Unique or Sheep? 5 Ways to stand out From the Crowd

It is good to see that the economy has recovered. It’s even better to see more people than normal starting up their own business.  What has got me bothered is the general attitude towards competitors. So often I have heard, “I want my website designed just like company X” or “as much like competitor Y’s site that we can legally get away with.”

Even after 14 years of trading, I know that the market is very competitive and some companies are more established than others, but you are going to have a website that’s an exact replica of XYZ company what is the point? If they had a shop, would you buy a shop nearby and kit it exactly in the same way? It offers no value whatsoever to the consumer and makes your business look flimsy and very short-lived.

But whether you are just starting out or already an already established business, you don’t have to be a clone. You can make your website unique. Here are a few steps:

1. Look at your Competitor’s Sites

Competitor websites are a wealth of information and a good place to get your initial inspiration. Visit the websites of a few of your closest competitors. What parts of the site draws your attention? What do they offer? What information do they provide on their website, that seems to be popular? What is the feel of their website?

And then piece together how you can combine all these positive features into your website. By adapting this method, you aren’t necessarily copying anyone’s company, you are merely striving to be better than all of your competitors.

2. Focus on your Strong Points

On planning any business, one of the first things you should have done, is planned, amongst a few things is your unique selling point(s).

So is your customer support efficient? Do you explain terms in plain English? Do you go that extra mile to keep your clients happy? If so, then make this clear on your website.

If you are already established, then ask your clients: What do they like about your service? What makes you different from the store up the road who sells X widgets. Here might be the time for a survey offering some sort of incentive (eg 25% off next order).

Just please do me a favour and do not say because “we are cheaper”. That isn’t a unique selling point and seldom have I seen companies that undercut their competitors succeed in long-term business. Cue a well-known phrase surrounding peanuts and monkeys.

3. Flaunt your credibility

Even with a website with unique content and all these good points about your business, how further can we prove your company a long-term establishment and not another flimsy site that’s here one minute and gone the next?

• Membership from professional bodies related to your industry. It is standard practice for these organisations to provide you with their logo/badge to use on your website
• Accreditations These could also be from professional bodies or could even be a management standard or a general seal of approval that you may have received.
• Customer reviews Do you have good snippets of comments from satisfied customers? Or an online review system on your site (especially for shopping websites)
• Photo of your shop/building. It sounds basic but with so many websites popping up for the same sector, bricks and mortar reassures potential clients that you are a genuine business. As a classic example: one of my clients had their website re-designed to the extent where the image of their premises was somehow discarded. 1 month later while we were working out why they had no sales, they realised this image had made all the difference. Within one week of adding it back on, sales had picked up again.

I received a lovely giftbox from my satisfied clients, myperfectgiftbox.com

The contents of the beautiful gift I received from a satisfied client (the chocolates were bliss and the candle still smells gorgeous)

4. Get Social

Connecting with both existing clients and other like-minded businesses on the social networks gives you a chance to engage with your audience and done correctly, gives your company a unique voice.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus and Twitter are the most popular, but picture platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest are great for portfolios, artwork and photography. All are free to signup to, and Facebook and LinkedIn have a wealth of groups that you can join and meet like-minded people.

You can save time and set up all your profiles using a social media tool such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck.
Just remember, the golden rule with Social Media: tell tell tell, not sell sell sell.

Hootsuite.com is an ideal marketing tool that saves time visiting Social Media sites and comes with a URL shrinker to save valauble characters

5. Action, Monitor, Repeat

The thing that drives me most nuts with some websites, is they seem to get to a certain point and then stop trying. Social media dries up, effort stops and then what? Hopefully not sit back and relax and watch the orders come flooding in.

The key to a good website is to constantly monitor your progress on a regular basis. What has worked this month, which doesn’t seem to be working? Would it make any difference if I try X instead of Y? How can we improve?
Also check go back every few months, and check your competitors’ website: has anything changed? have they added and improved their website since you went live?

You will constantly have to go through this cycle, but if it means you having the edge over your competitors then its time and effort well spent.

Rand’s Guide to Using Social Media to get Links

Ok, this video is about a year old, but it is still a great guide to how to use Social Media to get some much needed link love.

Rand Fishkin is renowned for great SEO and his Whiteboard Friday videos are watched worldwide by the search industry.

So feet up and prepare to be educated.

Reminiscing: My First Experience of a Black Hat SEO

From an SEO perspective, we all know that a good listing in the search engines can pay dividends to any business.

When I started back in web design 14 years ago, search engine optimisation wasn’t really an issue:  There were a handful of businesses online and as a result if you said what your company name was and what you did, that pretty much was search engine optimisation for you.  You could even get away with implying that you had an image of a naked Britney Spears on your pages just to get more people coming to your site!

I can pinpoint the exact moment when I realised that search marketing was going to be a separate industry in itself:  It was 2004 and I had been on maternity leave  for about 2 weeks when one of the clients that I’d recently designed a website for contacted me out of the blue to request the FTP information for their website.  So I gave him the necessary info, didn’t really ask any more and got on with the rest of pre-baby time that I had left.

