A Microsite is a small website usually focused on a particular product, service or geographical location. You may have seen car manufacturers use microsites to launch a new model. Usually its a flashy affair full of stunning graphics and snazzy sounds. You’ll also notice that its heavily linked from the main site and from adword listings.  Some national home improvement companies have also invested heavily in microsites with a focus on town names and their main industry keyword.

Why would anybody need a Microsite?

To answer this you have to understand the basic principle that I have spoken about throughout this website.

“Google is committed to delivering the most relevant results”

With that in mind let me explain what happens in the world of SEO and search engines. Google has software called an algorithm, what the algorithm does is look at many different attributes for each website that it indexes. It may look at content, layout, level of onsite advertising, grammar, number and quality of links pointing to the website, the age of the domain, the age of the content, the originality of the content, the ease of navigation, compliance with current standards, page load speed, location of the host, keyword density, and lots more. The algorithm is very highly developed and complex and will give weight to certain attributes more than others, it then decides how to display the results when somebody types in a search term. It will do this based on what the algorithm decides are the most relevant results based on the search term used.

So lets say that I’m a Web Designer in St Helens but I want to attract clients from Anglesey also, What I may do is buy a domain name relevant to that area and my industry and set about building a microsite to appeal to the people who live in that area and are searching for the term “Website design”. I’d make the website specific to the area with lots of Anglesey related information on there too. I may also link back to my main St Helens Website that has more content about web design. This is traditionally how microsites have been used.

So should I be building microsites?

Well just hold on a moment, let me explain further. The algorithm that we spoke about is changing constantly and here’s why.

Google is rather secretive about their algorithm and rightly so. Do a search for anything on google and look at the sheer number of results. The internet is huge, truly bursting at the seams with information, products for sale, company websites, personal blogs and much more. In order that Google can continue to deliver “the most relevant results” it remains tight lipped about what and how it weights the different attributes of each website that it indexes. It does this because everybody wants to be on page one and if Google were to say for instance “we like big red text at the top of the website” (don’t go and do this as I’ve just made it up) then we would within hours of the announcement see thousands of websites with big red text at the top.

Google once looked at the meta keywords tag in the head section of a website. It announced many years ago that it no longer gives weight to these as web designers and SEO providers were stuffing the tags full of repeated keywords. Many web designers still choose to include a relevant keyword tag as one day Google may tweak it’s algorithm to give the smallest bit of weight back to this tag without warning.

Google has an employee by the name of Matt Cutts, who is the head of the web spam team at Google. Matt often produces videos which are in a question and answer format. He’s exceptionally good at being vague because he has to be. You can however, watch his videos and digest the information they contain and keeping in mind the phrase “most relevant results” you can come away with a better understanding of what constitutes a relevant website.

So with that in mind, back to microsites. If you already have them and they are ranking then I’d suggest that at some point  you consider redesigning your main website to include a section on the area of focus that your microsite covers. I’d then do a 301 redirect on the microsite to point at the sub directory on your main website. Google likes content, It likes providing relevant results and a good search experience. So lets look again at my example of earlier.

This website has many pages and posts about Website design and SEO. It’s geographical focus is St Helens, Merseyside. The imaginary microsite that we spoke of would only be a page or two and so although it would have a focus on Anglesey it wouldn’t have an authority on web design due to lack of content. Better then to create a sub directory on the main domain focused on the geo graphical area and yet still nested within a website that is focused on the subject matter. Also, as I think we’ve mentioned already, the Google algorithm is incredible advanced, if your existing microsites link back to your main domain then Google will eventually discover that your link strategy is based on domains owned by you. This isn’t conducive to a good search experience for the end user as it is clearly a marketing exercise and not a natural linking policy based on content merit.

I already have microsites, have these been a waste of money?

No not at all! I see many clients who have bought multiple domain names and simply pointed them at their main website. Unless they intend to publicise these additional domains they wont get any benefit at all from them. If however these additional domains are hosting microsites then they will have hopefully gained some rank in their own right. Closing these microsites and pointing the domain via a 301 redirect at relevant new content on their main website will pass any “rank juice” that the microsite has to the main domain which can only be a good thing. Google will like it, your readers will like it and so its a win win situation.

