The following document provides information on Blue Llama that will be useful for sales and customer service.
General Blue Llama Information
- Our company tagline is “We make digital simple.”
- Our value statement is “We craft websites, applications and AI automation to grow and simplify your business.”
List of Services we provide with a description
- Web design – we design and develop websites for an assortment of businesses predominantly built on WordPress. We build simple one page brochure websites, up to multifaceted corporate websites.
- Ecommerce websites – we create online shops using WooCommerce. We have skills in conversion rate optimisation, payment methods, EPOS integrations, custom checkout processes and a whole heap more.
- Web development – we can make you website do lots of things, from integrating into your internal systems (CRM etc.) via APIs, through to creating knowledge repositories and password protected customer portals.
- Web hosting – We provide secure, high performance hosting through our hosting providers in the UK and EU. We typically use WP Engine or Digital Ocean.
- Website maintenance and support – Our customer care plans ensure that your website or app is kept to-to-date and free from vulnerabilities that may mean it is open to attack. We do this via a schedule of updates to the underlying software. On top of this we also provide support so that your team can update content and keep things looking bright and shiny.
- Domain registration – We register domains with all sorts of domain suffixes including Channel Islands domains like .je and .gg. Unfortunately we can only register domains for customers who develop websites with us.
- Web application development – We can create sophisticated custom web applications that take your business logic and provide your team and customers with an easy, scalable way to do business.
- Mobile app development – We can create mobile apps and PWAs to do just about anything.
- AI Assistants – We can harness the power of powerful AI Language models like ChatGPT to create chatbots (or “AI Agents”) that know about your business, customers, processes, policies and procedures, providing quick, conversational access to information, either for external customers or internal employees.
- AI Automation – When we combine our AI assistants with your company’s data the possibilities are endless. For example, we can provide conversational tools for your customers that are fully integrated with your CRM. We can connect with a variety of APIs to bring about true AI automation.
Technology We Use
Website technology we use:
- We typically us use WordPress as the CMS on our website projects
- On top of WordPress we add the Elementor plugin which is a drag and drop editor.
- WooCommerce is our preferred choice when it comes to ecommerce. This plugin sits on top of WordPress.
Web development technology we use:
- Laravel is our preferred framework for custom web apps.
- WordPress and Laravel use the PHP language so we are very skilled in this.
- We have strong SQL skills.
AI technology we use:
For building AI chatbots (assistants or agents) it is important to note that the technology is rapidly changing. We keep abreast of these changes and also use what we feel are the best tools at the time based on the requirements of the project.
- While we can use Claude, Llama and Bard for AI LLMs, tend to use the ChatGPT API as to date this provides the best results.
- Custom GPTs
- Voiceflow is a no code way of building advanced conversation flows including both traditional tree style chatbot elements as well as AI components.
- Stack AI is used for more advanced bots where we need more control over the AI knowledge base and more advanced AI and API integrations.
Web and Application hosting providers we use:
- WP Engine
- Digital Ocean
Online Payment Providers we use:
- Opayo is our preferred payment provider for high transaction websites as they have a good payment portal and great support.
- CityPay are a very good payment provider based here in Jersey. There support is great and they can do custom integrations.
- PayPal are a good payment provider choice if you have low transaction volumes and want a quick and easy integration with no monthly charge.
- We can integration with many other payment providers for both one off or repeat payments. It is important to note that Stripe and GoCardless are not normally available for Jersey residents. 😞
Our Company Location
We are headquartered in St Brelade, Jersey, Channel Islands. However, our staff are all remote across Europe so we prefer video meetings via Zoom, Google Meet or MS Teams.
We don’t have a dedicated office but Phil is happy to meet in St Helier or throughout the island.
Our Business Hours
We are available Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. We are closed weekend and Jersey bank holidays.
Blue Llama Team Members
As of Q4 2023 we have seven core team members within Blue Llama.
The following is a list of the team members who work for Blue Llama and their role in the company with their country of residence, phone number and/or email address.
