If you feel that your existing web site could be performing better, why not get us to evaluate it for you and suggest ways of getting improved results? We can advise on:

• Improving your site’s accessibility to ensure you comply with the UK’s Disability Discrimination Act.
• Redesigning the layout to keep the site looking fresh.
• Optimising your site for increasing traffic.
• Increasing the usability of your site to help visitors complete tasks more successfully.
• Bringing your site’s markup/code up to current web standards to ensure it works in the latest browsers.
• Adding new features, such as Content Management Systems that enable you to update your site more easily.

To make a great first impression - to grab and keep the attention of your visitors

Most people may come to your home page first but not necessarily - search engines or links from other sites may land them onto any of your pages. Your design needs to be attractive throughout the whole site, not just the home page.

To have good navigation and usability – again throughout the site so your visitors can find what they are looking for

To load quickly so they will not give up and go to a competitor

To allow search engines access your site content – some designs shut out search engines and may be counter productive for business sites

To project your company image – your branding, quality and individual character

To make your site stand out from the crowd so you can compete effectively for new business

You get a free 3 month warranty to help ensure you are completely happy with your site. We also review its performance with you after 3 or 6 months.

‘Content is King’ applies strongly whatever the web site design. Developing the content can be the most difficult and longest part of the project – indeed many businesses never get past this step because of a combination of different skills sets and the pressure of day to day priorities.

Most web design agencies expect you to provide your finished site content to them. We can provide web copywriting skills to help you produce great content that works on your target market.

We will send you our “Client Package”
This package includes our agreement, web design process, and questionnaire that helps you get started. In the package, we will also include a written estimate for the total scope of the project. Our agreement is simply ownership and payment which means we require 50 percent down at the beginning of the project and then the remainder due upon completion. The ownership part means that once you paid for the web site in full, then the site belongs to you and we do not obtain any rights to the graphics or content that we create during the development of the site. Note, we do not lock you into any contracts or long-term commitments.

We start the design of your site
The website design starts by taking the materials that you send us, the information from the questionnaire, your verbal input, our competitive analysis, and our professional expertise. Once a rough draft of the site is complete, we upload it to an unpublished address on the Internet for your review. Once the review is completed, and all adjustments have been made, we then ask again for another review and the final approval.

We start on development of the rest of the site pages
At this point, we know by now that we are in a good business relationship and all is going well so we cash your deposit check and move forward with the rest of the web site.

We post your site to a test location
During production of your site, we will post it on our server with a discrete address, unknown to the rest of the world, so that you can view it online from your home or business. You can watch the development stages of your site as it progresses. Any changes can be done via telephone or E-mail. We go the extra mile by working directly with you from start to finish until we are both satisfied with the final product.

Your site goes through a final proofreading
The final step in the development phase is a complete proofreading on both of our parts. You will need to double-check our work and your own, and give us a final approval on the site so that we can call it complete and post it live to the server.

We fine-tune your site
After your final review, we will fine-tune the total site, make sure all graphics are optimized,  cross check the HTML code plus test all scripts and forms, and make sure the site functions properly in all browsers and resolutions. Every effort is made by our team to ensure that the web site is error-free. We will optimize your site so the search engine robots can read it at no additional charge. This is one of the advantages in choosing us to design your Web site.

On final approval
Once you give us the final approval, we launch the site to your .com or other address on the server. Once it goes live, we then double check all scripts and forms and assist you in setting up your email address if you do not already have one. If we host you (preferred), then we setup your statistics program and all other associated features that we offer with your account.

We send you your invoice
At the same time we launch the site, we will invoice you for the final amount and the remaining balance is due when you receive the invoice. Unlike some companies that will not upload your site until paid, we know you are anxious to get your site online so we upload it in good faith before the final payment is made.

We will provide a “Get Started” marketing plan.

All businesses need an identity. Your business identity is what makes you unique to your customers. The goal of your business identity is to have people associate your logo or brand with an excellent product, great service, or terrific customer satisfaction.

Can you answer Yes to any of these questions…

Are you starting a new business?
Has your current business brand and identity gotten stale?
Are you planning on reaching a new demographic that would shy away from your current brand?
Are you launching a new product or products?
Does your current product line need new, attention-grabbing packaging?

Your business needs to market your products and services through advertising. While you can consider a 2-line, one-color listing in the Yellow Pages “advertising,” visual communication through graphic design has a unique ability to enchant and interest people. Whether it is your logo, brochures, mailing pieces, magazine ad, or whatever, you stand a much better chance of reaching your customer when you grab their attention first, and then deliver your message.

