You are currently browsing the Hope Within One Media weblog archives for June, 2010.
28/06/2010 by Bradders.
As an Internet Consultant I am often confronted with business entrepreneurs telling me “no thanks I have a web site”. They seem to think having a web site alone will earn them a small fortune. Then there are those with slightly more awareness who employ the services of a half-decent search engine optimisation company like web design kent company HWOM to at least try and get their wonderful website noticed.Have any of these people ever sat down for one minute and really thought about internet marketing? The answer is no.
Think of internet marketing as a retail outlet. The look and feel of the store has to reflect the goods being sold and the clientele. It has to be well stocked with things they expect to find, easy to walk around, easy to obtain information if needs be and easy to buy from. Does it stop there? Of course not. There is no point in having a great shop 5 roads back from the main drag where nobody can find it. That is why you need a professional SEO company who can get you ranked highly on the major search engines for the correct keywords and phrases.
There is also other marketing tactics like banner advertising, links, pop-ups and pop-unders, affiliate schemes all marketing tools to get more visitors to you web site.Then, of course that all important conversion. You wouldn’t spend a small fortune on a fantastic shop and have it full of great buyers only to employ cheap uneducated staff now would you? So why would you not make it easy for people to buy from your web site? Trust me many people don’t and that is a huge mistake.So here are a few golden rules when looking at a web site for your business:
1. Your web site must be “customer winning” not “award winning”
2. It must be customer friendly
3. It must be search engine friendly
4. It needs to be promotedAll of these take time, investment and effort.
Therefore, choose your web design kent partner wisely. Not simply someone who creates fancy web designs, but someone who can talk you through why your web site and why it will be designed this way. How they intend to drive customers to your site. Explain what research they have done and knowledge they have in your specific marketplace. What are the customer conversion triggers. And don’t be conned by any company that insists you need a “turbo charged 4.2.3 thingy” on your site. Most additional programmes for web sites are “code heavy and not search engine friendly.
Fancy web designers love to show you flash animation which looks great, but search engines dislike it. There are some designers who can import flash into your site in such a way that it does not impact on search engines but they are few and far between. The advice is keep your site clean and functional.And finally, remember it’s your business and nobody knows it like you. Don’t be bullied into something you think does not fit the industry or business type.
Your web site is your business window. Keep it clean !
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21/06/2010 by Bradders.
Web professionals offering search engine optimization services know there is more to keyword research than just looking at the queries most people type into search engines. Understanding the significance of different types of keywords can dramatically improve the effectiveness of an SEO campaign.
Although a lot of attention is paid to those popular keywords which come up time after time in searches, with businesses competing with one another to rank highest in search results, these well-used words and phrases only make up a small percentage of the total searches made each day. What are called long tail keywords, which may only be used once or at most a few times a day, make up a larger proportion of all search queries, perhaps amounting to around seventy percent in all. Popular keywords, which are described as being at the head of the search curve, and which might be used in hundreds or thousands of searches each day, actually constitute only around thirty percent of the total queries made.
Obviously, managing to incorporate long tail keywords into web pages is an excellent strategy for capturing a larger proportion of search queries, but it can be hard to imagine exactly how this is done. Companies like web design kent company HWOM offering SEO services have methods which enable long tail keywords first to be recognised, and secondly to be inserted into page content, and although these techniques are often time-consuming they are well worth the hours invested.
If searches are conducted initially using those keywords which are popular and relevant to one’s own business, this will naturally bring up the top ranking pages for those particular words. Useful research can then be carried out by analysing the text from the first couple of dozen pages returned, in order to spot those useful and relevant words which are not already included in the list of the most popular keywords.
Another way of researching long tail keywords is to use one of the online tools provided by companies such as Google, which display data relating to various search terms. A list of less commonly used alternatives to a popular search query is usually viewable, and all the possible search variations can be noted down and analysed.
