Firstly, congratulations on being shortlisted for the uk.com awards! Can you explain a little more about what teaparty.uk.com does, for the uninitiated?

Thank you!  It’s very exciting! Teaparty.uk.com is the website for ‘Tea Party’ – a gorgeous private pink tea shop based in North London.

It’s a perfect venue for private delectable tea parties that seat up to 20 guests.  The tea shop is resplendent with big pink chandelier, pink & white striped walls and floral wallpaper, and guests sit around beautifully laid tables decorated with fresh flowers and are treated to a sumptuous afternoon tea served on vintage china.

Perfect for Baby Showers, Hen Parties, Birthday Parties, Bridal Showers and all manner of splendid occasions.

Since you’ve been shortlisted in the Best Original Idea for a Business Website category, it’s only logical to ask – how did you come up with the idea for teaparty.uk.com?

Well, I wanted something pink & girly to reflect the looks of the tea shop and make it an inviting idea for guests!

I’ve always had the urge to set up my own business and basically, after being made redundant, the idea just came to me at 11pm one night (and yes, I remember the time!).

Can you talk us through the evolution of your business and its website?

The website needed to attract customers from the start and was launched before the shop was even open. With just 3 pages, I needed to give as much information as possible to describe such a new and unique concept. The biggest challenge was explaining what Tea Party was about, and that it’s not just for kids! It also needed to be very visual, to give a real flavour of what we’re about and so a shoot was set up with all the beautiful china and afternoon tea.

Once we were up and running, more pages were added and so were more pictures of happy guests! Testimonials have also proved very important for us.

Now I can add more photos and alert people to our events such as cupcake decorating etc

I get loads of compliments about it – it makes me very proud!

Have you found Twitter and Facebook have supported your website in driving business your way?

Yes, without a doubt, Twitter & Facebook have been very important for my business.  Facebook has been excellent as I have a Tea Party page and it works visa versa.  Twitter has also been superb.  Social media is a very important part of business these days!

What’s next for you and for teaparty.uk.com?

I’m enjoying having my own business immensely – it fits around having a 3 year old as everything is bookable in advance making it very easy to plan around her.  In the future, who knows? Lots of ideas in the pipeline…

And finally – if you win the £5k overall prize, do you have any grand plans for the prize money?

That would be fantastic! Not just the money, but the achievement.  I wouldn’t dare to think, there are so many other fabulous finalists too, but I would definitely plough some back into the company and the rest to a charity. (Rays of Sunshine Children’s Charity).

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Good luck to Sam – we’re crossing our fingers for her to win the UK.COM awards!

If your site is hosted with Daily and you’d like us to profile it, just drop us a line.

Firstly, what made you build the website?
My wildlife pencil art has been sold all over the UK and around the world for twenty years. My support base includes celebrities and other artists as well as a loyal group of fans and collectors. Most of my limited editions have completely sold out and increased in value many times – the most extreme being a Green Turtle print which originally sold for £8.50 and resold on the secondary market for £3,500.00!

It has become clear over the years that internet sales have affected gallery sales and it was time to get in on the act. My wildlife drawings are very detailed and I have always been suspicious of the quality of images on the web, but I am very happy with the outcome.

It looks like yours was already a flourishing trade in some wonderful artwork – how would you say the internet has made a difference?
My business has been successful over the years and I have kept in touch with a loyal group of supporters by mail, which is costly and very time consuming. It became apparent that I needed a new way to communicate my art to my supporters, and also to gain new support. The internet allows me to do this as well as expand my UK support to other countries. Clearly the web is extremely competitive but I believe that my established market gives me a useful boost.

Can you talk us through the evolution of your website?
My partner did the work on the site with my considerable input. It has been three months of deciding what to say as well as learn how to say it. My support base already asks certain questions so I knew what people would want to read. We started with the biographies and then the galleries. Each stage took time as we learned the process using Instant Website Pro. One of the problems were that the templates were quite complicated – and my art needs simplicity. So we stripped out some of the layouts and built each page separately using the text editor.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in getting your site to where it is now?
I am not used to the web or even emails, but my partner has been using it for over a decade. It took a lot of time for me to be convinced that it was the way to go, although now we have the site up and running I’m really excited about the possibilities. Once we’d decided to go for it, we had to decide how to build the site since neither of us had this experience. Instant Website Pro gave us an affordable option which overcame the technical challenge of website building. The mental challenge has been overcome by the passing of time!

