As part of every website design & development project, we offer basic search engine optimisation (SEO) of your website pages, content & META to give you the best possible start towards ranking well in all major search engines.

AS SEO professionals we find it much easier and cost-effective to work these SEO principles in during the website development phase, rather than leaving it to the very end. Having completed many successful SEO campaigns for our clients over the past 12 years, we believe that SEO fundamentals must be applied during all phases of website development and begin at the very first step when determining your website’s sitemap.

Settling for the cheapest website development quote that doesn’t include SEO is a huge risk as you won’t receive any return on your investment.

Try putting yourself into your customer’s shoes and think about what they would search if they were looking for you. It’s important to remember that potential customers don’t know industry-specific keywords and product names, so what would they search? If your keywords are too generic the user will not find what they are looking for and is forced to refine their search. These refined keywords & phrases are what you need to target to rank well in Google.

For example, if someone is seeking a custom shower screen supplier and they live in Canberra, the first phrase they search in Google might be ‘shower screens’. Being quite generic they’ll receive all manner of results for shower screen suppliers nationwide (or worldwide if searching ‘the web’), including many different products and services.

Instead of sifting through pages of irrelevant results the user will naturally refine their search to ‘shower screens canberra’ and this is a term you should target. Further, if the user is searching for something very specific such as a custom made, curved glass shower screen, they may further refine their search to ‘curved shower screens canberra’ or ‘custom shower screens Canberra’.

A common problem I see is the placement of a large volume of different keyword phrases placed on every page. This dilutes the effectiveness of all the keywords as they’re all fighting against one another. Keep it simple and remember that your time is better spent targeting a smaller group of related keywords & phrases on each individual page.

Another key point is to create individual pages per product or service rather than a single page listing them all. This allows you to optimise each page with your highly targeted keywords & phrases relevant to that particular product or service.

Understanding these basic SEO principles will help increase your chances of ranking well for your descriptive keywords & phrases which will drive traffic to your website.

Christmas eCards have become hugely popular in recent years and are a cost-effective, ‘green’ alternative to sending traditional paper cards.
 
View some creative eCard examples from previous years.

Catering for all budgets, you can opt for a simple image-based eCard or have our talented artists custom design a cartoon-style animation. The cost will always depend on the complexity of the animation and we do our very best to cater for everyone.

Don’t worry about missing out if your marketing spend is super tight this year, just ask us about our budget eCard options.

The feedback we receive from our eCard clients each year is amazing and we’d love to opportunity to work with your company so contact us now for an obligation-free eCard quote.

We’ve had the great pleasure of designing 4 holiday accommodation websites – all offering unique, affordable family holiday accommodation on NSW’s North and South Coasts.

South West Rocks, NSW

Sandy Toes is a boutique family holiday apartment complex in Arakoon (via South West Rocks, NSW). Stunning large format photography and photo montages showcase the unique cabin accommodation, stunning infinity edge pool and BBQ entertaining area. This bush hideaway offers seclusion, peace, tranquillity and is a stone’s throw from local beaches. Not familiar with South West Rocks, NSW? View the Sandy Toes website here »

Merimbula NSW

A fresh, modern complex, Waterview Apartments provide the ultimate in luxury holiday accommodation, situated on the popular Fishpen peninsular. The website features a large selection of photos together with detailed information about the luxury family holiday apartments. View the Waterview Luxury Apartments website here »

Merimbula NSW

Tuscany Apartments are located an easy stroll to Merimbula’s town centre and is the perfect destination for your next family holiday. The luxury 2 & 3 bedroom apartments offer an abundance of space and privacy. Check out their special offers for your next weekend getaway or family holiday. View the Tuscany Apartments website here »

Merimbula NSW

If you’re looking for beach holiday accommodation on a budget you’ve come to the right place! Close to Merimbula’s town centre and a short stroll to the beach, these newly renovated family units are sure to impress. View the Southern Comfort website here »

Here are 3 reasons to love designing for mobiles:

Small screens and mobile touch capability forces you to remove unnecessary elements and clutter to focus on what’s absolutely essential to your interface design.

