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SEO – it’s a process, not a technical solution

Posted: March 15th, 2010

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is used to help sites achieve a higher rank in the popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing!. There are many companies offering the service to clients (including us), but few explain, in layman’s terms exactly what SEO is and how it’s used. We’ve often met with clients who were under the impression that SEO was just part of the website building process. It isn’t, it’s something completely different .

This article will explain SEO clearly and highlight the differences between it and web development.

Why is SEO important for a website?

Nowadays conducting business on the web has become an important part of our lives. If you’re not taking advantage of the Internet for your business the chances are that you’re losing out to competitors that are. However, simply having a website isn’t enough. You need to ensure that people find your business when they’re searching for the products or services you provide.

This is where SEO comes in. It helps your site achieve a high ranking in search engine results pages. You can have the best website in the world, but if no-one knows about it, it’s not providing you with any value or business. Research shows that 70% of web users click on the natural listing, sometimes called organic listing, links in Google, rather than the paid for box style ads that appear down the right side of the page. You need ensure that each and every time a user searches on-line for something related to your business they see your site.

SEO – what it’s not

SEO isn’t a technical solution, it’s not a quick, simple fix. You don’t even need to be a web designer or developer in order to understand it (though it does help). There are many companies that offer guarantees to get you to the top of Google in 24 hours. This is not SEO either. SEO is not something you can switch on or off, nor is it something that can either be right or wrong. SEO cannot have a fixed end date. No, SEO is none of these things.

So what is SEO?

SEO is a process. It’s a combination of research, analysis, technical changes and promotional work. It’s an on-going series of investigations, adjustments and progression.

In order to achieve good results for your site and get it listed highly in the search engine rankings several things need to happen:

  1. Your site needs to identify and be relevant for the keywords or phrases that the users search for in relation to your business.
  2. Your site needs to be listed in the search engine’s index, if it’s not then it doesn’t matter how well it’s written or how much SEO has been done, you won’t show up.
  3. You need to be ‘trusted’ by the search engines, links back to your website from other websites indicate a level of trust to sites such as Google.
  4. Your site needs to be kept up to date, in order to ensure it remains relevant. If your competitor is offering more current and relevant information than you then they may be listed above you and you could lose business to them.

The SEO process takes all of these factors into account. Through research patterns can be identified and thus action can be taken and results achieved.

SEO is an on-going process

The main difference between website design/development and SEO is that SEO is an on-going process. When you request a quotation for a website to be designed you will usually specify a project deadline, a date by which the website will be completed and be live on the web. This is where the design project ends. SEO begins after this and carries on for as long as you need your website to bring in business for you.

SEO is a type of marketing, but it differs from traditional marketing methods because it’s not fixed term paid for advertising (though the main goal of SEO is to promote your site and get it noticed). Business owners sometimes have difficulty understanding this concept, because SEO can yield more business like advertising can. However, as mentioned earlier we want to use SEO to get your site listed in the organic links in Google, because 70% of web users click on these links rather than the paid for box advertisements.

It takes time and commitment

SEO requires a commitment from the site owner too. You need to spread the word about yourwebsite. Ensuring that your website appears on all of your printed material, emails and advertisements in the media is a no-brainer. In addition to this, posting on forums related to your business and making sure you include your website address in the post, contacting suppliers asking them to post a link on their site to yours and joining networking sites such as LinkedIn are good ways to promote your site and build trust with Google.

Monitoring your site’s hits and visitor trends
This is vitally important, but is often overlooked or ignored by smaller businesses. There is no point in paying for SEO services if you’re not monitoring the results. SEO servcies are geared towards attracting more business by increasing the visibility and the amount of hits your website gets from users. If you’re not monitoring the number of hits your site receives each month you will have no way of knowing whether you’re gaining any benefits.

