Case Study - Best Kenyan Safaris Website

By www.bestkenyansafaris.com

After having thought for months and months about a business idea we approached many web designers and web developers in Kenya to help us build our Safari blog. Our sole purpose of having the blog was to earn revenue from adsense. Safari is a lucrative business in Kenya and the numbers of searches related to Safari keywords are astonishing. We wanted to be able to get a share of the pie through our blog. 

We had all the research done, the first few posts written in Microsoft Word and were waiting for a website in order to post the content and apply for Adsense. Approaching many web designers we got many quotes, however one agency stood out by sending us a questionnaire rather than a quote. From the questionnaire it was clear that rather than throwing a website at our face, the agency actually wanted to understand what we needed and deliver a tailor made solution. We filled the questionnaire and immediately got great feedback.

During the process of design from the time we filled the questionnaire to the final touches on the website we were involved in the whole process. We were advised every now and then on how to go about our business. For example: we had planned to apply for google adsense immediately after registering the domain and purchasing hosting. Iweb advised us against it. We were told that if you apply for adsense on a fresh account, it is highly likely to get rejected. We should first post content, perform some basic SEO and then get some organic traffic before applying for adsense.

We had high expectations from the blog and initially had thought of becoming millionaires overnight. Iweb were instrumental in guiding us and asking us to lower our expectations. They gave us realistic projections for income from adsense in the coming months. It was so low in the start that we wanted to drop off the project. We were however kept motivated and we decided to finish the project.

It took us a month to get up at least 10 articles, we then did on page SEO, reached out to a few related blogs and requested for some backlinks. Initially we got 2 backlinks. We then applied for adsense and approved. We were over the moon at this point. We then kept posting content. At this point Iweb was mostly out of the picture as we had been trained on how to update the website. Our adsense revenue was a few cents in the first few months. However as we kept posting content, our articles kept being indexed and organic traffic started flowing. We went from $10 a month to $13 to about $20 and gradually increased to $100 a month by the end of the year. It took us about 1 year to break even on initial costs such as web design, hosting and domain name. We were creating our own content and hence the cost there was the time that we input. If we did a minimum wage job for a month, we would probably make more than we did in our first year. However the second year was completely different, as our user base grew, our quality of articles improved with experience, we write for high cpc keywords, our earnings skyrocketed.

Iweb projections were extremely helpful for the first year, as anyone who was just starting out in blogging for money might have quit easily.

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Web Design in Kenya

If you are looking to develop a website for your business in Kenya it is important to start in the right direction. A website can be the biggest asset for your business if done correctly. On the other hand if not done correctly you can end up with a PR nightmare. Here are a few tips to help you choose a web design company.
1. Previous Work
Always make sure you ask for work done previously and check it out. If you like samples of their work, that is a good sign. If you are able contact the people who the website was built for and ask for recommendations or just their general experience. It may be that you like the work but it was not what the customer wanted. Or it may be that the website is well done but the customer service or after sales service is really bad. How about maintenance? Is the website being maintained by the person whom it was built for or by the person who built it. If it is the developer then you need to rethink your choice or look elsewhere. Now days with the emergence of CMS you should not need the services of a web designer or developer to help you maintain your website.
2. Location
It is advisable to hire a firm or an agency that is located in Kenya. As they are more likely to understand local website requirements. It is also easier to get support from someone if you can walk into their office rather than send tireless emails and get no response. Kenyan web designers may also be able to translate your website in Kiswahili. Although not entirely important it is a handy feature to have.
3. Cost
Should probably have been number 1 on the list. If you do decide to use a CMS it is advisable to use wordpress. To be able to estimate the cost of the website read this article : Cost of a Wordpress website in 2017 Make sure you are not overcharged and the prices quoted are within the range of the market. You don’t want to get ripped off because you have no idea about web design. Freelancers are always cheaper than web design agencies and usually deliver high quality work just like companies. Sometimes even better quality because they have a handful of clients and can concentrate on your project unlike agencies that may be overloaded with work.
4. Time
Always ask how long they will take to build the website. You want to be up and running in a reasonable amount of time. Not too fast as you don’t want your website to be done in a rush and not too slow as you probably need to be online in good time. It is also not a good idea to push your web designer as he may get pressurized and not deliver quality work.
5. Web Hosting
Make sure you get your website hosted in Kenya as it will be more beneficial for local customers in terms of faster load times. If your website is slow people are likely to navigate away from it. Also make sure the designer understands the requirements of speed. Even google has a tool called Page speed insights. It may be a good idea to go and check those websites that have been built earlier by your designer to ascertain they are optimized for speed.
We hope these tips were helpful for you.

