News

Why is a bespoke website design worth the investment?

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:31:00 GMT

When a prospective customer visits your website, you have about 3 seconds to make a positive impression on them about your business or organisation.

Web users are now a sophisticated bunch and when they see a website that doesn't match their expectations in terms of look and feel as well as usability, the chances are they will go elsewhere.

Most web users nowadays will more than likely recognise if you're using a website template that they've already seen one of your competitors use.

A totally bespoke website design from us helps distinguish yourself from your competition. It will also be much better at communicating your brand's story. With a website design from us, your brand will be able to compete with much bigger players in the market! Your potential customers will think much higher of your organisation and brand if they can see it has been creatively designed especially for your brand.

The Design Council says: "Every £100 a design-alert business spends on design increases turnover by £225. Businesses that see design as integral don't need to compete on price as much as others."

And not to mention the much higher worth of your bespokely designed website if you ever came to sell your business!

But our bespoke websites don't just look great. Powered by our industry-leading CMS you have a clear edge over any competitor. With integrated customer database, sophisticated reporting, optional e-commerce and email marketing and dozens of powerful add-ons, our easy-to-use content management system really makes growing your business or organisation a breeze!

So don't safe at the wrong end. A great bespoke website with the right and future-proof CMS behind it will put you miles ahead of your competition and in no time will safe and make you more money than a cheap off-the-shelf website!

Check out our bespoke website design packages and website add-ons.¹

¹These websites and add-ons require you to have one of our monthly hosting and support packages.

German company hires us for new website design

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:39:00 GMT

A German radio and mobile communications specialist have just ordered our website design package to be built in our industry-leading CMS.

Apart from English and German our CMS admin area is currently also available in Spanish, French and Swedish, with more languages to follow.

Our inhouse German designer is looking forward to be able to use their mother-tongue German when designing and building this website.

We will post more details once we've completed the website.

Poster Design for Blueriver Cottages

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:23:00 GMT

Blueriver Cottages have just opened their new shop in Dartmouth, and needed a poster/advert to promote their holiday property management service in the local area.

Positioned to provide better service at lower costs to landlords, we came up with the creative concept which basically says: With Blueriver you can sit back and enjoy your own holiday - implying your property is taken care of/ you needn't worry and you'll safe enough money to go on your own holiday.

Also the deck chair theme we chose immediately says "holiday" and is also an attention-grabbing and fresh approach in an area that is dominated by advertisers using images of the local scenery all the time.

We purposefully created a clean and classy design to underline the professionalism yet fresh approach of this new property management company.

Website Design for Chicane Internet

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:30:00 GMT

We are pleased to announce that we have just completed Chicane's new dynamic website.

Throughout the project our main contact at Chicane was Paul Huggett, organised as he is, an absolute pleasure to work with.

"I first contacted Happy Earth to speak to them about our start-up business requirement. From that moment on, we knew we had found a partner as opposed to a simple web design company, one who could take our non-educated design ideas and transform them into a clear, concise and professional database-driven site, which we never thought possible from day one." says Paul.

"Since launch we have had nothing but great feedback on our site & reseller portal, and wish to pass on our thanks and congratulations to Happy Earth for their continued effort, passion & determination they showed throughout the project."

You can see the website at www.chicane-internet.co.uk.

Leaflet design for Sabre Insurance Services

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:29:00 GMT

Sabre first contacted us, following a recommendation by one of our clients, as they needed a new leaflet promoting their holiday home insurance services.

Sabre Insurance Services are part of The Sabre Group, who offer financial, mortgage and insurance solutions throughout the UK.

Having analysed the market they operate in, we decided to give the leaflet a very professional "big brand" look in order to allow them to compete in a market dominated by big national insurance brands. At the same time, it was important to eye-catchingly communicate their personal service and bespoke insurance solutions that customers can rely on whatever happens.

There was a lot of text to fit on the flyer that may only be scanned for a split-second by potential customers. By cleverly integrating text into the brand-coloured illustration, using separate text areas and "box-outs", the reader will be able to quickly identify the company's USPs in an interesting way.

Kevin Bailey, Director of Sabre Insurance Services, was thrilled with our work, "What a breath of fresh air! At last I’ve found a marketing company that are interested in my company. From the first consultation to the finished product they couldn’t have done more, the speed and efficiency of service from Happy Earth was fantastic. They took the time to understand our product and come up with ideas that will encourage people to pick up the phone and call us."

The Carl Miller Organisation appoints Happy Earth

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:34:00 GMT

It is not every day that you get approached by no less than the international basketball star and gold medallist Carl Miller.

They approached us as they needed a logo for Carl's organisation's self-development programmes for young people "Look up to Yourself".

The organisation's co-founder Clive Thompson says, "I contacted Happy Earth and had an immensely encouraging conversation as to their approach to understand our business and how we would like it to be represented to convey immediately, through a logo, precisely what we are about. Happy Earth impressed us immensely in that the first logo design they created for us was exactly it!"

"Our new brand logo, said with great pride, through its simple design depicts the joy at the end of the journey that we take young people through. The choice of colours, resonate with the journey moving from grey to green; where green is the colour of new life.", Clive adds.