Advertising with great graphic design can be powerful. You can’t be in front of your customers all of the time, so let advertising do the talking for you. Graphic design can bring in new customers, improve your brand, or inform your existing customers about new products or services.

Here we list the software programs we effectively use to build up  effective websites catering to your business needs

1. Wordpress/Joomla/Mambo - Content Management System (CMS) software for building up small and large websites.

2. Text editor for editing HTML, XHTML, CSS and Scripting languages

3. Photoshop - For designing web templates.

4. Macromedia Flash - For Flash Websites

Color is often overlooked in the business of optimizing websites for better returns on investments. Website sales can be greatly affected by simply changing its colors. Ever come across a website that uses some funky combination of print and background colors? If you ever want to experience an eye-twisting headache, try reading yellow print on a blue background. The reason you see black type on a white background so much is that it is the best color combination for reading, both on and offline.

And since it is even harder to read text on a monitor than it is on paper, we must all be especially careful with the colors we choose for our websites, or suffer less-than-optimal site traffic and repeat visitors.

Color choice should also be dictated by other, less obvious goals, when designing or re-vamping a website. It’s important to realize that different colors invoke different emotions, are associated with specific concepts and say different things in each society. For instance, green often times is associated with freshness or money, which is fairly obvious if you think about it. But every color does this, and some of the emotions and concepts are more subtle. For example, white means pure, easy, or goodness and purple can be associated with royalty or sophistication. What’s more, each color carries with it both positive and negative ideas. The emotions and concepts that you associate with specific colors may differ from other people’s associations, but there are themes that run throughout each color.

Red - Sense of power, strength, passion, sexuality    Anger, forcefulness, impulsiveness, impatience, intimidation, conquest, violence and revenge

Yellow - Caution, brightness, intelligence, joy, organization, Spring time    Criticism, laziness, or cynicism

Blue - Tranquility, love, acceptance, patience, understanding, cooperation, comfort, loyalty and security    Fear, coldness, passivity and depression

Orange - Steadfastness, courage, confidence, friendliness, and cheerfulness, warmth, excitement, & energy     Ignorance, inferiority, sluggishness and superiority

Purple - Royalty, sophistication, religion, Bruised, foreboding

Green - Money, health, food, nature, hope, growth, freshness, soothing, sharing, and responsiveness, Envy, greed, constriction, guilt, jealousy and disorder

White - Pure, fresh, easy, cleanliness or goodness, Blind, winter, cold, distant

Black - Dramatic, classy, committed, serious Evil, death, ignorance, coldness

A major goal of marketers is to invoke emotion in their audience. We know that if we can cause some kind of an emotional reaction in the people we are marketing to and communicating with, we have a better chance of compelling them to buy from us. The battle between logic and emotion that rages in each of is usually won by emotion most of the time. By choosing the colors of our websites and online media with deliberate care, we are purposefully trying to invoke a specific emotional response that will increase sales. So pick your colors carefully.

Not only do colors evoke emotions, but they can communicate messages or concepts too. For example, look at http://www.clickitticket.com to see how color is used to communicate the new affiliation between Oak Web Works, LLC and ClickitTicket.com. The blues of Oak Web Works’s logo swirl into the reds of ClickitTicket.com’s logo. This can be interpreted as a melding of the two organizations, which is what the words underneath say, “in affiliation with”. Also, the red of http://tickets.oakwebworks.com/ indicates action and passion, two essentials for people who want to attend theater, sporting events or concerts.

Another online ticket website, http://www.bestshowticketslasvegas.com/, has a different color approach. Its main colors are blue and purple, giving the site a comforting, secure and sophisticated feel. The main header on each page has all the colors in the rainbow in it, a collage of images, with the word ‘Tickets’ in large, white font. Much of the site is white too, which gives it a clean feel.

As a general rule of thumb, one primary color and one secondary or complimentary color will be chosen. These colors are based on the specific audience and market of our client and the messages the client wants to communicate to the rest of the world. If more than two or three colors are used, things tend to look a little messy, and the power of any one color is diluted too much, so we most often stick with two colors.

When I am not sure exactly which colors or combinations to use, I often start trying different things, then take a step back and ask myself what my chosen colors are conveying to me. After designing many websites over the years I have realized that going with my gut has often worked when I’m in doubt. You would be surprised at how creative and accurate your intuition can be.

