Exciting Changes to Quoakle.com!

Yes we can safely say that there has been a lot of tweaking going on on our directory! Tim C Davis has recently taken over the reins from Tim Coysh and is now going full steam ahead with the ongoing work. We are very thankful to Tim Coysh for his input but due to working schedules, it was deemed impossible for him to continue. Thankfully Tim C Davis has stepped into the breach. We know it has taken a long time to get to this stage, but elegance can take time to be revealed!

Sadly, Tim C Davis will be leaving for Oz in a couple of weeks time, and will be away for a few months (What will we do without him??) so, it looks like Sean and Nigel will have to contribute to the realisation of a dream... a NEW and IMPROVED quoakle.com directory!!

See a snapshot below of what is to come!

Recent Developments for the Summer

Once again, the UK will be soon drenched in wall-to-wall sunshine (Well we hope so anyways)! So, as the summer is just around the corner, we thought it would be good to keep busy by continuing to tweak our directory with adding more text.

This will give our existing, paying customers more exposure. So you will see that when you click on this page here : https://www.great-days-out.co.uk/south-west-england/gloucestershire/, and then click onto one of the advertising links, for example, 'Cattle Country', you will see a box appear in the middle of your screen with the same logo but with additional text.

Have a look at the snapshot below. This is how it will look when you carry out the procedure above.

We are hoping that this will also help with our Google listing and website ranking, as we have taken a bit of a 'hit' from the latest Google algorithm and have been doing all that we can to correct it!

Stavordale

We would like to introduce to you all one of our most recent clients... Stavordale!

Over the last few weeks, we have been busy completing their new website and have had hours of conversations with the man behind the project - Mike Moran. We can now say that his website is now finished, so we thought to show you what we have done, but first, let us use an excerpt in his owns words...

Stavordale was established by Mike Moran, and is set amongst the back drop of the Stavordale Estate and Alfred'sTower between Bruton and Wincanton in Somerset.

The business was started in early 2016, and we have been amazed at how it's taken off. Offering Field Trial Training Days for groups and individuals, using our Simulated Driven Days in Somerset and Wiltshire, further afield we have offered Gundog Training Holidays in Exmoor, Somerset  and Carmarthenshire. In 2017 further holiday venues have been made available in different locations and we have added to the Field Trial Training days some Gundog Workshops suitable for the puppy through to the older more experienced dog and handler.

Not forgetting the launch of Stavordale RAW, a dog food as nature intended it, providing a fresh meat diet for your dog. With all the ingredients sourced locally, supplemented by vegetables and special blends of herbs providing the vitamins and minerals to keep your dog in top form. 

There's clearly a market for what we do, and we're delighted by the reception we've had. So to all our customers and team, thank you.

Mike

We wish his new venture every success!

Partnering with Greenfields Garden Services

As we have stated in a previous blog, for several years now we have been working closely with Chris Snell (The Managing Director) from Greenfields Garden Services and have been very proactive in providing them a bespoke service. Some of you who reside in Gloucestershire and beyond may have seen their vans and workmen out and about.

Over the last few years, we have created a number of quality websites for them. Our latest one which is hot off the press, is Playground Equipment Supplies! If you visit the Greenfields website and click the Links webpage, you will see a number of websites. We are very grateful that we can partner with a local business and we look forward to continuing working with them for many years to come!

Here are just some of the many products below that Greenfields have on offer...

Great Days Out - Great Innovations

As the title of our latest Blog title suggests - once again we have been looking at ways to improve the usability and appearance of the Great Days Out directory!

You will see that instead of the current 103 x 103 advertising logo's that we have been using up until now, we have increased the sizes of the individual logo's. We believe this gives our directory a more aesthetically pleasing appearance to our users. We will be slowly rolling these out across all of the UK counties, but it will take a bit of time as there are dozens of pages to update! To have a look at just one of the new webpages, go here : Great Days Out in Gloucestershire.

We have been also letting our paying clients know of the new look and so far we have had only positive responses!

You will see that we are not just updating our existing clients' advertising links, but also the Counties banners at the bottom of our webpages.

We hope you will be enjoying our updates and our constant quest to improve our website!

