About Epsilis - Web Designers and Search Engine Optimisation
in Letchworth, then Stevenage for 6 years, now moved back to Letchworth, Hertfordshire (Herts)

Epsilis was based in Stevenage in Hertfordshire (Herts) for 6 years and is now based in Letchworth Garden City. Epsilis aims to provide exceptional Website Design and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) services to local companies in the Letchworth, Hitchin, Baldock (North Herts), Stevenage, Welwyn and Hatfield areas of Hertfordshire as well as a little further afield.

Web design to standards:

I keenly follow the latest standards and trends associated with web design and internet technologies. I have always advocated that business websites we design should be clear, clean and functional focusing on content (copy) rather than graphic design. I always advise my 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:

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).

Websites - not Print

Our focus is web design, 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 up good web design 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 (Mark Newlands) in Letchworth in 1999. In 2001 we moved to Offices in the Business and Technology Centre in Stevenage and employed on average 6 web designers.

Our first projects were mainly associated with website design for local companies in Stevenage and surrounding North Hertsfordshire 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 so each year we employed an industrial placement student to provide them with the experience and knowledge of a business environment.

After a couple of years Mark decided he needed a change and eventually bought a property in France.

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 you put keywords in hidden Meta Data tags to say what a web page was about. But now search engines base rankings on the copy on web pages so 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.

A few years ago I decided I didn't want to keep running teams of web designers handling large projects - I wanted to get back to what I enjoyed most - working myself on small business websites - so over a 12 month period I changed the structure of the company from employee based to associate based. 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. I do not and never have outsourced any web projects to offshore companies.

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.

I aim to establish a long-term relationship with each of customers. I endeavor to ensure you are completely satisfied with our work and want to continue to work with me in the future.

Supporting the local community is important to me and so I proudly sponsor Letchworth Garden City Eagles Youth Football Club. In the past 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:

EEMA - East of England Media Alliance logo HBIC - Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre logo FSB - Federation of Small Business logo HCC - Herts Chamber of Commerce logo

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

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Web Design and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) covering Hertfordshire (Herts) and Bedfordshire (Beds)