One of my first quests on my return back from maternity leave was why this client had gone elsewhere for web services and how I can learn from this experience.  So we had a meeting and all seemed to be ok with the website – he was still happy with the work I’d done, but this other company had contacted him and promised that they could get his website a #1 ranking in Google and all he needed to do was allow them to make a few changes.

The site looked ok, but I could see the page title now didn’t just contain the company name and their main service:  It just contained a barrage of keywords (using an example, car wash, car valeting, vehicle service, car valeting essex, car wash suffolk and vehicle service cambridge).  There were clearly areas on the page where the collection of keyphrases was repeated.  Also the dark navy background used to emphasise the white logo and slogan now looked dirty and I really couldn’t work out why.

I checked out the page code and almost choked on the coffee I was drinking at the time:  The same collection of keyphrases had been stuffed in every  available space in the page.  The meta tags (both description and keywords), the text description on images.  They were even contained within the comment tag!  But mainly, they  were listed as links and repeated excessively about 5 times.  That is when I twigged that was the commotion on the navy background.  I had heard the term used a couple of times before, but this was clearly the work of a black hat SEO.

Naturally I mentioned all my findings, beginning with the hidden links to my client.  I could tell that he had been speaking to whoever his “SEO guy”, because he told me it was perfectly ok because the links weren’t exactly the same colour as the background “so Google wouldn’t penalise us”.  The conversation went this way for about 5 minutes and consisted of me pretty much explaining everything they had done, until the client put his hands up and basically said “It’s my site and not really any of your business”.

For the next year or so, I was expecting a call at any minute from the same client either wising up to what was going on and asking me to remove the carnage or in a blind panic as Google had banned the site, but that call didn’t come.  In fact nothing happened for about 2 years.  It may have worked and he may have got top rankings for all of the keyphrases, but I didn’t get to hear about it.  The few times I did check, he was on that first page.  It was only when we came to redevelop the website did he mention that we could “discard all that old rubbish.”

I wouldn’t say that my experience with this client was my sole reason for what I did next, but I was determined that there was not going to be a repeat performance: During that two years, I took the time to re-educate myself on how to optimise a website without the need for trickery (White Hat SEO).  I read books, websites, went through the training guides for SEO software, joined SEO forums, subscribed to SEO newsletters and even got the chance to attend SES London one year free of charge in exchange for a few articles.

In the early days of SEO, where both black hat and white hat seemed to work, it could be quite discouraging:  One week you could be in the top 10 of Google for your main keyphrase, only to lose places the following week when a new site would pop up on the top spot, using every dirty trick in the book, and created by a kid contactable only via his Xbox (I’m not joking).  But I am glad that I stuck to genuine SEO as things have certainly changed for the better.

Black Hat SEO companies sadly do still exist and still make false promises to anyone gullible enough to believe them (not many thankfully).  They also still find new ways to trick the system.  Luckily the search engines are quick to find and penalise them.

The client that I am referring to shall remain anonymous and has since retired.  Sadly I never got to thank him for the whole experience.

Heart Bleed and How to not fall foul of it

It has certainly been an interesting last couple of weeks in the technology world. A bug was found in the code of a popular SSL encryption program used by about 66% of the internet. Pretty scary stuff.

Armand Valdes at Mashable.com explains this in very simple terms:

Luckily it wasn’t a potential hacker that spotted this flaw, it was the researchers. Luckily the issue was remedied with a security patch. Even more luckily, the major companies that use the encryption software have applied this patch quickly.

But the problem is not resolved yet. As I said earlier, a lot of websites have been affected by this flaw and this includes email setups, social networks, banks and websites that are used every day:

• Facebook
• Google (which also includes YouTube, Google Mail and Google Play and Google Apps)
• Twitter
• Pinterest

Someone has already been arrested for attempting to steal compromised data from the Canadian IRS: http://www.christianpost.com/news/man-charged-in-heartbleed-attack-virus-compromised-canadian-irs-118121/ Therefore you should, without delay, go through http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/, and see which websites affect you and change your passwords. Even if you haven’t included payment details, your personal information is still there for the taking.

Just a quick word on passwords

It is a pain changing passwords and trying to remember them, but to keep things running as smoothly as possible, here’s a few tips:

• Get smart with passwords Since the start of this year there has been an increase in attempts to log into WordPress admin sites with an easy to guess password (eg 12345, etc). Surely these people (I use the term loosely) must have got lucky a few times otherwise why are they bothering? : Ideally your password should contain a number, an upper case letter and a special character (&, #, etc). Some websites have their own advice on what is acceptable.

• Dont ever ever ever use the same password for all your profiles This is beyond stupid, its dangerous. If one person compromises your data, then you’re pretty much making it easy for them to hack into every other account you have. Have a few good passwords in circulation.

• Use a Password Manager software You shouldn’t write down your passwords on paper or in a book: Bits of paper get lost. However there are enough Password Manager software both free and paid versions. http://keepass.info/ or Microsoft’s own version http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=31326. Alternatively check out your PC security software to see if they already include Password manager software. Norton offer Identity Safe (https://identitysafe.norton.com/) and McAfee All Access Security http://home.mcafee.com/store/all-access-security

So no excuses, change your passwords and have a nice rest of the day.