Diamond Books for Children

We would like to introduce to you all one of our clients, Diamond Books for Children! We have been helping them with Social Media as Carole, the lady behind the project, is quite new to it all. Here is an excerpt from her website so you can find out more about her :

Diamond Books is the exciting Bible-based Reading Project that aims to develop in children a love for the Bible at the same time as helping them learn to read.

Pioneered by UK Christian teacher, Carole Leah, Diamond Books seek to nourish children with Biblical resources bringing positive ideas into their lives as well as good role models to follow. The stories will delight 3-9 year olds with the antics of several modern day characters with whom they can relate.

The vision of Diamond Books is to impart to children the knowledge of God's love and purpose for their lives - with every book being like a love letter from God to a child.

She has launched several books for children as well! One being the Creation Series, as well as the Jesus Series. Her goals or "aims" are summed up nicely here : Aims.

We look forward to working alongside her...

Feedback

We hope you have found the Great Days Out in the UK informative and helpful.

If you have any comments specifically about the website, we would be grateful to receive your immediate feedback in order to help improve the service provided for you online.

As Webmasters we endeavour to keep the Great Days Out website maintained to the highest standards but may miss seeing something which you may have noticed. Comments may refer to spelling or grammar mistakes, inaccurate or out-of-date information, broken links, or problems using a particular browser.

We are still striving to make our directory as up-to-date and easy to use as possible. Tim Davis from TCD Web Design has been instrumental in implementing and updating the website and has been a key part of the team! 

It is not always easy to keep in step with the latest Google changes. Even now we are making sure that all of our websites have SSL Certification and this can be a lengthy process. The work never seems to stop!

Below is a picture of Tim about to engage in coding warfare!

A Quoakle Christmas Update

This will probably be our last Blog of 2016, so we wanted to let you all know what has been happening.

The development of the Quoakle directory has had some delays due to Tim Coysh's other commitments, i.e, a new job which he started a few months ago, but he has been able to do some occasional work revamping the website. We still hope at some point in 2017 that the new and improved directory will be relaunched. We will keep you posted as to when that will be.

Tim Davis, of TCD Web Design, is still helping out with websites and has learnt a lot about coding and design. He still hopes to fly out to Australia in April of next year and will be out there for approximately 6 months.

Sean Cresswell is still doing what he can to help continually promote the Great Days Out directory via all the relevant Social Media networks and to contact the myriad of businesses in the UK which is on the database. It has been encouraging to see the majority of businesses keen to renew with us during this past year.

Nigel Steele is still masterfully juggling all the paper work in the office! He was able to recently affirm our commitment to providing our highly valued clients Greenfields Garden Services with an improved package. This means we will be able to continue to provide them with a top quality service and look after 20 websites and online promotions, as well as their Social Media needs. We look forward to a longstanding partnership with them.

And finally, Christmas is swiftly approaching as well as the New Year, and many will be going out buying the Christmas Turkey with all the trimmings! It is a lovely time of year when family and friends get together. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous New Year!

Affordable Website Design

TCD Web Design is a Gloucestershire based website design company. Started in September, 2015 by Timothy Davis it aims to provide its customers with beautiful, simple to use websites at an affordable price.

Tim is and has been closely linked with Churcham Website Design and Quoakle.com, two parts of a creative media team based in Gloucestershire. Over the last couple of years, Tim has been involved with the setting up and preparation of several websites under the Quoakle.com umbrella and we are proud to introduce you to his brand new website! To see some of his work you can click here : http://tcdwebdesign.co.uk/portfolio.html

TCD Web Design continually aims to provide affordable website design packages to it's customers at an affordable price. His aim is to put a customer's needs at the forefront of any project he undertakes.

Great Days Out is getting Greater - Update

This is just another quick update regarding what we have been doing on the Great Days Out directory!

We have been continually creating new topic pages on our directory. It is ongoing work and does take time, but we can let you know that we have set up the following topics :

• http://www.great-days-out.co.uk/parks-gardens/
• http://www.great-days-out.co.uk/transport-trips-tours/
• http://www.great-days-out.co.uk/adventure-activities/
• http://www.great-days-out.co.uk/water-activities/
• http://www.great-days-out.co.uk/sport-leisure/
• http://www.great-days-out.co.uk/arts-and-crafts/

This means that there will be 12 Topic webpages which will cover the 12 Regions of the UK! 

