The new Chigwell Construction website has recently gone live, featuring news and information about the quality property services company. The site was designed by graphic designer Gary Ingram and built by Beaver Design.

As well as a good web presence with plenty of imagery and information, the site also has a few unique features. There is a news page, which shows all the current and older announcements from Chigwell Construction. This is all managed by Chigwell themselves through a simple content management system.

There is also a secure extranet section, which means that Chigwell have a safe place from which to easily distribute information and plans to their partners.

For more information and news about Chigwell Construction, please go to:
www.chigwellconstruction.co.uk

Did you know we do photography here at Beaver Design? Recently, we completed a request for some professional photography for a well known drink manufacturer. The images were to be used by a major market research agency. Because of the confidential nature of this market research, we’re unable to disclose who it was for.

Working with the product, we photographed and retouched a range of images ready for use with consumer testing.

Beaver Design often does this kind of confidential concept work for use in market research (see this story). The results of which go on to define the brands of major labels, many of which you can find on your local supermarket shelf.

The print services company - Lefa Print – came to Beaver Design to rebuild and redesign their website. Lefa Print had new corporate branding, logos and imagery which they wanted to reflect with their online presence.

Beaver made a portfolio style website, giving Lefa Print a strong web presence for reaching new more customers. A good web presence is a necessity for all businesses and Lefa Print saw the value in making sure theirs was doing the most for them.

Have you read our article on getting a good Web Presence for your business?

View the articles from Axis Magazine >

For more information and to view the website, please go to:
www.lefaprint.co.uk

In this month's issue of Axis Magazine we've discussed the dot-com era and what it’s like for modern e-commerce.

Download your copy of our Web Advice article from Axis Magazine (1.2MB) >

When the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, many companies went bust and confidence in the online world was damaged. A few big players survived, taking a large market share and they now enjoy great success (Amazon, eBay, Play.com). But many smaller companies were lost.

Other companies which survived were either not looking too big or had a real-world presence to back them up. The mentality of “get big quick” was destined to only pay off for a fraction of the players involved. There were simply too many companies competing to do the same thing, with too much investment and not enough actual business. Business models designed to operate at a loss for years, just to win enough of a market share for profit later on.

Back to the present

These days, successful e-commerce companies dont tend to look at dominating the web, but instead see it as a way to position a their company to sell online. A good way to think about it is like companies setting up another branch or store, which just happens to be online. This is why they resemble shops, with areas for different items, baskets while you shop, checkouts and so on. Some websites even feature live help, where a representative can chat to customer through a chat window.

Woolworths was a high profile casualty of the recession last Christmas. Because they slashed their prices, other retailers were forced to do the same in order to remain competitive. In the end, Woolworths closed, but they were unfortunately only the first. Poor Christmas sales and a general down-turn in the economy have forced other retailers to tighten their belts and prepare for a harsh couple of years. But it's not all doom and gloom - according to the Woolworth’s website, the store will be re-launching in the summer; this time online.

With the speed at which customers can browse websites, the key is to make sure they quickly find what they’re looking for. Research has shown that customers in the past have taken up to 34 hours to make a buying decision. Having a site which is easy to navigate and where possible, remembers who they are and what they looked at before, will help bring in those sales. Shopping online is a quick "I need it now" kind of shopping and one which you can get into quite easily.

In the early days, the dot-com world seemed like just a fad and for some, during the bubble burst of 2000, it was. E-Commerce is now commonly accepted, more sophisticated and proving to be more resilient during these times of economic recession. If you haven't thought about it before or you've had bad experiences, think about it again and see what e-commerce could mean for your business.

More on e-commerce

Shoppers shun high street for online bargains >
Retail sales down by 1.9% in March >
Wikipedia article on the dot-com bubble >
Woolworths is coming back online >
Some e-commerce stories (of varying successes) from Debenhams, Argos and Sainsbury >

Beaver Design has finished work on a simple, clear and effective website for Elite Electrical Services Ltd (EES). The site keeps with EES's branding and image, but gives them a portfolio on the web to help promote their business.

The site has a simple breakdown of the services provided by EES, along with information about the company and how to contact them.

To view the website and find out more, please go to:

www.elite-electrical.com