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Newsletter / Blog


2015-01-02
2015 Web Design offer


Hopefully 2015 is the year in which we will get you on the internet / improve your business presence on the internet with a new website or if you are just interested in having some website presence we will focus on getting you the desired look and feel, which you want for your website.

“This more comprehensive than normal newsletter is a good example of the initial information we need to design your website’’

We will also use this newsletter to introduce ourselves to new web design clients we meet during 2015.

In this (January 2015 newsletter) :

A.)What we do (About us)

B.)Our Pricing

C.)Why we are so cheap/affordable.

D.)What makes our service offering unique?

E.) Our special pricing offers for 2015

F.)Why even established and successful businesses need a website

G.)Marketing your website – How people will find your website

H.) YES! – What we need to start / Process flow

I.)What to expect during 2015

J.)Important free resources from Google

K.)Most important SEO basics / mistakes website owners make

L.)Join us (Work opportunities)

A.)WHAT WE DO (About us)

We call ourselves web designers but the designing element is only a small part of what we do. We have in house specialist graphic designers who take care of the design element while we focus on training to ensure our clients are successful on the internet. (We literally have hundreds of examples of what you can expect in terms of design.)

Designs can be completely changed as often as you like for R700, without changing anything else.

 In essence we are more Website or Internet Teachers, teaching the average man or woman on the street, with the need for a website, on how to be successful at marketing their business / services on the internet via a CMS website. (CMS = Content Management System) .

We are based in Welcome Glen, Cape Town offering onsite visits to the Deep South Peninsula, Cape Town City Bowl and Southern Suburbs. We use Kwikwap software which have been developed in South Africa and is backed by the Kwikwap national head office and technical team. (We work during South African working hours and offer telephonic and email support and if needed, onsite visits).

Besides designing websites we also assist with the opening of Face book Pages, Twitter Accounts and Google My Business / Places accounts. Our main focus is on the websites and enabling our clients to manage the content themselves but especially Google My Business / Places has become so important that we include the offer for free registration with every website.

We offer our clients beautiful designed websites, with unlimited pages, which they can manage themselves, ensuring the information on the website never goes out of date and that the information on the website attracts new clients via the functioning of search engines like Google.

Our typical client or ideal web design client wants their website to do well on Google searches. So we tend to favour working with serious business owners who will focus on good quality content rather than gimmicks like animations or flip file books, flash files. Cosmetic things which are not indexed by search engines like Google.

B.)Website pricing

Below are guideline prices only. We will give a final quote for each web design project separately. 50% deposit to be paid on acceptance of quote and balance on completion (When design is completed and first training session held).

(Max 20-30 pages loaded, you can do hundreds more yourself later after training)

We will provide links to our design portfolio so you will have a fair idea of what can be expected for your money.

Small business website / Local website – R1, 500

Small businesses only requiring 3-5 pages without any training OR even unlimited pages with training provided you are a local (Welcome Glen, Simons Town) business OR you are prepared to travel to us to get your training and we never left our offices to meet with you.

Optional top up: Professional custom designs - R700

Standard website / Template design – R2, 500

Unlimited pages, Training but using a standard template with limited designing using your Logo’s, Banners or something very simple.

Optional top up: Professional custom designs - R700

Deluxe website / Custom design – R3, 200

Unlimited pages, Training plus a Professional Custom design.

  • Advanced graphic design to the value of R700
  • Training to manage the Kwikwap CMS comfortably
  • SEO Training
  • Google webmaster registration and submitting of Sitemaps
  • Google my business/places (Google Maps) registration

 

Professional Custom Design

Our professional custom design includes:

Home page layout, home page slideshow, home page buttons, website banner incorporating your provided Logo. Layout design of 2 - 3  important pages

Our professional custom design does not include:

Custom designing 20-30 individual pages on your website

 

C.)Why we are so cheap / affordable?

The reason(s) are twofold:

Firstly our web design and development approach is based on modules which can be activated at the click of a button. We even have industry specific modules like modules for estate agents and modules for guesthouses. We are also based on templates which can be custom designed using HTML and CSS. But no individual coding and programming is required

Secondly with your Kwikwap website you are required to host with Kwikwap / rent our very user friendly software. So we make a little bit of money on a monthly basis from each client. The most popular web hosting solution is R150 plus Vat per month with the most expensive being R200 + Vat for those clients wanting unlimited emails.

We have been in business for a while which is why we are able to afford web design services at unbeatable prices. We have approximately 6,000 + active clients in Southern Africa and we are growing at a steady monthly rate while our software also keeps on improving since being developed from +- 2006.