Also, by monitoring the ways that users interact with sites you can identify areas that may need to be changed. For example, you’ve got your site ranked nice and highly in Google and the number of hits you’re now receiving is significantly more than before you had SEO services. By looking at your website statistics you discover that the page most users leave on when visiting your site is your prices page and you’re not gaining any additional enquiries or sales from your site. This pattern of events lets you know that something is wrong on that page. Your prices may be too high, or alternatively they may be too low (believe me I’ve seen this happen lots of times, businesses lose sales because their prices are too low and therefore do not appear to be of good enough quality for their potential buyers.).

Of course there are many more things that are considered and implemented by SEO service providers, but implementing the ones I’ve mentioned above will certainly help out any site. An SEO expert will stay on top of changes in web user usage and the changes that search engines themselves make to the algorithms they use to determine where sites should be listed in their results.

In conclusion

This article has hopefully given you a clearer understanding of where SEO services differ from web design services. If you would like to find out more about the SEO services we offer, you can visit our SEO Services page. Alternatively, you can email or call us to discuss your requirements.

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Posted in Marketing, SEO, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

The iPad and what it means for web designers

Posted: February 3rd, 2010

It’s been a week now since Apple first unveiled their new iPad device. I discussed last week the subject of who it was intended for and why it would be a successful product. This week I’m going to examine what it will mean for web designers and developers and the potential impact it will have on our industry.

iPad changes everything?

This is the message that Apple were voicing at their conference last week. While they seemed committed to it, very few people expressed the same views. However, in a way it does change everything, in terms of mobile web, available anywhere. It’s already been reported that within a few years the most common way people will access on-line content and services will be through mobile devices. (read more about that here) There are a number of devices available right now that provide a better experience for certain on-line services than on the actual website (Twitter I’m looking at you). However, as good as these devices are for browsing the web anywhere, any time they all have one common limitation; the small screen size.

In my opinion the best mobile device for browsing the web right now is the iPhone. However, you still have to scroll around quite a bit on content-heavy sites and filling in forms is a nightmare. Not only do you have to scroll around the screen in order to see the fields, you also have to keep hiding and showing the keyboard and some forms just don’t work well because of this.

So size does matter?

Yes, for browsing the web size matters. The iPad has a 9.7″ screen, much larger than mobile phones. It is capable of displaying far more content on it’s screen and therefore provides a much better experience for web users. Take a look at the screens on Apple’s own website where the iPad is displaying the home page of the New York Times. It looks great.

It also has a much higher screen resolution of 1024 x 768. On a traditional PC this would be considered very low, on a portable device it’s amazing. Higher resolutions equal shaper images and text and better looking web pages. This level of detail on a single screen simply isn’t possible, at least not in a readable form anyway, on any phone.

Ok – I’m a web designer, how can iPad benefit me?

Well ok, this will take a bit of explaining. Firstly I believe that the iPad is going to be hugely successful for Apple. If it’s successful then a lot of people will buy it. This means there will be a lot of people browsing websites with it. When discussing projects with clients it’s another plus point for their on-line business because it’s another way for them to reach potential customers and make sales.

I’ve been mentioning the iPhone in sales pitches to clients for the last 12 months. I always take my iPhone into a meeting so that I can show them that sites we’ve written display correctly on the device. This usually impresses them as quite often they either have an iPhone themselves and have never thought about it’s impact on their online business, or they know someone who has an iPhone and suddenly they see the importance of having their site work well on a mobile device. The iPad will offer an even better experience on-line for the reasons I’ve already detailed above.

The real beauty of it is that because iPad uses the Safari browser we don’t need to make special CSS code for our sites to display correctly on it. It’s easy to show clients how good websites will look and how easy it is to use the device.

Ah, but the iPad doesn’t display Flash content

Completely true, it doesn’t. However, as a developer I always try to stay away from Flash as much as possible anyway. It’s buggy, it requires different plug-ins for different browsers and it’s not good for SEO. Usually if a client wants to achieve something in Flash I can get the same result for them using JQuery coding. Also, HTML5 is on the way, and embedding video content directly into a web page (something that Flash is currently used for a lot) will be a breeze and will not require any plug-ins at all. After that I don’t see much of a future for Flash in the majority of business websites, apart from dedicated applications and games.

