SERVICES
It's pretty simple really - we offer a complete internet web site design, development and build service, involving the client at every stage of the process, from discussing the brief to the web site going live.
- We'll build your web site or rebuild it, whether you are looking for an all-singing/all-dancing e-ecommerce site or a brochure site to promote your business
- We'll work with you to ensure that your content is search engine friendly
- We'll design your logo and your corporate branding
- And then we'll offer you an excellent hosting and maintenance package to go with it all
BUILDING NEW WEB SITES
If you want a new site, we'll guide you through the development phases, making sure that you are 100% happy at every stage.
This is what Clare Graham of Advantage PR had to say about us:
"Arkose made the whole process as pain free as possible, talking me through each step of website development and designing a fantastic corporate logo which perfectly encapsulated what my business was about. I am thrilled with the finished product and would recommend Arkose to any company which wants speedy service and professionalism."
REDESIGNING EXISTING WEB SITES
Why would you want to redesign your web site?
Well, here's a few good reasons:
- It's not generating enough business for you;
- You have outgrown the old design, and/or are thinking of rebranding;
- Your current site has been created using old coding standards like HTML 4.0 or built using out-dated methods like tables. You want your site to meet the latest coding standards but don't know if the original developer can do the job;
- Your site doesn't meet the basic requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and it lacks the accessibility that your users would like it have.
TeeGenius, the golf teetime booking service is a good example. We worked with the client to improve not only the look and feel of the web site, but also to enhance the users' experience, so that the key interactions they have with the site were as intuitive as possible.
FREE WEB SITE REVIEWS
Contact us with your web site address, and we'll review it for FREE. We'll provide feedback on:
- The design
- The coding
- The use of images and text
- How accessible it is
- How well the site is set up for search engines
- The general look and feel of the site
Like we say, the review is free, and you can take the advice or leave it.
BRAND DEVELOPMENT
With many of our clients being new business start-ups, we are able to work with them on both their corporate identity and web site design and development.
We'll produce a logo for use on the web, and in print if required, incorporating the corporate colours, look and feel, and all the other parts of the brand identity that the client requires.
HOSTING
We can cater for all of your hosting requirements through our Hosting partner, Xeriom Networks. They offer web hosting accounts from £60 a year (20Gb monthly data transfer, 1GB disk space, 1 free domain name and up to 5 domains hosted on the account).
If this isn't enough for you, Xeriom Networks offer Virtual Servers, Dedicated Services and Co-location.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
SEO is a process for ensuring that a web site is found by users when they run a search on a search engine. Effective SEO covers everything from pay-per-click campaigns to building semantically correct web sites to writing search engine friendly content.
Every web site built by Arkose Design will contain the appropriate key search terms to make your web site search engine friendly. We'll work with you to ensure that the content is well written. Our navigation and designs are created to allow the most effective page ranking to take place. What we're trying to say is that we build web sites in such a way that are as friendly to search engines as possible.
If you want more, such as a pay-per-click marketing campaign, contact us for a quote.
DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION
It's a straight-forward process buying a domain name for your site. If you are unsure how to, we can do it for you.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
We pride ourselves in creating web sites that are up to scratch with the latest coding standards and conventions. So we do these things...
- Use external Cascading Style Sheets for all layout and styling
- Make sites that comply with the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 to accessibility level 2 (and many of the level 3 priorities) as standard. For reference see www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/full-checklist.html
- Meet the latest XHTML 1.0 transitional and CSS 2.0 published coding standards set by the W3C. We've recently started to develop in XHTML 1.0 Strict as well now, which is the coding standard that is being
- Ensure that our sites work as designed in the major browsers for the PC and Mac (Internet Explorer 5.5 and above, Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Netscape). Although 85% of the web is viewed on IE5 and later versions, 15% use other browsers, and this figure is increasing
- Use lists and text for navigation - a search engine friendly technique and helpful to screen readers
...but not these things...
- Use tables for layout
- Code using HTML 4.xx - it's an old coding standard that is being phased out by developers. If you are approached by a developer looking to create a web site coded for you in HTMLl 4.1, ask them why they are not using XHTML...
- Use animated gifs - so no flying flags on our sites we're afraid to say. Sorry... :-(
- Use extensive amounts of search engine unfriendly and inaccessible javascript for basic functions
- Use inaccessible image-based navigation
