Just been checking out a great article from the ever-reliable Jeffrey Zeldman about The Puzzle of Japanese Web Design.  He writes about how the Japanese have always been well ahead of everyone else when it comes to fine art and graphic design but that this doesn’t really translate to web design.  One of the examples he uses is the Japan Airlines website:

What’s the Japanese for confused by it’s higgledy-piggledy-ness? How do the Japanese cope with so much clutter?

Some ten years ago, the rock band I was managing  dabbled in providing a Japanese version of it’s UK website.  Primarily to boost the chances of getting a visit out there (it worked) but also to try to engender the crazy sort of devotion that Japanese music fans accord to bands they like (that worked too).

We sorted out a Japanese translator based in Glasgow and even went so far as to acquire a Japanese keyboard.  We gave up after a few months as it just didn’t generate a decent enough audience to justify the expense.

Maybe the design (which mirrored the UK design) was just too straight-laced?

The latest business from the hotel, bar and leisure industry to benefit from our extensive web design and marketing experience is Ardlui Retreat; a premium self catering holiday park located on the North-westerly shores of Loch Lomond.

It’s a quality location for a holiday and we really wanted to transmit that sense of that  quality through the website design and I think we’ve done that pretty successfully.

We’ve also integrated the Supercontrol booking system into the site to enable the owners to take online bookings directly.  With third party organisations such as Hoseasons and Visit Scotland taking upwards of a 20% share of any booking, it really makes sense to try to capture bookings independently and the Supercontrol system offered the flexibility and speed of implementation that the client really needed.

Ardlui Retreat has already seen a 150% year-on-year increase in website visitors since our involvement and this has also translated into a  similar rise in occupancy rates.

Over the coming months we’ll be working hard at further increases to traffic via SEO and more traditional forms of marketing.

We’re very excited about the latest version of UBIshop – our own full feature e-commerce system.

It’s been a while in production as we wanted to get it right, but it’s now being implemented into a number of client sites, the latest of which is Electric Fencing Direct (EFD), one of the country’s leading electric fencing and agricultural supplies specialists.

What sets EFD apart from the competition is their dedication to their customers.  The free advice they offer and the lengths they go to to satisfy their ever-growing customer base is second to none.   We can relate to that here at Ubisan!   Their old system relied heavily on a positively creaking Microsoft Access database and this has been replaced by a fast and user friendly e-commerce and customer management system which will help the company grow it’s online profile, and sales  considerably.

Further features are also in the pipeline to maximise the online shop’s sales potential and this will be further boosted by our involvement in ensuring EFD remain ahead of the pack when it comes to marketing their products and search engine optimisation