We’ve paid particular attention to the people in the business and also the quality of the products – with a view to replicating the feel of salon on the website.

The site uses strong code and clean lines.

Using the ‘News’ theme by Organic Themes, I’ve tweaked it and put together one site for the whole Stray’s business. (Ok, I still haven’t started on the books website – that’s next). It’s all part of the expansion of Stray’s and the forthcoming Franchise/Pilot store in early 2012…

The result is all the same great content, in one place. Have a look at http://www.strayscoffee.co.uk/

We’re currently running the Stray’s site using the ‘News’ theme from those wonderful people at Organic Themes. The art has been tweaking the graphics and fonts etc to make the ‘news’ theme a little less newsy and a little more friendly.

We’ve tried to keep the ‘look’ of the site simple and clean but with lots of ‘snippets’ of content, to reflect the quirky, home-made feel of the Stray’s business.

I’ve included widgets like MP3 players on the site so visitors can listen to the jazz that’s on offer, prior to booking. Also, I’ve made use of Wufoo mail forms as they have some great back-end features.

• HEALTH & BEAUTY THEME – this is ‘page-driven’ rather than having lots of posts and is a little more static than some of the WordPress themes. Ideal theme for someone who might only have the time or inclination to update their site on a monthly or less frequent basis.
• BOLD THEME – this is a robust and clean looking WordPress, set up to re-brand an existing site. It’s clear, bold and is designed to have high impact. It is driven by posts which have ‘tags’ and is search a engine friendly website.
• STRUCTURE THEME – This slick theme is post-driven and is updated daily. It includes a MailChimp plugin to add visitors to an external mailing list mailing campaign which goes out weekly.
• NEWS THEME – This theme is post-driven and is updated daily. It has posts from three websites merged into this ‘big’ theme, keeping everything in one place.
• PORTFOLIO THEME – Ideal for anyone who wants to show off a portfolio in a clean yet visual way, the Portfolio Theme is just that! Quick and easy to update but able to engage visitors immediately at a visual level

WordPress is just fantastic!

It’s intuitive functionlity means that in no time you’ll be posting articles on your website and adding media, files and pictures. So where do I come in?

You can host your own wordpress site and take advantage of the thousands of free themes yourself. Or Mat Short can set it up for you using one of our Premium WordPress themes and your site will look and feel that bit more professional. The themes are designed by either Organic Themes or Elegant themes and as such are fully browser compatible, use clean code and are regularly updated (they’re developers so we get them to do all the ‘techy stuff’!)

The website you are currently reading is run in the BOLD THEME by Elegant Themes but there are several dozen that I’m currently working with so the choices are pretty limitless.

So what now?

To plan how to get your shiny new WordPress up & running, contact me and let’s stand out from the crowd…

or to see a little more about what you get from one of our WordPress packages, go to the WordPress hosting section…

Ron de Raad arrived at 8am and we took a steady ride up to the start at Redmile School. We registered and were given an 8.30 start which is always fun – everyone starting together in one seething mass!

The route has changed a bit since last time I did it – and while it wasn’t quite as interesting as usual, the new route, to allow the old one to recover, was a nice ride overall.

Ron rode back a mile at Branston to check I hadn’t had a crash – meanwhile I’m belting off to see if I can catch him up – both of us riding opposite directions and not meeting up again until the finish.

Home-made cakes and goodies topped us up for our ride back to Bottesford – a great ride – thanks to all who organised it – and no broken bike this year! And fortunately for me, I’m booked in for a day at Eden Hall Day Spa tomorrow so my legs can have a rest.

Cheers to Ron too – you’re a star, and far too fit!

Why the kids pictures on the website? I hear you ask…

Focus on the 'why', not the 'how'. Talk about it often and make it happen...

My daughter is currently just 6 years old. And she has mentioned on several occasions that she’d like to work with animals when she gets older. So we got talking about things and she also said she wanted to have a business card, just like daddy.