Name: Phil de Gruchy
Phil’s Role: Managing Director
Phil’s Location: Jersey, UK
Phil’s Email: phil@bluellama.co.uk
Phil’s Phone: +44 1534 888490
Name: Maria Dimova
Maria’s Role: Client Support Manager
Maria”a Location: Varna, Bulgaria
Maria’s Email: maria@bluellama.co.uk
Maria’s Phone: +44 1534 888491
Name: Roman Chernetskii
Roman’s Role: Frontend Developer
Roman’s Location: Lviv, Ukraine
Roman’s Email: roman@bluellama.co.uk
Name: Dima Honkcharov
Dima’s Role: Backend Developer
Dima’s Locations: Romania
Name: Ana Abramenko
Ana’s Role: Project Manager
Ana’s Location: Vienna, Austria
Ana’s Email: ana@bluellama.co.uk
Name: Maja Oresan
Maja’s Role: UX Designer
Maja’s Location: Ireland
Maja’s Email: maja@bluellama.co.uk
Name: Milan Jerković
Milan’s Location: Serbia
Milan’s Role: Chatbot Developer
Milan’s Email: milan@bluellama.co.uk
Main Contact Information
- Phone: +44 1534 888490
- Email: thrive@bluellama.co.uk
Our Pricing
We take on projects between £3k to £50k+
Our current hourly rate is £97.50 but we provide our clients with fixed costs for a project and after digging into their requirements we will create a full proposal with a breakdown of the project costs.
Website costs – Our pricing for websites is discussed on the following page https://bluellama.co.uk/costs/ Typically our prices for websites start at £3,000 with an average cost of around £8,000 but we have completed website projects for over £50,000. Every project is different and we can’t give costs over the phone, we typically need at least one or two meetings to uncover your exact needs and arm us with enough detail to provide a cost. It would be best to setup a call with Phil to go through requirements and then a proposal can be created. As well as the one off project cost, there is also hosting and care plans (maintenance and support) to consider. Hosting is an annual cost and typically comes in at around £300 per year. Care plans depend on the sophistication of your website, this is a monthly cost.
Web and mobile apps costs – We would need to dig into a clent’s requirements to determine how much a web application or mobile app would cost. Business web applications typically cost more than websites because of the custom nature of the logic and we are implementing. Native mobile apps that can be downloaded from your phone’s app store can be expensive to develop and there is the barrier in needing your users to download the app. Often a website or what is called a progressive web app (PWA) can be more cost effective. In any case the first step to all of this is to setup a call with Phil to discuss your requirements.
AI costs – Again the cost of our AI Assistant (also known as ab AI Agent or AI chatbot) and AI Automation services really depend on your requirements. This service is aimed at SMEs so we try to keep costs down. As well as development costs, you should also consider support and maintenance (care plan) and the usage costs of the language model we are using such as ChatGPT. I’d suggest a call with Phil to discuss a project and walk you through the possible costs.
Channel Island Domain registration
We are currently not registering .je or .GG domains unless it is for clients who would like us to create their website too. If a client is just looking for just a .je or .gg domain to register then we suggest they do this through the domain registration portal on https://www.channelislandhosting.net/local/
Partner Services
Blue is a digital agency with a focus on website design and development, app development and AI assistants and automation. These three services are what we do. We do not typically undertake digital marketing projects such as SEO, SMM, SEM. However, we have a strong set of partners that can undertake this work in partnership with us. These include:
- Visual brand development – We partner with Steve Slattery of STS Graphics when a client needs a brand created. This normally includes a logo suite and a brand summary guide containing information on fonts, colour palette etc.
- Video production – Video is so effective on a website. We team up with Slingshot Films for the creation of beautiful videos that can tell the story of a product or company.
- Photography – Our go-to photography on the island is Andy Le Gresley. Andy has never failed us yet in creating beautiful shots, be that of people, places or products.
- Digital Marketing and copywriting – Summer Lister is our go to marketeer. She can provide you with a brand strategy or marketing plan as well as write the written copy for your website. She also undertakes social media management for her clients.