If you have several domains and /or microsites and would like to use them to your advantage then please get in touch. I’d be happy to help.

You may have noticed that when you perform a search even if you aren’t signed into a Google account you are presented with your location on the left hand side. Invariably this is based on your ISP and can sometimes be adrift by a few miles or more from your actual location. This is the information that Google is using to refine or influence the search results that it returns. You can change or override the location if Google have got it wrong and this is what we’ve done here to illustrate how the Venice update is changing local website search results.

The photos below show a search for the word “Restaurant” with the location set first for Wigan and then again for Liverpool. You can see how the local Google places listings dominate the results page even though our search was for a generic term without a town name modifier. It’s not only the Google Places results that are influenced its the normal organic listings below them too.

Local web design

So generic search terms are being affected as the above examples show. This is great news  for local businesses that have a website designed to be focused on one town, It’s not good news however for national companies or even small businesses who want to rank in  more than one town. Your business may be based in Wigan but also want your website to target St Helens and Warrington, You may even want your website to target the whole of Merseyside or Cheshire. If you’ve snubbed SEO until now then you really should consider changing your mind and fast.

I’ve done quite a lot of research and conducted experiments on test websites and domains since this update. I’ve analysed data from clients websites in Merseyside and competitors websites and there are quite a number of consistent patterns.

The good news is that website structures and content can be edited and adapted to take advantage of this latest algorithm change. It isn’t a simple edit however and depending on your current website design or structure it may be worth considering that new web design that you’ve been putting off for months.

I’ve already spoken with several clients who have noticed a slip in local search positions since the Venice update and who are now looking at implementing the changes to their website that I have discussed with them. On the downside, we have no idea how long this algorithm change will be around. If Google decides in a few months time that the latest update is providing less relevant search results then it may make further algorithm changes, that said, the changes that we propose are all ethical SEO techniques that won’t harm your Google search rankings even if the next update moves the goal posts again.

Venice Update – Another reason why you can’t ignore SEO

This latest Venice update is a classic example of why any business large or small should have an ongoing SEO plan in place. If your existing website has fallen recently from some local search results then please get in touch using the contact button on the right of the screen to see what can be done.

If you are planning on having a new website designed anytime soon that targets multiple towns or cities then make sure that your chosen web designer is familiar with this latest update and can design a website to rank for local searches.

To give you an example, a search for “Website SEO” Brings up 440 million search results whereas a local search for “Website SEO Merseyside” brings up only 550 thousand results. I say only, lets be honest that’s still an awful lot of websites all wanting to get one of the ten available slots on page one of the search results.

There is nothing terribly different that needs to be done when performing SEO services for a local search compared to a national search. The focus is still on providing the most relevant information possible to the search term that has been entered into the search engine. One thing you can do and which is completely free is to register your local business at Google Places. This is just the start however but none the less an important part of local Website SEO.

If you are interested in Website SEO Services then please use the contact button on the right of the screen.  I specialise in the the following areas:

• SEO Merseyside
• SEO St Helens
• SEO Wigan
• SEO Warrington
• SEO North West

If you have a business that targets any of the above areas then feel free to get in touch for a FREE SEO APPRAISAL.

I have references available from local businesses who are on page one, usually at the top, for all their chosen search terms.

Q. What exactly is SEO?

A. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, it’s an inexact science, a lot of common sense and a strict understanding of Googles aims which you’ll hear me repeat many times on this website and that is “to provide the most relevant search results”. SEO is a huge and in depth subject matter but in a nutshell it is fine tuning many parts of a website to ensure that the pages of a website are made relevant to chosen search terms so that the website appears high up in the search results.

Q. How much does Local SEO cost?

A. Much less than you think. See SEO COSTS

Q. Can I target more than one town with website SEO?

A. Yes of course, with SEO and relevant website content you can target specific towns and areas but you aren’t limited to the number.