Is your shop ready for Christmas?

Every year, roughly around the last week of July, Harrods, open up their Seasonal department selling hampers and goods ready for Christmas.  The unveiling of the Christmas shopfront gets a mention as well if it’s a particularly good one.

It does seem peculiar that while we are basking in the soaring temperatures, and looking forward to the Summer holidays, the Marketing Department at Harrods are deciding on the best champagne to offer the super-rich in their £20,000 Christmas hamper (yes you did read that figure correctly!).

On writing this article, we are just approaching the end of September and just like every other year: daytime TV commercials are mainly for toys and most of the supermarkets and stores have a small seasonal department that will only get larger from now until December.  The websites of the popular High Street stores haven’t got their Christmas decorations up on or offline yet.  But give it another month and each one will have a prominent Christmas section in place.

As with every year, DVH Design, is currently working on a couple of ecommerce websites that have a deadline to be up and running to take Christmas orders, but they should already be online taking orders by then.

Let me give you an example:  Tracey, one of my Facebook friends, boldly announced on 11 September that she has already got her presents wrapped up and ready for Christmas and was just about to start writing her Christmas cards.

I don’t even consider any preparations for Christmas until after my birthday (which is exactly 5 weeks before Christmas).   But I guarantee almost everyone knows one person who leaves their Christmas shopping until the last minute.  

So judging from general feedback, the average shopper does their Christmas shopping around mid-November.  But your online shop needs to be ready before September.  This way you not only get the Deb’s, Vicky’s and Andy’s, but also the Tracey’s and Michelle’s.

But  it doesn’t stop there:  Just like Christmas itself, you need to prepare at least a month or so before anyone arrives at your shop.  After all, how do they find your store in the first place?

Seasonal Keyphrases:  Just like with any other time of the year, you should compile a list of keyphrases that your target market audience is likely to be searching for.  For example, a dressmaker may rely on a phrase such as christmas party dresses whereas a store specialising in onesies would adopt a more problem/solution apparoach eg christmas gifts for teenage boys.  A good tool for this, is Google Trends or if you have a Google Account, try the Adwords Keyword Planner tool  (you don’t have to sign up for a CPC account).

Google Trends show a steady seasonal line for Christmas party dresses

Content:  Having a good idea of which keyphrases to use is a good start. but you really need to include Christmas categories in your shop, indicate that you’re now taking orders for Christmas.  Maybe later on around October/November, take this up a notch and emphasise Christmas more on your home page and include information such as the latest day/time for orders to ensure delivery by Christmas Eve.  This not only gives the search engines time to crawl your site and list your seasonal changes but also indicates to your visitors that they have come to the right place and their search hasn’t been in vain.

Amazon have a Christmas delivery page set up

And even Harrods are now taking orders for Christmas hampers (circled)

Advertising campaigns:   Cost-per-click or paid advertising campaigns should also reflect  the holiday season early on.  You should also set up a separate seasonal advertising campaign to run simultaneously with your everyday one.

In my humble opinion, it is bizarre to begin thinking about Christmas during a heatwave (even a bit depressing), but then again Harrods are a very successful brand and a source of inspiration amongst retailers.  Where they set the initial benchmark, other stores follow.  So what are you waiting for?

Seek & Destroy Conduit: A Complete Guide

A few days ago, the media player on my PC needed updating, so as normal I went through the necessary procedure to update it. It was only when I came to open my local web browser that I realised my default home page had been reset to Conduit Search that I realised what had happened.

Being a web developer, I have 5 browsers running on each PC that I use for testing my websites. All except one of these browsers had Conduit listed as both the default search engine and the default home page.

I cleared this up form my browsers as much as I could, but this proved to be a fruitless action because when the Browser Updater sprang into action a couple of days later, the default pages were reset back to Conduit Search and it was again listed as a search engine!

Some software websites do take the liberty of including extra toolbars in with their software. I have no idea if they think they’re improving their viewers experience or if a regular bit of commission is involved. Regardless, they did ask for permission during the download/installation process, via a very discreet checkbox that is already checked.

Looking up Conduit in Google, one of the entries labels Conduit as a virus. It is actually an adware program. Basically you can use Conduit to search for photos, videos etc. However it does collect your personal information, along with browsing history and search habits and it hijacks your browser settings. Whatever the definition , it’s a pain in the backside and should be removed without delay.

Furthermore, if there really is a hell, programmers who sneak Conduit and other such softwares should be sent to it. But that’s just my opinion.

So for the above reasons, I have compiled a complete guide to removing this pesky software for good and then a few pointers of what to watch out for next time.

NB: I do target Conduit search in this article, but this should work with other similar software. I have also tested this on Windows 7 and 8. If I have overlooked anything then please feel free to either comment or drop me a line and I will gladly update it.

First things first you will need to uninstall the program from your machine for Windows:

So click Start > Control panel

Select Programs and Features

Right click the program and select Uninstall

That at least stops the PC updating it and re-installing it onto your browser.  After which just run a quick search on Conduit.  Sometimes more than one program will install itself, so searching for anything related to Conduit or conduit.com will show any further programs that will also need removing.

