WordPress of course, with our Silver hosting and maintenance package.

The post Northern Ecological Services site update appeared first on Web Design Oban, Argyll and Scotland.

Still working away, almost entirely with WordPress now.

Here’s just a few of the sites we’ve completed or redesigned over the last twelve months.

In July 2016 we completed the conversion of West Highland Sailing’s website to WordPress.

With over fifty pages, the site is bursting with information about the company, the boats and the canal and surrounding countryside.

Zoomable charts of the canal, booking forms, availability calendars, downloadable PDFs of all the major documents and lots and lots of really great photos.

September saw the publication of the Kold Kronicles website, a site for the readers and fans of a new series of groundbreaking fantasy novels.

The author was particularly interested in the blogging side of WordPress, and is using it to good effect to keep in touch with his fan base.

The post Wow, it’s been a long time . . . part 1 appeared first on Web Design Oban, Argyll and Scotland.

Just finished a site for a Zurich-based law firm, GAILEY Law

Based on a bootstrap framework, the site is fully responsive for display on mobile devices.

The post New website for Swiss law firm complete appeared first on Web Design Oban, Argyll and Scotland.

This client  recently became an RYA approved training centre, and wanted a new website to reflect their  growing range of activities and their new status. 

Special features include:

• Colour coded top level menu with dropdowns – all coded in CSS and HTML so search engine friendly and easily modified or added to

• Different top graphic for different sections but tied together with our new interpretation of their logo

• Weather widget on the home page

• Social media integration with Twitter and Facebook  Share buttons

• Lightbox photo galleries for the Projects section

• Scrolling news ticker on home page

Future development on the site will include a complimentary WordPress section  for news, events and sales which the client will be able to keep updated themselves.

The post New Site for Craobh Haven Watersports appeared first on Web Design Oban, Argyll and Scotland.

For a directory site to be any use it has to be inclusive, not exclusive. If I want to look up, for example, bed and breakfast establishments in Oban, I want to be able to look through a complete list, not just those who have paid to be listed. I want some sensible information and if it interests me  then I want to be able to click straight through to the establishment’s website.

But, I hear you say, who would set up such a directory? What is their motivation if not to sell paid entries?

Well, there is a business model – although I have to say it is not a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. Firstly, spend dozens or hundreds of hours setting up the  site. Research it so as many  relevant businesses as possible are included. Code it all carefully by hand, optimise it and wait a few years for it to rise to the top of Google for lots of relevant search terms.  Keep it up to date and make it easy for new businesses to contact you to add their listing – but keep editorial control, no automated submissions. Then try and sell some advertising.

So why would people advertise if they can have a free listing? Well, because with dozens of your competitors sharing a page or section of the directory – and with that page attracting lots of potential customers – it is in your interest to make your business stand out. Now make the advertisements so cheap it is almost a no-brainer and perhaps – just perhaps – you will start to make a tiny amount of money from the site.

We set up such a site – Oban and Lorn Online – in October  2000. Over the years it has made us a  steady trickle of money – a few hundred a year at best – but it has also brought in some new web design business as well, so for us it has been worth it.

However, at the age of 11 years and counting the site was looking dated to say the least, so it has now had a complete update.

A total of around 60 hours has been spent creating a new look, converting the old HTML-only layout to a new CSS-powered model,  integrating the site with social media, transferring the data manually to the new format, checking all entires for validity  and adding lots of new sites. We hope you will like the result – a shiny new fully inclusive Oban business directory listing over 400 businesses that will continue to perform superbly in Google for all manner of relevant search terms. Help us to keep it up to date and let us know of any businesses or organisations  in the area with a website that is not included.

We do not expect to get rich any time soon . . .

LINK

Oban and Lorn Online

The post Anatomy of a project – Oban and Lorn Online appeared first on Web Design Oban, Argyll and Scotland.