Q. Is Website SEO a one time thing?

A. You’ll see an immediate and dramatic improvement with an initial Website SEO edit but bear in mind that depending on the competition you have you can have anything from 10,000 to a million other websites competing for that first page position. For more information read this article about ongoing SEO . Have a browse around my website. You’ll find lots of information about website SEO, If you feel like your business can benefit then please get in touch using the black “contact” button, I’ll be happy to take a look at your website and make recommendations. I’ll also provide you with some real examples of search terms on some of the websites that I’ve optimised and let you see for yourself how they are on page one of the search results.

Over the past few years Blogging has grabbed the attention of marketing professionals around the world and has become an essential tool for businesses large and small. ‘What exactly is a blog?’ I hear you ask, well stick around and I’ll explain what a blog is, why your business should blog and how to start blogging.

What is a blog?

Short for web-log, a blog was originally an online diary or journal, a log of daily or weekly events presented in chronological order with the most recent at the top of the page. Blogs originally came about during the 1990s and became a popular way for anybody to digitalise their life. This was great for students on backpacking vacations who could now create photo blogs of their travels, expat families wanting to communicate with their friends back home, people or groups who were involved in unusual projects such as restoring an old railway line or building a narrow boat. Like minded individuals then began to link to each others blogs and gain readership. Essentially blogging was the birth of social networking and if you dig deep enough you’ll find millions upon millions of blogs covering any subject you can think of. Despite the rising popularity of blogs the blogging community was largely ignored by businesses despite some Bloggers attracting a serious amount of visitors to their blog and even earning substantial revenue from adverts placed on their successful blog pages. For the past few years however Businesses of all sizes have been falling over themselves to get in on the blogosphere (collective world of blogs) action. Business Blogs are now in vogue

How can a blog benefit my Business?

First of all you have to understand some basic precepts here. You’ve perhaps heard me say before that Google™ is committed to returning the most relevant content possible when anybody performs a search. In addition, Google™ owns Blogger™ which is a free platform for creating blogs. Following the introduction of the latest Google search algorithm named “Panda”, blog posts seem to rank much higher in search results than before. If you run your blog properly and stick to the unspoken guidelines then one of the major benefits that you should enjoy is the ability to create valuable contextual links from your blog through to your website.  Blogs have much more going for them than just backlinks however, Lets take a look.

Ask not what a blog can do for you

As odd as this may seem, the art of blogging is to not look at your blog through commercial tinted spectacles. Blogging is a selfless activity, blogging is giving, blogging is engaging your readers by providing them with answers or information. Its ok to include links to your business website either contextually or at the end of your blog posts but equally so, where appropriate you should link to other websites and sources of information. Your blog should serve two purposes and these are:

1. They should appeal to the search engines by providing relevant and original information.
2. They should appeal to your readers by providing relevant and original information.

Get it? It’s that simple. Blogs should be viewed as a way to give information away, now this can be done in several ways. Either by providing answers to problems that your potential customers may have or by informing them of new developments.  Either way, the search term that they type into Google™ will hopefully match up with the content of one of your blog posts. Once your readers have clicked through to you blog they don’t want to be inundated with adverts for your main website. You need to be more subtle than that.

How to write great blog posts

This is always down to personal preference and of course down to the type of industry that your blog is about. Generally though you can be more relaxed on a blog, This helps to show your readers that you have personality, that you are human but most of all it takes away that commercial feel that most websites have and connects better with your readers.  So, lets find out how to write blog posts that appeal to the search engines, the readers (your potential customers) and how it benefits your business.

Think of a problem that your reader or potential customer may have. What would they search for? Notice the title of this article? “Why does my business need a blog?” that is the sort of search term that somebody may type. If i’m right, then depending on other factors I’d stand a chance of being somewhere in the search results and the person reading may find the article of interest. Somewhere down the bottom of the article I’d mention that I can create and manage a blog on their behalf (whoops that shameless plug just slipped out) and they would go away thinking either, “what an informative site” or “I might contact that guy and speak more to him”.

I tend to run this site like a blog. It’s laid back. It doesn’t have a rigid structure, I give information away freely and there’s a contact button somewhere on the page if people like what they read and want a price on hiring me. More importantly however, with each blog post you can slip in some fantastic contextual links that will have a great impact on your overall Website SEO campaign. Hopefully you’ll see what I just did there?

