25 May 2008
Your Website's Visitors Don't Want To Waste Time
Jakob Nielsen the usability Guru has recently published his most recent report into web use....
"The designs have become better but also users have become accustomed to that interactive environment," Dr Nielsen
"Now, when people go online they know what they want and how to do it", he said.
This makes them very resistant to highlighted promotions or other editorial choices that try to distract them.
"Web users have always been ruthless and now are even more so," said Dr Nielsen.
"People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience," he said.
"I do not think sites appreciate that yet," he added. "They still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them."
Read more here BBC News
Talk to The Web Consultancy about making your site better
"The designs have become better but also users have become accustomed to that interactive environment," Dr Nielsen
"Now, when people go online they know what they want and how to do it", he said.
This makes them very resistant to highlighted promotions or other editorial choices that try to distract them.
"Web users have always been ruthless and now are even more so," said Dr Nielsen.
"People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience," he said.
"I do not think sites appreciate that yet," he added. "They still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them."
Read more here BBC News
Talk to The Web Consultancy about making your site better
Labels: better website usability, news
16 May 2008
Google AdWords Trademark Policy Revision
Interesting news arrived recently from the Google AdWords Policy bods.
The policy used to be that you could not use the trademarks in the text or sponsored keywords of your adverts, unless you owned them. While the policy remains that you cannot use someone else's trademark in your ad text, the revised policy now allows you to bid for trademarked terms in your sponsored keywords.
So my client who sells second hand Portakabins can now use the word Portakabins in his sponsored search listing and furthermore my customers who run a beauty clinic in Ringwood can sponsor words like Botox for their adverts.
Now, there's lots of people all getting worked up over this and saying it's essentially the end of days and we'll all perish in a burning trademark shaped law suit, but really the question is; How can this benefit your business.
For Google AdWords help from the professionals call the web consultancy today.
TTFN!
The policy used to be that you could not use the trademarks in the text or sponsored keywords of your adverts, unless you owned them. While the policy remains that you cannot use someone else's trademark in your ad text, the revised policy now allows you to bid for trademarked terms in your sponsored keywords.
So my client who sells second hand Portakabins can now use the word Portakabins in his sponsored search listing and furthermore my customers who run a beauty clinic in Ringwood can sponsor words like Botox for their adverts.
Now, there's lots of people all getting worked up over this and saying it's essentially the end of days and we'll all perish in a burning trademark shaped law suit, but really the question is; How can this benefit your business.
For Google AdWords help from the professionals call the web consultancy today.
TTFN!
Labels: better search engine rankings, google adwords, Portfolio
09 May 2008
SEO - Snake Oil for 2008?
I got this email from a concerned client today asking if the chap who sent it could actually help my client to optimise her site (advertising her excellent Bristol hypnotherapy clinic). Quite reasonably my client hoped it would be a better investment in search engine marketing than the work she and I have recently started to do together, following these search engine optimisation principals, which are essentially quite a bit of hard graft and this email seems to offer a short cut to effective search engine optimisation!
As with many of my clients Mindscape Therapies is a small concern, so I was particularly upset that it appeared that some shyster (or babbling brook, if you prefer) was trying to pull a fast one.... So in an effort to help others to be forewarned and forearmed, here's the email the business owner received:
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: I visited your website and had a question
From: "Luke Ilech" luke@onelukey.plus.com
Date: Thu, May 8, 2008 12:58 pm
To: REMOVED FOR PRIVACY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
I was looking at websites under the keyword "hypnotherapy bristol" and
came across your site http://www.mindscapetherapies.co.uk/. I see that
you're ranked 42 - on page 5.
I'm not sure if you're aware of why you're ranked this low but more
importantly how easily correctable this is.
There's no reason you can't have a top three ranking for this keyword
based on your site structure and content. You have a very nice site.
You need significantly more one way anchor text backlinks. If you're
interested I can help you with this...
I'm talking about getting you ranked for ALL your keywords. Adding new
backlinks on a steady and consistent basis from high PR quality websites
is what produces the rankings you are looking for.
The right kind of links are very critical in getting top ranking....and I
can hand deliver these quality links to you.
My partners and I own 1000's websites and offer discrete, private linking
to hundreds of website owners like yourself.
I didn't send this email out to thousands of people but I am currently
contacting a list of your "keyword competitors".
Important: I will only work with one person for this keyword group.
I have your contact info as: phone 07810 510170. Is it ok if I give you a
call?
I have a very simple way to prove that what I do works and it's risk free
for you to try. Nothing beats seeing the results with your own eyes.
Is it ok if I give you a call? I would love to pursue this further over
the phone with you or should I go somewhere else?
all the best,
sincerely,
Luke Ilech
0845 003 0582
Now - I should point out that we've only just started working on the site in question and it's likely to take a while to creep up the rankings, but it is No 1 on Google (at the time of writing) for hypnotherapy Montpelier and emdr bristol from tiny acorns, mighty oaks, etc etc.
Anyway - here's my opinion on what this unpleasant little man said in his vile little epistle:
What “Luke” is saying is based in truth, but primarily that email is selling Snake Oil 2008.
While back-links are important for search engine optimisation, I don’t think “Luke” is going to do you as good a deal as he proposes to.
Let’s assume that Luke can deliver you a top three ranking for all the keywords you’d ask for (NB. He doesn’t stipulate which search engines, he just lets you assume it’s Google), if his service is sooooo amazing why isn’t there a website at the address “Luke” used to send his email from..... luke@onelukey.plus.com should resolve to onelukey.plus.com as a website right? WRONG.