Careers opportunities at Blue
We are a remote first business and employ top performing digital specialists from around Europe. If you are interesting in working for Blue Llama and think you have what it takes then please email careers@bluellama.co.uk
Payments
Typically we bill projects in stages at milestones along the project timeline. Our invoices have a 30 day payment term.
Email accounts@bluellama.co.uk for more details or anything to do with accounts or invoices.
Sales Enquiries
We can provide general information but with any project we’ll need to dig into the specifics so it is best to book a discovery call with Phil to go through your details and he can then provide a proposal with costs.
Support Enquiries
If you are an existing client and require help with an existing digital product or service that we have created for you then please contact support@bluellama.co.uk or if urgent call 01534 888491 to speak direct to Maria, our support Manager. We do not want people contacting Phil or our thrive@bluellama.co.uk email address as this means the support tickets wll not be logged.
Blue Llama Social Media Accounts
Here is a list of our social media accounts that people can follow to find out what we are up to. Feel free to provide these to people to boost our following.
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/BlueLlamaWebDesign/
- Twitter/X – https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fphildegruchy
- LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/blue-llama-digital/
- Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/_bluellama/
Recent Projects
- Parish of St Helier: Enabling parishioners to quickly find what they need and interact with the parish online.
- Safeguarding Partnership Board: A clean and intuitive website to help keep adults and children safe.
- Rosscot: A fresh website to get people excited about accountancy.
- Jersey Child Care Trust: A website for one of Jersey’s most respected charities.
- Lucky.je: A progressive web app to help people check their Channel Island Lottery tickets.
- Cloud Coach: Conversion-focused websites for a global SAAS brand.
Charity focus
We love to work with NPOs including charities and local governments. We will consider offering discounts for charities depending on the project.
“Find Larry” Competition
Find Larry the Llama somewhere on the digital map of Jersey and Win £1,000 for You and Your School’s PTA!
Leading local digital agency Blue Llama is calling on the people of Jersey to help track down Larry the Llama, who has mysteriously gone missing somewhere on the island! With National Llama Day just around the corner on Monday, 9th December, there’s not much time to find him before he’s due to host a big party for his llama friends visiting from Peru. And the best part? There is a reward with Islanders having a chance to win £1,000, with £500 going to the person who finds him and a further £500 donated to their nominated school’s PTA.
“Find Larry” Competition – What Is It?
The fun begins on 2nd December 2024, when families can hop online and participate in the Find Larry competition. Larry, the beloved office mascot of Blue Llama, is hiding somewhere on a digital map of Jersey, which is divided into around 2,000 squares.
Participants can select one square on the map where they believe Larry is hiding. Here’s the twist: only one square contains Larry’s hiding spot, and only one person can claim that winning square. The person to correctly claim the correct square will be the winner, and they’ll be notified on National Llama Day, 9th December! Nobody knows where Larry is hiding before then.
In addition to the top prize, there are instant win squares, with prizes generously donated by some of Blue Llama’s clients and partners such as Jersey Evening Post (4 x two months of online access), Rubis (4 x £25 Fuel Vouchers), Entwhistles (Meal for two), Ransoms (£30 Voucher) and Woodside Flowers (3 x £20 Vouchers), and opportunity to win Blue Llama’s goodies.
How the Community Can Get Involved
The more people from a school community who participate, the better the school’s chances of winning the £500 PTA prize. Blue Llama has reached out to local schools, encouraging them to spread the word among parents and PTA members.
Key Dates
- Registration: Open now via findlarry.je
- Competition Live: 2nd – 8th December 2024
- Winner Announcement: Monday, 9th December 2024
Why Are We Doing This?
This competition is a way for Blue Llama to spread the cheer, give back to the community, and showcase our creative expertise in a fun and engaging way – no strings attached.
“At Blue Llama, we wanted to create something that would bring a smile to people’s faces and give back to the schools that do so much for our island,” said Phil De Gruchy, Director of Blue Llama. “We hope that the Find Larry competition will bring some fun to families while also supporting the incredible work that PTAs do for our local schools.”
