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The 3 Biggest business blogging mistakes

2011-07-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

When writing a blog for your business it’s crucial that you get things right… Getting it wrong could cost you your customers and reputation.

1. Grammar, spelling and content - this should really go without saying… Make the blog easy to read, from a customer’s point of view they don’t have time to sit their trying to work out what your article says. So make sure every sentence flows, perhaps get someone else (an honest person) in the company to proof read it before uploading it onto the wide web for millions to see! Spelling, I don’t seriously need to tell you how to use spell check do I? It’s not hard, make sure you do a spell check before sending it out; you might end up looking stupid if you don’t. Content – DON’T BORE THE READER… write about something interesting and give them advice. The reader will not read your blog unless it is in their interest or they are gaining something from it – Fact!

2. Too much promotion – yes there is such a thing! Make yourself seem resourceful when writing blogs, there’s no point trying to cram every single offer you have into a blog when the bottom line is “the reader can’t be bothered”. All the end user of the internet wants is a simple, easy online experience. Don’t overpower them with sentences thrown together using a mass of keywords, you are more likely to promote your service/product if you give the customer something for nothing – advice. Don’t try too hard, too early – before you start to promote your product/service gain a relationship with your blog readers. If they keep reading and commenting on your posts they obviously like what you are talking about, don’t try to promote a product as soon as one person comments. It’s too easy for them to switch off.

3. Lack of direction – “what are we talking about again?” that’s the question you do not want your readers to be asking. ALWAYS make sure there is a point or an end to what you are saying, Cliff-hangers are for soaps. Just because you don’t end your blog “at the end” it doesn’t mean people will come back, the likelihood is they won’t. And if they don’t they will never know what you have to offer, therefore they can never buy it!

So, don’t rely on your blog to get you to the top call CLICKASITE for the best website designs and SEO at top prices. 0843 212 0080 don’t miss out!

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Use Blogging as Part of your SEO Campaign – The Benefits are Many

2011-07-14T08:58:00.001-07:00

If you have a website designed by a UK web design company then it is bound to have a blog. This is a vital part of your site, and if used well can increase sales as well as your rankings in the search engine results pages. Those two reasons alone make blogging a vital element in your SEO campaign, but the benefits don’t stop there. A blog will also:

Encourage customer involvement
Help to build trust with your customers
Gives you the perfect opportunity to promote your goods
Keeps your website looking alive

A UK SEO company will use a blog for these reason and they also know that blogs are ideal for:

Frequent back link building
Combining with your social media strategies
Keeping your website updated with new URLs
Attracting more customers thanks to the updated information

Blogging for all Reasons

It doesn’t matter what your business is, a UK SEO company will be happy to help you create a blog which will benefit your website and your business. By updating the blog a couple of times a week you are creating brand new URLs directly into your site.

In addition to this each blog posts gives you the opportunity to include one or two backlinks into your site, preferably one to your home page and another deeper back link. If your UK web design company also provides SEO services then when they design your blog they will make sure to include all the social media buttons. These make it easier for your visitors to recommend what they have read to others, a great plus for any site looking to boost their SEO.

Keep Your Blog Optimised

Your UK web design company will have worked on discovering your keywords. These are the words and phrases most likely to be used by your customers in the search bars. The keywords can also be used in your blog posts. This doesn’t mean you should spam these words, but it is worth putting them in the post a few times, and creating a hyperlink in a couple of them.

You can use the blog to inform your customers of new sales, promotions and products. It also helps to give case studies, snippets of insider information and relevant news stories to your industry. You must make sure that you use only one hundred per cent original posts and articles else you may find that the search engines algorithms push you down in the rankings. This is the aim of Google Panda, the latest update, so to avoid this happening be sure to write unique pieces not found anywhere else on the web.

Speak to your UK SEO Company about your blog and discover how they are able to help you optimise it for the search engines. ClickaSite offers UK web design and SEO so if you are looking to boost your online presence talk to the experts on 0843 212 0080 today.

SEO and Social Media are Best Buddies - Is your Website Being Socialised?

2011-06-27T06:20:00.001-07:00

You may think that the cost of having a new website designed using SEO from the start would be too expensive for smaller companies. This is not the case if you decide to work with a low cost web solutions firm who understand that websites need marketing, using the latest SEO methods, in order to be successful.

