Rebuilding your website from the ground up can be a daunting task. Looking at new designs, writing new content, thinking about website structure and sourcing new images can all take a lot of time and money. So instead of re-building your website, revamping your current site might be the way to go.

1. Quick turnaround

By utilising the basic structure and content of an existing website, you can achieve a new look and feel for your site in a very short amount of time. Website designers can work with the current content and website structure to easily re-style what you already have. There is no need for designers or developers to wait on you for website content or images, meaning you can have a fresh new website in only a fraction of the time.

2. Custom designed

Just because you have an existing website already populated with content and images, all displayed in a certain layout and structure, doesn’t mean a team of professional designers can’t re-work what’s there. A talented designer can work with your existing website, including sourcing new images, revamping the layout, and re-styling the look to create custom designed mock-ups that suit your company’s branding and personality.

3. New graphics, styles and layout updates

Sometimes all it takes to breathe some new life into your website is some new graphics, styles or a simple layout update. By avoiding a complete website rebuild you can also sidestep the arduous tasks of content writing and website architecture – this means you can have a fresh new website without taking the focus away from running your business on a daily basis.

4. Lower initial cost

Many businesses have already invested a lot of time and money into building a website – it doesn’t make sense for them to completely start again when the website begins to tire. A contemporary face lift of your current website is often a better investment for your business. Re-doing your existing website involves a lower initial cost for what can often result in a website that matches or surpasses what would happen with a complete website rebuild.

5. Increase conversion rate and ROI

The initial up-front cost of refreshing your website is lower than a complete rebuild. Couple this with an increased conversion of website visitors to customers and your new website will be making more money for your business.

 Business owners strive to have their website appear on the first page of search engine results – it’s where potential customers look to first. To get there, you need to create a search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy that will boost your page rankings and get your business the exposure it deserves.

World leaders are currently congregating in Davos, Switzerland, for the 2012 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, as they try to find ways to kick-start the global economy.

Two studies released at the forum profess to offer a glimmer of hope, and as you might’ve guessed, the Internet is at the heart of it.

The first of the reports, The Boston Consulting group’s (BCG) Digital Manifesto, predicts that the world’s top twenty Internet economies, covering the G-20 countries, will hit $4.2 trillion by 2016, which is around double 2010’s value.

One of the biggest drivers of this growth will be the rise in the number of Web users, with BCG’s report forecasting that three billion people will be tapping in to the World Wide Web by 2016. That’s nearly half (45%) of the world’s population, and double the 2010 figure.

Whilst many of the more developed countries are already seeing Internet-uptake levels beginning to plateau, the rise of emerging markets and the popularity of mobile devices is expected to see the economic impact of the Internet fully realized.

The Digital Manifesto: How Companies and Countries Can Win in the Digital Economy, notes that businesses will be “fundamentally transformed” over the next five years, and urges businesses and countries to take action. Part of this constitutes what it calls a “digital balance sheet”, which – if created – would offer an agenda for chief executives and policymakers to build their “digital advantage”.

“No company or country can afford to ignore this development. Every business needs to go digital,” said David Dean, a co-author of the BCG report, and a senior partner at the company. “The ‘new’ Internet is no longer largely Western, accessed from your PC. It is now global, ubiquitous, and participatory.”

A second report, was released by McKinsey & Co. at the World Economic Forum today, and noted that the Internet is already benefiting a plethora of countries outside the so-called ‘developed world’. It says that the Internet contributes an average of 1.9% of GDP across 30 countries in the developing world and generated almost 2 million jobs alone in six countries: Hungary, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam.

Both reports released today are the culmination of more than a year’s work by the two companies, an initiative that was funded by Google, though conducted independently.

“Understanding the economic potential of the Web is crucial, especially given Europe’s current economic challenges.,” said William Echikson, External Relations at Google in Brussels. Meanwhile, check out Google’s video: Single Market Opportunity 2012: Getting Europe’s SMEs Online

Designing a web site is a mysterious process to many people. The following article was written to help demystify the process. It is a general overview and the theories in it apply to as many people as possible. It will not however apply to everyone.