I have clients who have blogs, some they run themselves, others have me to create the content for them. Without fail though they all run articles that aim to solve peoples problems or answer questions. The title of each blog post is likely to match up to a search query in Google.

“How many driving lessons will I need?”

“What are this years interior design colours?”

“How long will a spray tan last?”

“Can I screw into UPVC Windows?”

“How do I get onto page one of the search results?”

“What are QR codes?”

“How long should I roast a chicken for?”

“Where’s the best place to eat in Merseyside?”

Make a note of some of the questions that your customers ask you on the phone, immediately you have great blog posts just by answering them by writing an article.

Your blog can be part of your website or alternatively I can highly recommend Blogger by Google™. It’s free, its easy to use and it ranks really well in Google™ searches. There are two schools of thought about whether your blog should be on site or off site. I’ll cover that in another article shortly.

If you are too busy running your business to find the time to blog then you could perhaps get one of your staff to blog for you? Failing that….HERE IT COMES!……I can run your business blog for you, ensure that it engages readers and most of all contributes to your overall Website SEO strategy. I’m available to hire as a Freelance Blogger or Freelance Business Blogger not just in Merseyside but in the whole of the UK.

Well, I hope this has given you an insight into business blogging and more importantly answered the question “Why does my business need a blog?” Please feel free to contact me using the black button if you need any more information on business blogging or to hire me as a Freelance Blogger for your business.

Freelance Blogger UK | Freelance Business Blogger UK | Freelance Blogging for SEO | Blogger for hire UK | Blogging for Business

SEO

Will my Website SEO be harmed by poor links?

The latest Panda update to the Google algorithm devastated some Website SEO companies. Clients who were enjoying a lofty page one position suddenly vanished from the search results overnight. Crys of woe could be heard all around the land. Talk of injustice was rife and speculation of websites being penalised for poor links filled the SEO forums and blogs. The truth is quite simple when you think about it. Google can’t penalise for poor links, if it did then it would be easy to flood your competitors websites with shoddy links from wibblywobblylinkfarmdotcom. All that happened is quite simply that the Panda update removed any advantage that was once enjoyed by the websites who had collected links as if they were going out of fashion. They weren’t penalised, it’s just that the algorithm was adjusted to not pay any attention to such links.

So are back links still important for SEO?

Yes of course they are. Back links act as a vote from the linked site that tell Google and indeed other search providers that your site is relevant and approved by the linked site if you like. The link game has changed though. Like any other SEO specialist we are never told what Google or its algorithms give weight to. That said, it’s simply a case whenever you are doing any Website SEO work to remember that Google has one main aim, and that is:

To provide relevant search results

With this in mind it’s really easy to work out what links are worth something and what aren’t. Naturally several factors come into play when link building, these are:

1. Authority of the linking website
2. Relevance of the linking website
3. Relevance of the article in which the link appears
4. Relevance of the link text

And it is point four that highlights Contextual Links

So what exactly is a contextual link?

You must have seen links on websites, or you may have even created some yourself that simply say “To find out more about Website SEO in Merseyside click here” That link is pretty worthless to be honest. Although the reader sees the full sentence the search engine only sees the words “click here” which have as much to do with Website SEO as bacon has to do with Russian Ballet. It would be much better to make the entire sentence into a link but, a true worthy contextual link would highlight the keyword or ideally the keyphrase as the link thus: To find out more about Website SEO in Merseyside click here, or even better slightly reword the sentence and make the full “relevant phrase” as the link, i.e. find out more about Website SEO in Merseyside. The search engine then scans the page, realises that the article is about Website SEO and contextual links, reads the link text, follows the link to the destination URL and again scans the content and realises that the link is RELEVANT and that brings us back to Googles main objective which is to provide relevant search results. That is a contextual link! Contextual links can be useful internally too, not only will they aid your readers navigation around your website but they also help the Googlebot to spider to follow links to your other content.

You can’t “game” or beat the search engine algorithms, as an SEO specialist you wont last long. As someone who wants to optimise your own website you wont get far either. You may make short term gains but in the long run your website will disappear from the front page as quickly as it arrived.  At the risk of repeating myself. SEO is long term, and in order to get your website to page one and keep it there you have to keep that golden rule in mind when doing any on page or off page SEO

Google is committed to providing the most relevant search results as possible.

