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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) from In8 Design
2008-04-22 16:13:00
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is vital to making your business website a success. Search engines are the number one way of finding what you?re looking for online, and if you not listed for your product or service keywords, you simply will not get noticed.   In8 Design offer comprehensive SEO services for your individual situation. You may already have a website and want an analysis of its current success and hints and tips as to how you could improve. You may just want to monitor your SEO rankings using a tool like Google Analytics ? we can set this up for you and teach you how to read the results.   Alternatively, you may be looking for a new website or a complete SEO overhaul. We can offer a comprehensive SEO service, from keyword planning and research and SEO analysis to SEO Training, SEO Consultancy and Search Engine Submission and monitoring.   We only offer organic search engine optimization training as we believe this is a viable, long-term approach that will reap a good r...
More About: Search Engine Optimization , Search , Search Engine

Spring Clean or Start a fresh! Our Spring web design offer...
2008-04-17 11:34:00
We're full of the joys of spring here at In8 Design ....that's why we're offering a 4 page, fully content managed website for just £300.... Normally, £300 would buy you a static HTML website that you cannot edit yourself.  Now, you can get a content managed website for the very same price with In8 Design. Spring Web Design Offer - £300!                                               4 Pages 1 contact web form Full Content Management Visitor Registration or Newsletter sign up (for email capture) 1 Logo Design (up to 3 hours design time) This offer is also open to web re-designs but is only available until the 20th May 2008.       All packages include content management.  Hosting is charged in addition annually and includes POP 3 Email Accounts and unlimited bandwidth.     Web Design Hampshire | E-Commerce Web Design | Small, Cheap Web Design Hampshire
More About: Clean , Start

Questions to ask your web designer BEFORE hiring!
2008-04-10 18:36:00
If your looking to hire a web designer to build your website, chances are that is because you cannot do that yourself and lack the required knowledge. So how are you supposed to make a decision on whether your web designer is any good? We give you the key questions to ask before hiring...
More About: Questions , Designer , Hiring , Web Designer

New ECommerce / Shopping Cart website launched
2008-03-17 15:34:00
In8 are proud to present our latest launch, an ecommerce website for Handprinted.co.uk. Shirley, owner of Handprinted.co.uk, contacted In8 to discuss a fully content managed shopping cart that allowed her to totally control the products, sales and content of her website. The new site would also need to help to improve the site?s search engine listings and general visibility on the internet.   Handprinted was already well listed on very niche keywords for their market place, but were not listing on some of the more general search terms. Their new shopping cart allowed Handprinted to optimize a page for both general keywords and product specific keywords, depending on where the visitor was in the navigation.   In8 also implemented a simple navigation structure to allow visitors to quickly and simply find what they are looking for. Also added was a resource area allowing download of help-sheets and guidelines which are also heavily optimized to improve the site?s ranking with search en...
More About: Shopping , Website , Ecommerce , Launched , Cart

DotNetNuke in the UK
2008-03-13 11:14:00
More and more sites are being developed in the UK using the DotNetNuke Open source platform.  When In8 began, we were one of only very few who were building and designing on the platform and we have watched it grow from an unstable toddler to a much more reliable and sturdy maturity.  Once understood, DotNetNuke (DNN) is a powerful tool that allows web designers to easily and cheaply offer content managed websites.  However, if you cannot master skinning and adapting tokens to suite your style, your web projects can quite easily turn into a DNN-typical site.  These sites are often characterized by the DNN standard ?blue skin? or its container package.  The [SOLPARTMENU] is a dead giveaway on most DNN site, but it offers an easy and manageable solution to your menu structure.  One item that web designers cannot seem to avoid is the typical DNN login box.  Not so easy to customize, this is the first thing I look for when identifying the website platform. The availability of DNN modu...

What is Web 2.0 and what does Web 2.0 design look like?
2008-03-05 11:07:00
A few years ago now, people started talking about this concept; Web 2.0.  No-one seemed to be able to define what exactly it was, and lets be honest, unless you were involved in web design, why would you want to know?  Also, no-one ever really talked about Web 1.0 before Web 2.0...so where does the '2' come from?  When web designers and web developers realised that there was a change in how people were using the web, they coined the term Web 2.0, meaning that anything before was Web 1.0. So what is it?  Here is my humble attempt at a definition: Web 2.0 is essentially a web platform that grows and develops organically through the input of others - 'an architecture of participation'.  To put this into context, here are some example of web 1.0 and web 2.0 Web 1.0 Web 2.0 Britannica Online Wikipedia Personal Websites Blogging Dir...
More About: Design