These latest URL's are still in the incubation period but will be unleashed on the unsuspecting Internet world very soon! Our hope is that we will see an increase in visitors to the directory as well as increasing our Google rating. This will also give existing clients the opportunity to have more advertising links on the website. All in all, a benefit to all concerned!

Below is a snapshot of the new #Arts and #Crafts webpage.

Exciting News from Great Days Out and other stuff

Over the last couple of weeks the brains behind Great Days Out have been busy looking at ways to improve the use-ability of the directory. It was felt that we needed more content but also more webpages.

You will be seeing some changes on the website, where we will be launching various topics on the directory. This will give visitors a more robust experience. We have already set up 'Animals and Wildlife Parks' and from there, we will be rolling out more topics - from 'Great Outdoors' to 'Historic Buildings'! It's quite exciting to see the website expand in size and content.

A few months ago we mentioned about changes to our Quoakle website too. Due to the size of the website, this will be taking a lot longer then expected. Added to this, Tim Coysh had started a new job in the beginning of the summer, so delays were inevitable. Regardless we will try to keep you all up-to-date on all of our latest news.

Finally, it looks like Tim Davis won't be going to Australia until April of next year. Fortunately for us, he will be around until then which we are truly grateful for! His assistance in these various projects have been invaluable. He will be missed when he goes to Oz.

See some of the new icons for our Great Days Out directory below...

Another recently made masterpiece...

We thought we would give you all a 'heads up' in to what we have been doing lately! We don't often get the chance to let people know about all of the websites that we have been working on, so we thought we would start by doing so with a couple that we had just recently finished.

May we introduce Kingdom Kids Club as well as Kingdom Pre-School!

We will try to keep you up-to-date with our latest and greatest websites!

Introducing...

TCD Web Design was created by Timothy Davis in September, 2015. Timothy has been working alongside the Quoakle team for a number of months now. He has been a valuable asset to our team as he has been on hand to help us revamp and create websites for our ever expanding clientèle!


The goal of his company is to provide its customers with beautiful, simple to use websites at an affordable price.

TCD Web Design is closely linked with Churcham Website Design and Quoakle, two parts of a creative media team based in Gloucestershire.

Greenfields Garden Services Ltd

For a number of years now, Nigel Steele and the Quoakle team have been working with Chris Snell, the owner of Greenfields Garden Services Ltd.

As his business was located just down the road, it was thought that we could help him with advertising his business. Since then, the Quoakle team have helped Chris create several websites as well as promoting his various businesses through Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media networks.

• www.greenfieldsltd.co.uk
• www.outdoor-classrooms.co.uk
• www.play-and-learn.co.uk
• www.play-area-repairs.co.uk
• www.greenfieldscatalogue.co.uk
• www.wooden-garden-gazebos.co.uk
• www.school-playground-markings.co.uk
• www.play-area-designs.co.uk

It has been a very fruitful partnership and we look forward to helping them get the most out of what the internet has to offer. In fact, we are currently revamping some of their websites as we speak as well as setting up yet another website!

Work on the new Quoakle website continues

Just to let you all know from a previous entry in our blog that the work on the new Quoakle website continues unabated! Tim Coysh had recently started a new job so he has been extremely busy learning the ropes, but he is hoping to find time to complete his mission! It will still take a few more weeks to finalize everything as there is a lot for him to do. However we are looking forward to seeing the final product once it is finished and we will be keeping you all up-to-date when it will be finally unleashed onto the world!

Another recent website

We usually have a website or two on the go at any one time! Let us introduce to you our most recent masterpiece - http://pronar-agri.co.uk/

Websites these days are looking bigger and brasher, and this one is no exception! Timothy Davis from http://timothycdavis.co.uk/ has been busy knocking out this website.

We will let you know our latest projects from time to time, as many of them don't get a mention.

