Getting better results from your Website

I don't often branch out into this realm of trying to dictate to your what you should and shouldn't put onto your website.  But you do want the website to perform better - right?

Let's pick the title of this article apart a little - 'Getting better results from your website' - The key is I'm not going to fuss about how many visitors, or what your marketing, your aims and your aspirations are for your website.  Want I want to stress is how you might get better results from what visitors you're already getting.

The key with any page on any website is to give the visitor enough information to satisfy them.  You might ask them to buy something, contact you or just inform them.  But ultimately you want to satisfy their need whatever it is.

Therefore this leave one metric that is cast iron every time to getting a better result.  It's called the 'Bounce Rate' - the Bounce Rate measure the number of people who visit a web page and leave... 9 tenths of the time unsatisfied.  It followers therefore the lower your bounce rate the more satisfied visitors you will have.  If 2 in 10 people are leaving before they have read your page - that would be better than 4 or 6.

All web pages have a Bounce Rate and the target varies depending on the content of the page, but you might say 20% was good, 40% acceptable and 60% worrisome, there are plenty of ways to find this out on your website.

So back to my title - Getting better results from you Website - the goal is to reduce the bounce rate and the main way that is done is by improving the page they are bounce from... But you need to put that in context with who and why they are landing on the page in the first place.

Examples - if you have a web about 'Holidays in France' and people and it announces information and facts about holidays you offer - that's great - but you might find that Bounce Rate is at 60%... working backwards you can analyse that 300 of your 500 visitors to the page typed in the keyword 'Ski Holidays' - you'd know that people were arriving on your website because they want to know about 'skiing holidays'.

The obvious thing to do is to make sure that 'Skiing Holidays' is prominently featured on your website.  This would mean those 300 people would see information about what they are looking forward to most prominently.  This would reduce the chance of a Bounce.  A big notice on your Home Page saying 'Click Here for Skiing Holidays' is what is needed.

Now you can take this all a few steps further - if you had Summer Holiday Cottages and Ski Chalets on the website - and your visitors were using a mix of keywords related to these two different activities, you should set up two pages - one for Summer and one for Winter.

Now you can take it further - if you get more people looking for 'short break holidays', 'two bedroom chalets', 'august French villas'  You can see you are going to start building specific pages for all these eventualities - the goal is always the same - to make sure you give people the information they actually want.

These sorts of pages are called Landing Pages and you can usually fill them with more direct information. 'We have two bedroom Villas for rent' - this leaves the visitor with little room to manoeuvre - they looked up the keyword and you've given them exactly the information they want... the chances are your website will get better results.

What can we draw from this?
I recommend setting a few rules.  If you get traffic from an keyword above a certain amount (say 500 visitors) they you absolutely should build a specific page on your website for this traffic.

Secondly, you'd be wise to look for theme from your top 20-50 keywords and include these keywords in your normal website, this is a compounding thing, the more you include these keywords in your website they more people will be satisfied with the bonus the more Google will promote these pages.

And lastly most importantly, in my opinion, you are starting to give the visitor what they want, rather than you dictating to them... If they are looking to you for answering what better service can you given than the answers.

Visual Website Design

Design is everything and this article is geared towards my clients and my regular tip of the month series of articles.

You may have noticed with the abundance of iPhones, iPads and visual effects on websites more than ever the emphasis on the design, look and feel of your website is becoming increasingly important. We've moved on from the 'professional, efficient' design of last years websites to simply put must have slickness.

Web design is moving in leaps and bounds these days and the heart of the movement is in the design.  It's a bit like IKEA out there, design is everything, even it if means it breaks quite quickly.  But what is the route through all this emphasis.  Let me outline just a few design concepts.

• Design for mobile - the future has arrived and you really must have a website that works on an iPhone, iPad and any other device you can think of.
  
  Also you need to consider email marketing campaigns, email signatures and branding. It is extremely likely that people will open your email on their mobile device.
  
  
• Responsive Design - this is the concept that your website will flow no matter how it is looked at, chunks or boxes of content will change position depending on the viewing requirements.  So video might take a back seat on an iPhone, but will show prominently on a desktop.
  
