COVID 19 has affected us like the rest of the world are being affected. Some of our existing clients have closed their doors permanently while others are temporarily shut. We have been approached by new clients because of the opportunities presented by the lockdown regulations, for e-commerce websites or for having a relook at their websites SEO because of the depressed economy.
Below is a standard introductory email, reworked a bit which we plan on sending out to a possible new client tomorrow. We try and be resourceful with our time and try and benefit our own websites SEO by changing a client's proposal to a monthly newsletter and then changing the newsletter to a blog. We remove the introductory paragraph and change the headings a bit. The introductory paragraph helps tp bypass sometimes strict spam filters in email programs
Thank you for considering Buddy Web Design for Web Design and SEO services. To avoid any misunderstandings we offer this written proposal:
Buddy Web Design consists of Francois and Melanie Marais, a husband and wife team, best friends from school who reconnected via Facebook in 2009.
Francois holds a B-Compt degree obtained from Unisa in 1997 with majors in Auditing and Accounting. It follows that Francois is well equipped to offer SEO services which are a logical process based on algorithms that Google employs to determine where a website and it's individual pages appear on SERPs ( Search Engine Results Pages.) (Page 1 or page nowhere on Google). Francois is also a natural teacher with the required passion and patience for training. We normally train people on how to manage the content of the website themselves as well as value-added features like the client mailing and SMS system.
Our SEO services focus on empowering normal people to:
- Understand what SEO entails;
- Assisting clients to use Google Search Console where results can be measured as well as
- Guiding clients on where to approve both On-Site and Off-Site SEO, generally this boils down to adding regular fresh and unique content to your website.
Melanie holds a teaching diploma and was an art teacher at school. Melanie started working with Joomla websites in 1995 before joining Kwikwap and Buddy Web Design in 2009. Melanie is skilled at using Photoshop and can also be contracted for Logo, Letterhead - and business card design. Before we proceed Melanie is willing to do changes to the demo website to meet your needs regarding the look and feel of the website. We need to get that out of the way so we can spend time on getting good SEO results.
Francois and Melanie are Kwikwap Licence Holders. Kwikwap was started 15 years ago, has more than 5,000 active clients all over South Africa with a head office in Brackenfell, Western Cape. The head office offers a client charter which directs what minimum service a client can expect when joining Kwikwap. They also offer back up technical assistance, the continuous development of the website builder, and probably the most user-friendly content management tool available on the market. Should we fall out of favor with you the Kwikwap Head Office will assign you a new consultant who will offer free ongoing telephonic support during normal working hours for simple and normal matters. New extensive design and content loading services are charged at R350 per hour.
Generally, clients manage the content while we are responsible for the HTML coding using CSS Stylesheets to achieve the desired look and feel of your website across multiple devices, also popularly referred to as Responsive Website Design.
We often build a demo website to satisfy clients' needs regarding the look and feel of the website before we proceed with the contact.
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We can change the design so meet your needs. We like to consider the following core web design principles when doing a web design:
- Above the fold content ( What people see when they land on your website pages)
- Incorporate effective call-to-action buttons on your website. (Getting people to buy or leave details when visiting your website.)
In general, your website first needs unique and fresh content to first attract visitors to your website via search engines like Google, and thereafter you want to impress them, not frustrate them with important info being difficult to find and also get them to go over to action.
Most industries are extremely competitive when it comes to search engine visibility and especially now with the worldwide economic downturn brought about by COVID 19. There are alternative ways to market your website like spending money with Google AdWords, Facebook advertising, or looking for free organic results with Facebook.
At the end of the day, you will need to spend both money and time to get the required results. We don't sell false hope but we guide you on a path that will guarantee the best possible results.
Like many of our clients you specifically enquired what we charge for SEO services. It's included in the initial design and setup fees. We offer future monthly one hour dedicated sessions at R350 for the next couple of months until you are happy to do it on your own. As mentioned we explain SEO to you (On-Site and Off-Site SEO), show you how to use Google's free resources like Google Search Console where you can see how many visitors you get via Google and guide you on where you can improve.
Our Head Office offers Google Ad Words management services at R500 plus Vat pm. You pay them to manage the ad. You still have to pay Google for the actual ads. Both these and our website hosting contracts are on a month to month basis. Your Kwikwap website has to be hosted at R180 pm with Kwikwap. You do not need to pay Xneelio and pay us as well.
To build or redo your website and offer the initial training services mentioned in the email we charge a once-off fee of between R2,499 and R5,999. Training will take place via Zoom. We are prepared to offer a one free Zoom lesson as part of the initial demo for you to see our user-friendly software and the multiple available virus-free in-house developed plugins or modules which can be activated at the click of a button.
To register a new domain costs R200. This is renewed annually with the co.za registry at R150. These fees are subject to reasonable CPI increases.
Many current websites are built using custom CSS, meaning you are reliant on one person who is normally a skilled and expensive coding type person for updates. If that person ceases to do business your website could face serious problems. Not so with Kwikwap.
Some typical errors we find on old outdated websites:
There are no blogs, the Social Media Icons link to generic pages. (We link your Icons to your own Social Media pages.) . You should include a FAQ section on your website, consider an effective call to action design. Your current website does not seem to have a Sitemap which helps Google to index your website properly.
Thank you for considering making use of our services. If anything is unclear we can demonstrate online via a Zoom meeting e.g. what it looks like using Google Search Console to view your actual results.
Some people prefer not to do anything whatsoever technical. We are ok to upload content to your website and to send you monthly reports on your actual results. We can copy a 20-page blog entry in under one minute or to upload 3 FAQ and answers per minute so to be effective you need not be able to do content loading or changes yourself. These services are charged at R350 ph.
