Wednesday, December 11, 2013

5 Tips for Business Owners leading up to Xmas


 

1.    Get organised.

Just like any other event or deadline, make a list of thing to do & prioritise. Once you have them on paper put them out of your mind and focus on working your way through the list.

 
2.    Review last year’s activities. 
What did you do that worked last year?  Review which product and services performed well and which didn’t.  Did you have enough staff to handle increased holiday traffic?  Think of how you can improve your promotions and marketing efforts from last year.

 
3.    Prepare your team to up the client service ante
Get your team ready. Staff training sessions prepare them for the extra volume of customers/Sales. They will be under more pressure than usual but a positive, helpful attitude will make the busy period more pleasant for all. Assess whether you need some temp staff.

 
4.    Shout from the rooftops
Don't be shy about making your business as visible as possible. All promotional materials should be Christmassy! Promote your unique selling points to remind loyal customers and attract potential ones. Consider adding limited-time discounts or expanding your sales/marketing channels. All good points for your Xmas Newsletter

 
5.    After the party
After the hustle and bustle of Christmas business tends to be quieter post-Christmas, this is the time to take some time off for a holiday. When you get back perform a business health check with your business advisor to help kick start your path to financial success in the New Year..

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Short Speech about Excellence in Organisations

Becoming an EXCELLENT Organisation

The word EXCELLENT can mean many different things to people.
 
We all aim to turn our own businesses into EXCELLENT Organisations.
So how do we define an EXCELLENT Organisation?
 
Let’s look at the some of the common characteristics: 

1.    Action oriented – focus on making immediate use of facts to make decisions & take action, instead of procrastinating (another word for Committee Meeting)

2.    Listen – simple really, talk to your clients and find out the quality & service that they are looking for.

3.    Encourage change: Support innovators & risk takers in your organisation. You’re looking for initiative & leadership from your people

4.    Respect – your staff are where quality products start & finish. In that respect they are your most valuable resource

5.    Vision – Napoleon Bonaparte said, “A leader is a dealer in hope. If you combine hope with clear goals, then people have direction – they know where they are headed and why.  They’re much more likely to achieve excellence.

6.    Knowledge – know your boundaries; stick to what you know best

7.    Innovation – first ask the question: Will this change benefit our customers?


If these are some of the characteristics of EXCELLENT Organisations, how does yours compare?

Is there anything that you would want to change?

Friday, November 22, 2013

Website redesign & upgrade

We have had an interesting month so far, have completed & launched three website upgrades for existing clients.

In one case all the website content remained the same and it was just the design that we updated:

1. Climate Control Companies Assn.

 www.ccca.org.nz
 This website was 2 1/2 years old and the structure on the website had grown substantially so that the design was now very cumbersome. Now there is a modern, clean, simple design that allows a readers to focus easily on the important information.

The other two had a full makeover of design & content.


2. Goodwood Park Healthcare

www.goodwood.org.nz
Customers since 2006. Most recent site was 5 years old and well out of date both in style and information. The new site is a CMS System so that they can keep it up to date as their business needs evolve.

3. Glassways

www.glassways.co.nz
Glaziers based in Pukekohe, New Zealand.
This website was over 6 years old and now has a much more current look, focusing on real products that they supply and install.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Webserver Migration now completed

At the end of July we completed the Migration of all our websites & Domain Names to a new Server.

This has been a very intensive review and upgrade of many sites to comply with the requirements of our more modern Server hardware .  Am much more confident that the reliability of our Server meets high standards going forward and that we can continue to maintain our 99.9% uptime targets.

Thanks to all our customers for their understanding & co-operation over this transition period.

www.webdzinz.co.nz


Thursday, July 18, 2013

Showcase of Mobile Websites

Have now published our showcase of Mobile websites that we have designed and published for our clients.

The showcase will continue to grow so follow the link and LIKE  the page - you will then automatically be notified of updates:


http://tinyurl.com/o7noty4

QR Codes

Our new Business Cards and our new email signatures incorporate our QR Code.

What a great way to spread the message.

New Business Cards

Very excited today.
As part of our rebranding project we have just received our new business cards from the printer.

The cards incorporate our new logo and we wanted an innovative design which sets us apart from our competitors and the more formal business cards of our colleagues.

Let us know what you think:

Friday, July 12, 2013

Website & email Connectivity Report

This morning we are experiencing connectivity issues within the Webserver Farm that hosts our Servers. This affects all email, website & DNS Services.

The issue is with our upstream provider - we are working with them on resolution and will post more information as soon as possible.



11.35am -  Connections to website Server restored now, back to business as usual

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Mobile website launched for Supermarket

Our eCommerce Supermarket has now launched a Mobile Device friendly version of their website.

It looks really good & very easy to use and has over 2000 product lines.

The products are highly categorised and each product has multiple levels information so that buyers can drill down for more details about a specific product

The website auto detects the screen size on which it is viewed & displays the regular version or mobile version accordingly.

Check it out:
www.wisecicada.co.nz/mobile

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Another First for Webdzinz

This week we have completed two new websites (nothing new about that...) and they have Mobile websites (nothing new about that either...) but the NEW FEATURE is that the Mobile websites are Responsive Websites. 

