Robin Gregson - Website Design
There is no getting around it; there is a bewildering choice of website designers in today's market, and separating the crude from the accomplished can be a real challenge. Certainly, price is no reliable guide.
Where
I stand apart from the great majority of website design agencies, I hope,
is that first and foremost, I don't approach the design process as either
a technical or an aesthetic issue. I believe that a website is nothing
more or less than a business tool: a means of communication that has tremendous
potential for raising awareness, generating sales and establishing a meaningful
dialogue with customers.
Website development, in my view, is essentially a matter of marketing. Convey the right messages in the right way, and your website can be an invaluable asset to your business. Get it wrong, and you could waste very significant amounts of money and effort on expensive features that your customers don't want or need.
First Things First
As with any marketing decision, the first step should be to determine what approach is right for your business and your target market. Here, some critical questions need to be answered. For example, what are your customers telling you they want? Will a new website design project satisfy these demands, and if so, what can you reasonably expect the website to achieve? Such questions are important, because the answers should inform your decision about the best way to proceed. They may even reveal that a website isn't really what you need at all. But whatever this process tells you, taking the trouble to get things right is always going to be time well spent.
The Next Steps
For some businesses, launching straight ahead with a fully fledged e-commerce website may be exactly the right thing to do, but for others, a more measured approach may be called for. Testing the water with a simpler 'promotional' site can often reveal useful information about the way customers respond to your new on-line facility. Far cheaper to set up and host, such websites provide an inexpensive way to judge market conditions and, thus, to decide whether a more significant investment would be commercially worthwhile.
If you already have a website and you would like to consider your next steps, then I'd be very happy to talk to you, if only to offer some impartial advice. I'm not an e-commerce or database specialist but I do know my .ASP from my elbow and I can certainly help you to reach an informed decision. And if you need practical support, I can put you in touch with specialist associates and some very reputable commercial providers who have demonstrated their value and reliability in their work with previous clients.
On the other hand, if you are looking to the internet for the first time, or if you have a site that really isn't working for you, then I can certainly help. I specialise in the development of solid, no-nonsense websites that give your customers a clear understanding of why they should choose you, backed by professionally written copy, an attractive visual design and a structure that is simple, intuitive and easy to navigate.
If you'd like to see examples of some of the many websites I have produced, you can view my on-line portfolio here. If you would like to discuss a particular project, please contact me.