One of the fascinating aspects of my work is the different people I meet. Web designers come from a wide variety of backgrounds and typical of this was when I first met Ant Davis in the summer of 2009. Ant has nearly 40 years in computing / IT and now spends his time doing web design in Loughborough.

Have computers really been around for so long?! Well thinking about it I suppose they have, ranging from the early computers running corporate payroll through to the bigger computers of the 1960’s that were used in the space programme. Well Ant never managed to become an astronaut but he did manage to gain a large amount of experience in IT. This ranged from computer operations, programming, systems analysis and design, project management and web design and covering a variety of industries including finance, credit cards, healthcare, insurance, telecoms and automotive. I found out that Ant was involved with PC’s from early on in their development.

He set up systems for an insurance broker in the mid 1980’s where he went out and installed the hardware and software and then helped train the users in how to use the systems. “So you must have found that the experience you gained then is helping you now?” I said. “Definitely” he replied, “helping people in how to use these systems effectively was very important as their knowledge was very varied, ranging from complete novices to those who knew the business but did not really know how to use the technology. It is the same today. If I can help people to use the technology then they can use their knowledge of the business to get the best out of the system”.

I asked Ant why he now does web design in Loughborough and he told me that many people find the internet confusing and do not want to get involved with the technical side of things. I said that I know that is true, so what? He told me that he worked for Activ Web Design in Loughborough and that their aim is to provide affordable, professionally designed websites that are especially suitable for small and medium sized businesses. And, furthermore, the websites are a fixed price so that customers know from the beginning what they will get and how much it will cost.

I asked Ant that I thought other web design companies offered the same. “Not necessarily true” he told me. “Activ web design in Loughborough do not limit the number of pages on the website, neither do they limit the number of images that customers can have on their website – this is all included within the same fixed price”.  It sounded good but was that good enough? I pressed Ant further on the subject. It got better. He told me that Activ host the website for a whole year after the launch in that fixed price. And the customer could have up to 5 email addresses. And that in the event that websites were not reaching high enough rankings with search engines, Activ have a company (Activ SEO) that specialises in really maximising search engine optimisation and that doesn’t cost the earth either. “So how much does a website cost?” I had to ask. “A standard brochure style site is £499” said Ant, ”and an online shop £999”.

Well that says it all for me. If you are looking for web design in Loughborough then Ant’s your man. He has got loads of experience, he’s good at listening and he will always help and give advice, “it’s my mum’s teaching genes!” he explains. Catch him at ant.davis@activwebdesign.com , call him on 07780-115-898 or see him at www.activwebdesign.com/le11