• Straightforward and intuitive edit pages from which you add or change your site content
• You can link or embed images, video, audio and other multimedia as required
• You can revert to an earlier version of a page if you make a mistake
• Your site can be extended to include such functionality as questionnaires, polls, carts
• Automatic scheduled backups of your site content which can be restored at any time
• A sophisticated permissions system enables you to safely authorise staff to make site changes
• You may enable RSS feeds to and from your site
• You may link to community networking sites such as FaceBook and Twitter
• You have full control over search engine page content descriptions and keywords
• Notification of any changes you make are automatically submitted to the primary search engines
• Statistical visitor data available from the web server log files
• Google Analytics visitor data analysis and more
• Automatic generation of comprehensive site maps and submission to major search engines
• Help files available on your site with additional help pages here on this site.
• Unlimited email accounts on your domain

ABOVE & BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY

• Three months free support with assistance to learn the management system but also an ongoing helping hand to keep your site looking good and functioning well. Generally we do not charge for responding to a 'Help me, I'm stuck' call. Additional charges would apply only if substantial changes and extensions are required that were not within the scope of the initial understanding.
• Periodic SEO tweaks to improve search engine ranking.
• Free maintenance in repect of updated modules becoming available. These would be uploaded and configured without charge so your site remains up-to-date and secure.

• LIST YOUR OBJECTIVES - A clear idea of what you would like to achieve from your website goes a long way when deciding how to approach the project. Prioritise your main goals so that these can be considered at every step of the process.
• REGISTER A DOMAIN NAME - Your web address must be easy to remember, therefore keep it as short as possible while still succinctly describing your company or your business. You will often need to tell people your website over the phone, so bear this in mind when selecting a name. Contact us or your ISP to find out how to check domain name availability.
• ASSIGN RESPONSIBILITIES - If you have a team of staff, assign one member to be the 'Web-Coordinator' within your company. They will liase with your web designer and communicate all materials and instructions. This will ensure consistency, save time and help avoid conflicts.
• GET ORGANISED AHEAD OF TIME - Once your website is on the net, your web address should be featured on your business cards, letterhead, company newsletter, in fact on all stationery and advertising. Do not overlook this in signage on your building and vehicles. We are astounded at the number of companies who invest good income in a web site and who then forget about the importance of listing it at every available opportunity. It's rather like leaving your PO box number or your street address off your letterhead!!
• PLAN YOUR CONTENT - Put together a basic structure for your intended website with sections and pages logically grouped together how you would like to see them on the website. We will be able to help you with this, so don't worry if you get stuck, but even spending a half hour putting something basic together will help immensely when it comes time to constructing the site.
• CONTENT IS CRUCIAL - No-one knows your company like you do, and certainly not your web designer! While we will try our best to fully understand your company, the task of writing at least an outline of the text for your web pages will be up to you.
• BRAND CONSISTENCY - A good web designer will retain brand consistency between your new website and your existing marketing initiatives. We will ask you for samples of your existing business cards, letterhead, brochures, videos, advertising and any other marketing materials that convey your company brand. Why not get them ready now?
• OFFICIAL LAUNCH - When your website is launched you will want your customers and suppliers to know about it. It's worthwhile thinking about how you will do this and who you want to tell so there is time to plan your launch. We can help you with this and the production of printed promotional materials
• PROMOTION - It's not enough just to build a website - you have to let people know that it's there! Depending on your budget, leave room for some site promotion. TV, radio and print advertising are the traditional methods, but you should first consider the more cost-effective methods of search engine placement, email stationery, and online advertising.
• MAINTENANCE - Most websites require regular updating to retain the interest of your customers and to indicate new products or directions your company might be taking. These days, the sites we build all have built in facilities that allow you to change content at will. If you don't feel comfortable about undertaking this task we will, of course, make your updates for you. This is not part of the free support we offer - we charge for updating on an hourly basis. We will, however, encourage you to do this yourself - it is surprisingly easy.

One of the great benefits of building with the modular Drupal framework is the relative ease with which additional functionality may be added. We have a wide range of modular site enhancements and extensions available. These can add new features or extend core functionality. Most of these enhancements are available at modest additional cost and may be added to an existing Drupal installation without the need for major restructuring of the site. The list that follows is not by any means exhaustive but will give an indication of the possibilities.

