Website design is about striking a balance between aesthetics, technology, information and user experience. The idea is to structure information and design simple, visually attractive websites, that are easy to navigate and create a satisfying user experience.

Creating an identity for your business through branding and the use of typefaces and colour gives you an instantly recognisable 'look' for your target audience. The consistency that comes from having a strong visual brand will not only set you apart from your competitors, but will also enable you to have a public profile that is associated with your business only.

Quality content is key. It must engage and inform, to create an action. There are no two (or three) ways about it. If you want to engage your viewers and guide them through your website, you need to supply them with relevant useful information that will persuade them to act. This can be by the users contacting you directly, or by them making the decision to book, buy or refer.

It's not just about your marketing however, people visit a website to find out information. Your website content must also reflect who you are as a business, what you offer, and create a connection with the user so you are seen as trustworthy and professional.

HIgh quality, relevant imagery is as important as good copy. A picture says a thousand words.

People tend to spend squillions on cars, accountants and marketing, to name but a few, but they fail to see the importance of quality photography.

Its not just about aesthetics, a fantastic image can reflect your service at it's best. Quality is about the whole package.

Now here comes the debate... Do you DIY? Or do you pay a web person to maintain your site content. Here's the answer:

If you want to manage your content (copy and images) yourself once the site has been launched, make sure you have a dedicated person in your work place to take on that role. That person will need to learn how to use the system so there will be some training involved.

The other factors you need to consider are: how often will you be updating the content of your website? If you're only going to freshen it up once a year, it's probably not worth the costs involved.

Depending on what your requirements are, there are a number of solutions for e-commerce. It predominantly depends on how many products you want to sell. This reflects on the amount of administration needed to run your store, and what functionality you may require.

As consumers' confidence continues to grow for buying online goods, the need for fast, secure, credit cards transactions increases.

We can advise you on which solution would best suit your needs from a simple Paypal donate button, to a full featured online store.

Word Press, Twitter, Facebook. This is the era for social networking!

Word Press is the King/Queen of the blog. We can set you up with a website and blog so you can build a dialogue with your customers. Word Press is actually really cool and we are getting to like it more and more...

Facebook is fast becoming a platform for online business and is great for search engine ranking. We can set your business up on facebook ready for you to take over and manage yourself.

(You'll have to ask us about Twitter as I've run out of room!)

From news articles to special offers, email newsletters provide an excellent cost-effective marketing tool to connect personally with your clients and keep them up-to-date with your business.

The system we use means you manage your online account. We create beautiful branded templates for you to use, and you pay as you go!

The results can also be measured. Everytime you send out a bulk email the system will tell you who has opened it, who hasn't, and what links they have clicked on. The best thing about is that it's really easy to use, it's immediate direct marketing and it gets results.

Your website needs to work for you, otherwise what's the point of the financial investment?

Having a website that is aesthetically pleasing and contains excellent content is only half the task. Marketing your website so that you reach your target audience is crucial to generating repeat interest and sales.

A website can be so much more than just an online brochure - it can generate income. To do this, effective online marketing strategies must be implemented to convert visits to sales and repeat business.

Lets face it, websites have been around for a while now. This means a lot of current sites may have been online for 5 - 10 years or longer.

So much has changed since then not only with technology, but also with your business. The majority of websites online today do not reflect businesses at their best, neither do they generate results.

We can audit your website and create a report containing practical actionable suggestions to improve your websites traffic, usability and income. You can then decide what action to take.

Web_Ranger offers hosting and domain name registration.

We can also set up your email addresses and guide you through the process of activating your email account through your favourite application like Outlook Express or Mac Mail.