The domain plus.com is actually registered to plus.net, a broadband supplier who do not offer the services Luke offers. So..... The person who has sent this email has actually appears to be “spoofing” this email address. Essentially, “spoofing” is using a forged “sent from address” in an email as appears to be the case here. Why this email was sent using a spoofed header I don’t know, but I suspect it’s because the sender isn’t particularly legit and would prefer not to have the many complaints about his unsolicited emails arriving in his email box. While I’m not clear on Email Spoofing’s status as a criminal offence it is certainly morally wrong in my opinion.
One final check. I called Luke’s number. The conversation went like this:
“Luke” – Hello?
Me – Hi. Is um, Bill there?
“Luke” - No, you must have the wrong number.
Me - Oh. Sorry.
“Luke” – What was it about? Maybe there is a Bill here.
Me – Nothing important, bye!
Surely if this wasn’t a scam of some sort Luke would have said “Hello XXXX website promotions, how can I help?” or something similar.
If you have heard from Luke or someone like him promising search engine joy, email the web consultancy and we'll tell you if you're being conned or not.
Pip pip!
As with many of my clients Mindscape Therapies is a small concern, so I was particularly upset that it appeared that some shyster (or babbling brook, if you prefer) was trying to pull a fast one.... So in an effort to help others to be forewarned and forearmed, here's the email the business owner received:
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: I visited your website and had a question
From: "Luke Ilech" luke@onelukey.plus.com
Date: Thu, May 8, 2008 12:58 pm
To: REMOVED FOR PRIVACY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
I was looking at websites under the keyword "hypnotherapy bristol" and
came across your site http://www.mindscapetherapies.co.uk/. I see that
you're ranked 42 - on page 5.
I'm not sure if you're aware of why you're ranked this low but more
importantly how easily correctable this is.
There's no reason you can't have a top three ranking for this keyword
based on your site structure and content. You have a very nice site.
You need significantly more one way anchor text backlinks. If you're
interested I can help you with this...
I'm talking about getting you ranked for ALL your keywords. Adding new
backlinks on a steady and consistent basis from high PR quality websites
is what produces the rankings you are looking for.
The right kind of links are very critical in getting top ranking....and I
can hand deliver these quality links to you.
My partners and I own 1000's websites and offer discrete, private linking
to hundreds of website owners like yourself.
I didn't send this email out to thousands of people but I am currently
contacting a list of your "keyword competitors".
Important: I will only work with one person for this keyword group.
I have your contact info as: phone 07810 510170. Is it ok if I give you a
call?
I have a very simple way to prove that what I do works and it's risk free
for you to try. Nothing beats seeing the results with your own eyes.
Is it ok if I give you a call? I would love to pursue this further over
the phone with you or should I go somewhere else?
all the best,
sincerely,
Luke Ilech
0845 003 0582
Now - I should point out that we've only just started working on the site in question and it's likely to take a while to creep up the rankings, but it is No 1 on Google (at the time of writing) for hypnotherapy Montpelier and emdr bristol from tiny acorns, mighty oaks, etc etc.
Anyway - here's my opinion on what this unpleasant little man said in his vile little epistle:
What “Luke” is saying is based in truth, but primarily that email is selling Snake Oil 2008.
While back-links are important for search engine optimisation, I don’t think “Luke” is going to do you as good a deal as he proposes to.
Let’s assume that Luke can deliver you a top three ranking for all the keywords you’d ask for (NB. He doesn’t stipulate which search engines, he just lets you assume it’s Google), if his service is sooooo amazing why isn’t there a website at the address “Luke” used to send his email from..... luke@onelukey.plus.com should resolve to onelukey.plus.com as a website right? WRONG.
The domain plus.com is actually registered to plus.net, a broadband supplier who do not offer the services Luke offers. So..... The person who has sent this email has actually appears to be “spoofing” this email address. Essentially, “spoofing” is using a forged “sent from address” in an email as appears to be the case here. Why this email was sent using a spoofed header I don’t know, but I suspect it’s because the sender isn’t particularly legit and would prefer not to have the many complaints about his unsolicited emails arriving in his email box. While I’m not clear on Email Spoofing’s status as a criminal offence it is certainly morally wrong in my opinion.
One final check. I called Luke’s number. The conversation went like this:
“Luke” – Hello?
Me – Hi. Is um, Bill there?
“Luke” - No, you must have the wrong number.
Me - Oh. Sorry.
“Luke” – What was it about? Maybe there is a Bill here.
Me – Nothing important, bye!
Surely if this wasn’t a scam of some sort Luke would have said “Hello XXXX website promotions, how can I help?” or something similar.
If you have heard from Luke or someone like him promising search engine joy, email the web consultancy and we'll tell you if you're being conned or not.
Pip pip!
Labels: better search engine rankings, rants
01 May 2008
Flash Website Search Optimisation
The David Payne Drama website is a nice looking site for a theatre company including animations and video clips.
My job was to optimise it for search engines.... "How do you optimise a Flash web site for search engines?" I hear you cry.
Well amongst some other special magic I performed on the site, I also added a link that says "Can't See Anything?" in the site's footer. That little link leads to the slightly boring but terribly accessible David Payne Drama HTML site, which is good for Search Engines and good for business.
Happy days!
The Web Consultant
My job was to optimise it for search engines.... "How do you optimise a Flash web site for search engines?" I hear you cry.
Well amongst some other special magic I performed on the site, I also added a link that says "Can't See Anything?" in the site's footer. That little link leads to the slightly boring but terribly accessible David Payne Drama HTML site, which is good for Search Engines and good for business.
Happy days!
The Web Consultant
Labels: better search engine rankings, Portfolio
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