Light Bulb Web Design Ltd

Director

Light Bulb does web design differently. With an expert network of dedicated professionals, we're able to create the ideal platform for your specific brand. Your brand isn't generic – so why would you want a website that is? With more than 20 years of industry experience, Chris and the team have provided high-quality professional web design and SEO for hundreds of businesses across a wide spectrum of industries. Our unique SHINE method has been developed with the sole purpose of making sure you get the best return on your website investment.

Spiral - Preventing the effects of bullying on young people and families

Provide one-to-one sessional support to young people who may have been bullied, or are experiencing mild levels of anxiety, low mood or have difficulty managing anger.

Volunteer

Newton's Cradle UK

Haltwhistle Community Campus

Be responsible for/manage the operation and delivery of support and community services on the campus. 
Be responsible for/manage the planning, development and monitoring of support and community services on the campus. 
Be responsible for coordinating the work of campus support staff including delegation of relevant activities. 
Be a member of the campus extended management team.

Head of Campus Services

Haydon Bridge High School

ICT Manager

The Carrow House

Preparation &amp; service of food to the highest standard possible
Maintaining a very high level of cleanliness and hygiene in the kitchen
Customer service and cash handling

Commis ChefWaiter

Halfords Superstore

floor and telephone based customer service
Cash Handling
Stock level monitoring
Building, maintenance and repair of cycles and accessories

Sales Assistant & Cashier

Riverside Recruitment

Unloading/loading of heavy goods vehicles within a set time limit

Carlisle	Distribution Assistant

LIGHT BULB DOES WEB DESIGN DIFFERENTLY

As a professional company, you need a bespoke solution to generate leads and sales online:

Don't fall into the trap of those agencies who over-promise yet under-deliver.

With an expert network of dedicated professionals, we're able to create the ideal platform for your specific brand, something that places you as the authority in your field and creates trust in the minds of your ideal clients - the best way to turn them into customers.

Your business isn't generic - so why would you want a website that is?

With more than 20 years of industry experience, Chris and the team have provided high-quality professional web design and SEO for hundreds of businesses across a wide spectrum of industries, within Carlisle, Cumbria, and throughout the UK and US. Our unique SHINE method has been developed with the sole purpose of making sure you get the best return on your website investment.

We take the time to get to know every brand we work with to ensure your web design meets your goals and helps you grow.

If you're looking for the ideal web design partner for an upcoming rebrand, or you need to modernise your online presence, Light Bulb can help create a website that's a seamless extension of your broader branding.

Project pricing starts from ~£3250+VAT, depending on the work involved to deliver what you need your website to do for your business.

Drop me a DM to find out more.

WEB AND DIGITAL CONSULTATION

Looking to make the most of your existing website, or help with planning a new one you're building yourself?

Take advantage of our experience and skills through one of our consultation packages:

Website Clarity Session: £250+VAT

Whether you're planning a new website or need some professional input to make more of the one you already have, this is the option for you.

Digital Brand Presence Audit: £500+VAT

For business owners and small businesses with a longer-standing online presence, this audit makes sure you know how to make more of your business and brand, covering areas that are crucial to attracting and converting your ideal client.

Light up your brand: £1950+VAT

For those who want to make the most of what the Internet has to offer.

This package brings together the expertise of our copywriters, SEO associates, and designers, to craft a detailed strategy that you can implement across your website and social media platforms.

Interested in any our consultation packages?

Drop me a DM and let's talk :)

I don't use WordPress for any websites we create.

Whilst rare, sometimes I get asked what platform we use for our projects - people often recognise WordPress and assume everyone uses it.

Sure, it's a popular option - however, so many other solutions exist and unless there is a specific use case where WordPress or another platform (such as WebFlow, Drupal, and many more) has to be used, what I believe is more important is that your website delivers what you need it to.

And for me, Joomla continues to deliver what we need for our clients.

Now on version 5, Joomla is something I've been using from its roots in the Mambo CMS back in the year 2000.

Out of the box, Joomla has features that WordPress needs extensions and plugins to achieve.

From fully customisable user access controls (so we can securely provide logins for you and your staff to login and manage only the content they need), through to the new schema support in Joomla 5, through to a true content management system, page speed controls, integrated SEO tools, multi-language support and a highly-active security response team, we only add a small handful of extensions and plugins to cover what else we need (e.g. backup provision, easy and comprehensive page editing tools to name two).