SEO is so important to businesses on the Internet, and social media has become equally important to SEO. When discussing your new business website with your chosen web solutions firm it is important to discuss how social media can be used to market your business on the Internet. It makes no difference if you trade solely online or whether you can be found on the high street too, social media needs to be part of your SEO campaign.

What Does Social Media Bring to SEO

In business, advertising and marketing is needed to bring in valuable customers. Spreading the word about your firm will help to encourage new customers, and the same needs to be applied to your website. Your low cost web solutions firm will not only want to help you by designing the best website for your company, they will also want to help you with the marketing, and that is where SEO comes in.

Social media can be used in your SEO campaign in several ways. Firstly the website designers will want to encourage you to allow for readers to share your links and posts online with ease. Internet users have quickly become social creatures who love to share anything they like on the Internet with their friends. This can be seen as free advertising on your part, as recommendations often lead to further business.

However, having your links shared on social networks or bookmarking sites has further benefits. Search engines simply adore social media, so much so that they have included social media results in their algorithms. The algorithms of Google and Bing, for example, help to decide whereabouts your websites will appear in the search engine results pages.

Seek Approval of your Readers

The higher up the better, so the more Facebook likes, Twitter Tweets, Diggs and Stumbles you are able to achieve from everything you upload onto your website, the better your ranking will become. The high ranking will encourage even more visitors to pay a visit to your newly designed website and work to improve your online sales.

Low Cost Web solutions will Combine Fantastic Design with SEO

Back linking is still important to SEO, and social media offers simple solutions to organically producing back links. Each time you have a new bit of news, blog post or product you will be able to place the URL onto all of your social media and bookmarking sites. These then turn into back links, and once again you will be pleasing those all-important algorithms.

Not every web designer will help you work on your SEO for the site, and even fewer have the skills involved in SEO to make a really successful campaign. If you are able to have your entire web solutions in one place then the easier your website will find its high ranking position on the Internet. Discuss social media with your web solution team and discover how SEO will be of benefit to your business.

The Guide for Small Businesses Undertaking SEO.

2011-06-22T01:10:00.000-07:00

It has become clear that small business will struggle to survive in the current economic climate! This is purely because; “Too busy, too little cash” is the common theme for most of them. SEO is another aspect they have to undertake, a business could either rise with it or it can be the main component in failure – depending on how you use it…

Almost all companies will look for a cheap and easy SEO solution – that’s not an option! To get the most from your business you have to be prepared to speculate before you can accumulate, putting all of your effort and time into the project in hand. Building up a business does not happen over-night and neither does SEO.

So to start, don’t waste your time buying thousands of links for £100, no matter how much the company tries to sell its “high quality” service to you, don’t give in; the chances are not one of them will work for you. What you need to do is find a company who is willing to work with you and find out as much information about your company as possible. You may think you’re paying out of the nose for their service but it is almost guaranteed to pay-out in the long run if they know what you’re selling.

Next on the list, DON’T HANG AROUND! SEO is an on-going process that sometimes takes up to 6 months to start working. If you have a business idea or are having a website built, get ahead of the game and start building your SEO foundations. You may have an amazing website/business but what use is it when people can’t find it?

It doesn’t come cheap either! Be expecting to pay at least £400 per month to make it worth your while. So, when searching for an SEO company, don’t write them off because of the price, their probably offering a better service. But to be on the safe side, do your research! Some companies out there try to make you think you are getting a good deal when really they know it’s not your forte and try to rip you off with technical jargon. BE AWARE!

Be committed, don’t sign yourself up to an SEO company and leave them to it. In order to get the best from SEO they have to know everything about the nature of your business, places you advertise and people you advertise to. Without helping them you are taking a big risk with your business. SEO could either make or break a business, so make sure you’re in the know on what’s happening. SIGN UP WITH CLICKASITE TODAY: Call 0843 212 0080 for your free quote.

5 ways to increase traffic to your blogs!

2011-06-21T03:13:00.001-07:00

5 ways to increase traffic to your blogs!

1. Update your blog regularly. How many people will go back to your site if the same words are there every time? Not many!!! So, try to write something weekly or even DAILY! If you can’t afford to dedicate a lot of time, save yourself the bother and give it up!

