RW Surveyors / RWS Independent Ltd

RWS Independent Ltd is an RICS Regulated firm of independent Chartered Surveyors based in Hampshire.

Covering Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire, RW surveyors provides a full range of property services, including home buyer surveys, valuations, property condition surveys, assistance with lease renewals, and property investment advice.

The website is based on the Joomla CMS with a custom template design. Additional services provided include email marketing and search engine optimisation.

www.rwsurveyors.co.uk

The Mortgage Explorer

The Mortgage Explorer is a one-stop-shop for access to UK and International mortgage market. They are independent mortgage brokers providing a wide range of specialist tax-efficient home, commercial and overseas mortgages.

They have been helping clients around the world to find their best mortgage deals for more than 10 years, and this is their third website. The site is based on the Joomla CMS (no real surprise there!), and also incorporates a newsletter sign-up using Big Response, and social bookmarking modules. A Wordpress Blog has also been created, and site has been designed to include video podcasts.

The project includes full SEO and a range of additional marketing activities.

www.themortgageexplorer.co.uk

Cannon Piling

Cannon Piling is a concrete foundations and piling contractor based on Essex. This site started off as a very simple "flat HTML" site, but from the outset the client new at some point they would want to upgrade the site to having a CMS, but wouldn't want the cost of a new design.

How we approached that was to create a site design using a "CMS friendly" layout, using the same file structure as a Joomla site, and the same CSS style descriptors that would be used for Joomla. This meant that when the client recently asked is to upgrade the site, it was a quite straightforward task to make the necessary changes to the page template to add the CMS tags, and copy over the styles, and with a bit of tweaking all was done.

www.cannonpiling.com

Bluerun Ltd

A classic "small business" online brochure type of website. This is a custom design based on the Joomla CMS.

Bluerun Ltd has been manufacturing top quality, purpose made joinery for the domestic and commercial markets since 1972 at their 7,000 square foot factory near Saffron Walden. Their client list includes many household names from the commercial and residential property industries, as well as the public sector. They can manufacture in hard or softwoods, and veneered & painted panels and have a modern spray paint and lacquer facility, enabling products to leave the factory in a fully finished state.

The new website is intended to create a higher profile online, and to provide the opportunity to showcase their products and projects.

www.bluerunltd.co.uk

Raffles Redhill

This is a very simple "online brochure" style site utilising a low cost custom design, and aimed at increasing awareness of Raffles and their core products and services in the local Redhill, Surrey, marketplace. The site is based on Joomla, and has the VirtueMart eCommerce component pre-installed, ready for the addition of an online store.

Raffles are a long established kitchen and bathroom design and installation company based in Redhill, Surrey, and provides a full kitchen and bathroom design service, supplying all leading kitchen and bathroom brands. Raffles has its own team of installers and is renowned for its high quality and value for money service.

As well as the kitchen and bathroom design services, Raffles has a wholesale plumbing division, and they can supply a full range of plumbing supplies to both trade and retail customers from their showroom in the centre of Redhill.

www.raffles-redhill.co.uk

Biswis - Business Winning Systems

This site is perhaps unique for us, in that the client specifically requested a "non-marketing" site that wasn't too visible. What they wanted was a site that would be found for their name and that's all. For very sound reasons, but still rather the opposite of what we are normally asked!

The result is a simple site with bold graphics. It is based on the Joomla CMS so that the client can make any changes they want, and to give it scope to expand with material to support their products and services.

www.biswis.co.uk

Camping and Caravan Site Finder

Camping and caravan site finder is a directory of camp and caravan sites in the UK. The site is built in Joomla, and the directory is powered by the SOBI2 directory component.

As well as a directory, the site also features Affiliate and Advertising management, and phase two of the site build includes eCommerce and classified advertising components.

The SOBI2 directory provides the facilities for site visitors to add, rate and review directory listings. Listings on the Camping and Caravan Site Finder site are currently free, although the SOBI2 system does allow the creation of paid listings, and allows custom information fields to be included in a "premium" listing structure; e.g. basic listing free, but the addition of web addresses etc to be paid for. There are also add-in components for handling "Featured Listings" where listing owners can pay extra for inclusion in featured listings displayed across the site.

www.campingandcaravansitefinder.com

Gifts 4 You

Gifts 4 You is actually one of our first low cost eCommerce web sites, launched in 2006. Originally focused on educational products, the site has expanded to now cover a huge range of gift, garden and novelty products.

