Is Yellow Pages and Other Paper Directory Advertising Dead

Posted by admin – 10/03/2010

Yellow pages is synonymous with business advertising and has been for many years, but are its days numbered. Ten years ago you may have got some return fo

If you have ever advertised with Yellow pages, the process starts with a sales person coming to visit you to book your money making advert. For more and more of the advertisers the book is a money loosing proposition.

Normally the sales person tells you to expect lots of enquiries a week, that you will be rushed off your feet and the small monthly payments of 3 – 4 hundred pounds will be easy to meet as you will have so much business that this amount will be small change.

The reality is normally a lot different. I first advertised many years ago, fresh faced out of university after completing my degree in Media production, specialising in multimedia design.

I was eager to join the world of small business, selling my newly acquired skills to a hungry local business community. My advert in Yellow pages was going get me business the likes of I had never known. That year went slowly, I didn’t receive one call from that advert; not one single little enquiry.

I cant blame the directory completely, my advert was small but it was the only paid advert in the section. The web was all new and shiny,many businesses didn’t know about websites or thought them just a passing fad.

I even went and did it again a few years later and thought it was the size of my advert that was the problem the first time, so I splashed out on a full colour half page ad. I did get responses to that ad but twenty times less then the directory sales people were telling me the average response rate was for an advert of that size and in that section. I covered the cost of the advertising but not much else.

The thing was I didn’t know what I know now. Paper directory advertising is dieing, then it was just in decline now it’s on its way to the retirement home.

For some; paper directories like Yellow pages can be great but for these it’s normally out of hours services like emergency plumbers or services aimed at the older generation who don’t use a computer let alone the internet. For most

Advertising is changing for the first time online marketing spend is going to over take traditional paper advertising

If you want a business or service nine times out of ten the web is the place you look first not last. I, being a person who makes a living online one way or another do everything online from shopping to research to entertainment it’s all there. I suspect I may be a little extream because of my comfort level online but I don’t think average Joe is far behind me .

If you run any sort of business you need to be found online so you need to establish a web presence now if you haven’t already got one. If you main form of marketing is paper directory’s then you need to be moving at least some of your marketing spend to online marketing now , not tomorrow.

We can use Google trends to see how the interest in Yellow pages and Thomson Local had declined since 2004

Yellow Pages

Thomson Local

As we can see the Yellow pages interest has dropped dramatically over the last six years to approximately 25% of the 2004 search volume.

Where is the interest going

Online marketing is growing with the biggest gains in search volume being in SEM an acronym for Search engine marketing

SEO

SEM

PPC

online marketing trends

So as we can plainly see the interest in online marketing is growing.  I can see the growth slowing as we see with SEO (search engine optimisation) PPC (pay per click) is in a slight decline but I put that down to businesses trying to reduce costs.

Social Media vs Search Engine Marketing

Posted by admin – 05/03/2010

Social media iconsTo start with this post started off as a comment in response to MOGmartins post about Social Media, PR vs Traffic. Where the argument is,

whether social media sites, like facebook and twitter are of use to large corporations as traffic sources, or are they just vehicles for public relations and one to one, or one to many communications.

Now I both agree and disagree at the same time, let me explain. Social Media is about making connections with people which it does for individuals, but I don’t think it does for most businesses at this moment in time to make a marked increase in the profitability of a company.

Quality of Traffic

Social media like Facebook and Twitter do produce traffic. When someone clicks through what is the users intention. Is it to buy from or use the company’s services, for the most part , no. I myself see a link posted and click on it to be nosey.

With SEM or search engine marketing when a user clicks through from Google ,Yahoo or Bing you can be sure that they are actively looking for what you have to offer. The user has been qualified by the search engine. Of course some customers are more qualified then others but for the most part a user coming from a search engine will convert to a paying customer click for click a lot better then a user from Facebook or twitter.

The Flip Side

There is a flip side to this argument in that fan pages and twitter is like an segmented email list , it’s full of people who are interested in one way or another in what you have to offer. So per head, these interested people are going to convert quite well. when the right offer is presented.  These people are waiting to see the next big thing and simply have to be told about it . A well segmented email list can be a gold mine allowing you to sell to the same person over and over again. social media I see working in a similar way.

The Future

Nobody can be certain of what the future of social media and search marketing is going to be. My view is that we are going to see a total merging of the two, we see the beginning with Google and Bing showing tweets in search results. We will to have to wait and see.

Conclusion

Yes social media does have an ever increasing part to play in traffic generation for businesses we will just have to be creative in how we use these channels.

