Frequently Asked Questions
Business Listings
How does it work?Will this cost me anything?
Can I add more information about my business?
What are the charges?
How do I get a Business Listing?
Website Design
What are the advantages of having a website?How much will it cost to set up the web pages?
Is there an the annual charge?
How will customers find my web site?
Can I choose my website address?
Can I have a personalised email address?
Is my website only available in the Westhill area?
What expertise have you in web design?
What are the charges?
Photograph Gallery
Terms and Conditions
What am I agreeing to when I submit information to the site?
How does it work?
I have lived in Westhill since 1985 and have always used local tradesmen
where possible. I am sure there are many other residents who regularly
do the same. However glancing through the Westhill Bulletin, there are
obviously many small businesses who are finding it difficult to
promote themselves and costly to advertise in the area. I know when I
first started I was spending more on advertising than I was receiving in
income!
I think we could all work together to make our businesses or services
more visible and hence more profitable.
I am in the process of developing the “Westhill Advertiser” web site
which will act as a focal point for potential customers looking for
local Westhill businesses. This will provide your company with free
advertising and promote business in Westhill.
I would like to ask your permission to add your name to the list at no
cost to yourself. Have a look at the site here –
www.westhilladvertiser.co.uk
Will this cost me anything?
There is a one off registration charge of £10.00 for a basic listing – business name and contact number. If that is all you want then that’s OK.
Can I add more information about my business?
Contributors have the opportunity to include an email address and a link to their existing website if they have one.
You can also provide a couple of lines after the listing to briefly explain the nature of the business.
Perhaps however, you may be interested in having your own website designed for you. You can tell possible clients so much more about the nature of your products or services on a website than you can in a magazine or leaflet advert. Photographs and prices could be included as well as - most importantly - testimonials from previous satisfied customers. Each website would have a direct link back to www.westhilladvertiser.co.uk and hence to all other Westhill businesses.
Charges for these additional items may be found here.
What are the advantages of having a website?
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Consumers search for products and services online before making purchases. Being found on the Internet will give you an advantage over your competitors when they call you instead of the competition.
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You are able to conduct business when it is convenient for your client whether it be during the day or in the middle of the night. You are never actually closed.
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Consumers can become educated about your business and get answers to many of their questions which will help to cut back on the number of phone calls you receive with this information on your website.
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Your website can provide further support to existing customers by offering information such as troubleshooting procedures, product specification and parts list, how-to procedures, diagrams, and special help lines.
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By supplying helpful tips and articles that are relevant to your product and service, you will give visitors a reason to come back to your website.
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Consumers have more confidence in and prefer doing business with companies that they know something about.
Anything that can be put on paper - text, graphics, photos, order forms and more - can be put on a Web site and remember, the World Wide Web never closes. Your advertising runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week!
How much will it cost to set up the web pages?
I am conscious that most of our businesses are making only small profits so I am setting the charges correspondingly. The initial design of a personal web site is only £90.00 for the first page and £20.00 for additional linked pages. These are one off fees - not yearly. Amendments and updates to pages at a later date would involve a minimal additional fee. They are ridiculously inexpensive for website design – cheaper than a couple of magazine adverts - and I will probably have to increase the prices when I find how much work is involved! Check with Google how much other webmasters are charging and you will see exactly what I mean.
Charges for these additional items may be found here.
Is there an the annual charge
for my website?
Once your web site is active, there will be annual fee of £35.00 for hosting your site and £5.00 for your personalised web address. There is a one off registration charge of £10.00 for a basic listing – business name and contact number. The annual charge for listing the website address is £10.00
How will customers find my web site?
Eventually by word of mouth and recommendations. I think most Westhill residents would prefer to do business with someone local and especially someone who has been recommended by their friends or neighbours. This is why it is important to add complementary testimonials to your website.
Ideally I would like all residents to have a hyperlink to the Westhill
Advertiser site in their “favourites” folder
Adverts will also be placed in the Westhill Bulletin to attract
customers to the “Westhill Advertiser” index page –
www.westhilladvertiser.co.uk
Although your website is linked to the Westhill Advertiser site, web
surfers can also go to your own website directly like any other web address.
Door to door leafleting promoting www.westhilladvertiser.co.uk by contributors is another possibility however I would like everyone to be involved and welcome any other suggestions.
Can I choose my website address?
The domain name will be of your choosing – e.g. www.westhillplumber.co.uk Tell me what name you would like and I will find out if it is available. Personalised email addresses such as info@westhillplumber.co.uk are also available and give your business a professional feel.
Is my website only available in the Westhill area?
Definitely not – Google-ing will also allow potential clients to find
you using search phrases e.g. “plumber in Westhill”. I will give you
advice in how to optimise the content of your web pages to allow Google
and Yahoo search engines to find you.
Before I had my own website – www.photostodvd.org.uk – all my customers
were from Westhill now 75% of them contact me from all over the UK.
What expertise have you in web design?
I have been involved in computing and programming since the early days of the Spectrum and Amstrad computers – remember them?
I designed my first site – www.photostodvd.org.uk – 3 years ago and have recently given it a major overhaul. I have also the created sites for Trude Bacon (Reiki) – www.trudebacon.co.uk - a boating company in the Highlands – www.augusta.uk.com and the Engineering firm Hay's Hydraulics - www.hayshydraulics.co.uk
Please have a look at them and see if something similar might suit your
own business.
I don’t profess to being an expert designer – and my prices reflect this
– but I love a challenge!
What are the charges?
Download a copy of the current rates from
here. | Business Listing | |
| Business name and telephone number | £10.00 for new registrations |
| Brief description of business | £10.00 per year |
| Add your existing email address | £10.00 per year |
| Add your existing website address | £10.00 per year |
| Website Design and Hosting | |
| Design of one page website | £90.00 |
| Additional web pages | £20.00 each |
| Webhosting | £35.00 per year |
| Personalised web address | £5.00 per year |
| Personalised email address | £25.00 per year |
| Amendments and updates to website | £20.00 per hour |