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How to Choose A Web Designer In Kenya

If you are looking to develop a website for your business in Kenya it is important to start in the right direction. A website can be the biggest asset for your business if done correctly. On the other hand if not done correctly you can end up with a PR nightmare. Here are a few tips to help you choose a web design company.

1.       Previous Work

Always make sure you ask for work done previously and check it out. If you like samples of their work, that is a good sign. If you are able contact the people who the website was built for and ask for recommendations or just their general experience. It may be that you like the work but it was not what the customer wanted.  Or it may be that the website is well done but the customer service or after sales service is really bad. How about maintenance? Is the website being maintained by the person whom it was built for or by the person who built it. If it is the developer then you need to rethink your choice or look elsewhere. Now days with the emergence of CMS you should not need the services of a web designer or developer to help you maintain your website.

2.       Location

It is advisable to hire a firm or an agency that is located in Kenya. As they are more likely to understand local website requirements. It is also easier to get support from someone if you can walk into their office rather than send tireless emails and get no response. Kenyan web designers may also be able to translate your website in Kiswahili. Although not entirely important it is a handy feature to have.

3.       Cost

Should probably have been number 1 on the list. If you do decide to use a CMS it is advisable to use wordpress. To be able to estimate the cost of the website read this article: Cost of a WordPress website in 2017 Make sure you are not overcharged and the prices quoted are within the range of the market. You don’t want to get ripped off because you have no idea about web design. Freelancers are always cheaper than web design agencies and usually deliver high quality work just like companies. Sometimes even better quality because they have a handful of clients and can concentrate on your project unlike agencies that may be overloaded with work.

4.       Time

Always ask how long they will take to build the website. You want to be up and running in a reasonable amount of time. Not too fast as you don’t want your website to be done in a rush and not too slow as you probably need to be online in good time. It is also not a good idea to push your web designer as he may get pressurized and not deliver quality work.

5.       Web Hosting

Make sure you get your website hosted in Kenya as it will be more beneficial for local customers in terms of faster load times. If your website is slow people are likely to navigate away from it. Also make sure the designer understands the requirements of speed. Even google has a tool called Page speed insights. It may be a good idea to go and check those websites that have been built earlier by your designer to ascertain they are optimized for speed.

We hope these tips were helpful for you.

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How To Choose A Professional Website Development Business?

Truth be told, there's no such thing as a formidable economic climate. Wherever you are you country has to face an economic downturn. The essential thing is businesses to survive and thrive in harsh economic environment.  

Advertising your business may be your answer to surviving in such environments, this is especially true if you are a startup or a budding business. Communicating to customers through newspapers, publication and websites could give your business a boost. Newspapers and publications are much more costly than a website.

A good web designer from Kenya can deliver a high quality website that is inexpensive and longer lasting than newspaper adverts. A good quality website will have nice professional images, will be easy to navigate, has a professional design, should be responsive, should load fast, the content should be original and have no grammatical mistakes. 

Getting a local domain name .co.ke will also help boost local search rankings. You will also need to choose a Web hosting in Kenya, it is important that you depend on much more than just one or two pieces of guidance or a recommendation. Numerous recommendations are from individuals who haven't even experienced the Web hosting in Kenya that they are recommending. 

Select properly, do your research, and know numerous issues about the business that you select. Once you have your hosting, it's time to build a website! Domain names in Kenya are cheap: so don't be concerned about that. You can established up a web site utilizing WordPress, I particularly like this set up simply because it is completely free, and it is extremely easy to modify the website you develop. 

Control Panel. This is called numerous names by various hosts, but essentially, they all allow you to manage various elements of your web account your self. Typically, and at the extremely minimal, it should allow you to do issues like add, delete, and manage your e-mail addresses, and alter passwords for your account. I would not go for a host where I have to go through their specialized support each time I want to alter a password or add/delete an email account. Such chores are common upkeep chores that every webmaster performs time and time once more, and it would be a great trouble if you had to wait for their specialized support to make the modifications for you.

The web site ought to be developed to promote your business. One of the initial and most essential issues you require to do is figure out your audience. This is particularly important if you are panning to promote products. The very best way to determine this is with keyword research. You can use Google to figure out the quantity of queries for an offered product, services or info. 

The amount of keyword searches you uncover, the much better your probabilities are of obtaining visitors to your site. Keywords are merely words folks use to find products, services or information. Key phrases can be a phase or a single phrase. The objective right here is to figure out with relative certainty if there is a market for your products or information. The goal is to build a list of key phrases that have a high quantity of searches. You will need this checklist of key phrases later on. 

