http://chefs2call.co.uk

When we first met Lee Marshall he had a website already. He’d built it using Microsoft Front Page, and asked a web developer friend to tweak it and make it live. It was, as Lee will confirm, a fairly amateurish site. Not really surprising, as Lee had no previous experience of websites, other than paying for a sister site to be produced by a well known company to promote his other business, Etiquette Chefs. Etiquette Chefs places chefs in exotic locations around the world, from private homes to private yachts.

Chefs2Call, however, is Lee’s core business. Lee explains it like this:

Chefs2Call aims to provide top quality chefs to homes and businesses on an agency basis. Contracts can be long or short term and we’re even able to provide chefs to homes for one-off special occasions like anniversaries and birthdays through our Chefs@Home service.

Lee’s proud of Chefs2Call. Feedback from users has been overwhelmingly positive and Lee puts this down to two key reasons:

It’s about the delivery of the highest quality cooking at an affordable price. Our Chefs@Home service can have a top quality chef providing a three course bespoke meal in your own home for less than the price of a good restaurant.

Chefs2Call has over 200 chefs on its books. This is no fly-by-night business. All the more reason then to have an online presence which reflects the quality of its offering.

Process

• We started with an initial interview. During this time we got a feel for Lee and his businesses, including Etiquette Chefs. We discussed site layout and the extras he needed for his new site, and with the input of our own expertise made some additional suggestions. Following this initial meeting Lee gave us an open brief. We started by looking closely at the Etiquette Chefs website. To maximise the branding opportunities we mirrored the colour scheme with some minor changes to differentiate the sites. Lee had an existing logo which he was keen to use and which initial caused a few problems due to its format and white background. We compromised with a white header which we feel worked well.

• Lee wanted a professional contact form, and a bespoke form for chefs to make applications to Chefs2Call. Previously Lee had a simple email link for applicants to upload a CV, which Lee confessed was often overlooked, meaning more correspondence back and forth before vetting could take place. He also wanted clients to be pointed to the services he offered through prominent sidebar buttons, something missing from his initial site. Finally, Lee wanted professional copy to drive clients to his site through the major search engines, using appropriate keywords and engaging text.

• As with all website clients we agreed an initial design concept, which we placed on one of our own sub-domains hidden from Google.

• After his approval of the design, which includes moving images, we commenced with the copy.

• We placed the copy on the live site and once again sought Lee’s approval. He was able to do this from an assignment overseas which he was currently undertaking, and seeing the site design and content together led to one or two minor textual revisions.

• Once finally approved the site was made live by us in its final location.

• Shortly afterwards Lee wanted an additional page, which in this instance we supplied without further charge.

As we write the site has reached page 2 of Google, and steps are being taken to move it further up the rankings to page one, all of which has been done organically through the quality of writing and on-site Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). We value Lee as a client and wish him well in his business.