It's been a while since we posted but that's mainly because we've been so busy!!

We've had new sites to create, existing customer websites to update and we've also expanded our SEO offer. So, overall it's been a bit hectic.

Here are the links to some of the new customer sites that we've been busily working on:

Well Necessities
Well Necessities promote Cavislim and a range of wellbeing and beauty products. In addition to the development of the website, we also set up and manage their Google adwords campaign.

Cavislim (Ireland)
Wellness Ireland is a leading wellbeing and beauty retailer in Ireland.

Iron Triathlon
Iron Triathlon is based in South Wales and is a leading supplier of triathlon training services and products. We created their website and also set up the Iron Triathlon blog.

Commercial Fitness Equipment
For the best products and service in the gym sector, see the Commercial Fitness Equipment website. We created the site and also set up the social media accounts, including Facebook and Twitter.

Massage Chairs UK
We love the products on Massage Chairs UK - that's one reason why we were pleased to be able to create the website. How relaxing do those chairs look...?

Keys Fitness
We know lots about websites but not too much about strength training. When we were asked to develop the UK site for Keys Fitness strength products we had some learning to do!!

The things that all of these sites have in common is that we worked very closely with the customers to make sure that the website reflected their business. Throughout the process of creating the sites we suggested different ways of presenting the information and the best ways of getting the sites noticed. All of our customer's were pleased with the results and their testimonials will be the subject of a future blog post.

For more information about how we can help you, please check our website

More New Websites from Website Options

It's been a really busy few months here at Website Options - lots of enquiries and lots of projects to complete. So, we thought that it was about time to update you with some of the websites that have now gone live.

The first group of sites to mention is for Well Necessities - on a previous blog entry we commented on what we'd done with the http://www.well-necessities.co.uk/ project. Following on from this successful launch, the guys and gals (Jimmy Saville impersonation is purely co-incidental) at Well Necessities asked us to develop two further websites for them. The first was a redesign of http://www.massage-chairs-uk.co.uk/ which was morphed into the same branding as Well Necessities, and the second new site was http://www.vibration-nation.co.uk/ which was a brand new site. Again, this has the same corporate branding.

Both of these sites went live on time and on budget with the business owners commenting: "Yet again, we were really pleased with the results that Website Options delivered. They took us through the process one step at a time, explaining the pros and cons of each decision that we had to make. The result was that we now have three great sites that are tailored to meet our specific business needs".

For our part, the main elements of the project was:

1) Secure the domains

2) Develop websites

3) Host websites and set up SSL

4) Fully optimise sites with agreed keywords and phrases

Well Necessities are a new startup business, and along a similar theme we developed the website for another new startup called Keys Fitness.

The specification of the project was typical of most of the projects that we undertake - develop a site, host the site and optimise it to align with the client's business. In the case of Keys Fitness (http://www.keysfitness.co.uk/), who import a range of fitness equipment and sell to UK and Ireland retailers, we also had to develop some Flash, a "register warranty" form and make an interactive map for customers to find a retailer in their area. Again, the project went live on time and to budget - another satisfied customer.

For more information visit us at http://www.website-options.co.uk/

New Customer Site Now Live

We've been busily working on a number of customer websites over the last couple of months - some now complete and some to go live very soon. One of the most interesting sites that we've been working on is http://www.well-necessities.co.uk/ which promotes a new product called Cavislim that uses a technique called cavitation.

Well Necessities - Home of Cavislim

This is what it's all about: "Cavitation is a technique that reduces bodyfat and allows cellulite to be removed selectively, safely and non invasively.

The Cavislim machine uses low frequency ultrasound which is conducted through the skin to break up the fatty tissue into a liquid substance (this is where the term cavitation comes from). This liquid is then passed out of the body when you visit the toilet.

The great thing about Cavitation is that it's perfectly safe, painless and you can do it at home. There's no need for anaesthetic, hospital visits, surgeons or anything else that you normally think of when considering how to reduce the levels of fat in your body."

The brief of this project was to:

• Create the well-necessities.co.uk website
• Design, layout, Flash animation
• Content managed solution - the customer gets to amend all content, product and pricing information at will
• Set up SSL for secure payment
• Set up social networking sites, including blog, Facebook and Twitter
• All SEO including initial setup, submissions and on-going optimisation
• Create and manage Google adwords account (to a given monthly budget)
• Redirects from http://www.cavislim.co.uk/

We were given the task of launching the site to very tight timescales - something that we managed to achieve. The owner of Well Necessities was very pleased with the results:

"We weren't quite sure what to expect when we asked Website Options to develop our site. However, during the process we were kept up to date with what was happening and we could see our site developing, giving our input along the way. It was kept really simple for us, allowing us to focus on the things that mattered - the technical stuff was hidden away and Website Options just got on with it. We wanted our site live quickly and we weren't disappointed - from start to finish only took just over 3 weeks. We're delighted with the results and look forward to working with the Website Options team as our site becomes more prominent on the web".

