It was one of those weeks with late Monday to Wednesday morning being spent fixing an issue with one of our servers where the glue records seemed to have stopped working. The fault was eventually traced and rectified and we had some great support from 34sp.com who physically manage the server and who helped us trace the issue. It meant half a week of me not doing anything productive (and having sleepless nights) which is not ideal. It also meant around 36 hours where clients had websites and email down and we apologise for that.
The bizarre thing is that via my ISP both at home and in the office, Virgin Media, the cached server allowed connection to the domains at all times - and some clients never saw a problem with their websites as their ISP also used cached DNS servers. It would be interesting to know how long these cached servers keep records for and how long they take to recognise changes, for instance when a domains nameservers are changed.
On the plus side we got a free accountancy advice session via Redcar & Cleveland council which helped me clear up some queries I had regarding VAT and other countries both within and outside the EU and also regarding pension payments from the company. The advice was supplied by Teesside Accountancy Services who gave concise and simple answers that a layperson like me could understand - was impressed with the service.
We're now close to launching a new website for a local law firm and are pleased with the way it looks, as are our clients. The final content will be added shortly and we expect this to go live in a week or so. There should be another three sites launched for clients by the end of the month and we've got a meeting tomorrow regarding another potential site - hopefully my cold clears up sufficiently so I don't infect them!
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Monday, 9 January 2012
First Week of 2012 Done
It's always a bit strange being back in the office after a nice relaxing week off over Xmas and a bit of walking in the North Yorks Moors but that is over now. A fairly large part of the week was spent chasing up clients who had not paid invoices by the due date (we won't mention any names!) but most of those have now come in - we do understand that things get forgotten and post gets delayed during Dec but we have bills to pay too!
The rest of the week was spent in updating websites for clients where we fully manage the website and they wanted some new products or information posting or where the business has changed hands like http://www.delboyvanhire.com/. We've got a couple of other sites with changed content to set up in the coming week.
We have also agreed a contract for new website for a local client which will be launched later this month - details of that will appear later this month once the site is up and running.
And finally a cautionary tale. We originally traded as TeesADS (a sole trader) and in our early days we hosted a number of websites for a some local SEO cowboys (sorry a local SEO company) who ceased trading, owing us and many others money, a couple of years ago. A number of their clients are now our clients and in many cases we have designed new websites for them and all is now well.
Some of their clients switched to a new local set of cowboys (sorry SEO company) that used many of the same people as the company that went bust. They now appear to have ceased trading leaving companies without websites and thus damaging their business.
Last week we spent a fair bit of time trying to help one of those businesses recover website files and get up and running again. It seems that by tracing some cached files via Yahoo and using some image files from the site we originally hosted for the first SEO company we can recreate their website for them and get them up and running again when they get their domain back this week. We will then help them update or redesign their site as they wish.
It seems a common tale that the "disappearing SEO company trick" was again used where a payment is taken from a client's credit card, without authorisation, just before ceasing trading.
There are legitimate and good SEO companies out there, and we do SEO for our clients, but be aware of registered companies who run little more than a scam.
The rest of the week was spent in updating websites for clients where we fully manage the website and they wanted some new products or information posting or where the business has changed hands like http://www.delboyvanhire.com/. We've got a couple of other sites with changed content to set up in the coming week.
We have also agreed a contract for new website for a local client which will be launched later this month - details of that will appear later this month once the site is up and running.
And finally a cautionary tale. We originally traded as TeesADS (a sole trader) and in our early days we hosted a number of websites for a some local SEO cowboys (sorry a local SEO company) who ceased trading, owing us and many others money, a couple of years ago. A number of their clients are now our clients and in many cases we have designed new websites for them and all is now well.
Some of their clients switched to a new local set of cowboys (sorry SEO company) that used many of the same people as the company that went bust. They now appear to have ceased trading leaving companies without websites and thus damaging their business.