Although many of the phrases probably will not make grammatical sense and would be impossible to weave into page text as they stand, similar patterns of word usage generally show up throughout the list. Some words will often tend to appear at the beginning of a search query, while others will crop up repeatedly at the end, and useful key phrases can be constructed by distilling the essence of the list of phrases.
This can be a complex task, and it makes sense to employ professionals specialising in SEO services like kent web design business HWOM to do the work as they will have the skills and experience needed to execute it well.
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16/06/2010 by Bradders.
As a Kent web design company we like to offer more than just web sites. For some of our Kent customers who have a little knowledge of web design we also like to offer a bit of assistance for the Kent web design projects.After all we are the best web designers in Kent ! Creating your web design is not an easy task, and it requires more than just fancy work and an eye for web design. it also requires the ability to bring quality traffic to your site and to get that all important conversion.
OK Kent web design freaks, here are the basics. Firstly, decide on the purpose of your web site as this will dictate the style and appearance. The magic balance is to create an appealing, yet functional website that will persuade visitors to take appropriate action (positive of course). From any page of any search engine hey have ample choice at least 10 organic and 10 pay-per-click sites so you need to stand out from the crown. The golden rule for effective and good web designs is to keep your website as simple as possible.
If you ever come across a Kent web design company who tells you it’s expensive because they have to use a “turbo blaster 4.81 version 2010 thingy” drop them like a lead balloon. There is a time and a place for new and fancy web design software.
I am not saying it doesn’t allow better functionality and more streamlined coding, but as Kent web design specialists we have used MS Front Page 2000 (which is not even sold anymore), produced some clean, functional web sites and got them on page 1 of the major search engines for high competitive search terms. So now I have that off my chest, below are some development tips, which should be followed if you want to get a head start on the competition:
Don’t Overload Your Page: Web graphic and image will enhance your website’s overall look and feel. Your web page tends to load quicker if they have been properly sized and defined. Major search engines now like quick loading pages.
Add Alt Tags and Title Tags: Use ALT tags to provide a text substitute of an image and describe what images represent on web pages to improve your search engine ranking. Therefore, it is not wise to use irrelevant keywords; instead, you should assign appropriate keywords to mark up your images within your web pages. Any Kent web design company that does not provide a free keyword search for your sector is not worth using !
Website Navigation: Think of your web site like a partner. User friendly plays a great role here and if users find out that it is hard for them to visit another page that interests them, they will run off faster than you can say Web Design Kent and will never return again. Therefore, keep your website navigation consistent all throughout the website so that visitors can navigate your website easily and comfortably. Recent studies have also shown that if visitors do not see what they want in 3 clicks, they will abandon a site. Get them there in 2 and you are ahead of the Kent Web Design game. Forget being clever and dump any redirects. That’s all I will say on the matter.
Bookmark: Provide your visitors with the function to add your website or bookmark your website into their favourites. a real must for those discerning Kent Web freaks.
And on to flash animation. Are you trying to win awards for the best web design of the year, or trying to attract more business? OK, it must be said that there are some very good flash designers out there who can produce smart flash pages that are somewhat search engine friendly. But in the main most flash designs are very heavy and not search engine friendly. Try to avoid them and especially on intro pages. So my Kent web design friends stick to the basics, your website is an asset. Your Kent business depends on it. Don’t try and even unintentionally turn them into a liability.
Brad Martin is CEO of top Kent web design company HWOM.
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15/06/2010 by Bradders.
Did you know that over 80 percent of the country has access to the internet? This number is supposed to increase drastically, especially with the advent of new cell phones with internet capability. In this day and age if you are a business owner and don’t have a website, you need to really think about having one developed by a web design team. In addition to having your website built, you need to make sure it is optimized for the search engines. When someone looking on the internet searches for your type of business service, do you appear in the organic results (the ones in the middle of the page)? When you search for your business service or product in your area, are you located in the towns or cities within a 10-20 mile radius from business location?