The site is based on Joomla and VirtueMart, and is based on a Joomlashack template.

www.gifts4you.gb.com

Gardens R Us

This is a low cost eCommerce web site based on a the Jamba template from Joomlashack chosen by our client.

It uses Joomla with the VirtueMart eCommerce store component, and is pretty much uncustomised apart from the addition of new header graphics and and a logo provided by our client.

We populated thebasic  store database from an Excel file provided by our client, and the rest has been added since. The entire project was live in less than three weeks from order.

www.gardensrus.net

Canadian Chalet Rentals

This site is one of our affordable low cost web sites.

The site is based on the same fully featured Joomla CMS that we currently use for our custom design sites, but instead of a custom design you can choose from a wide range of standard off-the-shelf professional templates customised to reflect your company identity.

This particular site is based on a standard Joomlashack template, with a customised top header matching the selected template colour theme, and as it has a couple of extra features, Morfeo Image Gallery and Booking Tracker, is a good example of how a basic low cost site can be extended at minimal cost.

More details of our affordable web site design package

www.vacationcanadarentals.com

Nigel Ingram Paintings

Nigel Ingram is an accomplished artist who has painted in Hampshire, West Sussex, and abroad for many years.

Besides working in pastels, oils, and pen and wash, Nigel has also completed a number of commissioned designs for stained glass windows.

This site is a showcase of some of his work. Although many of the original works have been sold, other original paintings are available to buy through the site. Also available for purchase are high quality gicleé prints, cards and postcards of his work.

The site is a fairly standard deployment of the Joomla CMS with the VirtueMart eCommerce component. A little more uncommon is the use of the additional files functionality built into VirtueMart to deliver large image previews in PDF format.

www.nigel-ingram-paintings.com

BCB Solutions

BCB Solutions are the manufacturer of the Setmaster range of collators.

The brief was to build two new sites: one focusing on sales and support for the UK market on the .co.uk domain, and the second on the .com domain focusing on sales in the US market.

The two sites are based on the Joomla CMS, and use essentially the same templates. However, the content is slightly different, and over time will become more so as the content and linguistic style of the US site evolves.

The sites are fairly straightforward conventional Joomla deployments, but with the addition of the Acajoom autoresponder and newsletter manager.

One slightly unusual aspect of the project was the conversion of a series of demonstration MPEG videos to Flash video for inclusion on some of the product information pages.

www.bcb-solutions.co.uk

Andys Guitar Net

Andys Guitar Net is a unique online business that provides a marketplace for musicians to buy and sell secondhand guitars (and other instruments), amplifiers, and accessories online.

In a major departure from conventional listing or auction sites where the buyer can never be absolutely confident that they will receive what they think they are buying, Andys Guitar Net authenticates and services every item sold before delivery to the buyer, and even better supplies a guarantee to go with it.

It is free to list items on the site. Andys Guitar Net operates on an "agency consignment" basis (a concept that was pioneered by the original, and now closed, Andys Guitar Shop in Denmark Street), with fees only paid upon successful completion of the sale.

The site is built using the Joomla CMS and the development required the customisation of a Classified Advertising component to handle the online registration and submission of sale items, and for the Andys Guitar Net team to manage the portfolio of items for sale.  Also included in the site is a forum, and an e-commerce store using the VirtueMart eCommerce component.

There is also a Wordpress blog installed as part of the overall package.

We provide full technical support for the site, and we are also providing a complete marketing support package including SEO, paid search and e-PR.

www.andysguitarnet.com

Critical Software

Critical Software SA has been ranked at #4 in the Business Week Top 500 Fastest Growing Companies list for the last two years, and specialises in providing a range of software services for business and mission critical components of systems used in the Defence, Aerospace, Telecommunications, Finance, Government, Industrial and Transportation markets.

The brief called for two different websites sharing a common theme, one for Critical's UK subsidiary, and one for the parent company in Portugal.

