Website Builder Features

Unlike other website builder internet companies we have a local telephone number and our support staff are based in Surrey (UK).  We have not been tempted to run our call centre from India or Outer Mongolia !.  Feedback from our clients has convinced us to keep all our operations in Britain.

You instruct our designer and can have as many changes as you like until the design is just how you like it. You don't have to settle for static design either. We can incorporate animation into the top design. Anything from a spinning logo to a butterfly fluttering across the screen.

Reason8 was established as one of the very first 'build your own website companies' in 2003. Our growth has been consistent year on year. The profit has been continually ploughed back into the business. We have a strong balance sheet and so far have created over 40,000 websites (as at 2010) . We are a respected 'founding father' of the online website building community and intend to be here for decades to come.

As a business you want to look professional and present a connected, consistent brand and image to your clients and customers. A free email address such as ...@hotmail.co.uk or ...@yahoo.co.uk looks amateur and unprofessional. We will create an email address for you from your website domain name.

We want you to build your own website and we have found that the best way to help you learn is to create videos that show you, one step at a time, how to make your website. The videos are professional and clear. They are about 3-4 minutes long which is long enough to give you the information without the tedium that can often come with longer videos.

We make creating a website simple and fast and we are convinced that anyone can build a website with Reason8. However, we recognise that not everyone has the same amount of time and the same level of technical skills. Which is why we often recommend a company (4TailConnections) who can help you create your Reason8 website content.

Because our website builder technology is 'web-based' you will never need to worry about 'clogging' up your computer with new software. All you need is a computer (Apple or PC) that is connected to the Internet. We automatically add our website maker software to the program that connects you to the Internet (known as a 'browser') without you having to do anything. What could be easier !

We will never ask you to pay extra when we bring out new software. We will always give you access to the latest versions of our software for as long as you stay with us to help you make a website that is professional and effective.

At Reason8 we shield you from all that jargon. You will never have to see any complex computer code and every time you see a word or phrase that is not English (which won't be often), we'll explain what it is, what it means and what you need to do. Just make a website with your business in mind, not Internet jargon.

This service is designed by business people, for business people. If you are an individual or under 18, our service is not designed for you and we suggest creating a social networking site using myspace or facebook. We want your business website to make you money, not cost you money. We know that time is short for business managers which is why our technology has been designed in a way that makes everything easy. We are constantly reviewing how we can help you make a website in a way that is fast in easy.

Our systems will preserve your formatting and layout and present a rich text layout that is 'laced' with your formatting developed within the heart of your desktop business applications. Whether it's a spreadsheet or highly formatted Word content all you have to do is copy from the application and then paste it straight into our editor.
*** NEW *** you can now cut and paste directly from other websites too.

As soon as your image hits your website, our website builder is clever enough to know the width of your website and so it automatically resizes your image to fit. If you then want to resize it further, the image management system allows you to drag the image around your webpage and resize it as much as you need.

Ask any web designer for the biggest source of wasted time, you will probably hear that is finding the right image.
We are continually adding to our image library and at present have 100,000 royalty free images that you can safely use on your website. Finding these images is easy with a simple effective search tool.

There are times when you want to display an image in a new window. This can be handy when you don't want to clog up your webpage with large images. Sometimes it is better to give your clients the choice as to what images they want to see large. You can use our website builder to create little pictures (or thumbnails) that open to bigger pictures when they are clicked.
Reason8 website editor allows you to link to images and then provides you with a simple YES/NO option to have the new window that pops up perfectly sized to fit the image. This adds a slick professional feel to your website.

Every page that you create on your website has a security level of '0' . This means that everyone can view them. However, you can assign three levels of security 1, 2 or 3. Just click a drop down.

Our servers are connected to the fibre optic backbone of the internet. We have a dedicated network of 100Mbit lines that allows massive bursts of data to flow without any bottlenecks. You never have to worry about your website being to cope with extra traffic. We want you to be successful and promise you a technical future-proof solution.

The website you build will sit inside one of our servers (a large computer dedicated to serving your website). All our servers are housed in a world class data centre. There are 7 key features of our data centre:

We backup your website, your database and all history logs so that in the unlikely event of a disaster happening, we can get you back up and running quickly. Your server has been engineered as a 'virtual private server' which means the backup we take is a complete 'shadow' of your site. Every tiny setting you ever made to your website or email is preserved and can be recreated.

Our Canary Wharf data centre operates the same technology as the big banks. We have a solution that ensures that your new 'business companion' is available and operating with a 99.9% up-time guarantee.

We know how important cash flow is for small businesses. We were a small business starting out once too. We have never lost site of how important it was, in the first years, to keep a tight control over finances and the last thing you need are large lumps of cash leaving your business. Our website creator is designed for small businesses and are cost structure is too.