  Responsive Design is about having one website (less work) to meet all your needs
  
  
• Cross Browser - your website has to work on all browsers the main ones are Internet Explore (40-50%), Chrome (25%), Firefox (20%), Safari and Opera (5%) and many others. The only browser that can be ignored is IE6, which Microsoft has officially stopped supporting.
  
  Would you turn down 10% of your customers for any reason... then why do so on your website, because your website failing to work on some peoples computers is precisely the as hanging a closed for business sign on your website.
  
  
• Photography - the next big thing - look around you and by far the most common thing people are sharing or promoting or looking at is Photograph, Video is not far behind.  But seriously think about your website and the photos you are using on it and then rethink your use of photography.
  
  Great design is very much coupled with great photography and peoples awareness of your business is completely associated with the photos you use.  Get the photos right and much of the rest will follow.
  
  
• Social Media - we're being led down this garden path still further - it won't end - in cased you hoped it would - so use it.  Any website that does not put social media at it's core from the starts risks virtually zero interest from the start.
  
  Social Media is not just about a few logos on your website - it is about taking part in the world out there to promote your business, you need to be involved.

At the hart of all this is simply Great Design.  Making your website look fabulous is a significant part of the criteria you need to make your website stand out from the crowd.

It's worth every minute you spend searching for inspiration and every penny you spend investing on your website.

Cookie Law - coming your way!

Very quick note to highlight the fact that by 31st May under EU regulations all websites that use Cookies need to notify their users when they arrive.

Much has been written about this law and can be read on SilkTides excellent Blog (http://blog.silktide.com/tag/cookie-law/) also you can see more on http://nocookielaw.com/.  I've embedded their excellent Video here as well.



Most of our websites use at the very least Google Analytics, the worlds foremost website statistics tool.  And this website uses Cookies and so unless you add the relevant updates to your website technically you will be breaking the law.

The Solution

Without too finer a point the solution is to start complying with the law and that means updating your website making your customers aware that you're using Cookies.  But I would like to stress there is no hurry yet... these updates can be done when you're ready... It is simply the point of this post to make you aware of what you should be doing and then doing it when you can.

Costs - A number of solutions have presented themselves from free to paid, it all depends how big your website is and whether you would like a hosted solution or something specific to your website.  We're happy to quote, but it is important to understand that if we can do this for free we will.

For an example please see my website www.ncompass.co.uk/

Designing for Mobile

My company motto is "putting business on the 'net" and I think it is important that I start this article with that in mind.

My motto is not - cutting edge technology now - not is it - latest gadgets for the future - I believe that for my clients it is better to use tried and tested technologies when they've been tried and tested and not before.

We all like to 'jump onto a bandwagon', but I'd like to assure you that every time I recommend you jump onto a bank wagon, it's not just a whim.  It fact it is quite a serious recommendation.

What is the Mobile Web and what does it mean to you?

Essentially, all the predictions are that people will use their computers less and their mobiles more, whereas we've just gotten used to sitting at our computers to check email, now people want to check their email in the train and on the move.  All this is almost being forced upon us by the likes of the iPhone, so it's now a reality and no longer a minority techie thing.

Mobile has arrived and it is changing how we do things.

A typical example from a real client of mine (Mobile Traffic)

This will effect us all because it means our websites will be accessed via Mobile and if we give the wrong impression that will effect how our customers and clients see us.  If our competitors do this better than us, they will get the business and not us.

Let's think hypothetically for a moment.  We've brought the latest Eco-Friendly car we can, it's fully connected to the Internet and has GPS and all the gizmo's, but we're low on Petrol (or whatever it is we will be fuelling the car with). The on-board computer will tell us where to buy the cheapest petrol and it will tell us how to get there.  We will follow it's instructions.  Now if your petrol station is all hooked up, that's great customers will come your way.  But if now... how will people find you.

