Mid Devon businesses benefit from SitesPlus web workshops

Uffculme School have teamed up with SitesPlus and the Blackdown Hills Business Association to host a Summer School for local businesses.

The theme is ‘Getting Wise to the Web’ and involves 4 workshops over consecutive Thursdays evenings in June and July.

Aimed solely at ‘non-tecchies’, the workshops are open to local small businesses, students, teachers, parents and anyone who is thinking of setting up a business.

All workshops are hands-on and will start at 6pm with tea and coffee and finish by 9pm on the following dates:

- 18th June – Understanding websites – an introduction, for the non-technical, to understand how websites work and the options available to building a website. Ideal for those looking to create a website for their business or who wish to improve the effectiveness of their existing site.  The session will illustrate the benefits of integrating a content management system into the solution of their choice, with hands-on experience of the SitesPlus CMS.

- 25th June – How to manipulate images – Recognised as one of the most tricky areas in building, or maintaining, a website.  The session includes an understanding of pixels, jpegs and gifs but concentrates on the practical aspects of working with images, such as re-sizing and cropping. During the session, there will be opportunities to upload onto SitesPlus and manipulate images plus tips to save images for web use.

-  2nd July – Search Engine Optimisation– gives an insight into how search engines work and how to improve search engine rankings.  The general focus is on the most popular search engine, Google, with checklists and tools on how to make a website Google-friendly. The session creates a base-line for each site and gives guidance on improving PageRank and Google visibility.

- 9th July Google AdWords – an introduction to setting up and running a Google AdWords campaign (the sponsored links section on Google Search). The session will include: tips on choosing keywords, costs, campaign management and money saving tips.

Val Baker, from the BHBA says ‘The workshops will take people on a journey from understanding the very basics, right through to starting Google campaigns. We hope that the knowledge businesses will gain gives them much more control of their own online presence.’

Lorraine Heath, Head of Uffculme School said ‘We’re delighted that we’ve been able to offer these workshops for free.  As an IT specialist status school, we have the best technology available to host events such as these. We really hope to welcome people both from the school and those who’ve never visited us before.’

To book for all 4 workshops or individual sessions, call Rosie on 01884 840458 (Uffculme School number)  or book online at the Blackdown Hills Business Association website www.bhba.org.uk . Places are limited so book early!

Updated image briefing

We’ve updated our briefing that deals with images http://www.sitesplus.co.uk/briefings/3_images_and_downloads.pdf

We’ve updated it with instructions on cropping and re-sizing using the new picnik software. We think this is the best image manipulation software out there in the market, and it’s free!

You do need Flash installed on your computer to use it though. But don’t worry, most people have that pre-installed now.

This guide will help you to painlessly upload your own website images. If you do get stuck, remember we’re on hand to help. Email us support@sitesplus.co.uk

Regards
Kate at SitesPlus HQ

SitesPlus website and brand launch

Great news!  Our new-look website and branding is now live. www.sitesplus.co.uk

Please let us know what you think, we really welcome your thoughts and reactions to the changes. 

If you see something you particularly like, or dislike, or just want to share an idea with us, please leave a comment at the end of the blog or email us direct.

New website

Our new SitesPlus website is so very, nearly, ready to go live!

We’ll email you to let you know when and we’d love your help in letting us know what you think too.

Send any feedback to us at SitesPlus in the usual way. Thanks
Kate

AdWord Webinars

Google has created a series of webinars based around their Pay Per Click product, AdWords. Many of you who have been on SitesPlus Workshops will know how important it is to keep up to date with AdWords, particularly if you are using it as part of your marketing campaign. So here’s your chance.

Here’s what Google’s saying about their webinars

• Want to learn how to get more out of your AdWords campaigns?
• Looking for account management tips from AdWords professionals?
• Ready to boost your ROI and drive more business to your site?
• Want to know more about specific AdWords products?

Some webinars are on demand and some are date specific, so see for yourself. Let us know what you think too. Visit http://www.google.com/adwords/webinars/

Kate

All change for Spring!

Earlier in the year, SitesPlus was very fortunate to have been awarded support from a Design Council Project to help us develop a brand around the service we offer.

As a result, we have a new brand identity, with a new logo, website and marketing materials.

It’s all still being finalised but we thought you might like to see a sneak preview of the work that has already been completed.

Here’s the new SitesPlus logo (in four colours depending on what we’re using it for)

And here’s a view of the new web site home page – we’ll let you know when it’s going live!

We’d love to know what you think. Please email us at support@sitesplus.co.uk   to give your thoughts.

Customer survey

As part of the ongoing commitment to improving our service, SitesPlus has commissioned a third party to carry out an independent customer survey.

This involves talking to a number of subscribers selected at random by the researcher.  If you should receive a call from Matthew in the next few days, we would be grateful if you could give him just a couple of minutes to answer a few questions.  All responses will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Please let me know if you have any queries and thank you in advance for helping us with our first quality audit.Email us on support@sitesplus.co.uk or call on 0845 094 6108.

New Year’s website detox plan

Is there a better way to start the year than to give your SitesPlus website a detox?

Here’s our SitesPlus Detox Plan

Optimise your home page images

Is your home page feeling sluggish? Maybe it’s time to get new images or re-size the ones you have. Email us at support@sitesplus.co.uk for our worksheet for hints and tips. Our favourite site for images is www.istockphoto.com or if you’re after tourist shots, then try www.southwestbrand.info – these are great and free too!

Write some new home page content
Treat your text to a make-over, think about ways you could improve your home page text, does it read OK? If not, try to re-write sections if you can.

Have a go too at including your business name and the area you serve. Put it into the first paragraph of your text. Then repeat the details at the end of your page too.

Call or email us at SitesPlus for some more hints and tips.

Merry Christmas

We’d like to take this opportunity to wish all our SitesPlus subscribers (and triallers!) a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

We’ve been so grateful to you all for your encouragement and support throughout this year.

We’ll be closing our support line on 24th December and re-opening on 5th January 2009. If however, you do have an urgent request, please do email us or contact Kate on her mobile, the details of which will be left on the voicemail.

We do hope you have a peaceful Christmas and look forward to working with you on your sites in the New Year.

Kate and the SitesPlus support team.

Flat rate post and packaging option in SitesPlus Shopping catalogue

Flat-rate postage and packing

There are now 2 ways to charge postage and packing to your customers on your SitesPlus website.
 
1. Postage per item – to do this simply add postage to every item you input into the catalogue

2. Flat-rate postage per order – automatically adds a flat-rate postage charge to the total order value, regardless of the number of items purchased.

Flat-rate postage per order

This flat-rate charge will be added at the checkout page, rather than shown on every item.

If you are using this flat rate, make sure you are not charging post and packaging on individual items.

You might want to include a comment in your introductory paragraph explaining the flat rate charge for postage and packing.

Let us know how this works for you? Comments to support@sitesplus.co.uk