WEBSITE DESIGN SOUTH AFRICA

So, you need an affordable Centurion Website Design Company that wont cost you an arm and a leg and still looks professional and respectable. Starting something new is difficult, especially in the worlds  current  financial status and you don't have all the cash you would have wanted spend on a new Website Design . But a web presence is must have for any business especially a new one. What makes us so much more affordable than the rest. JOOMLA Website Designs. 

We recommend starting with something basic that works and as your business grows, so does your website.

Website Page Layout :

Joomal Websites Designs Pretoria

What's a content management system (CMS)?
A content management system is software that keeps track of every piece of content on your Website, much like your local public library keeps track of books and stores them. Content can be simple text, photos, music, video, documents, or just about anything you can think of. A major advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or knowledge to manage. Since the CMS manages all your content, you don't have to.

Some real world examples of what Joomla! can do.

Joomla is used all over the world to power Websites of all shapes and sizes. For example:

Corporate Websites or portals

Corporate intranets and extranets

Online magazines, newspapers, and publications

E-commerce and online reservations

Government applications

Small business Websites

Non-profit and organizational Websites

Community-based portals

School and church Websites

Personal or family homepages

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Graphic Design in Centurion

Useful hints while pondering your logo design

Simplicity is the key, don’t go over the top to impress it might have the opposite effect.

Remember to be unique, having the same logo as Virgin just in different shades of pink is not unique, it’s a lawsuit.

Don’t be to colourful, limit your colour range to 3 or maybe 4 colours. You want to be compatible with other marketing options, like small stickers and clothing embroidery and a complicated design just wont pull through. 

Business Cards Design

The purpose of a business card is to announce yourself and leave an impression. It is a very important marketing tool. Once again it says a lot about you and your company. There are two types of business cards the once that stand out and those that don't. But a plain business card is not necessarily boring, its all about how you use your imagination and simplicity is key. With the help of our graphic designers we can put something together for you that will leave that potential customer with a very impressed expression on his face when you hand him your Business Card. 

Letterhead Design 

What you want is something that says: " Yes, we are a strong professional company that know what we are doing and all our customers are glad they are doing business with us and not the rest." But having a piece of paper with your name scribbled on top and a number at the bottom wont say that.

Although letterheads are not the alpha and omega of any company image they play a very important part in the total company image, and it forms part of an important part of the overall operation requirement of any company. Because letterheads are seen as a “legal” form of communication, confirming not only the authenticity of the author but also the company or institution the author represents.
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Quote Design

This is the final step a potential customer has to take before business can commence... except your quotation and there by agreeing that you are the best company for the job. One thing that annoys any person receiving a quotation, is when its not clear what the quote is for or what the costs are. Isn't that the whole purpose of a quotation? That's why you have to sit down with us and do it once and do it properly, because when that customer rejects your quotation because of an uninformed, unprofessional quote design, you might not get a second quote out to them.

Invoice Design

You might think an invoice design cant be that important, but when it comes getting paid, you don't want your invoice to get lost among all the other boring ones. Your invoice design must stand out above the rest not only for the last mentioned reasons but also because its a very important marketing tool. A business card can go from your hand to the potential customers hand and then handed down to the trashcan from the moment you left his office. But an invoice will travel through lots of hands before it reaches the accountants table and even then it wont be lost for a along time because someone might need a telephone number or an address from your invoice to make use of your services and so the circle of repeat business begins.

SEO Marketing

SEO or Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of searches, including image searches, local searches, and industry-specific vertical search engines.
As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.  

How much does a website cost in Centurion & Pretoria?

Everyone wants a straight forward answer, no buts or ifs. The reality is, its not that simple. If I go to a car dealer and say: I want a car. His response will be: what kind of car? Do you want something for the city or the long road? Must it be 4x4 or 2x4? What colour do you prefer? All of this will determine how much you will pay for that car. That’s because we all have different needs and preferences. It’s the same with a website and what one person wants and is willing to pay, might not be the same for the next.

The one thing about website developers, SEO’s (Search Engine Optimizers) and graphic designers are that there are so many of them out there. So you can pick and choose as you like.