For clients who come to us from WordPress, many tell us how much easier it is for them to update their own website with Joomla, even if we don't ask them about this comparison.

Because we craft bespoke designs, using a single core framework within Joomla for the past 8 years has allowed us to easily manage and maintain all of our client websites without random templates being in use from different providers.

For me, all of this is about our clients.

Being able to provide a consistent experience supporting them in what they need from their websites.

Using the same tools (albeit they have all been through regular updates and improvements) for all clients makes our support easy. We know the tools inside out. A training video for one client is the same another needs to perform the same task.

Some may consider us controversial in using Joomla (usually those who love WordPress!), however my decision to continue using it as our only platform is based on almost 25 years of experience in using it and trusting it implicitly to deliver what our clients need.

Chris Wilcox

"It won't work, there are too many web designers out there already."

Said me in 2013 when someone suggested I put myself out there after a freebie website I created saw their business leap forward online.

I now know that this mindset is wrong.

Others out there doing what you do or want to do is proof that the market exists.

After 10 years of ignoring my inner critic, I continue to see people paying more for less than we deliver: and that's after my starting prices have increased by at least 25x since 2014 (when my business launched, and I was charging £10/month for a website).

Fear stops us from doing a lot of things.

It shouldn't.

Here's me - the one who hid behind a logo for 5 years.

Possibly the most common expectation from your website:

Number one on Google.

In 10 years, the expectation that a new website will rank at the top of Google comes back as a question from clients several times per year.

However clear we are that without good SEO research up front, and without ongoing SEO and digital marketing, it's still a question we get asked a few months or so after a website has gone live by those clients who didn't go for those options as part of their project.

It's no judgement on anyone - every single project we take on started with lots of questions to identify the goals.  We then put forward how we will meet them. The investment in good SEO can feel difficult to take on, scary in that it feels a little vague or almost magical.

Yet, when our clients do go for the upfront and ongoing work, the results show.

They're the clients who get more visibility, more enquiries, more clients.

With almost all web designers promising 'Google Optimised Web Design', it's easy to think that it's easy, cheap, a one-off thing that anyone can do.

However, I guarantee that this is not the case.

'Google Optimised' can be anything from what I consider standard (images, alt tags, meta descriptions, fast page load times etc.) to what we prefer to do - the full research phase and planning this into the website design, structure, and content.

A few years ago, having a copywriter involved in every project became part of our core offer.  I saw the problems and results of clients writing their own copy - in truth, it is usually poor, focused on the business owner and not the ideal client, and almost always drags a project timeline out significantly...

I had to remove this problem, to be sure even without SEO work, we delivered a professional result for design AND content.

Going forward, SEO research is also going to be a core part of our offer.

I'm not doing this to rake in more cash.

I'm doing this because it's the only fair and ethical way to truly craft websites that genuinely stand a chance of delivering on all levels.

Sure, it will affect my prices - however, it will also affect the results you get as our client.

And getting the best results for you has always been my focus with each and every development and change I make to how we work.

Will I allow projects to go ahead with the SEO element?

Sure.

But it will become even more clear within the proposal and contract that search ranking is NOT part of the project (even though it is there now), and if you want to see actual results from search, it needs further investment.

And PS - doing SEO 'afterwards' is going to cost you more, as it will require more work to bring a website in line with the data than doing it up front and building the core work in from the beginning.

If you want the best from your online presence, drop me a DM - we have the experts to deliver your desires!

Chris Wilcox on LinkedIn • 2 min read

'Optimised for Google' is not enough!

All ready for the dog walk today…

Happy Friday ❤️

To "Website by...." or to not "Website by..." - that is the question!

Many years ago, a client asked me not to show the usual footer line of 'Website by Light Bulb Web Design' on their website.

They told me they didn't want to show process.

At the time, this triggered me.

Doing this felt like an expected feature - a way for me to advertise my services to anyone visiting a website I created.

However, I did agree to it, and it sunk right in.

When we create a website for a client, it isn't our website.

It isn't there to advertise us - it's there to advertise them.

Tell me - do you agree?

Are you happy that your website does or doesn't have this line in the footer?

We don't build websites for you; we build them for your ideal client.

We do build them to meet your goals: if you want 'Welcome to our website' and 'make my logo bigger', I can direct you to several web designers who will happily let you tell them what to do.

That isn't us.

My web design agency has been created to bring leading experts together to make you seen:

💡Seen in the right places to the right people.

