The Village Websmith - Web Design & Development in Your Area

Welcome to Fabtastic Friday - "Tap and Filter Questions"

If you want to get the right answer, first you must ask the right question.

I see open questions as filters and closed questions as taps to take a plumbing analogy. Working out which question to ask to which potential customer is the real art of getting to the order as efficiently as possible.

Anyone who has been exposed to any amount of sales training has probably heard coaches banging on endlessly about the value of open questions versus closed questions. The Rudyard Kipling rhyme "I have six honest serving men, they taught me all I know, their names are What and Why and When and Where and How and Who" will be indelibly impressed through over-use.

That has a value, open questions are great for eliciting information. However, at some point in the sales process, a decision must be made, which by its nature demands a closed question. It is never too early to ask for the order, then based on the answer, you can either get the signature, or open another line of open questions to get at the reasons behind a negative response.

How does this relate to the web? In the information content of your site, a series of closed questions can guide visitors to choose the most appropriate links to the sections of the content that are most relevant to them. Questions like "Have you ever wanted to writs a book?", "Are your energy bills too high?" or "Do you have relatives abroad?", linked to pages within the site can steer people quickly to the right place.

It is when designing the response form for the site that open questions come into their own. Questions like "What is your budget?", "When is your wedding?" or "How many rooms in your house?" all help to provide you with the information you need to prepare an accurate proposal. All Webinthebox® sites from the Village Websmith come with copy writing support to help you get the message across and a fully customisable enquiry form to make sure you get the right answers by asking the right questions. To find out more, call us on 0203 239 0350 or click in the header of any page to send us an email.

Abenhall is a tiny, ancient village in a secluded quiet valley near Mitcheldean. The parish includes the settlement of Plump Hill, on the Mitcheldean to Cinderford Road as it climbs into the high Forest.

Once part of the Westbury Hundred (which was known as Dene at the time of the 1086 Doomsday book) Abenhall is on the Flaxley to Mitcheldean Road. Originally a mining and iron making centre, it is notable for its 14th century Church of St Michael, which is built of local red sandstone and has excellent contemporary carvings relating to the Forest of Dean's industries. These include a shield bearing the arms of the Freeminers on the west wall and the fabulous mid -15th century octagonal font, that has tools of miners and metalworkers incised on its St Michaels at Abenhall sides.

St. Michael's Church - originally built as a chapel of ease, the church was expanded in the 14th century to include nave, south aisle and tower. The arms of the Freeminers can be seen on the south side of the tower and on the 18th century font. St. Michael's Church - Abenhall is 1.5 km south of Mitcheldean and is set in beautiful surroundings on the edge of the Forest. Old Parish baptism, marriage and burial registers, from 1596, are stored at the Gloucestershire Record Office. For more information, please call us on the number shown, or click in the header of any page to email Abenhall-forest-of-dean@villagewebsmith.co.uk.

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Home page for Abenhall,, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire

Welcome to Winning Wednesday

Wednesday is derived from the Norse god, Odin who was their supreme god and god of victory. Winning is what today is about, winning new business, winning the right price for every job we do and winning ore referrals from happy customers.

What a great day for digging out an old quote you may feel have gone cold and getting in touch to converting it into business. Customers may be looking at other options but they can't get from anyone else what they would get from you. Going back to Monday, focusing on the MOJO of your business, the quality that makes your value stand out in a crowd can help you do just that.

The bitter taste of poor quality lingers long after the sweet taste of low price is forgotten. Like Baby Bear's porridge, your combination of cost and value is just right. Different people will see 'just right' in different ways and asking the right questions helps to find out which bit of what you do is how you focus your offer.

Oscar Wilde described a cynic as someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. In our modern cynical world it is easy for people to base their purchasing decisions on an incorrect assessment. Lifetime cost, ease of purchase and delivery, prestige, comfort, peer comparison and pleasure of ownership are all powerful motivators. By identifying your MOJO and aligning it with the motivator or 'hot button' of the customer in question we can not only win business but also make sure that we get full value from the transaction too.

Do you collect testimonials from happy customers and promote them via your website and advertising? Do you regularly ask for referrals to friends and family? The tools available to us to do this are more powerful now than ever and definitely deserve a place in the marketing mix. Getting people to leave comments on websites, social media sites and Google + is easy, all you have to do is ask.

"Who else do you know that may want one of these?" is an easy question to ask but one that is neglected too often. If only one person in ten provides a lead, it is a free 10% increase in opportunities.

Wednesday is a great day for picking up the phone and making those calls in odd spare moments. There is no advertisement like a list of happy customers but having the list is only part of the story, promoting it is much more.

To find out about how to make sure everyone knows about your MOJO, just call us on 0203 239 0350 or click in the header of any page to send an email.

Abercraf is well known for these attractions: Waterfalls caves and close by the National Red Kite Centre.

Abercraf is also close to our headquarters in Shirenewton, Monmouthshire, which helps us to maintain our policy of only working face to face with customers to make sure they get the best results quickly when writing the content for their web sites. This is a much quicker method of establishing what aspects of a business are the most promotable and getting the order of things. So, if you have a small business in Abercraf, just get in touch with the Village Websmith and experience the difference of truly personal web design for yourself. For more information, please call us on the number shown, or click in the header of any page to email Abercraf-s-wales@villagewebsmith.co.uk.

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Home page for Abercraf, Brecknockshire, South Wales

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Aberdare is well known for these attractions: Country park fabulous indoor market and Aberdare Park home of historic motorcycle road races.

Aberdare is also close to our headquarters in Shirenewton, Monmouthshire, which helps us to maintain our policy of only working face to face with customers to make sure they get the best results quickly when writing the content for their web sites. This is a much quicker method of establishing what aspects of a business are the most promotable and getting the order of things. So, if you have a small business in Aberdare, just get in touch with the Village Websmith and experience the difference of truly personal web design for yourself. For more information, please call us on the number shown, or click in the header of any page to email Aberdare-s-wales@villagewebsmith.co.uk.

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Home page for Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taff, South Wales