Why pick 123 2 Web?
There are plenty of web design companies in Sydney and the rest of Australia for that matter however if you have a small to medium sized business and you want a website that works for you and your business at a reasonable price then we are the best designers to choose.
Here are six reasons why we believe we are a great choice;
1) We will tell you upfront what it is going to cost to get a beautiful custom website live, everything that is going to be involved in the process and how long it is going to take. There are a lot of website companies out there that are promising cheap websites however what you actually get is a template that you have to populate yourself. By the time your site is finished you will have spent on getting copy written, having someone research images for you, paying them to work with your images to bring out the best in them and getting some on-page SEO put into the site.
2) We don’t use templates. The problem with template sites is that you can end up with a site that is similar to thousands of other sites out there. How would you feel if you got a template site and then one of your main competitors chose the exact same template for their new website? When you get a site from us a Sydney based designer will work with you to create a bespoke site that meets your requirements. They will advise you on what you need to provide to us and when you need to provide that content. They will research images for you and work with your images to really get the best out of them.
3) We are a local Australian business based in Sydney. A lot of people believe they can get a better deal by using a US based designer or an Indian or Philippines designer. Despite the web being global, local knowledge counts for a lot. As a local Sydney company we understand where places are, we also have a good understanding of the local laws and regulations. In many cases the overseas suppliers will not understand or care about Australian requirements and in many cases will not care too much as once they have your money it can be pretty difficult to get it back. We have a number of customers who have paid large deposits to overseas suppliers and got nothing. After going through months of aggravation they have contacted our Sydney office and we have got them online in quite a short period of time.
4) We create beautiful websites and we love what we do. Our Sydney designers are truly passionate about web design and helping small businesses. We can show you hundreds of beautiful sites that we have created. When you decide to work with us one of the first things you will do is have a chat to a designer in Sydney who will start by listening to you and what you actually want to achieve with your new site. We then work with you to build something that you will really love.
5) We provide you with ongoing support! This is actually a big one. Getting your website live is only really the start of the process as like your business your site will likely need to grow. In addition you are probably going to need help or advice in terms of how you get found on the web and what you can do to advertise your business. When you sign up with us we will give you a number of hours (depending on the package you sign up for) of support included in the price so you can simply ring or email our Sydney office and get help from one of our Sydney designers. You can use this support to make changes to your site, add new images or change old ones or get some advice in regards to SEO. With a lot of our competitors this type of support can cost a lot of money and with some of the overseas suppliers you may even have trouble tracking them down in the first place.
6) We have a lot of happy customers. We have built hundreds of sites and helped a lot of people. With some of our customers we have transformed their businesses (their words not ours) and helped bring in a lot of additional business for them. If you are considering getting a website call our Sydney office and we will be happy to put you in touch with some of these customers if you like so you can ask them directly.
Who we are
123 2 Web is a family owned design company based in Oatley in the South of Sydney and was established in 2010 by Neil and David Duncan.
Neil Duncan had spent the prior 15 years working in senior corporate roles including CFO, COO and CEO positions. Neil had worked for large corporate entities based in Australia and the UK and had held directorships for companies in the UK, USA, Australia, NZ, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Neil had previously had extensive experience in managing IT and web design and gained an MBA with a specialisation in eCommerce from Deakin University.
Prior to starting 123 2 Web David Duncan had worked extensively in IT and web design in Sydney. David has extensive knowledge of the web development process and how to get the most out of your website.
In addition to Neil and David we employ a number of designers, admin and sales staff. If you decide to use us for your new site we will allocate a Sydney based designer to assist you through the process and to work with you until your site is live on the web.
How the process works
The process starts with you deciding which website designer you will choose to create your new website. If it is 123 2 Web one of our designers will contact you to get a fairly specific brief in terms of site structure ands layout, whether you have already have a logo or if you need us to design one for you, what colours you like, what websites you like and your personal style preferences.
Once we have a good idea in terms of what you like and don’t like and how your website is going to be structured we will design a home page for your site. The home page is really important as it will set the style for the rest of the site. Once we have completed the home page we send it to you for approval. If you are happy with the home page we would then go ahead and create the rest of the site, if you are unhappy then we would rework the home page until it meets your requirements.
When we complete the rest of your website we would either use content that you provide or we would create content from notes/bullet points that you give us. In some cases we have written all of the content for some customers websites.
Once the website is complete the designer will put it up on the internet behind a password. This gives you the opportunity to log in and check that everything is as you wanted. Following that you would sign off on the finished design and we would get your domain name login details to put the site live. If you don’t have a domain name, don’t worry as we could also buy one for you and organise the whole process.
Once your new website goes live we submit a sitemap to Google to help get your new site indexed. You are then ready to start your online marketing!
How the process works
The process starts with you deciding which website designer you will choose to create your new website. If it is 123 2 Web one of our designers will contact you to get a fairly specific brief in terms of site structure ands layout, whether you have already have a logo or if you need us to design one for you, what colours you like, what websites you like and your personal style preferences.
Once we have a good idea in terms of what you like and don’t like and how your website is going to be structured we will design a home page for your site. The home page is really important as it will set the style for the rest of the site. Once we have completed the home page we send it to you for approval. If you are happy with the home page we would then go ahead and create the rest of the site, if you are unhappy then we would rework the home page until it meets your requirements.
When we complete the rest of your website we would either use content that you provide or we would create content from notes/bullet points that you give us. In some cases we have written all of the content for some customers websites.
Once the website is complete the designer will put it up on the internet behind a password. This gives you the opportunity to log in and check that everything is as you wanted. Following that you would sign off on the finished design and we would get your domain name login details to put the site live. If you don’t have a domain name, don’t worry as we could also buy one for you and organise the whole process.