Next lets remove the program from your browser.  This normally includes in your browser’s search engine selection, your default page on opening the browser and a search bar.  Did I mention I had 4 of these little bad boys to remove?

Removing Conduit on Internet Explorer

Select Tools > Internet Options or

Click the Advanced Tab

Under Reset Internet Explorer settings click the Reset button

Check the box for Delete personal Settings and click the Reset button (read through it first to check you’re ok with resetting everything.)

This is followed by a procedure window

When finished click Close

Restart Internet Explorer

Remove Conduit from Mozilla Firefox

Go to Help > Troubleshooting Information

Under the section Reset Firefox to its default state Click the Reset Firefox button

Click the Reset FireFox button in a separate window

NB: This process might take a while for various tidy programs to run

Click Finish button when completed

Google Chrome

From the Settings icon Select Tools > Extensions

This will list all extensions currently used/downloaded under your Chrome browser.

Anything listed under Conduit click the trash can alongside it

Then we need to remove Conduit from the search engines as well:

Click  and select Settings

Under Search, Click the Manage Search Engines button

In the list, find Search Conduit hover over it and click the x that appears

If Conduit was the default search engine, then make another search engine default by hovering over it, and select Make Default

Click Done button

Conduit has also changed your default home page to search.conduit.com:

While still in Settings, Under On Startup, select the radio button Open a specific page or set of pages and click the set pages link

If listed, hover over Conduit and remove by clicking x

Click OK

Back in the Settings page, under Startup, Select the Open new Tab page radio and test by clicking the new tab

Safari

Surprisingly, Safari on Windows 7 wasn’t affected by Conduit in any way. I did search online and have found that its a different story with a Mac.

Remove Conduit on Opera

Go to Extensions > Manage Extensions

Remove Search Conduit from the list by clicking Uninstall

Close Opera browser and restart.

As a safety measure, go into the Search bar and click Manage search engines

Adware Software

Once you have removed everything from your PC, it would be worthwhile to download an adware program and run it on your machine.
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.cnet.com%2FAdwCleaner%2F3000-7786_4-75851221.html&ei=X8TfUeKSKMqa0AXv3IHACw&usg=AFQjCNGKixggWUWfjgTc4wJ-OwLikOHF8A&sig2=fy70S_mIW3krwzcLvZryIQ&bvm=bv.48705608,d.d2k&cad=rjt Is a free download that runs on Windows 7. Follow the instructions to download and install carefully and then let it do the work.

Run a System Scan

As an extra precaution, run a full system scan using your anti-virus software. I use have used Norton 360 for a number of years, but even they proudly announce that Conduit updates were safe. This bold claim may change over time (I sure hope so!), but malicious software will get picked up by a reputable virus software that is updated regularly.

There is also Malware Bytes which also removes trojans, viruses, worms and other general nasties from your system https://store.malwarebytes.org/342/cookie?affiliate=17877&redirectto=http%3a%2f%2fwww.malwarebytes.org%2fproducts%2fmalwarebytes_free that enables you to a 14 day free trial.

Prevention

Pace yourself when setting up the new software

It is so easy to just click to the next screen during an installation wizard but this is how they get on there in the first place. Read software reviews prior to downloading: If anyone has had a bad experience, they are most certainly going to alert others.

Read the download screen and uncheck the boxes. Yes it will take longer, but it takes longer to sift through your browsers and PC to remove the carnage.

An example of the sneaky tactics used I unchecked all the boxes in this case.

Regular Scans

As covered earlier, regularly run a full system scan of your machine. This will resolve or permanently remove any viruses or other particular nasties from your machine.

This will of course slow your PC down, but most virus softwares can be scheduled to run automatically when your machine is not being used (eg night time or early morning)
It should go without saying that make sure said virus software is set up to update as and when needed.

Install/setup your firewall

While we’re on the subject of protection, a reliable firewall is also a good investment as this can block unauthorised software communications made from your PC.

So there we have it. If this has helped at least one person from this pesky browser hijacker then please could you let me know. If you would like me to write up a version for Windows XP or Vista, then please do drop me a line.

Resources

http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-conduit-redirect-virus.html
http://forums.anvisoft.com/viewtopic-45-5152-0.html
http://malwaretips.com/blogs/conduit-search-removal/
http://www.system-tips.net/remove-search-conduit-com-browser-hijacker/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-firewalls

Taking Stock of Web Images

Go to any business website and chances are there will be at least one stock image, maybe more on the pages. A stock image can save you the time and trouble of taking your own images, gives a visual representation of the theme of your web pages and clearly portrays your message. Stock images can be bought from reputable stock image websites and vary in price from £1-£30.

The early days of the internet saw a lot of shameless copyright infringement:  Images were plucked from other sites and used; content was copied off other websites and passed as their own. Around 2008, the image companies said “Enough!” and began to clamp down on anyone seen to be misusing images.

The one story I tend to share with my clients when emphasising the importance of image copyright and how it can all go wrong, was from the MD of a local company: Before we got called in to help with his website (I must stress that this all happened long before we were on the scene!) He bought two images to use on a corporate presentation about 10 years ago. When he came to updating his website a couple of years later he used the same two images on his website thinking that this was ok.

