Web Design Blog:

October 2012 - Nose to the grindstone!

A couple of new websites for customers are well underway. A radical re-design has taken place on www.floralfinesse.co.uk and a couple of new sites have gone live - www.tattyyayas.co.uk and www.dynetesting.com.

May 2012 - Uk Cookie Law for websites

UK cookie law compliance took effect from 26th May 2012 - please read my privacy page for further info on how my site stores cookies.

March 2012 - Where has the time gone?

Well 2012 is flying by! New website launched last week for www.bikeBOT.co.uk - a mobile cycle repair business based in Burton Upon Trent. BikeBOT will come to you and collect your bike to fix or service it - what a great idea.

December 2011 - New Info!!

What kind of website does a business need - read more about designing a website.

November 2011 - Still Busy Busy!!

I have just done some design updates to I.C.Electrical's website - it is looking fantastic www.icelectrical.co.uk.

A number of my existing clients are developing their websites and adding eBooks - these are a great way of displaying a company profile or product range within your website.

New sites that have gone live:
www.alwayswithaheart.co.uk for beautiful bespoke hand made wedding stationary
www.mimosahomecare.co.uk - an independent live-in care agency.

September 2011 - Busy Busy!!

Well it has been a really busy past few months - with a few new sites going live and lots of updates to my existing customers sites.

New sites that have gone live:
www.rolfingmidlands.co.uk and www.threespiresconsulting.co.uk.

July 2011 - Key Website Information every business should know

A new article containing some information on the sort of things that every business should know about their own company website. All too often for historical reasons, companies find that they don't have a full picture of their company website information, and are unable to get hold of passwords etc. - Read More.

May 2011 - New sites live!

It has been a busy month so far! In the last few weeks the fantastic website www.ftipv.com has gone live - this website has bells and whistles galore - galleries and flash flip books everywhere!! Also a fabulous website for Party Perfected - a bespoke tablewear service - this website has a gallery that can be easiy updated whenever Party Perfected need to - no need to pay monthly fees to get someone to do this!

Also just gone live is the website for Sharpes Pottery Museum - an amazing historic venue - www.sharpespotterymuseum.org.uk.

April 2011 -Widgets!!

Many people don't realise that there are loads of free widgets out there on the internet that can be used on any website or blog. There are some really useful ones available such as Google Maps and directions widgets, and also many other topic specific related ones. For some websites these little extras can really make your business stand out from the crowd and more importantly make visitors return again and again! Click here to read more.

March 2011 -Website Tips - The importance of your content!

The actual content of your website is the MOST important part of your website! Fundamentally a web page needs to provide something that's useful or interesting to visitors. Your website content must be clear, concise and compelling. Every part of your content should provide something of value to your audience - potential customers do not want to waste time reading content that isn't relevant, so make sure everything is on-topic.

March 2011 - Websites now covered by ASA

From 1 March 2011 the (Advertising Standard Agency) ASA’s online remit now extends to cover companies’ own marketing claims on their own websites and in other non-paid for space they control. The ASA already regulate internet ads in paid-for space, like banner ads, pop-ups and paid search results, but these new responsibilities mean that the same high standards are now applied to marketing communications on companies own websites and in other non-paid space they control, like Facebook and Twitter. The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, which includes rules to make sure advertisements do not mislead, harm or offend, will be applied to all UK based company websites regardless of the sector or size of business or organisation.

February 2011 - Rebranded Website!

After lots of hard work (!) - I have completed the redesign of this website. Take a look!

February 2011 - New Portfolio Gallery!

More updates - I've added a fabulous new portfolio to my website - click here to take a look!

January 2011 - Happy New Year!

I've started the new year by updating my website - the pink is gone and red is in! I have been doing a lot of reading about the power of blogging and how it can help businesses to establish their brands. Using Facebook, Linked In and Twitter can be really important - and if used properly can generate great results. I am going to add some more bells and whistles to my website shortly - so please come back soon to have a look!

December 2010 - the year is nearly over!

Well 2010 has been a fantastic year for J Turner Web Services -lots of websites have been developed and extra pages added to many others. I am planning a re-vamp of this website over Xmas - so check back in the new year for a new logo and much more! Merry Xmas to all my customers

September 2010 - Copyright on websites!

A common problem on the internet is that people can blatantly infringe your copyright and copy your entire website! Sadly this is a fairly common problem. Fortunately there are a number of steps that can be taken to get these copied websites taken down. A calm approach is required - starting with fact gathering (what is copied exactly), a simple email (this is sometimes all you need) or composing a Cease and Desist Letter. Quite often this is all you need to do - you can also contact Google and have the copied material removed. This doesn't have to be an expensive process - though if the owner of the copied website doesn't respond then it may be time to get a copyright law specialist involved.

Some preventative steps can be taken as a website is developed - such as watermarking photos with your company logo - that way they can't easily be used on another website.

September 2010 - On-Line Brochures!

Make your website stand out from the competition by showcasing your products and services by setting up an On-line Brochures - click here to have a look at a sample brochure! These brochures can be set up for product information, company profiles, portfolios, technical information etc. They can be created from any document - they are downloadable or can be saved onto memory sticks or cds to give out to customers as part of a marketing campaign.

May 2010 - Legal Requirements on Websites

It is a legal requirement to show company number and VAT number and where a company is registered if your company is a Limited Company. You also need to provide a company address. These requirements are only for Limited companies - and help a customer to trust a website.