But before you complain about the cost of your website, take the following into account. If you get sick, you are not going to go to the Greek on the corner, who sells veggies. No you are going to go the doctor. Why? Because that’s his trade and because he can help you get better. You are willing to pay for that, aren’t you. Website designer are the same. They have developed a skill that not everyone has. If everyone could design their own website and heal themselves then there would not have been a need for website designers and doctors.

To get back to what a website should cost.

* For a standard static website with 5 -10 pages. You are looking at anything from R3500 to R7000. That might or might not include, a custom design, monthly maintenance or SEO.
* A CMS site can be anything from R5000 to R30000 and that all depends on what you needs are.

At the end of the day, know what you want before you request a quote and compare the quality of the work that you are paying for not the price. Don’t throw the little guys away. Every one started at the bottom, even the big guns and they are most like the guys that will give a 110%. Because word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool for them.

SEO & Internet Marketing Scammers

Yes they are out there. With all their smooth talking and false promises. When it comes to SEO and internet marketing, there are no guarantees except for one… you are better off with it than without it. But when someone tells you that he/she can guarantee you the nr.1 spot on Google. Start running and run fast. Not even Google can guarantee top rankings and they are the ones that know.

These guys are everywhere and its all about a quick buck. They know that not everyone can do it. They know that people are willing to pay and they know it’s a need. That’s why you should know better.

If you want your website to get ranked on search engines, know this. It doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time. Anything from 3, 6 or 12 months. Things you need to take into account is; how strong is your competition. A website about pink fluffy animals that turn blue during the night, will do a lot better ranking wise than a real-estate website.

SEO consist of proper keyword research, keyword saturation, the right named titles, link exchanges and monitoring everything continuously to see if everything comes together.

So if you get an emial that says: you can be nr.1… DELETE.

Affordable Website Ecommerce Solutions
Affordable Ecommerce Solutions

Stop! Don’t read any further if you are not seriously looking for a really good, effective but affordable e-commerce solution, a package that will let you relax while your sales are being taken care of by your Ecommerce website. This article will provide you an insight into the do’s and don’ts of selecting an ecommerce package suitable for you.

1) What not to look out for?

Most people who search for “affordable ecommerce solutions” will input “cheap ecommerce solutions” as their search phrase on yahoo/msn/google or any other search engine and end up with a lot of websites providing cheap e-commerce packages. But one should keep in mind that everything good comes at a price. Cheap website hosting providers will advertise their website as “cheap & easy”, but beyond the advertising lies the 99% failure rate of old-fashioned Web hosting. If you still want to trust a cheap e-commerce service provider please check their track record before you sign-up.

2) What to look out for?

It has been rightly said, “If we fail to plan we plan to fail”. This holds true with every project small or big. So lets chalk out what we will to decide which is the best e-commerce solution for your website. Take a pencil and paper and list these points:

1) Product and Customer: Keeping your product/products in mind think of what your customer will be looking for. Not and highlight the points that come to your mind. Do you have an international market for your product?

2) Payment Options: What payment options you will be required to provide the customer. There are many available like paypal, firepay, xoom etc

3) Shopping cart: Do you need one? It’s a necessity if you have more than one product if you have a single product then you might opt out of this feature.

4) Advertising & Promotion: How you are going to advertise and promote your website for attracting customers and increasing sales. There are a number of ways of doing this like banners, advertisements etc you will need to hole in on a few.

5) Your Budget: There are a lot of ecommerce solution providers available on the Internet but you should be having an idea of the $$ that you are ready to spend on them before you take the big leap as some of them have hidden costs. You may choose a package and then know that a few features that were not included cost you a lot when you buy them.

Depending on these points we can shortlist some basic features to look out for in our ecommerce solution service provider

1) Payment Options: What are the payment options available with the ecommerce service provider (ESP)?

2) Shipping: For international trade this is a necessity. Is your ESP providing it to you?

3) Web design/Hosting: How would you like the over all design of your store? Is the layout provided by the ecommerce service provider easy to use and understand for the customer?

4) Features: What extra features will you be looking for in your ecommerce package? Will you be content with payment, security, tax and shipping solution only or do you require more? This will require a thorough review of at least a few ecommerce solution providers and what you really need.