 

D.) What makes our service offering unique?

1. Google results (Page 1 of Google)

The design bit is a small part of getting an effective website. Our ideal web design client wants to be on page 1 of Google for generic search terms. (That is when your website appears on the first page when someone searches for something other than your business name. ) This requires some effort and focussed dedication on the part of the website owner. SEO training is included with our web design packages. The better our clients perform on the web the longer they remain loyal clients, referring business to us. It is important to us that our clients understand how search engines like Google works and what is meant with appearing on page 1 of Google. We also ensure that each of our client’s website’s are registered with Google Webmaster and a sitemap submitted to Google. We also can assist to register your business with Google My Business so that your business appears on Google Maps which is often included in search results when a geographical area is included in the search terms.

2. Local / Follow up service and technical back up

We are established web designers servicing the Southern Suburbs and deep South Peninsula. (We have web design clients all over Southern Africa but the core of our business is done in the Southern Cape.) We are proud of our good reputation and offer an excellent follow up service to ensure that our clients:

1.) Are happy with their designs
2.) Know how to add content to their websites
3.) Understand how search engines like Google works
4.) Their email accounts are set up and working properly

The partners of Buddy Web Design are backed by a technical support team at the Kwikwap head office. Should we not be able to assist someone at the technical departments will be able to assist. It is very important when deciding on a web design company to know that your web designer and hosting company have been in business for a while and will be in business for a while. The web design industry see a lot of people coming and going.

We are especially proud to list the names of our Southern Cape clients on our website which can be contacted for references. Each satisfied client is valuable to our business.

3.) Affordable web design

We do not charge per page but offer unlimited pages with our web design packages. We do the design and framework based on the initial information provided. We will load a couple of pages for you but we use the initial set up stages to train you so that you can load hundreds of pages yourself later. In most cases our prices for an unlimited pages website beats comparable quotes from companies offering 3 - 5 page websites.

4.) Extremely user friendly software

We have successfully trained some of the most computer illiterate business owners. We love seeing people who have no knowledge on Google / CMS Websites turn into successful website owners. Our software is really extremely user friendly. Other web designers often hate us because of the product we offer at the price it is offered.

5.) Free built in extras

Free SMS System, Email system, create your own forms and surveys to be included on your website

6.) Reliable Hosting

Our client’s websites are online and visible 99% of the time and we strive to ensure the best possible download speeds at all times.

7.) Great looking designs

Our clients can choose to design the own look and feel of their websites or to make use of our specialist in house graphic designers who are specialist at programming languages like HTML / CSS and software programs like Photoshop and Coral Draw. We have hundreds of examples of work done by our designers using our software so clients can have a realistic idea of what to expect. Our software can accommodate flash and gif, even though it is becoming less popular to use.

8.) Responsive design

E.) Our special pricing offers for 2015

1.) Local clients / clients prepared to travel to us

We are prepared to offer our Deluxe Web Design package (R3,200) at our small business package price if clients are prepared to travel to us at Welcome Glen near Simons Town. We can offer this because we do not need to travel far .(Fuel and time = money) .We will offer this price to all businesses based in the following suburbs / areas:

Welcome Glen, Glen Cairn, Simons Town and Fish hoek

Clients from the Cape Town area who are prepared to travel to us also qualify for this special offering.

2.) Kruger National Park / Marloth Park

We are offering websites in exchange for accommodation at Lodges outside the Kruger National Park / Marloth Park during the annual June/July school holidays. We are mixing work with pleasure and we have a very informative website on the Kruger National Park in Afrikaans which we need to complete / improve on which means we need to visit Kruger all the way from Cape Town. We give our clients free links and advertising on these tourism information websites which boosts traffic to their individual websites. We are very fortunate that our business is mobile and all we need is a computer and internet connection so our Cape Town clients need not fear that we are not able to provide support during the June /July school holidays. (If we cannot assist, direct support from Kwikwap’s technical team is available.

F.) Why do even successful businesses need a website?

During 2014 and in years prior, we have noticed that some business owners fail to find the time to sit down with us and get the web design project of the ground. Yet these business people are successful? They argue that they do not need a website seeing that they already have enough business/clients.

For any small or medium business owner time = money. Often time is what keeps a successful business owner from sitting down with us and launching the website. This is sad because having the ideal kind of website will actually save you time.