The fact that Critical are growing so quickly and are rapidly launching new products and services into new markate sectors meant that a content managed site that matched the sophisticated design ethos of the company was essential.  The UK company focuses on a smaller range of products and markets, and consequently has a simpler design and implementation based on the same base design of its parent.

The site was built using the Joomla CMS, with the addition of an image slide show component to show an array of products in the lower left column of the front page and a simple newsletter manager.

We can't claim any credit for the initial design layout, as this was prepared by Critical's own graphic designers: this set the overall theme and the three column layout that is unusual for a corporate website. However the original design was a little simplistic, calling for three simple graphic panels across the centre, and this proved impractical given the growing range of market sectors into which the company was growing.

Our solution was the substitution of a simple rollover array for the smaller UK site, and for the Portuguese site the creation of a central Flash graphic panel, complete with carousel style navigation. The result is an unusual clean sophisticated design.

As with most of our web design projects, the project also called for SEO of both sites.

www.criticalsoftware.com | www.critical-software.co.uk

Dare Accountancy

Dare Accountancy is a new site created to promote Dare's new low cost accountancy services aimed at smaller businesses, sole traders and startups.

Although Dare are based in Ringwood, Hampshire, their new service is available nationally - clients can register through the site and will receive a USB memory stick that will provide all the software they need. Each quarter, this is exchanged, and Dare then process the old stick, making all the necessary returns - VAT, company returns, personal tax returns etc.

Support and advice are provided via e-mail and phone.

The web site is built using the Joomla CMS - a pretty much standard implementation, with no extra bells and whistles.

Launched in September 2008, the project also called for a program of SEO and the preparation of a Pay per Click advertising campaign.

www.dareaccountancy.co.uk

Emmaus Hampshire

Emmaus Hampshire was formed as an independent charity and company limited by guarantee in 1998 with the vision of establishing an Emmaus Community in Hampshire. The Community will house 23 previously homeless people at any one time and will be managed in accordance with the principles of the Emmaus Movement.

The website is built using the Joomla CMS and the aim is to raise the the profile of the charity, helping it communicate with stakeholders and fundraisers and the public.

Something that made this project a little out of the ordinary was the requirement to convert a broadcast quality DVD into Flash video and embed sections of it in pages in the site.

www.emmaushampshire.org.uk

European Law Monitor

European Law Monitor is a not-for-profit online service providing information on EU legislation, policies and procedures. In addition to generalised free information services, European Law Monitor undertakes fee based legal research and consultancy.

European Law Monitor is also the Europe Direct Relay for Hampshire, and in this role runs local conferences and seminars which require the creation of additional micro-sites and event sites.

We were involved with European Law Monitor from its inception - we helped develop the initial business and funding plans, prepared the original site specification, and project managed the build of the first site. This was built by JK Internet in Newbury and based on the Windows .NET platform. The service was originally envisaged as a commercial subscription and research funding model, but new opportunities for grant and government funding provided by the new Community Interest class of company (CIC) changed that.

European Law Monitor converted to a CIC in 2005 and has since been part funded as a Europe Direct by the European Commission. The information services subsequently became free access, and a new site with a different specification was required. The new site was built by us using the Mambo CMS, later upgraded to Joomla. The site includes several major add-ons, such as a forum, events calendar, RSS feeds, and advertising management components.

The site was nominated for a New Statesman New Media Award in 2006, and now has over 2,500 pages and delivers over 50,000 page views per month.

We continue to provide a full range of support services for the site: technical support, SEO, paid search management, and content management.

www.europeanlawmonitor.org

European Law Monitor Training

European Law Monitor Training is a sub-site of European Law Monitor which focuses on their EU Legal training services: CPD training for solicitors and legal professionals, training in EU business legislation and and social policy for businesses and NGOs.

As with the main site, the site is powered by the Joomla CMS, and features the VirtueMart eCommerce component for online booking, and the Acajoom eMail newsletter and autoresponder component for follow up marketing.

www.europeanlawmonitor.org/training/

FotoFlite

FotoFlite is the world's largest library of marine aerial photos in the world.

The FotoFlite aircraft are out on every suitable flying day photographing shipping in the English Channel and North Sea, and, when appropriate, further afield to the Baltic and Mediterranean, and the FotoFlite image library now consists of over 1/2 million images extending back into the late 1940s.

