The client approached us not only design and develop the website but to provide Search Engine Optimisation to improve their visibility in the major search engines. The website now appears on the first page in Google, Yahoo and Bing. They have seen huge jumps in traffic and an increase in business.
This result was achieved by designing an aesthetically pleasing site that was user friendly and incorporating the best SEO tools we were able to provide the results that they wanted.
The client wanted to focus on the new range offered by Bugatti and to become a major competitor for people looking to buy this luxury range. After only a few months with all the SEO tools we used they now appear first in Google ahead of all their major competitors such as Amazon, Comet and Harrods.
The client is delighted with the results that we achieved for them and as a result they have been approached by the luxurious Qatar Airways to feature in their monthly magazine Onyx. The prestigious airline flies over 1.4 million people to over 100 countries each month. The publication is a fantastic opportunity for our client to expose the site to the passengers travelling with Qatar airlines around the world. This has led to the client being approached by a company in Bahrain.
We look forward to the continued partnership as the brand becomes more popular in the UK.
Google has introduced a change to its algorithms that has been tested in the USA and launched internationally to English language Google users. This is intended to help users search results providing them with higher quality sites that are relevant to the search criteria. There are several changes that have been made, including an update to page rankings and search settings. The main intention being to provide the most relevant search results.
Firstly, the implementation of reduced page rankings of low quality sites – including sites that duplicate content from other sites. It will work as an advantage for high quality sites – with original content insuring they are found in search results. This will be a welcome change to make sure people find the high quality sites in their results.
Secondly, Google are incorporating additional controls for a user to be able to personalise search results. This is not something that is entirely new – previous examples are Search Wiki and location settings. However, there is a new way to get more specific results when searching. Google has introduced measures for users to have the ability to to block particular sites. When a user searches Google there will be a link to block sites. When a site is blocked it will not appear in future searches. The feature is intended to give users greater control over their searches.
Since the changes to the algorithms Google have found that people are getting better search results from high quality sites. In addition to these changes, users can leave site feedback which means that google can go into looking at “long tail” of low ranking sites to make sure higher ranking sites are found that may have been missed previously. The algorithm is an extremely precise way of finding out the quality and relevance of a site. As websites are constantly changing Google will keep updating to indicate theses changes.
Making sure you choose the right website design company can be very difficult. How do you decide how to find the company that is right for you? Do you go for the first result in Google, do you talk to fellow business people for recommendations or spend time online looking for something that catches your eye?
Here are a few pointers to consider when you make that all important decision choosing the right company for you.
Has the company asked you what you want to achieve from the website as a business?
It is important that the design team take the time to understand what you want from the website. Therefore it’s important to consider what type of website would best suit your business. Will it be a static website, a portfolio website or a online business that you can manage.
What experience does the company have designing websites in your industry?
Have a look at the portfolio to get an indication of the type of sites and work that the design team have done. It might also be worth ringing the company and having a chat to see how knowledgeable and approachable the team are.
How well do the existing sites work?
Make sure you look at several of the websites that have already been designed to see if they are easy to find your way around. Also look at testimonials to see what other companies have to say about the work they had done.
Is it easy to communicate with the team?
It is vital that you feel comfortable to be able to talk to the design team and that they are easily approachable. It is also important that they full understand what you want to achieve with the website and keep this in mind.
Do the design team have ideas that could be useful for the website?
It’s important that the designers understand what you want to achieve and are able to suggest ideas that could benefit you. However, what the client wants should be the main focus rather than the design team pushing for what they think is right.
We are pleased to announce our recent success in gaining the full maintenance, SEO and hosting for the Gleeson group.
Gleeson Homes came to us in July 2010 after reviewing their current situation to enquire how we could improve their online marketing ROI. They were spending an unreasonable amount of time and money without seeing the results they expected, for a fraction of the cost; we were able to guarantee them a vast improvement in traffic and search engine optimisation.
By accessing some of the best marketing and SEO tools, we were able to analyse Gleeson’s current set up, competition and create an effective online strategy to market the Gleeson brand in the most effective way.
