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So, you don't have the time to set up your new website

Sean Hambridge - Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Well, we're here to make it easy.

One of the biggest factors in businesses not having a suitable website is the prospect of having to get stuff to put on the site. Or as we like to call it; web content.

We are experts in collecting the right information (copy) and presenting it on your web pages in an attractive and professional format. We can help with images by procuring stock images or organising for a photographer if that's what is required.


Here's how it works:

Steps used to create website content
  1. We meet with you to prepare the site content brief (1-2 hrs)
    • At this briefing you can bring any documents, brochures, product/service information that might be included in the website
    • We essentially map out the site deciding on page hierarchy, menus and possibly a rough layout plan
    • At this stage we can give an estimate of the time it will take to complete the job
  2. Getting the content
    • If there is information to be provided by your staff that needs to be collated we can meet with them and create the copy then and there by writing or recording a conversation or simply picking up pre-existing copy for editing
    • Sometimes the brief calls for information from suppliers or other organisations. As longas you have permission to access this information we can arrange for it to be acquired. We can even retrieve large amounts of data from other websites like product catalogues if required
    • Images are a key component to building content designed to enhance the user experience (UX). We have various sources of stock images that can be purchased from as low as only a few dollars.
  3. Editing and copywriting
    • When writing for the world wide web there are a number of important aspects that your copy should contain; it has to be a good experience for human visitors, it has to be laid out and "tagged" appropriately for visitor understanding as well as for search engines to be able to index the page the way you want it to be indexed (it's no good emphasising the phrase "CLICK HERE" unless of course that is the name of your product)
  4. Optimising each page for search engines
  5. Getting your approval
    • Once the pages have been created and populated we ask for your expert appraisal of our work, after all it has to appeal to your target market.
  6. That's it - we send the site live and begin measuring its effectiveness

If you have a current quote from us it may mention a number of pages setup (content to be provided by client). The service outlined above is adjusted so that services already agreed would not be included. How much: Depends on the number of pages, the amount of new copy we need to create, image availability and less concrete things like following up on information provision. The determining factor in time and cost is and always has been completely up to you, the customer. The diagram below is called a Euler Diagram and this particular one illustrates the project triangle where one can have any two of the combinations of FAST, GOOD and CHEAP.

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_triangle 

The Project Triangle is a triangle model of project. It is a graphic aid where the three attributes show on the corners of the triangle to show opposition. It is useful to help with intentionally choosing project biases, or analyzing the goals of your project. The constraints are analogous with the project management triangle - in fact, it may be seen as an Evolutionary pressure.

With the above in mind your budgetary constraints might mean that you have to choose one of the "cheap" options and that is completely valid and reasonable.


Let me explain how the project triangle works in real life (and especially in terms of work done by Web Design Experts).

Euler Diagram - Pick any two
  • The "Low Quality" area does not indicate poor quality, it's important to understand that if you want your project to cost as little as possible and still be delivered in a reasonable timeframe then we will implement standard elements. For example if we quoted an FAQ page we would deliver the standard layout for FAQ without modification. It will be a completely usable "vanilla" implementation. I guess a bit like shopping at ALDI, you can choose from 1 brand of peanut butter and pay $1 or go to a big chain with 10 brands and pay a minimum of $3.
  • "Low Priority" will very rarely be offered to our customers because in our experience projects that we work on "when we get a spare moment" realistically never get worked on.
  • "Pay for Quality" is by far the best guarantee of complete customer satisfaction. These projects get top priority in all areas and are an indicator of the importance our customers place on their online business. 

I hope that this goes some way to explaining how we price projects. As always we strive to provide value in the work we do and I look forward to your feedback.

An Open Letter to Distribute IT Customers

Jacinta Russell - Wednesday, June 22, 2011
To all Distribute IT Customers who have fallen victim to the latest hacking attack, we are here to help get you back on track.

As a result of the malicious attack Distribute IT’s network is still experiencing severe failures. In taking to a Google Blog after the attack, Distribute It said they believe that it “seems unlikely that any usable data will be salvaged from these platforms”.  

We understand that this has placed many people in a difficult position, so we want to offer you our services. We can offer you an all-in-one hosted platform for your website backed by Adobe systems. 24 hrs* is all it can take to have the basic information for your site back up online.

No design? No worries! We have a number of templates for you to chose from. If you have a design available we will re-write your site from the design. We can even do a search through available web caches to recover part or all of your lost website. You can view a selection of the sites we manage in our portfolio

To take up our offer, contact us on 1300 884 553 and we will spend the time to help you in every way we can.




*this is an estimate only and is dependant on your individual circumstances.

Google and MYOB are giving away 50,000 free websites - or are they

Sean Hambridge - Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Google and MYOB have teamed up to provide 50,000 businesses with a free website.

Due to the large number of small to medium Australian businesses without an online presence Google's SME Business Leader Claire Hatton said; "We want to address this gap by removing common barriers like cost and time to set up a website. We also want to make it easier for Australians to find the information they're looking for online".

But there's still no such thing as a free website - after the first year a $5/month fee will be charged.

MYOB chief Tim Reed said that they will be able to sign up 50,000 businesses this year.

How much does a free website really cost?

The cost needs to be viewed in terms of the marketing value of a no-frills 3 page website.
  • What will prospects and customers think about your business when they see it?
  • Will search engines effectively index your site?
  • Will you have time to keep the information up to date?
  • Is it able to turn prospects into customers?
These are some of the questions a prospective DIY website builder needs to ask. If a website-for-the-sake-of-having-a-website is the only reason for setting one up then it is effectively like placing your corporate philosophy on your bedroom wall - the only people who see it will be the ones you have specifically invited.

By all means have a go, but don't be disappointed if you build it and no-one comes.

Do it yourself website builder option

Sean Hambridge - Sunday, October 18, 2009

Announcing The EXPERT - Build your own Website

Free Trial (30 days)

Sign up for a free trial and have 30 days of full EXPERT functionality.

The main features of this fantastic platform include:
  • Instantly transfer your existing site (some dynamic cms sites need to be updated after import)
  • Choose from a number of starter templates that can be modified to suit your own style
  • Set up forums, blogs and faqs to integrate straight into your site
  • Full ecommerce functionality is included and ready to be set up
  • Create secure areas within your site
  • Manage customer interactions with the included customer relationship system
  • Communicate with your whole customer base using rich html email templates - or create your own
  • Easily edit any part of your website
  • And a whole lot more
The Online Business Expert provides you with the Online Business Wiki to help you get started and provide you with full user documentation on all aspects of the system. It also provides an exhaustive list of video tutorials to get you on your way to converting your website to an online business.

So have a go - once you sign up we'll send you weekly tips and tricks during your trial period as well as your very own website statistics email so you can see at a glance what is happening on your site.