About 8 years ago I founded PROCARE Computers, a consultancy Company here in the United Kingdom.
At the time I was still actively volunteering some of my time to charitable organizations, and working for free in local hospitals with stroke & dementia patients.
I also had some moderate success as a design consultant through my company, offering web design & hosting services.
Combining my two interests; around that time I was able to offer Charitable organizations FREE web design & consultation.
Technology services for free!
Costs were to be recovered paid through shared commissions on a performance related basis for non profitable organizations. However despite the fact that FREE SERVICES were on offer; it was still frustratingly difficult to explain, persuade or motivate these organizations into having something done for free!
Simply by explaining "Technologies" to those who are not technically minded, can still frustrate your marketing efforts.
As part of the "pitch" to provide something for free... (Yes you still need to pitch), I included some information which I still think holds true today, and which someone such as a budding web designer for example (who hopefully will understand the simple tech speak) may employ in their own marketing efforts.
The information and services below are a few extracts and part of the original pitch - provided FREE to non charitable organizations. But as mentioned already; - it's very frustrating to "SELL something for NOTHING" if they just don't understand it!
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Building for a successful Website
By: Chris Wilson
(Web Consultant & Proprietor)
PROCARE COMPUTERS
Copyright © 2002 Chris Wilson
Imagine… after just a few weeks of contacting us, your once “ struggling ” local organization has suddenly gone global! Be prepared to play host to thousands of people from all over the world!Copyright © 2002 Chris Wilson
PROCARE COMPUTERS
Internet Design & Managed Hosting
www.procarecomputers.co.uk
Internet Design & Managed Hosting
www.procarecomputers.co.uk
HAVE I GOT GOOD NEWS FOR YOU… Hi and a warm welcome to everyone! So you want a Website do you? It ’ s possible that we at PROCARE COMPUTERS could provide any charitable organization with free Web pages. This would make us feel very proud because we would be contributing something you and your service users need, and that can only be a good thing. I have put together some basic information for you and your organization that should simplify the complexity of planning and creating a website. The analogy compares to producing a “ Successful ” Website to that of just producing some basic html documents which I hope you will agree; are pretty much useless on their own. I sincerely hope you find the information both informative, and easy to understand. If you have any difficulty with any of the jargon or you need more information, I will be more than happy to discuss.
Happy reading and good luck!
Chris Wilson
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We at PROCARE COMPUTERS design professional Website ’ s for a “ Targeted ” and “ Qualified ” visitor with high click-through rates.We achieve that by diligently optimizing your pages to get top search engine placement and ranking based on a solid research foundation. All this can easily be realized without it significantly affecting your existing budgets.
ELEMENTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL WEBSITE
The costs involved for us to produce Web pages for your own Charity Website would be minimal; about £50 or so per page, which we can offset against tax.
However before we can start to produce even a single page, you need to plan it! The following list represents what we believe to be essential…
1. You need to research and define your target market or niche
2. You need to decide on the type of Website you will need
3. You need to decide the site ’ s overall theme
4. Content needs to be gathered and sorted such as photographs, logos, written text, video ’ s, and sound etc. as applicable –and lots of it
5. Content needs to be relevant and appropriate (not misleading to visitors or the robot engines)
6. You need to break all the information down into manageable parts; categories, pages, headlines, sub-headlines, paragraphs and sentences
7. Content needs to be altered, reduced in size and/or converted into electronic form for publishing on the internet
8. The design of the site needs to be determined (layout, colours, text sizes, fonts, links, online forms, promotions etc.) which should be consistent throughout
9. You need to design the sites structure making it easy for visitors to find the information they want (navigation)
10. You need to decide additional kinds of technology you may want; JavaScript, Java, XML, Perl, ASP, SQL, PHP, Flash etc.
11. Confidentiality & Copyright issues may need to be addressed
12. Your site needs an online privacy statement
13. You need your own Domain name example: (www.yourname.co.uk)
14. You may need your own personalised matching Email address example: (you@yourname.co.uk)
15. You need to publish it on the Internet (uploading, file permissions etc.)
16. You need it hosting somewhere (a place for it to reside)
17. It needs to be registered with and rank highly on search engines and Online directories– free and “ Pay-Per-Click ” are some of the options available
18. It needs to be positioned well on the engines, otherwise you ’ re potentially losing 90% of your visitors (and revenue) if they cannot find you
19. It needs promoting
20. It needs to be checked, maintained, and updated regularly (managed)
21. Security flaws and loop holes need to be addressed proactively
22. It needs to be administered by you daily
If you want your site to succeed at all- then you need to implement all the above and more besides such as; META Tag creation, keyword density, doorway pages, Website Statistics, CGI Programs, Ezines, Newsletters etc.
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The above few paragraphs are just extracts. If anyone wants the original pitch (9 pages in total) you can request it HERE
