Had an interesting conversation with a client last week about how the effect of having no email for a 24 hour period effected this business. I should add that this was just 1 email address, the info@ address the business uses.

I should paint a picture a little clearer, this is a small rural business in the west of Ireland, 3 people, 1 in the office and 2 out on site working with clients in a service industry.

Whilst some work was been carried out on their website/hosting by ourselves we had some downtime. (I have to put my hand up and say that it was from our part that they emails were being queued on the server, meaning they were not being pushed through to their office pc, but waiting to be pushed towards them)

So we started work on this hosting/email facility for this one email address at about 3 in the afternoon and we had hoped it was sorted by about 6pm that evening but alas now we know that it was still not functioning the next morning and that afternoon too. Once we twigged what it was we were able to rectify it and they got the emails, minus the spam etc etc.

What did we learn?

1, that we now have a new procedure in place to make sure the email set up is signed off

2, that a business not having email, even for 1 day, with 1 email address, can be considered closed down!

Yes, we got a call from the client stating that people will think they are closed down and that in a recession not to have your emails responded to is very serious to a business. I agreed and we have resolved the matter now and all is well, but I really was able to see if from a customers point of view too.

Are you answering your emails?

Do you only answer your email at 9am, 13:00 and then again at 17:00?

The recession has meant that we all assume that if we dont hear back from a business that they have gone out of business.

Conclusion: Answer your emails and do it sooner than your competitor will.

(I’m learning too here folks, I’m not the fastest when relying to people either!)

We would like to welcome Sara Cullen to the team at Cada Media Ltd. Sara is joining us in an ainistrative role, with great experience working in the Gorey Chamber of commerce office we hope the her talents will suit our small and dynamic team. Welcome on board Sara.

This is a great question and often when I’m sitting in a meeting with potential clients there is an open discussion about colours and graphics to be used on a website and maybe a brochure is put on the table asking can we replicate it on a website.

2 Different mediums.

After working in the print industry and migrating into the online publishing and website design industry it is interesting to see that many people are looking at a website like is was a printed brochure and often will have a totally different idea of what people want than ourselves.  Maybe its being responsible for running hundreds of websites and seeing how they do in search engines that gives us a unique point of view.

Website Stats

A website tells you everyday how it’s doing, it communicates to you and tells you who, where, when, what type of screen it was viewed on etc etc. A website doesnt cost extra for extra colours of the fonts that you use because we are limted to the number of fonts a user has installed on their PC. If we use a fancy font, it will only display correctly on computers that has it installed. The alternative is to create a graphic in photoshop that has the word or phrase written on it. We have to remember that a search engine can not read that text, only humans can, and if they can not read it they can not index what is says, so you can have a graphic designer create a lovely looking website that may be slow to download and hard to find in a search.

Don’t get me wrong, I like graphics, I love designing website, but I must always keep my target market in mind and if I was to design a website for the visual pleasure of the audience and neglect the websites main function.   To get found and give the person the content they are asking for.

Content is king.

A graphic design has a responsibility, a web designer does too, they must both create and make an impressions, the difference is the first is a matter of opinion by a user and the latter is a mixture of what the user likes and what a search engine will read. Indexing a website is a complex matter and depending on how you layout a website will depend on how the website is read. We have guidelines on the layout, font usage, font colour, so its not a case of beauty in the eye of the beholder.

Most of the websites that are in the top 3 searches in google will have little use of graphics and I would estimate are used very sparenly. We get asked every week to “fix” a website and in nearly every case it is due to a graphic heavy website that is not being indexed to its pull capabilities.

This doesnt mean that you have to remove the nice graphics on a website to get in indexed better, but just to note that it’s not the most important part of the site’s purpose. If you talk to a programmer they will be looking in a completely different direction too as they are looking at the database structure and how many sql queries each click makes and the impact on search engines and believe me they will take more of the graphic design away than I would.

My 3 rules for website design

Content

Content

Content

If you are interested in graphic design and website design and have any comments we would be pleased to hear them.

Ok, now I know I said I wouldn’t rant anymore and try to keep this area for news and products launches etc, but I just have to mention “browser compatibility” and websites. Yesterday we had an existing customer ask why their new website we are creating looks weird in Internet Explorer 6.

When I checked the site in Version 6 of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer I did see differences, now as it turns out when I talked to our developer she told me the client was looking at a “draft version” she was actually working on as the call happened. So really it was like standing beside a builder working on a wall as he’s laying each block. It’s better to come back after lunch and see the final product!

