Posts Tagged ‘SEO’

0510.11

How Optix Solutions are more ‘A La Carte’ than ‘Ready Meal’

Posted by Amanda in Design, Development, Online Marketing, SEO

Ever wondered what to expect when you task us with creating and building a website?

We strongly believe that any project is a partnership with a Client. We regularly consult and communicate with our Clients, creating an open channel for feedback and discussion. We strive to ensure the end result exceeds our Client’s expectations and more than fulfils their brief. We don’t pick a template off the shelf, tweak a few graphics and themes – much like you running into the Supermarket and selecting a quick and easy ready meal. Every site we create is bespoke and designed specifically for you, just as if you’d had your own chef and skilled team at home to create a meal from scratch using the finest ingredients.

So you’ve given us the go ahead, what happens next?

After we have assigned a Project Manager to you, we will take you through the following stages;

  • Online Marketing Consultation. Our OLM team would consult with you on your options for optimising your site and continuing support within this field. Should you choose to add this invaluable service to your site, they will continue to consult with both yourself and the design and development teams throughout the following stages.
  • Wireframe. A wireframe is a working model of a site, without any design. It allows us to test the functionality of a site before we start the design and build process, ensuring all requirements have been thoroughly considered. At this stage, we will heavily consult with you and the brief you have put together for us.
  • Design concept. Once the wireframe has been signed off by you, the next stage is design. Our award-winning design team will meet with you to understand what key messages you want the site to convey from a brand point of view, so that they can be taken into consideration when designing the initial concept for your review.
  • Development. Once the design is signed off by you, we proceed to the development stage. This is the process by which we take a static design and start to build the working site, building and connecting elements and creating functionality. These can include links to emails, contact forms or development such as a content management system that allows you to control the content on your site with the design – this would give you the ability to regularly update text and images on the site yourself going forward.
  • Functionality testing. Once the development stage has been completed, the project will be delivered to your Account Manager to check that all required functionality is in place. An element of user testing will be carried out to identify and correct as many “bugs” as humanly possible before delivering the project to you for acceptance testing.
  • Project Delivery/CMS Training. At this stage, we deliver the project to you for acceptance testing. We’ll provide you with training on how to use the bespoke content management system we have developed for you, and give you time to test the site and functionality to ensure that you are happy with how it works. We will then meet with you to discuss any changes you would like to have made. It may be that some of these changes are additional development, if that is the case we will provide you with an estimate for their integration into the site and a project timeline for their completion. This will give you the opportunity to decide if you want to include these features in the site before going live, or they can be added after the site has been made live.
  • Cross Browser Testing. Any changes you require that are within the specification of the project will be carried out at this stage. It is at this stage that we will also complete a process known as cross-browser testing, which helps us ensure that your site works sufficiently in Internet Explorer +, Firefox, Safari and Opera on both Macintosh computers and PCs.
  • Site goes live. When you are ready, we will make the site live.

We pride ourselves in our work, and believe in taking the time and making the effort to ensure everything we produce is to a very high standard.

If you’d like to know more, we’d love to hear from you.

 

 

 

2309.11

The Eden Project chooses Optix Solutions to optimise its shop’s online presence

Posted by Amanda in Company News, Online Marketing, SEO

Optix Solutions has been providing online marketing services in the South West for over 12 years and has built a reputation as one of the region’s major players. The move by the Eden Project to contract the company for the provision of search engine marketing and social media services is another great addition to the portfolio of the Exeter-based firm.

This month Optix Solutions will begin working with the Eden Project’s internal marketing and communications team to increase visibility of the web shop online, reach customers in new ways and increase sales to this already popular and successful website.

The Eden Project has already invested in services such as search engine optimisation, pay-per-click (PPC) marketing and social media communications, and now wants to fine-tune its approach and try out some new tactics.

‘In recent months, we’ve been looking at our approach to online sales and how we can reach our customers in different ways. We already have a strong PPC and email marketing strategy, and wanted to support this with some fresh new ideas. After meeting Optix Solutions at LikeMinds Social Media conference, we felt we’d met a team to help us deliver some creative new approaches that complement our existing work. With their strong interest in social media, as well as more traditional digital marketing, we believe we can develop some exciting new ideas that will change the way we drive our online sales,” said Nina Whitby, Editor of the Digital Team at The Eden Project. 

The work will start with a consultancy piece being carried out on the current online shop to look at how well that is performing. The teams at Optix and the Eden Project will then work together to improve the overall visibility of the site in the search engines with the overall goal of increasing online sales. 

‘Working with such a well-recognised name in the country will be fantastic. Coming just months after we started working with Exeter University, it’s an awesome achievement to be recognised by another major organisation and able to share our knowledge, to help them reach their goals,’ said Daniel Cave, Head of Online Marketing at Optix Solutions.

The Eden Project sells many of its retail products online at http://www.edenproject.com/shop. Any successful site can always be improved by clever use of the latest technologies. The teams at Optix and the Eden Project are looking forward to working together on this project over the months and years to come.

Optix Solutions, one of the region’s leading web and online marketing companies, provides a consultative service for forward thinking and ambitious companies and organisations looking to improve and build on their presence online. You can contact them us on info@optixsolutions.co.uk or 01392 667766

1403.11

Exeter Web Design Company builds an Ecommerce site for a Global Broadcast Equipment Supplier, complete with additional eAuction Site.

Posted by Amanda in Company News, Design, Development, E-Commerce, Online Marketing, SEO

Gearhouse Broadcast  were one of Optix Solutions’ first customers and have worked with them for over ten years. Exeter Web Design Company, Optix Solutions were delighted when they were commissioned to design and build a global website encompassing Gearhouse Broadcast’s operations across five continents.

Gearhouse Broadcast have worked behind the scenes on many prestigious projects – such as the technical infrastructure they provided for the Commonwealth Games, Beijing Olympics and they are the sole technical provider for I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

Gearhouse Broadcast have four very different aspects to their business, Sales, Rentals, Project Solutions and System Integration, in five different countries around the world. One of the challenges for Optix Solutions was how fundamental it was that the new site was able to serve not only the unique needs of each sector – but also their geographical region. Each business area needed to cross promote complimentary areas of their business – for instance if someone was looking to buy a camera, the site needed to prompt the user that it could also be rented.

Optix Solutions had the challenge of ensuring multiple staff from around the world were able to update content, each business area needing to be tailored to the specific needs of each global sector.

The main features of the new website include:

  • More room for promotion of offers / deals in key areas of the sales/rental pages
  • New design and state of the art infrastructure – allowing the client to pull in relevant information (like case studies) to other areas of the site
  • Unique look and feel for each area of the business
  • Site designed to incorporate the client’s new brand identity
  • Site was fully optimised for SEO and Online Marketing

As well as the redesign of the new site, Optix Solutions also produced an eAuction site. One of the problems Gearhouse Broadcast faced was the large volume of equipment they needed to purchase for one off projects, such as the Olympics. They would be left with an over stock of equipment, that would rapidly decline in value and reduction in revenue.

The purpose of the eAuction site was to allow Gearhouse Broadcast to set up and run their own auctions, thus being able to sell bulk quantities of equipment, maintain their revenue stream and not be left with large levels of depreciating stock. Customers were given the option to request registration, and if approved by the client could subsequently register and bid on auctions. The first auction ran in late 2010 and was a great success. Optix Solutions intend to build on the functionality of the model and roll out the eAuction concept to other clients in the future