15/11/2007 by admin.

We are please to announce the launch of the White Rose Design Solutions Web Ring - a site designed to bring many differing sites under the one roof and helping to increase traffic to the sites listed.

The Web Ring is also playing an important role in helping those listed to increase their success with the nets major search engine operators.

To visit the Web Ring simply click here - http://www.webring.whiterosedesignsolutions.net 

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

12/11/2007 by admin.

You can now make payment for our web design and corporate development packages online at http://www.whiterosedesignsolutions.bttradespace.com - We’ll then get in touch to start the ball rolling.

This means that you don’t have to go to the trouble of waiting for an invoice to arrive, wait until we have then received the payment and allowed it to clear before we commence work for you. Instead, make payment at the above address and within 24 hours your project will be underway! Its totally secure, and backed by BT!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

10/11/2007 by admin.

You probably know by now that I’m rather passionate about Search Engine Optimization. Well, recent developments in the world of Search Providers have caused quite a stir amongst the online community, and is something that is likely to effect many a website worldwide!

Given that my job demands a huge amount of time spent on SEO I thought it only appropriate to write about these developments.

Every website is given a page rank by Search Providers, and its this page rank that determines a sites listing within the providers search pages. For example, page rank 1 would see a site appear in 1st place on a random search. However, some of the nets top Search Providers have announced that the page rank will now have several factors determining how that ranking is worked out.

The biggest threat to many sites is that the providers will be lowering the page rank of sites who sell links. For example, a site has a low page rank and so buys a link from a top performing site. This of course means disaster for many of these sites that rely heavily on selling the add space. BUT… we suspect that the page rank of those sites buying the links will also drop.

Now, the benefits of this is that smaller sites with lower or non-existent marketing budgets will get a fair play, but for those companies who rely heavily on paid links, such as referrals, it could spell the end of the line!

Of course, looking beneath the surface we are sure that the Search Providers own Pay-Per-Click systems will of course remain unaffected :-)  I guess that this will mean another step closer to total web domination!

Anyway, speculation aside, if you want to ensure you are not effected by these developments you should of course stay well away from any form of paid for advertising online. Not only will this save you money, but it will also save your site from falling into the murky depths of the web2.

Replace the time spent working on your paid referrals with some quality planning and preparation time focusing on ensuring your site is inline with proper SEO guidelines. This alone will help get your site a little higher in the ranking stakes.

There are many things you can do to help your page rank and ensure that these recent developments don’t effect YOU! If you would like help then we do of course offer a very effective SEO service. It is however worth noting that if your in the market for a new site then our web design package is a steal! A full specifically designed website that takes into account proper SEO guidelines from the outset, with a years completely FREE Virtual Webmaster service including hosting, email and regular site updated (which help to keep your site well ranked alone!), and we will even be giving you a free listing on the WRDS Web Ring… a simple site designed with SEO in mind, listing sites by content. The WRDS Web Ring doesn’t have any fancy search facility, instead its a basic layout using plain HTML… all purposefully designed with the Search Engines in mind!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

09/11/2007 by admin.

We are now in the process of setting up a system that will allow you to commission White Rose Design Solutions and make payment online. This system will be hosted by our sister site that is hosted by BT Tradespace. Quite simply, you will be able to purchase any of our products and services through BT Tradespace and then we will get in touch with you to start the ball rolling.

Its a very simple development, but it just helps us to speed things up a bit. The online payment service will be available at http://www.whiterosedesignsolutions.bttradespace.com within the next few days.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

05/11/2007 by admin.

I had a conversation this weekend with a friend regarding websites, and why they are important to small businesses. The question asked was pretty much focusing on what I thought the benefits of going to the trouble of having a website were. Well, my view on this is quite strong, so I thought that I would share it with everyone…

SME’s have a major disadvantage against the multi nationals, and especially new start-ups! The disadvantage is quite simply that SME’s tend not to have the ability to pull off multi-million pound ad campaigns to push their product or brand into the homes of their target audience, and quite often they can’t even afford around the thousand pound mark, meaning that they fall behind and loose out to the multi-nationals… even though they may be hugely competitive and be able to offer a much better service!

Being a businessman myself I understand just how self-employed and/or smaller company directors look at things, especially when we are talking about new startups. There appears to be a mentality that marketing means big money, and placing advertisements here there and everywhere, splashing out a fortune in order to get the return. Well, to be fair this is a complete load of rubbish.

Don’t get me wrong, I made the exact same mistakes when I first took the leap and set up my first business, and believe me… I have never made the mistake since.

Heres the simple truth… most advertising does not work, and of the marketing methods that do work and are very effective a large proportion of them are completely free!!!!!! Yep, you heard me right! FREE!!!

Stay with me here, I’m getting to the useful stuff now…

Forget paying £100 to have you ad in the local paper… it will run once and statistically only hit around 2% of your target audience… of which very few will take the time to look at your add, with the rest throwing it away. This is common knowledge, yet companies still place ad after ad, spending up to £1k a year just on local ads that simply don’t produce the return to make them successful!

On a local level the most effective method of marketing is to stop trying to attract new customers! Yep, thats right, instead focus on your existing customers. Give them a service that will make them loyal to you. This will do two things. First, it will keep them spending their money with you and possibly increase their spend, and secondly, it will get them making referrals… they will tell other people just how amazing you are… then those people become customers and make referrals, and the process goes on. It’s possible to grow a business on customer referrals alone! Word of mouth, its a powerful tool!

Now, looking at the aspect of getting your business out of your locality and in the eyes of the public nation (and possibly world) wide… the same applies… don’t waste your hard earned cash on adverts in national media, on TV or on pay-per-click internet advertising.

The best way to reach a mass audience is with a website, and you can get that website performing exceptionally well without spending a penny on paid for advertising!

A website is the “shop window” of your business on the world wide web, and is one of the most effective methods of marketing your product or service in todays modern age. But the reason why most people stay clear is they think it will cost a fortune! Wrong! If you think about the £1k+ that you have now saved by ditching all that advertising that doesn’t work and offset that against an average cost of just £500 for a 5 page brochure website you have already saved money. And it is a saving, because having a website is guaranteed to generate interest in your business. And when I say interest I don’t just mean the odd enquiry here and there… I’m talking about exposing yourself to over 100,000 potential new clients a year… PLUS!

You don’t need an expensive flashy website that is all singing and dancing to achieve these results either, instead a simple but effective site with the right copy (information) included, and perhaps some pictures/artwork to complement is proven to do just as good a job.

The part that determines the success of the site is the effectiveness of your online marketing.. which again you don’t need to spend a penny on! Spending the time to get your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) right is key! Now SEO in itself is a big subject and I’ve already touched on that before at times so thats not for here. But understanding that a website is the tool that will help you keep up with the multi-nationals for very little cost is the most important discovery you will make!

As part of our Web Design Service we sort the SEO for you and work with you every step of the way to ensure that your online venture is as successful as possible. And our Virtual Webmaster Service removes all the stress and lack of time from your day, and replaces it with the ability for you to work ON your business rather than IN it!

If you would like further information then please do feel free to get in touch, or visit our main site at http://www.whiterosedesignsolutions.net

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »