New site for CORDA and AMS DE-RISC

Interactive Dimension have just delivered a new website for CORDA, a BAE Systems company who offer businesses, organisations and the public sector high-level business consultancy services coupled with innovative, proven models and techniques to inform decision making.

This is the latest project we've done for BAE Systems hot on the heels of the AMS DE-RISC site we delivered last month. AMS DE-RISC is a secure portfolio site for the use of BAE Systems, Thales, Augusta Westland, GE, General Dynamics and Selex Galileo to collaborate and demonstrate their joint projects to the MoD.

ID have a long-standing relationship with BAE Systems, right from their very first website and intranet the organisation ever had, so it's great to still be working so closely with them. It's evidence of our long-term relationship building approach, and a reason why we are the longest established digital agency in the North West.

CORDA's site is based on the Wordpress platform and we worked very closely with BAE Systems security to ensure the site met their very exacting standards. This was even more critical for AMS DE-RISC as it needs to satisfy the MoD too!

You can visit the CORDA site here - http://www.corda.co.uk/

Another new site for NST

After the successful redesign and rebiuld of www.nstgroup.co.uk we've been busy working alongside NST on new projects. This time we've delivered the site for the Ireland based NST business www.nst.ie.

The site is based on the main www.nstgroup.co.uk site but delivers the specific Irish portfolio of products.

We leveraged Wordpress as a starting point, but built a lot of custom functionality and taxonomy into the system so it delivers exactly what the client wants.

And now they have two sites working together, even to the point of sharing data between certain sections of the site, whilst retaining full autonomy in other areas. Making the best use of the resource NST have to manage the sites.

Working with the client on the specification means the end result is exactly what they want, it's something we always do and time and time again it proves itself to be the best approach.

The site is extremely search engine friendly and with it's proven architecture and design (we held many usability tests with teachers when building the www.nstgroup.co.uk site) we're confident the new site will continue to help develop NST Ireland's market share.

Preston's digital agency, Interactive Dimension, are proud to work with NST Group and feel this demonstrates our relationship building approach. To us, a project is only a part of what we deliver, the more we understand you the better the results! We work alongside you to make sure its a real partnership... no attitude, just reliability and added-value all the way.

You can visit the new site here - www.nst.ie

NST Group are going places!

We've just launched a new site for NST Group, a long-standing client.

New business is amazing, but there's something to be said for a client who recognises service and capability from their existing digital agency and doesn't judge them on what they have done 4 years ago... that said, the old site was still working really well for the UK's leading school trips and tours company.

A re-brand and new product portfolio along with high SEO competition in their sector made the decision to rebuild the site an easy one, and working with their existing partner, Preston's digital agency Interactive Dimension, made it far simpler for NST Group as we already knew their business and goals.

The site is a complex matrix of tours offered on a number of different user journeys including subject and destination. And we are bringing back taxonomy driven content on the tour pages using bespoke controls we developed into the Wordpress back-end.

It's a very ambitious site to deliver in Wordpress, but we believe the core product is an ideal starting point for most sites and offers a powerful engine on which to build and tweak to meet the clients exact requirements. And Wordpress offers a really usable CMS interface which the clients love to use.

There are hundreds of products on display, clear user journeys, bespoke forms, secure areas for teacher downloads and lots of other features.

The site went live Sunday night and was attracting inquiries at 7am the next morning... So we're happy with that, and so is the client!

The next phase is integrating reviews and comments and a rigorous SEO activity to make the most of the sites well structured and search optimised code.

You can visit the site on www.nstgroup.co.uk


Following on from this release, here's some client comments:

Hi ID,

I just wanted to drop you all an email with some feedback we’ve had on the website from people in the office. It wouldn’t be fair to keep all this from you!

‘Can I just say WOW! This absolutely blows all the other school travel company websites out of the water. It’s very clear and user-friendly.’

‘Well done – it looks fantastic!!! Worth all the hard work!’

‘Nice looking site’

‘Looks great’

‘I like it - a web site that’s easy to follow’

‘Wow! It looks awesome! You must have been working so hard on this!’

‘Looks amazing – you must be really pleased (and relieved!) to see it live. Brilliant job’

Thanks for all your hard work so far.

Helen

Very nice site for Very Nice Things!