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Convincing Clients to Hire your Web Design Firm

If the price is too low think again. How many times have you heard that phrase? Now what if your close friend or relative is offering you the low price, will you still think again? If a stranger was to offer you the low price it is highly likely you will think again. What is the key difference here? A friend offering you a laptop at $500 in good condition and a stranger offering you the same laptop in the same condition for $400. You are more likely to buy from your friend, the key issue here becomes trust.

If 2 suppliers are offering you the same service at the same cost it is extremely likely you will choose the one you trust the most. You may even pay higher and go with the supplier you trust the most.

Trust is the most important selling tool, the question then becomes how do you get clients to trust you?

Here are a few tips:

Prove your track record

Don’t just show nice pictures of your work, explain what the project was about and how the process went. If you have reputable and well known clients, be sure to mention you have worked for them. Provide references and give the prospective client some flexibility in references. For example instead of rigidly giving them contacts of previous clients ask them who amongst your clients they would like a reference from. This shows your confidence in your work helps building the trust you need to sell. It also proves the good working relationship you have with your clients.

Another technique I often use is by giving raw stats. When you are able to say it led to a 10% increase in online sales or a 20% increase in conversions and you have some evidence to back that, you are able to easily prove your work produces results. Nowadays it is really difficult to sell if you simply show your portfolio of previous work, how is this different from what every other web design company is doing?

Show your process

A clearly outlined process is reassuring. It shows you know what you are doing, have done this before and are not making things up along the way. It gives the client an idea of what is expected of them for example will they provide a logo or will you do it for them? For many people web design is complex and unknown process. Some probably only have a rough idea of what they need, which is clearly not enough for you to build a website for them. Walk them through your process so they can know what is going to happen and when. Do you start with a wire frame? How many revisions are they allowed? By outlining the process they can easily see the way forward.

Be honest

We want to build a good working relationship with clients, need referrals from them and want them to give us repeat work. For example how about a maintenance contract after completing the website?

A lot of the times we convince clients by making them hear what they want. I will complete the website within a week, while you know very well you have 3 other projects you are completing this week. If the client has a tight budget offer them what you can in that budget. Don’t be afraid of pointing out limitations of your work whether it is constrained by the client’s budget or by your skills. Don’t burry costs, hide extra charges like hosting and domains or even taxes. Never over promise and under deliver. Always under promise and over deliver. This is a concept that I always apply. Over time a lot of the referrals I have got from previous clients has been because of that free logo I included in the design package or promising 7 pages and delivering 10 because they had extra content. It’s not hard to see why this concept works.

Honesty helps you build a relationship with the client.

Build a relationship

A prospective client calls you and asks you for a quote, you ask them a few questions over that phone call and 10 minutes later out goes the email with a quotation attached. Well the client did call up a few other agencies as well and they probably did the same thing you have done. If you want people to trust you and buy from you then you need to talk to them face to face. When a client calls you ask for a meeting. It will go a long way in building a relationship. You don’t necessarily have to be friends. But just a simple meeting to understand their needs for a website will help you get that trust you need to sell.

I believe trust is the most important tool for you to sell. It’s not easy to build trust but if you show your track record, demonstrate your process, are honest about it and have a good working relationship with clients it shouldn’t be difficult either. 

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The Essence of Persuading Clients to Hire Your Web Design Firm

The Essence of Persuading Clients to Hire Your Web Design Firm

Persuading clients to hire your web design firm is the key to having successful company. However, this is said easily, but it’s not an easy thing to do. Every professional marketer knows that building trust is a mandatory process in order to sell a lot.

Is not a supposition, is a scientist fact. Everybody will feel comfortable with something they can trust on, and making feel people comfortable means more purchases.

We’ve said that it’s not easy to do, rather complicated. Luckily for you, we’ve gathered the best tips to definitely persuade people to hire your web design firm.

Honesty builds trust

Trust is a fundamental ingredient to increase sales, and being honest is a mandatory process to achieve that. I bought a car once, a beautiful 2002 Mustang GT. The paint was in mint condition, sexy wheels and without too much modification stuff. I didn’t notice that the car had a broken cylinder (I didn’t drive it and I’m not a big mechanic fan).

From the beginning, the owner was honest with me and he didn’t want to hide that fact from me. He even pointed out some problem with the paint in the rear near the dust cover. At the end, he told me ‘You’ll spend at least a thousand of dollars to make this car shine at its best’ we agreed on an incredible price and I bought it.

Being honest is the first step to creating a relationship and make the other part feel comfortable to trust you.

