We think it must have happened sometime this year… a sudden realisation that after all the unnecessary wastage of effort (and marketing spend) on WAP and Apps – yes, you know who you are and are probably still feel the hurt – there is now a compelling case for looking at your site on the move.
We don’t mean looking at the screen whilst running around it, but thinking about mobile devices.
Continue reading “The Case for Thinking Smart… Phones”
Few businesses really spend enough time on user experience. They think they do, but they don’t – they normally put their needs first and then are surprised when the response is different to what they expected.
For smaller businesses much of what they do has to involve some educated guesswork, but it is encouraging that the bigger fish, with all their access to focus groups, beta tests, online research and user feedback, also make mistakes.
The ‘art’ of SEO is discussed a lot… but the main issue that is often avoided, which is: ‘is it worth it?’ In this article we tackle this question and offer up the five biggest mistakes you can make when thinking about SEO.
1. YOU NEED HELP GETTING TOP FOR YOUR BRAND NAME
As long as your domain name has your brand name in it (and most of the time, even if it doesn’t) and your brand name isn’t completely generic (i.e. all the words in it are commonly used) then you will rank top or in the top 2-3 for it pretty quickly and stay there.
You don’t need anyone’s help to achieve this (nor should you give credit for it).
2. PPC = EXPENSIVE; SEO = CHEAP
These are both exciting and challenging times as the print media still tries to make revenue out of its’ failings. You could see this as the 12th round of a particularly intense boxing match, with the old champ on the ropes, face bloodied… knowing that returning fire is the only option.
It seems that the concern has been long held that Google has been surreptitiously ‘stealing’ content from their websites using Google News and the new entrant Google FastFlip. By hosting pages on their own websites containing this content they have been using other media’s work to fill their advertising boots as well as stop visitors to these sites.
Continue reading “Old Media Fight Back, Or Game Over?”
One of the common concerns we have with Search Engine Optimisation is that few businesses are fully informed of how to measure the value of performing optimisation and the benefits.
Often you’re led to believe that getting to page one of Google is ‘it’ for a reasonably specific keyword phrase, and that you should pay for this privilege. But, almost certainly this is not a cost-effective route, particularly if you’re paying a monthly fee. Here’s an illustration for you:
SEO Firm offer:
“We can get you onto page 1 of Google for a relevant phrase for only £79 per month”
They write copy for a single page on your site, and optimise it for you (cost to them – £50 copywriting, £30 to research, ongoing cost – negligible). They choose a reasonably relevant phrase for SEO purposes but one without much competition. Total Cost £80 covered by the first month’s fee you’ve already paid.
Continue reading “How to Value Search Engine Optimisation”
This is the second time in as many months that we have come across this kind of activity. So we decided to post about it, just to forewarn visitors of this kind of activity.
‘Search Marketing Agency X’ contacts you and says to you that they can get you ‘top of Google’ for only £100 a month.
They tell you that if you spend this with them, then they will guarantee that you will be top for a select number of relevant keywords.
However, if you stop paying them, then your positions will be removed.
If you commit to working with them, usually on 6 months plus of contract so they tie you in, then they will send you a list of keywords and you will indeed be on the first page of Google for those keywords from the start of the contract.
Continue reading “How to Spot an Adwords Hustle”
We all can see the way that the web is heading – towards relevant content. To a certain extent, this is a good thing, even if abused – because if a website is working hard to put out good content, then the chances are it’s is worth visiting.
Rather like the SEO principle that good online operations will be optimised precisely because they care AND want relevant traffic – it seems to make sense.
Continue reading “Generating Website Content = Slicing & Dicing”
One thing which is a constant surprise to us is that many websites don’t even do the simple stuff that well. This starts with the links in the page.
The first mistake is that there aren’t any. What is the point of writing content on a site which has no relevance to other areas of the site? Well, that’s easy to answer, so if there are pages which are relevant to what you’re writing, make sure you link to them within your body copy. Like point number 4 in this page: don’t finish on a whimper.
Continue reading “Effective Text Linking”
Back in the early 1990’s, it was just text links. Menus and actions were just underlined text which pushed you this way and that throught a site. Generally blue too, they were very predictable, and yet we understood very clearly what they were and they served a good purpose.
When there were buttons on a site, they were just the standard ‘Microsoft’-looking button: small, grey and missable.
Not very inviting, are they?
Then, with the advent of better graphics packages, things went a bit wild. Clip Art, Bevels and Shading:
Continue reading “The Psychology of the Oversize Button”
