Category: News

Every school is obliged to have a website that gives parents and other stakeholders access to school policies, term times and other essential documents relating to the school. Most schools employ a web designer to set up their website initially and to upload the documents that are required but is it essential to pay for a company to manage the site or is it something that can be undertaken in house.

The answer to this is dependant upon the expertise of the school staff and their time constraints. The management of the school website usually falls to the school administrator who has to be able to turn their hand to lots of different tasks in a short time. If they are to take on this role, they will need to be given specific training by the web design company so that they will be able to upload documents, children’s work and school newsletters.

If the task of maintaining the school website falls to a member of the teaching staff, they will need to be given time to do this as it would be seen as an extra responsibility.

Some schools make the decision to pay for support from the web design company so that they know that updates are being carried out without putting pressure on teaching staff although this will come at a cost.

Businesses very often have a certain amount of literature that needs to be printed out such as business cards, flyers, letterheads / compliments slips and brochures. You will need to use an in house graphic designer, or if you do not have the call for someone in the office, you can use a third party design company or a freelance designer. Not only will you have to pay for the design of the print you will need to pay the printing costs which can stack up very quickly which is why many businesses are looking for ways to cut costs.

Unlike web work, print work needs to be right first time. If you or your designer make an error on a document that has been sent to print, then you will be responsible to foot the bill for a reprint. Make sure that the designer has plenty of time to create the artwork and check it for errors before sending it to print.

It is often cheaper to print in bulk, so if you are confident that no changes are likely to be needed in the next 12 months or so, then you may want to increase your order size.

Always shop around to get the most competitive prices. You will often find online companies are cheaper than local companies but can offer the same level of service.

With 2019 well underway many businesses are starting out on a new marketing plan or planning for when they get their new marketing budget later on this year. With Brexit looming over our heads, some businesses have a number of marketing strategies up their sleeve, and will not decide which one to use until they know more about the implications Brexit will have.
Every year you should have a number of goals. Some of these need to be things that you want to do short term and others may be long term goals. When setting marketing goals you need to be realistic and also specific. There is no point in just saying we want to increase sales, you need to establish exactly how you are going to achieve this. It may be that you want to bring a number of new products or services to market. Each product should have an ideal launch date and a strategy in place as to how you are going to inform your target audience of its release, what marketing platforms you are going to use, which geographical locations you are targeting and how much you are going to spend on the marketing.

Many businesses send out electronic business cards throughout the month of December, but did you know this can be a perfect opportunity to boost your marketing? Using your opted-in list, you can mail out your greetings cards and include a special offer to entice previous customers back. Many companies will include a gift card or money off voucher that the customer can use next time they purchase from you.

When designing your Christmas card, try and make it fun and reflect your business. Be sure to include your logo somewhere and engage your customers. If you would rather post a card out then be sure to add the details or your website along with the voucher code they may need for their special offer. You could also add a section to be completed for them to update their details (should they need to and opt into receiving further communication. This will allow you to keep your database up to date.

You may want to reflect the festive theme into your website too so when a link is clicked from the card the website has the same look and feel. You can do this simply by changing your banner or adding some falling snow over the images.

If you have an e-commerce website then you should already be planning for any January or New year sales you may be having. In mid-November, sales start to happen on days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday and after the festive period, many shops decide to have another sale to get rid of last year’s stock.

When advertising sales on a website there is a number of ways in which you can do it. Some businesses decide to show people what items will be in the sale but stop the purchase of these until the day the sale starts. Others will release all the sales products only on the day the sale starts with no time for browsing. The beauty of online sales is you are not restricted to usual shop opening hours so you may find that you get a pick in traffic around midnight on the day of the sale. You need to ensure that your website hosting will be able to manage with the additional traffic and that your checkout process is working as it should be. Making the checkout process easy and fast will entice more people to use it.

Think about how you are going to allow customers to filter your sales products e.g by price, by saving or just by category.

Websites can really help a business grow and can vastly improve sales and conversions. When designing your website you do need to speed a good deal of time not only figuring out what you would like on your site but also how you are going to display it. Psychology plays a massive part in web design as you may be surprised to learn how some subtle differences can have a big impact on how the site is interpreted.

Colours that you decide to use on your site can mean a lot. Colour is a tricky thing. You have to use it in the right way, at the right time, with the right audience, and for the right purpose. If for example you have a website that sells children’s toys then you will want it to be fun and bright and may use a number of different colours to portray this. If you want a website that is all about natural, organic products then you may opt for subtle colours of greens and browns to reiterate what your company is about.

If you want to make something stand out on your website you may be tempted to use a different colour on the font for that section or to surround it with a colourful border.