Dream Properties
Dream Properties is a Swansea-based overseas property company, which helps people purchase property overseas and provides support with finance, too. Around a year ago they came to the Swansea Bay IT Support Centre looking for advice on developing an online presence. We looked at a number of options, including the creation of a content management system but in the end they felt that a Blog (webblog) seemed to be the one which most closely matched their criteria:
- It could be updated quickly
- It had to be easy to update
- It had to be quite flexible
- It should be expandable
- It should be reasonaby priced
Having developed the site with the client, under the domain name: www.dream-properties.net, we asked Gill Jones, who is in charge of the weblog and its content for her thoughts on the blogging software, Typepad. As blogging is gaining in popularity, and the number of our clients who are using it is continuing to rise, we thought that some of Gill’s observations on using blogging software might be of interest to clients who were looking to develop a weblog.
Prior to working with Typepad I must admit to having had very little IT knowledge or training. The only knowledge I had was through a few basic courses- including “IT for the Terrified!” – and composing letters and shopping on the internet!
I think the best feature of Typepad is that it comes with a clear, non-jargon user manual and knowledge base. This covers nearly all situations you are likely to need to deal with. If you do come across something you can’t quite grasp the Help Ticket system is available and the response time is very good.
One of the reassuring things for me with my limited IT knowledge - especially in the early stages - is the ability to keep your post in draft which means that you can go back to it several times to make sure it looks how you want it to before you leave it open to public scrutiny. Of course it also means that you can write articles in advance and publish them when appropriate, e.g. dates of upcoming road shows.
Typepad also offers great flexibility. When something is no longer topical I can, if needs be, delete it quickly. Similarly, I can update properties for sale/let quickly which offers our clients an up-to-date accurate service.
I found loading photos on site quite tricky in the beginning but by following the manual, learning to edit some of the html and with experience, this is now quite enjoyable. I also like the fact that you have a great number of options with how your site looks with a number of layouts, fonts and colours. As you get to preview them before publishing them you can actually play around with it to get the look you want.
Finally, I must say that I do find the additional training I had with the Swansea Bay It Support Centre was, for me, essential. Due to my lack of knowledge it would have taken me much longer to have reached my level of knowledge with just the Typepad manual.
Yes, the manual covers nearly all the things I have learnt but it would have taken longer to learn on my own. I needed to learn quickly due to the launch of the new business. I’m sure that someone with more IT knowledge would find Typepad extremely easy to follow. For those with my level of knowledge - or less if they exist! - I would recommend a few lessons to speed up the process. Thanks again for all your help.
Gill Jones
Web Site: Dream Properties
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