MAKEOVER: OUR NEW WEBSITE

Avid readers of our blog (yes, there are some of you!) will have noticed that last week we didn’t get a blog out. The reason for that is that we are hard at work, giving a facelift to the Affordable granite website. Yes, once again it is makeover time so far as our online presence is concerned, and that means some potential downtime and possibly a few weeks of slight oddities on some of our pages.

Why does a granite and quartz worktop company spend significant time and effort every few years on giving our website a fresh look?

One reason has to do with how people look at our website. Technology keeps changing, and images and looks that worked really well when most people surfed the net on a desktop PC can look really clunky on a laptop, tablet or phone. Making a website that works well on all platforms is difficult.

Here’s a quick trip down memory lane just to remind ourselves what we used for computers over the years. Most of our customers will remember most of these!

Another reason has to do with the way people find us. The most frequent ways that people come across Affordable Granite are “word of mouth” and “google search”. We can help the first of those by simply being the best granite worktop company we can be, but the second takes you into the wonderful world of Search Engine Optimisation – or SEO.

Basically, Google and co. like websites that show signs of life. They like websites that change. That is one reason why we blog so regularly – it’s a way of getting fresh material out there to be found. A makeover for the entire site tells the search engines that we are active and looking to improve our online presence and our customers’ experience as they research their new kitchen worktops.

But, I have to be honest: I can’t bear the thought of simply writing for the Search Engines. We try to keep it real – dealing with real questions, real issues, real installations, real news. We post real photographs of real materials, and we are really honest about real problems. Our website end user isn’t Google – it’s you. Through years of experience, we know most of the possible aims, desires, concerns and even fears of people getting new kitchens, and we genuinely want to help.

We are proud of our website. We know that for many people it is the primary interface as they look at us and our products and services. Our site is our shop window. We hope it reflects the values of straightforward quality, workmanship, honesty and integrity which run right through our business. We want our website to be the best because we want to be the best – and that means a constant striving for improvements in a changing world. The makeover and the regular blog are means to that end – all part of a customer service ethos which really cares.

So please bear with us if we seem to miss the odd blog or have a page which is not quite right yet during next week’s site changeover. We hope the new look will please you – and we would really value your feedback either way. This isn’t our first change by a long way, and it won’t be the last. Check out our ancient logo at the top of this page – and the new one here. Life moves on, and some changes are inevitable.