Why do we need a design plan ?

Having a clear plan of action is essential whenever undertaking a new business, project, or web site. Whenever you are committed to spending a considerable amount of time and money on something it is worth having a plan, and it is worth writing down.

Writing a design brief is often a learning process requiring one to ask hard questions and come up with real answers. You may find that the design brief actually helps you more than the designer it was intended for!

The steps involved in developing a ‘typical’ web site

We are often approached by clients who believe a web site would benefit their business. The first question, they invariably ask is…

” how much will it cost to build me a web site ? ”

In order to answer this question we need information regarding the business that they are in, what they want from their web site, and what their budget is. In order to answer their question, I need to ask them many questions. Their answers to these questions becomes the design brief for the project. Once I have this I can write a proposal so that everything is clearly laid out. If the proposal is accepted, the project can begin and within a few weeks the client will have an excellent web site working to to their complete satisfaction.

When we meet with a new client I go through the process of discovering the specific needs and we discuss how best to proceed. I ask many carefully chosen questions to efficiently build a picture of the clients business and their desired outcome for a given project. We write all this down in a brief which later becomes the proposal.

Preparing such a design brief can be a profound experience for many of my clients as it forces them to examine the very nature of their business, where it’s going, and how best to get there.

So what goes into the design brief ?

As the web site is an extension of your business writing a brief for a web site is similar to writing a business plan for a business. Knowing what you want from your web site will make it easier and quicker to make decisions about the content and presentation. The brief will form the starting point for your designer to draw up a clear project specification.

The design brief should include the following information. The answers to these questions will provide a good foundation from which the designer can base their quote on.

• A profile of your business outlining the products / services that you offer
• Your target market. Who will be visiting your site? Their age groups, financial status and cultural background?
• Project outcomes. What you want the web site to provide you in return for your investment of time and money spent in its construction?
• Project scope. How big do you want the project to be? What is the budget for the project? What kind of services you wish to provide via the web site?
• What are the time constraints (if any) on the project. When does it need to be up and operational?
• Are there any web sites you’ve seen that you’d like to use to base your web sites design / style on? There is no need to spend thousands reinventing what is already available

The proposal

The proposal is an agreement about what is to be done, and a guide on how it is to be done. It is created from the design brief given by the client. The proposal is submitted before commencement of the project so that all parties agree on how best to proceed. It clarifies any issues before they arise, include cost and time estimates, and in my experience are arguably the most important phase of development.

Building your web site

Once the proposal accepted the designer can begin constructing the web site in the same way that a builder builds a house once the architect has finished designing it. The proposal is followed as closely as possible as this is what was agreed upon by both parties.

By following the proposal it also guarantees that the designer sticks to the budget and doesn’t add anything unnecessary or not previously agreed on. By the same token, it also guarantees that the client doesn’t change their mind halfway through the design requiring large tracts of the project to be reconstructed or thrown out.

Project plan

Following are some details regarding the process of developing a web site. This is typical for a web site design. Interestingly, the following steps are also applicable to many other forms of design including graphic design.

There is no need to get spooked by this list, I included here for you to see what is involved in developing a professional web site so that you gain a better understanding of the process and of the costs involved.

Stage 1:

Initial interview to gather information for developing the web site

• Identify goals and objectives of the web-site
• Collect and analyse information required for site production
• Organisational structure of the web-site
• Prototype drawings for web-site layout and navigation
• Cost estimate and proposal submitted to client
• Client begins gathering the content needed for the site production

Stage 2:

Site prototype created based on proposed designs

• Client supplies content (text, photos, drawings, stock items, etc)
• Collation, formatting and adding of content to site
• Inventory and proof read content
• Add content to web site
• Complete HTML for all pages and content
• Integration, testing and quality control
• Complete linking and navigation
• Final proof reading of complete site
• Comprehensive testing (of forms, Java scripts, links, etc)
• Web site goes live !

We look forward to discussing your needs further. You may contact us here to learn more or arrange a face to face meeting.