So in a nutshell, make your website relevant to your chosen subject and Google will learn to love you. That Ladies and Gentleman concludes this short lesson on contextual links. Please bear in mind that link building is only one of many tools used in Website SEO. Don’t get hung up on it as it really isn’t the be all of getting your site to rank well. Follow the guidelines and enjoy.

Please consider liking my Website SEO Facebook page or joining my Website SEO Google + circles if you’ve enjoyed reading this article.

QR Code

QR codes it seems are a new technology, it may surprise you then to learn that they were invented 8 years ago by a company called Denso Wave in Japan which is a subsidiary of Toyota. It’s perhaps common knowledge that Toyota have been at the forefront of lean production since the early 1970s and QR codes or quick response codes were invented to track components as they travelled through the Toyota production plants. Luckily Denso Wave haven’t upheld the patent rights and so QR codes are licence free. So that’s the history lesson over with, lets have a look at what use QR codes are to your business.

Can QR codes improve my SEO?

From an SEO point of view the only benefit that a QR code will give is that if you put one on your website it will be classed as new content and we all know that the search engines like new content. As I write however Google isn’t reading QR codes so you’ll still need to attach alt tags etc for google to know what the image is about. There is little point therefore of including a QR code on your website for SEO purposes just yet.  So what possible use is a QR code to your business?

Using QR codes to drive traffic to your website

In Japan and the USA QR codes have been used over the past few years by quite a lot of the big players. In the UK they have seen a rise in popularity too especially since the introduction of smart phones. Most smart phones can now download a free QR reader. This uses the lens of the phones camera to quickly scan (less than a second) the image and read it’s content. So what content can be put into a QR code? Anything you like really, Text, a website URL, contact details, offer codes etc.

With this in mind its easy to see how you can then use QR codes to drive traffic to your website. A quick search on Google for “QR code generator” will give you a list of sites where you can generate your own QR code for free in less than a minute. You can then do what you like with this image, For instance, if you still use newspaper advertising then include the QR code on the advert. It could contain a special offer or just a link to your website or anything you like! Scan the image at the top of this page. I won’t tell you what it is but I’m sure you’ll find a way of letting me know if you do

Another great idea is to get some small stickers made, maybe an inch square in size. Given that most young people have smart phones then if your business is aimed at younger people, for instance you own a fashion boutique or coffee bar etc then you could stick these on bus stops, train stations, outside colleges etc. Young people will scan them purely out of curiosity and you’ll get your message or website link across. Simple eh?

Clever uses for QR codes

I have to admit the motive for writing this post was that I’d received an email from a client. She runs a beauty treatment and therapy salon in St Helens, She was asking about QR codes and something she asked got me thinking. She mentioned putting one on her website, on her car and in her salon window. Initially I discounted the idea and went on to explain pretty much the same information as you’ve just read. It was only today however that I started to think about other uses for QR codes. I did a bit of research and it turns out that there is no physical size limit for the image. So in theory you could cover the Big Ben with a QR code and as long as you were stood far enough back your phone would scan it. It’s general consensus that you will need to use a 10:1 ratio so a QR code at around 1 inch square could be scanned at a distance of up to 10 inches away. So if you were to put a banner sign for instance out side of your premises then assuming a scan distance of 30ft you’d need to make the image 3ft square.

Ideas for QR codes

So as usual, I do most of my thinking in the shower and this is what I came up with this morning. Some of the ideas you’ll find aim at certain demographic markets. Bear in mind it’s curiosity that will make people scan the QR code so don’t take that away by putting your company name or anything under it. Use the code to promote your website, an offer, your facebook page, Google+ page etc.