Choosing Web Safe Fonts

Posted by admin – 02/03/2010

choosing fontsWhen you are fairly new to the world of web design, it can actually be quite tricky to choose which fonts to use. But once you understand what “web safe fonts” really are, everything suddenly becomes crystal clear. Web safe fonts are basically the most popular fonts used by web designers to make the content of their websites appealing to visitors. They are also the most commonly available fonts on computers around the world.

If you download a really cool but rare font from your favorite free website and decide to use it for all your main headings for example, you should be aware that unfortunately not everybody will be able to view your masterpiece the way you created it.

In others words, if people who visit your website do not have the fonts you used to design it on their computers, they will not be able to see those particular fonts on their screens. Instead, their browsers will replace them with some other fonts that are already installed on their computers.

That’s why it is highly recommended that you stick to the most popular fonts so that your website can be viewed exactly the way it is by almost everybody.

There are many web safe fonts that you can use to create your websites, all it takes is a little creativity to make them look more attractive and use them to your advantage. There are basically two types of fonts you need to know about:

* Serif fonts
* Sans Serif fonts (Sans is French for without)

Serif Fonts are fonts that have fine cross lines at the end of the letters and Sans Serif Fonts are fonts that do not have anything at the end of the letters. The most common Serif Font is Times New Roman which is also coincidentally the default font for most windows-based browsers.

There are also Monospaced Fonts which are basically fonts that have the same amount of space between each letter. Here’s a list of the 23 most commonly used fonts – I personally use Georgia, Times New Roman, Tahoma for the texts and Impact for Headings which I think look really good on a web page:

Most Common Serif Fonts:

  • Bookman Old Style
  • Cambria
  • Constantia
  • Garamond
  • Georgia
  • Palatino Linotype
  • Times New Roman

Most Common Sans Serif Fonts:

  • Arial
  • Arial Black
  • Calibri
  • Candara
  • Century Gothic
  • Corbel
  • Helvetica
  • Impact
  • MS Sans Serif
  • Tahoma
  • Trebuchet MS
  • Verdana

Most Common Monospaced Fonts:

  • Consolas
  • Courier New
  • Courier

Final thoughts:

To make you life easier, I recommend that you stick to the most common fonts listed above for the body text of your websites. This will ensure that everyone visiting your website can see it exactly the way you want it to be seen.

However you can use whatever font you choose for your logos, navigation and other website design elements just as long as you use them as part of an image. For example on a clickable logo or banner designed on Photoshop or PaintNet which you then insert on your webpage. Well I really hope this has helped you understand what web safe fonts are and how to use them.

SEO Web Design Secrets: Search Engine Optimization Tips For Beginners – Web Design Tips – Web Development

Posted by admin – 28/02/2010

web design SEO Web Design Secrets: Search Engine Optimization Tips For Beginners

SEO web design is a skill that can be learned, though most search engine optimization for beginners courses dwell too much on linking strategy as opposed to web site design per se. There are many ways for most normal people to get an improved search engine ranking, and secure a high search engine listing, and while linking is important, good on-site SEO is also necessary.

Although it might not seem like it, getting a good listing on Google or any of the other search engines is not as difficult as many like to claim. There are rules to follow, and if you play the game properly then the outcome should be in your favour. The tips provided in this article are not really secrets as such; although many people offer to divulge marvelous secrets to you, all they are giving you is stuff that people have been using for years.

So you won't get any secrets here. I have nothing hidden away that I don't want anybody to know, and if I had I wouldn't tell you about it! Would you? If you had some secrets that were so valuable that they were making you money, would you give them away free in an article like this one? Of course you wouldn't!

So here are my not-so-secret tips on getting a good listing in Google and improving your search engine ranking. You likely know a fair bit about meta tags, and have been informed that most are not used by search engines. Well let me tell you something. If you Google' Article Services you will finds my website right at the top in the #1 position for that keyword. Check the description that Google provides right under the title: that is exactly as it is in the Description' tag that I have on the site. So don't let anybody tell you that Google don't use the Description tag, because they do. So do Ask and MSN (now Live Search), and Yahoo also uses it, but not the whole thing exactly as written.

The Keyword tag is another matter. Google aren't interested in what you tell them the keywords are: they decide the relevance of the page themselves from the text and Alt tags on the page. Google no longer need keyword repetition to understand what you are writing about: they have the LSI algorithm now, that will determine the meaning of your page from the character strings it contains. The algorithm is programmed to calculate a relevance factor from the vocabulary you use in relation to the rest of the vocabulary on the page. However, back to SEO web design, and some search engine optimization tips for beginners.

