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Pound for pound an Internet presence offers very cost effective marketing when compared against other forms of advertising activity and in this regard MCL have been designing and maintaining websites for all company sizes, specialising in the small business sector. In this regard we produced some particular solutions that ensure these smaller customer websites are both professional and cost effective.
We offer completely managed packages as well as some for those who can maintain their own services. We complete the whole procedure where required, (registration of domain, preparation and design and finally uploading...
hosting and maintenance) so that our customers only need one point of contact. Unnecessary administration
charges are reduced and we respond very quickly to our customer requests for modifications.
Six
very good reasons why you should use us...
1.
We understand design, marketing and computer issues.
We understand design, marketing and computer issues. There are many designers who do not understand how to maximise your website, and many computer literate personnel who canʼt design at all but will sell you a website.
Neither of these groups usually understand marketing strategy which simply means we understand the best way to design and produce your site for your target market.
2.
We own and manage our own servers.
We own and manage our own servers. Many design companies don't, and that means their technical expertise and management of their sites may be limited. They also have to operate through third party providers thus reducing their response time.
3. Our
customer service and support are second to none.
Our customer services are second to none. With our completely managed services if you have a problem you won't be "number 15" in a queue and you don't pay extra for our business class support even self managed packages come with a high level of technical support.
4.
We are very cost effective.
Over a year our rates for hosting a website are very attractive when support and other services are compared.
5. Our website designs are unique to your company.
We don't use template designs and so your site will not resemble anyone
else's'. These custom built sites are much less expensive than any similar we have checked out.
6.
You are not tied into lengthy or complicated contracts.
All
of our offers are renewable year on year with no special 'tie-ins'.
(Please refer to our general terms and conditions available on request
or on our website for 'special offer' services).
We realise that some of the issues involved in web site design, production
and maintenance can be confusing and the following notes aim to assist
and assume no prior knowledge, other than computer operation.
The
most important single consideration, whether or not you wish
to have a website immediately, is to register your name and protect
it for future use. Registration charges are for two years, after which
they have to be renewed. Different registration authorities make different
charges as do organization offering this service, and they may form
part of a special offer etc.
There are two main registration bodies with which you should be familiar: ICANN, the .com international registration
authority and Nominet for the uk, (co.uk). Other suffixes are available (.net,
.org etc.) but are not applicable to the majority of companies operating on a normal commercial basis. Whilst it is possible to register a name directly with these organisations, in practice certain technical information required (server details, technical admin contacts etc) usually means registering through a third party who has these facilities,
or access to these facilities. Some of these are name registration specialists (i.e., it is their main or only business), some are ISPʼs, some web design companies and web space facilitators etc. Watch out for ads for
domains giving an annual renewal rate which appear good value but you have to double the amounts where registrations
are only for for 2 years.
You can check out domain names directly on our website and once you
register a suitable name and it is confirmed, you will have established
a location for your future domain.
You may have noticed that many major companies e.g.(AOL, BT, Sky etc), are heavily advertise their services. The offers come thick and fast and are made as tempting as possible. However, in general these companies do not offer a suitable service for business users who wish to use their own domain name.
Because your own company domain is essential and offers many marketing advantages, including a more prestigious
web presence as well as dedicated company e-mail, you may not be able to use some of the larger providers
for this purpose anyway, as they will not offer hosting of your own domain name. Using an AOL e-mail address for business purposes, for example, is not recommended.
BT do offer business services and rely heavily on their telecoms image to grab the lions share of the small business
market. However when you compare their charges, designing and hosting a website with them annually is a very expensive option. Because they have so many users their customer ratio is always going to be higher than SME business specialists such as ourselves and response and support may be slower and less helpful as a result.
It pays therefore to discuss your requirements carefully at the outset, remembering how you may wish to change or grow the site later and what it will cost!
The service provided by MCL for its small/medium business customers, offers your own domain and company website on a server with a choice of connection options. A server is the computer, whose details are registered with UK or USA registration authorities and where your domain is registered, so that Internet pointers allow your site to be located by web browsers (like Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari). MCL offer full customer-
friendly support, the ongoing maintenance of the site and other facilities such as visitor logging.
The MCL servers are located directly on the communications backbone at in Manchester, and are amongst the fastest connections available in the UK. They have full 24-hour maintenance and back up power, supplied in fully air conditioned premises.
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