• The ability to conduct web surveys and polls
• E-commerce applications - shopping carts , on~line payment collection
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) options
• Distance learning - teaching, training and student assessment environments
• Family tree or genealogy websites
• Image galleries, slideshows and multimedia displays
• Customisations for real estate and other specialised sales applications
• Modules applicable to social networking applications such as forums, chat, classified advertising, messaging
• Event Calendar
• Wiki sites
• On-line document management solutions
• Provision for incoming and outgoing RSS feeds
• Booking systems for accommodation, travel
• Magazine style internet publishing, free or paid
• Job search and similar site features
• Web-based document management
• Audio reader available for those with impaired hearing
• Connection to internet payment processing service
• Animation enhancements such as animated gifs or flash video
• Web server browser-based file management tools
• Secure company and client areas

POLLS & SURVEYS

If you wish to conduct some market research and are looking for a suitable tool to gather the information, the internet really is the farthest reaching and most cost effective vehicle available. Whether you already have an existing web site or not we can tailor a solution to meet your needs be they long or short term.

To illustrate, lets look at a real-life example. A small radio station cannot afford to participate in one of the national listenership surveysand consequently is unable to give any statistical information about listener demographics to potential advertisers. This is a serious shortcoming. Now, this station has a web site. They have overlooked its potential to gather listenership information quickly and easily. By building a survey on the site and then using the station to advertise its presence (perhaps offering small random prizes to those who take the trouble to complete the questionnaire) within a short span of time, a month or two, the station administrators can glean a lot of useful information about their listeners. This really is quite straightforward to set up and can be done, if needs be, using a sub-domain, for example, survey.radiostation.co.nz or a specified page like www.radiostation.co.nz/survey.

If you need to conduct a survey or poll please talk to us even if you do not have an existing site - we have the capability to offer permanent or short-term solutions. You may be surprised at how quickly we can help you achieve results and how relatively inexpensive the exercise can be. Remember, too, that once the addition had been made to your domain it is there and able to be used over again as future needs arise.

WIKI SITES

A wiki (pronounced WIK-ee) is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a rich text editor. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power family and community websites, for personal note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge management systems.

A fine example is the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia. In contrast, open purpose wikis accept all sorts of content without rigid rules as to how the content should be organized.

Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work." Wiki is a Hawaiian word for fast and is an acronym for What I Know Is.

If your needs are for a site of this genre, please talk to us because we can set this up for you.

We are offering one of the best prices in the marketplace, so give us a call if you are needing a fully-fitted online store.

Our e-commerce sites are built using Ubercart, an open source e-commerce solution that fully integrates with Drupal and can connect to a wide range of on-line payment processing services.

Ubercart leverages the advantages of Drupal's modular system, providing our clients with shopping cart functionality that integrates with other parts of their company website. We can add to or alter Ubercart features to accommodate virtually any e-commerce need. The modular design of the Drupal CMS also means that it is straightforward to add new features and thus meet the needs of a growing business.

By no means an exhaustive list, Ubercart can meet the following e-commerce needs:

• Sell physical goods from any sized illustrated product catalogue.
• Sell file downloads (i.e. music, videos, software).
• Sell tickets and event registrations.
• Sell site access for members only websites, including automatic renewals and expiration of user access.

Current Features:

• Configurable product catalogue includes catalogue pages and a block to display product categories.
• Flexible product creation system. Create normal products by default. If required, modify the Add Products pages with customised data fields to store additional product information.
• Flexible product attributes system. User selectable attributes (size, colour etc.) for your products that modify the price, SKU/model, and/or weight of items as the customer adds them to his or her cart. Set default attribute/option sets for each product class to easily create many similar products.
• Single page checkout. All checkout information gathered on a single screen composed of configurable and customisable checkout panes.
• Automatic account generation (anonymous checkout). Accounts and emails are automatically generated based on the customer's e-mail address. (Optional setting allows customers to specify account names and passwords in checkout.) For return customers, previously used addresses will be listed on the checkout page for easy access.
• Simple order processing. The order administration screens have been designed by and for our salesmen. We believe there is always room for improvement and will try to make it happen! Order screens use the "pane" model, so the screens are configurable and extensible to accommodate a wide variety of e-commerce applications.
• Simple order creation and editing. Easy to create orders manually for customers, adding products, shipping prices, etc. from a single screen. Line items system makes it easy to add fees, discounts, and coupons to orders.
• International pricing system. Switch prices storewide to visitor's national currency. May be used to add shipping or calculate tax for different countries.
• Integrated payment system that acts as a bridge between acceptable payment methods (check, credit card, cod, etc.) and payment gateways (Cyber Source, Authorize.net, PayPal, etc.). Configurable payment processing and tracking, and easy to use credit card terminal with varying levels of access.
• Activity logging. Enable logging to see all the changes made to an order, including payment processing. (Your accountant will love this!)
• XML import/export allows you import products, attributes, orders, and customers from your old store into Ubercart or export products, attributes, orders, and customers from your Ubercart store

