Website design

Re: Website design

Julian Earl — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:40:33 GMT

[quote user="Neal Palk"]

A point to note on this topic is also to watch out for the hosting costs - it's too easy to carry on paying from previous months/years at a time when hosting is becoming cheaper and cheaper. For example, my main business site was charged at just short of £100 for the year from November lat, whereas I got a hosting deal last week for a small/simple site for £27.50.

To some extent you do get what you pay for, but like mobile phones you may find you don't need huge data provision, 24hr helpline etc etc which carries a premium?

[/quote]

£27-50? That much? We pay £5.

Where's a smug smiley when you need it?

Re: Website design

Tim Mainland — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:32:08 GMT

[quote user="Richard Quayle"]

On my iPad 2 your Pet Care tab is totally dead and the links don't appear. All the other links work fine. I know this is a common problem. Sorry, I wasn't singling your page out. it's a very common issue that needs addressing in web design. Find an iPad and try it out. Some drop down link styles will work, some won't.. Let me know if you can make it work.

[/quote]

We believe its now fixed.....

Re: Website design

Tim Mainland — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:29:04 GMT

[quote user="Richard Quayle"]

[quote]

[/quote]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the info. Could you tell me if the drop down menus on our other site ( www.cvets.co.uk) work on your ipad2 ? There are more of them, notably on the Dog, Cat and Rabbit tabs.

Much appreciated.

Tim

Re: Website design

Richard Quayle — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:57:11 GMT

[quote]

My web guy tells me that the drop down list on the Pet Care tab of our home page on www.churchviewvets.co.uk does work on ipad but, as ipad has no "hover state"( unlike PC) you have to tap on the tab to get the list to drop. Not having an ipad I can't try it, but I guess tapping the screeen is how ipads work??

[/quote]

I discovered this problem because my on site, which i put together myself, none of the css created links worked on the iPad, Rather than designing a whole new site, I redesigned the links as simple touch links for the iPad and while I was at it I put up a mobile site as well for iPhone/Android use, which looks surprisingly 'cute'.

Re: Website design

Tim Mainland — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:31:28 GMT

[quote user="Richard Quayle"]

Just a slightly off topic point with these sites. Check they work on iPads, which are now becoming very common. The drop down links can be problematic for Apple.

If you try Churchview Vets Pet Care link (the only drop down link they seem to have) and Orchard Vet Group links, you can't access the drop down links themselves on the iPad at all. I've not tried all the other sites in previous posts. Plenty of drop down Java links are fine on iPads, but beware this issue with web design, as iPads are becoming very popular now.

[/quote]

Re: Website design

Neal Palk — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:58:25 GMT

To some extent you do get what you pay for, but like mobile phones you may find you don't need huge data provision, 24hr helpline etc etc which carries a premium?

Re: Website design

Cissy Lloyd Jones — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:55:01 GMT

Good point, I just checked, our site is fine! Thanks for tip

Cissy

Re: Website design

Cissy Lloyd Jones — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:50:36 GMT

we are with www.vetstream.com

Less is more, that applies for website design, too. Fast loading, friendly personal contact, some part of the site is made up for you, another part you can edit yourself online. Worth the money I think, everything takes time.

And we are looking at the dreaded online shop, too, actually have been, for some time. One must not forget we are selling veterinary services and are not primarily an online shop. I find this chapter very difficult. If everyone beats everyone by lowering prices, what happens then? Does not require an academic degree to work that one out.

Anyway, have a look, here we are, have a look:

www.alvervets.co.uk

Re: Website design

Tmac — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:18:45 GMT

We are just about to start our own practice and are very lucky to have come across this lady who has done a fantastic job for us.

http://www.vetwebsites.co.uk/

She has listened to everything we have suggested, put up with constant questions and we are absolutely delighted with what she has done.

Check www.lomondhillsvets.co.uk

It is just a holding page for now but we have access to the whole site if yo want to see more.

Tricia

Re: Website design

Richard Quayle — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:17:25 GMT

Just a slightly off topic point with these sites. Check they work on iPads, which are now becoming very common. The drop down links can be problematic for Apple.

Although ours is a very basic site, I've placed code that checks which device is being used, so that www.yorkshirevets.co.uk/ will give 3 different options for PC/laptop, iPad or mobile device, each with its own different layout, css and design.

Re: Website design

Neal Palk — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:32:37 GMT

There are a few DIY options if you have the time and patience, but most are 'generic' and tend to look similar and a bit 'cheap' - but ample good enough for simple tabulated sale of goods.

