or hundreds of other cool features without having to hire a web developer.

• Support – If you do have problems, or want to add very custom features, it is easy to get support from us as we can nominate a specific login for your site which we can go in, change what you need to, or fix what isn’t working at any time so you have a quick fix.  Need something adding into the site like a plug-in?  No problem.  I have been working with Wordpress for years and am very confident in full customisation and fixes.  Sometimes HTML and php programming are useful for looks or site features, which may mean you can’t fix it yourself, but we can.

• One-click-installation – Quick installs are provided by many hosting providers, including Bluehost, 1and1 and GoDaddy.  I have experience of 1-click installs as well as full manual installs, so either way: I can do either for you.

These special web site packages are great for Start-ups where your budget and experience are limited and you need a basic but professional looking web site. We build the whole site for you making it hassle-free so you can take care of your real business.

* Please note that every website package includes a Google Analytics report (pre installed into your website).  Handy for assessing your website visitors, where they come from and how long they stay on individual pages of your website.  This report can be generated at regular intervals of daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly.  See Google Analytics for more info.

Maintaining your website

Once you have a website, if you require my services to help maintain your site, I offer a good range of plans to help you with any minor changes or additions required.   These can include:

• Product changes and additions
• Pricing changes to products or services
• Calendar updates
• Updated Banners
• General content changes
• Image changes
• Logo changes
• Colour changes
• Highlighting specials or sales
• Company news updates

Please note – this will not include redesigning the site structure or the template, but includes additions within the framework.   It also includes fixing any errors that may have occurred if any of your staff have attempted to change something and have broken the site.   As part of every package I offer, I make backups of your entire site’s files at the point of handing over the site to you, so if anything drastically does goes wrong, I can re-install the necessary files to get it working again.   Be aware, that this will not include the database (if used), but more the cosmetic files of the website.  Please also note that any changes that have been made after the backup at handover, will not be retained unless you have opted for website maintenance (below), which automatically includes regular backups.

I can offer the above services based on the below terms:

Option 1: One-off web site maintenance.

• Maximum of 1 hour Basic website maintenance.
• This package is for customers who are sure that they don’t have to update their site regularly.

£25 + VAT = 1 hour session.

Option 2: Intermediate web site maintenance.

• Maximum of 1.5 hours per month basic web site maintenance over 6 months period.
• This package is suited more for E-commerce customers who are just launching their site.

£180 + VAT = 1.5 hours maintenance per month over a six months period.

Option 3: Premium web site maintenance.

• Maximum of 10 hours per month web site maintenance over a full year.
• This package is exclusively for customers who need their content to be dynamic and up to date with their growth.

£270 + VAT = 10 hours maintenance per month over a 12 month period.

Contact me to discuss any project requirements or if you require further information on our packages.

Q.  How much do you charge for your website design services?

A.  To be honest, it all depends on what you want ina website.   A dynamic design where a lot of advanced programming has been used will cost you more than a simple HTML website.   In a majority of cases, a simple site is a far better option – it will cost you a lot less and a simple design is easier to get ranked well in the search engines.   Visit our prices page for more information.

Q.  Do I need to use a company that is local to me?

A.  No you don’t, as everything can be done over the internet or the telephone.   We design websites for companies worldwide and rarely meet our clients, some of whom have been clients of ours for years.   Our door is always open to anyone who would like a personal meeting but we rarely visit customers unless they live in our locality.   This helps to keep our prices low!

Q.   Why should I use your website design services and not another company, and have you got a proven track record?

A.  We provide a one to one personal service and are friendly and accommodating.  We are always available by phone or email to answer your questions.  Our website design prices are very competitive.  We are experts in both search engine optimisation and copywriting, whereas most companies are not.  Read what our clients say about us on our testimonials pages and you’ll see our reputation speaks for itself.

Q Are there any hidden charges for your design, copywriting or optimisation services?

A.   No. Once we have all the information about your requirements you will be given a price and that price will stand firm for both the website design, and the optimisation if required. The only time a given price would change is if you want another page or any other material added before completion of the website.

Q Can I see the design while my website is under-going development?

A Yes.  Once the main page has been completed it will be uploaded to our server for your approval.   After approval the rest of website will be developed.

Q.   Can I make changes to the website design or text content once it has been started?

A.   Yes.   The main page will be uploaded for your approval.   If you want changes made we will do it then.

Q.  How long will the design of my website take?

A.   That really depends.   If you are just having a website designed and developed, it will take about two to three weeks to complete.   If you are having optimisation or copywriting carried out as well, three to four weeks is more likely and a lot depends on what your requirements are.   We like to tell everyone a month, that way we don’t make promises we can’t keep.

