Month: November 2018

This week we thought we would introduce you to our Managing Director, James Garvey. James is the founder and owner of Garvey’s IT and we thought we would do some digging about his past, present and future! So, here goes…

What inspired you to create Garvey’s IT?

After working in IT for 14 years I felt the only way to move forward with a company focused on customer support was to do it on my own. Whilst everyone is so focused on profit margins these days, it was difficult to run a forward-thinking department with the main objective of being relevant and giving the customers the best experience possible.

My employers didn’t have the same ideas as me going forward, so I took it upon myself and made the step into the business world with Garvey’s IT.

 

What background have you came from? (What did you do before Garvey’s IT?)

I have worked in IT support since being 16, so a good few years now!

When I left School at 16, my old IT teacher put me forward for a position at Stockton Borough Council as an IT Apprentice, I went for the interview and started the following day.

I completed my apprenticeship and started working for Adult Education, which included teaching adults of Stockton the basics of computers and helping them setup home pc’s and networks.

I applied for more jobs in the IT Sector and landed a role at a company with a small IT department supporting local businesses.  I was there for 13 years, during the first 5 years all of the Senior staff above me left and my role grew as I took on their tasks. I became the Manager of the department and was responsible for managing networks all over the North East, assisting other companies such as Barratt Homes in their London offices and looking after networks all over the country.

What has been your biggest challenge so far, and how did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge has always been attracting new business. I am a ‘Techy’ at heart, and sales has never really been my forte. However, fortunately for me, there are customers I have worked with for lots of years who recommend me to others, which means the sales and promotion takes care of itself.

 

What are your values as a Company leader and how do you ensure these values are upheld by your employees?

Garvey’s IT is a customer focused business.Our customers come first and whether it be answering the phone in 2 rings, replying to an email within 15 minutes or fixing an issue within 1 hour, we always try to make sure the customer gets the support they don’t expect or aren’t used to.

We offer services with 4-hour responses, but our average response is under 30 minutes. We have friendly relationships with our customers and often get invited to Christmas Parties and staff nights out. I think this shows our roles and relationships with our customers greatly surpass the typical customer-supplier relationship.

Where do you see Garvey’s IT ten years from now?

In 10 years, we will have 5000 staff, be supporting every business in the UK for IT and holding a personal relationship with every customer. Nah, just kidding.

We aim to grow every year – slowly and steadily – whilst expanding our Staff base at a pace which allows us to keep our customers receiving the support they’re accustomed to.

What are you most passionate about? In both your personal life and work?

Between my family, especially my 2 kids (10 & 4), I don’t have much time for many passions, however, I try to fit in exercise (at the moment its Jiu Jitsu 3 times per week) where possible, and I’m currently working on becoming an FA qualified coach with my wife. She’s currently an assistant coach on my daughters’ team and I’m looking to take a team next year.

In summary, Family, Exercise & Football!

Would you describe yourself as a risk taker?

No, up until the point I made the decision to leave my previous role to start Garvey’s IT everything was always very calculated and planned 12 months ahead; I have a spreadsheet for everything, planning down to even the smallest points.

I prefer to be organised and have a plan for everything – my wife will vouch for that (through gritted teeth and her new-found hatred for Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets!).

What is your favourite way to spend your weekend?

Weekends are family time! We have football matches, football training and normally watching football! Sunday is our chill out day where we’ll watch movies, do homework and, if necessary, some work to start the following week off!

Sometimes it might include a few beers in the local village if the kids are staying at their grandparents or auntie’s house.

The short answer for this is yes. Yes, it should be. Business blogging is such an effective marketing tactic that drives more business to your website than you would likely think it would. When creating a website for your business, you really should consider putting a blog on there, which you can update on a regular basis. If you use a Web Design/IT Support Company to create a site for you, then you will find that they will more than likely ask you if you want a blog page included. You really should say yes!

 

Blogging can work in similar ways to website content – you can fill your blog posts with SEO suited to your business, allowing potential customers to find you through a simple Internet search. When you write the content for your website, you usually keep it as it is for a while. You might update it with new products or add to your T&C’s page every now and then, but let’s be honest, content usually does stay as it is for a while. This means that you aren’t getting to input more SEO words, which allow search engines to find you easier. However, each blog post is another indexed page for your site, filled with keywords that will lead search engines right to you.