If you are a corporate body you will need to bring all your departments together to get their ideas on sales/promotion/advertising etc. It will be a day’s hard work but the rewards will be substantial if proper planning is met with efficient execution.

These are a few different scenarios that you will find yourself in after you have listed all the points.
Should you opt for:
1) A ready to use ecommerce package.
2) Rent a space/store in a network-based e-commerce solution.
3) Ask a web designing company to build you a website from scratch

Most of the e-commerce solution providers will have a basic scheme where you can add a product/category, delete a product/category, check the order status, calculate shipping cost deducting taxes if any, owner can see all the list of purchases, he can make the item shipped, out of stock, credit card denied, etc. For more info on this please check affordable ecommerce solutions at www.mdz.ca

Ready-to-use Ecommerce Package
A ready-made package of ecommerce solution software like InterShop that will help you display your products and meet most of your needs. These ready-to-use packages have a lot of features available. But if you need something customized it will come at a price. Automated features for payment, shipping etc will cost you a few more dollars. This might look as the most affordable ecommerce solution available but the main problem with this kind of ecommerce packages is when your online business expands and you desire more customization. But if your requirements are met with the package features go ahead and buy it. This package is recommended as affordable ecommerce solution for companies that fall in mid-sized business category.

Rent a space/store in a network-based e-commerce solution
These web based-solutions are quite inexpensive and provide a lot of features. You have to just customize your store by picking a theme (looks and settings). Being web based they are very fast. You don't need to install any software, customize it and put in your product information. And you are ready to go e-shopping on your own store.
If you think that this kind of ecommerce solution provider provides what you are looking for then go ahead and sign-up for it. The good part is that there is no installation involved so no complications. If you feel that this package meets all your requirements then you should settle for this option. But you’ll surely want more in days to come. And will feel something is missing once a few months pass by.
A store is recommended as affordable ecommerce solution for small or mid-sized business

Ask a web designing company to build you a website from scratch
If you run a large Enterprise and feel that it has outgrown the Ready-to-use ecommerce software package or smaller storefront services, you can get a unique customized website made from scratch according to your specifications. It always good to develop once own ecommerce website as it the developers are always available for any updating or changes that you might decide to have later on.
This scenario also leads us to two choices:
1) Hiring the same company to design and host your site.
2) Hosting with one and letting another company design your website.
Hiring the same ecommerce solution provider company to design and host your website
This option wont let you be more flexible with the hosting platform and you might end up with a platform that the designing company finds the best. Do not forget to read user’s reviews about the hosting and the support provided before you sign-up with any design + hosting company. Some reviews may be fake so you should try and contact the customers personally if possible to know the company’s ecommerce hosting capacity and efficiency. If you find that they have had previous issues related to hosting or updating with any customers get it clarified from a support personnel. Do study if they allow easy updating. Also find if it can be done on your own or you have to upload it through some respective personnel of hosting company.
Hosting with one and letting another company design your website.
Expect for a few ecommerce solution providers that provide both hosting and design most of them are found lacking in one of the skills or both. But if you are thinking of separate hosting and design then you will have to make sure that the designer should be aware of the hosting services which will be utilized and services rendered by them. When making a choice between designers take a look at the ecommerce websites they have made in the past and ask for references. Call the references or mail them and ask them their experience with the designer.
While choosing a host be sure not to commit mistakes that you will repent later take the designer into consultation if you have already chosen one.
These two options are recommended for big corporate companies.

How to decide which option is the right one for you?
Companies are generally categorized into three
1) Small Business
2) Mid-Sized Business
3) Corporate Business
If you can enlist your company in one of these categories then you have already found a solution in the recommendation provided at the bottom of each option. If you think that you are going to make it big on the Internet then you should opt for the third option. Though I would recommend getting a feel of the online business before you go for the bigger package.
Coming to an end of the article.
The topic of ecommerce solution has such a wide scope that it is not possible for any article to cover it. Having read through this article you might have got a brief idea of how to choose a perfect ecommerce service provider (hosting and design) who fulfils all your requirements.
If you need more information on affordable ecommerce solution providers please take a look at www.mdz.ca
Best of luck.