Not a legal requirement - but it is also a good idea to show any accreditations that the company has, or associations that the company is a member of - as again these allow a potential customer to check that the company is legitimate and is up-to-date with current legislation.

April 2010 - Blogging/News Pages - is it worth it?

Writing a blog or keeping an up-to-date news page is a great way of improving your SEO (Search engine optimization) - it is a really natural way of both drawing interested customers to your website and also using keywords on your web pages in a natural and readable way. Consistently updating your website helps tell Google (and your customers!) that your website is fresh and up-to-date. Looking at it a different way - a shop on the high street would not look good if they kept the same window display for months and months - good retailers change their window displays every few weeks or at least as the seasons change - a good website should use the same approach and keep their newsletters or blogs up-to-date.

A blog or news page can be used to update your customers about what's going on in your business, special offers or more factual information - such as new legislation that affects your industry. A blog or news page is a great way of "blowing your own trumpet" and selling the great things about your business.

Once you have a blog or news page set up on your website, then you can just easily update the content whenever you have a few moments. If you consider the cost of printing a newsletter and sending it out to your customers -then setting up a blog becomes a very cost efficient way of letting the world know about your business. If you are interested in having a blog or news page set up on your website then please get in touch. I can set a blog or news page up on your website and also help write the blog for you.

March 2010 - Website Stats - What does it all mean?

Ever wondered exactly what those website stats mean? Do you know which statistics are the important ones and which are meaningless? Sometimes looking at your website statistics can be information overload!

The four most important items are:

Unique Visitors - this is the number of individuals visiting your website during a particular timespan.

Pages Viewed - this shows how many people are visiting each page on your website - this can be really useful to work out which pages are being looked at - you would expect a high number of viewings on your home page -but would ideally want those visitors to then go and view further pages on your website.

Key Phrases/Keywords -Words that people are using to find your website. Are these words in your page content enough? Are they what you would expect?

Referrers/Referal URLs - This is another interesting stat, that tells you where the visitor was before they entered your site. Particularly useful if you are paying to advertise in an on-line directory - as you can then see how many leads you are getting from that specific directory site.

Most mis-understood Website Statistic - Hits!! - Most people think that this is a good measure of the number of visitors viewing a site - however a webpage that also includes 5 images on it - will be counted as 6 Hits - not 1 - as you get a hit for each individual file (web pages, images etc) requested from your site. This statistic doesn't really help understand the traffic visiting your website.

Please get in touch if you would like someone to take a look at your website and see how it is really performing! I offer the service of adding Google Anayltics (Google's website statistics package) onto your website and can help you find your way through the masses of information to make sense of the way your website is performing.

3rd March 2010 - Portfolio Updated

I've added my latest completed projects to my portfolio page and added a rather nice new testimonial too - click here to have a look!. I am pleased to say that I have just taken on a couple of new pieces of work - including a complete redesign of an existing website. I am also getting more and more enquiries from businesses who have tried using a freebie website and found that it doesn't give them the professional image they are looking for - and and none of their customers can find it on google! If this sounds familiar and you'd like your website updating, then please give me a call or click here to contact form.

Feb 2010 - reCaptcha Installation Service

Details of my reCaptcha Installation Service - to help stop that dreaded spam are now on-line.

Feb 2010 - HTML Email - February Newsletter sent out

A few days ago I sent out my first newsletter in the form of a HTML Email - this is a way of making your emails really stand out from your competition. HTML emails can use your business logo, your colour scheme and fonts - in fact they can be designed to completely match up to the design of your website and all of your other marketing materials. Within the email you can then link straight into your website and direct your customers to your special offers. If you are interested in using HTML emails as part of a low cost marketing campaign, then please get in touch.

January 2010 - Lose the Spam - use reCaptcha

Spam, as we all know is rather irritating! I am pleased to say that I have implemented reCaptcha onto the contact forms on my website this week. ReCaptcha (Completely Automated Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) works by checking that it is a real person submitting an enquiry - rather than a "bot" sending spam. An added bonus is that this technology is being harnessed so that books that were written pre-computers are being digitilized using reCaptcha. Specifically, words that cannot be digitilized automatically are placed on an image and translated as people use the reCaptcha forms on the internet. If you are interested in getting rid of the spam you receive on a daily basis - then please get in touch using my contact form - I am offering this service from as little as £50.

January 2010 - Disappearing Text - Courtesy of the rather alarming Peekaboo Bug

Peekaboo bug - rather sweet name, but that's about it. I came across this problem yesterday - it can only affect some websites viewed using the rather out-of-date Internet Explorer 6 - but it can result in all or some of your text on your webpage being hidden! Obviously this is not good at all! Fortunately there are a number of fixes that can be applied to your webpage code to sort it out - I added "position: relative;" to any affected floating divs and hey presto - the hidden text re-appeared! When I create a website, I make sure that I test it on all the different versions of Internet Explorer and other browsers such as Firefox - as you never know when you'll get caught out with a cutely named bug!

4th January 2010 - Happy New Year!

Welcome to my first blog entry! Over the festive period I have been busy updating my website - hope you like it. I added a few pages (including this blog page).

I am embracing the many networking opportunities that exist on the internet using LinkedIn and Facebook.

I will also be offering a new service of creating mobile friendly versions of websites - as you only need to look at the number of people who browse the web on their iphones or blackberries to realise that websites need to look great on a small mobile screen as well as a large pc or laptop. I can create a separate version of your website - so that when someone views it on their mobile device, then the website is displayed with a simpler layout that works well on a small screen.