Thinking about buying an off-the-shelf WordPress template or wondering if a bespoke Wordpress theme would be better? In this blog we cover the pros and cons of both. Turnaround time Wordpress templates can be a great option for small businesses just starting out. Those that are tech savvy could have a simple site up and running within a few hours, providing they have the content ready. On the other hand a bespoke theme would take longer to develop, but it would be entirely tailored to your bu...

Before you can set up your WordPress store you’ll need to setup your Wordpress website and install an ecommerce plugin. Our plugin of choice is WooCommerce. Once you've done that, here’s a checklist for getting your WordPress store up and running. WordPress store checklist 1) Product descriptions Write product descriptions that are clear and easy to read. They should include everything your prospective customer will need to know to make a decision about buying your product, including: ...

Want to sell more from your WooCommerce shop? Here are four ways to improve your product pages. 1. Write a good product description When you’re selling online, you are relying on your product description to do the selling for you, so a good description of your product is crucial. Make sure it is... Unique Google doesn’t like duplicate content, so it is important for search engine optimisation to write a unique description, especially if you sell the same product as another online shop. ...

The new website for solicitors Gregg Latchams was a project that created some interesting challenges. The Bristol (and London) based solicitors firm offer legal services to SMEs, private individuals and business owners and provide an extensive number of services and sector expertise to a variety of clients. Add to this a team of nearly 50 highly experienced advisors and you begin to see the scale of this forward thinking practice. One of the challenges for the new website was how to ensure that...

Established over 150 years ago, the Mid-Somerset Agricultural Society exists to support the mid-Somerset farming community. The society hosts many fund-raising events, one of which is the Mid Somerset Show – the largest free agricultural show in the South West. Sponsorship, membership and fundraising are vital to the survival of the society and it was decided (quite rightly) that a new website would be instrumental in reaching a modern audience. New website helps improve marketing Tasked wi...

We’ve already talked in detail about why we prefer to work with WooCommerce. In this blog post we’ll look at the advantages of WooCommerce for our clients, after all, they’re the ones that will be using WooCommerce on a daily basis. WooCommerce review 1) It’s easy to use WooCommerce is as easy to use as WordPress. WordPress is one of the most intuitive content management systems, and WooCommerce uses the same interface, making managing your products and stock easy and stress free. Ad...

Glastonbury Spring Water have been supplying customers with their very own refreshing, natural spring water for nearly 30 years. Nestled at the foot of the iconic Glastonbury Tor, they provide a range of cost-effective drinking water solutions (from water coolers to bottled water) to homes and businesses across the South West. Glastonbury Spring Water Sales Director, David Lem contacted Cognique to discuss the development of a new website. The existing Glastonbury Spring Water website had a n...

Barnstaple based SFL Flues & Chimneys has been manufacturing chimney systems for domestic, commercial and industrial markets for 45 years, and are considered to be the premier choice by specifiers, installers and homeowners. Although the business already had a trade website there were a number of issues with it, including a lack of support for mobile devices, difficult to update and lacking in additional functionality now required by the manufacturer. Having successfully launched new web...

Established in Crewkerne, Somerset over 30 years ago, AllGlass & Glazing is a trusted local supplier for replacement windows, doors, conservatories, porches, fascias, soffits, guttering and garage doors. Unfortunately their existing glazing website didn't reflect the quality of their products and the professionalism of their service. Few enquiries were received through the site as it was not search optimised and was rarely updated due to the difficulties in making any changes. In additionÂ...

As we mentioned in our best WordPress forms plugins blog, Gravity Forms is our WordPress form plugin of choice. Although we have experimented with other plugins, we now almost exclusively use Gravity Forms for new client sites as we've found it’s by far the best for a whole host of reasons. It’s powerful Gravity Forms are powerful and very well integrated with WordPress. Some clever things you can do include...Allow entire blog posts to be submitted through a form, and saved as a dr...

There are many different ways to add a form to your WordPress website – this post covers some of the most popular options, from basic contact WordPress forms to fully featured customisable plugins. The features, support and pricing models of WordPress forms plugins vary significantly, so it's important to evaluate the options based on your requirements. The best plugin for your business may be entirely different to someone else's. In their simplest form, WordPress forms are ideal for allowi...

Here at Cognique, we are big fans of the WordPress content management system. It is simple and easy to use, yet has the framework available for enhancements allowing the core features to be built upon to create very complex websites. However the world of WordPress ecommerce has always been a bit of a grey area.  We have evaluated many e-commerce plugins over the years, including WP eCommerce, MarketPress and JigoShop. However we have never found a solution we felt was a true competitor to the d...

Since we published this article in November 2015, things have moved on considerably. Read our latest blog on the subject for a more accurate answer: Is 2017 the time to go HTTPS with an SSL certificate? Last year in our blog we wrote about how Google were starting to prioritise secure websites (https) over unsecure websites (http) in search rankings. This was part of Google’s wider campaign for https to be used everywhere, and for all information on the web to be transmitted securely. Since ...

Bobbie Burns has been a household name for furniture in Bristol since 1929 when the business was owned by the founder Bobbie Burns. Recently the brand has been revitalised by its new owner South West Upholstery with ‘The Bobbie Burns Collection’ in honour of the respected gentleman. As well as selling one-off pieces of retro furniture, they also offer a bespoke furniture range where customers can build their own sofas and chairs online, and then the furniture is made from scratch in t...

Precision engineering company M-CNC was founded in 2011 by experienced engineer, Mark Wylde. When the business was launched Cognique worked with Mark to develop M-CNC’s corporate identity, as well as designing and building the company's first website. Five years on, the company has gone from strength to strength. With more staff and significantly bigger clients, M-CNC felt they had outgrown their current website. They needed an updated site to reflect their increased expertise and inspire co...

GA Helliar and Son have been providing reliable and professional commercial cleaning services to businesses throughout Somerset and Dorset since 1932. As well as cleaning, they also offer a pest control service which up until now was an extra section on their existing cleaning website. They soon realised that the two just don't go together, so they approached us with a simple brief: to create a stand-alone WordPress website for Helliar Pest Control to separate the two businesses.The WordPre...