The term (SEO) stands for Search Engine Optimization or Optimizers. These internet marketing specialists understand how people search the web. They make sure your site is optimized for the search engines, so when someone searches your business service or product, you appear there. After web design setup and optimizing your site properly, you can maintain your ranking over the competition, especially if they don’t have a website. If they have a website developed that is optimized for the search engines, you can be certain your site will be right along side with them. Kent web design outfit HWOM do just that.Let’s face it, print advertising has become passé, such as advertising in the local newspaper, phone book or any other local method of advertising and marketing.
These days, everyone is on the web searching for products and services. If you can make your business website appear in the search engines, your phone will be ringing and not your competitors.
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15/06/2010 by Bradders.
Search engine optimisation is, in many ways, like renovating a well-loved house. There are areas that obviously need work. There are areas that need fixing up which the owner might be blind to. There are also plenty of areas which need the advice of an expert if they are going to be done properly.
This last element of SEO is one that scares a lot of companies. Any field requiring the services of an expert leaves businesses vulnerable to being deceived, and SEO has its fair share of charlatans. Just as when you call in a builder to help renovate your home, when you call in a search engine optimization expert to help you overhaul your website you have to be able to trust they will do the work properly.In order to have this confidence in your SEO expert, it’s necessary to know the warning signs of a bad SEO firm. There are two definite signs that an optimisation company is either not as reputable as it claims, or doesn’t know as much about optimisation as it should.Guarantees and promises. In most industries, a guarantee is a good sign. In search engine optimisation, exactly the opposite is true. The results of optimisation cannot be guaranteed, meaning any guarantee is actually a very loose promise.
Most reputable optimisation firms will be up front about the fact your site will have to work hard to get to number one in the rankings. Anyone who promises top results should be avoided.Lightning-fast results. SEO is a process that takes time. It is also a process that needs to take time to be effective in the long term. The search engines are suspicious of any site that rises to the top too swiftly, and may rank you down or impose penalties if you rise to fame too fast. For an effective campaign, at the very least links should be built up over the long term. Our web design kent company will do this for you and at best impatience should be kept in check.Why hire an optimisation consultant?It’s a reasonable question to ask whether an optimisation consultant is necessary in the first place, and this is a question many companies answer in the negative.
The truth is that some optimisation can be easily done by anyone. How effective this optimisation is, and how fraught with difficulty, will depend on the natural abilities of the person doing it.SEO is a technical field, and a strange one because of the creative touch it requires. Although basic techniques can be discovered and learned by the average layman, this doesn’t cover the intuition and experience that comes with hiring an SEO company.
The situation is much the same as with house renovation, only the stakes are professional as well as personal. Bad SEO can limit your online campaign for months or even a year. When given the choice between do-it-yourself or work performed by a professional, most businesses opt for professional services.
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15/06/2010 by Bradders.
The process of search engine optimisation can be time consuming and laborious, it is easy to go down the wrong path and pursue strategies that will have little worth in real terms. Inefficient optimisation strategies may even harm your search engine rankings rather than improve them. The best course of action is to keep it simple and by utilising these hints you should, in time, see better search engine rakings.
The first thing to watch is the keyword density on your site; it is tempting to cram your webpage full of keywords in the misconception that it will lead to better search engine rankings. Optimisation companies will tell you to stick to a keyword density of around ten to fifteen percent.Most optimisation companies will stress the importance of building links to your website. Building an array of links may take time but is an essential part of the search engine optimisation process. Without links your website will experience low rankings and hence less traffic enquiring about your services or products. Care must be taking when constructing links however; there is little point in creating a mass of links that have no correlation to the website.
Relevance is a key principle when creating links and hence linking to other sites of a similar ilk is advisable. If you have a huge amount of links that are completely irrelevant, the search engine technicians will eventually pick up on this and the effect on your page rankings will certainly be detrimental.
