If you work in the Hertfordshire area, then there's one event you don't want to miss. It's the Hertfordshire Business Independent, Business Expo. Here you'll be able to meet local businesses, see new products and innovations, as well as talk to people about your own needs.

Beaver Design will be there again this year giving visitors an opportunity to see our work and talk to us about what we can do for you.

It's being held at the Galleria, Hatfield on the 24th June 2009 and doors open at 10:00am. It's really not an event you want to miss, so come on down and we'll see you there!

With a variety of in-house skills and experience, we are looking for people who will fit our friendly and dedicated team.

Web Developer >

We are looking for a dynamic and conscientious web developer to join our fast growing and diverse design and digital signage company. The team is currently working with a wide range of major blue chip companies, medium sized enterprises and local companies. We are about to expand into a custom equipped design studio next door to our current offices, to increase our ability to service our existing and new customers.

Please see the link below for more information:
www.beaver-group.com/vacancies/

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

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 >