Generating traffic to a website can be achieved in many ways, adwords, backlinks, social networking, blogging, podcasts, mobile devices the list goes on. The challenge is deciding on the right combination for each client, 3-4 months after doing so for Gleeson, the results have been phenomenal.
Marketing Coordinator Joanna explained to us that Gleeson Homes were offering excellent new homes at a very reasonable price; the ideal phrases for Gleeson to show up in Google would be ‘New Homes Chesterfield/Manchester/Merseyside/Ashford/Bradford’. The latest report shows www.gleeson-homes.co.uk’s showing up in the first 3 pages of Google for all targeted terms, excluding ‘New Homes Ashford’ which admittedly needs more work. Prior to Corporate Web Solutions, Gleeson Homes had almost no visibility within the search engines for any of the above key phrases; which, after analysing the report, is a great return on investment for Gleeson.
Installing a blog for Gleeson has played a major part in the improvement of the SEO, as the blog is now showing up above the homepage for some key terms. Regularly updating a blog with articles, press releases and/or any related news stories is highly resourceful in Google’s eyes, as updated content is key. The more, albeit relevant content a website has the more resourceful and informative it becomes, especially in search engines.
Getting users to see the website via Google is one thing, lowering the bounce-rate (users reaching a website then not clicking through to any other pages, simply leaving) and increasing traffic conversion rates is another.
Recent statistics are showing that the Gleeson Homes website has experienced around 670% increase in traffic in the past 3 months. (Dated 17/11/10)
We are looking forward to working alongside Gleeson Homes in the upcoming months and continuing to improve traffic and awareness through their already successful brand awareness campaign.
If you think your company could benefit from any of these services then get in touch for a tailor-made package to wrap around your business perfectly.
If you need to share files between computers there are many ways of achieving the task. Virtual private networks (VPN’s), ftp servers, wireless networks, it really depends on your setup.
As a design agency we have tried a few methods and sometimes it’s better to just simplify things, that’s where Dropbox comes in.
In a nutshell, you simply install it on the computers / devices you want to share files between and it’s as easy as that. It creates a folder on your computer and to share files you simply drag and drop into the dropbox folder. It will automatically upload and distribute files for you and save deleted files online in case you need to retrieve them later.
Tip : If you want to delete something permanently you’ll need to go to your online account and delete the deleted files (greyed out) from your dropbox. An also, have a little common sense, dont put anything too sensitive in your dropbox unless you use encryption software on it first.
Anyway, you can download it here, tell your friends and work colleagues to check it out too.
Zetechtics are market leaders in Subsea Control Systems so when approached by their sales director Trevor Bayfield who tasked us with the challenge to empower their staff, give then control to manage the website internally and become a dominant force in Google for the industry, we wanted to get it right.
The new website has been under development for a while now and features a large amount of search engine optimisation, coupled with a bespoke back office system packed with the right tools to empower the management of the website. Zetechtics asked us to help them modify the existing site whilst maintaining the professional feel the company represented. Trevor Bayfield (Zetechtics sales director) worked with our design team throughout the development process, collectively with his team to get the site exactly how they required.
Our aim was to give them the control they needed in the back office system to move forward independently without needing any technical skills. The way forward involved using simply icons for navigation, removing any need to learn website code themselves, inbuilt instructions on each section and a user friendly environment.
We can’t take all the credit though, Tom, their in house designer was the driving force on their end and helped fill the site with relevant content, load photography and generally take the reins client side.
“Zetechtics are leading suppliers of subsea control systems for ROV intervention tooling to the global oil and gas industry.”
What does the future hold ?
Future plans are a little under wraps for now but it’s rumoured the site may be used as a communication hub for existing clients and staff internally to function more proactively. As a company, we hope to guide Zetechtics in the same technological direction online they represent offline. We hope to support them with marketing online, modify the system as they evolve as a company and aim to establish a long term business working relationship.
If you would like to learn more about Zetechtics visit their site www.zetechtics.com and of course, if you feel your company could benefit from working with our team get in touch at www.corporatewebsolutions.net.
Approximately three months ago upon completing the design and development of their new website, Extrudakerb approached our team to find the most effective avenue to not only increase the exposure of their online branding but increase traffic from the right users.
