Web Design & Development

Just as in life, first impressions count and often your web site’s success will depend on how professional and up-to-date it looks. Although it is just one part of the process towards building a successful site, the graphic design for your site will be the first thing to catch a visitor’s attention. The design is made up of many elements – the logo, colours, typography, imagery and structure – and getting the correct balance between all of these elements is important.

Tyssen Design can not only provide that modern, eye-catching design but can also combine it into a usable interface that will invite visitors to explore the site and present your products, service or message in the best possible light. This applies to both new and existing sites. If you currently have a site that is underperforming, needs to take a new direction or requires additional features, Tyssen Design can bring your ideas to fruition.

Content management systems

There are two choices for updating your web site:

1. someone can do it for you; or
2. you can do it yourself with the aid of a Content Management System (CMS).

The option you choose will be determined by how often you update the site, how many changes you need to make, the nature of those changes and whether you have the time to perform any of these tasks.

Using a CMS gives you complete control over your site’s content, enabling you to update your web site yourself by adding or editing text and images, and adding or removing pages. All this activity takes place in a password-protected area that only you can access and all that is required is an internet connection and a web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Firefox).

Tyssen Design uses both ExpressionEngine and Wordpress for website projects and has the experience to choose the right solution for your situation and the ability to integrate it into your design and provide training in its use. With extensive experience using both systems, Tyssen Design also provides services to other creative agencies looking to outsource the work of installing and customising ExpressionEngine and Worpress as a CMS.

Web site maintenance

If you are too busy to update your site, or if you make very few changes to your site each year and don’t require a complete content managmenet system, I can make the changes for you which may prove to be more convenient and economical.

This service is available to both customers seeking new web sites and those who already have a site which has been neglected for a while and is in need of an update.

Additional website features

Most standard web sites consist of a home page, some other informational pages and a contact page which may feature a form that people can fill out to send the site owner a message. There are also a number of additional web site features available which can enhance the experience for people visiting your web site:

• E-commerce

  If you want to sell products or services online, you will need an e-commerce solution, more commonly known as a ’shopping cart’.

  There are many to choose from offering a variety of features and functionality. There are also other things to consider like secure certificates (SSL – Secure Sockets Layer), merchant accounts, payment gateways and integration with accounting software packages.

  Tyssen Design has the experience to help you choose the right solution for your business and to advise on the other things required to become an internet seller. I can set up your online store for you, integrate it into a custom design, populate the store with your products and provide training for you to able to manage the store yourself.

• Photo galleries

  There are a variety of different reasons and uses for having a photo gallery on your site and also a variety of different implementations and varying degrees of involvement by either site owners or site visitors. Tyssen Design can advise on which option fits each individual situation best and can then follow up and implement the chosen gallery including the processing of all images.

• Discussion and chat forums

  Forums, either discussion boards or chat rooms, are a great way to build a community around your site and give people extra reasons to keep coming back to your web site. As with shopping carts and photo galleries, there are a myriad of options available and you need someone with the necessary experience to point you in the right direction and then turn your ideas into reality.

• Mailing lists

  Email newsletters are a great way to build trust and loyalty with your customers, while informing them of new products, upcoming events, specials and offers, frequent buyer and customer loyalty programs.

  You can send out customer surveys and can even send out your latest catalogue by email too.

  Not only do you want to be able to keep contact with your customers, but you want to be able to measure the success of your email campaigns by tracking how many of your emails are opened, subscription frequency and the number of times people click through from the email to your web site.

  Tyssen Design can implement this kind of service and help you design professional looking emails that will get results.

Copywriting

A few moments after visitors to your site have taken in the design, they’re going to start reading your content, and no matter how outstanding the design, if your content is poorly written or filled with spelling and grammatical errors, they’re not going to stay very long.

With a background in journalism and work as a subeditor, I can help add the polish to your copy required for it to stick in the mind of your readers and give your site that added level of professionalism. Or maybe you have the ideas in your head or on pieces of paper and need someone to put it all together for you.

This service is available to both new web design clients and to those looking to improve their current site.

Pricing and rates

As each website development project is unique with different requirements, there are no fixed prices; a personalised quote will be provided following a free consultation to discuss your project. But as a general indication for some common types of projects (all prices in Australian dollars):

• $1200+ – standard brochure website including hosting and domain name registration
• $2200+ – standard website with the addition a of a content management system
• $3500+ – ecommerce website

For information about these rates, or to register your interest in any of these services, please fill out the form below.