Two months later, two envelopes landed on his doormat.  Both were royalty bills from the photographer for each of these images: £7,500 each or the special offer price of £15,000 for 2. Money that is better spent elsewhere for any small business!

In this case, the person involved didn’t read the small print, because if he had, he would have known that these images were not permitted for web use. This is just as big a problem as using Google Image search and pinching the image for your own use.

There are many stock photographs website out there that provide a wealth of stock photography at various sizes and formats for you to get your message across. the main two being www.istockphoto.com and www.shutterstock.com.

It is free to register on both websites and then you can either pay per image, or pay in advance by, purchasing credits (iStockPhoto) or subscribing for a fixed time (ShutterStock). The unit price does get cheaper if you buy more or subscribe for longer, but my advice is only buy what you will realistically use.

There is also www.sxc.hu which is a free stock photo website, but the quality is not always as good as the paid stock image websites. Also still make sure you read the Standard restrictions and availability first as some photographers do ask to be notified and/or credited.

Here’s a few pointers to make your credits/subscription go even further:

Check out the free section: Both websites have a free section. If you have a clear idea of the image you want, see if you can find it here first.

Read the small print: Before buying anything, take the time to read through the Website’s Licensing terms. It is a lengthy document but stock image websites do make it a bit easier for you by listing what you’re allowed to use their images for and what is not permitted. If you’re planning to use an image or graphic as a logo, you will need to buy an extended license, which does cost a bit more. Most sites permit you to use their images for small-scale printing but check the impressions limit given as this varies from site to site.

Size and resolution: Each image comes available in about 3-5 different sizes, from a small 500 pixel image version to use on a web page to a high resolution, 6000 pixel wide image ideal for posters. If you know you’re going to crop an image then buy one slightly larger than you need to. If you are only using the image for the website then opt for a resolution 72 dpi (Dots per inch) which is more affordable than the ideal print resolution off 300dpi.

Get it right: I know a lot of you are probably saying “Duh!” and slapping your foreheads at this one, but it is one worth mentioning: Shutterstock do not have a refund policy and as of 1 July 2013, iStockPhoto will no longer issue refunds for errors. So if you don’t check you have the correct image, size and resolution, it’s your loss. So just double check again before before hitting the download button.

Steer clear of Editorials: Most stock websites include images used for editorial purposes. These are found under a separate section but may appear if you are running a search. These can include, logos, people, places or events. If they’re highlighted in red or have clear warnings on their page, then find an alternative because these are strictly for non-commercial use.

Conclusion

Just by following these basic guidelines, then no one needs to receive any hefty royalty bills for thousands for an image you realistically only need to pay a fiver for.  If anyone can think of any other good tips or something that I’ve missed then please do feel free to leave me a comment below.

Google is Gospel and Other Snippets from the Experts

I really hope that by now I have demonstrated that I am an web design and search marketing expert.  But now and then, even the experts need to take time out and gear up on what like-minded and other experts are telling the world.

So last Friday I attended the Great British Business Show at ExCeL London.  Despite it actually being Summer outside,  I sat through about  4 hour’s worth of seminars, a networking board (the busy person’s way of networking) and obtained a stash of pens and a couple of toy freebies to keep the kids happy.

The seminars were the most valuable of all:  I sat through the seminars of Simon Coulson, http://simon-coulson.com/, Kimberly Davis http://www.sarsaparillamarketing.com/ to name a couple.  There were a few more, but  these three were the most inspirational.  I apologise for not remembering the others, and for not being able to hear James Caan properly, but the live feed room had the sound quality of bees playing comb and paper.

So here it is the best snippets from what I learned last Friday:

90% of UK Search is from Google.   Yes you read that right.  Google is definitely gospel in this country.  If you’re operating in the UK and not ranking in Google, then if I were you, I would work on  reversing this!  In America this figure is about 67% with Bing progressively rising to 17%.   If however, you are covering China, then don’t bother:  Google has only 15.6% of the market share http://www.chinainternetwatch.com/1972/china-search-engine-market-share-in-2012

YouTube is the 2nd most popular resource for search.  YouTube isn’t just a resource for watching Susan Boyle’s first audition or the cat that can say “No”:   It has become a resource for step by step advice, to find out more about a company or product, breaking news or a simple behind the scenes.  A lot of companies and brands have even set up their own channels on YouTube.  Jamie Oliver’s Food tube is a prime example https://www.youtube.com/user/JamieOliver.  A more recent channel that caught the news was the McDonalds behind the scenes photoshoot by McDonalds Canada https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8

94% of websites don’t work.  Now I am sketchy on this particular snippet.  I don’t think that 94% of websites have an online form that doesn’t work or their Twitter button directs to the wrong page: More likely, its a case of 94% of websites are not getting their message across.  This particular conversation stemmed from site owners that decided 2 weeks before launching their business that they should really have a website.  So cue either stressed business owner trying to put together a few hurried pages with no clear message or purpose or cue stressed web designer putting pages together for stressed business owner.  This is why I always stress that it is so important to plan what message you are going to portray on your website as soon as you’re thinking on setting up a business.  And for the “don’t work” reason, this is why constantly monitoring your website is vital.