 

Many businesses will also post their blog posts to their Social Media pages, this means that not only are their followers seeing this content, but each time the post is shared on a Social Media platform by one of these followers, hundreds more people are seeing this. This really is an effective way to promote your business online and get your product out there for the world to see. Another huge benefit here is that your blog posts help keep your social accounts active and busy – we all know at times finding new content to post on our social sites can be difficult, well, let your blog posts serve as your social posts too!

 

Your blog also provides a space for your business to log its own story, its progress, its information, and anything else you think your customers might like or want to know about you. Especially for those new businesses, your blog acts as a space for you to introduce yourself – let your potential clients know who you are, what you can offer them, why they should choose you, what your values are as a business and what makes you stand out from the rest. Each time your business progresses or introduces a new product or service you can add this to your blog, keeping your customers up to date with what is going on with you really does make them feel valued. If your business does any charity work or supports projects in the local community, then your blog is the perfect place to document this. It really is a blank canvas for you to fill with what you see fit.

 

At Garvey’s IT, our experienced and successful Web Design Team fully understand the benefits of adding a blog in to your business’s website. So, if you are looking for IT Support in the North East or Web Design worldwide, then you really should give us a call. We provide quality services at realistic and affordable prices. And what’s more, our team know that each business website is its own personal space, which is why we work hard to ensure each one of our clients receives a service tailored to their own individual wants and needs.

Sometimes, we get asked by small businesses if they really do need a website or IT support. They tell us they are just starting out, just small and not wanting to massively expand anytime soon, just wanting to see how things go for the first few months etc. All of these are valid points, and we do understand that when a business is starting out it does need to keep costs down, however, there is so much more to a website than just selling your product or service.

 

Having an active website makes you much more attractive to potential clients, it provides them with a home-ground – somewhere they can go to find out more about your Company, more about your products/services and it also lets them know that you are serious about success. So, here is why your business – no matter how small – needs a website…

 

Because it’s expected.

Yes, your customers expect it. We live in a modern world where technology really is such a massive part of everyday life. When we want the answer to a question, we search for it on the Internet. When we want to buy something, we search for it on the Internet. When we want to order a takeaway, we search for it on the Internet. Are you starting to see the pattern? Many customers now prefer to find businesses online, and they also prefer being able to find out all the information they require about these businesses without actually having to physically speak to someone. So, make your product/service easily accessible and you really will be pleasing the modern-day person.

 

Because it’s a place to sell yourself.

Potential customers might already be interested in what you are offering, but don’t you think they would be much more interested if they had testimonials from previous and existing customers to tell them how great you are? Your website provides your business with a space to tell its story, and customer reviews can play a huge part in website content. Simply ask customers to review your business once they have used your product/service, pick the best few, and showcase them on your homepage.

 

Because your business’s competitors likely all have websites.

Don’t leave yourself behind and let them take your potential customers. You need to show the world you are serious, that you can keep up with the rest and that your website is better than any of those from offering similar products/services to you. If what you are offering is quite popular, meaning others are offering this too, then it is even more important that you let people know why they should be using your business instead of someone else’s.

 

Because your business is constantly open. Maybe you like to go to bed at a reasonable time each night, but that doesn’t mean that your potential customers do. Think of all those night owls who, though they cannot go shopping into town during the night, can shop online. Just because you aren’t awake and working at 4am doesn’t mean your website isn’t. Having a website allows you to sell your products and services whilst you sleep.

 

Because it allows more people to find you.

Marketing can be both time consuming and expensive, especially for new small businesses. How do you let people know you exist? Do you print flyers to put through peoples’ letterboxes? Do you pay a fortune for an ad in a local paper? There really is a much easier solution – get a website and use online marketing. Optimise your website with all the keywords that your potential clients will use to search for businesses just like yours on the Internet. The better your website content and the more time spent working on your site, means the higher your business ranks in search engine results.

 

Because you can let someone else do the work for you.