So what’s next?
The site is simply a portal for my art and a way for people to buy limited edition prints. I have already notified my support base and early response has been really encouraging – including sales! In the future, the website will be regularly updated with news, new art, and even new thoughts. With the use of Google Analytics we can see how successful it is and react to the data provided. I want it to remain a friendly, warm place to visit for those who like my wildlife art.

What measures do you take to promote your site?
It is early days but we’ve already filled in all the search engine optimisation data on the page provided by Instant Website Pro and started to look at Google Analytics. We’ve submitted it to the search engines but understand that it will take time to appear. It has been promoted to people who already receive a printed newsletter from me and they have been asked to tell their friends. At the moment we’re contacting web directories for free inclusion and creating web links with charities I have donated to over the years. We may soon offer a promotional deal through some of our connections linking back to the site. It is still a learning process.

What attracted you to Daily.co.uk?
We found Daily through a search engine when buying domain names. We then found the site fast and easy to use and the Instant Website Pro package seemed to be a feasible option to learn how to publish a site. It turned out to be the case. I’ve found Daily responsive to questions and the site loads really fast, so I’m very happy.

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If you’re a Daily Internet customer and you’d like your site to be featured on our blog, just drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do.

What made you start the business?
I’ve been into web design for most of my life and naturally progressed into a full time web job in Brighton after University.

However the whole 9-5 office work scenario wasn’t for me, so I found myself working as a freelancer, which gave me much more scope to be creative and choose my own projects!

Can you talk us through the evolution of your website/business?
It’s been running for about nine months now. I mostly focus on web design, although I also do programming/graphics work where needed. I’ve designed a wide range of websites – mainly for small businesses and individuals.

I started planning everything out a year ago, the site then took three months to build and set up. The next step was to build up a strong portfolio – critical for any type of creative professional! I’m now looking to move on to large scale projects.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in getting your business to where it is now? And what’s next on the list?

The pressures and pitfalls of working for yourself – distractions, loneliness and sometimes spending too long designing! Also initially it was a huge effort to spread the word, which I do mostly through Google, Google Ad Words, and Gumtree, as well as numerous freelancer websites

I’m looking at making more revenue through web hosting as a reseller in the future. It’s very difficult competing with other web hosts – the average consumer looks for a host based on price and reputation – here the large hosting companies get the majority of the customers! I’m still a very small fish in a big pond so it’s a challenge to attract new hosting accounts.

What attracted you to Daily.co.uk?

Strong reputation as well as very reasonable value for money compared to some hosts I’ve seen. No downtime so far which is great. Knowledge base and customer support are both very helpful and a lot of the freebies and add-ons are very useful.

It took me a little while to figure out how to use the Daily control panel, though – there is certainly a wealth of information there!

Further information:

If you’re a Reseller with thoughts on how we could help you to promote your business and service your customers, drop us a line – we’re always interested to hear your suggestions.

Firstly, what made you start the business?

My background is in practical farm management. After eight years as a Farm Manager with Co-op Farms, helping to manage several large estates round the country, I was offered the position as Farm Manager at Moulton college in Northamptonshire and enjoyed the mix of farm management and teaching.

After a successful period, I was offered a position as Senior Farm Consultant with a large South West consultancy firm. During this time, I saw that there was a niche for a more personal approach to rural business consultancy offering a range of services and advice tailor-made to individuals rather than a one size fits all approach. I decided to take a chance and start my own business.

Was it an existing business that you decided to take online or is it a question of the internet really opening up a business opportunity for you?

In my view it is imperative that any business, no matter what service or product they supply, has a presence on the net. In the majority of cases it is people’s first port of call when they want to find any information. In fact I was recently told by one of my clients that they are suspicious of a business if they can’t find it on the internet! So with this in mind, having a website was an integral part of my business plan.

Talk us through the evolution of your website

The Grassroots Farming website had humble beginnings. I decided that I was going to construct the site myself, so I started by looking at all the websites that I went on and seeing what I liked about them and came up with a rough layout.