Google has the reading age of a 14 year old  Have you ever been onto a website where you could read about 3 pages and still not understand what the company is about or even trying to promote?  People at different levels are going to visit your site from beginner to expert:  if they’re new to your sector, why scare them off with technical jargon?  And referring to my first snippet, why would you want to scare off Google?

Write well-written content that’s engaging. Other adjectives were used here:  topical, human, relevant.  This snippet isn’t just for web pages, it also applies for social media and blogs.  If you’re wanting to engage with others, and gain their trust give them something to engage with.   What does everyone think about a latest development in the news?  Note that on Social media, keep it short and snappy, on Twitter you only have 140 characters!

On social media its tell, tell, tell not sell, sell, sell  As said before, you want to engage with people and gain their trust.  As soon as you launch into a sales pitch, the trust is broken, they drop you like a hot potato and others will certainly follow.  So share things that are topical.  Connect with like-minded people,  share your content, like and share other companies’  content (Tip:  if you’re promoting your company page, like and share and contribute under your Company name)

So at this point, I bet you’re asking yourself, so why use social media to promote my business, sounds like a waste of time.  But its not all for this little snippet:  85% of people rely on online people to make buying decisions.   Just last week I had a friend on Facebook asking her friends if she should buy the new iPhone 5 or the Blackberry Z10.  I myself have asked advice about what the best family car is to buy or asked advice on getting the back off a watch.  In every case, someone gave me  their recommendation or pointed me in the direction of a handy YouTube step by step guide.  Now if any of those friends mentioned that  they followed a local jeweller that supplies the tiny flathead screwdrivers needed for getting the back off a watch then definitely would not have been a waste of time.  If you tell others, share your knowledge in your online network then in turn those followers or friends will do the telling for you.

Google is a big popularity competition  I know, I’m back on the subject of Google, but it does tie in with what I have just covered:  Just think of Google as the year book and your website as the average Joe that wants to be one of the popular kids.  If Joe is spouting rubbish and sales spiel to all the other kids then chances are he’ll be left to do his own thing with no one paying attention (and after quite a bit of abuse).  If however Joe’s creating content that is engaging enough that people listen and interact with Joe and then go on and share Joe’s content with their friends, then Joe gets a good reputation for being an expert (“hey, my friend Joe told me about that”), Google will reward Joe for and his popularity stakes will go up higher.

Test your website Whichever stage you are at with your website, regular monitoring is just the reality check you need.  So take time out to analyse your website regularly using either your web analysis software or Google Analytics.

One area of testing that was mentioned more than once was A/B testing.  A/B testing is a simple way to test changes to your page against the current design and determine which version produces positive results.  A/B Testing can now be set up in Google Analytics but can also be used in email marketing campaigns

And I thought I’d save the best bit until last so here goes:

You can get on the first page of Google within 2 weeks  which was news to me because Google have always emphasised that it is a progressive thing,  but apparently if done correctly, and with a lot of hard work and strategy, it is possible.  But you will need £2500 and 3 days in Heathrow to find out how.

Google Analytics: Part 1 (of many) Goal setup

I originally wrote this article intending it to be a comprehensive guide to Google Analytics. But as various aspects of Analytics has already taken me about 3 weeks to write, I think it makes better sense to focus on this one part at a time. So I have no idea how many parts this is going to come in, but let’s start from the beginning:

One of the key factors behind the success of any website should be regular analysis of the behaviour of the visitors to your website to see if where they are finding your website, what they are doing on your website and more importantly, are they converting to paying customers.

Every hosting company offers a web analysis software to their customers. This can give you a basic idea, of the origin of visits to your website (what country) what the most popular pages are and how long they spend on your website. Which is a good start. But to get a better idea of what’s happening on your website and how you can improve your visitors’ experience, then enter Google Analytics.

It is reported that Google Analytics is used by over 10 million websites http://marketingland.com/google-analytics-is-installed-on-more-than-10-million-websites-9935 and for the time it takes to register with Google (if you haven’t already) and add a couple of lines of script to every page in your website, its worth the while (and I should also point out that its free).

What are your goals?

Before doing any analysis, the first thing to do is to set up your goals: What is it you want to monitor on your website? Let’s say for example say you wanted to monitor how many sales you were making on your website, you would now need to add every single page in your checkout process and of you merely wanted someone to register for your newsletter or send an enquiry form, again what path would they take?

First of all, just go through the how process of a goal on your web page: Make a note of every page you visit, or if more applicable, how long are you on that page for?

To set up a goal, give your Goal a name and give the destination URL: basically the final page of the path you would like your visitor to take. Of course, this could just be one page.

If its more than one page, then you would beed to add to the goal funnel all the other pages in the process (as illustrated). When you’re done click Save.

A quick note about Events

A recent feature was added to Google Analytics where Interaction can also be recorded. Not all goals on your site include paths through your site, such as:

• printing a page
• liking your site on Facebook twitter et al
• watching videos or listening to sound
• downloading PDF’s
• commenting/reviewing articles/goods
• requesting further information
• clicking add to Basket (if applicable)
• interacting with site tools, eg a slideshow or a visibility increaser etc.

