Customer Stories

The Parents Association (registered charity 296593) of Grey Court School in Richmond upon Thames were looking for a low-cost way to publicise their regular car boot sale. Office Live was chosen for a dedicated website to promote the event. The website was built in an hour and links were set up with lots of free directories. Within a couple of months, over 1,000 visitors had explored the site and now it is running itself, keeping both car boot sellers and buyers up to date with all the information they need.

The North Devon Community Family Trust is a charitable organisation committed to strengthening and enriching marriage and family life. Office Live provided a low-cost website solution that was put together in a matter of hours.

Entrust Food Safety is an international audit and food safety consultancy with locations covering in the UK and France. Entrust works with food manufacturers, retailers, service companies and Governmental organisations such as the UN, providing them with systems, training and audits. The company was set up as a online business with no bricks and mortar presence. As the company grew, it found that it needed a central repository where the partners could share the business information. Entrust had investigated buying a server but this would have cost at least 5,000 with additional costs for data protection and maintenance. Microsoft Office Live, has allowed the directors to share important documents at no cost whatsoever.

Sylvia Garvin and her business partner were initially resigned to the fact that a Web site for their new mobile cocktail bar service, called Sublime, wouldn t be launched for some time as they worked to save the necessary funds. However, Sylvia came across an opportunity to try out an advance copy of Microsoft Office Live. I was able to set up and design a Web site at no cost in just a couple of hours, and I can amend it from anywhere because it is Web-based. Microsoft Office Live removed all the barriers to our new project Web hosting, Web design, domain name, e-mail addresses and even search engine optimisation. The new site has already generated lots of sales leads and is helping us to compete with bigger, more established companies.

Chiltern Opticians has been in business for over five years and employs a team of four. The group had previously tried building a Web site using conventional Web design tools but found the experience both difficult and expensive. Since moving to Microsoft Office Live, the experience has been completely different – the home page took an hour to build and further pages will follow soon. In order to drive traffic to the Web site, Chiltern Opticians has been using Microsoft adCenter to buy MSN keywords. Chiltern Opticians has found this a very simple, low-cost way to attract customers and is already reaping the rewards with a number of customers mentioning they'd used the site to get in touch.

Fully Vetted is the Web site of an established veterinary business that had been considering a Web site and business e-mail for some time. Microsoft Office Live made the decision simple – it was so easy and inexpensive to implement. By managing the site internally it's already saving on the 150 maintenance charge quoted by a Web designer for only three edits a year, not to mention hosting charges. Future plans include exploring document sharing and collaboration within the business as well as linking the site to the fullyvetted.com blog run by one of the vets.

The Parents Association (registered charity 296593) of Grey Court School in Richmond upon Thames were looking for a low-cost way to publicise their regular car boot sale. Office Live was chosen for a dedicated website to promote the event. The website was built in an hour and links were set up with lots of free directories. Within a couple of months, over 1,000 visitors had explored the site and now it is running itself, keeping both car boot sellers and buyers up to date with all the information they need.

Les Parfums d Isabelle creates and sells couture and natural perfumes based on the ancient French methods of natural perfumery. Creative perfumer and owner, Isabelle Gellé was looking for a way to promote her creations and inform clients and visitors about the trends of natural fragrances without spending a fortune on an e-Commerce website. Through the user friendly web design tools offered by Microsoft Office Live Small Business and thanks to the community support forum, she set up her 'shopping mall' in a matter of a few hours, choosing the theme and colours to give a professional look to her website. Search engine optimisation is working well, providing a growing number of visitors with an excellent conversion rate. The majority of sales are generated through the website, along with a high number of serious commercial enquiries.

Annie Trayhurn's company, Pink's Green Cleaning provides eco-friendly domestic cleaning services in the town of Norwich. After initially advertising the service through paper fliers and word-of-mouth, a clear need arose to establish an online presence to increase the customer base. She says: I couldn't afford the ongoing costs of a hosted Web site, but a friend told me about Microsoft Office Live Small Business. In just a few hours, Annie had signed up to the service, chosen her company domain name, and designed the Pink's Green Cleaning Web site. She has also taken advantage of Office Live Small Business search engine optimisation, registering with a number of different search directories which is increasing traffic to her site.

Philip Stevens Photography is based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and specialises in baby, children and family lifestyle portraits that are not only full of life and character but also capture a lasting reminder of a particular moment in time. Philip set up his Office Live Small Business website in early 2007, finding it very straightforward to use and update, whilst also keeping costs to a minimum.

Basham Business Communications is a new type of marketing agency, designed to be lean and efficient, delivering high quality results to clients whilst also extending their marketing budgets. Owner Andrew Basham originally set up the Office Live website whilst living the US, and on returning to the UK engaged a local web designer to give the site a complete makeover. The structure of the company is such that the experienced Business Communications specialists all tend to work in different places, so need to be able to collaborate on projects from home, customer premises and other remote locations. The combination of an Office Live website, Email accounts, Workspaces and Outlook with Business Contact Manager gives the company everything it needs to effectively market the business and to keep in touch with clients and business associates.

BowShot is an active community of high-performance entrepreneurs in Dorset and Hampshire who meet together for mutual inspiration, challenge and support. BowShot operates a matrix of groups offering support for high growth organisations, those in the post-floatation or sale phase and also for those trading out of difficulty. Formed this year, the Microsoft Office Live site has already placed them on the first page of popular search engines.