2. Write about something interesting. No one wants to know what you got up to over the weekend! That’s what Twitter and Facebook are for! Write about something people may want to learn more about. Grab your readers with a catchy title, it’s very easy for them to just scroll past, so make sure you stand out! Once you have reeled them in with the title keep them interested, the back button will always be there!

3. Give the reader some advice, people usually stick around when there’s a money making idea involved or some free marketing. Talk about something they actually want to read, the biggest mistake made in blogging is boring the reader!

4. BE UNIQUE! If all the other bloggers are talking about social networking, talk about SEO, there’s no point trying to compete with the millions of people out there writing about the same stuff. STAY AWAY FROM THE BANDWAGON!

5. Brand your blogs! When writing a blog, make sure your company name is in there somewhere. What’s the point in writing a blog if no one knows where it came from... There is no point!

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5 Simple Ways to Improve Website Conversions!

2011-06-20T03:05:00.001-07:00

5 Simple Ways to Improve Website Conversions!

A conversion is the equivalent to a website goal; it is what you want the customer to do once they reach your page. This could be a customer filling a form in, contacting your office or buying a product. The idea of a website is not just to sell things but to gain conversions. Here’s how to do that:

1. Make your landing page relevant to what you sell! Advertising the best quality office desks won’t help if you are trying to sell laptops. If people are not looking for your product they are not going to buy it. To gain conversions; be specific. In order to maximise your conversion rates, minimise the obstacles in a customers’ way of making a conversion. For example: people don’t like filling forms in, so don’t over complicate them. If your form asks for someone’s age, get rid of it. This sort of information is irrelevant to their interest in what you have to offer, it is solely for market research.

2. It doesn’t end once the conversion is made! When the customer has made the conversion and landed on your thank you page, include a call to action. The easy way out of your thank you page is to exit the browser, but you want the customer to come back! The best ways to do this are:

i. Offer a coupon

ii. Let them become a fan of Facebook or follower on twitter?

iii. Invite the customer to share the offer they have just received.

iv. Let them sign up to your newspaper.

All of the above make the customer want to come back because a conversion doesn’t always end at the submit or close button.

3. Replace all the boring text with some easy to read bullet points. It’s to easy for a customer to hit the back button, so once they are on your page try to keep them interested! It may be SEO friendly but that’s no use if your customers can’t be bothered to read it! There are so many websites around; someone is bound to be selling the same/similar products as you so make yours stand out the most!

4. Use analytics! Analytics will tell you what keywords triggered your ad, where the people are who searched for your product, the click through rate on your site and much more… Analytics can show you how many clicks each link on your site gets! Once you have used this you will be able to optimise your landing page using the most popular keywords, and getting rid of things people don’t tend to look at. Looking at the keywords will mean that you can decide what people are searching for when they use your site, therefore you can make it easier for these people to make a conversion.

5. Last but not least – MAKE THE SITE USER FRIENDLY!

Why do you need SEO for your Website?

2011-06-16T02:55:00.001-07:00

Why do you need SEO for your Website?

Imagine opening a brand new shop full of amazing products out in the middle of nowhere, and then doing absolutely no marketing whatsoever. Chances are within a few months the doors will be closed for good and the venture will be buried deeply in the ground. Basically as a business owner you would never allow this to happen, because you know full well that you need to advertise in order for your business to grow.

It is exactly the same for your new, or old, website. If you do not have and marketing campaign no one will find you among the millions of other sites, which means little to no visitors to your newly designed website and no sales. Search engine optimisation is the art of optimising your online presence so that you can be found, and should be a priority for your online marketing campaign. SEO needs to be in the forefront of your mind when planning your new web design.

What’s involved in SEO?

This is really a difficult question to answer because SEO is an ever growing aspect of online marketing. There are certain parts, such as keyword research, which most people will be aware of but it actually goes so much deeper. The job is made harder by the simple fact that the search engines which SEO experts work hard to please are constantly changing their demands and always evolving.