We talked more and I explained that she needed to think about all the things she thought ought to be on the card. We came up with pictures of animals and agreed to have a go at drawing some of the animals she wanted to work with.

Just like a child, she did exactly as I suggested and her excitement continues to develop. We have since worked on a business card – OK, I know she’s only 6, but the seeds are being planted when they’re most likely to germinate.

At no time did she come up with reasons why she couldn’t become a vet. I’ve already mentioned that there will be lots of hours of learning, working and difficulty in the process. Her response was ‘I know daddy, but I want to help animals be happy’. Because her ‘why’ is bigger than her ‘how’ I think we may have to get saving big-time for those university fees!

My point? be like child – focus on what you want, not what you’ve got to do…

Dreams are fun to chase – work is, well work. Make every day an opportunity to chase down your dreams (goals, target, ambitions, mission or whatever phrase works for you) in the pursuit of winning and you’ll find the hard stuff becomes part of the process of winning…

It’s a fairly obvious route to go down when discussing sales, but common sense is not that common so I’m going to go through it anyway.

People don’t buy products – they buy benefits. In the words of Dale Carnegie – “imagine everyone you meet has a sign across their forehead saying What’s In It For Me?”

People buy for one of 5 primary motivating factors:

• TIME (Save or get back)
• MONEY (Save or Make)
• HEALTH (Improve)
• SECURITY (Make them feel safe)
• STATUS (Look better than the neighbours!)

When you look to pitch your offer, think in terms of what they need – not what you need. If you give them what they want, you’ll get what you want. If your customer buys to save time, talk to them in terms of how they’ll save time and maybe, what they’ll be able to do in that time.
People don’t buy washing powder because it cleans at 30 degrees. They want a better life and that’s what they buy – it occurs at less than 30 degrees and that’s the factual stuff – always talk about benefits and back them up with facts.

To help you get online relatively quickly and easily, we’ve put together a no-nonsense guide to our WordPress package. It is not exhaustive but covers the basic set up, what we expect of you and what you can expect of us – it’s our terms of trade if you want to get all formal…

If you have specific requirements that aren’t covered here, please contact us and we’ll set up a package to suit…

What’s ‘in’ the price?

• Initial consultation to check we’ve got all the information we need to design you a website you’ll be proud of – also to make sure you’re happy with everything before we move on. This can be done by telephone, followed by a meeting if required.
• Install, design, set up & test your template/theme from one of our premium WordPress selections
• Add initial content (pages and posts) – this will need to be supplied by the you in an electronic format such as Notepad, Word, Open Office etc
• Add generic website terms and conditions of use for your website visitors to read. If you require further/specific terms and conditions, you must supply these and they are your responsibility
• Set up contact form with captcha ‘anti-spam’
• Configure an email account with your domain name included in it Alternatively, you can keep your existing email address and have web mails forwarded to this
• Add up to 25 images/logos etc – these to be provided by you. We can supply royalty-free images at a nominal cost of between £1 and £3 per image (depends on resolution)
• Add and configure the following WordPress widgets – subject to testing:
  • Categories, pages & comments
  • facebook page
  • twitter page
  • facebook ‘like’
  • facebook ‘share’
  • email this page to a friend
• Set up google analytics including monthly sitemaps and provide traffic reports and web stats for you to view
• Configure the ‘weekly backup’ to your computer hard-drive or email address

What’s the price?

Option 1

£199 initial payment upon instruction plus £200 final payment on completion of website. Your website will be ‘live’ once the final payment is cleared.

Hosting: You’ll also need to budget for £14.99 per month hosting OR £19.99 if you include Askimet anti-spam – this monthly hosting fee is payable by standing order and is due from the start of the next month. ie Final payment March 1st 2011. Standing order to start from April 1st 2011

Option 2

£99 initial paymentHosting: You’ll need to budget for £39.99/44.99 (with Askimet) per month hosting payable by standing order to start on the 14th of the following month after going ‘live’. ie Site ‘live’ March 20th 2011 - standing order to start April 14th 2011

Please note: in order to set up and run your website, you’ll need to be hosted by Stray’s Limited. If you are currently using another web host, you’ll need to inform them that you wish to transfer your domain to us. In this instance, we will send you simple instructions to do this. If you are new to all this website stuff, don’t worry, you’ll automatically be hosted by us when we purchase your domain name for you as part of your web development.

