Kelways, a 158 yr old established nursery based in Langport, which specialises in Irises and Peonies is combining their wealth of knowledge of plants with new technology to open their market to the world. “It is fantastic that our fresh new design and easy to use e-commerce website has attracted so much attention,” said Dave Root, Director of Kelways “we have already increased our overseas orders tenfold and uk based orders have trebled.”

“We decided that working with a local website developer was key to the process, enabling us to have easy access to review the project,” said Dave “Iconography Ltd based in Ilminster provided a perfect all round solution, location, expertise and a solid business history – we are extremely pleased. Our system enables members of our team to keep the website up to date through the content managed system so we will always have the opportunity to add new products as they become available”.

This week Kelways launched a new range of historic vegetable seeds on the website. These lesser known varieties, which were grown at Kelways 160 years ago and are included in their 1898 Manual of Horticulture include a runner bean called ‘Painted Lady’ and a Salsify known as ‘Scorzonera Black Giant of Russia’. These historic seeds produce abundant and tasty crops.

Kelways Plants Ltd based at Barrymore Farm, Langport is open to the public seven days a week and offer a Mail Order Service. For opening times and online shop go to www.kelways.co.uk.

The quick-click appeal of internet buying, with its competitive prices, low shopping-miles and stress-free environment is proving to be the shopper’s favourite.

It’s a significant trend that's turning the smartest retailers in to etailers, says Wayne Robbins, Director of leading Somerset web design and build specialist, Iconography.

He said: 'Businesses large and small are offering consumers the chance to cut out the stress and buy online. This new strategy makes economic sense not just for the shoppers, but for businesses too, who can take advantage of low overheads and flexible timescales.'

The credit-crunch gloom, far from quashing the thirst for new e-commerce sites, is fuelling a surge, as retailers look for cheaper, more cost-efficient ways to get their products to market.

Recent successful e-commerce website launches for Iconography include www.farmtoysonline.co.uk , a one-stop-shop for farm-inspired children's toys.

Julia Lowe, owner of www.farmtoysonline.co.uk said: 'There’s a lot of competition in the online sector so we were delighted to find Iconography on our doorstep. They have a professional reputation for building and maintaining clean, modern e-retail websites, allowing us to reach a national market from our base in Somerset'.

Gareth Jones, CEO at Gooch & Housego said: ‘The task was to connect our international bases with a sophisticated web presence and reflect our number one position as manufacturers of complex optical components.’

The website, www.goochandhousego.com, was built and maintained by Iconography with creative design from Think! in Taunton to provide a cohesive web resource for viewing the firm’s specialist optical product range, company news, and country specific sales contacts. The site has a smooth contemporary feel, with advanced navigation provided by Ajax scripting technology and the industry recognised Prototype framework and the Moo.fx library.

Gooch and Housego’s high calibre client base spans the industrial laser, biomedical, defence and metrology global markets.

Established in Ilminster, in 1948 Gooch & Housego has kept a strong South West identity. International headquarters are still based in Somerset with five manufacturing sites in the UK, US and Germany, which are supported by worldwide sales and marketing teams.

Mike Draper, Director of Acousto Optics said: ‘60 years later Gooch and Housego is still leading the global manufacture of precision optics operating from our HQ base in the South West.

‘It was fantastic to find two West-country businesses with the capability to deliver the innovation, functionality and creative design needed to provide a crucial online resource for our global client base.’

Congratulations to Gilly Mannakee of Fleuret Holidays who has won 6 months free Search Engine Optimisation.

Our in-house SEO specialist will be working with Gilly to optimise and improve the effectiveness of their key phrases and will aim to increase the search ranking of the site.

www.fleuretholidays.com