As I said this is a new development that I may have to cover in the future, but to get you started https://www.blastam.com/blog/index.php/2011/03/how-to-use-events-goals-google-analytics/ is a good place to start.

Now you have set up the goals to your website, you need some good statistics to be able to analyse. So go and get a nice cup of tea, and wait for at least a week or so. Hopefully just enough time for me to write the second part.

Responsive Websites: Is your website ready?

I was just curious to find out what the top Christmas gifts were for last year.  It wouldn’t come as much surprise, but according to Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/12/17/2012s-top-christmas-gifts-and-the-companies-behind-them/), the iPhone5 is top of the list followed by Tablets, e-readers and mp3 players.  So pretty much gadgets galore.

Gadgets are getting more widespread and why not? They are handy little widgets to have and do everything, probably even more than what the average PC can do.  Using my website as an example, the number of mobile devices that visit my website has more than doubled within the past year.

So here comes the £64,000 question:  Have you checked your website on a tablet device yet?  If not then don’t you think you should?  What works perfectly fine on a PC may not necessarily be as user-friendly on a mobile device.

There are online services where you can get a website suited for mobile devices, but these are separate from your actual website and you will have to pay separate hosting costs.  so in the long run it is probably more cost-effective to include a stylesheet that works for mobile devices.

Audit

Start by carrying out an audit of your website.  View it on both a tablet and a Smartphone (Failing that check http://tablet-emulator.org/  ). Also viewing your website on  landscape and portrait:  Can you read the text, click the links and flick through the movie?  How about the main functionality of your website:  Can you complete and send a form?  Can you shop or can you send a message?

Keep it Simple

A general rule of thumb is to declare the maximum width of the screen at about 480 pixels.  This is less than half of a browser’s standard setup.  Therefore you will need to have a rethink of the elements of your website because they’re not all going to fit onto your website.  Keep it simple and think what needs to be included, what needs to be re-positioned and what can be hidden.

Easy to click areas

Even though touch screens have eased the burden of using arrow keys to navigate websites, not everyone has perfectly thin fingers (I for one might as well have 10 thumbs!).  So there will need to be a lot of space for links, buttons and other linkable areas on your website.  This can be achieved using the padding:  and margin: attributes in the stylesheet

Upgrade your software

If your website is based around content management or is a shopping site, it might be worthwhile to the software upgraded.  Not only will this to keep the website secure, but as the software is constantly being developed, it might also include dynamics for mobile use.  It is common practice for software companies to include a list of latest features for their current software.

Test Test Test

The most important thing now is to test the website to see how the website looks on your mobile.  This can easily be done by resizing your browser on your PC:  Once  the browser is resized to  480 pixels, the handheld stylesheet will take effect and you can then see your changes.  Do test the browser on both mobile and tablet and iPhone/iPad and Android.

It sounds a bit involved, but this investment of time will be worth it and will see your company through on the next generation of devices.

How Not to Commit Social Network Suicide

One particular news item caught my eye this morning:  The story of the Teen Crime Commissioner in Kent that refuses to resign over offensive comments that she made on Twitter. In the 17 year-old’s defence, all the offending tweets were made before she took the post, but the whole scandal could have been avoided with a bit of common sense and a good old-fashioned spring clean.

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or even YouTube, social networking can be a great tool for your business:  It can be a way of meeting like-minded people, sharing ideas, asking a quick question.  But since the dawn of the internet, where you bring people together you also bring the opinionated, the ungracious and the downright rude.

Recent examples include the anti-Jew comment made by an Arsenal player;   A handful of workers being sacked for updating their Facebook saying how much they hate their work; The Gallagher brothers’ spectacular row on Twitter and pretty much everything Rio Ferdinand tweets.  I could go on.

How you deal with trolls, time wasters, troublemakers and general buffoons can make or break both your personal  and your company image.  Let’s not forget your potential clients, employers or colleagues can access your social profile at any time to find out about you and if they see your online slanging match for whatever reason, it’s not really going to do you many favours.

So how do you not commit social suicide?

Use your common sense

I can’t believe I am having to suggest this first – it seems like the best advice for all cases:  Use your brain.  If it’s work, don’t moan about how much you hate it if your boss and colleagues are on your friend list.  Also if you wouldn’t say it to the person’s face then don’t say it on your public profile.  Even if that person isn’t on your social network, their friends might be.    For the rest of us to view is both unpleasant and awkward.  Sometimes the safest course is to just say how you’re feeling or don’t say it at all.  Also steer clear of social networking when under the influence.

Keep business and personal separate

On all the social platforms  you can set up both a business profile and a personal one.  If however, you haven’t got the time,  then use filtering:  LinkedIn has groups that you can send related posts to; Twitter you can opt for personal posts to only be seen by followers you have approved and on Facebook you can limit posts to your friends and even exclude people from receiving the update.

Spring Clean

A spring clean prior to accepting the position would’ve avoided the embarrassing situation of the Teen Crime Commissioner.  Prior to accepting someone’s friend request or following someone, go through your updates and think “will this be deemed offensive?”  If so then delete the post and any repercussions from your timeline.  After all, it’s been said and not really doing much now except sitting there on your profile.  On this note a regular spring clean of followers/ friends would also keep abreast of any potential problems.