For an indication of the cost of building an on-line store see our web site costs discussion below.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a widely-implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. Customer relationship management describes a company-wide business strategy including customer-interface departments as well as other departments.

Phases

The three phases in which CRM support the relationship between a business and its customers are to:

1. Acquire: CRM can help a business acquire new customers through contact management, selling, and fulfillment.
2. Enhance: web-enabled CRM combined with customer service tools offers customers service from a team of sales and service specialists, which offers customers the convenience of one-stop shopping.
3. Retain: CRM software and databases enable a business to identify and reward its loyal customers and further develop its targeted marketing and relationship marketing initiatives.

Benefits of CRM

Use of CRM company will gain some importance are as-

• Quality and efficiency
• Decreased costs
• Decision support
• Enterprise agility

Challenges

Tools and workflows can be complex, especially for large businesses. Previously these tools were generally limited to contact management: monitoring and recording interactions and communications. Software solutions then expanded to embrace deal tracking, territories, opportunities, and at the sales pipeline itself. Next came the advent of tools for other client-interface business functions, as described below. These tools have been, and still are, offered as on-premises software that companies purchase and run on their own IT infrastructure.
Often, implementations are fragmented—isolated initiatives by individual departments to address their own needs. Systems that start disunited usually stay that way: siloed thinking and decision processes frequently lead to separate and incompatible systems, and dysfunctional processes.
Business reputation has become a growing challenge. The outcome of internal fragmentation that is observed and commented upon by customers is now visible to the rest of the world in the era of the social customer, where in the past, only employees or partners were aware of it. Addressing the fragmentation requires a shift in philosophy and mindset within an organization so that everyone considers the impact to the customer of policy, decisions and actions. Human response at all levels of the organization can affect the customer experience for good or ill. Even one unhappy customer can deliver a body blow to a business.

Thanks to Wikipedia for the CRM notes.

We are able to implement your choice of two CRM systems, namely CiviCRM or SugarCRM.

DEVELOPING A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE

Social networking websites are one of the Internet's great success stories with such names as Facebook and Twitter coming to the fore. In days gone by, developing sites of this complexity took many months and several tens of thousands of dollars to bring a project to completion.

Our experience with the Drupal web application framework, together with an extensive library of modules which may be used to enhance and add flexibility to the core site, has provided the expertise, knowledge and tools needed to create complex site structures with economy and short development times. Typically, we can deploy a fully-featured networking site within one calendar month from whoa to go. Our flagship community networking site for Hawkes Bay, New Zealand residents is discussed below.

AN OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD YOUR OWN INTERNET BUSINESS

As a commercial enterprise, the concept behind this purpose-built community website was to build a user base or membership by making freely available a variety of appealing and useful amenities such as blogging, free classified advertising, image galleries, forums, games and magazine style editorial within a localised community. Much of the other site content is provided by the members. Once a loyal membership has become established the site owners may then approach retailers, merchants and trade and professional people in the community to place advertising. The software is highly adaptable to the needs of clubs, organisations and cultural groups.

Our flagship and prototype site, www.HawkesBayNZ.net serves the people of Hawkes Bay. Please do visit - you will get a better sense of the concept than can be conveyed by the words on this page. We can build a similar site tailored to the needs of your specific community.

