The winner of The Apprentice 2012, and business partner to multi-millionaire business magnate Lord Alan Sugar, is Ricky Martin. Shortly after winning the Apprentice Ricky began work on the website for his new business with Designer Websites.

The brief from Ricky was to design and develop a highly functional and very professional website to represent Hyper Recruitment Solutions. The website itself would specialise in science jobs, science and technology being a field of considerable expertise for Ricky himself. The website would fully integrate with their chosen recruitment software solution, to make managing and posting jobs on the website automated and easy.

When we learned that Ricky wanted to work with Designer Websites to develop the HRS website we were most pleased and honoured. We immediately began work on planning and designing what we now feel is the best recruitment website on the Internet.

“We chose Designer Websites over many other companies for the HRS website because they have a great track record and obviously have the skills to produce a high quality website, which was absolutely imperative for this venture. Working alongside Lord Sugar is a great privilege, but it comes with very high expectations, so choosing the website developer required much consideration. Thankfully we chose the right web developer and our website is proof of this. Designer Websites completed the work on time, to expectations and without fuss. The team at Designer Websites were easy to work with, full of ideas and extremely cooperative in all areas of the project. We now have an excellent working relationship and hope to continue working together in the future. HRS would like to thank Designer Websites for all their hard work and for producing an excellent website for our business.”

Ricky Martin BSc (Hons) MIRP CertRP MRSC
Managing Director of Hyper Recruitment Solutions

The Apprentice, of course, is the wildly popular television programme in which aspiring young entrepreneurs battle it out for a chance to become a 50:50 business partner with Lord Sugar who would invest £250,000 in to their company.

With Hyper Recruitment Solutions, Ricky Martin is aiming to provide a specialised, professional and highly compliant recruitment service for the science and technology industries. Jobseekers and employers alike will find the HRS recruitment website incredibly useful; applicants can find science jobs with some of the biggest names in the industry, while companies can use the website to recruit highly qualified candidates. It’s a great deal for both parties, so whether you’re looking for employment or looking to recruit some talented new employees, Ricky Martin and the HRS recruitment website can help.

We’re thrilled to have been given this opportunity – it isn’t often that you get to work with such high-profile clients. Apprentice winner or not, we think that Ricky Martin has come up with a brilliant business idea, and we know that he and Lord Sugar have worked hard to bring Hyper Recruitment Solutions to life. We’ve been working hard too, and we know that the HRS recruitment website that we’ve developed will be up to their high standards.

The site went live today; you can find it at www.hyperec.com.

We have just published the new site for Liberty Marketing. The guys at Liberty provide a range of search engine marketing services, including AdWords management, link building, guest blogging, social media posting and copy-writing.

We have used Liberty Marketing ourselves for many years and thoroughly recommend their services.

The choice between static and CMS websites should be shaped by a number of factors. The objectives of your business are key to the decision, as is the industry in which you operate, and as always businesses decisions are constrained by the available budget. By working with an experienced team of website developers, you will receive the balanced advice you need to choose the right website for your business.

Static Websites
A static website is one in which the content (copy and images) is fixed. At the time the website is developed the content is placed into a static web page by the developers. As a result, if you would like to change those pages you will likely have to go back to your website development team.

Dynamic Websites (CMS)
A dynamic website is one which displays content (copy and images) that has been stored in a database or data files (e.g. XML files) and is fetched from that database every time a  web page is viewed by a visitor. Dynamic pages are essential for websites which require regular content changes e.g. ecommerce websites. If you have a fully dynamic website you will be able to make content changes yourself, without having to contact your website development team.

Pros and cons of static websites

Pro: Static websites use pages which have already been loaded, ensuring an instant response to the search engines. A rapid response to search engine bots has become increasingly important over the years for a number of reasons including website SEO, and is now considered an essential element of successful websites.

Pro: Static websites tend to benefit from clean code and rarely cause issues for search engine bots.

Pro: If you require a bespoke, high-end website, a static site will be cheaper than a bespoke, dynamic website.

Con: Future modifications which need to be made to static websites will usually need to be made by your website development team. Over time you may pay more for a static website as you are unable to make modifications yourself.

Con: Search engines like to see frequent, fresh content on websites. Static websites can become a bit stale, which in turn might affect your search engine rankings.

Pros and cons of dynamic websites

Pro: Dynamic websites can be easily updated in-house - changes can be made quickly and cheaply.

Pro: Dynamic websites are often developed using a pre-built CMS, which means they can be relatively simple, quick and inexpensive to create. However, if your dynamic site uses a bespoke CMS then it will be considerably more expensive than a static site. A bespoke CMS will significantly out-perform a generic CMS, although it may take more time to develop. If you’re looking to hit the market quickly then a pre-built, cheap and cheerful CMS might be the answer, but this is not something Designer Websites would recommend or provide.

Pro: CMS websites are essential for businesses that have frequently changing content, for example, ecommerce websites with products and prices that change daily/weekly. A dynamic website will allow you to quickly incorporate changes to products, prices and delivery options.

