Company

Sector

Solution

Create Designs (createdesigns.co.uk) is a web agency based in Surrey, specialising in web design and development

with an expertise in online marketing. Established in 2011 as a low-cost provider of websites for small businesses,

Create Designs has evolved into a specialist agency providing complex online marketing and bespoke website design

to clients ranging from mortgage companies to private jet charterers.

Managing Director and founder, James Thurlow-Craig, first came across Fasthosts when he purchased a domain. It

was then that he realised Fasthosts had so much more to offer.

The challenge

“We then used Fasthosts Virtual Private Servers not long

after we opened our doors for business. I had no experience

in building websites at the time other than with very basic

free site builders, so this was my first experience of running

a server. This approach actually inspired me towards a ‘you

don’t need to code to work here’ ethos.”

Having realised that customers simply want something

that looks good, alongside marketing principles that work

specifically for them, Create Designs concentrates on graphic

design teamed with high-quality marketing services.

“We also provide bespoke solutions, which we do build from

scratch where needed. It offers our customers a lot of options

and gives us so much variety. We can find ourselves working

with a blue chip company one week and a smaller, local

business the next.

“As a result, Create Designs is a busy, progressive environment,

so the challenge for us is that we just don’t have time to focus

on managing our servers. We just need support as required or if

something goes wrong.”

As the business progressed, James realised it needed to move

from VPS to a faster, easier to use hosting platform, and started

to look around for options. After trying and testing some

alternative suppliers, the team was left disappointed.

“It’s tempting to go with a big name offering incentives,

like a free year’s service, until you realise the ongoing

monthly costs are not only higher in the long run, but

come with a total lack of UK support.”

Supporting business

“One of the reasons we opted for Fasthosts’ CloudNX

reseller package is the control panel, which is so easy to

use. The package also comes with 24/7 support from a UK

call centre, which is so important to us. I’ve always found

it really easy to get hold of someone, and everyone I’ve

spoken to has been really helpful. They’ve gone the extra

mile on many occasions.”

“There are many other features of CloudNX that work far

better for us. It’s quicker to upgrade, the overall speed

has been really good and we’ve had less faults. It just

seems that everything works right off the bat. The backup

process is nice and easy and the dashboard monitoring

is really accurate. We’re also paying less for the package,

while saving on resource required to resolve any issues.”

The business has recently gone through a rebrand to

manage growth, increasing its range of marketing services

to now offer SEO and PPC.

“Just one bad link on a sales page can knock users

completely off the SEO grid! PPC is also a major part of

what we do. It’s so competitive that if you’re not on it all

day, every day, it can fall down. So, where we previously

just built a customer’s website and helped them to host

it, we’ve now have added SEO, PPC and content writing

services to our portfolio. This helps our existing clients

maximise on their investment and nurture the leads we

generate for them.”

The future

Create Designs is in the process of moving towards a

retainer income model, by working more closely with

clients on a monthly basis. The aim is to become a

full-service digital marketing agency, with the speed of

Fasthosts servers being a critical factor to success.

“Hosting plays a critical factor in converting visitors into

sales,” explains James. “It’s all about the speed of servers

– far more than people actually realise. Most websites

take five to eight seconds to load, which is really slow,

so we now offer speed optimisation packages to our

customers. We’re even rebuilding our own site to make it

superfast!”

“I would recommend Fasthosts and CloudNX 100%. The

servers are really fast, and it’s so easy to set up. I don’t

think I could say that for any other server out there at the

moment.”

“Hosting plays a critical factor in converting

visitors into sales. It’s all about the speed of

servers.”

James Thurlow-Craig MD - Create Designs

For more information about CloudNX

fasthosts.co.uk/cloud-servers

To find out more about Create Designs

createdesigns.co.uk

“Everyone I’ve spoken to has been really

helpful. They’ve gone the extra mile on many

occasions.”

JAMES THURLOW-CRAIG MD - CREATE DESIGNS

CREATE DESIGNS: JULY 2018 www.fasthosts.co.uk CREATE DESIGNS: JULY 2018 www.fasthosts.co.uk

Create Designs

Web design agency

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