Welcome to our website: We aim to offer the best in web design, search engine optimisation and all things marketing. Take a look around and see what we can do for you. Our home page is laid out to be easy to read and pretty much everything you would want to know is on here - simply scroll down for more information. Or, you can click on any link to take you to the page of your choice. When you have decided we are the "one" call us on 0844 2492938 or hit this link now to go to our enquiry form.

We are often asked to give advice over the telephone or email. To address this, we have a few products that you can buy online via PayPal that give you an opportunity to speak to a consultant at a small charge. These services are offered to you in a professional manner, for upto one hour. Simply click on the buy now buttons to purchase your one hour telephone consultancy.

As soon as we are notified, we will call you to arrange a convenient time to hold our telephone meeting.

One hour web Site consultancy over the telephone £25.00 Plus VAT

SEO advice over the telephone - £50.00 for one hour

Click here to go to go to our online shop

We are often asked to build a website in a few hours or even a few days. So, we put together the "circle of life" of a website. With the help of Joomla Developers website production values. Be aware therefore, that if you want a website that works, this process will help you. Skip any one of them and you are asking for trouble!

When thinking about building a website this planogram is a good start. Intially you will want to "Set Goals". The goals will be around the actual look and feel of the website, the reasons behind having a website and frankly, what you think the website should do for you and Search Engine Optimisation to enable your website to be found by your potential users.

The Developers will then interpret your "Goals" and produce a costing and build proposal that will give you an idea of where you are going and what you can actually achieve within your budget requirements. The design is done and the "framework" for the site is built.

This is a very important aspect as you will want to see the home page, and secondary pages and if the website is to be transactional, you will want to find and appoint a suitable payment gateway and ensure it meets your needs as well as your customers.

You may want extra functionality and these are called extensions. For instance, you may want a "recommend a friend" option, "Sign up to our newsletter" an inbuilt email marketing function and of course a "shopping cart".

All these aspects are what we call the "Alpha Phase" and it is this stage that is critical as most clients (in our experience) tend to show the site to colleagues or friends and this can get negative reactions as everyone out there is a "web designer" and it can often cause untold problems and situations with your developer and designers - remember at this stage of development the "site" is not finished and often times you may feel peer pressure to implement some of your friends and colleagues suggestions before the site is ready to be fully tested or even fully designed.

The "Beta" phase is where we test that the functionality actually works properly, auto responses are tested and the payment gateway (if there is one) is fully implemented and the payment process is finalised. Corrections are made if necessary and further development is undertaken to ensure the site is compatible with all browsers, all video players and mobile communication devices. The Stable Phase is where you can feel assured to send the site out to your colleagues and friends to "critique" the site, the developers can then implement any suggestions that they or you have not thought of in the development stage, if any amendments are done, we go back to Beta Phase and re-test and ensure the site functions correctly. Once all this is done - Only then can the site be released to the general public and any Search Engine Optimisation can be implemented.

Andrew Palmer has been in the print management, internet design and the marketing collateral world for over 25 years. Often asked to speak on local radio and networking events on his chosen subject, it's hard to get him to shut up! Andrew believes that if you don't shout about what you do, how on earth can you expect to generate new business, up sell to current clients and keep customers informed of new developments in your industry?

Andrew is regarded as an "expert by experience". His straight talking attitude, putting the client first and charging reasonable and responsible rates bring new clients to our doors every working day and help them to stay loyal to Marketing Collateral Limited.

Andrew is always willing to discuss your requirements over the phone, via webinar and of course in person. Andrew believes wholeheartedly in what he does, he does for you, so that you can "do for your clients".

Andrew also offers "Mini Seminars" on managing print, managing your web site, including SEO activities -  and of course, managing your marketing budget. If you would like him to talk to your team about anything marketing collateral fill in our form (a fee may apply depending on your future requirements).

Testimonial from Bob Smeaton, MD of www.signals.co.uk

Andy is a great communicator. We asked him in to talk to our staff about his perspective on the subject of the internet and how he thinks people find you there. He challenged some of our prejudices and precepts, but in a friendly and entertaining way. We are probably one of the most difficult audiences he could have picked for this subject, but without exception we all learned something from him.

