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figment

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Michele and Stephen, the main difference I see is that the site builder is brought to the front of the package. Its a subtle but important differentiator for the target market. For something like this I often use my dad as an example. He does not know what domain or what hosting package he needs. He just wants a simple website, the rest is techno babble. If he ever logged in to a standard control panel he would run screaming at all the options and terminology he gets presented with. Never mind having to go searching for a site builder or figure out how it works. And there is a very real fear there that he might do something wrong.
He might know you can get a site free but would pay a lot more not to have to worry about it and have someone else set it up for him.
Not enough for my rates unfortunately :)

So like so many other things in the world, if you take the time to research, learn, and break stuff you can do it yourself for free. Or you can skip the hassle and get someone else to do it.

I should get paid by Digiweb :)
 

figment

New Member
As for the quality of what they offer i am adopting a wait and see approach. I have launched enough version 1 web apps to know how rough they can be around the edges. Its how they respond to feedback and develop it from here that will tell. But of course we are not the target market :)
 

Gavin

New Member
The seo claims are hilarious. The portfolio of sites speaks volumes:

Catherine Wynne, Spiritual Healing, Reiki, Mediumistic Readings, Lucan, Co. Dublin << wonderful url structure. So em "semantic"

That was one of the first things that jumped out at me.

As stated on the Digiweb site:

Based on our extensive experience in Search Engine Optimisation we take care to uniquely customize each Omniwebsite for the best Google ranking possible.

Now thats a very bold statement...
 

mneylon

Administrator
Staff member
As for the quality of what they offer i am adopting a wait and see approach. I have launched enough version 1 web apps to know how rough they can be around the edges. Its how they respond to feedback and develop it from here that will tell. But of course we are not the target market :)

Alan
At least your site looks professional

The Omniserve site looks and feels like something thrown together by a colour blind school kid with a copy of "marketing for dummies" sitting beside them.



Michele
 

linedash

New Member
I don't see the link showing EI funding.. Unless they have removed it?

I would rather hope not; as this would certainly - to me at least - feel like it was 'we're getting funding, but we're getting flack over it so we'll hide the fact'.

Am I being blind?
 

niall

New Member
I don't see the link showing EI funding.. Unless they have removed it?

I would rather hope not; as this would certainly - to me at least - feel like it was 'we're getting funding, but we're getting flack over it so we'll hide the fact'.

Am I being blind?

The removed it, it's still in the Google Cache
 

OMNISERVE

New Member
It is for small businesses for €399 and includes hosting and domain

This thread is a bit like the hosting industry talking to the hosting industry so let's change tack to actually addressing what it is we are trying in our own little way to do.

Small businesses in Ireland find that the main block to them getting on the web is the complexity and cost involved: See the ISME EBusiness Survey report here: ISME-Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association 17 Kildare St Dublin 2 Ireland. .

Everyone on this list is no doubt agreed that the web is the future for business and small businesses are currently at a disadvantage.

Our objective is to work with Digiweb to try and get 1,000 Irish small businesses into the 21st century with a broadband connection and website over the next 12 months.

Omniserve is:

1. For small 1 to 2 person Irish start ups and traditional small businesses that have no web presence and need a budget price for a starter website. Research has found that less than 4% of small Irish businesses want to mess about with a WISIWIG editor, it's not their job or hobby. Omniserve is a rapid way of capturing what the small business wants on their website and getting it live for them without the business owner having to take time away from their business. As any independent minded web designer on this list will agree this can be a messy, painful process and we have streamlined it using our Xpress Creation Process.

2. Gets them on the web for a very small amount of outlay in terms of time and money as opposed to potentially spending thousands on a website that never generates any enquiries.

3. Uses one of the largest CMS providers in the world, CM4all to create the sites CM4all - awarded, worldwide leading site builder technology . Their design tools specialises in small business starter websites for all sorts of uses in 20 different countries around the world.

4. As compared to the average E399 website, it has basic Google optimisation included of the title tag and other basic components in the site. As the website owner's business develops they are welcome to go out and engage optimisation experts. If optimisation experts on this list would like to offer their services to our clients please contact me offlist.

5. Has a very simple message and very simple website as this is what the target market are most comfortable with:
SiliconRepublic.com: Businesses find IT too complex

Omniserve is not:

1. Owned by Digiweb, we are partners with Digiweb,the same as this company lists its partners on the right Hosting365 - About Us or Blacknight lists its partners here Our Alliances - Industry Partners: Blacknight Solutions .

Indeed much the same way that this forum is not owned by Blacknight even though their staff are all over this thread like a rash at the moment.

2. Going to be top of the pops with other Irish hosters such as Blacknight,365 or MyHost.

3. Suit the tech savvy market nor is it intended to.


As for Enterprise Ireland support, like everyone on this list we are not in a position to share confidential company contracts/information (no one would expect Steve to tell us all how much debt 365's disposal to Namesco relieved or Michele to tell us how much money they have in the bank today or how much money Blacknight makes from advertising and business leads from forums or MyHost to tell us their business plan for the 2cd and 3rd quarter of this year) however any Irish company is equally entitled to put their case to EI and ask for support, be it in the form of advice, jobs grants or repayable convertible preference loans type investment.

Now if people on this list are opposed to small Irish businesses getting started on the web at a budget price then that is not something Omniserve can be responsible for.

Best regards,
Eoin
 

niall

New Member
In terms of competition, how many web designers / developers would propose to design me a custom-built site with email and a domain, hosted for a year with free support for under 400 EUR?

€400 a year should buy a lot more space than is required for a five page site.

I did a local mirror of the three sites mentioned here using "wget --mirror", the average size of the sites was 470K. I know the email hosting will take up more space, but not that much. Eircom were offering more than that back when dialup was king.

A basic template from Template Monster costs around $65 (around €40), and will generally be capable of more than 5 pages.

A .com will cost less than a tenner, a .ie around the €20 mark.

I'm really not seeing what people are getting for the €400. Yes, there is the whole a human will make the site for you, but that's a once off cost. Basic updates such a change of address or telephone number aren't going to take long, so the €400 a year charge is looking increasingly more ridiculous.

If Omniserve manage to get the business, fair play to them. It just goes to show there is plenty of gullible people out there.

Niall.
 

linedash

New Member
I note my question/comments about the EI side of things were ignored.

So are the sites portable or are you tied in to the omniserve system? i.e; if I realise I'm being charged 400 quid/yr for nothing more than ongoing hosting (2nd year) - can I move my content elsewhere?

What about site updates? Are these chargeable or included, and are they user editable if they'd prefer not to pay.

Apologies if these questions are answered on the site; I did briefly look.
 

mneylon

Administrator
Staff member
Now if people on this list are opposed to small Irish businesses getting started on the web at a budget price then that is not something Omniserve can be responsible for.

Small business can get a hosting plan from just about any provider and get access to a site builder for a lot less than what you want to charge annually.

If it was a one off fee it would be one thing, but I can't see how you can justify a recurring fee when you know full well that your target market are unlikely to make changes to their sites (which is probably how you would try to justify it)
 

linedash

New Member
Small business can get a hosting plan from just about any provider and get access to a site builder for a lot less than what you want to charge annually.

To be fair; they are building the site for you -- and by the looks of it, I'd say they've got wordsmiths hammering the content into something more palatable than most people put up. It's a little more than a simple site builder.

That being said; I'm still curious of the answers regarding EI/portability and updates -- although I don't expect an answer till the coming week :)
 
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