My own company website is link is below - a pal of mine did this for me and he maintains the detail etc for a nominal annual fee. I wrote up the content. I can e-mail his contact if you wish.

Re: Website design

Gillian Page — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:15:16 GMT

Dear Mark

We use a company called Anderson Design www.andersondesign.co.uk for our website www.ayrton.org.uk . The website was extremely easy to set up, helped and advised every step of the way and once finalised, we can change content whenever we want pictures/text etc at the touch of a button. They are in the middle of up-dating our current site and so perhaps have a look at this one and then check back to see what your thoughts are on the new one next week!

Hope that is of some help. Gillian

Re: Website design

Victoria Gibson — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:27:33 GMT

My husband is a web designer and we realised that there is not a lot of choice when it comes to websites for vets.

Have a look at www.activevet.co.uk

Let us know if you are interested - can send you a link to websites he has done.

Re: Website design

Tim Mainland — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:17:46 GMT

[quote user="Mark Rowland"]

So Im thinking of a website redesign this year including adding an online shop and still being able to add downloadable content and edit text/pictures as required.

What are peoples experiences and can anyone recommend any companies for this (be warned I will be checking the websites of those who reply so pop a link in if you wish)

Many thanks.

[/quote]

Try Tony Williams aka http://www.tdlwebs.com/

He redesigned & rehosted our sites recently at a very reasonable cost.

See www.churchviewvets.co.uk

and www.vetontheweb.com

Regards,

Tim Mainland

Re: Website design

Laurence Webb — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:36:37 GMT

[quote user="Mark Hedberg"]7% of your online sales? That's very steep, i feel.

[/quote]

Yes and no. It's going to impact on your profit, but the whole webshop is run by them. You don't have to stock anything, do any orders or handle any goods or payments. You just get a paid the difference between the sale price minus the 7% and the net-net price. I believe that you can set the selling price for individual goods or just use a general % mark-up. As you don't need to pay any of your staff to create the shop or run it you won't have any set up costs or ongoing overheads.

The flip side is whether you generate enough extra sales to make the 7% worthwhile. If you're losing sales direct from the surgery and not making enough extra sales online then you're going to lose out.

Purina claim that, using Nestle's buying power, they can get better discounts than those availble through wholesalers and buying groups and that will offset the 7% comission. Don't know if that is true or not.

Re: Website design

Niall Taylor — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:29:07 GMT

[quote user="Mark Rowland"]So Im thinking of a website redesign this year including adding an online shop and still being able to add downloadable content and edit text/pictures as required.

What are peoples experiences and can anyone recommend any companies for this (be warned I will be checking the websites of those who reply so pop a link in if you wish)

Many thanks.[/quote]

MSD/Intervet offer a free, customisable web site service. I only heard about it yesterday so I haven't had a chance to play yet but the examples I looked at seemed quite good and if it 'does what it says on the tin' it should be fairly hassle free - all in one template/software/hosting package. Dunlop's online shop is getting closer apparently, I'm having a meeting with them today about it so presumably that could be integrated into your site of choice.

I design our own using Serif web-plus and hosted via our local IT chappie - www.ovg.co.uk. Not the slickest, most professional site on the inty-web but I think it's got a certain home-spun charm

Arlo has offered advice about web site design etc previously, in this thread - http://www.vetsurgeon.org/forums/t/594.aspx?PageIndex=1, you could do worse than have a look through that one.

Cheers,

Niall

Re: Website design

Mark Hedberg — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:46:25 GMT

7% of your online sales? That's very steep, i feel.

Re: Website design

Laurence Webb — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:03:38 GMT

Purina are doing an online shop that they integrate into your site for you. They take 7% of the selling price but no upfront charges.

Re: Website design

Mark Rowland — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:22:16 GMT

My cpd site is home made. To be honest I don't want the hassle for my main site (too busy). Just want to redo and upgrade really.

Re: Website design

Richard Fox — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:52:13 GMT

DIY?

www.abbeyvetservices.co.uk

:) - Shops are easy to integrate - host can be separate with a similar design (sorry we dont have an actual shop ) :)

Or there is Wordpress:

jogle.foxyrider.co.uk

Unless you want to go pro?

Re: Website design

Bob Russell — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:32:00 GMT

Any ideas for on-line shops? We are with Dunlops/Henry Schien and they promised an on-line shop coming soon some time back. We are always thinking of redesigning our website but so far haven't brought ours into the 21st Century.

We are also thinking of re-branding and changing to a more cuddly name!!