The brief for this site was to create a new e-commerce site for the library, and involved merging some 330,000 database records into the site database, and preparing and watermarking the 120,000 images then digitised. The ultimate aim is to have all 500,000 images digitised and loaded into the database for online purchase.

The site is based on the Joomla CMS, and the image library and e-commerce facility using the VirtueMart eCommerce component. With over 350,000 records, this is probably the largest VirtueMart implementation in the world, and the site delivers over 50,000 page views per month, which we think proves the durability and scaleability of the the Joomla / VirtueMart combination, to say nothing of the MySQL database that sits behind it!

www.fotoflite.com

Homestyle Furniture

Homestyle is a manufacturer of high quality traditionally hand built upholstered furniture in Oxfordshire.

They sell through a network of dealers throughout the UK, and the objectives of the site are to assist dealers by providing information on individual ranges, raise the profile of the brand online, and generate new leads for stockists and dealers.

The site uses the Joomla content management sytem. It was originally launched at the end of 2006 based on a template that matched the then current brochure style of the company. Early in 2008 the company produced a new style of literature and the site was re-templated to match the new style.

In addition to developing the site, we undertook a full programme of ongoing SEO and paid search marketing.

Despite being a small site, it performs well for many important and highly competitive key terms, and generates a steady flow of enquiries.

www.homestylefurniture.co.uk

Kornafix

As you might expect from the name, Kornafix supply self adhesive corners and pockets for use in the print finishing industry and throughout the stationery market.

The requirement was for a simple e-commerce site with a low cost payment gateway. The is built in Joomla with the VirtueMart eCommerce component, and uses the NoChex payment system.

Ongoing promotional activities include SEO and Pay per Click advertising.

www.kornafix.co.uk

Vehicle Electrics Online

Vehicle Electrics Online is a leading online supplier of vehicle engine electrical components, mainly starter motors, alternators, and ignition components.

The design brief for the site was essentially "purple, inexpensive looking, and try and keep it simple and not too cluttered". With a range spanning some 13,000 variants, in five major product groups, this was not quite as easy as it sounds!

The site is built in Joomla with the VirtueMart eCommerce component.

Some interesting features of this project included the need to find a way of drawing product information from the client's product database, and merging it in a compatible format with the site database, and develop a procedure that allowed the client to continue to keep product data, prices, and stock up to date.

As VEO export around the world, multi-carrier and multi-rate shiiping also had to be built into the shopping cart, together with much customisation of the cart interface to ensure that customers were able to ensure they were selecting the right part for their vehicle.

The site was originally launched in 2006 with a template designed to suit 800 x 600 screen resolution. Over the following two years 800 x 600 dropped from around 40% of users to less than 3%, and the site was re-templated with a wider design at the beginning of 2009.

The new design incorporated some usability enhancements based on the performance of the site and user feedback since the time of its first launch.

As well as designing and building the site, we provide a full package of ongoing technical support, SEO and search marketing for the site.

www.vehicle-electrics-online.com

Wavelength Designs

Wavelength Designs is a specialist dinghy sailmaker and spar manufacturer. This site is a simple online catalogue site without e-commerce functionality (although this could be easily added retrospectively if required).

Originally built in Mambo, the site was migrated to Joomla as part of the service contract, and the catalogue functionality retrospectively added using the VirtueMart component.

Wavelength caters for a specialist niche dinghy sailing market, and is well known in the field, consequently the site does not need extensive SEO, but it is important to be visible for the company name and its core services. After the initial optimisation, this was achieved.

www.wavelengthdesigns.com

Zenith Driver Training

Zenith Driver Training provide LGV and PCV Driver training from a facility on HMS Daedalus in Hampshire.

The site was built in late 2005 in SHTML (standard HTML but utilising Server Side Includes). The brief was for a simple site that was consistent with a new corporate identity and brochure that was also to be designed. The graphic design work was handled by our design partner Cradduck Design.

The project also involved full search engine optimisation, and ongoing SEO and site maintenance. The Zenith site now ranks consistently highly across a wides range of target keywords across the major search engines, generating significant traffic and enquiries.

www.zenithdriver.co.uk