Churcham Website Design

Churcham Website Design’s director, Nigel Steele, has been providing web services for over 8 years.  He set up local company, Community Pixels in August 2006 and began the massive project creating Quoakle – the innovative graphical directory.  Since then Nigel and his small team have been developing websites for a number of clients in the village as well as for other clients across the county of Gloucestershire.  Now launching as “Churcham Website Design”, the team is keen to provide affordable and adaptable web solutions to local clients and local businesses of various sizes.

Churcham Website Design recognises the importance of creating a website, but also realises that this can sometimes be a daunting process. That’s why our local, friendly, staff are here to help you every step of the way. From concept to promotion – we are not only able to help, but we would love to. That’s why we are such a hit in Churcham and the surrounding area.

Quoakle.com will be going through a transformation soon!

Yes, as the post suggests, Quoakle will be getting a new look soon. Over the years it has seen several changes and has been expanding ever since it first appeared on the internet way back in 2006! Since then, there has been a steady increase of businesses being advertised, as well as an expansion of the number of topics and categories on display. It is amazing to think that it has been going for 10 years now!

To bring the directory up-to-date we have taken on board a young man by the name of Tim Coysh who has been assisting us in updating the Quoakle website. We are excited to see what has been done already and we are all looking forward to showing off the new look once it has been completed! So, keep your ears to the ground. Watch this space!

Great Days Out Directory in the World's Top Two Million websites!

I can't believe how long ago it is that I lasted posted on Quoakle News... 5 months!

Well so much has been happening ...

• SEO for Australian Public Speaking Trainer, Sarah Meijer
• More Australian work for a company supplying and installing Artificial Grass.
• The first in a series of new websites and conversions of current websites to fully responsive designs - Books for Schools using the Buntington Theme
• Another Buntington conversion for the website of the Christian Independent School in Luton
• New websites for Ellis Sweeps and School Playground Markings

but the most development and growth has to be on Quoakle's UK Days Out Directory ... Great Days Out!

It was during Autumn 2013, that the Quoakle team began developing a graphical Days Out Directory for families – Great Days Out in the UK. The domain name, great-days-out.co.uk, was bought quite a while earlier. It was nearly discarded as not being needed but having missed the date to cancel the renewal, director, Nigel Steele, decided to give it a go!

The team drew on the valuable experience gained through the development of Quoakle.com, the local business directory. They used the same geographical structure, and in addition expanded the reach to include Scotland and Northern Ireland. Stephen Holdstock again played a major part in the design.

It is really since February 2015 that this website has begun to take off - particularly on bank holiday weekends and in school holidays. At the moment we are averaging 15,000 visits a month and we are anticipating a really successful summer! This growth is due mainly to a strong performance on Google's search engine. Hundreds of keyword phrases are bringing new users to Great Days Out every month e.g. try out Google for "Days out in the South West" or "Days out in the East Midlands".

Today we have the exciting news that www.great-days-out.co.uk  is in the top 2 million websites in the world - according to Alexa.com!

Today we are in position 1,976,949.

New website for RE Specialist, Roy Pitcher

Our latest project is for the widely experienced educator, Roy Pitcher. Roy is based in Alsager, the town where our director, Nigel, was brought up. Roy has been a school teacher, educator and trainer of teachers, author, consultant, inspector of schools and educational video producer over two generations at virtually all levels in the U.K. 


As a Christian teacher of religious education and pupils with special needs, he was concerned to find a basis for enhancing pupil attainment through multi-method approaches. When he became a teacher trainer he developed the concepts and practices that he describes in his new book "Jesus - a Master Teacher". Roy was soon to be launching his new book at the Christian Resources Exhibition in Manchester in October 2014, when he approached Nigel about helping him with a website.

Most of the content we were able to copy across from another site and place within the Quoakle "Mega Template" that Quoakle Web developer and designer, Stephen Holdstock, has created this year. New graphics were created and pages added such as useful links and a facility to help users purchase the book. Some of the content was re-organised to aid the user experience. 

The new website works well on all devices though is not responsive in the simplistic way that many sites now are. The JaMT website maintains the same website structure across all devices. 

To find out more about Roy Pitcher, please follow this link to Jesus - a Master Teacher.