An article recently published in the Business in Berkshire newsletter

Your WebSite Analysed - for FREE

Are you disappointed with the performance of your website? Is it generating enough traffic and achieving good search-engine rankings? Are your customers coming back or are they disappearing without trace?

FactotumCreative are currently offering a FREE website analysis for Business in Berkshire members. What does this entail, and how can it help you get the best from your website? Read on…

Factotum. According to the dictionary, the word means ‘a person or servant having many diverse activities or responsibilities’ (Merriam-Webster).

An appropriate choice of name for Wokingham-based Factotum Creative, a company offering a full range of web services from search engine optimisation to ongoing managed services. What sets them apart from others in the field? The solutions they offer have been proven to bring results on their own commercial sites – thus cutting out costly ‘trial and error’ time for their customers.

So let’s find out more about this free site analysis. Factotum use a number of tools to scan a website for broken links, slow pages, old pages, pages that are too large as well as running all the search terms through the major search engines. (Remember, in the daily cut and thrust of running a business, there isn’t always time to check these things yourself.)

We decided to put Factotum to the test, asking them to analyse www.moonsail.co.uk and www.silent-partners.co.uk. Although we weren’t really expecting to uncover any concerns with either, the results were surprising – proving that even when you think your website is doing its job, problems can lie just below the surface. In the case of the Moonsail site, Factotum identified several broken links and slow-to-load pages. More worrying however, were the inadequate search terms – something we thought we’d covered in enough detail but clearly hadn’t. And the Silent Partners site lacked ‘alt tags’ – the short descriptions that should accompany every graphic.

These findings led us to the conclusion that Factotum’s analysis tools provide an extremely effective way to assess the state of your site and decide on the necessary improvements. Although many businesses may prefer to take the findings back to their existing developer, there is a strong argument in favour of taking out a maintenance package with Factotum:

Factotum’s repair centre can perform a one-off fix or offer a managed service from then on – a popular option which gives businesses the services of a virtual webmaster for minimal cost (from £50 per month). In return they will keep your site fresh, relevant and interactive – as well as optimised for all-important search engine appeal.

As Factotum Director Martyn Hope, explains “Your website IS your brand – it tells people who you are. If it isn’t working properly, it can have a massive impact on your business. Visitors will wonder ‘if they can’t be bothered to look after their site properly, can they be bothered to look after my project properly?’”

What else do factotum do? Their traffic analysis tool (for around £20 a month) is impressive, detailing the number of sessions (actual visitors to your site). “It’s useful to know where site visitors are coming from” adds Martyn, “how long they’ve stayed, and how they found you in the first place.” The company also offers creative branding, helping to turn your brand vision into reality – from basic logo design to designing and building an entire site. Confident they can always find ways to improve the performance of your website, the company often quote performance–related fees – representing maximum return for minimum risk.

We would certainly recommend Business in Berkshire members to check out the Factotum offering and get a free web check done – you may be surprised by the results. Often when you’re busy, maintaining your website is the first thing that suffers. Factotum will identify any problem areas AND fix them for reasonable cost – leaving you free to concentrate on running your business.

For more information and to request your free website analysis, contact Martyn Hope on 07990-595922 or by email: mhope@factotumcreative.co.uk.

This article was written by Hugh McClelland of Moonsail Ltd.