Using your fingers to manipulate what’s on your screen is such a hugely different experience to using a mouse. We’re designing for a more fluid, free experience – no longer tied down to the context of a keyboard, screen and mouse.

We’re really only at the start of a whole new way of thinking about what we view online. Smartphones and tablets are the catalyst to change how we experience this information.

These are exciting times for website designers as we create new online experiences for mobile device users. Only time will tell how well we adapt to catering for all users.

YWCA NSW are actively involved in email marketing and social media to boost their membership numbers and seek donations – the new website is at the centre of all their online marketing campaigns.

A mobile version of the website was also created to ensure mobile users can easily access the website to make a donation or become a member; an absolute necessity for this not-for-profit charity.

“I have never failed to be impressed with the quality of work that Michael and the team produce. Our new website is a case in point. I gave them creative license to come back to me with a strong futureproofed design and they have done that with bells on…” 

Nicola Reeves, Head of Marketing
YWCA NSW

Get to know a little bit about John.

At the pub, watching movies with my wife, cycling, sitting around eating etc.. I wish there was more time for these things!

The fact that at the end of the day I feel like I’ve really got a lot done – we work pretty hard here at Sonic, it’s a lot more satisfying than my old job.

Beer, but I couldn’t tell you a specific one as I enjoy many, many different ones from lagers to bitters, stouts and other ales.

Probably my dad as I don’t get to see him much (he lives in the UK with the rest of my family.) Plus he enjoys coffee even more than me!

That’s a good question, perhaps the Cheshire cat from Alice in wonderland… I’ve no idea why.

Starting almost 2 years ago, the process has been quite an experience. As website designers, the most difficult job we can ever complete is our own website! 

Multiple mock-ups were critiqued down to the last pixel only to be discarded for other ideas. Many hours of passionate debate about what should or shouldn’t be included saw the sitemap change too many times to even count.  Also, being so busy with client work left practically no time to work on our own site so the entire thing had to be completed outside work hours…  a tough job indeed.

So we’re very excited to share with you our new website. We’ve had some fantastic feedback since going live and we’d love to know what you think!

It often depends on my mood at the time so I’ve put together some of my recent favourites to give your desktop a breath of fresh air…

With these posts I hope to share with you some of our personal projects, offer some insight into the variety of work we do and show some of the great jobs we’re currently working on.

I hope you enjoy these posts… 

Ok ok, I know we’ve been saying this for awhile, but our new website WILL be launched early in the new year. It’s taken so much longer than we ever anticipated but given how busy we’ve been this year with new clients and some very large projects, our own website fell to the bottom of our priority list.

It’s currently receiving the finishing touches and we’re very excited to be able to share it with you soon. Here’s a sneak peek of where it’s at…

The Lily Bug Foundation approached Sonic to design a logo for their organisation. Hearing about the work of this charity really touched our hearts and we were delighted for the opportunity to offer our services to design their logo.

The Foundation was created by Ben & Jamee Wykes who’s daughter Lily Grace Wykes passed away in 2009 at just 5 weeks old suffering from a rare genetic disease called Costello Syndrome. Wanting to do something in her memory, they set up the Lily Grace Wykes Foundation and in 2009 organised a fundraising family day auction. A huge success, they raised $50,000 and were able to purchase two new neonatal intensive care beds for the Grace Ward at The Westmead Children’s Hospital (where Lily passed away). The foundation is planning to continue their fundraising efforts in 2011.

We wish them all the very best.

If you’d like to make a donation you can do so at the Commonwealth Bank (Lily Grace Wykes Trust Fund BSB: 062534 Acc No: 10459610)

We’ve had great fun again this year designing a number of corporate eCards for Christmas. Our ecard clients came from a wide variety of industries this year, including aviation, tourism, recruitment and engineering to name a few!

We love creating Christmas ecards – they’re so much fun and a great way to finish up the year. Our clients enjoy getting involved in the creative process, coming up with some very imaginative ideas. From the initial concept development to the design and animation, we never get tired of santas, reindeer, elves and Christmas trees!

Check out some of our corporate ecards here »