When we are asked to "Design" a new website for whatever business we try to do our best to make it look as good as possible, we aim to have  a friendly, informative, functional and easy to navigate product for your clients to visit.

Lately, "DESIGN" seems to take on a whole new meaning to potential clients - "We want it to punch people in the face and say Look at our website doesn't it look great!" Well... we kind of agree with that, we don't build scruffy sites or even badly designed sites, what we do is build sites that clients will come back to time and again because they liked the way it worked, so, if you want a Website that looks great but doesn't do its job - go somewhere else. What we can do is build a website that works - and looks good too.  

If you look at the most successful web sites out there - Amazon, Paypal, Ebay, Youtube, Facebook, and most of all Google. What's the 'idea' behind their design? Functionality! Their designs are totally unobtrusive, to the point that, with Google, it seems as if there isn't really a design at all.

But, they allow web users to do what web users want to do - know they've found what they're looking for amongst all the other rubbish on the internet, get the information they need quickly and perform the tasks they want to.

A web design that screams 'I'm designed!' is not in our view suitable for a serious business. We aim for designs that are seamless - and so should you!

Call us now to take advantage of our design, build and Search Engine Knowledge.

When people look at your website, they see a representation of your company. Just as if you or a salesperson were visiting with them in their offices but at a convenient time. When you meet with your potential customer, they like you if you are on time, polite, informative and can take immediate action with their order for goods or services. So, why do so many company's out there offer a website to their customers that is confusing, rude (in as much as contact details are not quickly visible) late, - as in slow download times and frankly scruffy.

Lately, search engines have allegedly improved the criteria under which your website can be found. However, search engines are just like you and me, in it for the money. Hence, Pay Per Click advertising which for a cost, the search engines will display your company website before anyone else's - as long as you are willing to pay more for clicks. This can get very frustrating, especially when you know that your products and services can be accessed quicker, are more local to your users and you have spent time and money on your website.

So, lets look at organic search engine optimisation or SEO as it is now commonly known.

Organic Search results are essentially the "free" listings that appear after the paid for advertising and it has been said that people prefer these listings as it gives Kudos to the website and the company appearing on a non paid position as its absolute proof that the company has been around for a long time.

All well and good you might say - but, the free part is not exactly free is it as I have to pay a consultant to make sure I appear at the top of the listings. Yes you do, but, think of it like this:

I have a 24 hour, seven day a week salesperson that never sleeps and is always there on a GLOBAL basis to tell my customers about my services and products and even take online orders or bookings – how much would you pay? -

20,000 a year, 50,000 a year, 100,000 a year or maybe more. Why then, when asked as we do - how much is my website going to cost? are we faced with the answer - “oh, that's a lot of money”! It doesn't matter if its £500 or £10,000 its always the same.

Don't forget that 24/7-365 day salesperson is going to have to eat, travel and get paid loads of overtime too. A website therefore should be maintained and thought of as your best salesperson because they are always there, ready, able and willing to do business with your current and new customers.

Isn't it sensible therefore, to think that spending say £500 a week to keep this salesperson at the top of their game – is a good idea?

Its reasonable to keep feeding this salesperson with information to help them give your customers a good insight into what your company can do for them – isn't it?

So, why then do so many company's ignore their website, why don't they tell their website about new developments, special offers, new people in the business, even people leaving or quite simply allow the website to be the scruffiest, most disorganised employee on their books- cost, laziness, too busy or just can't be bothered?

“Our websites alright, yeah, it might need updating but it won't do us any harm to leave it a while longer, I have far more important things to do”. Or put it another way - “Well, we just can't cope with dealing with the website at the moment, we are just too busy losing money”.

So, is your website worth something or are you afraid to ask what you can do about it?

Or, are you simply too busy to deal with what is potentially your greatest ally in this ever growing global community? – Stop coming up with excuses and lets make your website work for you – it isn't going to be free but it is going to work. We are very happy to help you, you just need to realise that you need help.

Our advice in the first instance is free, after you accept our proposals there will be a cost and frankly, its not as much as you would think.

So, kick-start your business with a new approach to your website and you never know, you might just get a bit more business and a bit more leisure time (because we make your website work for you) and a bit more profit. Contact us now

Marketing Collateral Limited - Straight Talking, Creative Thinking