The Carl Miller Organisation was so thrilled with our work that they have already had their team uniforms made up and we are currently working on their new website. We are pround to say that Carl himself called us up to personally thank us for our work.

"I was wow-ed speechless when I saw the suggested website design Happy Earth came up with for us. I couldn't believe how it conveyed exactly what I am trying to achieve with my self-development programmes, and in such a creative and fresh way. I have worked with many agencies before and can say that Happy Earth's ability to listen, their creativity and commitment to the project at hand is second to none!", Carl was praising down the phone.

We will let you know when their new website has gone live.

We couldn't be filled with more pride that "Look up to Yourself" is considering us an integral part of their team already. Their cause to help and guide young people of all walks of life achieve their full potential is very close to our hearts and we are thrilled to be able to help them help children and teenagers on their way.

With the Salvation Army already having bought into their programmes and massive interest from councils all over the country, "Look up to Yourself" is set to really make a difference in lives across the UK, and with the organisation's passion and drive, quite possibly around the world.

The Session 8 Band launches in a packed Mama Stone's

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:26:00 GMT

Tuesday night at Mama Stone’s in Exeter was the place to be, when The Session 8 Band gave a brilliant performance to a packed audience, at the band’s first live show.

Happy Earth played a significant part in marketing the launch of this fantastic 8 piece jazz band. In the weeks running up to the event, we organised interviews for them on BBC Radio Devon as well as Exeter FM, secured them press coverage, designed the band's website, posters and flyers. On the night itself we also provided the photography services.

"With the event taking place on a Tuesday night at a venue that doesn't play a lot of jazz or blues generally, we knew it wouldn't be easy to pull in a crowd on an absolute shoe string budget. But we did it! I couldn't believe my eyes as Mama Stone's just kept on filling with people of all ages - there wasn't room to walk by the time the band started!", says Marie Voigt of Happy Earth.

The band was overwhelmed by the amount of people that turned up and their fantastic performance left the Mama Stone’s audience clapping and cheering for more and there was a real buzz in the air as the band left the stage.

As they lined up for photographs, with much hand shaking and congratulating all round, the question on everyone’s lips was “When’s the next gig?”

Integrated Marketing Campaign for LVM Publishing

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:25:00 GMT

We have just completed an integrated marketing campaign for independent music publishers and record label LVM Publishing.

Their new 8 piece jazz band, The Session 8 Band, that features several of the UK's top jazz players has their first live performance later this month and Happy Earth was asked to help promote their launch gig.

As part of this, we created a strong identity for the band, a dynamic website, animated Flash banners, posters and flyers for them. We also helped LVM organise the event as well as secure free radio interviews, free editorial coverage in newspapers as well as free inclusion in online jazz and what's on publications.

We will be there ourselves when the band goes live at Mama Stone's in Exeter on 23 February 2010 and we will also be providing filming support as well as photography services on the night! How about that for an all-round happy creative campaign!

Blueriver Property have appointed Happy Earth

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:34:00 GMT

We don't want to blow our own trumpet but Devon-based rental and holiday lettings company Blueriver Property have said themselves that they were thrilled to have found us to support them with their marketing and design requirements.

Managing Director Phil Hayward says "I called Happy Earth because we were looking for a design solution for a website banner. I also wanted to discuss our marketing strategy and other future projects that would promote us to a wider, yet more targeted audience. Happy Earth were brilliant!"

Having discussed Blueriver's goals with Phil as well as researched the market in which they operate, Blueriver have already successfully implemented several of our recommendations and we are currently working on an integrated advertising campaign for them which we are confident will raise their profile significantly.

Happy Earth have launched

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:24:00 GMT

Happy Earth are a young and dynamic creative solutions provider who pro-actively help ethical and socially responsible businesses and organisations make a difference and growing their businesses with the help of our bespoke branding and design services.

With the environment close to our hearts, we decided to ditch the posh offices (we like to impress on the merit of our work instead!) and run our agency as an online-based business instead - but of course with real and qualified marketing and design professionals behind it! This also means we can keep our prices transparent and competitive and you can securely order our bespoke services online 24/7 from anywhere in the world! Of course we are always just a phone call away and you will probably find our service even more personal than you would with most traditional agencies!

The company was set up by former Marketing Manager and Multimedia Designer Marie Voigt who holds a BA in Marketing as well as an MA in Multimedia Design. Having worked across the world in marketing as well as creative roles for agencies and in-house for a variety of small to international B2B and B2C brands, Marie understands our clients' requirements better than anyone else.

"In all the years I have worked with creative agencies I always felt 'I can do better than that'. Many agencies don't live up to their promises, lack big ideas and attention to detail, are incompetent, unfriendly, too costly or not pro-active enough. It was time for an excellent creative partner, so I set up Happy Earth." Marie says.

"As the business grows my goal is to actively help make a difference, not just for our clients, staff and suppliers but also to our beautiful planet as a whole. Hence the name Happy Earth."

We look forward to helping any ethical and socially responsible business or organisation! For a confidential chat on how we may help you achieve your goals, please call us on 0845 680 8006.