• QR codes on small stickers left in bus stops, train stations, colleges, inside taxis, hospital waiting rooms, smoking shelters etc.
• QR codes printed onto the backs of bingo tickets and given to local social clubs free of charge.
• QR codes printed on the back of T shirts and given to staff (or the front depending on what you’re promoting )
• QR codes on the sides of taxis,
• QR code shaved into the back of someones hair (you’ll be amazed how many would do this for next to nothing just to be different) You’d have to have a template made to give to the hairdresser
• QR code as a back tattoo (good luck with that one)
• QR codes printed onto beer mats and given to local pubs
• QR code painted onto the gable end of your shop
• QR code covering the entire back doors of your company van
• QR code (and nothing else at all) printed onto A5 paper and done as a leaflet drop (remember the curiosity motive)

The list is endless, I only showered for ten minutes else I’d have given you a longer list!

With a bit of thought you can take advantage of the fact that most people are curious, The picture on the left fails I think, they would have been much better to leave the URL out at the bottom, They’d have got far more scans.

Hopefully I’ve given you an insight into QR codes and how they work. I know its strictly not web design or SEO related but QR codes can be used to effectively drive traffic to your website.

Internet Marketing for Local Business

When did you last see one of those large Yellow Pages? What a cumbersome waste of a rainforest that was but the reality of it is that the Yellow Pages was at one time “the” publication to be in if you wanted to attract customers. The reinvention of the Yellow Pages comes in the form of “Yell” which as a concept is great but I don’t know of anybody who uses it as most people simply type what they’re looking for into a search engine. Today the main ways to get your local business found are:

• Newspaper advertising – Classifieds, press release stories etc
• Roadside advertising – Shop sign, pavement sign, etc at your premises
• Internet Marketing – Website, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc

Google Places now exists for local businesses, this is essentially a local search designed to deliver relevant results to anyone in a specific location who is searching for a product or service locally.  This has been introduced as a result of Google being aware that more and more people turn to the internet when they are looking for a local product or service.

Some of my clients don’t advertise at all, they get all their enquiries now from the internet. Other clients have reduced their advertising spend dramatically as the enquiries from newspapers were less and less and the enquiries from their website increased.

I have a client in the home improvement sector, their home improvement website produces 70 enquiries per week in  the North West. Only a few years ago they were spending 1000s per week on local newspaper advertising in so many different towns across the North West region. Now their website appears on page one for so many local searches  and is the main source of enquiries. You can read about them here.

Websites for local business are as essential as a telephone

It’s not only those local businesses that are used to placing adverts in newspapers and directories that are now seeing the benefit of having  a website designed. I’ve designed websites for pubs  who lets be honest have had a rough ride the past few years. First the smoking ban then the recession and also an increase in VAT. It’s no wonder that we’re seeing so many pubs boarded up these days. I’ve worked closely with one Pub in St Helens who first had me design a website for them, since then in addition i’ve created a facebook and twitter account and both the website and facebook page is updated every few days to keep their customers engaged. Their customers regularly interact with them online and are kept up to date with news of what’s on and offers. They have an interactive online menu and they are busier now than they were before the smoking ban. Their website ranks page one for pretty much any search term you can think of that applies to them and their business. The Landlady has kindly allowed me to publish the following testimonial.

“Times as a publican are hard, however perhaps the single most important thing we have done over the past two years is to meet Steve from G Wiz. Before that I suppose like many other publicans we’d tried newspaper adverts, banners, and pretty much anything to keep us busy. The idea of websites for local business like our pub hadn’t really entered into our mind. We met Steve and he discussed with us what we wanted to achieve and what we could achieve. Neither of us are technically minded and so we simply had to trust in him. Steve designed a website for our Pub in St Helens and also put the pub on Facebook. Since then we have seen a huge increase in trade. We have new faces appear for a meal each week as they have found us on the internet. Steve maintains the website and facebook page on our behalf, we meet regularly to discuss new ideas, if theres anything I need him to include I simply phone him or text him and the changes are made within hours. We truly see him as one of our team here.” I’d suggest that any business needs to speak with Steve. His marketing experience along with his web design skills make him a valuable asset to any local business that needs to keep ahead of the changing times.”

Pubs aren’t the only local businesses that can benefit from online marketing. Search engines have taken over. You can search for anything from your PC, laptop, iPad and even your phone. I have designed websites for beauty salons, websites for driving schools, websites for pubs, websites for sign companies, websites for builders, the list goes on and on. All local companies and all benefiting from having their place on the internet. Don’t be tempted by the Free Website offers that you see on TV and dotted around the internet. Read my article about the free website offers and make your own mind up.

