A website that I have worked on over the course of the last two years is Summerhill Farm Shop. Originally the client was torn between a small investment in a static site, or a greater investment in a fully-equipped e-commerce site that would handle a wide range of products, product structures and charges.

Part of the service that I provide is a full consult to determine your needs, as they frequently vary between stakeholders in a project such as this. The remit was to improve the online presence of the shop as quickly as possible, without significant financial investment. Andy, the manager of Summerhill Farm Shop, decided to support a program of continual development, where small changes would be made on a seasonal basis using a per-hour rate rather than investing in a full Content Management System as none available at the time easily fitted in with the needs and capabilities of the Summerhill team.

Recently, a number of changes were made to update the look and structure for Christmas, traditionally the busiest time of the year for retailers such as Summerhill. Using a simple construction of CSS and HTML, the site is efficiently and quickly updated. Future improvements will be a more refined template, content management and possibly the integration of a payment system.

The site has seen increased interest, referrals and direct communication and conversions driven from the site being simple to use and clearly presented. I feel that this is the key strength of the site – the simplicity of use that allows any visitor to quickly understand that Summerhill Farm Shop offers an aspirational but affordable range of local produce and butchery to Bedford and Bedfordshire.