Build a relationship with that trust

The first step is to create trust and make the first contact. However, the first touch is not the last. In order to have solid clients, you need to make a relationship with them. And no, I’m not saying that must be friends with them.

Being friends is optional, but having contact with them is mandatory. Sometimes the only way to contact them will be from emails, however, you need to see them face-face to take that potential client to the next level. Good methods might be a personal meeting or a Skype call.

Another good tip is to always call a new prospect in the first contact with you. Ask some questions, make a brief and flow conversation and drop the bomb.

Make them know your capabilities first

The relationship and the trust are just the beginning. After a successful first contact or several contacts, it’s recommendable to show them what your company is capable of.

You can aim to that goal easily by not doing a free example or unpaid work, rather by showing them a solid portfolio with projects you’ve done. Also, they will make the final decision if you show them specifically a project related to their project.

Nobody likes to be in the blind road, everyone wants to see what you can deliver and if you’ve grasped their needs and intentions.

Show your professionality

The final step to get that lead and make conversions is by showing them what you’re a doing. Professionality is key on businesses, and your service must be as professional as possible.

An important tip is to show them how you do the entire process. When people is not sure about how things are done, they’re more likely to make a step back.

In fact, many clients related to web design doesn’t know nothing about it. Teaching them simple concepts and showing them how the things get done are powerful actions that will increase conversions.

If you apply these 4 concepts your Kenyan web design company is bound to be successful.

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Cost of Web Design in Kenya

By: www.iwebdesigns.net

How much does a website cost in 2016? Well that is a very broad question. Here is a comprehensive answer. You decide! Yes really you decide what you need and how much you want to pay for that. There are thousands of options. There are so many ways now in which you can get a website that you can cherry pick the features you want at the price you want. Let's look at a few options and breakdown the cost.

Option 1: Hire a Kenyan Web Designer 

This is the most common one hiring a local web designer or developer and getting your site built. There are many advantages of going through this option. If you are doing business in Kenya then most of your clients must be from Kenya. A local designer has better knowledge of trends and requirements locally. Things to consider are like MPESA integrations if you are looking to accept online payments. Most Kenyans would prefer making online payments via MPESA rather than credit cards. A local designer is well aware of this and most likely has the knowledge and experience on how to go about this. Here is a breakdown of cost:

Web Hosting: approximately: KSH. 5,000/- per year

Domain Name: approximately: KSH 1,000/- per year

We Design Fees: KSH. 30,000/- for a standard website.

VAT: 5,760/-

TOTAL: 41,760/-

Actually that is pretty close to what most web design firms charge here. But for a standard website you should expect to pay between KSH. 30,000 and KSH. 50,000/-

It is also a good idea to have the website hosted in Kenya as this will mean faster load times for local clients.

The price can go significantly higher if your website has alot of content and superior functionality. For example an e-commerce website usually starts at about KSH.100,000/- Depending on what kind of website you need and on your negotiation skills you should be able to pull out a decent deal. If you are an NGO or a charity organisation it is always advisable to contact local developers most will give you highly discounted prices and some might even offer their services for free.

Option 2: Online Freelancers

Websites like freelancer upwork, fiverr and many other similar ones have literally thousands of people offering their services at dirt cheap prices. You can get a 3 page website on fiverr for $5! I have seen fiverr gigs offering decent websites at $50. That is a very good price for the services offered. However most of the web design gigs on fiverr are template based websites. But if you don’t mind that fiverr would be the place to go.

Here is a breakdown of the Cost:

Design fee on Fivver: $50

Web Hosting and Domain: $60 per year for a decent host.

Moving on to freelancer and upwork. If you have specific requirements that need to be filled these are the websites where you can hire individuals to create your website. Always be sure to check reviews of people you hire. Cost can range anywhere between $50 and a few thousand dollars depending on the functionality of the website.

Option 3: Do it yourself!

Well this is a great option but requires a bit of dedication. There are many tools like WordPress, Joomla, Wix e.t.c that can help you setup a website easily and within no time. You would be looking to spend about $100 on the overall project. A good WordPress theme would go for about $50 and then add the cost for hosting and domain names. You may struggle a bit with the tools at first but always remember whenever you get stuck, google is your friend. There are thousands of tutorials on the internet to help you. Going with this option will also help you develop new skills.

Well as you can see the choice is really yours, what do you need and what do you want to pay. This are only a few options mentioned here but there are numerous others out there. Our company I Web Designs can offer you a free no obligation quote with a sample design. All you need to do is drop us an email. Do check out our blog over at our website you will find many useful articles to help you build your website or get it built.

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