Internet Business Angels offer a wide range of services to assist your on-line business.  We can provide in-depth reviews of internet sites and software, in particular, to ensure that companies can obtain real consumer feedback and opinions before a product goes live. 

We can test your website and software on a range of systems and under various circumstances, as well as blind testing for maximum user friendliness.  If you provide a manual, we can provide proof-reading and documentation services.

Software Testing

With nearly 20 years experience of testing software from a users point of view, we are amazed at the standard of some of the software and websites available, which are inefficiently coded and include errors (bugs) at the time of release.  Many people claim that this is because there is no budget for software testing and they would rather release a program and await customer feedback.  The other main response is to say that you should do something according to the manual, which is not necessarily the most natural method of performing a certain task.

We believe that this is short-sighted - many users will not complain about software and simply do not use it if they find a specific error, rather all they do is complain about it to their friends and bulletin boards.  Certainly if you are operating a web based business and errors appear when viewing pages, many of your customers will lose confidence in your service and look elsewhere, no matter how keen your pricing structure.

Sales of software and referrals to web sites tend to rely mainly on people recommending it to their friends and colleagues, so if you provide a product which fails to impress the user with look and feel, you will lose a large percentage of your possible market.  Remember - a poor reputation spreads more quickly than a good one.

As an example of poor programming, we have come across one Ad removal tool which always downloads its update files over the internet, even if you already have the latest files.  This tends to lead to user frustration and confusion, since it ties up some of their system resources whilst it downloads already existing files.  In this instance, it is essential that this function operates correctly and quickly, otherwise it will tend to prevent users from bothering with the update function.

Our software testing rates start at £50 per hour which would include an overview of the user interface and manual, a test of the main features of the program, and installation/removal tools, as well as a detailed report on any errors or suggested improvements.

Website Testing

We regularly come across web sites which do not work in all of the major internet browsers (Netscape, Opera, AOL and Internet Explorer) or which even destroy their own windows when the user clicks on a link.  Of slightly less importance are websites which do not display or work correctly on beta versions of browsers - although you do need reassurance that once the final version is released and in wide circulation, that the problems with your web site will not appear.

We put our programming experience to good use, by suggesting (and programming) methods by which the websites can be kept up to date more readily (rather than relying solely on human intervention) and provide website analysis data.  We can test your web site using automated tools, such as internet robot simulators which can check links and warn you when links used within your website have expired or no longer work correctly (unlike some link checkers, we do not rely solely on standard error codes, but user defined warnings too).

We will normally suggest strategies for improving any poor elements within your web site and provide guidance on how to make it more appealing to a wider market audience and providing reassurance to your visitors.

Our charge rates start at £50 for a review of a short website, including marketing reports and comments on how to improve your search engine rankings (if we cannot make any recommendations, then the fee is refunded) .

Team Experience

The Internet Business Angels team draws from a breadth of experience in a host of different fields, as follows:

• Computer programming team with 15 years experience, including 68000 machine code programming, C, Perl, PHP, HTML coding, BASIC,  SCADA and PLC real-time programming

• Computer industry journalist with 12 years experience, who has written both for web-sites and various top magazines - works include software and hardware reviews, as well as beginner's guides, press releases, programmers guides, functional design specifications and general marketing material.

• Software test specialist with 16 years experience of testing a wide range of software packages from an end-user point of view, and providing in-depth reports on problems identified, how to replicate them, ideas for improvements and often providing suggested code to rectify the problems.

• Former Solicitor of 4 years standing with a wide experience of conveyancing and property law, commercial law, trusts, probate and drafting contracts and Wills.

• Technical Author with 7 years experience, writing functional design specifications, program workflows and end user manuals, including a hefty 1000+ page guide to programming in SuperBASIC.

• Word Processing Skills including use of several word processors and other documentation packages, including Word, Excel and Access.

• Knowledge of the inner workings of computers and the skills to build and repair computers.

• 10 Years general office administration experience, including use of office equipment, word processing, maintaining and devising review systems, implementing health and safety reporting systems, letter writing, database and telephone skills.

• Strong organisational skills used to create reports, agendas and minutes for Board meetings and reduce the number of errors contained in all reports.

• In-depth knowledge of accounting and taxation systems in the UK with experience of administering trusts up to £1m, including bank reconciliations, accounts, tax returns and forecasts.

• Graphic and Website Designer