Contact Us to discuss how I can help your business survive the recession.

Yes they do, You’re in business I guess? What do the words “Free Website Design” say to you? Exactly! There’s a catch. And the catch just isn’t monetary either.

So there are companies out there who will allow you to design your own website free of charge. Why? Simple really, once you’ve spent a week designing it yourself using their clever software then psychologically you’ve put effort in. A lot of effort. The Company then has your contact details and also they’ve hooked you because of the effort that you’ve put in and the expectations that you’ll have for your new website design. You’ll now receive emails and possibly phone calls about how they can provide SEO (Search Engine Optimisation – In a nutshell tweaking the website so that it appeals to the search engines and so gets you a front page position in the search results). They’ll offer add ons that rotate images or link to a facebook account, After the free period which is usually 12 months they’ll then charge you for hosting, domain name renewal and other services that will amount to a few hundred pounds per annum. They’ll contact you for a review, you’ll tell them you’re disappointed with the results and they’ll tell you that you should upgrade and let one of their professionals design you a branded template and do some optimisation work on the website for you. This will then see you linked in for a further 12 months and still seeing poor results.

Its no different in practice to the free tyre checks or brake checks that you see the national garage chains offering. It’s their way of getting some work, free check on your tyres means that they’ll hopefully spot an egg or some uneven wear and before you know it that free check means two front tyres and an alignment. In addition you’ll be on their mailing list until the end of time. It’s all very well taking your daily drive to one of these tyre stops for a checkover and a couple of dunlops fitted but if you were a serious driver, a race driver that needed performance would you employ Kwiky Fit to run the pit lane for you? Of course you wouldn’t you’d employ professionals, you wouldn’t take the chance or throw the money away on something that wasn’t geared up for the job.

This isn’t the biggest problem however, cleverly using the word free to hook you into something chargeable is common practice in many industries just to get an introduction, free quote etc. Even I offer a free SEO check in the hope that I can provide you with a quote to get your website on page one of Google. The main problem however is the lack of functionality that these free websites provide. By that I don’t mean flashy graphics and rotating pictures, I mean the back end of the website, the technical side that ensures the website appeals to the algorithms used by the search engines. Keywords in certain places, correct meta tags and titles, correctly named and placed images, links, and so much more.

Only a web designer with SEO knowledge could ensure that your new website was designed in such a way. I’ve had many clients who have existing, good looking websites but that don’t appear in the search results when you type a certain key phrase into the search engine.

For example, if your business is called “Bobs Diner” you don’t want just people who are searching for “Bobs Diner” you want people to find your website who are searching for “good steakhouse” or ” best restaurant in town” You want essentially your website to provide you with new customers. These free websites simply wont provide this. They aren’t up to the job. Again, we’re back to the example of the race car and performance. You wouldn’t enter a Ford Focus into a Formula One Race would you?

If you want a vanity website or want to show your friends how you’ve designed a website about Carp fishing then the free websites may be for you. If however you’re relying on a new website to bring in new business then I think you already know the answer – the word free in business never actually means free. It simply means you’re getting something of little value.

Website Design doesn’t have to cost the earth, It does need to be effective however, Contact Us to see how little a fully functional and effective website will cost.

There is no finish line in SEO

Website SEO is like the research department of a cutting edge technology company. Imagine that Intel were still making old processors from the 1990s, How slow would our computing experience be then? More importantly, do you think Intel would still be a market leader?  Search Engine Optimisation is something that is becoming more and more popular as companies the world over realise that online search technology is the key to success. Gone are the days when a prominent advertisement in the Yellow pages would secure enough business enquiries for the year. Understanding the need for an SEO strategy is crucial to anybody who relies on the internet to generate enquiries and new business.

SEO is an ongoing process

SEO should be considered an integral part of any business that has a website. Without continued SEO the website will simply become out of date and uncompetitive. F1 teams invest millions in research, they continually develop new engines, innovative aerodynamic changes, tyre compounds, and a myriad other changes, all small and all geared towards winning the next season. Without this continual improvement this years winning team may well be at the back of the grid next year.