What’s else is included in the price?

One (1) .co.uk domain name per website…

If you want more domain names to point to the same website, we charge a flat rate of £6 per .co.uk domain (for 2 years) and £24 per .com domain (for 2 years). These domain names are registered with us but you own the domain. The price for domains does not include email accounts for them. Domains are renewed every two years at the same price. If this price goes up, we will inform you immediately. We will remind you when a domain name/s is due for renewal and send you a bill. Your website continues to be hosted without interruption and we take care of renewing the domain/s once your payment has cleared.

we’ll hold your hand…

• Mat Short will show you how to update the site, write posts, add images and widgets and answer any questions. The location of this ’2-hour training session’ will be mutually agreed
• We will provide support with the hosting of your website and any security/maintenance required.

Extras:

Mailchimp mailing campaigns…

We love MailChimp. It’s initially FREE and works like a dream! So we’re really comfortable putting your mailing list in their hands – we use them so we know they deliver the results you’ll want.

We will set up a mailchimp account for you, design and test the email template for you and configure your website so that your visitors can sign up to your newsletter easily.

One off payment of £99 for set up. You would be responsible for sending out emails to your mailing list. Depending on how big your list is and how many times you wish to send emails, there may be an additional payment from you to MailChimp. For more about MailChimp go to their website at http://www.mailchimp.com – You can set up MailChimp yourself if you feel savvy enough but we are not be able to provide support for this.

Ongoing Website Development…

If you don’t fancy updating and developing your website yourself, we can take care of this for you. If you want us to help you get the most from your site, we can work with you on your marketing and business development and include this in your website content and the way you contact your client base. Talk to us about how we can be part of your marketing solution…

What’s not included in the price?

• Design of your logo/brand – we’ll gladly do this for you for an additional fee – Mat Short will discuss this at the consultation
• Marketing campaign to drive traffic to your website
• Any guarantees that your website will generate income for you
• Repairing/amending work you’ve done to your website if you find you’ve made an error. Fixing/re-installing/restoring a website is chargeable at £25 per hour
• Extra server space. We give you 500meg per WordPress which is plenty of room for your website. If you plan on having a high amount of large graphics, Mat Short will explain this at the consultation and will arrange a suitable package and pricing structure to allow you to have more room on our servers to host more files/images

You will receive a copy of this ‘terms of trade’ after your initial consultation with Mat Short. Once you have signed this agreement, work will begin on developing your website until it’s completion at which point you will need to ‘sign it off’ as completed.

The terms ‘OurMart Limited’ or ‘Mat Short’ or ‘us’ or ‘we’ refers to the owner of the website whose registered office is 17-21 Boar Lane, Newark, Notts UK NG24 1AJ. Our company registration number is 0700759 registered in England. The term ‘you’ refers to the user or viewer of our website.

The use of this website is subject to the following terms of use: The content of the pages of this website is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice. Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.

This website contains material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.

All trademarks reproduced in this website, which are not the property of, or licensed to the operator, are acknowledged on the website.

Unauthorised use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence.

From time to time, this website may also include links to other websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information. They do not signify that we endorse the website(s). We have no responsibility for the content of the linked website(s).

Your use of this website and any dispute arising out of such use of the website is subject to the laws of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

What we collect

We may collect the following information:

• name and job title

• contact information including email address

• demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests

• other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers

What we do with the information we gather

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

• Internal record keeping.

• We may use the information to improve our products and services.

• We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided.
• From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or mail. We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

• whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes

• if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or emailing us at info@matshort.com

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen.

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to OurMart Limited 17-21 Boar Lane, Newark, Notts NG24 1AJ.

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.