Google has updated the way it ranks pages of websites in it’s search results, to help prioritise fresher content that is more relevant to certain topics. The new “Freshness” update:
Queries that deserve freshness such as events and discussion are now deemed more important based on the inception of that page or content. If we write a great post about what has been happening this week (such as a specific episode of a tv program), you can forget about it if somebody writes about next week’s episode. Having an RSS feed has become more important, because it includes a time stamp in each post’s meta data.
However now that we have had a couple of months to digest the changes, in practice leading search engine optimisation specialists are saying this latest update is much more subtle than previous updates. In all honestly google has recognised fresher content as better value in search rankings for years. This update merely focuses the importance of content freshness in search queries which are clearly related to events and discussion based on events.
Google fellow Amit Singhal posted examples of the types of content that will be most likely to be affected:
Factors to be aware of are:
We develop all of our websites with search engines in mind and actively encourage our clients to keep their sites up to date and their audiences informed. Our websites are developed using popular content management platforms, giving our clients the tools and opportunity to make the most of web and help keep the on going cost of their website at a minimum.
If you are interested in taking action to improve the visibility of your website on search engines, then please get in touch with us by using our contact page. Alternatively you can network with us on twitter or facebook.
Over the last 2 & 1/2 Years, FreshSpark creative has provided people from all over the UK with websites, graphic design and marketing materials such as business cards, posters, leaflets and flyers.
Each project is designed and developed uniquely and this can often lead to varied prices for each project we work on.
We have reviewed all of our past projects and worked out the average amount our clients have paid for different types of work.
These prices are provided only as a guideline and a more accurate estimate is provided once we have been informed of the client’s specifications.
Graphic Design & Print Prices
| Item | Description | Price |
| Logo Design | 2 stages of 8 designs, gradually matured until logo is finalised | £75 |
| Corporate Identity | Research & development of logo and identity, various stages of documented progress and examples of application | £750 |
| Business Cards Design | 2 stages of 8 designs, gradually matured until design for front and back are finalised | £75 |
| Letterhead Design | 3 Mock up designs & 1 final design | £45 |
| Poster Design | 3 – 5 hours design time recommended | £150 |
| Leaflet Design | 1.5 hours per side of leaflet | £90 |
| Poster Print | 50 A4 posters on 120gsm paper | £37 |
| Business Cards Print | 100 single side digitally printed cards on 350gsm paper | £20 |
| Business Cards Print | 100 cards with up to 10 different images on the back, contact details on the front, digitally printed on 350gsm paper | £31 |
| Business Cards Print | 250 matt laminated lithographically printed business cards | £42 |
| Business Cards Print | 500 matt laminated lithographically printed business cards | £65 |
| Letterhead Print | 500 A4 lithographically printed on 120Gsm Paper | £120 |
Again the prices of these example websites have been standardised to give an average price, you can expect to pay roughly 25% more or less depending on your requirements.
Web Design & Online Prices
| Item | Description | Price |
| Contact Page | 1 x HTML Page with social media plug ins, contact details and short write up | £210 |
| Info Site | 5 x HTML Page, Sliding banner, contact form, gallery, 10 x E-mail Address + all above | £300 |
| CMS / Blog | Content Managed Site, database driven, powerful system + all above | £750 |
| Ecommerce | Ecommerce Site, Content Management System, Take Payments online | £900 |
| Bespoke System | Large, functional site to serve a specific need. Multi-level user environments, complex booking systems, hierarchical management systems and collaborative working tools. | £3000 |
| Hosting | Contact Page / Info Site CMS / Blog Ecommerce |
£30.00 £60.00 £90.00 |
| Domain Names | .co.uk .com |
£10 £20 |
A couple of weeks ago, we organised a shoot for Spring Gardens Shopping Centre, using as much home grown Buxton talent as we could get our hands on. We’re lucky to know Rosie Hardy, a Buxton girl with a keen eye for photography and image manipulation, who has been incredibly successful with her work over the last few years. We have worked with Rosie before, she provided the imagery for the Ciara Janson site and we would seize any opportunity to work with Rosie again in the future.
We organised a day around Buxton’s autumnal Pavillion Gardens, the Slopes and Spring Gardens, taking between 10-12 shots with an emphasis on having fun whilst shopping & the 30 stores under one roof of Spring Gardens.
Spring Gardens were eager to avoid a ‘stock-image’ look and use as many local faces as possible, to compliment some of the upcoming promotions they are currently planning. Previous marketing materials had also relied heavily on individual female models so we brought in 3 males and 3 females for this shoot to help balance things out.
There were no shortage of smiles on the day as we all know each other fairly well, Rosie has a great attitude, helping models relax and getting the right shot. The weather held out to stay dry and the light was pretty much perfect for what we were after. Rosie has loads of shots online, she has some of her best work & self portraits available on RosieHardy.com & has loads more on her Flickr Account.
Credit: Rosie Hardy
It was image manipulation that got me into becoming a graphic designer as a career choice. Unfortunately though I left a lot of my image manipulation work on stand still back in 2006, when I discovered how hard it would be to try and market the type of design work which I most enjoyed.
Credit: David Bowyer
Check out a few of my other works on my Flickr Page.
We’re also going to be giving out rewards for any referral of work which is successfully converted into a sale. Some of the goodies we will be giving out, ranges from TeaPigs Bio-Degradable tea temples, vouchers for shops around Buxton & even money if its a big job. So make clear with us that you have sent someone our way and expect your reward! If you have any feedback, let us know using twitter or facebook.
Apparently its been the coldest summer since 1993, we wouldn’t have known as our summer has been spent in the FreshSpark Creative office. Well at least this summer hasn’t been a complete waste of time, between projects we have gradually been chipping away at our new and improved website 2.0!