Anyways, What I’m getting to is that fact that when we design a website we design a site to be compatible with a number of browsers, and in fact we do what we call in the business as “future proofing” the website. So her site will in fact be compatible with smart phones and iphones etc.

Microsoft no longer support older version of Internet Explorer including version 5 and we can go a step further by telling you that Google too are discontinuing support for version 6 later this year too. So really if you want to have a website that is compatible with all the major Internet browsers and all the versions and revisions, I would ask you to think about a few things.

Who are you aiming at, the people using older versions of browsers are people who don’t move with the times, who are happy with what they currently have and I could nearly guess might not trust the Internet enough to even shop on-line, where as people browsing using newer Internet browsers such as Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above will be the type of people you want and need.

Think about the future folks, . . . . . . .shhh . . . . don’t tell anyone but . . . . It’s coming !

Its great to see new businesses starting up all the time and we often have to remind people the life has not stopped and this is apparent as we learnt of the investment in building and security that David O Sullivan has recently completed in his new massive buildings near Gorey in Co Wexford.

Storage Facilities in Wexford.

Storage facilities are often for self storage for small items like a barbaque or a few boxes from the attic, where as here at Self East Storage they store big stuff, Antique cars, motor bikes, Camper vans, Motor homes, dingy’s and even Yachts from the local Sailing clubs in Wicklow and Wexford.

Services included:

• Website Training
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Link Building
• Web Marketing

www.SouthEastStorage.ie

We would like to wish David & Aine the best of luck with the new website and hope they keep it freash and up to date with the Content Management System.

We are often asked if we can sponsor a website or give a free website to people. We do sponsor websites sometimes, but it depends on the site, if its a registered charity or maybe the local lost pet group then yes we might be in a situation to help, but if you are a small club or group then maybe you could look at using on online web site building tool. We have looked at these before but one that we see being used a good bit in Wexford is one called Weebly.com

Built the website yourself.

Website creations tools are not new, they have been around for many years now, but we hear that weebly.com is an easy to use , fast method of creating a website yourself in a few minutes. Allowing you to update it with images, text and videos.

It’s not what we use and I wouldn’t recommend it for any real business as its just a basic web-page builder. Please don’t mistake this for being the “be all and end all” of website development and think that it’s gonna put us out of business. It’s not. This is for building a basic web-page, its not an online marketing strategy to gain you more sales leads and growing your business over the next 5 years and mentoring your businesses digital strategy. It’s a web-page and only that.

Don’t expect to get support or help in it’s creation or promotion.

It is however a good step for struggling businesses who can’t afford any budget on using the net to help their business.

Once you have the site built you can come to use to help promote it and get it listed in search engines and local directories.

We get a number of inquiries with people looking for small websites to basically just get online. Typically they are just looking for 1 or 2 pages to display their business and usually it might be a plumber or carpenter and even a shop just looking to put an image of their shop and opening hours.

IT Scape

This business is managed by Lisa Stacey and they create such web pages. Whilst we would like to help every business in the area there is not enough time to he helping every single business get online and start doing business via the Internet.

Lisa is currently running spacial offers to help get online. This is her January 2010 offer.

SPECIAL OFFER : GET YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE FOR €150
FREE WEB HOSTING FOR ONE YEAR WITH EVERY WEB DESIGN PACKAGE
So now you have no excuse get your Business online now !
Check out www.itscape.ie for more details, pricing and examples of previous work
Contact Lisa @ 086 0370741 or lisa@itscape.ie

Once you have your website up and running, why not talk to us about getting your new site listed on the business directories in Wexford including GoreyLinks.com, EnniscorthyLinks.com to name a few.

Call Dave Jordan on 053 9430748

We got a phone call from a new business starting up in Wexford this morning and they were asking about ebusiness grants from Wexford Enterprise board. There are grants available from the local Enterprise boards so we would highly recommend getting in touch with them sooner than later as they generally run out fairly fast and 2010 we expect it to be even faster. Here’s a short video about ebusiness grants and setting up a website for a new business.

If you are setting up a new business 2010, call Cada Media Ltd today to help get you started. Tel: 053 9430748

Facilities Management,

Management Engineering Technology,

These are just a few of the terms we have learnt when we were asked by Arkman Engineers in Gorey to revamp their static website and create a new content management system to allow them to give the information they need to give to their potential customers in and easy to navigate method.