Social media is a force to be reckoned with. According to Nielson figures:

• 9 million Australians now interact via social networks
• Nearly 3/4 of Australians read a wiki
• 75% of Australian Internet users report visiting Facebook and 59% have a Facebook profile. The average time on Facebook in a given month is 8:19 hours
• 34% of Australian internet users report visiting Twitter; the fastest growing social media activity

As a marketer, why should you care? According to Melanie Ingrey, Research Director Nielson Online: “Nearly 9 in 10 Australian Internet users (86%) are looking to their fellow Internet users for opinions and information about products, services and brands, and Australians’ engagement with online word of mouth communication is going to increase in coming years as social media plays an increasingly important role in consumer decision making.”

And Nielson also found:

• Two in five (41%) published opinions specifically about brands.
• More than twice as many (86%) read such content.
• 63% watched an online video on product or services

Even Rupert Murdoch recognises the shift: “Technology is shifting the power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are in control.”

Need more proof social media has eclipsed traditional news media? Well before President Obama stepped in front of a microphone to confirm it, tweets had already announced Osama Bin Laden was dead. Keith Urbahn, chief of staff for former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is being credited with seeming to confirm the news almost an hour earlier when he tweeted: “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn.”

A UN human rights expert marked World Press Freedom Day by hailing the epoch-making power of the internet and the role online social networking has played in uprisings in the Middle East.

“As one activist tweeted during the protests in Egypt, ‘we use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to co-ordinate, and YouTube to tell the world’,” said Frank La Rue, UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, quoted in the Australian Newspaper. But censorship still exists – whether it’s by Governments or organisations. You couldn’t tweet at the Royal Wedding or this year’s Logies either.

What can social media do for your organisation/brand?

• Public relations
• Customer service
• Build loyalty
• Collaboration
• Networking
• Thought leadership
• Customer acquisition
• Reputation management
• Help you identify opportunities + issues so you deal with them + monitor trends
• Increase exposure. Build brand awareness and separate your offering.
• Reach a particular audience
• Guide conversations and encourage customer satisfaction

But there are risks.

Unlike a website, you don’t control the messages. People can, and will, talk about your failings. And they are, even if you aren’t part of the conversation.

If you want to use social media, like all marketing programs, the first step is to define who your customer is. And that means defining who is actually going to pay for your product. Next, decide how you reach those people. And how do you convert them into paying customers? Social media may help. But it may not.

Social media is different

It can be another valuable marketing tool, to reach a particular audience, but not the masses. It’s about engagement vs impressions: it will never have the reach or frequency of advertising. Remember:

• Listening comes first.
• You need to add value; excite and engage.
• And continue the dialogue: constant, not sporadic.
• It requires considerable effort to build trust
• It can help you identify issues and deal with them, but it won’t solve everything

So, perhaps now is the time to start thinking about being part of the conversation?

Time to develop social equity?

Time to be more ‘small business’/personalised?

Time to define your social media strategy?

Not convinced about the power of Social Media?

Take a few minutes to watch the video below and see how you feel then. We are experienced in utilising widespread social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and RSS for promoting online projects and businesses so contact us today to help revise your online marketing strategy.

Since building our new home office last year and taking a break for a well deserved NZ holiday we have settled into the meaty part of the 2011 working year and have designed and published many new web sites for our happy clients.

We invite you to take a look at our recent projects and click on one of the thumbnail images to see what we have been up.

PS: We are also busy developing a new online community portal for the Nambucca Valley which are getting very excited about.

Read our interview with the Coffs Advocate Newspaper

If you missed this we were were interviewed by the Coffs Advocate Newspaper for a story about our web design business and you can read the full story online.  Many thanks to the Coffs Harbour Advocate newspaper for continuing to support small business in the region with their weekly small business profiles.

Click here to read the full story

Glen Schaefer and Elizabeth Bond are a dynamic and experienced management team based on the Mid North Coast, NSW. With over 30 years combined experience, they have worked in information technology, print media, radio, web design and e-commerce development. During this time a strong working relationship has been developed with a network of Australian internet and media professionals and some specialist work is project managed and outsourced through this network.