Most importantly I needed to work out what I wanted to say, as we all know prettiness and no depth leads to disaster! So I took the best bits from some of my other advertising material and built on that.

I then combined the layout and content in a well known word processing programme and created my first website. This, however, was not the best way to do it as there were issues with the coding created by this programme. As it had been suggested to me by potential clients that they would like me to design and maintain a website for them in the future I decided to invest in a web authoring programme (Dreamweaver) and set about learning some coding.

This created a dramatic improvement on the visuals of the site – and also the compatibility of the site with browsers such as Firefox and Google Chrome which more and more people are now using…

I currently use Daily Internet Web Hosting, but if I hadn’t intended to produce more websites in the future I would have tried the Instant Website package.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in getting your site to where it is now?

The biggest challenge was to know when to stop! The more you learn about web authoring and the more you take notice of the good websites out there the more you want to incorporate in your own. You have to remember that it is a business tool at the end of the day and a clear, concise message is the most important thing.

Also spending time increasing the viability of the site is important. There is no quick fix to this – hard work and following suggestions in forums and articles like those by Daily are important. There are lots of businesses who claim they will get you a top ten listing in search engines – my advice is to read the small print!

What’s next for Grassroots?

With help from the website my business is growing all the time. Part of this is due to using Google Ads to place my site on relevant searches. Hopefully I can transfer some of this success to more rural businesses by providing a web authoring service for them. The Grassroots Farming Advice site will continue to evolve as time and necessity dictate.

And finally, what attracted you to Daily.co.uk?

As most rural businesses in the UK will say… Buy British! Daily is hosted in the UK and that was a big reason behind my decision. Pricing and package specs are also very competitive and communication is very good.

Yours is an existing company which was taken online – what have been the benefits in having an internet presence?
Every business needs a website these days – it’s an essential route to market. We have found our trade via the internet is increasing month on month.

Can you talk us through the evolution of your website?
We intially purchased an Instant Website from Daily, which proved a really cheap and easy way to get us out there. After a while, we felt we wanted a more flexible professional look, so we upgraded to a web hosting account and our new website was designed this year by a professional web design company.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in getting www.sussextravelclinic.com to where it is now?
Getting listed in Google. Lots of hard work adding ourselves to local directories and ensuring the right keywords were in place. It doesn’t stop there, though – we aim to continue to promote our site and maintain our strong listings in order to continue to increase the amount of business driven by our website.

What attracted you to Daily.co.uk?
The price and ease of use with all the products on offer. We have found all the staff very helpful at Daily. The products on offer are very reasonable and are great for people like us who had no experience in this area.

More information:

Travel vaccination advice from Sussex Travel Clinic

Instant Websites from Daily.co.uk

Web Hosting from Daily.co.uk

Firstly, what made you start the business?
I had been thinking of going self employed for many years. However I was waiting to gain enough experience in all aspects of national and international marketing & PR so that I could truly offer my clients the ‘real deal’. In September last year, the time was right.

What was the thinking behind your online presence?
The web is such an important factor for any business these days. The first thing I turned my attention to when starting Red Cloud was my web presence. As a marketer I appreciate the need to give people a reason to believe in a product or service provider. A website allows you to do this by showcasing your key skills and abilities, encouraging contact and feedback in an easily promotable way. Within two weeks of the site being up I received two client briefings directly through the website – it has continued to do well ever since.

Can you talk us through the evolution of your website?
As a ‘non-techy’, my biggest fear was producing a website. I approached a few web designers I know and even at ‘friends rates’ it was a significant investment at business start-up phase. I decided to have a go myself and if the result was awful I would admit defeat and pay a web designer.  After some lengthy research on the various so-called templates available – I returned to one of my first discoveries, Daily Internet.

It struck me that the product offering was far more professional and user friendly than the competition and I purchased the Instant Website package and HyperSubmit (which I have subsequently advised numerous clients to adopt). The choice of design template was actually the toughest job as there were so many to choose from and I had a strong brand image in my head to start with. After that, the writing and design of the site was unbelievably easy with only one call to the helpline needed…and this from a non-techy, ITphobic! Updating the site with new sector experiences etc has been exceptionally easy and, with a new site in the offing as well as revamp of the existing Red Cloud MC site… Daily.co.uk will again be my choice.