Arkman Engineers are a team of qualified engineers based in Gorey, Co. Wexford, the company is headed up by Pat Roche and John O’Callaghan. With many years experience in Construction, Food, Health care, Pharmaceutical to name a few.

One of the items that we learnt was a service they provide that whereby they can go into a factory and do a survey to see how efficient the “assets” or machinery of the factory is and then produce reports on how they can cut down a companies “carbon footprint” and reduce their “carbon tax”.

Services provided:

• Website Design
• Training
• Web Marketing
• Link Building

www.arkman.ie

Make up your mind!

Sitting here working away on a busy Friday after singing happy birthday to Mary and eating our squashy buns from Joanne’s, we heard one of our pc’s in the office saying “google alert” over and over again. (yes it’s annoying, we usually have the sound turned down)

It was a Google alert telling us that we have received an email about a topic we have subscribed to. A Google Alerts is a way of asking Google to email you when someone searches for a phrase or posts information about topics that you are interested in. So you tell google to notify you by email when someone searches for a phrase like. . . “Hair dressers in Wexford” for example that it emails you.

Why would you do this?

Well, it tells you how often a search is carried out, what were the results of the were, basically it’s a simpler version of Google Trends which is another online tool about how people use the web and what they are looking for. More on that, another day.

It’s all about “information” these day, knowing and understanding how the internet and people work together makes for a better web designer and web developer. Wexford web designers such as ourselves are interested in more that if an image goes to the left or the right of a page. We are interested in the method of navigation a person has when they arrive on a site, What pages are they interested in, do they use menu systems or search facilities to find information, do they speed read and jump to anchor text on a page. How long do they stay on each page or is the “bounce rate” very high, meaning that they have literally bounced away from that page.

Its this “information” that is available using web design tools and using your head and a spoonfull of “cop on” as my Dad would say. Often people will tell me how may “hits” they get on a website and I will tell them how many pageviews we get, what time we get them, what button people click on the most, what part of Ireland they are searching from and what our most popular search terms are. They usually ask do I know who the people are and I have to say no, but I know roughly what district in Dublin they are in , if Sandyford or Dun Laughaire etc.

This is available to everyone.

Anyway, getting back to the point!

Today we noticed that a web design business in Wexford has registered a number of domain names and is using these domains to point to their website. Great, I think most of the full time web designers in Wexford, Enniscorthy and Gorey have done this too. All we are doing is speculating that the Google Algorithm will detect this domain and associate it this us.

It’s worth a try, We here have a number of domains we bought about 4 years ago such as

WexfordWebsiteDesign.com and WebsiteDesignWexford.com

Will it help, who knows, it it any harm, Well the Google Webmaster Handbook wouldn’t be putting it top of their list of “great ideas” but at the moment the Google Algorithm seem to like it.

So how does this help you, well if I you’re thinking of registering a domain name, I would suggest  looking for register a .com for instance for your trade and in your town. www.HairdressersWexford.com for example.

Remember Google changes it results everyday, so this is just one way to get ahead in search results, It will be different in 1 month, 6 months etc

To get ahead in business today, call Dave Jordan of Cada Media Ltd on 053 9430748

We get asked from time to time is it worth while revamping a website as people feel they already have a site for their business and it’s ok. But in this day and age of where people assume that if your website still has news from two years ago that you are actually gone bust!

Yes, dated websites are doing you no favours when you are trying to get business on-line. Revamp rev up and redesign your site. Talking to people this week they asked me again if there were many people using the internet in Ireland which we have talked about before. One site we operate gets about 7,000 unique page views each month. Now if that was a shop selling fancy dress costumes or Yankie Candles or something specific like that you have to think of that in terms of foot fall.

How many people come into your shop each month? 7,000? not in Gorey in the sunny South East, but on-line they do and each visit is an opportunity to get a sale.

So when someones is wondering if they should revamp their website, you can already guess what my answer is.

Yes, let your visitors know you are still open for business and always ready to receive and inquiry.

We are currently working on a number of revamp designs for clients and bringing their website up to date in terms of look and feel but also to newer, better web standards that people expect these days.

Call us today to schedule your website revamp for 2010, Call Dave on 053 9430748

Rose Photography

That’s all you need to contact!

This new business to the area approached us to create a website to demonstrate her  skills and capabilities in photography. Being able to use the website to showcase her various areas of expertise.