We have discovered that we are our own worst enemy when it comes to working for ourselves, the amount of time that I have spent creating visuals for this website that were ultimately discarded is borderline wasteful! Now the weather is turning grizzly it looks like its going to be another 6 month hibernation in FreshSpark HQ.
It was rather difficult agreeing on a visual design that we all liked, it has to be said. Then the extensive customisations of WordPress’s powerful features & additional development had to sit on the shelf at times whilst we put our heart and soul into our clients work. Over the last few months we have designed and developed several WordPress CMS websites including FamousNamesFurniture.com, PeakDistrictHolidayHomes.com, Dtlls.co.uk and of course the FreshSpark site.
Our latest e-commerce system was completed recently for MajestikArt.com, just today we have finished extensive update work on the UKCA booking system and we’ve completed a few HTML sites for LucySpraggan.com & LynziMusic.co.uk. Phew!
With loads more work currently in the pipeline, you can expect to see a lot more successful collaborations between FreshSpark Creative and our Clients. We have a big photoshoot with Rosie Hardy coming in the next fortnight which we are all very excited about. Fingers crossed that this ‘excuse of a summer’ holds out just long enough for us to get some great, colourful shots of Buxton in all it’s autumnal glory.
Well the chances of a late ‘Indian Summer’ look less likely than a lottery win. It is miserable in Buxton today, foggy, soggy and most of us are feeling disappointed about the summer that never happened. Do you feel like you need a little something to take you through the next couple of months? Well here are a couple of suggestions to reinvigorate yourself in the run up to Christmas.
We’re excited to announce that we have our first CubeCart 5 site in development & we are thrilled with the results so far. The system is much easier to modify and supports some great features using JQuery which helps bring the website to life with regards to the customer’s user experience. For those of you not in the loop, CubeCart is an E-Commerce platform to help you sell your digital & tangible goods to customers regardless of their geographic location. You add your products and tag them in different categories to help potential customers browse, search, compare and most importantly pay for goods with a secure payment gateway.
Our latest E-Commerce project is for ‘The Home Boutique’, who specialise in Home Decor & Ornaments to help make your Home feel unique. It is important that the images do the talking for this website, so we have suggested some ‘Roll Over’ features to help a user focus on products which take their attention without leaving the gallery which they are browsing through.
For past examples of our CubeCart systems, check our E-Commerce Services Page. If you would like any further details then please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will run you through our services.
Another bit of excitement comes in the form of Lime Cube Marketing’s “A Twist of Lime”, a service designed to route the path between your current position and where you want to take your business. The service includes a consultation to realise your unique strengths and weaknesses, Live assisstance throughout the week to help you get unstuck, a “living” marketing plan created in collaboration with Lime Cube and a weekly task list to help you make the most out of your business. If you aren’t convinced then give the 10 day free trial a go (And mention FreshSpark pointed you in their direction!)
Well thanks for reading and I hope you find this information useful. If you would like to keep in touch with FreshSpark and receive our updates in the future, you can sign up to our newsletter by submitting your name and e-mail address in the form below. Cheers!
Our latest work comes in the form of PeakDistrictHolidayHomes.com, a WordPress powered website which contains information, maps, directions, photographs and a system to help customers reserve a booking. The accommodation itself is a luxuriously furnished flat based in Litton Mill, which has been restored twice after fires destroyed much of the property. The Mill was fairly famous, attracting a visit from the queen, unfortunately most of its reputation was based around the appalling conditions that children were made to work in.
The attractive village of Litton Mill is located on the River Wye just a few miles from the heart of the Peak District. Litton Mill is situated on the Monsal Trail, and the area boasts spectacular views of the twin viaducts that once carried powerful steam locomotives from London to Manchester as part of the Midlands Line. The old line now forms an 8.5 mile walking/cycling trail that meanders along the hills above the River Wye. The owners challenged us to take a photo from the top of the hill, to give a sort of aerial shot impression.
It was a great opportunity to get our pale complexions under the warm spring sunshine whilst still technically being at work. We missed the only bridge for a couple of miles so ended up rolling up our trousers and wading through the river, which I wouldn’t recommend in March as it felt fairly fresh. We then continued to scramble up the side of the hill, to get a vantage point for the ‘aerial’ shots of the mill. It may not have been the most sensible way to get up there, but we were done and dusted a lot sooner than it would have taken, had we gone the sensible way. The day was completed with lunch at the angler’s rest in nearby Miller’s Dale.
We originally met UK Actress & Voice over artist Ciara Janson (best know for her role as Nicole Owen in Hollyoaks) when she performed at Buxton Opera House, appearing in a Christmas pantomime. Her website at the time was nothing more than a contact page and we got her interested in upgrading by offering to organise a photoshoot by popular Buxton-based photographer Rosie Hardy at a luxury mansion located in the Peak District National Park.
We looked into sourcing clothing from all over the UK and 2 designers that we found ultimately provided the outfits for the shoot – Wild Dinosaur Fashion and Brett Russell. Jewellery was provided by Jantar of Buxton and we also acquired the services of stylist Leanne from Salon One.
The weather was kind to us and it turned out to be a great day. Rosie’s images required a little further editing to help them work for the website, as we spent plenty of time in the FreshSpark office brain storming and maturing our ideas for the user interface.
The real time stretching of the background image presented more problems than we had anticipated when using the website on an old low resolution monitor and more modern larger wide-screen monitors. We eventually found a compromise which we were happy with and went live. Unfortunately Ciara has only made basic contributions to the site in the 10 months since going live, obviously a bit disappointing that such a great site is not being used to its full potential.
Go and take a look at http://www.ciarajanson.com