However, if the client already has an established brand, we will always make sure to match the colors of the website with the original colors of the company. It is not wise to have print collateral material one color and the website a totally unrelated color. All marketing channels need to remain consistent, with one face only.

Since website visitors all have different platforms, different monitors, and different settings for their screen resolutions, the colors you choose for your website may not always be rendered the exact same way on your site visitors’ monitors. That’s why there are “Web Safe” colors that have a much higher likelihood of looking the exact same regardless of the user’s computer, monitor or settings. Many graphics programs, including Adobe Photoshop, have a feature that allows you to choose “Web Safe” colors only.

Keep in mind however, that the sophistication of technology today allows for Web designers to be able to stray from the “Web Safe” colors more and more. So don’t be overly concerned if you choose to use “un-safe’ Web colors, chances are that most of your audience has the computers necessary to view your site the exact way you intended.

Whether you are designing sites for clients or designing your own business website, your color choice is vital. Be sure to try different colors, different shades, and different combinations before you decide. It’s a lot of fun playing with colors but every choice you make comes with a set of pre-defined societal meanings and emotions, so choose with deliberate care.

Having your own domain name, e.g.

<www.yourbusiness.com> - or -
<www.yourorganization.org> - or even -
<town.yourtown.yourstate.us>,
can make your web site’s address easier to remember, and the site itself easier for people to find. (There is also a certain degree of status involved.) It also comes at a price, although that price is small, and many find it a worthwhile investment. Other Top Level Domains (besides .com and .org) that are available for general use include .net, .biz, .info, and .us.

Without your own domain name, the address for your web site (known as a Uniform Resource Locator, or URL for short) will take the form of

<www.yourserversname.com/yourname/>, - or even -
<www.yourserversname.com/~yourname/>.

Domain names are issued on a first come, first served basis, and many of the more common names, particularly those ending in ‘.com’ and ‘.net,’ used for commercial sites, have already been taken. There is still available a much greater selection of ‘.org’ names for organizations and societies. Even more under-utilized are the ‘.us’ domains, which have now been made available for general use, as well as for towns, cities, counties, states, and special districts, libraries, councils of government, schools, museums, and suchlike. Mashwebdesign.com can check whether the name you desire is available, or you can check for yourself by going to the InterNIC Whois web site (or the .US Whois for .us URLs.)

Domain name registration costs from $10.00 to $35.00 per year, depending on who you register with and how many years you pay at a time. Mashwebdesign.com helps you in finding the affordable registrar that charges less per year, payable annually in advance. Most Web Presence Providers also charge a one-time setup fee and/or a monthly maintenance fee.  Mashwebdesign.com can handle all the hassle of setting up your own domain name for you, at negligible cost.

If you have a clear idea of what you want in a web site, including all textual content, photographs, and logos, Mashwebdesign.com can provide a fixed price quote for designing your web site. If you aren’t exactly sure of what you want, or want to build up your web site slowly as your budget permits, you are probably better off going with our standard hourly rates. We can also provide a “Not to exceed” estimate for various phases of the design process. (We usually manage to stay under the not-to-exceed figure.)

A basic, one page web site consisting of a logo and background, plus basic information — “This is who we are,” “This is where we are,” and “This is what we do” — can be created in as little as two to three hours. Additional pages, particularly those containing predominantly textual material and in the same artistic style as the first, or “home” page, typically take an hour or less per page. Pages containing large amounts of graphics images or tabular data can take considerably longer. Providing text and images already in digital format (e.g. as email attachments) can save time on setup and data entry, thereby reducing costs.

Design Service
Web design, page layout  for Business      $15.00 / hour,   for Non-Profit Organization      $5.00 / hour

Graphics design, photo scanning

for Business         $20.00 / hour,   for Non-Profit Organization        $5.00 / hour

CGI scripting, database design

$20.00 / hour for Business,  $10.00 / hour for Non-Profit Organization.

Web Site Hosting

$80.00 / year    for Business,      $50.00 / year  for Non-Profit Organization.
Domain Name Registration

$10.00 / year   for business,       $10.00 / year for Non-Profit Organization.
Domain Name Parking

$12.00 / year  for Business,          $12.00 / year for Non-Profit Organization.
Domain Name Setup Fee

$5.00 - one time only  for Business,          $5.00 - one time only for Non-Profit Organization

POP3 mail boxes

$5.00 / year (each)  for Business         $0.00 / year (each) for Non-Profit Organization