05/04/2023, 09:31 - Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted. Only people in this chat can read, listen to, or share them. Learn more. 05/04/2023, 09:07 - Chris Morgan created group "Havards Website next generation " 05/04/2023, 09:07 - Chris Morgan added you 05/04/2023, 09:16 - Chris Morgan: Betty and Gents. Our website to date has served us well during the start up phase capturing new shareholders, signing up volunteers as well as an active mouthpiece for news. I’ve created this chat to bring together the ideas and actions needed to bring the website into operational use initially prehaps with just a shop window of example or promoted goods but quickly moving on to a position where e-commerce is possible. This will need a complete redesign and restructure of the website using a different toolset and off the shelf apps that enable a broader use and maintenance by many rather than all the burden on Brendan. Love him or lots him Mr Clarkson’s farm shop website has the latest approach to presentation and sample goods to draw people in. https://diddlysquatfarmshop.com/ 05/04/2023, 10:11 - Betty Fells: Exciting times ahead, definitely we have to put social media first and move a bit forward. 11/12/2023, 09:33 - Chris Morgan: List of Potential Requirements • EASY TO FIND – we must appear in the top 3 (?) when people are searching within Pembs and Cardigan – i.e. 20 - 30 mile radius • OPTIMISATION IS KEY; MUST BE USEABLE ON PHONES, LAPTOPS, TABLETS AND PCs • SIMPLICITY should be the overriding guideline to how to develop and present the new Siop Havards website o Content management has to be straightforward too • It should be a ‘shop front’ for Havards with a welcoming landing page with obvious signposting – nothing should be obtuse or hidden o Tabs for different stock items have to be clear o Not too lengthy o Easy to understand i.e. call a nail a nail and a screw a screw not fixtures or fixings etc o Be searchable: start typing and suggestions are presented or type in the whole word and then press enter? o Product Tabs to poss include: small tools, gardening, kitchenware, beach gear, fishing, Decoration/DIY, clothing & footware, electrical • Transactional i.e. to allow click and collect functionality i.e. prepayment and date for collection • It should be future-proofed so that it can eventually be fully functional as an e-commerce site • No virtual assistants – has to be live – i.e. if you can’t find what you want give us a call • Be able to send messages: do you have any pink rather than just blue gardening gloves? • FAQs – when are you open; are you open on Easter Day; do you accept cheques; where’s the nearest public parking etc etc • Maybe a floor plan so people can see where to go in the shop? (Not sure if relevant immediately, but perhaps worth considering, unless we want everyone to go to the front desk to ‘check in’ so to speak) • Regular news feature o New products in stock o Product ‘packages’: cleaning / weekly turnover pack / seed planting / holiday deals / fishing deals / feed the birds packages o Manager’s and/or Chairperson’s message • Community Activity Tab o Be able to book the community space? o Activity calendar o Something about WiFi? • Maybe a section for charitable activities? • Short history of Havards with links to more details • Rogues’ Gallery of staff, management (and advisory committee members?) • Members’ Only section i.e. as a shareholder you could access other info i.e. Newsletters or buying more shares or member events? Starter for 10 on the requirements list Social media: 1. Form the platform for interconnected social media outlets: Website. Facebook, Instagram Extend the outreach and customers/audience of the shop beyond North Pembrokeshire 1. Enable web queries such as Google to find Havards stock/services. "Where do I find a club hammer near me", "Key cutter near me" 2. In time support initially a click and collect offering to full ecommerce with interface to our EPOS system (today is Clover) 1. Full item description, graphic, availability and price. 2. Backend tie to Clover for stock availability, price postal costs and credit card payment. Easy of use: 1. Updates to website and associated social media can be performed by competent non programmer users, i.e. store manager and their assistant. 2. Robust and reliable 3. Simple to response to feedback, comments and enquiries. 4. Minimal programming required. Look and feel: 1. Clean, fresh and promotes our livery for an example see https://peppercorn.net/ 2. Minimal words - simple to navigate, find items and use. Current website: 1. has a number of valued functions not least the shareholder lists and records and clover analysis which are back end business functions - these should either be integrated in or recommendation for solutions. 2. It also offers processes to pay a donation and purchase shares. 11/12/2023, 17:43 - Brendan Blake: A few thoughts: The existing site was designed to support the CBS in raising funds to purchase the shop. It was built before we owned the shop, and is a "quick and dirty" raw HTML/CSS/PHP website. (It performs really well as a result). It has a secure backend which contains the shareholder (and supporter) data. It was not designed as a site to support the shop business. Much of this existing site will still be needed and will complement the new "shop site" as I will call it. A key requirement is a solution where the skills to create and maintain it are readily available. The other key requirement is a really good design, by which I mean selecting the right colour palette, fonts, styles, images etc. to create the right "look and feel" to attract people to the site and give instant recognition. I think the working functions are already spelled out pretty well. I think SEO is key - but we did a fairly good job on that with the current site and it is easy enough - be good if we have some really up to date expertise in this, as although I used to teach it, things have no doubt changed. Next is the selection of the software/framework to use. That's easy. There's a stand-out candidate. Wordpress. The world's number one content management system in terms of number of installations. Skills readily available, and you can do amazing things with databases and page templates. I can have a development wordpress website up and running tomorrow on our existing server. No additional cost! I've built quite a few wordpress sites so know it well. One of my smarter students (Nick, who has been working for Jimmy Wales) tells me I should be moving to tools like node.js, but it is much more difficult to use in my view. We built the last National Astronomy Week website with node (well I helped, and Nick did most of the work!). I think, based on that experience, that we should stick with wordpress. Shopify claims to integrate well with wordpress should we ever want to move into ecommerce. (By the way - you can't even start to think about ecommerce unless you have accurate stock records, which we don't!) DOMAINS: We own two domains. Not just siophavards.cymru but also https://havards.wales transferred to us by Bryce and Sonnie. How can we make better use of these? Also, we should not forget social media. We also need an effective presence. Here's a wordpress site I built about 8 years ago - not a brilliant design, but have a go at finding a property to let - https://causewaycoastrentals.co.uk Fully interactive, and still going strong. CONCUSION: My vote for the top requirement is a really good designer. I am not a designer! I have worked on sites where we had a good designer and I realise that is not a strength of mine, and I realise what a difference a good designer can make! 12/12/2023, 13:10 - Chris Morgan: 👍 Some great ideas and suggestions there Brendan.- thanks 02/01/2024, 17:23 - Chris Morgan: Brendan - do you have a broad brush estimate of what the cost of our IT is today, broken down by Website, Email etc. I'm looking to put a budget together for this coming year and need to consider what it's taken thus far and what the likely cost of any new system might be 02/01/2024, 17:53 - Brendan Blake: Current annual website budget: £35 for hosting service (includes email), £16 for domain names registration. Otherwise everything is done by volunteers. Will call and chat. 02/01/2024, 23:49 - Chris Morgan: Ta