Advice
The following information has been
compiled by Carol McIlroy to assist participants with their research and
is not a specific recommendation or direction. As I’m trying to make
research as easy as possible, I’ve given email addresses and websites
where relevant.Hardware/Software
Repair and Support
Internet/Web
Design
Internet Marketing
Marketing and Media
Individual/PC Training
Hardware/Software
‘Which’ magazine provides great impartial advice on buying new hardware
and software, with product reviews, reliability and guidance on what you
might need and where and how to buy. There is a subscription charge but
you may well find the information saves you time and money with your
research www.which.co.uk.
If you live close to a public library, they are available to view in the
library.
There are a variety of retailers, including independent dealers, high
street or out-of-town speciality computer shops and online retailers. May
of the enterprise centres include a tenant who is a computer retailer.
You may feel confident enough to do your research and order online with
www.dell.co.uk or get
a custom PC at
www.novatech.co.uk. Also useful and great for hardware is
www.dabs.com.
Local Assistance is available via Peter Smith who has helped several local
businesses with their hardware purchases, software installation, domain
name registration, email set-up and internet security. Plus
nursery/pre-school database creation.
Contact Peter Smith on 028 3834 7382, 079 1700 0523,
pete@petesmith.org.uk
or info@petesmith.org.uk.
Contact Gary Powell on 077 4510 6506 who is
based in Newry.
Repair and
Support (top)
Niall McCaffrey of
Tri-Tec Computer Support
(Word Doc, 29KB) www.tri-tec.net
offers solutions to
help manage and maintain your IT systems. View their
Repair Price List (PDF file, 18KB) and
their
Terms and Conditions (Word Doc, 31KB).
ServiceBuy (Word Doc, 147KB) from Tri-Tec is the onsite IT maintenance
package specifically designed for small to medium businesses.
Contact Gary Powell on 077 4510 6506 who is
based in Newry.
Internet/Web Design (top)
Companies I have spoken to regarding the needs of Ecommerce 2 participants
are;
Tim Doak
www.befantastic.com offers web packages specifically tailored to the
needs and budgets of small/startup businesses. He also offers graphic
design and photographic services allowing him to provide a comprehensive
design package. Tim may be contacted via
tim@befantastic.com or 028 3882 0758.
Philip Corr, UBI Solutions at the Upper Bann Institute
CorrP@ubi.ac.uk.
Steven Cassin of WorldSites based at CIDO, Lurgan
steven@wsi-consultants.com.
WorldSites specialise in full ecommerce sites for online retail, including
online payment. They can also advise on back end systems including
fulfilment. Other services include seach engine marketing and optimization
and pay per click campaigns.
Cormac Knott of Netstretch based at Armagh Business Centre
info@netstretch.com.
Jonathan Maxwell, an ICT advisor in the North Down region offers website
design and solution. Check out
www.mediamount.co.uk
for examples of his work and to contact him.
Vicki Herrity of Netplosion, based in Banbridge, offers a one stop shop
for all your web needs from a marketing perspective. Therefore your site
is designed and developed from a marketer’s eye with content that is
written to maximise your site for sales or sales leads. They also
specialise in redesigning and upgrading your web site. Visit their site
for more details
www.netplosion.com, 028 4062 9684 or
vicki@netplosion.com.
Whether you are designing a site from scratch or upgrading/updating your
existing site, it’s worth taking the time to chat with a professional.
Getting a clear vision from the start will pay off in terms of site
design. This can be modified as you get feedback from your site visitors.
Internet Marketing (top)
Vicki Herrity of Netplosion, based in Banbridge is one of the few
companies in NI to offer a full internet marketing range of services. From
using email for newsletters to top 20 positioning in the search engines,
they can guarantee your site will be seen and visited by the right people.
Visit their site for more details
www.netplosion.com, 028 4062 9684 or
vicki@netplosion.com.
Marketing and Media (top)
Established in autumn 2004,
Lynda Willis
Marketing and Media Services provides marketing and media services
to small businesses. A member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing,
Lynda’s career to date has been dominated by the Northern Bank, one of
the leading providers of financial services in Northern Ireland. Before
setting up her own business, she spent 14 years with the Northern in a
variety of marketing and public relations roles. She now applies her
marketing experience to helping small businesses in a very practical
manner.
From creating simple flyers, producing magazines, writing features,
organizing direct mail campaigns, drawing up marketing plans, print
management and even market research, Lynda Willis can help businesses
find a cost-effective solution to their marketing problems. For more
information visit www.lyndawillis.com.
Training Courses/Individual Training
(top)
Brian Smylie from Learn it At Work
www.learnitatwork.com offers a variety of training courses from
Outlook and Sage to individual training sessions. He’s based at
Downpatrick Business Park. All details are posted on his website.
Natalie Mulholland at
www.4thdimension.gb.com offers personalised and customised one-to-one
training courses on a variety of PC software from Word to Access, as well
as customised business solutions for your PC, to help your business run
smoother and quicker, and to take some of the chores out of your daily
work life. She is based in Lurgan but conducts all training on site, and
covers the whole of Northern Ireland.
Vicki Herrity of Netplosion, based in Banbridge offers a full range of
services to small businesses throughout Northern Ireland. From creating
business forms in MS Word, spreadsheets in MS Excel and marketing or
financial databases in MS Access, her company covers the full MS Office
suite including MS PowerPoint for presentations and MS Publisher for your
own leaflets and flyers. They also offer strategic internet and web
marketing courses tailored to your needs and budget. Visit their site for
more details
www.netplosion.com, 028 4062 9684 or
vicki@netplosion.com.
You could also try asking at your local college about courses they have
running. Learn Direct
www.learndirect.co.uk have a variety of courses in many towns.
For information on digital photography, a very comprehensive site is
www.shortcourses.com. |
