The DV8 Blog

Sheppards Chartered Accountants

Plymouth chartered accountants firm Sheppard Walbridge have recently changed their name after completing the merger of 3 business into one. As part of the move clients and staff from both Metherell Gard and SW Accounting Services were brought together under one organisation, Sheppard Walbridge. To simplify things even further, the company’s management Yvonne Sheppard and husband Ian, decided to move the new business forward under the title of Sheppards Chartered Accountants. 

As part of the new approach the company have recently developed a new brand and website to reflect the improved position of the business in its new form, raising awareness for both existing clients and potential new ones.   

Yvonne Sheppard said, “The company has been trading as Sheppard Walbridge but for convenience we will shortly be trading as ‘Sheppards’.  Together, our team offer a personal, professional approach, working hard to understand our clients’ business in order to provide successful results.” 

 Visit the website here: www.sheppardaccountants.co.uk

DV8 Media have been commissioned to build an online shop for Burns Wood, supplier of carbon neutral fuels.  Based in Elburton, Burns Wood specialise in the supply of dry, ready to burn wood fuels delivered to your door.  Service includes FREE delivery in the PL1-PL9, PL20-PL21, TQ10 & TQ11 areas.  Planned launch date for the online store is October.

Tree Appeal have planted trees in schools throughout the UK and Ireland and are looking for more locations.  Selection will be based on the highest number of nominations received, so nominate your local school and ask others to do the same! Professor David Bellamy will also visit 5 lucky schools throughout the year on behalf of the Tree Appeal.  

To nominate, go to http://www.printing.com/services/nominate?source=F321

Langage Farm - Devon Cream Tea PDO

Ever been sold a sub-standard Devon Cream Tea with squirty cream or ingredients that are clearly not produced here in our fine county?  DV8 support the bid by new client Langage Farm to get European protection of origin for the great ‘Devon Cream Tea’! 

Previously built using the older method of tables, DV8 were brought in to manage, develop and bring the existing Langage Farm site up to current web standards (using CSS), ensuring that search engines are able to read the full content of the pages and enabling them to index them correctly.  We also created and branded ‘The Daily Moos’ blog, linked it to social media profiles, added bookmarking and a tag cloud.  In appreciation of the bid for its protected status , we used flash animation to allow users to ‘create the ultimate Devon Cream Tea’ and to register their support online!

To register your support for FREE and protect the Devon Cream Tea, go to www.langagefarm.com/creamtea.html

Facebook have today announced they registered their 500 millionth user recently, with over 100 million users signing up in the last 6 months. This (as if we needed it) is further evidence that social media is not only ingrained in peoples everyday lives but is still consistently gathering pace, in terms of increasing its number of users. 26 million of the current users are registered in the UK.

Read the BBC Technology News Article 

Website Launch - Universal Fire & Security

DV8 Media have recently helped launch a new website for Devon firm Universal Fire & Security.

Universal Fire & Security are based in Plymouth and are a leading supplier of fire and security systems in Devon and Cornwall. They are charged with looking after some of the city’s most important buildings and landmarks, working with organisations such as;  Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth City Council, The National Trust and Plymouth City Airport. The new website will reinforce the company’s position in the market place and ensure they remain competitive by demonstrating the full range of technology and expertise they provide.

DV8 Media have enjoyed an excellent working relationship with Universal’s Mark Gibson, since first being commissioned over 5 years ago.

Mr Gibson said; “It is so difficult when you want to develop a website to know what you want it to look like and what you want it to do, the guys at DV8 Media make the decision making simple and hold your hand throughout the process ensuring that you get what you want. I think the end result speaks volumes for their attention to detail and I would recommend DV8 Media to anyone wanting a professionally designed and hosted website”

Visit the site: www.universalfireandsecurity.co.uk

I have many small business owners approach me with a look of panic in their face; our website lets us down! We are not on Google! Our competitors are getting 1,000,000 hits a month! (oh really?, ed) We need to be on Twitter! What is Twitter!

The common problem is that there is no real, structured, short or long term plan in place for the company’s website. In every other aspect of the business there will be process, planning and allocating of resources to ensure the desired outcome, when it comes to the website; this is not always the case. Without a clear strategy and a process for measuring the results, it is impossible to make the right decisions.

In attempt to help more readers get a hold on their website and internet strategy, I have put together the first 3 of 7 core (4-7 will follow in a later post) considerations before you begin. These focus points may seem obvious to some but it is surprising how many businesses do not take them into account.

1. Define your websites primary business goal

Every site has a primary business goal, more often than not there will be secondary and tertiary goals too. It is only with a set goals that you can begin to measure whether your site is succeeding or not. Is your websites business goal to;

Complete an online transaction?

Encourage customer contact or interaction?

To generate new business leads?

Deliver information?

2. Define the target audience

Consider who your potential audience is, or who you would like them to be. The design and content of a website usually dictates the kind of audience it will attract, the most common mistake is that more visitors to the site is proof of achieving a suitable goal. In truth it would be better to have a lower number of visitors which all fit your desired customer profile, than to have a high number of visitors that don’t.

3. Produce suitable content for your website audience

Having up to date, relevant and useful content on your website is of utmost importance. For all the trickery you may hear about, what visitors and search engines alike both want to see is good quality content. We have already discovered who your audience are in step 2, now we should develop the website content in a way that will best satisfy that target audience. Your website should be viewed as organic, by keeping your website regularly updated with new and changing content; you will increase the value to both the visitor and the search engines.

That’s all for now, I’ll come back with the second part of this post soon.

We are very pleased to announce that after a fruitful tender process, Plymouth Community homes have selected DV8 Media for a re-branding exercise, including print collateral and website development.

Plymouth Community Homes are a new not-for-profit housing association, which has been set up to receive the transfer of about 15000 properties from Plymouth City Council. It is registered as a social landlord with the Tenant Services Authority and is the largest locally based social housing provider in Plymouth.

Visit the site: www.colourwavegraphics.com

The New Pawmark Store

Long term DV8 Media client, Pawmark Pet Supplies, have achieved a record quarter for the online sales side of their business. DV8 worked with Pawmark through October and November 2009 to improve the standard of their online store, for both their customers and in terms of search engine optimisation. The new and improved store went live on December 1st and has since recorded record months for December, January and February.

Due to the improvements the DV8 Media team implemented, visitor traffic increased by 40% for January 2010, compared to January 2009 and online sales for the same periods show a sales value increase of 114%.

“We are already seeing a rapid increase in sales in one month after the new website was introduced; DV8 Media are a credit to any business!”  -  Mark Sprague – Director, Pawmark Pet Supplies Ltd

 Visit the site: www.pawmark.co.uk