Interactive Websites - Involving the user in your website
2008-02-26 19:31:00
We all know that somehting that is interactive is more effective at engaging interest than something that is static and flat.  The same is true for websites - if the visitor is invited to interact with the website - or indeed the company, they are more likely to take a better recognition of the website and its content. Great interactive features which you may wish to include on your website: Forums As well a providing lots of great content, forums allow the user to ask questions and participate in online exchanges.   Tests and Quizes Humans like to test themselves and measure their ability - make the most of this interest by providing a quiz or test. Calendars If you have an event, why not allow your visitors to book online? Listing Website s and Searches If you have lists of product and services, why not allow the visitor to search through them on their own criteria?  This will help to create a more memorable experience. Comme...
More About: Interactive , Websites , User

Website Hot Spots and Website Design Standard Practice
2008-02-25 22:50:00
You may think that the layout of a website is often more a case of design than judgment, and in a lot of cases this is true. However, as a marketing tool, your website design should use sound marketing sense to ensure you convert more hits to sales and enquiries.    Where you place content on your site is crucially important. Research has proven that content placed in certain areas on your web page is more likely to get read and ?clicks? that potentially the very same content elsewhere on the page. As you would expect, different research has given different results.    Also important, is accepting web standards and what your visitors expect. Trying to be different is great in theory, but not if it makes navigating or accessing the content of your site more difficult for your visitors.   Common lines of thought are as follows:   Menus to the left, or top This is standard practise and is what most people look for and expect on a site. Trying to be clever with obscure menu systems can ...
More About: Design , Website , Practice , Standard , Spots

Business Startup Websites ? getting the right first website.
2008-01-23 20:17:00
A website is often seen as an expensive luxury by startup businesses and entrepreneurs. A first budget website is often three or four pages of static html content, which although appears on the internet, does not actively work to help the business grow. Any expense at the crucial startup period needs to work for the business and create a return on the investment.    In8 build websites that work as a marketing tool for the business, providing another avenue for enquiries and potential new customers. We ensure that you website is fully optimised for search engines to ensure your site is listed on your crucial key words. Our content management software is developed with search engines in mind ? and we can teach you how to use this technology to its full potential.   All of our startup websites are fully content managed which allows you to ensure your website is always up-to-date and therefore keep your visitors coming back. Give your customers a place to get current information easily ...
More About: Business , Website , Websites , Startup

Hints and Tricks for Search Engine Optimization
2008-01-04 14:42:00
Getting your website listed (indexed) on search engines for relevant keywords won?t happen on its own. Especially with a new website, it is very important to get it right from the start. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is vital in marketing your website online. Searching for services/products/people etc, online via search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN is increasingly becoming the most popular method of finding information. Being at the top of listings for individual keywords is the path to a successful website! Getting to the top of Google, Yahoo and MSN's search listings isn't as easy as fixing your meta tag keywords! But it is a good start and is the foundation of Search Engine Optimization.   The BEST way to improve the rank of your website is to increase the number of high-quality sites that link to your pages. For more information about improving your site's visibility (Google only), we recommend getting a free account with Google and reviewing the webmaster guidel...
More About: Tricks

New websites need promotion - existing alone will not make it a success!
2008-01-03 22:56:00
I don?t need to tell you how many people surf the internet on a regular, if not daily basis.  I don?t need to tell you that technology is constantly progressing. And I definitely don?t need to lecture about how important it is to have a website if you?re a business.  But is just having a website enough?  If only things were that simple! Some websites are about as useful as a chocolate tea pot.  Here are the top 5 traps that people fall into with their new website. Website Never Found It?s very sad when your website goes unnoticed. You MUST tell the search engines (google etc) that your site exists; they won?t read your mind.  There are a number of ways of getting your site ?indexed?.  The fastest is to get another website to link to it, and the quickest way to achieve this is to place an ad on Gumtree.com.  If you don?t mind waiting, you can submit your site to the search engines individually ? just do a Google search for ?search engine submit?...
More About: Promotion , Success , Websites , Make

Estate Agent Websites and Listings ? Kick the RightMove habit and get a new
2008-01-02 16:53:00
Estate Agent websites are become a thing of the past with many now choosing to just use Right Move.  Estate Agency Websites are very important in order to attract customers from the web.  Using Right Move puts you in the same boat as all the other estate agencies - you should try to stand out.  Listing Properties online is great for search engine optimisation and can double up as an office tool which allows your customers to search just your properties from your website. Having recently been through the saga of trying to sell my house and buy another, I have, like thousands of others in the UK, been trawling the Right Move website for properties that suit my needs.  I can definitely see the benefits of the Right Move estate agency website ? everything in one place, simple searches, and a layout standard which allows your to compare easily.  However, with uniformity comes monotony.  I probably visited this site everyday for 3 months and I was desperate to look somewhere else to hope...
More About: Estate , Listings , Kick