After sitting down as a team we came back with a bespoke solution aimed at generating the maximum return on investment, aptly named the ‘brand awareness proposal’.
Generating traffic to a website can be achieved in many ways, adwords, backlinks, social networking, blogging, podcasts, mobile devices the list goes on. The challenge is deciding on the right combination for each client.
How do you target the right users and keep them coming back? One of the most effective tools is the use of a blog. It was the first enhancement for the Extrudakerb site, we also installed an IPhone/IPad version challenging their competition by becoming much more accessible to prospective businesses online.
I have recently carried out a review on their monthly traffic statistics and was pleased to see over the past three months a consistent 30% increase per month. Accompanied by other brand awareness techniques they have also achieved first page rankings for their targeted keywords.
Similar patterns are emerging for our other brand awareness clients.
Without giving too much away, the secret to our success lies in targeting the relevant areas of the internet/markets specifically for each company. This is done by distributing their content across the internet. An alternative to the more common practices from our competitors who tend to run smaller scaled campaigns and never quite reach the correct online saturation points.
If you would like to learn more about how Corporate Web Solutions could increase your ROI from online marketing, raise brand awareness, synchronize offline/online campaigns and track the success, simple call our Sheffield office on 08444 145 932 or visit our site at www.corporatewebsolutions.net
Internet specialists Corporate Web Solutions are set for expansion after relocating from the city centre to a new base at Sheffield Business Park. The business is recruiting new members of staff and plans to launch a web design and internet marketing training academy – using facilities at the park’s Sheffield Business Centre. “The centre offers us the flexibility we require, with the ability to take extra space for meetings or training as we need it,” says managing director Diego Herrera. “The centre also provides us with a very good front-ofhouse service and a friendly, positive
atmosphere – for around half the rent we were paying in the city centre. And there are no hidden costs.” Corporate Web Solutions specialises in web design, bespoke web applications and marketing. It is seeing a surge in demand for its latest product, a pay-as-you-go ecommerce website aimed at new and small businesses. “The website can be adapted to a client’s individual requirements and comes with a full content management system so that they can run it themselves,” says Diego. “We are offering it on a pay-asyou- go basis to help new start-ups or small businesses. Instead of having to invest £5,000 in a fullyfeatured website, they can rent it for £65 per month. We are seeing a lot of demand and expect our turnover to increase by 300 per cent as a result.”
Sheffield Business Park director Graham Sadler welcomed the company’s success since its arrival. He said: “Corporate Web Solutions is one of a number of expanding, high-tech occupiers to make the business park their home. “Our Sheffield Business Centre is particularly suited to small, dynamic companies who need to flexibility of additional space when required and a range of administrative and secretarial services.”
This article is targeted at small to medium size business owners and will hopefully interpret the ‘social networking’ buzz word you will have no doubt heard colleagues mention in passing. Many of our clients still don’t really understand how their website can benefit from using websites such as Facebook, Digg, Google buzz, StumbleUpon, Yahoo buzz, Twitter and Linked In to their advantage.
Social networking sites What is a social networking site ? They are websites that aim to increase communication between a variety of target audiences who share similar interests.Their main focus is typically targeted at putting friends/businesses in contact, old and new, however as popularity increases a business angle seems to creep into pretty much all of them. Initially for the owners of the site to make some cash using internal advertising which later leads into generating extra revenue by encouraging its members to market themselves to the same audience.
How can I benefit from this ?
Facebook : You may already have an account, click on advertising located in the footer and follow the on screen instructions to create your own advert. Why? because it’s highly cost effective in comparison to other marketing mediums and gives its advertisers a lot of control over who the ads are visible to. You can create an advert then decide on its target audience by a range of filters, from age range, demographics, job titles, interests to pretty much anything a user has entered on their personal profile page. As a user, there are also tons of ways to market your company for free, you can create a group, create a fan page, create a business listing and invite countless people to join and read the content not to mention the ability for them to invite countless more in their contact circles. Remember the 6 degrees of separation?