The latest well publicised change came from Google, the dominate search engine. They introduced the update known as Panda, or Farmer as it is known in certain circles. Before this update the actually quality of your web content was not so important. It was possible to create links in pages of content which was not necessarily providing any value to the user. Google’s’ Panda changed all that, so UK SEO experts were hired to revamp websites all over the globe in order to improve the content of sites and back links so they would be deemed worthy by the search engine giant and not be pushed down in the search engine results pages.

Multiple Strategies are combined to Help Your Site be Found Online

The quality of your content and researching the keywords are really just the start of SEO and web design. The idea is to use respected methods to increase the position of your site in the SERPs naturally. This involves article marketing, directory listings, using social media networks, social bookmarking, back linking, blog management and press releases. All of these methods need to be optimised individually and worked on constantly.

The end result is a website which has a solid place in the search engine results. So when your potential customers type in a keyword that is relevant to your business, they will see your page ranking highly, ideally in the first place of the natural results, i.e. listings which are not paid for by you.

Due to the constant changing nature of SEO, and the hours needed to run successful marketing campaigns, most companies outsource their UK SEO. Here at Clicka Site we offer web design which can be combined with expert SEO marketing plans. To discuss how SEO can be used to improve your online presence call 0843 212 0080 and speak to one of our team. Alternatively send us an email to sales@clicksite.co.uk, we are here to answer your questions.

Is Panda set to shake up the Google rankings again.

2011-06-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

The launch a couple of months back of the Google Panda update caused a lot of fuss in the SEO world. The search engine giant redefined a number of elements in its algorithm with the stated aim of weeding out low quality content such as that which is found on content farms.

In theory this sounded great but ever since then lots of people have been complaining about Google, Panda, cheating and several other things. You see, some sites went down unexpectedly and some sites which could be considered rivals of Google owned ones were among the worst hit. However, the stated aim of improving the quality of search results was definitely met, according to most industry analysts.

The Return of the Panda

Now that the furore is just about dying down it looks as though Google is going to stoke the embers by launching Panda 2.2. The news was broken by Matt Cutts, who is in charge of the Web spam team, at the recent SMX Advanced Conference. No date was given for the implementation but it is ready to roll so it should happen soon.

So what can we expect to see on Google Panda 2.2? The main target in Google’s sights would seem to be sites which have copied content from elsewhere and which are now better ranked on the results page than the original site they copied from.

Apart from this, Cutts said that no sites wrongly affected by Panda have been manually amended, but that recompilations of data may have sorted out the issue in some cases. He also confirmed that the Google people don’t manually look for sites which should be affected by Panda. Instead, the algorithm is run and it works out automatically which sites will be affected.

Webmasters and SEO firms are currently on standby and waiting nervously to see what effect, if any, Panda 2.2 will have on their work. Owners of low quality content are waiting for the axe to fall on them this time if they managed to dodge it last time.

On the bright side, any site which has been well put together and has had good SEO done on it should be safe from the dangers this release of Panda. Google’s stated aim of clearing out poor quality sites certainly still seems to be the focal point of their ongoing work. In the modern world there is simply no substitute for high quality and clever SEO, and if you haven’t done it already you should look at getting your site improved now more than ever.

Good website designers and SEO experts have been saying for a long time that you can only fool the search engines for so long before they finally find you out. It looks like that time is coming for many people, and those who benefit will be those who took the ethical, long term approach in the first place. Even if you are hit by this release, it isn’t too late to get your SEO work brought up to scratch.

Does your website boast slow loading pages?

2011-05-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

Improving your conversion rates by increasing your loading speeds
SEO plays a pinnacle part in modern marketing however its importance should not be overstated.
Implementing an SEO strategy without considering how you are going to convert the traffic you
attain is completely pointless. You have to remember that it is your conversion rates that will
determine your profit margins.

Bespoke Web Development offers many intricate and complex ways to increase conversion rates
however its simplest solution lies in increasing page speeds. An area that you can easily optimise
yourself.

Why loading speeds have recently taken on extra importance
If a page takes several seconds to load many searchers consider the website not worth their time
and move on. In an age of fibre optic broadband today’s searchers have much higher expectations
of how a website should function. But as well as costing you direct sales, having slow loading pages
could also now be affecting your SEO results. Reports have suggested that the Panda update has also
incorporated usability signals into Google’s algorithms. Websites that are quick and clear have slowly
been rising up the SERP’s.