Once your new website goes live we submit a sitemap to Google to help get your new site indexed. You are then ready to start your online marketing!
Website Development
If you want something more than a simple brochure website or an online shop for your business then why not give one of our Sydney based web consultants a call.
When you are looking to do something complex with your website then you want to talk to someone who has the technical skills to do the job but who also understands what you are talking about and who talks in plain English that you can understand.
Here at 123 2 Web in Sydney our team have years of experience at developing complex systems but also at being able to communicate effectively with non-IT people. We don’t talk in jargon!
Our development team can work with you to design an online system that meets your needs. Whether you want to link in to another system, have an interactive quoting system, or do something that is totally unique we will be happy to discuss it with you and help you out.
Our web developers are proficient in a variety of languages and tools including PHP, Javascript, HTML, My SQL and more and have the skills to make your website dreams a reality.
So if you need to do something that is far from standard then why not give us a call today to discuss how we can help you out.
Getting traffic to your new website
These days in the majority of industries it is not sufficient just to put your website up and then forget about it while it brings in a lot of new business for you. With so much competition out there even before you embark on a new design you need to be thinking about how you intend to bring traffic and customers to your new site.
Here at 123 2 Web, when we design and build your website we make sure that it is optimised for your particular industry however if you are in a competitive industry it is no guarantee to getting decent rankings for your website.
The major online ways that people drive traffic to a new website are through “pay per click” advertising (PPC) and search engine optimisation (SEO).
SEO starts from the moment you start planning your new website design as it is important to have a good idea of keywords that your potential new customers will use when trying to find websites like yours. It is also important to remember that Google will not know what your website is about unless you actually say it somewhere on your site. When you hear people talking about SEO they will generally refer to either on page SEO and off page SEO. Off page SEO is very much about building links back to your site from other sites on the internet. Google and other search engines will allocate more authority to your site if you have good relevant links from other sites. Off page SEO can be quite dangerous these days as the search engines may penalise you if you have a poor quality or unnatural link profile. On page SEO however is all about structuring your website correctly and making good use of your meta tags. When 123 2 Web design a site we always spend time thinking about how the site will look to the search engines and what keywords your customers are likely to use.
From our experience we advise our clients who are keen to quickly market their new website to start with a PPC campaign and specifically a Google adwords campaign. Google have more than 90% of the Australian search market so it makes sense to go where the bulk of your customers will be going when they are looking for your products or services. When our Sydney team set up an adwords campaign we carry out keyword research to find out what people are searching for to find your products however we normally also go for broader search terms. What this does is it generates a lot more possible keywords that are associated with your product that people are potentially searching. This can give some interesting results as while you may think that people are searching “Sydney removalist company” to find you there may be a whole swag of other searches like “Sydney movers”, “Sydney house removals” and “movers and packers in Sydney” that people are searching to get to your site. While it costs a little more in the first couple of months to generate this data it ends up giving you some really valuable market information that you can work with.
Once you have a good understanding of what people are looking for to find your site on the web you can start working further on your SEO. Our approach to SEO is very much about building useful content for your site. There are plenty of people out there claiming that they can get you number 1 on Google however in our view the strategies that they are using can be quite high risk which may result in a ban for specific keywords or potentially a ban for your entire site. Our approach is to build content and create a site that is an authority within its field.
So, if you have a website that you want to start driving traffic to and generating business from give 123 2 Web a call and we can advise you on how to go about it.
Checklist for Selecting a Web Design Company
Comparing different website design companies can be a difficult task as almost all of them have a different offering. Here is a checklist of items that we at 123 2 Web in Sydney think you should be asking about before you make a decision;
1) Are you getting a custom designed site or will you be getting a template? A lot of the cheaper web designers may give you what looks like a great price however what you are getting is a standard template that thousands of companies could be using for their website. With 123 2 Web in Sydney you receive a custom designed site.
2) Who is going to create the content for the site? A lot of the cheaper offerings will expect you to do a lot of the work. They will provide you with a framework and you are expected to fill it with text and images. Here at 123 2 Web we work with you to create compelling content for your website and our experienced designers do the picture research to find some really great images.
3) What image libraries are the web design companies going to use? Images can range in price from around $20 to hundreds. We use some really cost effective libraries however a lot of the others will use more expensive libraries. It is also worth checking that your images are purchased on a once off basis and that you won’t be hit with a big renewal fee in a couple of years time.
4) Where with your website be hosted and how much will it cost. All web hosting is not the same. There is plenty of cheap hosting out there however you will have to do a lot of the work like backups etc yourself. If you need additional support you will then need to pay for it.
5) How much is it going to cost for ongoing maintenance to the site and will there be a Content Management System (CMS). With a lot of companies the ongoing maintenance can be very expensive. They will charge you for each minor change that you make and the charge out rate per hour could be well into the hundreds. Here at 123 2 Web in Sydney we offer a monthly or annual support/hosting charge. Once you have paid your support fee if you have any small changes to the design or content you can either make the changes yourself within our CMS or you can ring/email us and we will make the changes for you. If you have major changes then you can contact us and we will work out a cost effective price to get the changes in place.
6) Will the website design company be putting any onpage SEO into the site? SEO is a complex issue and can require quite a lot of work. The starting point is onpage SEO which is the process of making sure that your meta tags are search engine friendly and that the search engines can actually work out what your website is all about. At 123 2 Web our Sydney based SEO experts do all of this for you when we create your site. A lot of the other design companies will try to charge extra for this.
If you are looking to get a website for your business or you have got a couple of quotes and you are not sure how to compare them then give our Sydney office a call and we can offer some free advice.
Sydney Web Design