Last week we spent a fair bit of time trying to help one of those businesses recover website files and get up and running again. It seems that by tracing some cached files via Yahoo and using some image files from the site we originally hosted for the first SEO company we can recreate their website for them and get them up and running again when they get their domain back this week. We will then help them update or redesign their site as they wish.
It seems a common tale that the "disappearing SEO company trick" was again used where a payment is taken from a client's credit card, without authorisation, just before ceasing trading.
There are legitimate and good SEO companies out there, and we do SEO for our clients, but be aware of registered companies who run little more than a scam.
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Happy New Year
We wish you all a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.
Back in the office for the first time in 2012 (though yesterday was spent working from home) and a busy week planned with new websites to create, meetings with potential clients and a meeting on Friday for a new project involving a number of organisations that has the potential to be rather large - but we'll post about that if and when there is more information we can put in the public domain.
In the meantime look out for our newsletter which will include our January sales offers.
Back in the office for the first time in 2012 (though yesterday was spent working from home) and a busy week planned with new websites to create, meetings with potential clients and a meeting on Friday for a new project involving a number of organisations that has the potential to be rather large - but we'll post about that if and when there is more information we can put in the public domain.
In the meantime look out for our newsletter which will include our January sales offers.
Friday, 23 December 2011
A Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year
We wish you all a very Merry Xmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year as we shut down at lunchtime today (23rd Dec) until 9 a.m. on 3rd Jan.
Our email will be monitored and telephone answered over the festive period for emergencies such as websites failing, email collapses, etc. and the usual numbers and email address s on the website will function, If you telephone and do not get a reply please leave a message and we will get back to you.
Our advent calendar is still running - so why not pay a visit and see what there is each day.
Our email will be monitored and telephone answered over the festive period for emergencies such as websites failing, email collapses, etc. and the usual numbers and email address s on the website will function, If you telephone and do not get a reply please leave a message and we will get back to you.
Our advent calendar is still running - so why not pay a visit and see what there is each day.
Monday, 19 December 2011
New Web Designs & SEO work
This week has seen us developing new prototype designs to update a client's website and for new clients plus some SEO work for a new client.
In designing new websites we generally create a framework design to give the client an idea of the proposed look and dimensions of the new website. We put this in a password protected area of our test site and modify this until the client is happy. This is usually done as pure html/css.
We then add the individual elements of the site and once the client is happy with the complete design of one page we convert the relevant areas to php to allow for dynamic content and ease of editing for repeated areas such as footers.
When all is complete the site gets transferred to the live domain and all the SEO content and monitoring tools are added so the site goes live.
In designing new websites we generally create a framework design to give the client an idea of the proposed look and dimensions of the new website. We put this in a password protected area of our test site and modify this until the client is happy. This is usually done as pure html/css.
We then add the individual elements of the site and once the client is happy with the complete design of one page we convert the relevant areas to php to allow for dynamic content and ease of editing for repeated areas such as footers.
When all is complete the site gets transferred to the live domain and all the SEO content and monitoring tools are added so the site goes live.
Sunday, 11 December 2011
No Let Up As Xmas Approaches
Another busy week saw meetings to finalise plans for new websites with clients with two new websites to be launched early in the New Year plus e-marketing packages for these and some other clients to be created as well.
We also had a really useful meeting with Charlotte Allen, Creative Industries Advisor from Redcar and Cleveland Council. They have great plans to help creative businesses develop and we look forward to greater involvement as these progress. It was good to meet Charlotte again - we both worked at Teesside Tertiary College many moons ago and I didn't realise it was the same Charlotte until we met.
Another positive meeting took place with a large local organisation as we plan to develop a web-based application. We are hoping to have some input from a University of Teesside student in the New Year by providing a work placement to help develop the application. We have a follow up meeting with our potential partner organisation this week and hope to develop a specification for the planned application so a prototype can be created and tested in a live environment. This is a long term project and we would hope to launch around in the middle of 2012.