In our flagship site we offer a range of advertising products which we believe are very economically priced when compared to advertising in other media. Our most attractive drawcard is retailer pages in which the advertisers can maintain their own content. Our pages are priced at $160 as a once-only charge for building plus $120 per annum ($10 a month) to continue hosting the page. A hundred such subscribers will yield almost immediate revenue of $27,500 with annually renewable revenue of $11,200. Two hundred such pages sold will, of course, double those amounts. There are additional opportunities for revenue by selling premium banners at the tops and bottoms of each page and in the left and right side bars. These typically fetch $50 to $100 per month each.

This is not a franchise offer. The purchaser will own the site plus all rights to onsell. The only immediate outgoings are hosting at $100 per month which includes weekly backup of the database containing the site's content.

This is an excellent opportunity to build a family business, especially where one or two family members have some computer graphics ability.

For a fully functional site, installed on the net with header graphics and a domain name suitable to your region of choice and including initial content such as national and international news feeds (automatically updated every hour), a selection of appealing on-line games and various other useful sundries to get you started, our asking price is $4400 plus GST in New Zealand. Our price includes 3 months on-line IT support to help you learn the content-management system.

We can furnish web server statistics to interested parties. Please use the form on the Contact Us page to forward your enquiries.

Using the Drupal framework, software that has been developed by an international community of enthusiasts, it is now possible to produce sites with sophistication and complexity at low cost. This software is modular in design, meaning that sites can be custom built to your specific requirements and with virtually any feature that you can find on other sites on the internet. The content in all of our sites is able to be maintained easily by you. Additionally, we offer seven-days-a-week support at no additional cost.

Our sites have content management tools that, for example, easily allow for the creation of sponsored advertisements. Many businesses are happy to contribute to such projects in exchange for a small acknowledgement. Other fund-raising campaigns may also be transacted through your site. The structure is ideally suited to the sharing of news and knowledge and management by club members, or teachers and authorised students.

We really enjoy building sites of this kind for schools, clubs and other organisations, sites that help to grow communities and bring them closer together. If you have a need along these lines we invite you to contact us in the first instance so we can discuss your requirements and provide a quote for the project. You just might be pleasantly surprised!

Under some circumstances we build websites for schools and charitable societies at no cost other than the monthly hosting fee. Conditions may vary depending on the organisation - it would perhaps be unreasonable for a well-funded charitable organisation to expect free service - but those who do not receive State or corporate support are warmly invited to apply. Please see our sister site FreeWebsite.

The following is a brief resume of the cost of obtaining your domain name, having a site built and small but ongoing charges for hosting and maintenance.

• Registration of your domain name - an annual expense, $60 if we do this on your behalf
• The cost of having your site built - essentially a one-off expense, prices from about $800 for showcase and catalogue sites and from about $1600 for turnkey shopping cart sites.
• The cost of hosting your site on the internet - a monthly expense, currently $30 plus GST monthly for hosting on high quality, reliable servers based here in New Zealand.
•   The cost of any updates if you are unwilling to do this yourself - a periodic expense. We will also teach you how to make your own changes.

Contact us with a bit of detail about your needs - we will get back to you promptly with a quotation. Remember, too, we have time payment plans available to make the cost manageable for you without any interest penalties.

 

Payment Options

We appreciate that many businesses are aware of the benefits of an on-line presence but simply do not have the budget to commission a site to be built. In acknowledgement of this we are able to offer payment plans spanning up to twelve months without any interest penalty or other obligation. You may be asked to provide credit references. Alternatively, we can tailor a website lease option to help conserve your business capital. Please enquire - you will find us to be sympathetic to your needs.

Yes, times are tight and it is hard not to get a bit discouraged by the steady hike in food prices, a global trend.
Given that it is often not easy to find funds for business promotion, particularly press and magazine advertising many businesses reason that they can't afford a web presence. We urge those ones to ask themselves, "Can we really afford not to be there?"  Increasingly the trend is for potential purchasers to do their market research on the internet and, indeed, many of them also are now concluding the purchase process on-line as well.

In an effort to balance the need for an on-line presence with the cost involved in getting a sound, professionally designed product we have introduced a strategy that should make the acquisition of a company- or small business website rather more manageable.

At the simplest level we are offering terms of up to a year to pay without interest or other obligations. We also have a plan whereby you may lease your site and thus conserve capital - your accountant will be able to advise if this is an option that will better benefit your business.

If that still doesn't look affordable, we are quite open to negotiation and contra deals, so, please talk to us.