www.golftravel.co.za

We are pleased to have launched a new website www.golftravel.co.za for the Golf Travel Company.

The Golf Travel Company specialises in outbound Golf Tours to various destinations around the world, from St Andrews in Scotland, through to less known destination such as Egypt and Turkey.

Macadams International Website Launch

We are pleased to have successfully launched the Macadams International website this week. The site has been performing extremely well so far with  visitors from over 38 countries visiting the website within the first 3 days of the launch. 

Please visit the new website at www.macadams.co.za

Finding Unique Ways to Connect with your Target Market.

The Internet presents endless opportunities to grow businesses. While some enterprises are clearly better suited for online business than others, I am a firm believer that any business can use the web to generate more business.

Building a website is really the starting point for capitalising on online business. To make a successful initiative, it requires a well constructed and managed marketing campaign. This involves the development of an online marketing campaign and the possibility of merging the campaign with some real world marketing.

But what really makes some sites more successful than others is the ability to present your products to customers in an innovative and problem solving format.

Identify your target market and try determine an effective and unique way of connecting with them.

A successful example of this approach was implemented by a popular stationery company in the United States. They realised that one of the greatest barriers for an employee ordering new stationery was the administrative hassle factor of obtaining the necessary internal approvals. To simplify the ordering process the stationery company designed an online system that allowed an employee to login to a website and order any stationery that they require. The smart bit being that as soon as their order was placed, the system automatically requested all the internal approvals from the various departments within the company before finalising the order. No Hassle or Fuss.

Besides the ease of ordering, the system was so effective that the stationery provider become the de facto supplier for most companies set-up on the system. Why? Because ordering with any other company just seemed too lengthily and complicated. Not only had they successfully created a new mechanism for ordering but they secured their relationship with their clients.

Web Design: Understanding Your Clients Customers

How various businesses connect with new customers in a sector is a fascinating subject and something I find myself discussing at almost every opportunity with business owners. While I am often a little surprised by the first results, they are all consistently obvious after some short analysis. Typical Hindsight Clarity!

Since my experience is mostly in Real Estate I can provide an example here. While almost all brokers, leasing agents or developers have websites to provide details on the properties they offer, typically over 70 % of enquiries that they receive are generated from “For Sale “or “To Let” signage on properties.

Why? Because it is very difficult for a website to compete with buyers' natural senses (Sight, Smell & Touch specifically) and of course that unbiased neighbourhood information they obtain by driving through an area.

So why mention this on a website development blog? I see it as an illustration of the importance of understanding buyer behaviour in a particular industry when creating websites that service a sector. In my opinion, a website should be built to support existing buyer behaviour as opposed to trying to revolutionize an industry with a complete rethink on how buyers and sellers could interact. Generally this approach has a far higher success rate, without discounting the importance of business model innovation.

To illustrate the point, websites are typically used by Estate Agents as a medium for communicating details on a property which would not be economically viable to include in a newspaper advertisement, or which is not practical to include on a signboard. This information could typically include the building plans, lease terms, zoning issues etc. This enables agents to direct potential buyers to a website where all the applicable information is presented in a structured format.

Understanding industry buyer behaviour is a natural role for a business owner. Being able to extract that wealth of information and utilize it to construct an effective website solution is the role of a good website developer.

Submitted on behalf of Nicholas Maunder

New Client | Fractional Places

Fractional Places is a Cape Town based company focused on developing and promoting fractional ownership property in South Africa.

Fractional Places offers fractional ownership products in the Western Cape with the intention of launching offshore projects within the first 6 months of launching the new website.

The website will showcase their fractional ownership portfolio and include a few unique features which we will reveal shortly. We look forward to the launch of the new website within the next few weeks (which will be viewable at http://www.fractionalplaces.com/) and wish them great success with their new projects.

Tanya

The New Kidorable SA Website | Coming Soon

We would like to welcome a new client http://www.kidorablesa.com/.

Kidorable specialise in the distribution of the Kidorable brand of childrens clothes in South Africa. The product range is extensive and will be presented in the new website which will be launched shortly.

The clothing line which Kidorable offers is truly unique and would be a treat in any childs wardrobe. We hope to complete the new website within the next few weeks. The new website will include a list of retailers which stock Kidorable products.

Tanya

Back from the United States.

I arrived back from my extended visit to the United States last week Thursday. While I have had a fantastic break, I am glad to back with some new energy to expend on my projects.

While the enquiries have piled up over the 3 ½ weeks I do still have some capacity for a few additional projects. Do not hesitate to contact me for a quotation or just to chat about a new project.

Tanya.

New Clients | Web Design

It has been sometime since I have had the opportunity to update my blog. We have been really busy for the last few months and consequently I have fallen a little behind in doing my usual little punt for some of my new clients. There are a few more to add to this list which I will do a little closer to their project launch date.

Easy Gram www.easygram.co.za
We had the pleasure of redesign the new Easy Gram website which was launched a few weeks ago. Easy Gram services include Bulk SMS Services, Telegrams, Data cleaning and Tracing Services. For a full list of their services please visit their website.