Setting up a business can be time consuming, there is lots to do, lots to think of, and not really all that much time to do it all in. Thankfully, you can leave the planning and creating of your business website to someone else! All you need to do is provide an IT Support Company (such as us) with some content, your logo, and the basic requirements for your page. They will then do all the hard work for you, they can even take control of your Social Media and Blog accounts.

 

So, as you can see, there really are numerous benefits to having a websites a small business. The best thing is, they don’t have to be over-expensive and daunting. If you want to enquire more about the benefits of having a website made for your business by our experienced Web Design Team, or to request we make one for you, then just get in touch. We provide friendly and professional IT Support throughout the North East at fair and realistic prices.

To all of us working in world of the Web, it goes without saying that content is the most important part of a website. However, as a business, do you know this? If you don’t, then you really aren’t alone. You’ve got your business to build, your product to show to the world, your planning for the future of your Company, so how often are you reviewing your website content? Are you keeping it up to date as your product and Company grows, or is it now reading a little old and out-dated?

 

It’s a common trap that many business owners fall into – you create your business and you get an all informative and attractive website made to advertise your product. The website runs well, attracts you some customers and doesn’t cause you any issues, so therefore you don’t see the need to change it- if it’s not broke then don’t fix it, right? Wrong! Just because your website hasn’t had any technical errors lately, doesn’t mean that it is selling you as well as it could and should be.

 

Your website doesn’t only allow you to provide all your business and product information to your customers, it also gives you the opportunity to reach as many customers as you want through the use of keywords, internal links and calls to action. To make your website work the most for your Company, your website content and SEO really are something that you should be giving continuous focus to, especially each time you introduce a new product, branch out to a new area or just change any small part of your business.

 

As a business specialising in website design and IT support, we understand that there really is much more to creating a successful website than appearance. Yes, an attractive website will engage people – for so long – but ultimately, your content is what sells you as a business, which is why it is so important to keep reviewing and amending where necessary.

 

As well as updating your site with new keywords each time you get a new product, or your business branches off in another direction, make sure your website is keeping up to date with your customers’ wants and needs. The online world is fast-paced and ever-changing, and to keep your Company successful it is vital you do not get left behind. Remember when you first started out and you did that huge market research project? Well, do it again! Often, business owners will do a great job with market research in the beginning, but then, well, that’s it. They won’t go back to it, won’t review it, won’t start again, and this is where some go wrong. To keep your business successful and to keep your product selling, get to know your target audience and customers all over again. Do you know what your target audience looks like now? Can you recognise their buyer preferences and trends? Do you know what they want from your website, your company and your product? And do you know how to fully engage them instead of causing them to click that back button and visit a competitor’s site? Keeping up with your ever-changing potential customers is vital to your website’s, and therefore businesses success.

 

As well as the above, reviewing your current content often is a good thing too. Have you analysed its performance recently? Do you have ways and means of knowing if it is performing well? If not, then we strongly suggest you implement some of these. Tracking the number of customers your website is getting you gives you a very clear idea of whether or not the site is actually working to sell your product as it should be. So, pull those weekly reports, make some tweaks where needed, and watch your customer base expand.

 

Lastly, we just want to draw your attention to the social side. Is your website linked up with your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts? Do you even use these social accounts regularly? So much advertising is done and so many potential customers are now found through social media, that you really do need to keep on top of your businesses social side. Updating accounts often with news, new products, expansions to your business, makes it easy for your customers – and potential customers – to keep up to date with you and also see what you can offer them. Even better, you can even link your social accounts to your website, meaning customers visiting your site can see your latest social posts, allowing them to see what is currently going on in your world, and also showing them that you are an active, dedicated and engaging Company.

 

So, when working on your web content, before telling yourself that it is effective and complete (for now), ask yourself the following questions:

• Is my content interesting and engaging?
• As an outsider, would the content attract me personally?
• Have I filled my content with enough keywords to allow search engines to find my site easily?
• Is my content up to date and fully informative about my business right now?
• Does my content meet my customers’ wants and needs?
• Does my content stand out against that of my competitors?

 

We know reviewing and updating web content can be time consuming and sometimes just something you can’t find the time for in the busy world of business, but trust us, it really is worth doing. So, if you find yourself struggling to keep up with your website design and content, then get in touch today. We offer bespoke web design and IT support services throughout the North East.