How have you found the extra services you have with Daily.co.uk?
HyperSubmit is legendary! It has worked so well for me it is hard to put it into words. I have recommended this to my clients and I know of some who have already adopted the product with great results. My email has never let me down either. I often hear clients bemoaning their email and internet being down – ISP allowing, this has yet to happen to me once. It’s available as and when and wherever I need it. Often the best products are those you never have to think about… the ones that never let you down, just do their job well with no fuss. In my experience Daily.co.uk has done just this with all the products they provide.

And what’s next?
A revamped Red Cloud MC site and an eShop, plus a whole new Instant Website. This will represent a huge investment in time and money on my part as well as a step in a new and exciting direction. Such steps are full of uncertainty but my choice of web host is a given! I’ve done my research, don’t get me wrong. You should always shop around and see what the market offers. In doing this research, Daily.co.uk have yet again come up trumps – the right product at the right price. I know them and trust them so I will only use Daily.co.uk to develop my existing and new businesses in the future.

What attracted you to Daily.co.uk?
The product and service range, competitive pricing and helpful staff. Everything you seek in a business partner. My business has grown quite nicely in the last year and Daily has certainly played its part in this initial success.

For example, the helpline do just that… help! All too often you contact company helplines only to be on hold for an hour and then to be spoken to as if you are an IT professional…words that I for one do not comprehend! Daily are quick, efficient and explain in everyday parlance exactly what you need to do. The email helpdesk service is equally efficient and helpful.

Further information:

Marketing Communications from Red Cloud MC

Cost-effective email from Daily.co.uk

Great sites with Instant Website

Search Engine Optimisation with HyperSubmit

What made you start the business?
I am a web designer and my mother is a retailer and between us we were itching to start a retail business online, because hopefully with my web skills and her retail experience we could really do well.

We spent 4 years searching for the right product! From the web perspective, we needed a product for which we could already identify keywords – a brand name or product that was already being searched. From the retail point of view, we wanted a small product that was easy to store and to ship.

When the popularity for charm bead bracelets started there were a couple of brand names already being searched online, so we bought into another brand name and used keywords for all three to enhance our own product searches.

How did your business evolve?
We initially started in November 2007 with an eBay shop, where there were around 350 similar items listed at any one time. By February 2008, this had increased to over 3000!

We saw the popularity was increasing and knew that it was imperative to get our products into our own store.

We built our shop with the Daily.co.uk eShop Business package. Business has been wonderful, and has far surpassed our expectations since we launched the site in March 2008.

We’ve also just tried out the integrated newsletter tool, sending out to 500 people and generating 3 big orders within a few hours. We are far happier selling through our Daily.co.uk shop than eBay, as in our Daily shop customers “fill” their baskets, sometimes with up to 10 items, whereas eBay buyers seem to just buy one or two items at a time.

What attracted you to Daily.co.uk?
I came to Daily after testing a similar product with another company. I was very disappointed with their service – they didn’t answer support emails for days on end. I did a Google search, read about Daily.co.uk and made a quick technical call.  I got an answer within a few rings and my question clarified within minutes, so I set up shop with Daily.co.uk. Everyone has been very helpful and quick to answer our questions. I am so impressed with the Daily service that I am also contemplating taking out a Reseller account for my web design business, where I am currently hosting 40 domains for clients!

What was the biggest challenge you faced in getting Be Charmed to where it is now?
Our biggest challenge to date has been marketing. In my role as a web designer, I am constantly learning about new search engine optimisation techniques and ways to expose the website to more visitors (hence taking up the opportunity to feature on the Daily Blog!). I never miss an opportunity to promote.

Our other challenge has been understanding how to “read our customers’ minds”. It seems that some members of the British public are sceptical about online shopping, thinking that they are about to get stitched up! For us, reassurance is paramount and we always answer the simplest of questions in the most friendly and expedient manner. We try to reassure them on the site with as much detail as possible.

What’s next for Be Charmed Jewellery?
Our next step is to grow the business by gradually adding more ranges. We will take this slowly and surely, testing the market at every step of the way. We will be especially interested to see how the Christmas period pans out. In our first year we did well, but we expect to do much more during Christmas 2008.

Further information:

• Go jewellery shopping at Be Charmed.
• Find out more about Online Shopping with Daily.co.uk eShop.