Web development in Scotland – flash

Flash can produce some great looking sites but it can be expensive to put together and it is not very SEO friendly at the moment. By all means use flash but use in sparingly and don’t blow the budget. As web developers we can come up with decent features without resorting to flash.

Web developers in Scotland – fashion

One of the things we notice in web development world is fashion. Images can look dated fast, styles of presentation can look old within months and glitzy animation can suddenly look old hat. We’d recommend holding back on too many expensive whiz bang things and encourage good solid functionality.

Web development in Scotland – shopping carts

A reliable shopping cart is pretty important if you are adding ecommerce. They come in a variety of formats – some free and some expensive. As web developers we build our own – sometime based on others base implementations. We do that so we can stay in control.

Web developers in Scotland – ecommerce

Ecommerce is the quickest way to turn interest into business. So if you have the option to add a shop, then check things out to see what is feasible. Paypal can be a good way to get things started on a limited budget. A decent web development company will help out.

Web development in Scotland – selling

Whatever you are writing for your website the chances are that you want to generate sales. So make sure that all your copy has the benefits of what you offer made obvious. As web developers we often recommend to put call to actions in numerous and multiple locations to help with the chance of converting a visitor to a customer.

Web developers in Scotland – interest

Keeping the interest fresh on your site can be pretty tricky, so regular news and new features are important. Systems like that need good timed content and steady management.

Web development in Scotland – registration

Many CMS systems will provide the ability for visitors to create user accounts. This helps create loyalty if you have resources or information hidden behind the scenes. If you are building customer loyalty via registration type benefits then you will probably need web development help to take care of the tricky areas.

Web developers in Scotland – mobile

As browsers on mobile phones become more sophisticated (Safari on the iphone) then it becomes more important to think about usability on small screens. So if mobility is a factor then consider simple interfaces – good web developers can help.

Web development in Scotland – browsers

When developing your website its important to check it’s behaviour on the various browser – IE, Firefox, Safari etc. Each browser has its own way of handling certain things such as determining widths – so check and double check as web developers we have to.

Web developers in Scotland – width

It’s often just a question of taste but sometimes it also depends on how much you have to say. Some websites will expand their width automatically to ensure they use all the screen available while others are fixed width to either allow the web developer to stay in control of layout or if there isn’t really much info to display.

Web development in Scotland – html

Behind all websites is HTML but thankfully CMS helps web developers avoid that as much as possible. Nonetheless good HTML skills will ensure you get the most from the CMS package you want. As web developers obviously our HTML skills are put to good use often.

Web developers in Scotland – social bookmarking

As you add interesting news and articles to your website a simple way to promote your site is to add the news to a social bookmarking website such as Digg. If you are lucky and have something that appeals then you may attract increased traffic. Social Bookmarking can be a help in website promotion and as web developers we have added bookmarking facilities to much of what we do.

Web development in Scotland – micro sites

If you have a site with a great deal of information and diverse products you may decide to build one or more Micro Sites. This helps with customer focus and to some extent can also help build the back links that can influence SEO and Pagerank. In the world of the web an extra website might be worth the effort.

Web developers in Scotland – promotion

Once you have your website you will want to promote it. As web developers we also offer SEO and marketing advice. In short the best way to promote your website is through Word of Mouse – so use blogs, social bookmarking, online PR and PPC. And of course get your SEO act together.

Web development in Scotland – taglines

As you pull your website together you may suddenly realise that you need a tagline ie XYZ Limited for the best Mutton Pies in Scotland. Makee sure that when you add it to your website that it goes in as a piece of text – not a graphic. If you put it in as an image then google will miss it. We tend to add our own taglines to the breadcrumb trail for the menus.

Sharepoint support in Scotland for enterprise Search

The Enterprise Search facilities within Sharepoint allow users subject to their permissions to look deep into the organization records and data sets. Searches can look into libraries, email folders and as you would expect websites as well.

Web developers in Scotland – timed content

One of the great features of a good CMS is the ability to load up copy and then release it gradually over time article by article. This means that marketing campaigns can be set up and executed in an extremely planned manner. Within our DNN CMS we have such facilities all part of being DNN web developers.

Sharepoint support in Scotland for blogs

Blogs may have grown up as part of the wider internet but are now seen as an effective and easy to implement way of spreading information across the organisation. Sharepoint allows for the easy creation and management of blogs ensuring information can flow easily.

Web development in Scotland – background music

Many CMS packages allow web developers to add background music that automatically starts when the website page is loaded. We don’t encourage this – it can be a bit of a surprise in a quiet office.

Sharepoint support in Scotland for Business Intelligence

Sharepoint provides a range of tools and services to keep your team informed of the latest information. Excel spreadsheets can be exposed as can all manner of reports and charts.

Web developers in Scotland – resources

If you want to add something interesting to your website then a collection of online resources is a good idea. Documents normally in PDF format that give handy and easy to read facts are always welcome. So think about what you can give away – givers gain!

Sharepoint support in Scotland for survey management

Sharepoint plays up the feasibility of using web based forms to gain feedback and survey information. Typical uses could include customer or workforce satisfaction surveys to help you business maintain and improve its performance.

Web development in Scotland – FTP

Many HTML websites simply rely on FTP to get the HTML files live. In CMS packages this is less common as you are entering the copy and images directly onto the server. Web development has come on along way in a short space of time and as web developers we seldom use FTP as a transfer mechanism when developing websites.

Sharepoint support in Scotland for searching for people

Users within your Sharepoint systems can create their own personal profiles and as you would expect these profiles can be searched – allowing large organisations to get the right people connected to the right people.

Web developers in Scotland – security

Wherever you get your hosting from make sure that there is a strong security policy in place and protection set up from viruses. We host with a reputable firm who look after this for us.

Sharepoint support in Scotland for searching public folders

If permitted by administration levels Sharepoint can allow searches to dig deep into public file folders ensuring that your businesses valuable data is used to the utmost.

Web development in Scotland – hosting

As web developers we chose to host our customer’s websites. This gave us maximum flexibility and confidence. It reduced the number of unknowns and it has allowed us to do develop our DNN CMS package without worrying about a separate hosting company having possible restrictions. Hosting can be pretty cheap and pretty lousy as well – but when we supply hosting it comes with support to make sure we can keep our customer websites looking fresh.

Sharepoint support in Scotland using other documents

In addition to using its own templates for websites, Sharepoint allows the user to convert documents such as Word documents into webpages. This can ensure that pages can be created rapidly if required from existing material.

Web developers in Scotland – costs

How much will it cost me? It all depends! Websites are difficult to give prices on and often being able to explain the budget is the quickest way to find out what sort of website you can get. A few hundred will get you little more than a static 4 or 5 page site while several thousands could get you not a lot more if you go to an image consultant type web developer. Set a budget and produce a set of wants and find someone you can trust. It all depends on what you want and what you can afford.

Sharepoint support in Scotland and Visual Studio

Sharepoint allows much of its preconfigured world to be customised and the recommended tools often lie within Microsoft Visual Studio - so if you need to go beyond the standard out the box offerring you will need a good bunch of software developers.