The same is true of SEO. A website needs to be continually tweaked not just as search terms change but also because every website has competition and a lot of the competition will be wanting that front page slot. Content will need to be altered, amended, added to. Titles and descriptions will need refining and changing, Links and social media will need monitoring. SEO isn’t a science, its an art. Its about guessing what changes carry weight with the search engines, There are no hard and fast rules or for that matter any guarantees.

Ongoing Website SEO isn’t an option, it’s a must.

The major search engines continually tweak their algorithms, they do this in order to try to close loopholes. The search engines have one goal and that is to deliver the most relevant content possible. They never publish how their algorithms work, they often drop hints as to what they do and don’t take into account but the rest is a guessing game. SEO experts tend to be ahead of the game. Give us all the same website to optimise with SEO techniques and we would all do it differently. You’d see a pattern, You would see similar edits and changes but because SEO is an art not an exact science then you would see differences with every SEO experts work. SEO experts tend to spend an awful lot of time searching and monitoring websites on which they have worked. They gauge small changes and record any movement in search results placings. Sometimes through analysis they hit on another accidental breakthrough and this gets added to their arsenal of SEO weapons. It’s for this reason alone that you cannot simply do SEO in house. I’ve often seen SEO attempts by Graphic Designers or IT specialists. No disrespect to these professions but SEO is time consuming, it’s specialist, There are days when SEO specialists do nothing at all but search and look and learn. Graphic Designers and IT specialists simply don’t have the time to dedicate to learning and experimenting with SEO.

Can I afford Monthly SEO for my website?

Monthly SEO isn’t usually expensive depending on the size of the website and the area in which your target market aims at. I work for a few companies who only have SEO to target St Helens, I have a few others who target the North West with their SEO efforts and others the whole of the UK.

SEO for these clients differ depending on the number of pages that their website has and the level of competition in the market in which they operate. Once the website has had the first SEO edit, When the structure is right, the content is right and all the other back end bits are right then SEO is more like the Formula One development that I spoke of earlier. It’s usually much less per month than a local advertisement would be and usually more effective at producing results.

Contact me for more information about ongoing website SEO

Google, famous for it’s search engine introduced their own browser a couple of years ago called Chrome and then released an open source operating system known as Android. Android is lightweight and ideal for tablets, smartphones and other state of the art gadgets. This has encouraged an army of developers to produce various apps and has put Android and Google in a direct head to head with Apple.

I had wondered what Microsoft were going to do if anything. Surely they couldn’t just keep producing dinosaur pieces of software and charging silly money for them? Well it appears that the powers that be have had similar thoughts. You see the way forward it seems is to provide “free” software and search platforms and then make money from pay per click and hardware that is bundled pre loaded. Look at the gaggle of Android phones available today. They bundle with Google products forcing their users to search using Google and thus ensuring that these users click on paid for advertising which increases Googles revenue. This is what makes Google worth so much money as a company.

Looking at Microsoft activity in 2011 you can bet your bottom dollar that 2012 will see Microsoft flex its corporate muscles once more and hit back at Android and Apple. Its seems Microsoft have swallowed the jagged little pill that is “you can no longer charge silly money for bits of software” Instead Microsoft is undergoing an enormous change and a complete shift in focus on how it will generate its future revenue. Microsoft has been making associations with other companies, there have been mergers, takeovers and various other deals done and the fat old Corporation has been slowly manoeuvring into position before launching its attack.

Expect to see some pretty impressive Microsoft hardware launched this year bundled with an all new operating system and most importantly Microsofts search engine “Bing”.

Bing increased its share of the search market considerably in 2011 after the Google Panda updates frustrated some of Googles regular users. Have you tried Bing? Its rather good, it needs a few tweaks as I daresay it will continue to get but as a Google alternative it is rather good.

In summary then, Don’t keep ignoring Bing. I predict that by next Christmas there will be some serious iPad and iPhone alternatives on the market from Microsoft all of which will be bundled with Bing as standard. Start to aim your websites SEO not only at Google but also Bing and make sure you’re ready for the revolution.