Q.   How much do you charge for updates?

A.   We only do updates to websites that we design.   Our minimum charge is £40 per hour but having said that, if only a small change is required, we usually don’t make a charge.

Q.   What screen resolution will you design my website for?

A.   Whatever screen resolution you specify.  Most people have their screen resolutions set at 800×600 so that’s the resolution we would usually design a website for.

Any other questions? Contact us

Hosting is also known as ‘Web site hosting’, ‘Web hosting’, and ‘Webhosting’) and is the business of storing, serving, and maintaining files for one or more Web sites.

Easiest way to think of it: a hard drive across the internet that holds your website.

More important than the computer space that is provided for Web site files is the fast connection to the Internet. Most hosting companies offer connections on pretty fast equipment, which means that users who visit your site,don’t have to wait for pictures to load, pages to load and thus don’t leave.

Self Hosting

Typically, some businesses host their own websites on their own servers and require a similarly fast connection which can make it an expensive option. Most common hosting for small to medium enterprises use ’shared hosting’. Using a shared hosting service lets many companies share the cost of a fast Internet connection for serving files, thus it’s cheaper but still reliable.

OwenDevelopment Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is the provision of a dedicated server machine that is dedicated to the traffic to your Web site and you alone. Only very busy sites require dedicated hosting. This would only necessarily be needed for sites expecting huge volumes of traffic at any one time, and that transfer a lot of bandwidth via multiple forms of media. Many companies also purchase their own dedicated servers and place them on a site such as a datacentre with a fast access to the Internet.  This practice is called colocation.

OwenDevelopment can advise the best route for servers and hosting based on your needs, and can build the cost of hosting as well as the domain into the cost of your website.

I use a very reliable, powerful hosting company, MediaTemple who guarantee 100% uptime with great support and powerful machines.   OwenDevelopment wouldn’t consider recommending anything less.

Please see our pricing page for further information on costs and packages.

A domain name (or ‘domain’) is simply the address of your website on the internet. Much in the same way as your home address:

1 Peacock Way, Madeuptown, Madeupcity, MU1 1MU

Your web address is the address of your site on the internet:

http://www.OwenDevelopment.co.uk

On a more technical level, a domain name is in fact a name that identifies one or more IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages. Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to.  There are only a limited number of such domains.  For example:

.gov – Government agencies

.edu – Educational institutions

.org – Organizations (nonprofit)

.co.uk – Businesses in the UK

.com – Commercial business

.net – Network organizations

Because the Internet is based on IP addresses and not domain names, every Web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses.

Every website needs a domain name . It takes careful consideration when choosing a name, yet alone checking it’s availability once complete. I have literally spent hours looking for names that are good and available.

Fortunately, life is made easier when it’s a business with an appropriate business name, for example J & D Alexander, a jewellery shop in Rochdale we recently worked with, chose www.JandDAlexander.com which was available and is exactly the name of their business.

We can help you choose an appropriate domain name to suit your business as well as take care of the acquisition of it.

See our pricing page for further info on Domains in our packages.

After securing your domain, you then need Hosting.

Your ecommerce website is your virtual shop window.   And, because you only get one chance to make a great first impression, it must immediately appeal to your target audience.   If it looks shabby – they simply won’t buy.   Simple.

More importantly, your ecommerce website must meet online shoppers’ expectations of a slick, efficient e-commerce experience.  If your ecommerce website doesn’t do this, you probably struggle with aborted visits, abandoned shopping baskets and low levels of repeat business.   In short, poor sales.

Our Affordable web design offers have been designed to help any business get online for a reasonable cost.   During the early days of any new venture, your budget is often the main consideration with any decision you have to make.  As well as finding a competitive web design quote for your project, you also need to ensure you will be getting an effective quality design.

Your website is often the first impression people have of your business, so our affordable website design solutions, ensure that the impression is always a good one.

An Ecommerce website allows you to sell your products and services securely via your website.   Payments are made securely online and can be made using any number of different payment processing companies. Paypal, Worldpay, Protx, NoChex, GoogleCheckout etc.  We are able to integrate our software with any of these providers.

Despite my roots in general web design, e-commerce has developed into my major area of expertise, and my special passion.  An increasing proportion of sites require some level of commerical fulfilment and integrating e-commerce seamlessly into a wider site is one of my key skills.