In conclusion then – iPad offers a lot for web designers

So, after all that let’s summarise what the iPad will offer for us as web designers and developers:-

  • A great way to display websites on a mobile device without any CSS special coding
  • An extra way we can sell our design services to clients
  • A richer browsing experience
  • A sales tool – “yes, we can make your site look great on the iPad so you can reach more people
  • It may also be a really nice way of presenting a sales pitch to your clients – no more bulky laptop in the meeting room, just plug-in to a projector and go
  • It shows clients that you’re aware of the latest technologies and are keeping up with changes in the industry to provide them with the best possible service

Written by Ian Hazeldine, Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited

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Posted in Customer Service, Marketing, Web Design | No Comments »

Build trust with your clients – get more business

Posted: October 28th, 2009

building-trust-with-clients

This industry of web design and development that we all work in can often lead to clients and customers feeling confused, overwhelmed and daunted by the prospect of dealing with us on a day to day basis. Indeed, it may even put them off even calling us in the first place. If they don’t call, we don’t get new business and hence don’t make money. This is not a situation that you want to find yourself in. So how can we prevent this from happening? How can we earn a prospective new client’s trust before they’ve ever met us? This article aims to help answer that question – read on.

Starting a new relationship

In the beginning, when first meeting a client the initial rapport built up with them is going to influence their attitiude towards you throughout the entire project development cycle. It’s important right from the get-go that the client feels comfortable talking to you and is trusting of what you’re saying. We always arrange a face-to-face meeting at the client’s own premises when we are working with someone new. This is very important in laying the foundations of a good working relationship. Firstly the client is in an environment they’re familiar with, this immediately puts them at ease. Also, it’s far more convenient for them, they don’t have to take time away from their work to travel to meet you, so you’ve immediately given them a benefit before you’ve even met. We’ve often agreed to meet clients outside of normal office hours in the comfort of their own home. This has helped to start the working relationship off on a good footing.

Talking like people, not like IT Experts

Just because we web designers know what CSS, PHP and FTP mean doesn’t mean that our clients will. It’s vitally important to remember that your client doesn’t work in the industry that you do and (in most cases) may not have much techinical knowledge. Don’t baffle them with technical terms, talk to them like people, explain things in a way that they will understand and always ensure they do understand what you’re saying before you move on to something else. This seems to be something that a lot of technical people either forget or are not good at. We’ve heard time and time again from clients that they didn’t understand what the people they used to deal with for their website needs were telling them. Remember, you want the client to feel comfortable when speaking with you. If you overload them with technical jargon you will not achive this.

Constantly ask for feedback

At all stages during a web design project we ask the client for their feedback. The benefits offered by this are twofold. Firstly, it reinforces the building of trust for the client. They’re being asked for their opinion. It tells them that they have a say in what happens with the building of their website and that they’re not being steamrolled over by a bunch of technical guys. Also, having regular contact with the client is essential to keep the rapport that was built up during the face-to-face meeting(s) going. If a client is happy to talk to you and gets what they want for their website then it’s far more likely that they will do business with you again. Ignore them and only email them once asking for money when the website is finished and they may be left feeling with a product they don’t really like and a company they have no faith or trust of. That will not get you more business from them.

Get client testimonials and put them on your site

As basic as the paragraph headline above sounds you’d be amazed at the number of companies who forget to do this or simply haven’t thought of doing this. You’ve built a great website and you have an excellent working relationship with your new client. You need other prospective clients to see this. It’s vitally imporant that your website (in whatever industry you work in) has testomonials from clients on it.

If you’ve not done this yet, then now is the time to start. Client testimonials are a much better sales too than anything the slickest of sales people can come up with because they’re genuine thoughts and feelings of people who have used your services. For new clients this will immediately help them gain an overview of how you work and how easy you are to work with.

You may have a great design portfolio but simply displaying that on your website isn’t enough. People want to know that they’re going to get good service from you, that they’re going to be able to contact you if they need to and that they can ask you things without feeling like they’re asking something silly.  Testimonials give them the best insight into your company they can have without actually having work done by you.

