Category Archives: web

SEO – a business con?

SEO is no longer the cryptic crossword puzzle for those who indulged in Internet geekdom but the get rich technique for the opportunist and charlatan. Some optimization companies charge ridiculously large amounts of money for a lot of their optimisation services. These same businesses then try to explain their rates by attempting to convince prospective clients that by paying ‘extra’ they get a better deal in the long term. This technique reminds me of double glazing salesmen, who all say that by spending more with ‘x’ you get a better deal than with ‘y’, when in reality they all get their materials and manufacturing equipment from the same suppliers. Any businessman or businesswoman can intelligently work out that the reason for their inflated prices are due to a combination of greed and over staffing.

I agree that optimisation is important and that there are excellent companies out there offering value for money but don’t let that optimiszation contract you have signed be the expense that makes you jump from a tall building. Shop around ask other web site owners for advice – just be smart and try to implement simple stratigies for yourself.

The links between designing a world beating web page and delivering content are closer than you think. Words are the building blocks of all great websites. By selecting the best words available you stand a better chance of creating a world beater. By using the best combination of words and web optimization techniques you may end up creating a successful website. There is no need to be subversive if the content of your pages are good – you have no need to use illegal methods. Read More…

Search Engine Optimization is big business in an age when the rest of the worlds’ business community is tightening its belt. The expression ‘Ambulance Chasers’ comes to mind. I will accept that good SEO requires hours and hours of hard work, involving research and then analysis and scrutiny but what is the acceptable cost? Is this task worth solicitors’ rates?

Browser wars

When building a website it is important to make sure your website works in different browsers:
Quote:
Firefox overtook Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) to become the number one browser in Europe in December 2010 according to StatCounter, the free website analytics company.
The firm’s research arm StatCounter Global Stats reports that in December, Firefox took 38.11% of European market share, compared to IE’s 37.52%.
“This is the first time that IE has been dethroned from the number one spot in a major territory,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. “This appears to be happening because Google’s Chrome is stealing share from Internet Explorer while Firefox is mainly maintaining its existing share.”

WordPress – a small business tool

Small businesses need to increase their web presence effectively and cheaply. There are a lot of free, and exceptional efficient tools out there and some are more powerful – getting your products into search engines – than expensive branded software and tools. This little step will help you stay in business.
One of our favorites is  WordPress which delivers a mighty bang when optimising a website. WordPress appeared in 2003, with a few users who were looking for a way to  enhance the typography of writing on the Web. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.
WordPress is in principle a blogging tool but, with the new updates, can be used to create a dynamic business website. It does require a bit of technical knowledge to set up, like creating and linking to a MySQL database – but we can help you.
MySQL is a database that is frequently used for Web applications. It’s fast and reliable and can store large quantities of data; several high-traffic Web sites use MySQL for data storage, including Google, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia. When you install an application, such as WordPress, you need a MySQL database.
North Devon Web can help you with setting up a small business website powered by WordPress. North Devon Web  belongs to a network of websites that host in a green way.  North Devon Web is helping to prevent the release of 2,660 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year by hosting on ‘Green Servers’ – as a result,  the network’s energy efficiency is equivalent to planting approximately 2,390 acres of trees, not driving 6.1 million miles, or removing 510 cars from the road. 

A schematic map of your website

North Devon Web

XML Sitemap protocol allows a webmaster, site owner or business to inform search engines about the pages on a website that are available for crawling. Likewise you can keep some pages ‘private’ by not listing them and providing there are no other links on your site to these private pages they will not be read by Search Engines. A search engine is not ‘magic’ you have to invite them in to crawl your pages, you have to open the door for them.
Complicated concepts when explained in a simple way make things easier to understand. Knowledge enables understanding, a schematic plan, a diagram or a map, is a key or a link to this understanding.  A Sitemap is an XML file (and this is exactly what it  is, a schematic map of your website) that lists the URLs contained on a site and contains additional information about each URL: when it was last updated, how often it changes, and how important it is in relation to other URLs in the site. This allows search engines to crawl the site more intelligently.
Once you have created an XML sitemap and have loaded it up to your site what do you do with it? Google recommends you to first submit your Sitemap using Google Webmaster Tools. This means you will be able to validate your site, claiming ownership or access rights to the site, informing them you are responsible for updating, managing or optimizing etc. This will ensure that your Sitemap details are in your Webmaster Tools. In addition to your Webmaster Tools, you can also submit (and resubmit) your Sitemap using the following methods:
• Sending a HTTP request to Google
• Including your Sitemap location in your robots.txt file
If you want us to give you a Quote for a ‘Green’ web site, or manage your site, optimizing and generally removing the pressure away from you daily on line business please contact us via email.

Where to start?

There are lots of things that are important when creating a business website……but where to start? Each bit needs another bit….but which bit first?
Placing your idea or product on the Internet involves several complicated, interwoven elements, each one is dependent and relies on another. This ‘spaghetti’, which can be an utter tangled mess, is vital for online success. You need a strategy that can combine the skills of the participants (key company members) which can deliver your final product, convey your style, in an easily digestible manner  – your clients need to be able to access and purchase your products with ease. This structure has to be created using a system that both creators and users can understand.
This conundrum is similar to the problem artists have when creating a work of art – the final image  requires a parallel set of decision making processes.

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