In addition to the Description meta tag, the HTML tags you should use are:

1. The Keywords meta tag. Although little used it only takes a second to put in, and does no harm. There is evidence that some search engines might use it. The rest of the meta tags are pointless.

2. The TITLE tag. This is the title of your web page, and should contain the primary keyword for the page. Each page should be written round one primary keyword that relates to the subject of your website or niche.

For example, if your niche is costume jewelry, the primary keyword for your home page would be costume jewelry'. You could then have a number of 'silos' with a main page title each. The title of one main silo page could be 'simulated diamonds' and the first page title of that silo could be garnets'. All of these are the primary keywords for their respective pages. Another silo could be colored gem stones', with that as the primary keyword for the main silo page, and that for your first sub-page in that silo could be citrine'. And so on.

Each page must have one primary keyword, and it should be included in the Title tag for that page. The Title tag does not appear in the body of the article, but in the HTML between the two HEAD tags in your html.

3. The H tag. These are heading tags, with H1 being the most important. The heading for each main section in your page should be contained within H1 tags, and many pages have only the one set of such tags. Subheadings, containing secondary keywords, should be contained within H2 tags, and so on. Thus, in the example above, the heading or your garnets silo could be could be Garnets in Costume Jewelry' in H1 tags.

After an introduction to garnets, you could then have an H2 heading containing The Source of Garnets: Where Garnets Come From', then another passage of text headed How Garnets are Cut for Costume Jewelry', again held in H2 tags.
4. The ALT attribute. Use Alt = within the Img tags of your images and graphics. This lets the search engines know what the graphic is about: search engines do not read graphics, and the Alt attribute offers you the chance to use your graphics meaningfully with respect to SEO web design.

TEXT FORMATTING

That's all you have to worry about regarding the HTML tags. You text formatting can be used to emphasize to search engines what the important text on your page is. Thus, if you use bold text, underscoring or italics, they indicate the important words and phrases. Thus, use the STRONG and U html tags in your heading.

WRITE NATURALLY

Don't worry too much about your keyword density (KD), other than having to much. Too high a KD could harm you if Google thinks you are making unnecessary use of them. Write naturally for human readers, and not robots. If your text reads well and makes it clear what the subject of the passage is about, then you will be fine. In my writing I ignore the concept of KD altogether. I use my keywords as indicated above, and also in the first and last 100 characters on the page (or at least in the last paragraph somewhere).

Good SEO web design is not keyword fixated, but contains good contextually related vocabulary that the LSI algorithm can use to target the relevance of the page to the search term being used by somebody using the search engine to find information. That's all a keyword is: a term used by somebody looking for information. If you cannot work without a target KD, then I would go for a max of 1% with plenty associated vocabulary, synonyms. Related terms, etc.

Thus, if you are writing a 400 word article on the keyword losing weight', use these words four times, not twelve (1% not 3%)

None of these are web design secrets, and I doubt if there are any such secrets left any more. I suppose the only thing even approaching a secret here is that my description meta tag is copied exactly by Google in the listing for my #1 placed website. That allows you to determine how Google users see the description of your site in the listing.

I have several more SEO web design tips to offer, but these will be the subject of another article. In the meantime if you implement these search engine optimization tips for beginners, then you should soon see an improvement in your website's search engine ranking.

If you want more SEO web design tips, you will find Part 2 of this article with more search engine optimization tips for beginners on Seocious Tips 2 along with a free gift for everybody from me, Pete Nisbet of SEOcious.

SEO and Web Design Welwyn Garden City Hertfordshire

Posted by admin – 20/02/2010

Webmojo are opening  in a new location. we have expanded into welwyn garden city in hertfordshire

Web Design Welwyn Garden City

SEO Welwyn Garden City

Web Design Tips For SEO

Posted by admin – 31/01/2010

It really wasn't all that long ago that SEO or search engine optimisation was one big giant mystery. Back then it was a rare person who even understood its basic principles let alone effective techniques.

Now how times have changed and it seems that today almost everyone with a website is aware of its basic functions. However; what still remains pretty much exclusive knowledge is the finite workings of SEO.

So just what can you do to better familiarize yourself with SEO and its inner workings, prior to having your website designed. Understand them in such a way that you won't be stuck like you were the last time you had to talk to a mechanic about your car when it comes time to communicate with your Web Designer.

You can start by typing in what ever you're selling or providing into your computers search engine. Check out the sites on the first page brought up by the most popular keyword entries. The ones at the top are doing something right, so study their sites carefully.

One thing you're going to notice is that at least one of them and probably more will have the keyword in their name. For instance if your business in wedding cakes and the most popular keyword is of course wedding cakes, you're going to see sites with names like weddingcakes-4U etc.