Villa St. Simon www.bordeauxwinevilla.com
Villa St. Simon is a bed a breakfast in the heart of the French wine region. The bed & breakfast or Chambres d'hotes offers traditional french accommodation with unique access to many of the exclusive wine chateaus in the region. The strong focus on wine has attracted wine lovers from around the world including the occasional celebrity. Please visit the new website for more information which should be launching within the next 5 days.

Galvatech www.galvatech.co.za (Coming Soon)
Galvatech was founded in 1993 and provides services such as abrasive grit blasting, hot dip galvanising, industrial spray painting and zinc metal spraying. A complete list of their service will be available on their website shortly. Galvatech currently houses two of the largest blasting facilities in the Western Cape capable of handling items up to 20 tons and 18 meters in length.

Thanks to all the above clients for their ongoing support!

Launch of the New MultiFix.co.za Website.

We recently completed the development of the new http://www.multifix.co.za/ website. The scope of the project increased significantly as the project progressed with the new website finally being launched this week.

We wish Multifix even greater success with their new website and look forward to the opportunity work with them in the future.

Website Marketing Campaign Nett 19 000 Visitors in 48 Hours.

A recent website marketing campaign we developed has netted in excess of 19 000 unique users within 48 hours. At the peak of the campaign the target website was receiving a new user every 2 seconds. A fantastic result.

Well structured Traffic Driving campaigns are a very effective mechanism for generating huge amounts of traffic to your website. These campaigns have a varied Return on Investment depending on the type of business or service a company might offer.

Businesses that draw most of their clients from Europe and the United States, and where their website plays an integral part of the sales process are ideal candidates for this types of online marketing. While the traffic that one might receives is not of the same caliber as one would expect to generate through a SEM or Google AdWords Campaign, applying direct marketing response rates of anywhere between 0.5% to 1% and these campaigns start to look very achievable. This percentage applied to a traffic figure in excess of over 10 000 unique users, and things start to looks very appealing.

We hope to run more of these campaigns in the future and can only hope to repeat this level of success.

New Website Launch | Africa-in-Focus.com

We have launched the new website for Africa in Focus this week!

Africa in Focus provides overland tours into Africa for a more discerning clientele. While providing quality overland tours, there is a strong focus on African photography with the inclusion of photographic workshops on certain tours.

The new website features photographs taken on their expeditions into Africa, and provides a sense of the experience one might have on a tour. Overland packages range from a 14 day tour around Nairobi though to a 55 day expedition from Nairobi to Cape Town via Victoria Falls.

Other website features includes a number of photographic sections and a tour of the expedition vehicle , which is apparently the best in Class for African over landing.

We wish them great success with their new website and look forward to the opportunity to work with them in the future.

New Client | MultiFix.co.za

We would like to welcome a new client Multi Fix, and mention that we look forward to the challenge of redesign their existing website.

Multifix has a extensive hardware product range, which includes quality fasteners such as Heller masonry drills, Unifix fixings, Wera screwdriver bits, Multifix chemical mortars and many more related fasteners.

Their extensive product catalogue will be available online shortly.

Selecting A Website Design Firm | Cape Town

Cape Town is a creative city and has an ever growing number of freelancer web designers & companies. So how do you navigate all options to find a website development company that is best suited to, and really capable of meeting your particular projects needs?

The answer is not short and some might suggest that I might be a little biased towards our company. My responses is that we have on many occasions walked away from a various projects where we felt it was not our speciality, and we therefore understand that there are various companies for various needs.

I have the view that as the Internet has matured, one or more important differentiation points in the industry was the separation of designers and developers. The design aspect as it suggests is the equivalent of desktop publisher for the Internet, core skill sets include being able to deal with all creative aspects of a website (the Look and Feel). Yes, designers can code but they are usually more creative individuals who are not capable of building hugely advanced websites. Developers on the other hand are less creative and capable of dealing with more complex programming languages and website requirements. They are more mathematically inclined than the typical designer.

Now that I have made this important differentiation, the first selection criteria would be to try and determine which of the above two skills your project requires.

1. Do you need a brochure website with fairly basic functionality? Then yes, you need a designer.
2. Do you have an extensive number of products which you market through your website, perhaps with regular price changes? Then you will probably need a programmer.

My next point is references. Can your potential website company offer strong references, and I don't mean a few happy customers or positive remarks from closely affiliated sites. I mean a number of strong well known clients that are really happy with their end result.

Ask the company for a client list or try and find their clients online. Feel free to contact their clients directly for a completely unbiased view. It's the few unhappy clients that you really want to speak to, to determine possible pitfalls when dealing with a particular company. Also remember that finding one or two clients that are not 100% ecstatic does not necessarily mean that the company might not be the right supplier for you. Rather try and figure out why there might have been a problem before making a ruling. And when you have finally made up you mind, get more references.

Your new website should be a pleasant experience and mostly this is the case. Please do not be deterred by my above comments, but rather be attentive in the supplier selection process. Should you require any advice on a particular project feel free to contact me.

Welcome Africa-in-Focus

We would like to welcome Africa-in-Focus as one of our new clients.

Africa-in-Focus offer overland tours into Africa for the more discerning traveler. Services include a photographic safari for clients who wish to gain knowledge of and appreciation for the countries that they visit.

For more information please view their website www.africa-in-focus.com in its current form. We will be releasing an updated version in the near future.