Small businesses want to get access to VAT receipts but don't want to be ankle deep in paperwork. We file and hold all your VAT receipts in a library which is accessible from your control panel as and when you need them . The receipts are designed to be printable. Just login and print the receipts whenever you need them .

Reason8 websites have a framework built for search engines. Just concentrate on adding high quality relevant content that match your clients' searches. Follow our SEO website creation guides and you have a high chance of getting great positions like many of our clients.

Even if you are a complete novice, you will be amazed at how easy it is to build your own website with our website builder design tools. Start with one of our templates or create one from 'scratch'.

Reason8 has an interface to mal's e-commerce (one of the most respected website companies on the internet). With the press of a single button every item that you add to your online shop has a common set of add to basket, checkout and view basket buttons are added and a comprehensive technical interface to the shopping basket system is generated.

The Reason8 website builder allows you to add paypal as a payment option inside your shopping basket.
Paypal allows your clients to either pay via credit/ debit cards or using their own paypal payment engine. It offers a fully secure payment page and offers you and your customer extra levels of protection through its claims process.

To try and incentivise clients even further you can even offer other items at slightly discounted prices. Reason8 makes it super easy to do this with its online website building software. Just choose an item from your database and any discount and the Reason8 system adds it to your product checkout page. When your client clicks the checkbox its added to the shopping basket.

Before creating your website you need to decide what phrases you want to get found for. This is often not as easy as it sounds: You may find that your business crosses many different markets. You may offer products that are not easily grouped. Don't worry - Reason8 allows you to optimise each page one by one, that way you can choose keywords that closely match your pages one by one.

Every time you make a structural change on your website (such as create/ delete or rename a page) we re-create your site map and then automatically re-submit it to Google. Even if you don't regularly login to your site, we still resubmit your site every 14 days so that Google knows your site is still active and ensuring your ranking improves.

We build your Google XML site map for you. All you have to do is create a Google account and tell them where to look for it . Once you have done this Google will give you loads of info about your site and help you to refine how you write your site content so you get found for the search terms that makes you the most money.
But it doesn't stop there. Every time you make a structural change on your website (such as create/ delete or rename a page) we re-create your site map and then automatically re-submit it to Google.

With Reason8 you can have your 'flash cake' and eat it. We offer you the best of both worlds. You can have a flash heading on your website with all the animation and visual effects that come with it, but the body of the website that you create - where you enter all your company information - is held in a language that Search engines Love.

Reason8 offers a comprehensive website statistics package that stores all the history of your website stats into a database and allows you to create a powerful set of charts and graphs of every conceivable statistic.

Reason8 makes it easy to add video when making your website.
The age of static text on a website that sits there like an old fashioned newspaper is over. Customers expect to see rich media embedded in websites created with Reason8 these days and one of the easiest ways to do this is to add video to your site.

How great would it be to create your own MP3 player on your website offering your customer the chance to play, pause rewind etc your favourite music or sound files. You can do this with ease using the reason8 website builder. First upload the sound file into your library (one click). Then edit your page in the normal way and choose the sound file from your library. Reason8 then embeds a sound player in your website for you.

Reason8 gives you the opportunity to add your flash effects directly onto your pages using our fabulous website creation software. Just upload your flash file into your flash library, edit your page, click the flash button, choose the file and Reason8 does everything else.

From time to time your may run out of stock of your most popular items. You don't have to worry about re-designing your website when this happens. Just click the 'hide' button and the item will not be displayed in your category page until you have replenished your stock.

Reason8 automatically displays a brochure style webpage laid out in the way that you want. You decide how many columns you want to display and the system will build a table with summary details of all your stock in that category. What's more you can sort the table in whatever way suits you and your customers best . Price (lest expensive first), most recently added product first etc. etc.

In the real world you may want to offer a high value customer a discount if they purchase a your products in bulk. Why not do the same online ? Our website builder gives you this ability.

To make it easy for your client to choose you can offer them professional drop down menus with the combination of the options they require (For example, If you offer an item of clothing in 7 colours and 4 sizes then create two drop downs that help your client choose which item they want).

To make things easy for your customers you choose how you want to group your items, You can create categories of products. Moving products between categories, renaming, changing and deleting items is a doddle.

You can choose what contact details you want to display on your website. Whether you want to hide everything or get Reason8 to display a contact map and automated form that turns whatever is entered into an email we will produce a contact us page that is automatically accessible from links on your website header.

We make sure that the website you make with Reason8 appears on a number of website directories that are well regarded by the search engines. This also has the advantage of confirming the submission to their search engine database that we make on your behalf after you go live with us.

When everything goes well, making payments by bank card can have enormous advantages when paying for our services over the web. Its easier for us and gives you the flexibility, control and security that you need. However, things don't always go to plan. Cards get lost, re-issued and bank accounts change. Just click on the Billing button and you will be able to manage your account and change your payment card yourself.