The Village Websmith - Web Design & Development in Your Area

Saving the planet one website at a time - planned move to hosting in Iceland

Recently, we have been researching a new hosting partner. Not that there is anything wrong with our current hosting arrangements, but we are looking to reduce environmental impact. The web industry is second only to the airline industry in terms of energy consumption. More than just the number of computers it takes to make all this happen, the air conditioning to keep them all cool has a massive environmental impact.

For this reason, some time ago, I started to look for a suitable hosting partner in Iceland. The main reasons being that Iceland has the world's most advanced hydro-electric generation programme, and secondly, being a cold country, air conditioning is less energy hungry than in other parts of the world. To put it simply, you can simply duct in some cold air rather than refrigerating the air that you have inside.

I believe that we have now found a suitable partner to host all our customer sites. Having transferred a couple of test sites over the last few weeks, our first Icelandic server is now up and running. The tests should be complete by the end of January and with all being well, we will start to transfer customer sites soon after that. You shouldn't notice any disruption or loss of service and won't have to change anything as domains, user names and passwords will all be preserved. There will be options to change email settings to take advantage of newer technologies, but if you are happy with things the way they are, if it ain't bust, don't fix it, as the old saying goes.

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

Target your message with pinpoint accuracy

It's no good sitting and waiting for customers to come to your web site for the latest news. By building and using a mailing list, you can make sure your news reaches people first. The workshop covers:

• Writing great newsletter copy
• Maximising response by selecting your audience
• Keeping it relevant - choosing who sees what
• Growing your list and seeking referrals
• Keeping it legal - dancing in the data protection minefield

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

Christmas is coming

If you have a business that relies on seasonal changes for additional custom, you will doubtless be thinking about Christmas now. Perhaps you have a special menu, seasonal offers or events taking place. All you need to do is tell people. By using the built in e-mailshot function in Webinthebox® this is now very easy. As long as you have a list of email addresses, you can send out links to whatever you wish to promote from your site to a carefully selected audience.

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