Now check out all the pages of their site and you'll see that they have their name, which includes this keyword plastered all over each page. They won't be penalized for “keyword abuse” either because it's in their name and it's only normal that a company would put their name at the top of each page and in their text.

So the gist of all of this is to consider including a popular keyword in your domain name, so it can be used liberally in your site. It's really not worth changing or adapting your name for less popular keywords though but its really all up to you.

OK so whats next? How about a selection of topic related keyword articles in your site. Perhaps a box on the right or left of your opening page with around 15 well written articles that contain 15 good keywords. Now bear in mind that the top keywords can be very competitive, so you may want to consider passing some up.

Consider wedding cakes as an example again. Type in (wedding cakes) and you may find that 2,000,000 entities are competing under that keyword. However; if you live in, say Kalamazoo Michigan, you may be better served by focusing on less popular and far less competitive “regional oriented” keywords in your articles like (Kalamazoo Wedding Cakes) or (Michigan Wedding Planners), etc.

Do yourself a big favor by taking some time to study up on article writing and keywords before you put your pen to paper, so to speak. Once again, another great idea is to check out what some of the better article directories have to offer under your selected keywords.

Do the same thing there. That is, check out the top articles on page one and consider duplicating or even copying what they're doing. Of course direct copies will never pass copyscape, so you'll have to rewrite them in your own words but there is nothing wrong with writing “similar adaptations”.

Pau Harris writes for Studio-40 a web development company based in the United Kingdom. Learn more about them here: Web design Leicestershire.

Practical Advice on How to Find and Hire Your Web Designer

Posted by admin – 31/01/2010

Selecting a web designer for your business is a lot like choosing a contractor to work on your home. Get ready to…

  • Ask lots of questions
  • Seek recommendations
  • Check out the work they’ve done for others

If you use these common-sense tips when choosing a design studio for your web site, you are likely to get the results you want.

1. Be specific about what you want to accomplish. Write it down!!

Most web projects that get off to a troubled start do so because site owners do not know what they really want or need. When they look for the right company to do their project, site owners often don’t know the qualifications of the design studio. Is it a company that designs web sites that also does marketing, or a marketing firm that also makes web sites? All these things make a difference. Most companies usually have one core competency.

A good idea is to prepare a document that describes the purpose of your site. Be as specific as you can. If you’re not sure about something, say so. Have a list that includes “must have” and “nice to have” items.

The more a designer understands the scope of the work, the easier it will be to do your project. You’re likely to get price breaks if you can really pin down what you need to have designed. When I go looking for a designer suitable for my clients’ projects, I use a Request For Proposal (RFP) as part of my method. It’s a way to ensure that studios are competing on a level playing field. It gives you a better chance to compare proposals on an “apples to apples” basis. My RFP is as specific as possible. Even small projects should have something like an RFP.

2. Know what deliverables you will need beyond the web site.

Too many businesses just don’t know what they are going to get once the site is launched. Maybe it’s because it is the first time that they’ve contracted to have a site produced for them. It could also be that they just don’t know what they want and/or what to expect from a design company.

If you’ve done a good job writing down and describing the specifics of what you want done, you’ll know what deliverables to expect from your vendor. In addition to the web site files, the following items should be included in your deal:

Artwork masters

Make sure it is clear that all artwork created for your project is handed over to you and that it is understood how the material can be used apart from your web site.

Documentation

The documentation can be done in several ways all of which needs to be discussed BEFORE the project begins. The vendor must document matters pertaining to design and programming, paying particular attention to workarounds which resolved issues. This is very important if you need to hire someone else to work on the site down the road.

Content Management System (CMS)

Most web sites are built with a CMS which enables a site owner to make changes to the site once the site is launched without having to be a web designer. While a CMS can be easy to use (that’s the beauty of it), some training is usually required to learn how to use it. Make sure you will be trained to use the CMS and that you understand the support commitment made by the design company.

3. Have a contract.

A contract is more than just a sign that a studio is professional and knows what they are doing. It’s the key to understanding the scope of the project and, hopefully, how it will be done.

Make sure you understand the contract. If you’re not sharp with the legal language, you might want to run the contract by an attorney. If you’re not familiar with the terminology of web development, design, and production, seek out the advice of someone who is.

Typically you’ll get a list of services that are included in the deal. Pay particular attention to the following:

A) Who owns the materials created for the project?

Do you have the rights to use anything created for the project in any manner for any media? That’s known as a “Work For Hire” contract which is most favorable to you. Designers can be reluctant to grant such terms but you’re likely to find flexibility through negotiation.