Criona Poutch is the photographer bebind the lens in this Wexford based business. Originnally from Dublin (like myself) she is one of the many people who relocated to the South East in recent years. Getting established in a new area is difficult, bot not if your skills and talent are evident in your work.

In Rose Photography this is clear.

Capturing a special moment is a skill, it’s not just about having the right camera (even thought she is Nikon nut!). It’s about having a way with people. This is a gift Criona has in abundance, she understand kids and is great with being able to grab their attention for family photo’s.

We have used Criona’s skills for our websites, we need more the just “snaps”, we need a professional with a mobile studio and the ability to do commercial photography.

The job of being a Wedding Photograher in Wexford is also a really important one, as you need to be assured that the moment is captured on camera. We can’t all come back again tomorrow! Criona has great experience in this too.

Fixing old photo’s is another service offered by Rose Photography, taking the old family photo out of the attic and restoring it would be a great Christmas present for the special someone this year!

These are just a few of the things we learned this week working on this new website for Criona of Rose Photography in Gorey, Co. Wexford.

Services provided.

• Domain Name Registration
• Website Design
  • Gallery Section
  • Private login area for clients
• Website Hosting
• Web Marketing
• Link Building

www.RosePhotography.ie

Best of Luck Criona with the new site.

We have just carried out a new project for a famous wicklow furniture shop recently and I would like to tell you about it.

Morgan Doyles in Arklow.

This family run business is over 74 years on the go, starting off from hunble beginnings as many family run businesses do they were originally based on the main street in Arklow, Co. Wicklow.

Over the years they have expanded and grown into one of the biggest home decor and furnishings business on the east coast. About a year ago they took the opportunity to up sticks and move lock stock and barrel to a brand new purpose build showroom just out side of the town. This 30,000 square foot furniture shop is open plan and bright, really allowing you to view all the furniture. Their products include:

• Carpets
• Blinds
• Bedding
• Flooring
• Rugs
• Household
• Dining Room Furniture
• Living Room Furniture
• Bedroom Furniture

In order to get across the quality of their furniture and the size of the showroom we called upon our professional photographer Criona Poutch to help us with the imagery needed on the website. Criona has the x factor a photographer needs and also the correct equipment forthe wide angle shops needed.

Thanks for your help Criona,

So if your looking for ideas for how to spruce up the house for christmas then why not call into their furniture showroom, it’s the type of place that you could go to for an afternoon. Inspiring.

I’d like to wish Neville and everyone at Morgan Doyles the very best of luck with the new site:

Services carried out.

• Domain Name Management
• Website Design
• Web Marketing
• Links Building
• Social Media

www.MorganDoyles.com

The things we learn about in this business ah! Heres one of industries that most of us wouldn’t know about or even start to think there was such a trade. The removal of grease and sludge from commercial kitchens such as Hotels, Restaurants and any commercial food supplying business in now a must.

We were approached by one of our long existing clients to revamp their website and give them a fresh, new, content managed website allowing them to easily update it with the latest news and products that are happening in the industry.

Geraldine needed a professional looking site to portray the complexity of the business, it’s a mucky, messy business but also a very strict won, governed by many regulations and permits.

All of these permits Bio Grease Solutions have gained and earned with the knowledge they in this sticky business!

Services provided.

• Domain Management
• Website Design
• Website hosting
• Web Marketing

www.GreaseTrap.ie

Santa is coming to Wexford and he’s stopping off at Kia Ora Mini Farm to meet up with all the children of North Wexford this Christmas.

Santa in Gorey

Yes, it’s true Santa is coming to Gorey this year and he’ll be over with our friends in Kia Ora Mini Farm making sure all the animals are enjoying the holidays. While he’s there he’ll be checking that Podge,  Evelyn, Paddy and Maura have worked hard during the year and learned all the lessons including their new content managed website from Cada Media in Gorey.

This year they have chosen to revamp their website to let all their customers have a better experience visiting Kia on-line and hopefully giving them more information than they ever had. Redesign the website also meant thinking of what people would like and it’s this reason that Paddy and Maura thought that a Gallery of the mini farm might explain better the attractions that visitors can expect, (although they did point out to me, that not all the animals are there all year round so let the little people know that too!)
They also had a video on cd that we have edited and used for the Christmas Holidays and the other video is loaded on their You Tube Channel.

Services Provided:

• Domain Name Management
• Web Design
• Web Hosting
• Web Marketing
• Link Building
• Local Listings
• Training

www.KiaOraMiniFarm.com