This means that  the information people see on their Smartphone or Tablet is exactly the same info that they see on their Desktop. However its all formatted differently, sizes are adjusted to fit on the smaller screen. Some of the info is excluded from the Smartphone/Tablet Version.

One of the big challenges is that the "Call to Action" for people using a Smartphone is different to the "Call to Action" for people using a Desktop.

Another big challenge is that website owners tend to write a lot of text for their website pages, but people using a Smartphone often have a shorter attention spam & can be too impatient to read it. 
We're still working on this issue.

Check out the 2 websites.

(Tip: open the website on your Desktop and then reduce the width of the window until the website snaps to the smaller format - you'll easily see the differnce)

www.australianmovers.co.nz
www.britishmovers.co.nz

We would love to know what you think about these 2 websites.
  1. Do you like the designs?
  2. Do you think that the 'snap' between Desktop/Smartphone versions are effective?
  3. Any other feedback would be really welcome

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Upgrade for our Servers

We have been working very hard on getting all our websites ready for Migration from their existing Servers to our new Server and the first batch is being transferred tonight.

Our existing Servers are reaching the end of their useful life expectancy and it's time to upgrade before there are any consequences.

The new Server will be faster, have better processing power, improved backup & failover proceedures.  We're looking forward to providing a better all round service.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Webdzinz launches our new branding & website


Webdzinz has been so busy over the last few years that our website has become rather shabby, uncared for and out of date in both style and content.

We decided to do something about that and over the past month have been working steadily towards a major overhaul of the entire website.

As from Friday afternoon we are proud to announce that our NEW WEBSITE is officially launched:

There are a number of new features focused around making it easy to find information about our various services & packages and lots of instances where we can show off our customer’s websites and demonstrate the style & functionality. Also lots of interactive aspects with slideshows and samples of customer feedback.

You will also see that we have taken the opportunity to update our logo.
Have been using the same logo since 2001 and it was time for a change.

We wanted something modern, memorable, and a little bit racy. Something that retains our traditional company colour scheme and reinforces our expertise in website production.

So without further ado we can now unveil our new corporate identity:



Please take the time to have a good look at the new website and let us have your feedback.

Would be really interested to read any comments & suggestions for further improvement.



Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Nice Customer Feedback

Sandy Walker says:
"Webdzinz has redesigned and updated Advanced Print and Design’s website moving us from a static site to a content manageable one, that is easy to interact with allowing us to ensure it is keep current with new information and gallery images on a regular basis.

The guidance and expertise of Barry and his team made the process painless and enjoyable and we are really thrilled with the final result. Barry was happy to share his knowledge, quick to respond to our needs and kept the project moving along meeting our deadline ahead of time.

We appreciate the personal interest he took and will have no hesitation in recommending Webdzinz to any of our clients looking for a Website Designer. We look forward to a rewarding, ongoing relationship."
www.advancedprint.co.nz

Thanks for your kind comments Sandy

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

5 Critical Factors in Website Design

(Updated since our post 3 years ago)

1. Great Graphic Design. You MUST have graphic design that is specifically created for your business and is consistent with your offline marketing activities. IMPORTANT - Make sure that the design is visually impressive to your targeted readers – you only get one chance for a first impression. After you’ve created the first impression your subsequent pages should maintain the design theme.

2. Easy To Use, Intuitive Navigation. Website visitors MUST be able to reach every page from every other page. It’s IMPORTANT to have links to other pages incorporated into the text. It’s HELPFUL to have a Sitemap & Keyword Search function.

3. Your Contact Information MUST be included in a prime position on every page. When a reader is ready to get in touch with your business, your contact information must be instantly available.

4. Content that’s Easy to Read. Your website MUST have dark text on light background because otherwise it’s hard to read. It’s BEST to use lots of headings, short paragraphs, bullets & numbered points, taglines. Use plain & uncomplicated words. IMPORTANT: your text should be focused on the reader – not on the writer, you should write about solving a problem for your website visitor.

5. Friendly for Mobile Devices. Use of Smart Phones to browse the web has become widespread. Your website MUST be designed to be easy to read & navigate on a mobile phone. You have the option of having a different call-to-action for people using a Smart Phone.

To summarise, a well designed website makes an impact with both visual elements & the text.

If it’s easy for people to find their way around your site they will have more confidence in your business.

You need to let people know that you understand their needs & make it easy for them to do something about it. Visitors to your website who feel that you understand their problems are more likely to contact you for the solution.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Mobile Website Comparison Tool

We have devised & produced a tool that enables people to compare a Mobile Optimised Website Vs what people would have seen on their smartphone before we optimised the website.

www.webdzinz.co.nz/mobilesites

This tool can also be used as a simulator to view what any ordinary website looks like in this environment.

It's quite revealing  to see how poorly some website perform and clearly show how very important it is to go to the next step, optimising your website for use on a smartphone.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

eCommerce website upgrade

Global Coffee sells coffee online to lovers of great coffee.
 
Have just completed an upgrade of their eCommerce website so that people can easily save a record of their favourite beans and can examine their past orders in order to more easily re-order.
 
We have also set up a facility for Global coffee to give their customers numbered coupons which provide a discount on ordering.
 
Visit their website: www.globalcoffee.co.nz