Plymouth based welding supplies company Welding & Welder has seen the launch of their brand new web presence.

With a wealth of industry experience and specialist expertise, the Welding & Welder team have been providing welding equipment and solutions to businesses both nationally and internationally for 50 years. Their range of products includes mig welding supplies, plasma cutting equipment, welding safety equipment and pipe purging units, as well as other equipment used in the sector, such as their range of power tools.

The new website has been developed to encourage the welding fraternity to carry out more of their purchase and ordering online, particularly in terms of welding consumables, which can have a long lead time and slow ordering process through more traditional merchants. Not only does the site deliver high specification products and great prices but Welding & Welder are able to offer high levels of knowledgeable technical support to advise their customers effectively.

Visit the site: www.weldingandwelder.com

Plymouth based IT company Westbrook Communications have seen the launch of a new website and services. With bases in both Kent and Plymouth, Westbrook have been delivering advanced IT solutions to businesses all over the south of England, for over 15 years. Their range of services include computer network installations, data communications cabling and remote backup, as well as additional office tools which rely on IT infrastructure, such as hosted telephone systems and CCTV.
The new website coincides with the launch of a new remote IT support service, which Westbrook say will bring high level IT knowledge within the reach of smaller enterprises, without a large impact on human resources. Westbrook are experienced in supporting large local organisations such as Plymouth City Council, Pirate FM and Devonport Dockyard, alongside large national brands including Ambrosia, Royal Navy and ITV, making them the perfect partner for any business, large or small.

Westbrook head of sales and marketing, Sharon Shaw said:

“Working with DV8 has given us the leverage to fully take advantage of our web presence. Their excellent advice and support at every step of the way has given us a platform from which we have opened up whole new marketing channels. We’re looking forward to progressing this even further in the future and it’s good for us to know that we have real experts on board to assist us with our online objectives.”

Visit the website: www.westbrookuk.com

dv8:media have been working with leading marine software development and electronic charts provider, PC Maritime, based in Plymouth. The company has been at the forefront of electronic navigation systems and digital charts since its inception in 1987. Since then the business has been built into an international provider of ECDIS and ECS navigation systems, picking up various awards and accolades for their products along the way, including; The SEATRADE Award for SAFETY AT SEA for “Significant technical or procedural improvements leading to reduction of risk to human life at sea” and 4 UK Government Dept of Trade & Industry SMART Awards.

We were delighted when PC Maritime selected dv8:media to develop their new online presence. We delivered a complete content managed system which links to the company’s existing online purchasing system. We also provided consultancy advice for their existing Google Adwords campaigns and strategy.

Visit the website: www.pcmaritime.co.uk

dv8:media are very proud to be working with former Royal Marines Commando, Gareth Tichopad, on his new business venture. Gareth has an extensive career profile, which includes 15 years service in 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, visiting over 53 countries and training in some of the worlds most hostile environments. Gareth’s operations have included Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan and Iraq.

As an experienced physical training instructror, Gareth has launched his own business, Ultra Fit UK Ltd, offering a range of personal fitness services including; personal training, boot camps, boxercise, corporate and group training. dv8:media were able to provide a content managed website to advertise the services available and even provide online booking and payment.

Visit the site: www.ultrafituk.co.uk

Have you completed your 2011 census form?

Did you complete it online? It would seem that many people did.  Based on statistics by Experian Hitwise, Robin Goad (Research Director, Hitwise UK) confirmed that on 27th March (one day prior to the UK 2011 Census deadline) the site ranked 32nd in the most popular sites in the UK, with a 208% spike in daily visits.

Let’s take this observation and apply it to everyday website content.

Ok, so we can’t all threaten prosecution, a criminal record and a fine of up to £1000 as a means of driving visitors to our site, but a strong call to action with a deadline in place, is an excellent means of increasing visitor activity.  Generally, this will mean promoting your website through alternative forms of communication.

Here are some examples where you could apply a call to action with a deadline, driving visitors to your site now:

• Send out an email requesting that customers/potential customers complete a survey on your site.  Offer an incentive for all surveys completed by the stated date.

• Run a competition (with an entry deadline) in the local press, email newsletter or social media, directing visitors to your site to enter.

• Offer samples of a product with a cut off date or ‘until stocks last’.  This is an excellent means of encouraging potential customers to sign up to a company Facebook fan page (use a targeted Facebook advert and social media tools), or email database.

• Launch a new product which is available on your site with an introductory price until a specified date.  Promote this using offline advertising, leaflets or Google Adwords.

• Run a promotion on a product which is only available when purchased through your website for a specified period.  Announce this to your existing customers or target customer database as well as promoting through traditional forms of advertising to the general public.  You could make this an regular product ‘promotion of the month’, simliar to our own printing.com offers and let your customers know about it at the beginning of each calendar month.

• Offer coupon codes (10% off online purchases from your site) with expiry dates and promote this through offline advertising, contact with your database, partner sites, Adwords, your company blog and social media.

• Direct visitors to an online resource section of your site, where useful/exclusive information, slide shows or video tutorials will be available within a specified time frame.  This is especially useful if your company has recently presented at a seminar or exhibition.

The above list is not exhaustive by any means, but it is possible to see just how applying a deadline to a strong call to action can help boost visits to your website.

We’d be happy to bounce more ideas around as to how you could apply deadline driven call to actions to your own business website.  Do contact us if you’re interested.

When new DV8 Media client, Plymouth Community Homes asked us to sub-brand and promote their signwriting business, we jumped at the chance to work with an organisation who is putting their profits back into the City’s community.

‘The SignShop’ officially launched after applying vehicle graphics to their fleet of 400 Plymouth Community Homes vehicles (that was one busy weekend!) earlier this year. We’ve subsequently produced all their branding, marketing materials and website and are now working together to implement their marketing plan and develop sales.

For vehicle and large format graphics, exterior signage, hand painted signs and even for your photos printed onto canvas, visit The Sign Shop Plymouth . In addition to 48 hour quotations, free design and local site visits, as part of a not-for-profit local organisation, all profits made by The SignShop are put back into Plymouth Community Homes, thereby contributing to the regeneration of Plymouth and its community.

Visit the website here: www.thesignshopplymouth.co.uk

Plymouth chartered accountants firm Sheppard Walbridge have recently changed their name after completing the merger of 3 business into one. As part of the move clients and staff from both Metherell Gard and SW Accounting Services were brought together under one organisation, Sheppard Walbridge. To simplify things even further, the company’s management Yvonne Sheppard and husband Ian, decided to move the new business forward under the title of Sheppards Chartered Accountants.

As part of the new approach the company have recently developed a new brand and website to reflect the improved position of the business in its new form, raising awareness for both existing clients and potential new ones.

Yvonne Sheppard said, “The company has been trading as Sheppard Walbridge but for convenience we will shortly be trading as ‘Sheppards’.  Together, our team offer a personal, professional approach, working hard to understand our clients’ business in order to provide successful results.”

Visit the website here: www.sheppardaccountants.co.uk

The common problem is that there is no real, structured, short or long term plan in place for the company’s website. In every other aspect of the business there will be process, planning and allocating of resources to ensure the desired outcome, when it comes to the website; this is not always the case. Without a clear strategy and a process for measuring the results, it is impossible to make the right decisions.

In attempt to help more readers get a hold on their website and internet strategy, I have put together the first 3 of 7 core (4-7 will follow in a later post) considerations before you begin. These focus points may seem obvious to some but it is surprising how many businesses do not take them into account.

1. Define your websites primary business goal

Every site has a primary business goal, more often than not there will be secondary and tertiary goals too. It is only with a set goals that you can begin to measure whether your site is succeeding or not. Is your websites business goal to;

Complete an online transaction?

Encourage customer contact or interaction?

To generate new business leads?

Deliver information?

2. Define the target audience

Consider who your potential audience is, or who you would like them to be. The design and content of a website usually dictates the kind of audience it will attract, the most common mistake is that more visitors to the site is proof of achieving a suitable goal. In truth it would be better to have a lower number of visitors which all fit your desired customer profile, than to have a high number of visitors that don’t.

3. Produce suitable content for your website audience

Having up to date, relevant and useful content on your website is of utmost importance. For all the trickery you may hear about, what visitors and search engines alike both want to see is good quality content. We have already discovered who your audience are in step 2, now we should develop the website content in a way that will best satisfy that target audience. Your website should be viewed as organic, by keeping your website regularly updated with new and changing content; you will increase the value to both the visitor and the search engines.

That’s all for now, I’ll come back with the second part of this post soon.

Visit the site: www.colourwavegraphics.com