Back to Blog

Edit text in context and design faster, with Rocketspark’s new text editor

At Rocketspark we are focussed on helping you design beautiful websites fast. As a step towards that vision, we’ve introduced a new text editor which will revolutionise the way you edit text on Rocketspark. This feature is a move away from the pop-up text block and a move towards editing your text in-context and in real time. This will make your design process faster, by seeing your beautiful typography adjust in real-time and see your website design come to life. With that, we are pleased to ...

Introducing Saved Brand Colours to design beautiful websites faster

We have created a feature which will allow you to improve your workflow and design beautiful websites faster. We are excited to introduce — Saved Brand Colours. This feature lets you save all your client's brand colours as swatches. You can then automatically update and reuse them in other places on the website. This way, you can manage all your brand colours in one place. Plus, you can control which colours your clients can use after you finish the project....

Assign images to product options—online shopping decision-making made easy

Do you have an ecommerce store that sells products in different sizes, colours or patterns (to name a few)? Do you want your customers to see the image that correlates to each product option you have on offer? Well, we are pleased to say, now you can. Introducing Rocketspark’s new ecommerce feature—assign images to product options. ...

Announcing—The Announcement Bar

Have you ever wanted to add a banner above your header to draw attention to key messages to your website visitors? Well, now you can. We are excited to announce the launch of the Announcement Bar. The Announcement Bar will allow you to engage your website visitors by communicating key information shown on every page of your site. This means you can be seen by your audience, drive action with a clear call to action and link, is versatile across an array of industries and is optimised for mobile! ...

Rocketspark Academy—online courses for business and web design best practices.

Loving and excelling in creativity and design is something you’ve either got or something you don’t. And you’ve got it—wahoo! But as many designers well know (and have experienced), making a living from that talent and passion requires a very, very different skill-set. Not only do you have to start the business, get clients, patch together some processes, but eventually you have to create and sustain a profit margin..all while maintaining work-life balance. ...

Customer Success Vision with Carlos

Today we caught up with Carlos, our Head of Customer Success and he talks us through his role, and what his vision is for Rocketspark’s Customer Success team for the new year. ...

The 5 technical elements you need to know to design websites for clients.

Graphic designers, Marketers, VAs, just like you, are designing portfolio worthy websites that get results for their clients, without writing a single line of code, or being ‘tech-y’ people.  The reality is, most businesses don’t have complex website needs that require the skills of a web developer (coding wizard). Restaurants, mechanics, boutiques, bakeries, schools, tourism attractions and so on, actually only need basic tech — the value for them is in well written content and...

How to optimise your SEO

You might be the best at what you do, but if no one can find you online, who is going to care? In this edition of Reel Talk with Jason Tiller, Rocketsparks Head of Partnerships, we cover what Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is, why you should care about it, and how you can use it to help your business....

Taking control of your Header—Introducing: Full-width Header, Header Overlay, Header Button, and Blank Template

Gone are the days when you needed to start building a website from a pre-designed template. Now with the new Blank Template option, you can start afresh on a blank canvas where the header isn’t tied to a pre-designed template. You can have beautiful full-width headers that utilise the full width of the browser and choose different header layouts, getting your creative juices flowing. Design freedom is further granted with the introduction of the Header Overlay with the first Stack below Header...

How to use line height and letter spacing effectively in web design

Line height and letter spacing are equally as important as typeface when it comes to making written content look good. In fact, if text is hard to read and not broken down into manageable chunks it can distract from the content all together, decreasing engagement and confidence in website visitors....

Two new integrations to streamline your shipping—Starshipit & eShip

As an online store owner, the process of printing address labels, packing slips, courier barcodes, booking pickups, and sending orders can take up a lot of time.  Rocketspark has now joined forces with Starshipit, to provide Rocketspark merchants with a direct integration where order details are sent automatically to Starshipit in a time-saving way to streamline the whole shipping process. If you’re a NZ Post customer, you can also connect eShip with your Rocketspark online store through...

Mailchimp wiz explains the importance of email marketing

Debbie Mills Robertson, email marketing, newsletter, online course planning and website creation specialist has owned three businesses and worked in a lot of different industries over the years.  She has used her combined skills to become Task Diva, her current business and passion. Read on to learn how she has shaped her current business and why she believes email marketing is key for online marketing. Debbie ran her first business with her husband, a small construction company, but they e...

Want world class creatives at your fingertips? Of course you do!

Rocketspark’s CEO and co-founder Grant Johnson says that when the opportunity arose to purchase The Freelance Village, he was drawn to how well both businesses aligned. And ultimately, he saw the potential to enhance what each organisation was currently offering as a service.  “We have many customers who not only need a beautifully functioning website, but also content and imagery to go with it, and perhaps ongoing marketing support. “So with The Freelance Village’s curate...