Keep up-to-date

Again it may seem obvious, but not everyone does it. If you have client testimonials on your site (and if not why not?) you need to keep regularly updating them. If a new client visits your site and sees that all of your testimonials are from 10 years ago it will not present you in a great light.

Final thoughts

As we’ve discussed, building trust with your clients is vital to having a good working relationship with them and increasing the chances of them doing repeat business with you. So far we’ve had repeat business from almost all of our clients so we know the way we’ve detailed things in this article works. Next time you’re with a client think back to this article, it may help you secure the business you’re trying to get.

Written by Ian Hazeldine – Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited based in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire

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Communication is key in web design

Posted: October 7th, 2009

communication-is-key

In today’s modern world there are more ways to communicate with people than ever before. Communication has become a key part in our daily lives, both personal and professional. It’s important to remember that when working with a web designer communication is key to getting your site right both now and in the future.

Client to web designer

Quite often a client who doesn’t have a great deal of technical knowledge may feel intimidated into asking questions or seeking advice from the web designer as they don’t want to ask something that might make them feel stupid. This should NEVER be a factor. Your web designer should encourage you to ask for help and explain things in a way you understand. You’re the customer, the designer is here to meet your needs, not their own. You’re paying for the service so feel confident in asking anything you like about the project. If you’re not happy with the answer or need further clarification ask again until you are satisfied.

I’ve been working in the web industry as a professional designer/developer  since 1997 and I don’t know everything – far from it in fact. Truth is neither does anyone else. We’re constantly learning new things as new technologies are born and development tools evolve in our line of work. If I need the answer to a question from someone I will ask. It’s always better to ask, than to try and guess at something. My point is that if you come to me as a web expert you shouldn’t be afraid to ask me anything. I’m learning all the time just like you.

Bottom line: If you don’t like something, or you dont’ understand something you’re being told – please, speak up about it.

Web designer to client

To ensure you end up with happy clients at the end of a project communication is key from the designer to the client. You should always ask your client for feedback on the project at key stages. If something isn’t quite right for the client you can amend it to suit their requirements during development rather than having to go back once everything is done and alter things then (which can be a headache for more complicated sites).

I’ve already mentioned the fact that as web experts we should explain things clearly to our clients in lay terms. I cannot stress this point enough. Over the past decade I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve talked to clients who had dealt with another ‘web expert’ before me and during my initial meeting with them they’ve told me that ‘we didn’t really know what the other guy was talking about so we just paid him’. This is NOT how you build a relationship with your clients. You need to remember that just because you know what you’re talking about doesn’t mean they will and it’s wrong to expect them to know. Don’t be patronising to them, but after you’ve explained your proposal for their project ask them if they are happy and state that if there’s anything they need clarifying they should feel free to ask – even after the meeting has ended.

Finally you should always try to make yourself available for a client when it’s convenient for them, not you. If you provide a telephone number always try to answer calls. If a client leaves a message make sure you call them back and even if they’re not available leave a message yourself so that they know you’ve responded.

Similarly, it’s important to respond to emails and, if you’re going to be away from the office for a while, set up auto-responders to let clients know that you’ve received their email and will deal with it once you’re back in the office (including the dates you’re away from and to is also a good idea in this case).

Again, countless times I’ve met with clients who have dealt with other web companies who before us and told me they could never get hold of a person to help them. They received no response to either telephone calls or emails. That, in my view, is totally unacceptable. I always explain to clients that if I don’t answer the phone it will only ever be for 2 reasons; I’m driving and don’t have handsfree or I’m in a meeting with another client. If either of these circumstances arises I always ensure I call the client back the same day. It’s reassuring for a client to know that you will be there when they need you and it will help build a great relationship with them.

Final thoughts

Hopefully this article has helped you out and hopefully, if you’re a designer, you’ve been doing all of the things I’ve mentioned already. If not, then now is the time to change that. Clients, you should have the confidence to ask for help from your designer and if they’re not serving your needs it may be time to look elsewhere.

