Q: What's your name and position in the company?
A: Nicky, Owner & Developer/Designer
Q: Describe your company in 5 words.
A: Fun, Quirky, Professional, Diverse, Creative
Q: What's your business philosophy?
A: To provide bespoke solutions that perfectly suit our customers.
Q: Describe your office environment.
A: More of a 'shoffice' - shop/office, with lovely big windows. Very open & friendly with 4 workstations dotted about. I would say tidy as long as you ignore my desk - which is where all the paperwork seems to gravitate to!
Q: Describe how your team interact and work together.
A: Nicky's the boss (& the chief tea maker!), and we have a number of peeps who work on a consultancy basis, either here in the office or remotely.
Q: What makes you different from other web design companies?
A: We love to get to know our customers. Before we can design any of your 'stuff' we need to understand a bit about you/your company, how you work, what you're looking for from your marketing, we'll ask all sorts of questions to help us design the perfect solutions for you.
Q: How do you get the majority of your business?
A: From Networking in and around the local area, building trust & knowledge and encouraging our customers to refer people to us if they're happy with the work.
Q: Describe how you manage projects from the initial client contact to completion and handover.
A: Acceptance of written quote & t's & c's denotes the start of a project. Handover is complete when the project is up and running and paid in full.
Q: What do you think is the most crucial element of creating a good client relationship?
A: Listening to what the client wants is always a good starting point. This is why we like to get to know your business before committing to any projects. The client has to be happy working with us and vice versa to get the best outcome for both sides.
Q: How do you manage demanding clients?
A: With a smile!
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: Do some homework, check out their website and their portfolio. Most web design companies have a certain 'style' to their work. If you don't like the look of the work they have produced thus far, are you going to like what they produce for you? If you have the chance, ask a former client of theirs about how they work - do they deliver on time? to budget? - whatever is important for you.
Q: Where do you see your company in 10 years time?
A: Delivering quality work to a range of clients. Possibly, with another office locally, possibly expanded into other areas.
Q: Where do you see the web design industry in the future?
A: With the number of plu and play applications available to the open market today, I think we will be designing more schemes/skins than complete sites. I think the emphasis will shift from the back end to the front end, with more designing than developing being required. Apart from the specialist applications which will still need a geek squad to implement.
Q: What computers do you have use in your offices, PCs or Macs?
A: Both PC and Mac
Q: How was your company name chosen?
A: A very long time ago when I needed to set up a ltd company name very quickly for some contract work. Amethyst was the best available so that was it! Not very romantic I know, but it has grown on me over the years.
Q: If you were to give your clients one tip on how to get the most from their website what would it be?
A: To talk about it to everyone they meet - advertise it on everything they use, talk about it on social media, make sure they encourage people to visit. And keep it up to date!
Latest Work
