• No-obligation consultation
• Suggestion of possible website structure
• Homework you have to do
• Homework we have to do
• Provision of first design options
• Design Sign Off
• Implementation of website
• Free updates of up to 6 weeks after Go-Live

Before we design your website, we will have a conversation with members of your business in order to find out what your organisation specialises in and what your business is all about. We will ask many questions about your products and your services. We will try to find out what makes your company successful.

We will discuss different website structures and only start the design of your website once we have an understanding of your company and its products and services. During that conversation, we would also like to establish what you want to achieve with your website.

• Do you want to raise awareness or
• do you want to sell products online for example?

From the outset, you will be very involved in the design of your website. It is your website and you are working with us on developing the website to your requirements.

We can provide several website design options and you can then decide which one you like best. You can still decide to change any colours, positioning of logos, navigation and so on.

Marketing Matters in West Lothian strive to provide website designs that look professional and are easy to navigate. Our main aim is that your website visitors can find information very quickly without getting lost. Navigation will be clear and always consistent across your whole website.

And now the boring bit…

Websites developed by Marketing Matters comply with recent accessibility and usability guidelines in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act. By this, your company information is available to a wider audience. CreatWeb aims to develop websites that reach the AA standard.

We provide a number of important features as standard, such as initial search engine optimisation, contact forms, and the organisation of hosting and domain names.

In February 2005 our web designer was rewarded with Best Web Designer West Lothian by West Lothian Council.

A company called “Domain Registry of America” (DROA) is targeting customers of all domain providers with deceptive early renewal reminders by post. Usually, the domain name owner will receive a letter asking them to renew their domain name. When you sign such a letter and provide payment details, you will actually move your domain name to a different provider. If you are in doubt about your domain name renewal, please contact us and we will happily provide information about your actual domain name registration company.

• Do you want to sell more?
• Do you want your business to get noticed?
• Do you want to provide a better service or better information than your competitors?
• Do you want to make it easy for your clients to find out about you and your products?
• Do you simply need to update an existing website and make it “recession-proof”?

Any good marketing consultant would tell you that, in today’s market, the most important selling tool is your website. Especially in the current economic situation, people more and more search the web for relevant information and learn about products and businesses before they spend any money.

Your business cannot really loose out by not having an online presence!

More and more people use Google and other search engines to give them the anwers. You cannot really afford not to be there! Provide your customers with the information they are after and they will gain confidence in your business and services.

With your website, you not only reach local markets – such as customers in West Lothian for example – but also worldwide markets. It provides a service to all those potential customers who access your website. No other marketing medium offers this flexibility.

A website is now the most cost-effective method of promoting your business – and it does it 24 hours a day – 7 days a week.

For a no-obligation consultation, please give Marketing Matters a call on 01506 66 86 85

Domain names are relatively cheap to buy. A “.co.uk” domain name is normally in the region of £3 per year, a “.com” domain name is normally around £10 per year.

Check the www.123-reg.co.uk website to see current domain name prices.

Anybody can buy a domain name! You don’t need to be a specialist or a web designer to do so. It’s as simple as buying a book on Amazon!

If you feel unsure about your domain name, please give us a call on 01506 66 86 85 and we can help you find the right domain name for your business.

Try to find the shortest domain name you can – bear in mind you might want to print it on a business card, or on your car. For example, www.robert-smith-joiners-and-building-services.co.uk is far too long to be printed in a decent size on a van or a car! Instead, try to register www.smith-joiners.co.uk. The domain name does not have to be your exact business name or trading name! It also does not need to include any legal endings, such as Ltd.

There are numerous companies out there that sell domain names. It is important, however, that you find one that can be trusted, one which has a good reputation, one which gives you control over your domain name.

A domain name can have many different settings, for example where emails are routed, where the website is called up from etc. So it is important that the company you choose gives you control over your domain name. When registering a domain name, you should be given a username and password so you or your web designer can access the domain name.

A company which gives you full access to your domain name is www.123-reg.co.uk. 123-reg is a reputable and well-established company selling domain names in the UK.

Purchasing a domain name for a business in the UK

When your business resides in the UK and mainly operates in the UK, it is recommended that you purchase a domain name ending in “.co.uk”. You may want to register a “.com” too, but it is better for the main domain name to be “.co.uk”. There are several reasons for this: One is that search engines recognise by the domain name where a business resides and trades. If there was a business out there called “beautifulflowers.co.uk” and you are determined that your business is called “beautifulflowers”, but the domain name is already taken, you might be tempted to just work with the “beautifulflowers.com” domain name. It is likely, however, that in a Google search for a UK flower business your competitor is higher in the rankings than you because they have the “.co.uk” ending.

You might want to check, if the domain name “beautiful-flowers.co.uk” is still available (a “-” between “beautiful” and “flowers”). This might just do the trick! Or you could add a small word, such as “beautifulflowers-uk.co.uk” – in order to get the “.co.uk” domain name.

Also, if you are mainly trading in the UK, your potential clients immediately see in Google searches that the website they are about to visit is a UK website.

Do I need to buy every domain combination? Such as .net, .com. .me?

We have been asked this numerous times. Some of our clients swear by buying them all, but we believe it is a waste of money!

• On your letterheads, there will only be one domain name, right?
• On your business card, there will only be one domain name, right?
• On your car or van, there will only be one domain name, right?
• When a client asks you for your website, you will only give them one domain name, right?
• Search Engine Results are NOT improved by having different domain names. Because search engines probably only know that you use mainly one domain name.