Is what they suggest worthwhile

Sadly even after these basic precautions, you are not completely protected from rants, and offish comments.  If that’s the case, see what they are getting at: Do they have a point with something you have previously suggested?  Have you said something that might have been misinterpreted?  They might not be portraying themselves very well on a social level, but they may also have a good point.  If it’s just a simple misunderstanding and that someone might be thankful that you’ve taken the time to explain it to them.

Keep your head

You can’t please all the people all the time, so keep your replies gracious.  Sure argue your point  and If it’s something you have claimed then back it up with statistics or a separate resource.  Don’t  get lost in a war of words and personal insults.  Also avoid swearing:  the English language is wide and varied.  Use it.  I’m not saying become a saint, but once you start swearing as well, you have lost that struggle.

If all else fails walk away

Some people may just be intent on causing trouble and just will not listen to reason.  If this is the case, then just leave the conversation.  It does take a bigger person to walk away.  Also remember on each network you can simply unfriend them or block them altogether.  If they were really that unpleasant, report them to the social network staff.

No more Games: Search Marketing without SEO

I got a call at the start of last week: A start-up business specialising in alternative health that wanted to get on the first page of Google for his chosen key term and the area. Not the 2nd page, you understand or the 3rd: The 1st! I gave him my suggestions and fair to say he probably had other appealing offers as I not heard since.

The problem is, everyone seems to have a portrayal of what SEO entails. In my experience over the years, a first page ranking (even a #1 ranking) has symbolised everything, from wealth and success to simply being able to rub a competitor’s nose in it at the next business breakfast meeting. It’s a great thought isn’t it to do nothing and still rest assured that your SEO ranking is bringing all the work in for you? But surely not so if it means getting in someone who can game the system.

Last year Google, fed up of the minority that constantly game the system (and succeed) came up with two major updates. Wikipedia briefly explains each update:

Google Panda “The change aimed to lower the rank of “low-quality sites” or “thin sites”, and return higher-quality sites near the top of the search results.”

Google Penguin “The update is aimed at decreasing search engine rankings of websites that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines by using now declared black-hat SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, participating in link schemes, deliberate creation of duplicate content, and others.”

Every other week if Google weren’t running a Panda update, they were running a Penguin update. If they weren’t running either, they were running both! And after every update, the SEO forums that I regularly visit were chock full of confused web owners, both asking why, and asking what they should be doing next. I’d like to say they have stopped but the last Panda update was as recent as last month.

Forbes article last week With SEO Linking Strategies, Gaming the System is So Last Decade pretty much said it all: SEO has changed. There is no longer a mythical magic bullet that gets you to the top of Google: SEO nowadays is just another form of marketing.

Sadly, “SEO specialists” are still sending emails out to any web master promising top rankings, which to anyone who is desperate to get to the top is damn appealing. The reality is that they can’t promise a thing. But when you find that out , a few months have passed, their story has changed and your bank balance is considerably lighter. In most cases, the SEO is offshore so it’s hardly going to be a case of knocking on their door and demanding a refund!

If a website is that desperate to be on Google’s first page then CPC and Google Maps are the way to go. But how can you get to the top of Google’s normal (organic) rankings the genuine way?

Long tail key phrases: You can focus on say Acupuncture in Braintree or alternative health centres in Essex, but have you even considered the more niche keyphrases? This is where you need to analyse your business. For example, why are people likely to use your product or service? Do they need help giving up smoking or are they battling depression the natural way? Not everyone searches for the solution, a lot of visitors research the problem first. These keyphrases may not have the highest volume of search but they have a higher conversion rate.

Content: You may have heard the phrase “content is king”. It is. And it doesn’t stop at merely talking about the benefits of your business: If, say you have a men’s clothes shop. The average man isn’t a keen shopper, so any advice would benefit your market would work. For example, tips for dressing for an interview or for how to dress for a first date. This shows your knowledge off, which is great for potential customers and in turn the search engines love related content and will certainly recognise that you are a trusted resource and not just playing the system.

Inbound Links: If your content is unique and useful, then other resources will give you inbound linkage which search engines will love even more. Also as touched on by the the Forbes’ article: professional approvals, testimonials or case studies should also be considered. Only use directory links & reciprocal links if they are likely to benefit your website. For example if you’re a plumber then trusted trade websites would serve as good piece of mind to your clientele.

Social networking – There are a wide range of these: Twitter, Linkedin (B2B) Facebook (B2C), are great platforms for getting in touch with like-minded businesses or the general public. I will elaborate on this in a later article but a fixed amount of time per day and a good deal of social etiquette and social networking can pay dividends.

Constant analysis and recording success: Analysis software is available on every website hosting account, but if you have the know-how, get Google Analytics in place and monitor it either every month or after a main campaign. This keeps you informed of what is clearly working for you and where you may need to make changes.

Its no quick fix solution, but with these disciplines combined then over time your website should progress and then you will feel in a position the join the majority of us who file false promise emails into their rightful place: the Deleted Items folder.