Dominic Kaye is a tribute artist specialising in The Rat Pack, Swing and Neil Diamond songs. He was looking for ways to maximise his promotion at low cost and discovered an Office Live website was the perfect solution. Dominic now receives a significant number of enquiries from the website, also benefitting from top rankings on popular search engines. The website not only lists his extensive repertoire of songs, but also provides MP3 files for prospective customers to listen   to.

Based in East Renfrewshire, JDC Express offers a total courier solutions service. The philosophy of the company is that communications is key to lasting business relationships, so there’s a real focus on keeping customers informed about the progress of their deliveries. “We set up the JDC Express website using Office Live Small Business in a very short time, and we like the way it helps us to continually enhance the services we offer, whilst keeping our pricing realistic” says Managing Director John Duffy.

Plasma Perfect is a small Audio Visual installation company located in the West Midlands, aiming to offer the ultimate, customised service to enhance the home entertainment experience. Office Live Small Business was selected for the Plasma Perfect website as it was easy to use, low cost and quickly delivered good rankings on all the popular search engines. Office Live also enables Plasma Perfect to showcase previous work as photos can be uploaded to the site with ease.

Web2Consultant is an online consulting site set up by Chris Wray, an experienced business consultant offering advice to professional service providers on the impact of Web 2.0. Chris is using Microsoft Office Live to work with clients online and see how Web 2.0 concepts such as "software as a service" and "Web components" work in practice. The site includes presence indicators, an online survey, and many ways to make contact online. Chris is hoping to build interest in the concept of Professional 2.0 and by moving individuals online reduce "professional miles".

Exmouth RFC is one of the UK s oldest rugby clubs, based in the South West. The club has maintained a website since 2001, but found the traditional methods of website hosting and maintenance were a barrier to keeping information up-to-date and fresh. The web-based approach of Microsoft Office Live Small Business means the website can now be updated by anyone from anywhere, leading to more relevant news stories which are updated more frequently. This has resulted in a clear increase in visitors to the website, which is now used to actively communicate with the club members, promote items in the Club Shop, attract new players to rugby and connect with former players in the UK and around the world.

John Goss-Smith is a British racing car driver who graduated from the Silverstone Motorsports Academy, has raced in the Star of Silverstone Single Seater series and is working towards a Formula Palmer Audi drive. John chose Office Live as the basis for his website because he was looking for a low-cost solution that was easy and flexible to use. He used Expression Web to build the pages offline and then uploaded them into the free Office Live hosting space. For those with a technical bent, it is XHTML and CSS2.1 compliant and is nearly 99% CSS based, thus minimising the use of scripts.

As one of the best known fisheries in the South West of England, Manningford Trout Fishery is already enjoyed by a wide range of fishermen. Following extensive de-silting of the lakes in 2007, Manningford is now keen to accelerate the growth rate of its business. A professional website was a missing piece of the marketing portfolio, so Office Live presented itself as an ideal way to start online marketing. The site was put together over a series of weekends, and is already appearing on the first page of all popular search engines. By analysing the Office Live site reports; keywords, metatags and Microsoft adCenter adverts are constantly being fine-tuned to ensure maximum exposure.  Fishery Manager, Malcolm Hunt has been impressed not only with the increasing number of visitors to his website, but the new anglers that are coming regularly to the fishery through the site.

Entrepreneur Andy Bick produces custom-built body boards in Cornwall, following traditional construction techniques dating right back to the 1930s. "Using Office Live to promote my product has been crucial; it’s the most cost effective way of marketing I could hope for" says Andy. "I can track my visitors and the search words they’re using, giving me a shop window for no outlay. With the capacity to expand in future, Office Live is giving Paipo Glide a future".

Fluent French provides French lessons to individuals or small groups, in the home or in business premises. The curriculum covers personal and business French and is tailored to students needs. The Microsoft Office Live Web site created by Fluent French took only two hours to set up and has already received many positive comments from customers. Future plans include offering students the ability to log into a private workspace to access their homework, lessons, podcasts and more. Microsoft small business customer management module, Business Contact Manager will also be used to monitor contact with students.

Algarvesol owners Emma and John Antunes had always dreamed of building a business in overseas property rental, but they were realistic about their ambition. They both worked full time, so it needed to be a business that could be set up at little cost and managed online, outside work hours. Microsoft Office Live Small Business offered the ideal solution. The free, internet-based software and services package gave the couple all the tools they needed to set up and manage a professional online business, including a domain name, e-mail accounts, and a Web site. Antunes says: "We didn't have to spend any money to develop the Algarvesol Web site, so we spent our budget on advertising instead. We're halfway towards our booking goal for next year, and the early bookings season hasn't even started yet. If this success continues, the apartment will pay for itself, and we will be able to consider increasing our portfolio".

This site was built by a regular UK visitor to the Seattle and Pacific Northwest area. It started as a very basic website for storing photos taken on business and pleasure trips, then grew into a travel guide to help others planning visits to the area. Every page of the site is built using the standard Office Live Site Designer tools, and now attracts a regular following from all over the world, primarily from organic search via popular search engines.

Kurekodu is a Baltic property search, procurement and management business employing three staff. Following 12 months of successful business, Kurekodu had developed its portfolio to the extent that it needed a Web site to display the business contact details and advertise its services whilst providing an up to date list of properties for sale. Kurekodu had considered hiring a professional Web design and hosting company but was able to set its own Microsoft Office Live site up in a couple of hours at no cost whatsoever. The staff has found the private area of the Web site very useful to gather and share information on properties for sale. Also, as the team is split across countries, it has allowed them to more quickly pull together information for clients. Client service has improved as staff can now securely share complex invoice information direct with clients - this gives customers a detailed record of all costs incurred in managing their property.