Free Website Advice and Resources
2007-10-31 13:45:00
Good Afternoon...   We have been very busy at In8 working to get our new Help and Advice area ready for launch.  We have now finished setting up the area and we are delighted to invite you all to visit!   You can find our web help and support area on our website www.in8website.co.uk/   We have also launched our new free website analysis service.  The service is available to absolutely anyone who may be considering getting a new website or revamping their current website.  The web analysis will identity any problems you have be having and point out the solutions that are available.  Why are we doing this?  Because we hope that if you are looking for a new website, you may consider using us!   Have a great day! Anna   In8 Website Design Hampshire  
More About: Resources , Free

JPG or JPEG? Gif what? Image file extensions explained...
2007-10-29 21:18:00
I'm quite often asked why I use a gif for one thing and a jpeg for another, so I thought I would document it all here to share with everyone.  It is important to get these right when using the content management to add pictures.  There are valid reasons for using different file types and its not just to do with the program you're using.  There are far too many to list in full, so here are a few of the most common ones: Gif  The gif  (Graphical Interchange Format) file is often used in web design as it offers a good quality image at a small file size.  It can contain up to 256 'indexed' colours.  The colours are called 'indexed' because they are chosen when saving the file.  High detail images are probably better with a Jpg.  GIF images can also be animated and saved as "animated GIFs," which are often used to display basic animations on websites; they may also include transparent pixels, which allow them to blend with different color backgrounds; however, pixels in a GIF image...
More About: Extensions , File , Image , Jpeg

Search Engine Optimization - beware unrealistic guarantees
2007-10-26 10:07:00
This week alone I have received 5 emails, 2 letters and 3 phone calls from various businesses promising to get me to the top of the Google listings.  With prices ranging from a rather off-putting £200+ a month, to a more tempting £50 a month, it's tough to know who are the experts and who are the all-promising, zero-producing scammers.  From £30 a month you may just be tempted to sign up to one of their deals - but please don't without knowing all the facts.     Here are five things to remember when considering using a Search Engine Optimisation 'expert':   1.       Anyone who says they can guarantee to get you to the top of the listings without even knowing what you business does, is probably worth being suspicious of.    2.       Just because the letter or email comes addressed to your name of business, doesn?t mean that they have research into you specific situation - they probably just bought a data list from somewhere.   3.       Those companies who are good at this type o...
More About: Search Engine Optimization , Search Engine , Optimization

Web Design Tip - Get Rotating Images with an Animated Gif!
2007-10-03 11:03:00
Sometimes a bit of simple movement can enhance a website design and offer your visitors a more interesting experience, but people are often put off by the workload. Getting changing/rotating pictures on your website dosen't necessarily mean spending a couple of hours messing around with Flash.  Gifs are normally thought of as just images, but they can also be animated.  I was recently directed to a fantastic piece of FREE software which takes your images and turns them into a rotating gif.  Please Note: You only seem to be able to use JPG files. You can download Animator Nine from here: http://www.download.com/Animator-9/3000-2 186_4-909432.html Basic instructions: Download, install and open Animator Nine. Select 'Stitch' Click the little file tree icon in the top left and browse to the folder that contains the JPG FILES that you want to rotate.  You don't need to select the individual files, just the folder they are in. Select the images you want to use from the...
More About: Web Design , Design , Images , Animated , Rotating

Web Design Tip - Favicon: What is it? How do I get one?
2007-09-29 23:30:00
Good evening... I often get comments about the 'little details' that make our service special to our web design customers.  Just yesterday, I was asked about a Favicon for a website (or as they put it, "the funny little icon thing in the web browser"), so I thought I would take this opportunity to enlighten you all! What is it? The favicon is an icon file ( extension .ico) that your web browser looks for to replace the internet explorer (or firefox etc) logo in the web browser address bar.  If you looks at ours, we have a little green leaf .  It also appears if your site is saved into somebody's 'Favorites' and it makes your site easier to find. How do I get one? Well there are two ways to go about this really: Create your own icon in Photoshop (or something similar).  Create yourself a square image that is 16 pixels x 16 pixels.  Create your design and save it as a .gif .  Then, rename the file to 'favicon.ico'  (the .ico bit is the file extension).  You then need to sa...
More About: Web Design , Design

Website design accross Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and accross the globe!
2007-09-27 14:11:00
Just a quote entry to say that we are now in talk with am international client - how exciting!  In8 Website Design Hampshire are quoting to create a multi-lingual solution for a large international company.  The site will cater for partners accross the globe, who will be able to select the language in which they would like the content. Watch this space...
More About: Globe , The G