You can also integrate your account with other social networking sites to update your status on the fly informing facebook users of new news without you even logging in, for example your current status updates on twitter.
Linked In: Think of a more basic facebook targeted at the business sector. Add your business profile to its network and create new contacts. You can even use the site to search for jobs in your industry and hopefully increase your annual turnover.
What all the buzz about? What are Digg, Google Buzz and Yahoo Buzz
These sites allow their users to inform other members of websites they deem interesting / worthy of reading. Once you register for an account on Digg etc, you can choose a topic, i.e design or business and see a live feed of information of what the internet is currently buzzing about.
How can I use this? Buzz about yourself and its its half worth the read other people will agree and spread the love, this will increase traffic to the site considerably and it a fantastic method of self promotion particularly if you are launching a new product or have insider news on something/one. The link itself will also act as a backlink to your website in Google’s eyes which in Google’s own words ‘acts as a positive vote from site A to B’ making you site more resourceful in the search engines eyes.
Will people ever StumbleUpon my site?
StumbleUpon is one of the internets best tools for generating legitimate traffic to your website, its also a great passtime so be careful of staff getting carried away with it at work
The way it works is, open an account, tick boxes on the topics you are interested in and then click the start stumbling button. The site will then display countless websites that are associated with the topics you ticked as interesting and expect you to either thumbs up or down the site if you like/dislike the content.
How do I use it as a business? Go to your website and be the first person to stumble it, just click on the thumbs up button on the downloadable toolbar StumbleUpon offers and write the first review, when you categorise your site and click OK you effectively throw your site into the face of users who have setup their profile stating that they are interested in viewing websites in your industry. If they like it, the number of users your site is displayed to will increase and generate regular traffic.
Can you hear the brids singing? Twit Twoo!!
Twitter has grown massively over the past few years. In its most basic form, allows users to follow other members and keep informed of their activities, this could be celebrity stalking or buddies letting each other know where they are in town, although you could probably just call them.
And as a business? Well you can create a business profile upload your logo and a background graphic then generate a following by following other members and messaging them to increase the visibility of your profile. There are also a variety of buttons you can put on your website urging your existing website visitors to follow you on twitter and keep informed of new products, sales and anything else that they might be interested in.
Your followers can also retweet your posts and spread the news to other branches/circles or contacts.
This all sounds awesome but I don’t have the time/technical knowledge/skill set to do all this! I would seriously try to find the time, it would be very rewarding if you get it right, as usual though, if marketing scripts, techy skills are not your forte just contact us and we can put together a blazing hot social networking plan for your business. It costs nothing to ask. Visit our main site here : www.corporatewebsolutions.net or phone (UK) 08444 145 932.
To all who have read this article and think its worth spreading the love amongst your contacts/internet networks please do so via the SHARE button below the post. Thanks in advance
In the next article I’m going to cover a few more marketing tricks and techniques plus a few techy tricks. To ensure you dont miss out, enter your email into the subscribe box in the top right corner of this page and I’ll make sure you receive an email when the next post goes live.
Thanks for reading, comments/suggestions are always welcome…..
This article is targeted at non technically minded small business owners. I’m going to try and explain how a search engine interprets your website and how a few small changes (upgrades) can make a massive difference in your search engine traffic.
The aim is to empower you enough to understand why your site might not be generating the return on investment (ROI) you initially expected / were sold on and put you on the right track to appear under the right keywords/phrases you are seeking in search engines such as Google, Yahoo etc.
How relevant is my website and can its intended target audience find it ?
In a previous article (5-things-to-remember-when-considering-a-new-website) I explained how a search engine places emphasis on page relevancy. Take Google for example, Google will read web pages and match results that appear to be the most resourceful against what the internet user typed into its search box.
Great, and ? Well the question you need to ask yourself is :
Does my selected web page contain enough information to outrank its competition on this topic / product?
Example : I go to Google, type in web design company sheffield, hit enter and expect to see my website. In this case I do, but why? my competition talk about the same services, they are also in the same town etc. I’m obviously not going to give away our personal tricks and secrets, but I’ll explain the basics which my competition if any good should already have covered
Meta Tags : A website’s code is broken up into two sections, something called the head and something called the body. In the head section we have something called meta tags, these are basic chunks of information that a search engine scans to discover the topics covered on the rest of the page, try to see it like the index of a book with a summary of the current chapter.
