Website Development: Creating informative sites that are easy to read, a joy to navigate and quick to find.
I have been involved with many aspects of website development, having worked as part of a larger web development team, freelancing on my own and as the website developer and systems administrator for a medium sized company, these varying experiences have given me a wide cross-section of skills to enable me to develop your website.
Look and feel
Once the brief has been agreed, my first job is to design the look of the website. I always take existing branding as inspiration. There is a large difference between print and website design, web pages have to be navigated and this is a key element that I take into account when designing your website.
Content
When a person surfing the web clicks into your website, their attention must be held. Many studies have shown that presenting interesting and unique content is one of the most important facets of keeping the interest of the surfer. I am able to work with copy that is provided or create the copy myself from an in-depth consultation with you about your company and it's vision.
Marketing and search engines
Websites need to be clearly designed, natural to navigate and present interesting content, but the job does not end there. They also need to be easy to find and integrated into your marketing strategy. Part of what I offer is a search engine analysis, it only takes me three hours and provides much insight into how well a site is doing. In line with my ethical policy I will not make false promises about getting your site straight to the top of the search engines, instead I provide an accurate report of where your website stands and what opportunities exist for it, providing a road map for better placement.
Content Management Systems (CMS)
It is often more cost effective if everyday updating of a website is done in-house. To facilitate this I create secure update sites that the client has access to with a password. These are easy use, allowing items such as news and calendars to be updated quickly and without the cost of employing myself to do it for you. For an example of how this works, take a look at the demonstration site.
Existing clients
I particularly enjoy working with companies that in some way work towards societal and environmental health, be they charitable, business orientated or simply a company that provides a good working environment for its staff. Clients presently on my books include:
Technical information
As with all developers I have my preferred development environment. I choose to use PHP and MySql, this technology powers 60% of the internet's database websites. It is quick, reliable, secure and cost effective solution to the requirements of nearly all mainstream websites, from a simple marketing website such as this one to a large e-commerce site.
Other languages I have experience with include ASP, SQL, Postgresql, Javascript, CSS, Flash Actionscript, Java and and of course the ubiquitous HTML.
Pricing
Look and feel
Once the brief has been agreed, my first job is to design the look of the website. I always take existing branding as inspiration. There is a large difference between print and website design, web pages have to be navigated and this is a key element that I take into account when designing your website.
Content
When a person surfing the web clicks into your website, their attention must be held. Many studies have shown that presenting interesting and unique content is one of the most important facets of keeping the interest of the surfer. I am able to work with copy that is provided or create the copy myself from an in-depth consultation with you about your company and it's vision.
Marketing and search engines
Websites need to be clearly designed, natural to navigate and present interesting content, but the job does not end there. They also need to be easy to find and integrated into your marketing strategy. Part of what I offer is a search engine analysis, it only takes me three hours and provides much insight into how well a site is doing. In line with my ethical policy I will not make false promises about getting your site straight to the top of the search engines, instead I provide an accurate report of where your website stands and what opportunities exist for it, providing a road map for better placement.
Content Management Systems (CMS)
It is often more cost effective if everyday updating of a website is done in-house. To facilitate this I create secure update sites that the client has access to with a password. These are easy use, allowing items such as news and calendars to be updated quickly and without the cost of employing myself to do it for you. For an example of how this works, take a look at the demonstration site.
Existing clients
I particularly enjoy working with companies that in some way work towards societal and environmental health, be they charitable, business orientated or simply a company that provides a good working environment for its staff. Clients presently on my books include:
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Lycos Ltd A company that produces software that allows the chemical industry be certain that it is applying all the necessary safety procedures. This website includes a customer CMS with a large library of downloadable files and also a secure client update site that allows Lycos ltd to access the database and update site content. At the time of writing Lycos are listed at number 2 in Google for 'MSDS software' which is the most important keyword for their business. |
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The Spirit of Life A large marketing website for a holistic holiday company based in Greece. It includes a large content management system that allows courses, tutors and news items to be edited as well as email newsletters sent out. I worked full time with the Spirit of LIfe not only on their website and brochure, but also running courses at their centre. At the time of writing The Spirit of Life are listed at number 4 in Google for 'holistic holidays' which is the most important keyword for their business. |
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Natural Collection One of the largest Green mail order companies in the UK. I have worked with the Natural Collection website for over 4 years, during which web business more than doubled. It is an enormous site and includes a well integrated ordering system behind the scenes with many features. |
Technical information
As with all developers I have my preferred development environment. I choose to use PHP and MySql, this technology powers 60% of the internet's database websites. It is quick, reliable, secure and cost effective solution to the requirements of nearly all mainstream websites, from a simple marketing website such as this one to a large e-commerce site.
Other languages I have experience with include ASP, SQL, Postgresql, Javascript, CSS, Flash Actionscript, Java and and of course the ubiquitous HTML.
Pricing
- Service Contracts
I like to create the feeling that I am almost working in the office with you, in order to facilitate this I have developed a service contract option in which my time can be broken up into segments as small as ten minutes, allowing me to make small changes to your website without the need to pay for a full hours work. I offer these contracts at a lower rate than my regular hourly rate. These contracts are purchased in advance blocks of eight hours or more. I charge £240 for eight hours which works out at £30 per hour. I invoice you for the next eight hours when the time is running out. A full breakdown of how the time is spent is always accessible through the client login section of this website, see the demo for an example.
- Hourly Rate
£35 for the first hour, £30 for each subsequent hour. Time rounded up to the nearest hour.
- Additional Expenses
All additional costs such as specialist software and stock photography are charged at cost. Travel is charged at 50p per mile from Hebden Bridge + the time spent traveling. Overnight stays are charged at £200
- Quotes
I can also work to a fixed price quote. First time users of my services may be particularly attracted to this option, although this tends to be slightly more expensive due to additional overheads and risks on my part. - Guideline Prices
A simple informational website tends to cost between £200 and £450 depending on design requirements. This will be higher if you need copy written for the site.
Adding a Content Management System to an informational website adds another £150 to £400 depending on the complexity needed.
E-commerce website's start from £950 for a simple Cart, up to several thousand for more advanced features.