About Epsilis - Website Designers and Search Engine Optimisation
in Letchworth, then Stevenage for 6 years, now moved back to Letchworth, Hertfordshire (Herts)
Website design to standards:
Based in Stevenage in Hertfordshire (Herts) for 6 years and now based in Letchworth Garden City , Epsilis provides Website Design and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) services to companies in Hertfordshire, North Herts, Home Counties, Buckinghamshire (Bucks), Bedfordshire (Beds), Essex and London to name but a few areas.
We keenly follow the latest standards and trends associated with website design and internet technologies. We have always advocated that business websites we design should be clear, clean and functional focusing on content (copy) rather than graphic design. We always advise our clients to focus on the purpose and content of their website rather than on just the graphic presentation. We still recognise that the presentation is important but it is not normally the highest consideration. Disability discrimination is now a real issue and we have been recommending our clients adopt the accepted web accessibility guidelines since 2002. Web accessibility seems to be more important to some customers than to others - for some like local authorities and charities this is a key requirement.
Websites designed to work in the Search Engines - ours are, most others are not
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is often regarded as an after thought. We take a different view and believe that Search Engine Optimisation is an integral part of website design so our websites are designed to work effectively in search engines from the outset. We do not support the use of tricks (black hat techniques) to mislead search engines but focus on effective web design and content to achieve good search engine performance by valid means (white hat techniques).
Web Sites - not Print
Our focus is the web, we do not normally deal in print as this is not our area of expertise. We have deliberately set out not to be "jack of all trades but master of none". The web is a very different medium to print and it needs to be treated as such. We understand the "nuts and bolts" of what makes a good website and what makes a bad website, what makes websites rank well in search engines (Search Engine Optimisation - SEO), what common website design practices inhibit search engine performance and understand the legal issues associated with websites.
In short we design websites to work properly, be legal and be a real asset. Sadly so many websites are not.
Some History: Established in 1999
I established Epsilis Web Designers with a business partner in Letchworth in 1999. In 2001 we moved to Offices in the Business and Technology Centre in Stevenage.
Our first projects were mainly associated with website design for local companies in Stevenage and surrounding North Hertfordshire towns like Letchworth, Hitchin and Baldock. We soon found that what our clients really wanted was for us to design and develop their websites then give them the ability to update their web site content themselves without any specialist knowledge. Our answer was to develop our own Content Management Software (CMS). Unlike most Content Management Software at the time ours was developed to have a really friendly user interface and gave the user real power over their content. (These days we use open source Content Management Software (CMS) such as DRUPAL as this does not lock clients in to bespoke software only understood by one company. If you want a demonstration of a Content Managed - CMS - website in action please ask.)
I believe in supporting the transitional process from education to business for students. Each year we employed an industrial placement student to provide them with the experience and knowledge of a business environment.
I came to realise that there was something fundamentally wrong with the way most websites were being developed through out the industry because Search Engines were being ignored. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) was considered to be a totally separate skill. This may have been fine in the early days when search engines were really not very clever and had to be told in hidden Meta Data tags what a web page was about. But as search engines developed and based rankings on the copy on web pages separating Website Design and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become obsurd. So I decided it was time for us to refocus our efforts on web sites designed to be search engine friendly.
Oddly most of the Web Design community still treat Search Engine Optimisation as a separate black art that they don't understand.
My business partner decided he needed a change and eventually moved to live in France.
I decided I didn't want to keep running teams of web designers so changed the structure from employee based to associate based and now I focus on small Web Design and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) projects where I am able to do most or all of the work myself and am based back in Letchworth.
Aims
To provide all the support and guidance clients need to steer them clearly and effectively through the website design process and ensure that they have an effective website that appeals to people, ranks well in the search engines and meets the legal requirements.
We aim to establish a long-term relationship with each of our customers. We endeavor to ensure you are completely satisfied with our work and want to continue to work with us in the future.
Supporting the local community is important to us and we proudly sponsor Letchworth Garden City Eagles Youth Football Club. We were also proud to sponsor Coventry University Motorsport in their effort to realise student potential for many years.
Associations
We are proud to be members of the following organisations:
If you'd like to discuss your Web Design and Search Engine Optimisation requirements, I would be happy to help.
Regards
Michael Spencer, Managing Director.
michael@epsilis.co.uk
Epsilis - Website Designers
47 Farthing Drive
Letchworth Garden City
Hertfordshire (Herts)
SG6 2TR
UK