💡Seen to the logic and emotions of your ideal client.

💡Seen to be the desired, trusted authority in your field.

💡Seen through genuinely bespoke design and content.

If you're the one leading your web design project, you're working with the wrong agency.

#WebDesignAgency #BeSeen #TogetherWeCanDoMore

Being affordable is not a differentiating marketing factor.

Thank you and bye.

My brand promise is simple: BE SEEN

The purpose of your website can be one of two core reasons:

1) Somewhere for you to send traffic from email/social
2) To gain more visitors through SEO and digital marketing

We take the same approach to the design and content of each reason, the main difference being whether you need ongoing work and management of your online presence to build your authority in search results to ensure you get the traffic you need to grow your sales and enquires.

Fundamentally, your website needs to focus on converting visitors into customers and enquiries, regardless of the purpose.

We need to understand your ideal client, the information they need to see in order for you to be seen as their only choice.

We need to understand the right language to use within the content, and to understand what design and visual approach best targets their logic and emotions - because hitting both effectively is what places you as the best business for them to buy from or work with.

As a digital marketing agency, our team is built from experts who know how to work together and make sure you are SEEN by the right people in the right places in the right way.

It's why we don't take on websites built by someone else.

It's why we believe the only way to get the results you desire is to allow us to work on all aspects of your website, content, SEO, and ongoing marketing.

When all of these elements work together, we can do more.

And our desire and focus is always to create something which meets your business goals, your own desires.

We don't do web design.

We create solutions to your problems - and we start by talking about your problems before we even start talking about price.

Because price is not ever going to be a value factor - a £300 website is expensive if it returns nothing to you.

A £30,000 website can be priceless if it gets you £100,000 of new business and grows that new business income year-on-year.

I'm here to understand your problems and tell you how we can solve them.

When you're ready to take your business to the next level online, let's talk - my DM's are open, or fire an email over to chris@lightbulbwebdesign.co.uk

#WebDesign #DigitalMarketingAgency #TogetherWeCanDoMore

In a world where competition is ever-growing, it's essential that your online presence is not working against you.

You have to be seen as the best choice in the mind of your ideal client or customer, otherwise they will go elsewhere.

That can't be done with a website that hasn't involved:

💡Research into what your ideal client is searching for
💡Uncovering what information and answers they need to find
💡Writing content that speaks to their emotions and logic
💡Crafting visuals that work the best alongside the content
💡Awareness of where your ideal clients are online
💡The honest truth about what you really need to do to grow

I could go on; however, I suspect you're beginning to understand what I'm saying.

It's impossible to grow and scale your business online without suitable investment. And that investment needs to be ethically fair to you and who you put your trust in to deliver on your desires.

Our holistic digital marketing approach is called SHINE for a reason - it represents over 10 years of our own development to make sure we can attract and engage your ideal customer online.

Together we can do more - drop me a DM when you're ready to take the next step in growing your business online. Let's make things happen!

ACCOUNTANTS - Philip Bacon and I were talking about you all yesterday.

Phil has recently completed an SEO audit for a new client in London.

He messaged me yesterday and said, to quote and marginally paraphrase:

"If we could find one that was actually keen to properly invest then we could clean up."

Our joint assessment of accountancy websites is that their SEO, technical SEO, and digital marketing practices are frequently lacking.

However, that is a positive!

It means that with our help, we can lift the potential of your practice to get you more traffic, more enquires, more clients.

Because not many other accountants are up for the investment in time, money, and patience - which puts you in an amazing position to reap the benefits.

With both Phil and I have having extensive experience working with accountants and professional service businesses, delivering websites, SEO, and digital marketing, we're ready for you, ready to take your business and take it to the level you desire.

Get in touch with either of us today, we'll show you what we can do :)

I know, you want to do it all yourself.

However, your own clients come to you because of your expertise to deliver a result they desire.

They know they can't do it themselves, or don't want to do it themselves.

Trust in yourself that collaboration is empowering and lets you scale and grow your business far beyond where you are now.

I added 20% to my turnover in 2021 purely from going all-in on collaboration being the only way we work within Light Bulb Web Design.

We're here to do the same for your business.

To collaborate with you to deliver a website and digital marketing campaign that are crafted together from the ground up, ensuring the results you can't achieve with a website built in-house or in your 'free time' when you would much rather be working in the business rather than on it.