Top money tips for freelancers

Money, as awkward as it can be to talk about, is part of business and an important part, at that! In this edition of Reel Talk with Jason Tiller, Rocketspark Head of Partnerships, we cover how you can be smart when it comes to charging people, how you can keep hold of your retainer clients and whether you are charging enough for your business....

Fancy a wine? Jump online!

Grasshopper Rock is one of the southernmost made Pinot Noirs in the world. The vineyard was planted back in 2003, but the idea came two years before. Rocketspark customer, Grasshopper Rock, has been with us for seven years, our inhouse storyteller, Kyra Piccione, recently caught up with the online savvy wine makers to learn about their business journey and their journey with Rocketspark over the years. In 2001 five families from around New Zealand, who knew each other from farming backgrounds or...

Varntige, normalising doing good

For one day out of every year a local Waikato business closes its normal doors in order to open themselves up to community work. When Chantelle Good started Varntige six years ago, it was with the simplest of missions: to help business owners be happier and less stressed while running their growing businesses. Chantelle said she didn’t get into business just because she wanted to make money.  “Having a business and a team, for me, is about providing a good service and being able to give...

Human Digital Supports Mathematics Education Non-Profit

Ben van Rooy, founder and director of Human Digital, enjoys giving back to the community. Human Digital is an experience design agency that helps organisations grow by attracting, converting, and retaining customers. In late 2020 Human Digital, a Rocketspark design partner, took on Mathematics for a Lifetime Charitable Trust as a pro-bono client.  “We’ve worked with Rocketspark for a few years now and we find the simple user interface and great customer support perfect for clients who w...

Giving back is personal

Kath Boyd, founder of OMG Solutions, website and digital marketing specialist enjoys giving back to the community, especially young people who need a hand, all because of her own journey. “I came across The Acorn Project two years ago when Rocketspark put a voucher in our Christmas cards. The voucher was for us to choose a not-for-profit organisation and give them a free website for life, cost on Rocketspark.” Kath put it out to all her clients and the people she knew in the community to nom...

The website building, time giving, non-designer

Kathy Speirs has been a Rocketspark Design Partner since 2018. Although, she wouldn’t call herself a designer. Kathy joined as a partner because she was building so many websites for community groups that she needed access to the programmes our partners who design professionally have.  She has now developed four websites for not-for-profit organisations in her small village, Kuaotunu, a community she’s only been part of for six years.  “Not only do I do the design, to the best of...

Metro Marketing inspired to give from within

Metro Marketing has always held corporate social responsibility close to its heart with their Director Michelle Crook constantly inspiring her team to have an impact in their communities, and beyond.   Nikita Williams, General Manager and Senior Designer at Metro Marketing said marketing and design were rarely a high priority for not-for-profit organisations and events, so they tried to help out where they could with charity rates and pro bono services for clients including: Breast Can...

Giving has a ripple effect

When a local community group was in need of a new website up in Northland, local Rocketspark Design Partner Natalie White, Creative Director of Magic Fingers Graphics, knew they would be worthy recipients of Rocketspark’s gift-it-forward initiative. In April this year Rocketspark gifted each of its Design Partners, Magic Fingers Graphics included, a lifetime Rocketspark website subscription to give away for free to a deserving not-for-profit organisation. Learn more about the Rocketspark Gift-...

Learning, to give

A passion for learning, and the mutual benefit it brings, is the drive behind Les Huett’s community work. Empower Business & Accounting Solutions NZ Ltd (EBAS) team member Les Huett has developed various community sites in the past on a number of different platforms. These have included an amateur orchestra with a private area where orchestra members access their scores and a site for blind and partially sighted people that had an innovative navigation system that used voice prompts to guide p...

How to manage your clients' expectations

Making sure your clients are happy can boost your business. In this edition of Reel Talk with Jason Tiller, Rocketspark Head of Partnerships, we cover how to make sure your clients are on the same page as you right from the start, what you can do if they start to drift off course and how to let them go if you’ve met a wave too big to get over....

Mental health and Creativity

Not everyone is going to like what you create, but that shouldn’t stop you. In this edition of Reel Talk, we have a special guest, local creative Sara-Jane Austen, founder of Designerbloom Graphic Design. Sara-Jane talks about how you can take care of your mental health when you have to deal with negative feedback about your creative work. And, she looks at how you can manage creative blocks....

Coffee and community

It started with the need for a coffee and a place to work. It turned into a partnership that benefits the whole community. One of our newest design partners, The Renew Room, is made up of three amazing women, Claire Rawnsley, Beka Sutherland and Jayde McLean. Beka and Claire co-own the business, Beka is a graphic designer and Claire is a marketing wizz. They started the venture at the beginning of August, 2020.  We recently caught up with Claire to see how the team was getting on since join...