Imagine IT creates affordable websites for small businesses, mainly in the Somerset and Bristol areas. The design and functionality of a web site is important in making that 'first impression' to a potential customer. Imagine IT specialises in creating visually pleasing web sites that are easy for visitors to navigate and understand. Click here to read "How to Choose a Web Designer" - an article reproduced from SiteProNews. You can decide for yourself whether Imagine IT ticks all the boxes.

Don't know where to start? We offer a design and host service that can cater for any business no matter how small. • A site designed at a sensible price to inform potential customers about your goods and services • Economic solutions for your business • Web presence with confidence • Effective and affordable • Advice from over 15 years of experience • Friendly, prompt service (plain English spoken) • I won't overwhelm you with jargon that you don't understand • I won't oversell you products that you don't need • A comprehensive service (I'll organise everything if required) • Hand-holding for those who need it • Coding compatible with leading browsers PLUS sites that are compatible with mobile devices • Updates at an economical rate • Digital photography service • I also offer competitively priced domain registration and hosting

Getting your business on the web - frequently asked questions Q. How do I get a name (domain name) for my website? A. First you have to think up a domain name for your website. Try to keep it short and relevant to your business and bear in mind that you cannot have a name that is already in use. I am happy to search for a domain name for you and would rather register it for you with our reputable suppliers than have you suffer from registering with 'cowboys'! Q. I've found an available domain name what now? A. The name will need to be registered, contact me and I can arrange that for you Q. How do I get my site on the internet A. First the site needs to be designed and then a host has to be organised and that's about it. Q. This still sounds like a lot of descisions need to be made, what can you do to help? A. I offer a one stop service for those who require it. I can organise and provide everything you would be likely to need. I can help and advise you with every aspect of the process of getting your business on the web. Photograpy, textual content, email, hosting, domain name and everything else. All you have to worry about is how you would like to see your business presented on the internet and I can do the rest.

The development of a successful website is not just dependent on the skill of the designer - it also depends on you. You know your business better than anyone else and it is the information that you provide which will determine the content and success of your website. The more information you can give me about the aims and aspirations of your site the better. Naturally, advice will be given about how the site should be structured for the internet – how the navigation should work etc., but you provide the raw material. Prices for design work will depend on the time required to create your site, let me have an outline of your site and I will give you a quotation – probably less than you think if you read the technology press pages!

Web site Optimisation Web site optimisation falls into three main areas: Browser compatibility Security compatibility Search engine optimisation Browser compatibility: Web browsers are the pieces of software used to view web sites on computers. The most common browser in the world is Microsoft's Internet Explorer but there are a number of others such as Chrome, Opera and FireFox. Not all browsers support all the technologies that can be used in the creation of web sites. In order to make web sites work correctly for users of all the common browsers it is important to choose the technologies used with great care. I will always aim to deliver a web site that both meets the client's requirements and remains fully functional with all common browsers. Security: During the last couple of years security has become a major issue with the internet. Microsoft and others have put in place a large number of safeguards to protect the computer users from attacks from computer hackers, viruses and spam. The downside to this is that some technologies that are used by web designers for perfectly legitimate reasons are now able to be switched off or affected by the computer user as they can be exploited for malicious purposes by computer hackers. Amongst these technologies are Javascript and Flash animations. This is a great pity as Flash for example can add very rich audio-visual content to a web site. To address this issue I have adopted a policy which is that I will use these technologies if there is a good reason to do so. I will however always try to provide an in-built back up within the design so that whatever a user does, your web site will remain fully functional in all important aspects. Here's are an example of what this means: Q. What could happen if your web site used Javascript buttons for navigation between pages (quite a common situation)? A. If the computer user turns off Javascript they will not be able to access any part of your web site except the Home page (not much use but many DIY site builder packages use this method). Search Engine Optimisation: This is a complex issue but to avoid wasting your money please read the following: Anybody who contacts you guaranteeing you first page positioning on Google for a few hundred pounds is not telling the truth. Nobody but Google can make those sort of promises so if you want that sort of guarantee contact Google direct (be warned the cost of this can be very high). The only exception to this might be if your product or service was virtually unique and you weren't competing for business with thousands of others. In this situation, with a carefully written web site, you should get good search engine positioning without paying anything. Getting good search engine positioning takes time, luck and careful web site design. It can take months or years to reach your optimum position in the free rankings. Having a news page can really help you to make friends with search engines (they like sites that have regular new content) Never try to fool search engines - they are very clever at spotting any attempts to do so. Your ranking can be badly affected and it is even possible to be banned for good from Google if you commit what they consider to be a serious offence. An example of this is people who set up a site that purports to sell one thing when actually they are really trying to sell something totally different. These are just a few tips but there is quite a lot more to it than that. I will always be happy to discuss in detail the various ways of tackling this issue and always do my utmost to get you good results with Search Engines by incorporating the most up to date, legitimate practices in the design of your web site.

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