ID have just launched a new eCommerce site for Very Nice Things, an online retailer for all those lovely finishing touches on your home.

We've kept it really clean and simple, making it all about the products.

Very Nice Things is the brainchild of Emma Blackman and something she's been thinking about launching for some time.

We'd worked with Emma before and she knew working with ID the Preston based digital agency, she'd get excellent value for money and an eCommerce platform she can control herself easily and quickly to post new products as and when she gets them in stock.

The system has PayPal integration, top sellers, guest checkout, related products and all the features you'd expect from an online store.

We wish Very Nice Things great success and look forward to developing the site in the future with more new features as they are required.

A unique site for a unique event… Preston Guild 2012 website is live

As the countdown to Preston Guild 2012 starts to gather pace, the new website has been launched, created by Preston's digital agency Interactive Dimension.

The new website is closely integrated with social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter and will make it easier for users to have their say about events and announcements in the run up to the Guild.

The website will include information on volunteering to work on the Guild, opportunities to get involved and historical images from past guilds. People will have their photos featured on the site using Flickr, and there is a meet the team section so users can see who is working on coordinating the Guild and get in touch with them for more information. Street party packs will also be available which will help people to plan their own events for the Guild or even to celebrate the Royal wedding. It is also planned that the site will be used to sell Guild merchandise in the future.

Councillor Ken Hudson, Leader of Preston City Council and Chair of the Guild Committee, said: “The website is our international shop window for Preston Guild 2012.

“This is the first ever Preston Guild in the internet and digital world and we have to make the most of new technology. As well as finding a whole host of information about the Guild, people will be able to use the website to follow the Guild scrolls around the world, apply to be a Guild Burgess, register for one of the Guild processions and even buy 2012 Guild branded merchandise.

“I’m delighted that in the great enterprising and entrepreneurial spirit of Preston Guild, Interactive Dimension a dynamic Preston company has designed and created the website which will serve Preston well in 2012 and beyond.”



Jonny Wilde from ID commented - "This site was a major win for us, selected from a competitive pitch process we went in with ideas we'd not seen done before and an enthusiasm which obviously won the day! We're seamlessly integrating the site with the Facebook page so comments and attendees for each event are pulled into the site you can actually RSVP the event on the Guild site which will then let all your Facebook friends know, and of course this means the events themselves are fully synchronised. For us this was a perfect project to leverage Facebook for what it does best… People use it to talk about events and parties, get opinions about things and let people know what they are up to. The Guild will be all over Facebook in 2012, and we aim to make the official site the hub for that activity, it's a step change in how event sites should work in our opinion. There's also other cool bits like sms reminders, add to calendars, eNewsletters, video blogs, and all that good stuff. All the other social networks are catered for of course, but to some people moving forward Facebook is their 'social internet' so we really focussed on that".



The site will continue to be developed, including a mobile site and there's big plans to integrate Facebook Places and Deals for the Guild events…

Visit the site on www.prestonguild2012.com and check out what's coming up for Preston Guild 2012.

The global leaders in renewable energy solutions practise what they preach

ENER-G (www.energ.co.uk) based in Manchester, designs, develops and finances energy efficient and renewable solutions on a business-to-business basis globally. They deliver a comprehensive end-to-end service – from energy procurement and efficiency expertise through to renewable and low carbon technologies and services.

ID, the Preston based digital agency, have been working with ENER-G for over 5 years now and with their rebrand on the horizon and new requirements for the site it was time to re-scope and re-develop. Or so we all thought.

ENER-G had already invested in the initial website and CMS so the approach was planned to recycle the CMS and just develop new templates to represent and support the new brand. So in terms of renewable solutions this project delivered that promise always made when clients are looking at website development which is rarely delivered against. The site you buy will be able to be redesigned without having to buy a new website or starting from scratch.

There's been new features added to enhance the online presence for ENER-G like a jQuery hero area on the home page:


...and a deep linking SEO type footer which acts as a method of navigation when at the base of the page and highlights where the user is in the site. And obligatory social media sharing options handled by an AddThis widget:


A lovely jQuery based map of Europe helps promote their growing international portfolio via the CMS without getting caught in the messy Flash map scenario getting in the way of SEO and updatability:


And because this was ID's CMS in the first place coupled with our excellent development skills it didn't mean the system hindered the evolution of the site, which can happen with some CMS products. ENER-G could have exactly what they wanted.

