As the opportunities offered by the internet expand, so does the breadth and quality of service offered by web designers. Dominic Bliss gets online with a new bridal venture.
Web Developers Keren Alderson and Timothy Smith are optimistic about their new business venture - a wedding website design company called I Do I Do. Launched back in the summer, they offer slick, great-looking websites to anyone in the wedding industry, but their main targets are the hundreds of bridalwear designers and retailers around the UK.
According to the British Design Council, on average, design alert businesses increase their market share by 6.3% through design. Those in the retail sector saw an increase in market share of 6.9%.
"Web marketing is becoming increasingly important to the wedding industry," says Alderson, the company's 32-year-old creative director. "Because we share the same passion for great design as our clients, we can help them harness the potential of the internet to market themselves effectively."
I Do I Do, which is the trading name of Birmingham-based Creative Infusion Ltd, takes care of every stage of website creation, from the initial web hosting to design, programming, content management and search engine optimisation. Since they launched in August this year they have completed a site for A-Z Wedding Services (www.a-zweddingservices.co.uk) and are currently talking to several other bridalwear clients.
The production process behind their websites is fairly simple. "All that companies need to supply are specific images, any existing logos and the copy. We do the rest," says Alderson.
The know-how
The couple are quick to highlight the key areas where they outperform rivals. "A lot of people just get a computer-savvy cousin to do a cheap front page for their site," Alderson sayswith more than a touch of exasperation. "They put a couple of pictures in there and, voila! It's just awful; so amateurish. We believe that a company's website is their shop window on the internet. As web-users browse they should have the same feeling that clients get when they approach the shop on the high street. You wouldn't get your cousin to do the window-dressing for you, so why get him to do your website?"
The other unique selling point Alderson has is the fact that she is a female designer creating websites that will be visited almost exclusively by women. "I understand how to design for other women," she explains. "Research from Glamorgan University has shown that women tend to prefer websites designed by women, yet we're a relatively rare breed. Nearly 80 per cent of web designers are men. This has obvious implications for marketing, specifically for bridalwear."
Smith, the 42-year-old MD of I Do I Do, takes care of the programming and IT side of the websites. A former business systems analyst at Marconi, he's careful to leave all the design to his female business partner. "When it comes to weddings the lead role is always taken by the woman," he says. "So it makes sense that our designer should be a woman."
The price is right
Of course, once the aforementioned computer-savvy cousins have been taken out of the picture, the cost of website design suddenly starts to escalate. Professional-looking sites don't come cheap. But Alderson and Smith insist they are still very competitive. "We deliberately pitch our pricing strategy so that even a small company can have bespoke design," says the latter. "It's clearly going to be more expensive than if they did it themselves, but the bonus you get is so worth the extra cost. It's a rational business decision to invest in web design."
I Do I Do's basic websites (ie around three pages with photos) start at £450 plus VAT. Larger sites with a news page and a lot of gallery pictures approach the £1,000 mark. And if companies want e-commerce then they're looking at a price tag of £2,000 upwards.
The reason Smith and Alderson don't provide cheap websites is because they are all bespoke, never off-the-peg. "Our websites are designed from scratch rather than being template-based," Alderson explains. "We think it's of paramount importance that a business's website is designed to match their particular style and requirements."
Bespoke makes sense
Smith is very dismissive of the numerous template-style websites available on the internet. At the recent British Bridal Exhibition in Harrogate, lots of potential customers asked him about web templates. "The message we are trying to get across is that effective marketing is about creating a strong and unique brand to ensure individual companies stand out from the crowd," he says. "A recognisable brand is achieved through a number of design nuances. Web templates achieve the exact opposite effect by making companies look ordinary and generic.
"Imagine a template-style high-street shop setting where bridal shops could only slap their logo on the outside and change nothing inside. If all bridal shops in a city did the same, in their customers' minds they would all blur into one. Effective marketing is about being distinctive. What our clients need for their website is as unique as their business. Web templates are obviously not unique."
Alderson, who originally trained in interior design in her native New Zealand, has created dozens of websites since she started in 2005. Among them are www.markbebbington.co.uk, a concert pianist), www.airband.ltd.uk (an internet service provider), www.chstassociates.co.uk (a marketing company) and www.comptonwebb.co.uk (industrial clothing).
Most of the sites she's done have a clean, intelligent feel about them," says Smith, trying to describe his partner's style. "Quite artistic."
Alderson herself mentions the words 'elegance' and 'drama', but stresses how she is able to adapt her style according to the needs of the client. The duo believe this style will serve them well when they pitch to the hundreds of bridalwear shops and designers across the UK. They know that many of their potential high street clients are starting to feel the heat from the numerous overseas web retailers offering designer bridal gowns at massively reduced prices. Often these web retailers have websites far more glamorous than the quality high street bridalwear shops they are undercutting.
"Without a great-looking website, the high street retailers are going to lose business," Smith stresses. "They need a website that will at least match up to the sites hosted by these web retailers that look very glitzy, but don't necessarily deliver the same quality of product."
Ultimately the success of I Do I Do all depends on Alderson and Smith's abilities to market themselves to the wedding industry. Over the coming months you may well spot them traipsing round the wedding shows. They are soon to offer anyone in the industry a free listing on their new online directory (www.bridalesource.com) with a view, of course, to eventually converting these listings into full-blown website design customers.
Alderson and Smith also research the wedding industry vigorously. They both know their way round the dozens of UK bridal magazines on the news-stands and take copious notes at any weddings they happen to be guests at.
But neither of them is actually married. This may or may not work out to be a disadvantage for the business. "I've been a best man for someone," Smith says, laughing.
"And I was actually married once," says Alderson. "Does that count?"
This feature article was published in Bridal Buyer Magazine, November/December 2007 edition (issue number 123) pp.52-53. Reproduced with permission.