SEO Obsession - my trials and errors
2007-09-24 11:44:00
I don't like to consider myself a work-aholic, but I must admit that I do feel the need to check my Google Analytics quite frequently!  My better half and I have an unspoken rule that on weekends I shouldnt need to be on my laptop all day, and I do agree.  However, I can't seem to avoid quickly checking my emails or logging-on to Google Analytics to see how many visits I had the day before and where they came from... I think it has started to become a bit of an obsession.  How sad does that sound?  But when you think about it, it is my livelyhood and I do spend a hell of a lot of time trying to better optimize my site and get more inbound links. I am offen asked by my customers how much time you need to spend on SEO in order to achieve good rankings.  How long is a piece of string!  What you need to do really depends on your individual website.  The trouble I find with Search Engine Optimizing my website design site is that every bugger in the industry SHOULD be quite good at opti...
More About: Obsession , Errors , Trials

I'm Back - and fully recharged!
2007-09-19 10:43:00
Hi everyone - as you may be aware I was away last weekend relaxing in the west country!  Lucky for some ay! ;o) I've had some advice that I should use my blog in a more personal way, rather than just sharing news about clients and web launches - so here goes! You may have noticed that we have added a couple of new tabs to our site recently...these are links to our sister sites which have been around for a while, but I felt it would be better make a connection between the websites.  In8 Design and Print offers design and print service including brochure design, leaflet design, logo design, etc....as affordable prices - just like In8 Website Design.  In8 Photography offers affordable photographic services including studio photography, commercial photography, product photography and also 360 virtual tours. Speaking of which...we have also added a fairly new tab for 360 virtual tours, which you can see on the In8 website (http://www.in8website.co.uk/360VirtualTo urs.aspx ).  We at In8 r...
More About: Back , Char

Community and Networking functionaliy putting Women 1st
2007-08-21 14:11:00
In8 is currently working with Women 1st, a Dorset based Womens Networking Group to build a community forum that involves its users and members.  Women 1st is a new and exciting ?networking? event for all women ? a meeting point for friends, with a tailored programme of talks, and a small supporting exhibition for you to browse whilst enjoying a warm welcome and relaxing atmosphere. Women 1st started out with a HTML based website that was proving costly to update and did not nurture the community aspect of the business.  Kathryn, the founder of Women 1st, was referred to In8 by another customer.  In8 created a community website for Women 1st based around their current website, while extending it with community features. The Women 1st website now consists of: Community Forum - fully managed by Kathryn, Speaker Profile Directory - a listings module that Kathryn can update herself as new speakers join Events Payment Facility - a paypal integrated events modules which allo...
More About: Putting , Unit

A New Ecommerce Back-End for Hampshire Based Films Company
2007-08-21 13:54:00
In8 Website Design is currently working with helping Hampshire based company, Tomahawk Films , to streamline their shopping cart and payment gateway facilities.  Tomahawk films originally used a 1990's 'unpack and go' shopping cart, which collected order details and emailed them to Tomahawk Films.  Although secure, the system was needlessly complicated and Brian, the CEO of Tomahawk Films, was single handedly trying to run the website and the archaic back-end was holding him back. Tomahawk Films did not want to chang the lok and feel of the site in any way and was keen to retain the web processes, so as to not alienate their loyal customers.  With this in mind, In8 created a simple back-end solution that fitted in with the current look and feel, as well as the structure that was familar to Tomahawk users. Brian can now collect payment, manage and track orders and market to his customers all from his website.  The simple ecommerce package allows Brian to totally manage his web shop...
More About: Ecommerce , Company , Back

Search Engine Optimization Tips
2007-04-27 16:19:00
In8 is offering visitor and clients Search Engine Optimization Tips with no catch or cost! Visit our 'SEO Tips' page in our 'Info' section for details.
More About: Search Engine

In8 Offers Visitors Free Downloads and Resources
2007-04-17 16:46:00
In8 has decided to offer its much appreciated visitor a selection of free resources over the next few months. In8 believe in helping web newbies to help themselves using a range of specialy selected resources. The first resource is 'Make Google Love Your Site'. The download is now available on www.in8website.co.uk Enjoy!
More About: Downloads , Resources , Free , Offers , Visitors

Reale Photography Launch
2007-03-27 14:54:00
Reale Photography have become the latest Portsmouth based business to get an In8 Website. Rhys Meale, Photographer, has been looking for a website solution to suite his budget and In8's Basic Package allowed him to get online!
More About: Launch

News - Want to vary your content depending on your user?
2007-03-14 10:52:00
Coming soon....In8 Customers wil be able to control what content users see on a user level, not just role! Interested? Please contact us. This service SHOULD be available in April 2007.
More About: News , Content , User

Introducing.....the In8 Blog
2007-03-14 10:47:00
In8 Website have decided to run a blog from our website.
More About: Blog