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Posted in Communication, Customer Service, Web Design | 2 Comments »

Choosing a good web host and the right hosting package for you

Posted: September 30th, 2009

web-hosting-advice

So you’ve got your new website built and it’s ready to go live. Now you need to host it somewhere so that it can actually be viewed by users on the Internet. But how do you know which company to put your site with? After all there are literally thousands to choose from. We’ve put together a list of features and things to consider when choosing the right host and the right hosting package for your website.

Choosing your web hosting company

There are several factors to consider when choosing a web hosting company, the most important of which we’ve listed below.

  • How reliable is their service? It’s no good having a website if the server it’s hosted on keeps going down. You need to look at the level of service guarantee offered by the hosting company. No company can say for certainty that they are able to offer a 100% uptime guarantee, but a good company will be able to offer (and more importantly deliver) a 99.9% uptime guarantee for your site.
  • Technical support - This is extremely important. No matter what there will be a time when everyone, experts and non-IT experts alike will need to contact their hosting company for some sort of techincal support. A company that doesn’t provide good techinical support is no good at all. You should look at the different methods available for obtaining technical support from your web hosts. At the very least they should provide email and telephone support and a good company will also provide further levels of support on top of that for businesses and organisations that require a higher response rate than normal.
  • What limits do they place on web traffic? - something that non-technical people may overlook is the fact that a lot of web hosting companies charge extra for sites that have a lot of web traffic. Your hosting may have been cost effective when you set it up but if you’re getting additional bills each month because your website is generating more traffic than your current host allows it may be costly in the long-run. Make sure you read all the details of the hosting package that you’re purchasing so that you know what your limits are before your site goes live. You should also be aware that not all web hosting companies place limits on web traffic.
  • Which server type should you choose Windows or Linux? – the answer to this questions is pretty straightforward. If your website uses PHP coding then you should choose a linux server, if you’re using classic ASP or ASP.NET then you will need a windows server. Your web designer should also confirm this with you if they’re arranging hosting for you.

Choosing the right hosting package for you

You will find that a web hosting provider has several different packages available so you should be able to find one that’s right for your site. The list below details some of the factors you should consider about your own website when choosing your hosting package:

  • How large is your site in terms of number of pages? - larger sites need more web space than smaller sites
  • How many visitors do you estimate your site will receive on a monthly basis? – remember those web traffic limits we’ve talked about previously? Now’s the time to check out exactly what limits (if any) will be imposed. The higher your number of visitors, the more web traffic your site will generate
  • How often will your site be updated? – again look at the web traffic limitations when factoring in site updates as changes you make to the site when uploading new files will be counted as web traffic
  • Are you using a content management system? - if so you will need to look at a hosting package that provides database support such as MySQL and PHP Scripting. Cheap and cheerful hosting packages will not allow you to do this.
  • Does your site use video or audio files? – If you’re using a lot of multimedia files within your site you will need to ensure that your hosting package provides enough space on the server for all of your files. You may even want to look at hosting packages that offer unlimited web space in some cases.
  • How many email addresses will you be requiring? – this can quite often be overlooked and it’s an important factor to consider. You don’t want to be paying £25 – £50 each time you want a new email account adding to your domain. Make sure you double check the number of email accounts the hosting package you’re choosing provides so that you don’t get caught out by further charges later on.

All of the above questions will determine the type of hosting package you will need. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the site and the more often it is updated, the higher the grade of hosting package you will require.

So what can I do if I’m not happy with my current hosting company?

Firstly, don’t worry. It’s entirely possible to change hosting companies. You should consider all of the points above when choosing your new web host. As always it’s adviseable to read customer testimonials, or even better speak to people that you know who have a website and ask them for an account of their experiences with their current host.

We’ve helped out lots of people that have approached us as they were not happy with either the price they were paying with their hosting company, or the level of service they were receiveing. They asked us to find them a new and better service and we were able to do just that often providing more features for a lot less money.