Name: Glen Schaefer
Position: Project Manager/Web Development/Programming
Interests: Surfing, Music, Bushwalking, Outdoor Festivals and Chilling Out!

During his professional IT career Glen has been involved in most facets of the Australian IT&T industry including; PC hardware and software support and sales, LAN/WAN networking, project management, IT recruitment, as well as web and e-commerce application development.

In his spare time Glen likes to surf uncrowded waves and listen to good music.

Background and Experience

Glen has been heavily engaged as a systems trainer and specialist IT&T consultant on major state-wide projects such as the NSW Dept of Community Services Client Information System, the Queensland Electricity Commissions $43 million state-wide DEC network and MS Office rollout, and as an IT systems training consultant to test and deploy training for the NSW Dept of Corrective Services Offender Management System.

While working for the NSW Dept of Community Services in 1990, Glen was seconded by the NSW Director of Disaster Welfare to write and develop a Dbase IV system to support the $6 million relief funding project that was launched after the Newcastle earthquake in 1989.

Community Service

During his IT career Glen has also been heavily engaged in economic and social development issues in regional Australia, working as a regional IT&T industry representative to improve regional telecommunications. In 2000, after recognising serious shortcomings with regional telecommunications services, Glen engineered and facilitated high-level talks between Telstra and regional businesses to discuss a range of telecommunication service issues, subsequently representing the Northern Rivers region at the Besley Telecommunications Enquiry in 2001.

Glen has also worked as both a volunteer and consultant with other local community-based organisations on the Northern Rivers, such as the Byron Shire Echo newspaper and the national award-winning BAYFM community radio (99.9 FM) station, as a committee member, radio presenter and IT coordinator.

In 2003 Glen helped develop and submit a successful application for $120 000 federal ITOL funding for a regional film industry initiative called ‘ScreenXchange’ under the auspices of Northern Rivers Screenworks.

Name: Elizabeth Bond
Position: Journalist/Copywriting and Proofing/Media Liaison/Photography
Interests: Music, Tai Chi, Yoga, Nature, Reading, Photography, Cooking

Background and Experience

Elizabeth has completed both a BA (Humanities) in film, media and production (1992) and a Grad Dip (Journalism) including editing, proofreading and public relations (2002). She has also completed a TESOL course to teach English as a second language (2005) and has even found  time to become a qualified AATC Tai Chi instructor (2003).

Since 1993 she has worn many hats, working as a journalist, copywriter, researcher, editor, proof-reader, teacher, photographer, presenter, producer, interviewer, and in public relations. She has gained experience in the print, radio and web industries both professionally, privately and academically.

Elizabeth has worked as a freelance journalist and photographer since 2002 in the web, print and radio industries. She has most recently worked as a copywriter and photographer for the web development company Tweed Coast Internet servicing mainly business clients. Her freelance features and photographs have been published in print and online in both Australia and the UK, mainly focussing on health and wellbeing (Art of Healing, Mama-Mag), creative industries (Inside Film, The Write Stuff) and human interest (New Idea).

During this time she has also worked as a journalist on the Northern Star newspaper (Lismore) and the Byron Shire News (Byron Bay) as well as doing a stint as a researcher and producer at ABC North coast radio 94.5 FM (Lismore). She has also worked privately for four years with SAE (Sound and Audio Engineering) students in Byron Bay, editing and proofreading honours theses.

Teaching English as a second language overseas (Europe) and more recently in Cairns and Byron Bay, has honed the more technical elements of Elizabeth’s English language skills.

Community Service

Elizabeth has been involved in nonprofits community-based organisations since 1986, where she first started spinning vinyl records for the graveyard shift on 4ZZZ (102.1 FM) Brisbane’s public radio station.

Since then she spent seven years as a volunteer at BAY FM (99.9 FM), Byron Bay’s community radio station as a presenter, producer and news reader among other duties. She has also been involved with the NRWC (Northern Rivers Writers Centre) in Byron Bay, contributing to their bimonthly magazine and as a regular volunteer for the annual internationally regarded Byron Bay Writers Festival.