Real day examples are everywhere, if a person considers using your services or buying your products, he'll subconsciously compare your website to another, he'll see colour, words, photos, price and so on.  If he does that on a Mobile Phone - where will you stand?  How will you rate?

It's a big question and the simple answer is you need to get organised so that you can answer people when they try to see your website on their Mobile Phones.

Top 10 Tips for Mobile

These suggestions can be taken individually, but the idea is to get you thinking:

1. People have different needs on their iPhone, they usually want to contact you, so put your telephone number on prominently;
2. People often want directions - so make them clear on your mobile website;
3. Don't just repeat you main website on an iPhone it will be too small, it's also unreliable on the many other types of phones people have, (Nokia, Samsung, Android etc);
4. If selling products - narrow down the information, make it easier for people to buy it, they probably already know what they are looking for;
5. If offering a Service - make it compelling the likelihood is that people will have less time to read your website;
6. Navigation - put this at the bottom - make it rock simple, forget drop down menus, or anything fancy;
7. Avoid animation or anything moving, respect peoples bandwidth, they do not want to download a Movie on their iPhone, it would be cripplingly expensive;
8. News can take a back seat - unless your news is central to your service, people are less worried about frequent updates - people want specific information, not general;
9. Embrace Sharing - make everything you offer shareable - people often want to look something up for someone else and they need to be able to share that information;
10. Design for Mobile - if you're going to do it then do it properly;

These are purely my own recommendations, but as you the client think about your own Mobile experience with your own Mobile - think how you can be useful for your customers and clients.  That is the key.  A Mobile website is not about you giving information, it is about your customers getting that they need.

Mobile has arrived in the mainstream, it is time to plan for it and act.

Trafalgar - The People Business: Invoices, being paid, not being paid and all that ...

Trafalgar - The People Business: Invoices, being paid, not being paid and all that ...: So often the main priority in a business is to gain clients and gain work. This is all well and good and crucial for the success of the bus...

Link Building for SEO

I think it is about time I wrote something about Link Building for my clients and what value it brings our websites and how you should go about it.

I have always maintained that Google likes three things Content, Links and Good Design.  Content is straight-forward enough, you write it and I'll publish it, Good Design is largely down to me as your website designer, and indeed I always try to make a website as search engine friendly as possible.

That leaves Links - by definition Google ranks your website based on the authority it thinks your website has on it's chosen subject.  As a principal indicator Google looks to see how many websites 'agree' and place links to your website.  And that's where the plot thickens.

• Google is looking for recommendation of your website - you recommending other websites serves little purpose.
• Google is looking for relevant websites - you having a link on a Baseball website when you sell DIY tools has no effect the subject matter has to be related
• Google is looking for authoritative links - being recommended on the well respected BBC is going to be way more powerful than having a link on a website that no-one has heard of.

This all makes the situation much much tougher... you have to find high quality websites, willing to give their traffic to you at little or no cost on the same subject matter as they are trying to concentrate on to the same target audience.

It's a bit like MacDonald's selling Burger King Whoppers.

And it gets worst - Here are a few of the types of links you should be trying to target:

• Competitor websites - if you have a link on a competitors website - Google will take it as a sign that your competitors think your offering is better.  This would be extremely highly valued by Google.
• Trade Websites - find your industry trade websites and try t target these, these act as centres of information for your industry and should be open to pointing interested parties in your direction.  But beware of the cost.
• Journalistic or News - The domain of PR, getting articles or content from leading journalistic websites would be highly ranked by Google, the problem is by their nature these are quite short lived affairs and you need to keep the pressure on Journalists to keep writing about you.
• Blogging - another albeit lesser area is to get others to write about you on their Blogs.  Google however takes into account the source (a Blog) and a lot depends on the quality and respect the source has within your industry.
• Social Media - having other write about you on Facebook and Twitter with links back to your website is also highly important and often effective.  Google realise that real people recommending real products and service is important. 
• Article websites - a newer source of links, a new breed of 'How to' websites offer articles on any subject and often allow publishes to place a link back to the their website.  Google currently allow a fair amount of leeway on these sites, but as they get abused so Google will tighten up.
• Directories - in terms of Google value Directories are low on the list - you can easily list your website in hundreds of Directories or secondary search engines, but who uses these?