If you need any help, feel free to ask us

Should you wish to find out more information about the hosting packages that we provide for clients please visit our web  hosting page. We can offer unlimited web hosting with unlimted emails and a free .co.uk domain name for £75 per year. Or if you simply want some information, but are not looking to buy right now please feel free to leave a comment on this blog or contact us directly.

Thank you for reading.

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Posted in Web hosting | 7 Comments »

Help in choosing a good web designer, what to look for, ask and expect

Posted: September 23rd, 2009

Getting your business on the web is very important. If you’re not doing it your competitors will be. However, not everyone is an IT expert and some people may feel intimidated or afraid to dip their toes into the online world. Choosing a good web designer is imperative, but what should you look for in a design company? Are you getting the right advice or are they simply preying on your lack of knowledge and bumping up the price?

We’ve compiled a list of points below that will help you in choosing a good web designer/design company.

Blindfolded businessman, not knowing what he's choosing

Look at testimonials on the designer’s own website

Customer testimonials will give you a good inidication of the level of service received by other clients from the designer or company you’re thinking of approaching to build your website for you. A good web design company will have several testimonials from a range of clients and will keep them up-to-date. If the testimonials are all from 5 years ago you may want to dig a little further.

Have a look at examples of the work done by the designer and actually vist their client sites.

Any decent design company or designer will have a portfolio of their work displayed on their website. You should take a look at these and, rather than just viewing them on the design company’s site, actually visit the websites themselves. We’ve seen instances where client sites look great on the designer’s own site because they’re simply displaying an image, however, upon visitng the actual website it looked nothing like the screen shot shown off by the designer.

The site may even have missing images or text that overlaps itself if it’s not been coded in the correct way. Don’t take the designer’s word for it, have a look for yourself.

Call the designer/design company – see how easy they are to get hold of

Customer service is very important. Sure, it’s great when your website is up and running with no problems, but what happens if something goes wrong? You need to be able to get in touch with support from the design company who built your site. That’s why it’s a good idea to attempt to contact them randomly a few times to see how responsive they are. Do you have to wade through several telephone menus before speaking to someone? Were they helpful when you did speak to them? Have they replied to your emails and if so did you understand what they were saying or was it simply techno jargon that left you feeling like you needed more help?

All of these things should be considered along with the other points mentioned above.

Arrange a face-to-face meeting with the designer

Face to face meetings allow you to get a ‘feel’ for the type of service you’ll be receiving. A good design company will always be willing to visit you at your own premises at a time that’s convenient to you. They should also be willing to allow you to visit them if you want to see their base of operations.

During this meeting a good designer will assess your level of techinical expertise and then converse with you in a way that you can understand, clearly explaining things to you in layman terms if necessary. You should never leave a meeting feeling like you were intimidated or you don’t really know what you’re getting yourself in to. The designer is there to meet your needs, not their own.

Find out about other services that may be useful to you

Besides building a nice new website for you most design companies and designers can also provide other services ranging from printed work to email and web hosting. Take a look at the designer’s website and see what other services they provide. A good design company/designer will be only too pleased to assist you in other areas besides building your site for you.

What happens once your website is finished?

This is a very important point to consider. You don’t want to get involved with someone or an organisation that don’t want to know you once they’ve finished the initial project unless you’re prepared to spend more money with them. You want a relationship with your designer, not a quick flirt. You need to feel confident that should you have any questions or things you need clarifying, your designer will be there for you to answer them.

As recently as a few days ago we were speaking with a client who had purchased a domain name for his company several months ago but wasn’t able to get hold of anyone who could help him out with transferring it to a new host. They simply never returned his calls or answered his emails. I’m pleased to say that we’ve managed to help him out with this situation now and he’s happy again and has now moved his design projects over to us as well.

Final thoughts

If you follow the guidelines above you should feel more confident in choosing who you give your hard earned money to when you’re having your website built. If you would like any further information or advice about this or any other aspect of web design, web hosting, domain name registration or transfer please feel free to contact us

We are Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited  based in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire and we provide web design, development and hosting services.

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Posted in Web Design | 3 Comments »