This week saw the creation of a couple of Wordpress powered website for a client who organise sailing holidays and own a ski chalet for hire in Tignes in the French Alps.
The week included the usual regular work of updating SEO content and updating a few bits and pieces including making the final CMS additions to Ann Kenney Yoga. The week also saw a new regular event - the preparation of a VAT return, our first. The joy and excitement of doing the accounts and sending money for the Government to squander!
We also had a really useful meeting with Charlotte Allen, Creative Industries Advisor from Redcar and Cleveland Council. They have great plans to help creative businesses develop and we look forward to greater involvement as these progress. It was good to meet Charlotte again - we both worked at Teesside Tertiary College many moons ago and I didn't realise it was the same Charlotte until we met.
Another positive meeting took place with a large local organisation as we plan to develop a web-based application. We are hoping to have some input from a University of Teesside student in the New Year by providing a work placement to help develop the application. We have a follow up meeting with our potential partner organisation this week and hope to develop a specification for the planned application so a prototype can be created and tested in a live environment. This is a long term project and we would hope to launch around in the middle of 2012.
This week saw the creation of a couple of Wordpress powered website for a client who organise sailing holidays and own a ski chalet for hire in Tignes in the French Alps.
The week included the usual regular work of updating SEO content and updating a few bits and pieces including making the final CMS additions to Ann Kenney Yoga. The week also saw a new regular event - the preparation of a VAT return, our first. The joy and excitement of doing the accounts and sending money for the Government to squander!
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Xmas is Coming ...
On 1st Dec we launched our 2011 Advent Calendar http://bit.ly/ty8mQ4 with offers, tips or competitions for freebies such as free business cards each day. Each new "window" will be available from 9 a.m. each morning - take a look and see what's behind the window today.
During the last week we've also been compiling a number of quarterly SEO reports for clients. The reports we supply look at how the site has performed and suggest areas for improvement. Once improvements are agreed we make changes to the site to attract more visitors and improve its search engine ranking - all as part of our SEO or e-marketing packages.
We have also launched a new website for Ann Kenney, a yoga teacher in Berkshire, and made some design changes to her hypnotherapy site so that they largely match to give a consistent image. We still have a little work to complete for Ann's new site but wanted to get it up and running with SEO content included so that search engine's are showing it well for the New Year. We will also be creating Ann's Google Adwords campaigns which will be launched at the start of the New Year to help those of you who want to tone up after the Xmas excesses.
During the last week we've also been compiling a number of quarterly SEO reports for clients. The reports we supply look at how the site has performed and suggest areas for improvement. Once improvements are agreed we make changes to the site to attract more visitors and improve its search engine ranking - all as part of our SEO or e-marketing packages.
We have also launched a new website for Ann Kenney, a yoga teacher in Berkshire, and made some design changes to her hypnotherapy site so that they largely match to give a consistent image. We still have a little work to complete for Ann's new site but wanted to get it up and running with SEO content included so that search engine's are showing it well for the New Year. We will also be creating Ann's Google Adwords campaigns which will be launched at the start of the New Year to help those of you who want to tone up after the Xmas excesses.
It was also another busy week on the marketing front with two new websites commissioned and an e-marketing contract agreed. More details of these will be posted later and we have meetings with our new website clients next week to finalise the details. Next week also sees us meeting a potential partner for a long-term web-based business application plus meeting a potential client for a new website. It's great to be busy despite the economic doom and gloom and great to see that new contacts and existing clients are also doing well.
This week should see the launch of our new plumbers and heating engineers directory which has been developed by Manoj, who is really impressing me with his ability and work ethic. This will continue to be developed over time but will list businesses based on town/city and county. Each entry will be editable by the client with a banner, testimonials and images included. We are giving away lifetime listings for the first 3 relevant businesses in each town and will build it on a county by county basis starting with Cleveland. So if you are a plumber or heating engineer, or have friends and family who are, get them to contact me and we'll add them for free.
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