So what is the solution - all this is rather negative, yet Link Building is probably one of the best and most important ways to build your websites popularity, not only do you open your door to traffic from many other websites, but Google rank you higher based on the quality and quantity of the links.

The role of the expert - all things cost money or require actual work.

Briefly you need to build and manage a profile of websites you think would help you.

• You need to contact as many trade bodies as you can and request links to your website.  Partner and supplier business also need to be contacts and requests made to list your website link on their websites.
• Press Releases - you need to ensure that your website address is printed at every opportunity on and off line.
• Articles - should and can be written and then submitted 'How to' websites.
• You need to comment and contribute not only on your own Blog, but on other peoples blogs to.  Volunteer yourself to write for others
• Journalists & Awards and Case Studies - always encourage your company to partake in investigative journalism, apply for awards and allow yourself to be used in other peoples advertising.
• Social Media - provide the right content that people will share on Social Media, so that your message travels far and very wide.

That's a lot of work for someone... and will seem daunting, but it should not be so.  And actually it's extremely easy. A big chunk can be done once off, more can be outsourced to the likes of myself and another chunk can be automated.  Once you have the core parts implemented the rest can follow.

Quality link building takes time, work and money, luckily however, linking building needn't take all three, it can be divided up quite happily.  Contact me if you want to discuss this more.

The Kindle

I'm going to go off-beat for a little bit and write about a new gift I was given for my Birthday a few months ago. The Kindle.

Nothing special, just the standard model, but I have to say I was deeply impressed. I had somewhat dismissed the Kindle, I didn't think I'd like the limited functionality of just reading books, the association with Amazon, the narrowly defined definition of what a Kindle does. I'd even seen and played on one before... but now I wouldn't swap it for the world. It simple fantastic.

There's no doubt that if you want a book reader then this does the job extremely well for an exceptional price.

The day to day use, rather than go through all the various things it can and can't do, I'm not interested - I just want to spell out how I use it, so that you might relate that to your own criteria.

In a nutshell it's a book... I read it last thing at night, sometimes in the morning, sometime during the day. I flick it on and it's remember exactly where I've left off. I did subscribe to the Daily Telegraph for the two free weeks you get and I found that excellent, however not good enough to spend £9.99 per month. I can get my News elsewhere.

I also checked out my email (that worked fine, but I do use Gmail so that made it easier) I have also hooked into Twitter and Facebook, both nice touches. Now I can easily rate the book I am reading. However, I'd only use the email functionality in an emergency, when I didn't have other way. And that makes it quite a good back up system, especially given the fact that the battery lasts about a month (or at least I'd imagine most of your three week holiday if you remember to turn off the wi-fi).

I also have now synced the Windows Desktop Programme to my Amazon account, brilliant, I now have my books in more than one place and Amazon also remember all my purchases. So I really do recommend you download the Windows program for Kindle. The iPad App is also good and I use that as well (no need to re-purchase all those books in iBooks).

The other point of the Windows Software is that it allows you to research your purchases a bit before you commit, you can do all this on the Kindle itself of course, but I quite like reviewing something on the big screen first.

I've only brought one book, it was extremely easy, no need to enter credit card information, just click, download and it's done. But I've also downloaded five years worth of free books, some of them current, others out of print, Amazon are always doing special offers, or perhaps authors are forgoing their profits to get read, whatever the situation I was truly amazed by the sheer quantity of free material available... no need to go to the Gutenberg thing, Amazon has thousands of free titles already.

The future - this is definitely now the 'book' I pick up when I want to read something. I am sure that in time I'll want to read something a little more current than Arthur Conan Doyle or Rudyard Kipling, but these books are great. Sadly my view of the future of real books has taken a hit. My shelves will slow clear of books over time. You can lend Kindle Books, and finally I think in the long term this will all work out for authors and publishers alike. More will be read than ever before, because it's all so easy.