Below are some simple ways for you to improve your page loading speeds and capitalise on the new
Panda fever:
Minimise redirects: When you redirect your visitors you give them no choice but to endure several
seconds of loading time. Try to avoid using redirects at all costs in light of this.
Consider image file type and size: Look through your existing image and try exporting them in a
different file type. JPG usually requires more memory when the picture quality might be very similar
in a different file type. If you save just 50kb on a photo, and get thousands of visitors everyday day,
you’ll be saving 100’s of MB’s of bandwidths on a daily basis.

Take the time to learn good CSS: Although with respect to Web Development learning CSS might
be quite a simple task, it is not so easy to truly be an expert in. Google CSS techniques and find some
areas where you could improve. There will be something. Trust me! One common mistake that
webmasters make is importing CSS style sheets. They seriously kill your loading speeds, so avoid
them at all costs.

Update all software: Your pages might be slow to load simply because the software you are
depending on needs an update. The developers of software such as WordPress consistently write
more efficient code so it would be foolish to miss out on any improvements they release. Be sure to
test the upgrade on another server before you implement it on your own.

The important thing for you to remember is that SEO is only as effective as the CO that follows it.
Improving your loading speeds will increase the usability of your website and make your visitors
much more likely to part with their cash. They will see your website as quick, reliable and authentic;
traits that will be undoubtedly reflected onto the perception of your brand.

Why keeping faith in white hat SEO and good quality content is the way forward

2011-05-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Despite coming under heavy criticism the world’s leading search providers are still struggling to fill in the leaks that allow paid links to work, and poor quality content to stand. Although today’s algorithms are incredibly advanced, sympathisers of black hat SEO are still managing to cheat their way to the top of the SERP’s. But how?

The problem that the search providers face is the resilience that their users show. With every update that Google rolls out to combat issues with spam there is always also something new (from the update) for the black hat industry to prey on.

Remembering that ethical content production is the driving force behind all successful SEO

In amongst the chaos of content farms and search engine manipulation it’s easy for online marketers to forget that long term SEO success can only ever be found through ethical means. So before you give up on your morally sound methods and consider turning to the dark side, let me remind you of the one thing that will never change in the foundations of SEO. The importance of content. It will always be king.

Although your rivals might have cheated their way above you in the SERP’s not everything is the search engines fault. Google pay an awful lot of respect to the importance of good quality content in SEO and there is no reason why a website with the correct, and ethical, content strategy should be out beaten by a rival that depends on quantity. So stop feeling sorry for yourself and make sure that you can tick off every content technique listed below:

Blogging: If you have not got a blog then you simply don’t have a right to complain about SEO cheaters. The search engines reward websites greatly if they produce regular content that is fresh and relevant. A blog allows you to answer your consumer’s questions and maintain their attention without having to try and sell your services to them. Blogs are one example where the search engines have got it right. Produce a good quality, but keyword packed blog, and you’ll reap the rewards without losing your morality.

Social networking: Make sure that the content on your website is shareable, likable and ofcourse helpful. By incorporating these small aspects of web design, and by creating profiles on the likes of Facebook and Twitter, you will give your company the rare chance of having a face. Remember you need to keep your own sellers ego out of this social content. You have to make sure that you are writing to inform and not just sell on these sites.

Content with video: Another great, yet often overlooked way to increase your content count online is to utilise video sharing sites such as YouTube. From an SEO perspective the search engines will see your video’s titles, descriptions and tags. This ‘meat’ will add another dimension to the keyword strength of your website especially if you choose to embed the videos onto your own WebPages.

Making use of the FAQ format: Unlike you, your potential consumers do not work with your service every day and thus do not fully understand every detail like you do. Because of this, when they search for terms relevant to your service they will often ask them in the form of questions. You can take advantage of this by showing Google that you have relevant answers for all these searchers with the creation of an FAQ page on your website. If you check the search engine trends you can update this page on a monthly basis to keep it effective.

The above techniques are just a few of many ways for you to offer the search engines more quality content related to your website. The key is to keep faith in the power of quality, and to remember that long term SEO results come only from well written content that informs as much as it persuades. Black hat SEO really is a dying art, no matter what the forums are saying!