In the meta tags you can put your page title, keywords and a page description. In all honesty Google doesn’t pay too much attention to these compared to the actual page content but they are still important and should not be overlooked.
A common mistake is that people call their page title ‘My company name homepage’ for example, forgive me for saying but who cares? Your website will already be relevant enough for Google to realise you are ‘ACME co’ as competitive websites will not be competing for top spot under your company name. The right approach would be something like this ‘Web design company in Sheffield, SEO & Internet Marketing – Corporate Web Solutions ‘.
The previous meta page title is keyword dense and hopefully more informative to Google regarding what the user searched for. The page content should then include a load of information about web design, internet marketing and SEO in Sheffield. Back to the book, think the title is the chapter and the page content is the story. Keep the content relevant and outweigh competitors.
How many keywords can I put in my meta keyword section? Remember quality over quantity, as a general rule of thumb don’t overkill it with every keyword you want to appear under and list all the products/services you offer. Try to enter no more than 25 words, avoid repetition and have unique keywords for each page, each relevant to that page’s content. Let the ‘marketing’ page have marketing in its keywords and the ‘graphic design’ page follow suit.
Step 2, the actual web page content. There should be a page title in the body section, the body section is the actual visible section of the web page on your computer screen. under the URL (website address) to the bottom of the visible page.
If your website sells ‘mobile phones by Sony’ the page should have a page header called Sony Mobile Phones and then display all the products in your shop. This page title should be something called a <h1> header. The designer should have coded the site to have a H1/Header 1 HTML tag around the body’s page title, this is what Google will interpret as the most relevant title on the page and expect to find information on the page that matches to title, again, chapter, story.
If not, try not to pull your hair out, its a quick fix just give them or even me a bell and I can sort it for you.
The next step is to name your images with relevant names and add something called anchor title text to your links. These are the titles that should appear when you roll over a link containing a little more information about the link’s target page. Once again, don’t panic if you are lost, you’re probably not a techy and the aim is to open your eyes to areas of improvement in your site and ensure a good job has been done by your web designer.
Recap :
Add meta tags relevant to each page, make sure the page has a visible relevant title that is wrapped in a <H1> tag, name images and ensure your sites links have titles that show extra text when you roll over them. Make sure the content/information on the page is relevant to the page’s ‘chapter summary’.
A common mistake is not having enough text on a page, don’t overkill it with graphics and exclude text that the search engine can read, otherwise how will it ever know how to rank you? The trick for the designer is to balance graphics and text to maintain a user friendly attractive design whilst feeding the search engine enough information.
Ok, I think I’m covered. Once you have the basics covered and have made yourself more relevant you need to let Google know. Don’t just sit there and think that everything will miraculously kick in now. Go to Google and add your website address (URL) to Google (click here to add your website to Google). Add your website address in and approx 8 top keywords.
Following that, go to DMOZ.org, that is the open source directory project (directory of websites Google pays a lot of attention to) and drill down the categories until you find the list of websites that best represent your industry and in the top right hand corner click suggest URL, if you cant see it, then you need to drill down deeper into the categories.
Dont stop there…. Open a Google account if you dont have one and add your website to the local business directory. This will include you in the map section of Google and hopefully increase the awareness of your site. Go to Yahoo and do the same, In fact, search for business directories in Google and add your site to as many freebies as possible.
Top Tip When adding your site into directories etc if possible name your site as ‘Keywords – Company name’ in the directories, ensuring the phrase is associated more and more across the internet.
Publicise your site as much as possible Include a link to your website in your email signature, search for similar websites with blogs and comment with useful information and a backlink to your website. Links back to your website are another massive aid to search engine optimisation and it’s something I’m going to cover in a future post.
For now, I hope this article has helped you and opened your eyes a little to a few things you can do to take control of your website’s SEO.
Comments are always welcome, suggestions for future topic coverage also.
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