Con: Dynamic websites are slower to load than static websites and can take longer to be indexed in the search engines as a result. If you have a bespoke ecommerce website then you will benefit from static pages as well as dynamic pages. This can counteract the fact that fully dynamic sites may not rank so highly in the search engines, dependent upon your business, products, competition etc.

Con: Dynamic CMS driven websites can become rigid over time, particularly when you need your website to carry out a specific task which it is not currently set up to deal with. You might find the change cannot be made or that it can, but only at great expense. In this instance bespoke CMS websites can claw back your initial investment as they can be changed so simply.

Con: There are hundreds of website development teams out there who will tell you they are the best thing since sliced bread, without even evaluating your business requirements. This one-size-fits-all approach to website design is the fastest and easiest way for web companies to make money, but rarely represents the best solution for your business. There are a huge number of old and poorly developed CMS systems out there and as time goes by the code and methods used become outdated, much to the detriment of your business website.

Summary
If your business requires a website that can be frequently updated then a CMS might be just what you are looking for. Before making any decisions your business should be analysed by an experienced website development team, who can make recommendations based on the level of competition in your market, the products or services on offer, the reputation your business already has online and much more besides. The decision to have a dynamic or static website should not be taken lightly.

So what would we recommend? Well it’s tough to say without examining your business. Here are some examples to help you understand:

Example 1: You are a website development company (like us)
Analysis: Competition is high; content changes – infrequent except maybe news posts;
Recommendation: A static website and fully integrated blog for the news posts

Example 2: You are a quirky (unique) products company and want to sell online
Analysis: Competition is low; content changes – frequent;
Recommendation: Definitely a simple dynamic CMS driven website and possibly an integrated blog

Example 3: You are an online gadgets retailer
Analysis: Competition is extremely high; content changes – daily;
Recommendation: You require a more complex dynamic CMS website with as many static pages included as possible; you should also have at least one fully integrated blog

Over the years we have met many business owners who insist on a CMS, even though in some cases their websites haven’t undergone any changes in over 12 months!

At Designer Websites we have all the skills required to develop static, dynamic or hybrid websites. We would not try to sell you a CMS site when it simply isn’t required. Such practice could have a significant impact on your SEO, with grave consequences for your business. Similarly, if you need an ecommerce website and therefore a CMS, we would develop a bespoke ecommerce website, as well as possibly a set of static pages. We care more about developing the right website for your business than simply selling you something because it’s the easiest option for us!

Don’t be tricked into buying a website which is unsuitable for your business; seek independent expert advice. If you’d like further information from an experienced website development team, give us a call here at Designer Websites on 0845 272 6813.

It might all sound like pop-psychology and hocus-pocus, but there is real psychology at work in how colours affect the way users approach your website design. This isn’t as simple or powerful as “red=angry” or “blue=calm”, but the tones, hues and saturations used in your website design can certainly have an impact on your browsers. In this article we’ll be looking at the effect that colour has on your website design and whether or not it’s worth keeping colour in mind when putting your site together.

Saturation

The saturation of the colours in your website design is one of the most measurable factors in the world of colour psychology. As a rule, the higher the saturation of a particular colour, the stronger the viewer’s emotional and physical response will be. Bold colours will generate a far stronger response from users – whether that response is positive or negative can depend on the colour in question.

This makes using highly saturated colour in your website design a risky move. If it pays off, you could generate a really positive, excited response from your user but, if you pick an unfortunate shade, you risk putting them right off!

A smart, bold colour choice will create a really strong, memorable impression on your visitor, which is great for your brand. Equally, too many very highly saturated colours can create a kind of colour overload, making your site feel hectic, stressful and more confusing than it really is – the key is to keep it simple and use just one or two bold colours.

The colours themselves

So, if this is the case, which colours are going to create the impression you want from your website design and which are going to send your visitors sprinting in the opposite direction? It’s really all down to our everyday associations and, if you take a little time to think about it, it is all common sense.

For example, brown is a warm, natural colour. It brings to mind wood – which is both natural and used in furniture. It is a safe colour which suggests warmth, sincerity and comfort. Meanwhile, black is typically associated with sophistication, power, sexuality, seriousness etc.

A load of old nonsense?

Well, not really. It is possible that the real power of colour in website design gets overstated from time to time, yet it does have an effect and it is well worth bearing this in mind when you create your site. Sticking to a few basic tips will help you to use colour to your advantage:

1. Keep it simple
   Overcomplicating your colour palate is a sure-fire way to put visitors off. It looks messy, confusing, overstimulating and will completely distract your users from the real purpose of your website.
2. Use your common sense
   Before settling on a colour scheme just have a quick think about all the possible associations your selection might conjure up. For example, if you’re selling toothpaste, brown, black and yellow are probably not the best colour choices.
3. Create a strong theme
   Use one or two strong colours to your advantage. A memorable theme will keep your website design fresh in your visitors’ minds and help you create a strong brand image.

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