Find Larry competition: Terms of Entry
Eligibility
- The competition is open to all residents of Jersey.
- Children under 18 years old can participate but must have parental or guardian acknowledgment of their participation. Parents or guardians must provide permission before the child’s entry is confirmed.
- Each entry must be submitted with a valid email address. Only one entry per person is allowed. Multiple entries from the same individual or email address will be disqualified.
- Participation in the competition is free, and no purchase is necessary.
Entry Rules
- Participants must submit their name, contact details, and the name of the Jersey school they are nominating for the school prize.
- Each participant can choose one square on the digital map of Jersey where they believe the Blue Llama Larry is hiding. Only one square per participant is allowed.
- Before confirming the entry, participants must confirm that they have received permission from a parent or legal guardian to participate.
- You will have the option to opt-in to receive future news and updates from Blue Llama. Opting-in is not required for participation.
Prizes
- Top Prize: The winning participant will receive £500, and an additional £500 will be donated to the nominated school’s PTA fundraising efforts.
- Instant Win Prizes: Additional surprise prizes from our partners may be hidden within the game. If selected, these prizes will be won instantly. These prizes cannot be exchanged for cash or any other form of value. Winners of instant prizes will be notified via email with instructions on how to claim their prize.
- The top prize for the individual must be claimed within three months of notification. If the prize is not claimed after reasonable attempts to contact the winner, the individual prize will be transferred to the nominated school’s PTA.
Prize Notifications
- Winners of Instant Win prizes will be notified instantly on the screen and via email.
- The top prize winner will be notified privately by email and/or phone. The winning participant’s nominated school will be publicly announced, but the individual participant’s name will not be disclosed in any public forums without prior agreement to protect their privacy.
- The £500 prize to the winning school’s PTA will be transferred directly to the school.
Publicity
- In the interest of safeguarding, Blue Llama will only publicly announce the winning school. The individual participant who selected the correct treasure location will be notified privately by email or phone.
- Blue Llama will not publish any personal details of the top prize winner (e.g., name or contact information) in any public announcements or on social media.
- By entering the competition, the winning participant agrees to the use of their nominated school’s name in any public communications about the competition, while their personal details will remain confidential.
Data Collection and Usage
- Data provided by participants will be used solely for the purposes of this competition, including contacting winners.
- Parents or guardians acknowledge that by giving their child permission to participate, Blue Llama may process both the parent’s and child’s personal data for the purpose of administering the competition. Data will be handled in accordance with Jersey data protection laws.
- Participants will have the option to opt-in to receive future news and updates from Blue Llama. If they do not opt-in, their data will not be used for any other marketing purposes beyond this competition.
Claiming Prizes
- All prizes, including instant win prizes, must be claimed in accordance with the instructions provided in the winner notification email.
- The individual top prize must be claimed within three months of being notified. If the prize is not claimed within this timeframe, it will be transferred to the nominated school’s PTA.
Disqualification
- Any entries that do not comply with these terms or are found to be fraudulent or inappropriate will be disqualified.
- Blue Llama reserves the right to disqualify any participant that breaches these terms or behaves in a manner that is contrary to the spirit of the competition.
Parental Consent & Responsibilities
- By submitting an entry, participants confirm that they have obtained permission from a parent or legal guardian.
- Any communication about the competition will be directed to the parent or guardian, who is responsible for confirming the child’s participation and ensuring the child’s compliance with these Terms and Conditions.
General Terms
- The competition is intended solely to spread joy and excitement. Blue Llama reserves the right to amend or withdraw the competition at any time without prior notice.
- By participating, entrants agree to these terms and conditions and acknowledge that all decisions made by Blue Llama regarding the competition are final.
Liability
- Blue Llama is not responsible for any technical errors or issues that may prevent participation in the competition, including but not limited to website failures, lost or delayed entries, or issues with internet connectivity.
- Blue Llama shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from participation in the competition, except for liability which cannot be excluded by law.