Without doubt, my online cart of choice is Zen Cart.  This open source package is both closely aligned with a standards-compliant approach and has a comprehensive range of built-in features and add-on modules.

OwenDevelopment’s e-commerce work is not limited to designing and building online stores.  My wider expertise enables me to advise clients on their overall business strategy and marketing of their site. In addition, I have experience of integrating Zen Carts with other applications such as forums, picture galleries and blogs to add community-based stickiness to online stores (or commercial opportunities for existing communities).

My online E-commerce websites start from as little as £899 which is a fully inclusive site to get your business making you money while you sleep…

You can view an example of an OwenDevelopment E-commerce site here.

You’ll be pleased to hear that preparing for your website project is going to be much easier than you imagine.

It won’t take much time away from your work schedule and you’ll be amazed how smoothly it can progress.  While working on your website, we can have a relationship that will hopefully be very pleasant for both of us.  I hope you will ask as many questions or  let me know of any requirements you might have – in fact, the more the better.

Some Questions to start thinking about…

• Do you have any mock-ups of layouts that you want me to follow in the design?  A simple rough sketch will do just fine.

• Do you have photos, artwork or logo graphics?  I prefer to use image editing software to enhance colours, contrast and sharpness, which will automatically be applied to every one of your photos as standard with OwenDevelopment.  This will increase the quality of the photo’s and images, so your website  graphics will look vivid and professional.

• Do you have colours, or colour schemes that you want me to use?  If you don’t have one in mind, that’s perfectly fine.   About 70% of my clients ask me to take care of designing the whole website and I will certainly work the colours around your logo and other photos, to help you create a simple brand for the website.

• Do you have any web design styles you have seen that you want us to follow?  You can show me web samples by providing any links you particularly like.

• What functions would you like your website to have?

• What Navigation Links do you have in mind, e.g. home, about us, services, etc?

There’s only a few steps you need to follow to begin your new website

1. Choose your domain name

Your domain name is your internet address name (www.address.com etc) that will need to be registered and reserved for your use.  I can choosethis  if you don’t already have a name yet.  Alternatively, you can visit a domain company to check availability of one you are wanting.  I can include the cost of this into your package, but most web design packages I offer include this anyway.  If you do want to check availability of a domain, I recommend GoDaddy.com for domains.

Hosting With OwenDevelopment

A website needs a hosting account to keep your website up on the internet. (I can assist you with this or take care of doing it for you).  See here for more info about hosting your website.

The preferred hosting company I use is MediaTemple because they use powerful servers and they are extremely reliable, helpful and secure, plus being good value. You are not required to use this hosting company, however, because of the vast amount of times I have used them, it is quicker and easier in the development time as I am already familiar with it’s full system.  I provide  fast hosting on my dedicated server for most my packages.

2. Gather your images and graphics

You can email larger photo files to me at my email address.

Scanning: I can scan photos if you prefer to send me hard original copies.  If I have to scan lots of photos (30+) it will take more time, so we can discuss additional time charges required.

If you would like items returned, please be sure to mark them with your name, and provide stamped, self-addressed return mailing materials.

3. – Send me your content

It may surprise you to learn that approximately 50% of my clients have OwenDevelopment take care of most of their text content because they don’t know what to write.   If you have personal biographies or facts that are specific and pertinent, then please be sure to provide them.   Email me your Word documents or pdf files.  When planning the design layout it is important to know how much text content there will be.   We want enough text to sell your service or products, but too much text can make your website look cluttered, so we will decide the best text which tick all our boxes.

PROJECT TIMELINE:

Websites can vastly differ on times due to the breadth of content a site can have.   A simple website can be done within 2-3 weeks, and much larger projects can take 2-3 months.   Once we have decided on a project and has been clearly laid out what you want your site to do and what you wish to put on it, I can then provide a maximum timeframe by which the project can be completed.

A business will only look as professional as its logo.  It offers your company an identity as it will appear on all of your stationery, website and publications, so it isn’t something you want to take lightly.

Logo design is an important area of graphic design, and one of the most difficult to perfect.  The logo (ideogram), is the image embodying an organization.  Because logos are meant to represent companies’ brands or corporate identities and foster their immediate customer recognition, it is counterproductive to frequently redesign logos.

Here at OwenDevelopment, we have creatively and successfully designed many logos for branding purposes for numerous companies and websites, in many different markets: