Bulldog Creatrix

Q: What's your name and position in the company?
A: Pete Rowe, Partner

Q: Describe your company in 5 words.
A: effective, attractive, functional web design

Q: What's your business philosophy?
A: To provide the RIGHT solution, not just A solution. Our aim is to find out what our clients want to achieve and prepare a way to help them do it. We do this by combining our extensive marketing, graphic design and web skills to come up with a totally integrated marketing strategy.

Q: Describe your office environment.
A: We are relaxed, approachable and above all, empathetic. We have been in business for a long time and understand the realities in terms of time and budget.

Q: Describe how your team interact and work together.
A: Our skills are diverse and excellent. Between us we are able to bring to the table all the skills required to see a project through from start to finish. Not only designing and creating effective websites, but to integrate the website into the entire marketing mix, of which web is but one part.

Q: What makes you different from other web design companies?
A: We do not just take the money, deliver the goods and run! We offer free support to our clients in the content management of the sites we provide for as long as the website is live! Moreover, we see a website as part of the marketing of a company, not the 'be all and end all'. Without thoughtful, targeted offline marketing, a website is totally reliant on SEO - a position which we think is lazy and unreliable.

Q: How do you get the majority of your business?
A: Word of mouth! We are extremely good at what we do and our clients are happy, indeed keen, to recommend us to their peers and associates. We have a very loyal clientbase.

Q: Describe how you manage projects from the initial client contact to completion and handover.
A: Free consultation followed by agreement of work to be done. Official estimate and agreed timelines. Visualisation, build, testing, full training and finally handover

Q: What do you think is the most crucial element of creating a good client relationship?
A: Being able to become a part of a client's business. To fully understand their business and to know who and where their target market is. Most importantly, especially for website design is to try and identify how that target audience use the web and what other means of marketing need to be used to support and promote the website.

Q: How do you manage demanding clients?
A: We fully understand the idiosyncracies of business life! We believe honesty prevails in all circumstances. We never promise things we can't do or which we believe will not be of benefit in the larger picture. Clients are not demanding, they are expectant! They are employing designers to get the results they want, so it is up to us, as professionals, to do that.

Q: If a client was trying to decide between a shortlist of web design companies, how would you recommend they go about selecting the right one for them?
A: I would recommend a client to look at how a web design company integrates their web design service into a whole marketing strategy. Web alone, in most cases, is not enough. SEO is definitely not enough. If a company is solely focused on online marketing, they are not any use to businesses who have to compete in 21st century commerce!

Q: Where do you see your company in 10 years time?
A: I'd like to think we will be seen, within our client group, as a trusted and valued partner. I would also like to see a development of business community dialogue. Not just cliquey networking groups, but whole district business communities, getting together and contributing to the collective benefit of all in that community.

Q: Where do you see the web design industry in the future?
A: I would hope that more care is taken to focus on the needs of clients, rather than provide clients with websites that they do not need. The temptation, especially amongst the newcomers to the business, is to pack their clients sites with unnecessary whizz bangs and widgetry. Our clients are trying to run their businesses, not their websites. Websites should be a help, not a burden to our clients.

Q: What computers do you have use in your offices, PCs or Macs?
A: Mac

Q: How was your company name chosen?
A: The founding partners of Bulldog have British connections. Pete Rowe is British and Michelle Cook has spent many years in Britain. The British Bulldog seemed appropriate for both our roots and our determination! Creatrix is Latin and means 'Creator'.

Q: If you were to give your clients one tip on how to get the most from their website what would it be?
A: In most cases, your website is NOT your business. It is a marketing tool for your business. Concentrate on your business and let your website work for you as part of the business, not the other way round!