Beach Web Design news from 2007

Archived news:

October - December, 2007

The Home Pack Centre

Launched in December 2007, The Home Pack Centre is a specialist directory for Home Information Pack Professionals, including estate agents, surveyors, energy assessors, land search providers and HIP training providers. Full page listings are available for members. Join now at http://www.home-pack-centre.co.uk.

Carberry Lodge Bed and Breakfast

Carberry Lodge is a new bed and breakfast in Exmouth, located in a quiet area near the town centre and station, featuring stunning river and estuary views. Click to visit the Carberry Lodge B & B website.

New Qualifications

In other news, I completed a long process of home study and technical development to complete my Open University Certificate in Web Applications Development, finishing the final section of the course, 'Web Server Performance, Management and Tuning', in December 2007. Hooray! Fingers crossed for the final result, expected by Thursday 20 March 2008.

July - September, 2007

Special edition prints of HMS Exeter

Who would have thought it could be 25 years since the Falklands conflict? With the relaunch of their online catalogue of paintings, Black Dog Studios are offering special edition prints of HMS Exeter by Robin Brooks to commemorate the Falklands anniversary.

New Devon web directory

July has also seen the beginning of new advertising opportunities for my customers, with the launch of Stairway to Devon Web Directory. As a special launching offer, all my web design and hosting customers will be entitled to free banner advertising on Stairway to Devon for the rest of the year.

Clubwear on Exeter Quay

Finally, many congratulations to Debbie from Chikara, who has just celebrated the opening weekend for their new clubwear shop on Exeter Quay. If you like the Matrix, hard rock baby clothes, electronic T-shirts, or glow in the dark clubwear, you will find their new shop opposite Cafe Venezia is well worth a visit.

May / June, 2007

Looks like summer is here at last!

...Just right for looking at these beautiful marine paintings and prints by Robin Brooks. This local Devon artist has been one of the UK's most respected marine painters for forty years, and I have been very lucky that once again I've had a website to build with fantastic pictures! Some of Robin's paintings are also available to send as free nautical e-cards. More technical details about this website can be seen in my portfolio.

While we're on the subject of the talented Brooks family, many congratulations to their landscape painting daughter, Kirsty Bonning, whose second son Matthew was born in May. Perhaps uncle Rupert Brooks will paint another of his portraits of children.

Congratulations are also due to Debbie from Chikara UK, who has just received the keys to their new shop on Exeter Quay. Keep an eye out for this one if you like electronic T-shirts, 'Battery Organic' clubwear or unusual jewellery.

And congratulations are also due to Vanessa from Aneski, whose pedigree queen Fizz has once again provided them with seven Egyptian Mau kittens!

Introducing Beach Web Design Template Shop

I was looking into setting up an economy / DIY web design option based around the use of web design templates, and I discovered an affiliate program which would allow me to set up an instant web design template shop selling another company's range of templates. This seemed like a good option to me as I felt that their templates were of a good standard visually, and the selection of templates provided is wide ranging and constantly being updated. I can't vouch for the code in these templates being accessible or standards compliant, but I am happy to work on customising sites created with them so that they will be - please contact me to discuss this first.

I also discuss the steps involved in setting up this shop in my blog posting, 'I open a ‘Turnkey’ Affiliate Shop'.

View a sample template screenshot | Corporate Identity packages | osCommerce e-commerce templates | Zen Cart e-commerce templates | WordPress blog themes

March / April, 2007

We would like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to the 2/3 of our customers who are mothers...
(yes, we really are out there!)

...and a Happy Solstice to all those of us who are looking forward to summer and can almost see it arriving...

Some special links for mums:

• Entrepreneurial Mums Generate on Average £5,614 a Year from Home Working
• Young mums show entrepreneurial flair
• Enterprising Mums
• Practical advice for mums who are thinking of setting up their own businesses

It's been a quiet month here so far, as we were away for the first half of it. But before we went away, I set up some experiments with Google AdSense, which I've written about in my blog. This is also an example of a WordPress blog, which is available as a web design extra or with some of our web hosting accounts. In this case, I have stuck with the standard default WordPress template for its appearance, but it's possible to customise a blog to look very different, with a range of hundreds of free templates available from the WordPress website. In future, I will be looking into customising its appearance more.

Beach Web Design is big Down Under

I've discovered the blog brings several advantages for raising the profile of my website. First of all, it adds a lot more relevant text, which is great from the point of view of search engine optimisation. But also, WordPress publishes each post across a network of blog-searching web services, such as Technorati. Surprisingly, I have been getting quite a few hits on my blog from Australia. Contact Beach Web Design about adding a blog to your website.

February, 2007

Happy Valentine's Day to all our customers!

Beach Web Design launches Random Romantic Poetry

What a fantastic public service! Coming to the rescue of all those who didn't make it to the newsagents in time, we proudly present Random Romantic Poems with a choice of tasteful seaside backgrounds. Print them out for your loved ones! That should do our bit for marital karma.

Blog - Is there any money left?

Perhaps you've spent it all on proper cards and chocolates and things, perhaps on web designers. In any case, we announce the launch of our money-grubbing blog, in which we will be checking out the various schemes and scams for making cash on the internet. This is also an example of a WordPress blog, which is available with some of our web hosting accounts. In this case, I have stuck with the standard default WordPress template for its appearance, but it's possible to customise a blog to look very different, with a range of hundreds of free templates available from the WordPress website.

Beach Web Design completes 'Test Trading'

February is our last month of 'test trading' in the women's business start-up programme run by Westward Training and Personnel in Exeter. I'd like to thank Angela Lowe, Sue Bickley, Mike Pethick and the other students and staff at Westward Training and Personnel for their help and encouragement. I would recommend this programme to any women interested in starting a business in Devon, and I will offer a 10% discount to anyone referred to me by the 'Women mean Business' programme.

January, 2007

Happy New Year to all our customers!

We hope you had a great Christmas, and wish you all the best for 2007.

Christmas E-Cards from Kirsty Bonning

Kirsty's free e-cards were well received, with some being collected from as far away as the USA, Canada and Mexico. Considering we launched them in mid-December, I think we can call this a success! I hope Kirsty will be making different groups of her Devon landscape paintings and animal portraits available for holidays throughout the year, so do check back to see what becomes available.

Homes found for Aneski Pedigree Kittens

The Aneski Egyptian Mau kittens are all on their way to new homes, having been officially old enough since Boxing Day. They have now introduced a new Asian kitten, who will soon be appearing in the Aneski Cats Photo Gallery.

In between times, I am finally getting my own website together!