A website should be viewed as your public corporate profile. It will force you to sit down and think about what you do or not do and how your company’s pricing system works. Unless you have a monopoly or very little competition you can take the time to quote each and every time when there is a possible new client. By referring people to your website for pricing information you can actually save time by not having to quote.

Your FAQ section of your website can also save you time by giving potential clients the information they are looking for before making buying decisions.

You can have valuable information like your companies banking details, opening and closing times, new products and services on your website and not frustrate current clients who need this information.

Some businesses thrive in a certain geographical area simply because there is little competition. This can quickly change when their competitors are noticed because of their websites, when you do not have a website. You do not want to leave the door open for some new irrelevant competition to become relevant because they are better than you at marketing via the internet.

Sometimes not having a website is viewed as being unprofessional. There is always another new, better and financially more rewarding client to be added to your client base. You do not want to lose out on the client because you look unprofessional.

Economies and industries within economies move trough cycles of highs and lows. By continuing to spend time on marketing, even in good and prosperous times, you will ensure that when the economy takes a dip you still have work. Some businesses simply cannot take on more work but getting a nice new client or increasing your gross profit margins might afford you the opportunity to get rid of non profitable clients or the not so nice clients.

G.) Marketing your website

SEO is an acronym meaning Search Engine Optimisation. This refers to things which can be done on and off your website to improve your appearance when people search for things using search engines like Google. Finding information is big business. Google is worth billions of dollars.

During your training we will cover:

How search engines work and what you need to do in order to do well when people search the internet. Francois has written a book on the topic which is kept updated on www.seobook.co.za .

There are other ways of marketing your business website. This can be done via business cards, flyers, vehicle signage, printed advertisements, social media marketing e.g. Face book.

The process of getting indexed by Google takes between 2-6 weeks and can be monitored by making use of free tools like Google Webmaster and Google Analytics.

You especially at the initial stages have to be realistic of what can be expected in terms of getting business from search engines and you need to ask yourself this very simple question:

Does the information on your website deserve to be on page 1 of Google? What makes your information or your business and service unique?

We can assist via the Kwikwap Head Office for paid for clicks via Google Adwords. It works on a bidding system and is the only guarantee of immediate visibility on page 1 of Google.

 

All other guarantees are only promises.We can do well in that department too but we prefer that our clients have a logic understanding and realistic expectations.

 

H.) YES ! – What we need to start / Process flow

1.) Understand the concept / view demo software
2.) View our design portfolio / let us know about your design requirements
3.) Accept our final quote and pay 50% deposit
4.) Provide us the information
5.) Within 1-3 days we will provide the designed website
6.) Once happy with design we will make an appointment for training
7.) Electronic debit order is signed for monthly hosting
8.) Domain is registered
9.) First training session
10.) Client goes ahead with populating the website
11.) Client may phone or email as often as is needed if they get stuck
12.) Follow up training session to ensure client is well trained

Sometimes we will rather quickly do the more difficult once offs like embedding a Trip Advisor Widget or Youtube video. Clients focus on the easy bulk maintenance of the website content while we do the once off more difficult things.

I) What to expect during 2015?

Without claiming what the future holds the following are some of the things which can be expected regarding our product offering and SEO during 2015:

1.)Google will win / get what it wants

2.)Kwikwap will continue to improve on existing modules, server speeds and bring out one or two new modules

3.)Responsive web design will become more important

4.)Integration with APS will continue to be important

5.)Google my business/places will grow from strength to strength

6.)Your competition will also improve the information on their websites

J) Important free resources from Google

  • Google Webmaster
  • Google Analytics
  • Google my business/places

We discuss these free resources and help implement them/do it on your behalf if requested.

K) Most important SEO basics / mistakes website owners make

1.) Not having a website at all
2.) Not telling Google about the website
3.) Google not being able to crawl your website
4.) Not including the right words on your website
5.) Choosing the wrong headings / ignoring the importance of page titles
6.) Copying content from other websites and expecting results
7.) Your website not being mobile friendly
8.) Thinking other people can get your website to page 1 without you supplying proper content / paying scriptwriters to create good content / paying Google to advertise
9.) Not registering with Google my business / places and linking your url
10.) Thinking it has to be a very expensive and complicated process

L) Join us / Work opportunities

The partners of Buddy Web Design are also license holders of Kwikwap and own Kwikwap Ezeweb CC . www.ezeweb.co.za . We are always on the lookout for people to join us and do what we do. So if you know of someone who might be interested in a great career opportunity please forward them our details.

May you have a blessed and prosperous 2015 and finally get that website you have always wanted / needed.