An important aspect of optimisation is the loading time of your website. If your page loads extremely slowly it is unlikely that customers will hang around to see your products and offers. Grabbing their attention quickly is essential in generating more sales and hence greater profits. Slow loading times can be the result of having too many images on your site as well as complex flash displays. Code at this stage can be important as excessive amounts of code such as JavaScript can increase the loading time.
The most important of all however is creating unique content for your website, there are many sites out there that will happily copy other WebPages and use their content. This is fundamentally plagiarism and in the industry referred to as duplication. A search engine will not rank you much higher if your website is full of duplicated content, especially when compared to the benefits of unique content. Thankfully many search engine optimisation firms like web design kent HWOM can undertake this written work for you.
By keeping it simple and following these hints it is likely that your rankings will improve dramatically, although these strategies may seem possible to do yourself it is usually worth hiring professionals who can undertake them for you. After all getting truly expert advice on methods and techniques of search engine optimisation is a highly valuable asset.
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10/06/2010 by Bradders.
| Dynamic Web Sites Top Google & Yahoo Rankings Low Cost Packages From Start Up To Corporate Over 10 years Established No Outsourced Design Work web design kent del.icio.us Tags: web design kent,kent web design
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10/06/2010 by Bradders.
For having an impressive look of your own website you need to hire a good website designer. Various web design companies are there to serve the purpose within the budget and the stipulated time period. But the process of finding a good web design company is not that easy. You need to concentrate on some points before you decide to give the project to any website designer.
Almost all the web design companies offer the same services so it is very difficult to choose only one out of thousands. If you want to have a smart professional looking web presence then you need to hire good web designer or a profession web design company to do the assignment for you. An out-of-date website can give a sort of negative impression to the visitors as well the as the prospective and existing clients and this can help your competitors to take the advantage of grabbing your clients as well. At the very first point you have to decide whether you want an independent website designer or a full fledged web design company like kent web design company HWOM. The first option can be flexible and also cost effective while the second option will give you comfort and also other substantial advantages. A team of profession designers will always be at your service to solve complicated designing issues for you. You can leave all your worries to the team and they will successfully take care of your problems.
Technical skills and experience really matters when you select a web design company. You can check the information given in their website and also the client list. By seeing all these you can have a clear idea of their expertise. Case studies of the company should be analyzed properly. You should also see whether the company fits into your requirement. The company should be asked to submit an elaborate proposal with estimated cost, proposed solution and time of completion of the project. It is very important to think forward. You could have required search engine marketing, web hosting and other services which can be done only by a web 2. 0 design company. It would be really messy if you have to hire different companies for different services.
Try to build a long lasting relationship with the company you choose. A serious web design company takes suggestions at almost every steps of the project. The team also put its own idea and listens to you as well. An expert team like kent web design company HWOM thinks about the essentials before approaching the client. With these entire actions one can understand the dedication of the web design professionals. You should always ask about the process of working of the company. It is important to know how much time the web design company devotes to a single project and also the cost per services. The frequency of communication with the client about the intimation of the project is also important.
These are intricacies of choosing a right web design company which will definitely help you avoid many problems later on.
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10/06/2010 by Bradders.
In today’s ever increasing competitive marketplace it is important to stay ahead of the competition with a strong online presence. Long term a page 1 ranking on search engines for relevant keywords to your business is a cost effective form of advertising in relation to the number of potential people your site will be visible to.
Undoubtedly there can be a significant initial expense, however if you work with a company that has the knowledge in building your website from the ground up, thinking about internet marketing at the design and development stage for example, the return on investment can be considerable.
Need to strike the balance between having a good looking website, which is pleasing to the eye that is enticing and makes those interested in your site stick around. Whilst at the same time ensuring your site can be found by the correct kind of users in the first place, either using Search Engine Optimisation so site appears in organic listings or local search results or using pay per click such as Google Adwords.
Ideally a combination of a variety of methods will work well long term. Pay per click can be excellent for short term results or when dealing with highly competitive search terms when up against some heavyweight competition like large established companies, BBC pages, Wikipedia pages, etc.