I don't profess to have the skills to do what you do, but together at Light Bulb Web Design, we have the team, skills, and experience to do what we do - extremely well!

So, enough about me - talk to me about you and your business goals - let's see what we can do to get you there!

Saturday sassiness thanks to Alex Coward for the opportunity to share this 😈😂

How many years of experience you have is not a differentiating marketing factor.

Happy Friday 💡

If I had to add another red flag to my list of things that make someone a less than ideal client, it's this:

Not answering a direct question.

As a completely made-up example, maybe I ask:

"What colour is grass?"

And the reply I get back is two paragraphs about apples, and how they grow on trees.

I don't know if some people just don't read or see the question, or whether they are intentionally avoiding the answer - however, either way, it always feels quite strange and awkward to go back and ask again about the question.

Anyhow, moving on, happy Friday!

One of our dogs had us up all night due to hedgehogs in the garden and then, well, let's just say what went in came out in liquid form...so we're rather tired here today.

Butter wouldn't melt...

Choose a niche, choose a niche, you have to choose a niche...

Say so many gurus...

What they rarely talk about is the difference between a vertical niche and a horizontal niche.

Both routes can work very well - I chose the horizontal niche.

I've got a solution-based approach to web design that we've successfully applied to over 50 clients in the last few years, across a small range of industries.

I could choose a specific client-type, but the closest I can ever drill down to is 'professional services'.

Whilst we have created websites and SEO/marketing campaigns for a very wide range of business types of the years (from wedding celebrants to diversity and inclusion specialists), most of the clients we work with are in fields such as accountancy, estate and property, dental, finance, and legal.

I love the ability to work with a wider range of businesses and see how we can craft website and digital solutions to take their business to the level they desire.

Because everything we write and design is entirely bespoke, with not a template or AI content generator in sight, it makes sure we keep the human connection throughout.

Because fundamentally, people buy from people - you'll trust and buy from me if you resonate with who I am, what I talk about, how I work.

And your ideal clients will work with you when they see everywhere you exist online as reinforcement of how you are to work with in person.

Our work is there to get you seen - not to keep you hiding away in the shadows, letting your competitors make the most of what you're not doing :)

(AI generated art from stock imagery for irony!)

So many entrepreneurs fear the VAT threshold - keeping themselves beneath it, just to avoid losing customers.

However, this mindset can be limiting. Competing solely on price is a race to the bottom - a place where you spend your time trying to be the lowest price or at least, the same price, as others in your field.

Instead, consider your uniqueness and the benefits people get from choosing you over someone at a lower price.

This lifts you out of the 'red ocean' and places you in the 'blue ocean' - a place where you stand alone, fishing only for your own clients.

Don't fear your prices - dive into your uniqueness and see what happens. Remember, your prices in themselves are a positioning factor.

Someone else out there is charging more than you, but doing less!

Want support in overcoming your own pricing fears, and understanding how you can position yourself better in the marketplace?

Book a consultation hour with me and let's begin the change!

https://lnkd.in/eCmdy5BX

#pricingstrategy #competition #uniquepositioning #entrepreneurmindset #blueoceanstrategy

Do you need clarity with your website?

Whether you're planning a new website or need some professional input to make more of the one you already have, my website clarity session is designed for you.

Get an hour of dedicated 1-1 time with me to dive into your business, your ideal clients, and leave you with a plan for making the most of your website.

These calls can cover things like the website pages you need, the best structure for your home page, how the user journey can aid with conversion, or a look into the SEO potential of your business and services - we'll ask a few questions in advance of the call so we can come prepared.

You get a recording of the call and one email review for feedback on what you implement, making sure you've got the right foundations to ensure your website is set up for success.

Book online today and let's make sure your website is up to scratch:

https://lnkd.in/ewRrhvVU

This is what Vicki Lovegrove said about her recent session, and having seen the changes she implemented on her websites, I know it made a real difference:

Is your business invisible to potential customers who don't know you exist?

If you only show up on Google for your business name, you're missing out on valuable traffic from new clients.

Don't let your competitors take all the business - let us help you shine and get noticed! 

Our expertise lies in getting your website seen by the right people in the right places for the right search terms. We'll help you become the only choice in the minds of your ideal clients. 

Don't stay hidden in the shadows any longer. Let's work together to bring your business into the spotlight. Drop us a DM and let's get started!

#WebDesignAgency #DigitalMarketing #SEO #Copywriting

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