ID created the online design after Happy Creative (www.happy-creative.co.uk) in Blackpool did an excellent job with the rebrand, having worked many times with 3rd party branding agencies and extending the clients brand online for the likes of United Utilities and BAE Systems this was an ideal project for Interactive Dimension.

"This is a demonstration of how important long term relationships are these days. 2nd and 3rd generation websites for clients is great for all involved, no need to get another agency up to speed and maximum cost effectiveness for the client and repeat revenue for the agency, it's a win-win situation for all.

"To top it all off, we're very happy with the site and feel it works well in our portfolio, they have a great team over there at ENER-G", said Jonny Wilde at ID.

You can have a look at the site on www.energ.co.uk.

Were you at WordCampUK?

Last weekend Louis from ID attended WordCampUK, an "informal annual gathering of WordPress publishers, designers and developers based in the United Kingdom, held at a different location around the country each year". The event was a fantastic mixture of geeks, lead developers, plugin authors, theme designers and complete beginners to the WordPress platform. Louis has been using WordPress as a blogging platform for over 5 years, but in recent years WP has turned into something that Louis and ID use for full websites, not just blogs.

The event was held at the Metropolitan Business School in Manchester over the weekend 17th-18th July.

Saturday started off with a talk by Michael Kimb Jones 'How WordPress Themes Changed the World' (slides) which was a great insight into the very profitable arena of theme development for WordPress. Some of his own sites were featured which highlighted the very versatile nature of the latest WordPress platform.

Also on Saturday 'Wonderflux' was revealed. This is a framework which "bridges the gap between developer and designer enabling the creation of powerful WordPress themes & functionality" A great session by Jonnya gave us the basics of framework possibilities. Louis came out of this session feeling excited, particularly how versatile this framework could make his and our existing WordPress sites.

The quality of the content from all the speakers on both Saturday & Sunday was fantastic and catered for all WordPress users from beginners to hardcore fanatics. It wasn't just all talk though, there were several 'tracks' and activities to choose from as well as some superb Q/A sessions and some 'Site Doctor' arenas.

If you wanted to go but couldn't, there is good news! A lot of the slides from the speakers presentations are now available online, and the whole weekend was captured on video by the lovely folks at Orange Coconut this footage will soon be available on wordpress.tv.

Overall Louis got a tremendous amount out of WordCampUK 2010. He met some great approachable people who we're sure we'll be working with in the future on upcoming Wordpress projects. WordPress has now evolved! If you think WordPress is just for blogs, think again! ID think you will be surprised which sites you visit everyday are actually running on WordPress!

Many thanks to all who helped organise WordCampUK 2010 it was a truly great weekend!

Why get a content management system?

The majority of the sites we create here at ID are built using one of our very own content management systems. Take a look at the benefits to see if it would help your website...

Manage your own content
A key benefit of a CMS is that you are in control of your content and updates. There's no need to go back to your developer everytime you want to post a news item, or update some details. The ID content management systems are all web based as well, allowing you to update them from anywhere you can access the internet - and with no need to download any tricky applications.

Cost saving and efficiency
While the initial cost may be more than that of an html site the cost saving benefits of a CMS far outweigh that. By having control over your own content updates there is no need for costly developer input whenever you need to make a change. By cutting out a third party for content updates you're also adding to the speed and efficiency with which you can update...no need for out of date information to sit on your site for months!

Keep it fresh
Site visitors hate to see out of date content and old, invalid information. Keeping your content fresh and news - even by simply updating your news pages - shows visitors that your company is constantly evolving.

No need to be a technical whizz kid
Absolutely no programming skills are required to find your way around the CMS. It is easy to log in, navigate to the area you want to update and use a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You GET) to update your content. If you can use Word then using the ID CMS is simple!

Search engine friendly
Getting your website found is key to a site's success. All of our CMS's are built to include simple SEO tools, allowing you to make a start on optimisation (of course, if you want something even more in depth we can help you out with that as well!)

Fancy having a go on our CMS and seeing just how easy it is? Get in touch and we'll set you up a demo.