SEO can come into its own for local search terms or those with less competition where results can be quite fast, can also develop pages of your site full of content so can pick up visits from users searching for keywords found in the pages of your site. For example, Web Design Kent company HWOM specialises in Kent Companies.
Local search can be used so site appears in prime position on page 1 of search engines if your business is fortunate enough to have a business address in an established town or city. So using a company based in Kent makes sense. HWOM the Kent Web Design & SEO company will do the job for you.
A few of the many potential tactics for Internet Marketing so your websites online profile becomes well established. A search engine optimisation company will provide good ROI by advising which are the most appropriate Internet Marketing methods for your site.
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04/06/2010 by Bradders.
Search Engine Optimization is one of the most important sources of traffic nowadays, and absolutely all web masters and site owners employ a few tactics to gain better positions on Google Search and other search engines and get more traffic from them.But SEO is not as simple as it once was. In 2000-2003, it was enough to just use good titles, descriptions and meta tags, stuff enough keywords in your article and get a few links from other sites to rank in the first 5 spots on Google Search or Yahoo for any keyword, even the most searched ones like “credit cards” and “best financing”.Nowadays it is much harder to rank for any terms, even longer phrases like “get best car quotes in London”.
There are multiple reasons for that, the most important ones being the massive increase of the number of web sites online (hence, a big increase in competition) and the improved, super advanced search engine algorithms, which were mainly created to combat all the spam web sites that started to appear (and still don’t seem to disappear).But that is not to say it’s impossible to rank high in search engines and get a lot of traffic anymore. On the contrary, using a great agency like HHOM web design kent it’s very possible, and that’s why a lot of people are still doing it. You just have to follow the rules and think out of the box sometimes. Here are the most important rules (or, you could say, guide lines) that will help you achieve success in your SEO efforts and get your site ranking high in any search engine for almost any keywords.
Use keywords correctly and effectively. As you may already know, keywords are very important for Search Engine Optimization. Without them being positioned well throughout your site and articles, search engines would not know for what search term to rank you and would just rank you randomly for various words found in your posts, which will get you traffic, but not targeted one that can be converted into leads and sales.This is why it’s important to know and follow a few guide lines about keyword placement and density. You should place the keywords you want your articles to rank for in the title, description and all the possible meta tags (like title, description and keywords), but do it inconspicuously, as a part of the article (not have the keyword “credit card” in a title about mortgage, for example).
Put readers before crawlers. A lot of people are trying so hard to get the search crawlers on their side and achieve the best search engine search page positions that they forget their main goal, which is to get visitors. Making human visitors and readers a priority is also important because search engines themselves consider them a part of a good website. More over, it is their business to provide relevant and interesting results to people, not crawlers. They measure how much time a visitor stays on your website before hitting the Back button, and that has a direct effect on your article’s search engine rank and position. This is why it is essential that you publish only good articles and posts that are interesting for the visitors and not just keyword filled articles for search engine crawlers, which are otherwise useless to anyone or even unreadable.
Choose quality over quantity when it comes to content. If you have to choose between 10 interesting articles that people will want to share with others and 100 average to bad articles that provide no new or useful information, you will be much better off choosing the first option.
Get quality backlinks. Once you have done all of the above, the only thing you have left to do to boost your rankings is get links to your site and pages. The links should be anchored by the keyword you want to rank for, but it’s OK if it’s just a “click here” link from a site related to your article. HWOM the web design kent company will specialise in this and make sure you have the best quality links.Of course, there are a lot of other factors and details when it comes to getting the most out of Search Engine Optimization, but the above ones account for 90% of the things you need to do to achieve success. The rest are small details that are almost always individual to the site and which you will have to figure them out yourself.
Use Image Search Optimization. Image Search Optimization is a relatively new branch of SEO, but it’s still very effective. Google Image Search alone gets more than 200 million searches per month, and you can get a part of that traffic, too. Amazon does it and gets millions of new users that would otherwise never find their site.
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