Hudson Accounting Services is a local business located at Bangalow. A new partner has recently joined the business there’s been a name change (they were Hudson Management). It was time to establish their first website, and to look at overall branding for the business.
Partner Greg Clark had spent quite some time researching competitor websites before we first met, and has been very involved in the whole process.
I love working on new websites – not only because they are ‘easier’ than redeveloping an existing one (no legacy issues to resolve) but because it’s a fantastic opportunity to look at how the website fits with the overall business brand. I always find it remarkable how many businesses leave their website in isolation from other marketing materials, and they wonder why it doesn’t work! Not the case here!!
The clear message to be conveyed is that the business is local, works with local business, and the Partners are very involved in the local community. All materials (including the website) needed to be clean, simple and professional (but not too formal!). Their office location is a lovely cottage in the heart of the village, so it was logical to use this as part of the overall website design. We also made a conscious decision to not use social media at this stage and this will be reviewed regularly.
The biggest challenge as always is content – it’s hard – especially when you’ve never written for the web before, but also being able to identify exactly what you want to say, and how. For Hudson Accounting Services, clear and minimal was definitely the direction they wanted to travel in and I think this has been achieved. Another challenge that site owners often face is the inclusion of quality links to and from their sites – this was relatively easy for this site and we were able to include links to professional associations, the Chamber of Commerce, local sporting and other groups that the Partners are involved with. Links back to this new site are in progress.
Before I had started work on creating the website, some print materials were needed – specifically a DL flyer which is being mailed out to businesses in the local area sometime next week. Business cards and letterhead are underway and should be ready in the next few days.
I’ve used WordPress, with a customised premium theme. It’s easy to navigate and easy to maintain. Regular training (and brainstorming) is helping to keep the momentum going, and to date, the site development timeframe has been quite short – necessary because of the mailout next week!!
Work included:
- WordPress install, theme selection, and subsequent customisation
- Training
- Photography
- Logo design
- Install and customise plugins including site security, analytics, etc.
- Search optimisation – this will definitely be a work in progress!
- Testing and QA
- Ongoing analytics monitoring particularly in the first 6-8 weeks
- Identification of relevant sites for cross linking, etc.
Released: 10 October 2013
Visit the site: hudsonaccountingservices.com.au