B) What design approval process does the studio use?

Typically, you’ll get two or three “back and forths” as the studio attempts to obtain your final design approval. Determine how many “back and forths” you get before any additional charges are incurred and what those fees will be.

C) What happens if the project is not completed on time?

Something you might need to have in the contract is a missed deadline penalty. If you have a time sensitive project which is not completed on time, you’re likely to miss sales opportunities. Designers don’t like this idea because delays are often caused by factors beyond their control.

4. Know how changes will be made to the site following its launch.

There are two ways to handle changes after the site is launched – pay the design company to do the changes or make them yourself. Most businesses today don’t like to be beholden to the studio to make updates. If your web site is rarely changed (which is not a good idea) then you might like to leave it to the designer to do the updates. If so, know the terms of this arrangement. Usually it’s a monthly fee or hourly rate. The biggest problem is that the updates do not take place on a timely basis, so get that all worked out in advance.

The “do-it-yourself” approach involves using a Content Management System as mentioned. The CMS provides pre-made templates for your site so you can add and edit content. This way you won’t have to rely on a vendor to do the work for you. If you are growing your business online, this is the preferred way to go.

Takeaway

When looking for a web designer remember the adage – Buyer Beware!! Learn all you can about the web development, design and production process or work with someone who already knows the ropes.

What Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Can Do For You

Posted by admin – 28/01/2010

Why is search engine optimization (SEO) so important? What is all the hype about? Well, most every business, even from the smallest Mom & Pop shops around the corner to the huge corporations has a website today. Okay, you may be thinking so what? Well patience my friend, for I will tell you just what all this hype is about. Though everyone and their cousin seem to have a website today; that simply isn’t enough. Well, not if you want that website to be noticed anyway. How do you get noticed? Your probably already thinking it, search engine optimization (SEO) of course!

Have you ever used the Google search engine? Silly question, I know. If you have, you notice when you type in a keyword you get results, copiously flowing amounts of them in fact. Did you ever wonder how they did it? Let me enlighten you. What happens is the keywords you typed in are filtered through hundreds and even thousands of websites and articles that contain your keywords. They then will provide results based on the highest ranking and most relevant to your keywords. How do you make your website climb up in rank? By search engine optimization (SEO) of course! You need to create sources that saturate and use your keywords in the right fashion within your website and other sources linked to you. Then you need other reputable sites to link back to things you wrote. Sounds complicated, I know. That is why many choose to hire website development companies that provide SEO packages.

It isn’t easy competing in the world of the Internet today. Hundreds, thousands, even millions of sites are competing for top ranks with certain keywords. The only way to bring your site up to a high rank is to know and understand the SEO aspects. It isn’t as easy as spamming a certain keyword throughout an article, that is why there are spam filters you know. The quality of writing is certainly taken into account and let’s face it, writing, I mean real honest-to-goodness quality writing, truly is an art form that takes experience and skill.

It takes a lot to be on top of anything – whether it be a mountain or a search engine results page. It doesn’t happen overnight and it will not happen without expertise and knowledge backing your site. Consider a website development company that offers search engine optimization packages. They have the skills, knowledge, and experience to get you to the head of the pack. If you truly want results, just like with anything else, you need to look to and trust the professionals.

Ecommerce Pricing How to Price For Maximum Profits Online

Posted by admin – 28/01/2010

SEO shopping cart white backgroundPricing strategies are an extremely important part of running a successful business. In a competitive market, it is important to have a pricing policy that is able to attract the right customers at the right time and attract customers from other competing products. Here are some things to keep in mind when deciding on Ecommerce pricing:

When you are starting off your business, consider giving away samples for free. Ecommerce specialists the world over know that when customers search for products online, the phrase they are most likely to search for is “free”. You don’t have to give away your product forever, just for enough time to attract customers and drive away the competition.

You can also provide different versions of the same product at different prices. This differentiation is very easy as all you have to do is have a “free” version with multiple advertisements, and a “paid for” version which has no advertisements. You can also have a sampler which is free and valid for a certain amount of time or containing a certain amount of information and features with prompts to purchase a full version with the works.

Another popular Ecommerce pricing policy is to bundle two or more products together and have customers pay a lower price than they would pay for the two separately. This is useful as you don’t have additional costs from bundling the products but you are still increasing sales and building a customer base. These three pricing policies can really help you increase your online sales and build a customer base fast without much delay.

Latest project a site selling Petrol Chainsaws

Posted by admin – 30/12/2009

Our latest project is a site selling Petrol chainsaws with all the major brands such as

Husqvarna

Mcculloch

Stihl

Tanaka


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