For more information visit our site at http://www.website-options.co.uk/







Get Results Faster...Keep it Simple

This is Tilly. She's one of the dogs that share the office with us and looking at her in action got me thinking - it's a pretty simple life being a dog. I mean, go for a walk; have some food; find somewhere warm; have a

Is it dinner time yet?

sleep and then repeat all over again. As I said - simple. But it's an effective strategy that's been developed over millions of years.

And what's this got to do with websites I guess you're asking? Well the projects that always seem to work the best are the ones that start out simple and keep to this brief. No complicaticated user selections; no complicated offers; just a clear and simple website that delivers what it's supposed to - more business for you.

It's OK to add more complicated functionality over time, but if introduced at the start of the project it's often the case that the spend on the site increases and the time taken to get the site live extends - and when you want  a new website now these are the last things that you really need. The key question that you need to ask yourself about all aspects of your website is "will this bit of my site attract more customers and make them want to buy from me?" If you're not sure then ask some of your customers or suppliers for an independent opinion. Talking through your ideas with someone often leads you down a different path entirely.

Here at Website Options we have over 20 years experience of developing systems to meet customer requirements and there's not much that we haven't seen before. So, if you're thinking about a new website you can contact us for a no obligation discussion about what you want to achieve and by when. We're not in the business of making false promises so we'll give you a straightforward opinion about your ideas and timetable.

Now...where's Tilly's lead...time for another walk...

For more information please visit us at http://www.website-options.co.uk/

Search Engine Optimisation That Works

Do a search on Google, Yahoo or any of the other major search engines for the term "Search Engine Optimisation" and you'll get pages and pages of advertisments and techno-jargon all claiming to be the answer to getting your site to the number one position. The fact is that there is no easy solution, and no single golden bullet that will achieve this goal for you. It takes some knowhow, patience and above all a well structured plan to achieve a high position for your web pages.

We were tasked by one of our customers, Abacus Fitness, to develop 3 websites for them and to achieve first page positions on Google for all 3 sites for the term "Abacus Fitness Equipment". As you can see from the image below this is exactly what we achieved:

It took about 8 weeks for all of the sites to become visible on page 1 of Google. Our customer has seen an increase in sales as a result of this and other related SEO work that we have completed for them. They estimate that the payback will be less than 1 month so as you'd expect they're delighted.

If you would like more information about the SEO services that we offer then visit us at Website Options (Staffordshire)

Website Sales Strategy - Worth Thinking About?

We're coming across more and more companies who are developing second and third websites to compliment their "main" site. The purpose of these subsequent sites is to focus on specific product groups or categories. As an example, one of our customers has launched 3 websites to promote their range of fitness equipment:

http://www.treadmills-fitness.co.uk/
http://www.exercise-bikes-fitness.co.uk/
http://www.cross-trainers-fitness.co.uk/

The domain names make the purpose of these particular sites self explanatory - the aim is clearly to focus each site on a particular type of fitness equipment. It's an interesting approach to the traditional one - where all of your products are loaded onto a single all purpose website. There are both pros and cons of adopting this multi-website approach, and we've highlighted a few below, but the key question is does it work? The short answer to this is "Yes - of course it does", providing that your website is optimised correctly and you have good quality inbound links.

So what are the pros and cons? Well, here are a few:

Pros

• You are likely to be able to buy domain names that relate to what you're selling - this is more likely to lead to better positions on some search engines
• Your site is full of content that is related to a particular product group and therefore is more likely to be of interest to people who are looking for that type of product. There's nothing quite like buying something of a specialist.
• You can more easily show your products in different groups - such as by brand, price, rating and so on. It's more difficult to do this if you have multiple types of products on your website. The advantage is that your customer can more easily find products that suit their needs.

 Cons

• You have the costs of developing, hosting and maintaining a website multiplied by the number of sites that you have. Actually, it's not quite that bad - there are economies to be had if all of the sites share the same look and feel.
• ....hmm...we're sure that there are more but we haven't come across them yet. Let us know if you have experience of this type of online sales strategy and if you've found any real disadvantages.

As we said at the top this type of website sales strategy is becoming more prevalent - it's one reason why we introduced our Commission based payment option because it gives customers a route to implementing multiple sites for a small investment and therefore very little risk. We'll be monitoring this type of strategy closely and will provide more information in the future.

Find out more at Website Options.

Abacus Fitness Bikes focusses purely on promoting their range of exercise bikes and indoor cycles



Welcome to the Website Options Blog

OK, here goes. It's been a long time coming but we've finally got round to creating our own blog. You know the old saying - 'All plumbers have leaky taps' - well I guess that this applies to us. We've been so busy creating sites and blogs for everyone else that we've neglected our own. However, we're putting that right and from now on we'll be posting on this blog with all of the news, events, promotions and stories related to our company.

We'll keep all of our customers (old, new and yet to be) up to date with all that is happening at Website Options. Come and visit us at http://www.website-options.co.uk/ for full details of what we do and how we do it.