Business Profile in Local Paper!

Kat from Simple Website Designs was invited to be interviewed by the Reading Evening Post for a full page Business profile. You can read it here: Reading Evening Post Business Profile

Safety tips in Reading Chronicle

We've published an online safety guide in the Reading Chronicle for those who are worried about being cheated online by fraudsters. Check it out in the paper this week, or on our website here.

Website Pitfalls - Beware...

* Of template sites, which often seem like a good, cheap option. Their limitations can be obstructive and people with little or no computing knowledge can soon find themselves tied up in knots
* Of graphic designers with no web design experience – print and web are very different animals, ensure you get a website designer with Internet experience and website knowledge
* Of homemade sites – you wouldn’t get your nephew to paint your van for you, so don’t get him to make your website

Top Website Tips

* Make sure it contains relevant keywords so that you show on Google and Yahoo
* Follow the ‘3 click rule’ visitors shouldn’t have to click more than three times to get to any information that want
* Make sure it looks professional – a poor quality, homemade looking website will give the impression that your products and services are also poor quality
* Don’t Flash people – flashy animated intros and automatically playing music are among the biggest turn offs for people in a hurry (and who isn’t), or checking out services while at work
* Bin the bells and whistles– blinking, flashing, spinning only serves to distract from your content and at worst irritate your visitor into clicking off
* Provide free information – provide something useful for visitors, you can explain the benefits of your service and product and give them some free tips – they will see you are an expert in your field

Update your Website Content Regularly!

The major search engines’ goal is to get searchers the best, most relevant information they can, based on the search terms people put in. These days information gets out of date pretty much as soon as it’s down on paper (so to speak) so search engines reward websites that regularly update their content, in the belief that the more often it’s updated, the more likely it is to be relevant and up-to-date.

So it’s no good writing the perfect bit of copy with all the information your customers need to know, putting it up and then leaning back feeling chuffed with yourself for the next twelve months. Sure, the quality original content will get you up there at first (providing your website is optimized) but as it starts to look middle aged it will slowly drop back down again.

Conversely, if the Googlebot returns to your website and finds something has changed since the last time it was here, it makes a note to come back sooner next time.

So keep writing, keep coming up with useful information for your customers and keep updating your website regularly. Adding even just a short paragraph (of at least 200 to 300 words) once a month will keep your website fresh in the eyes of the all important Google and Yahoo, and keep them coming back to check for more.

Getting Seen on Google or Rising the Rankings Right

A lot of people come to us asking if we can get them seen on Google. There is a great deal of false information circulating about search engine rankings, so we'd like to contribute a bit to clearing this up.

The idea of a search engine is to fish the most relevent useful details out of a massive and ever expanding ocean of information, some of it good, some not. Good websites get to the top by being the most relevent useful information - i.e. providing exactly what the surfer is looking for.

However, because of the huge profits to be made in clicks, unscrupulous people either make impossible claims, or bully and cheat their way to the top with tricks and underhand methods aimed at search engines, not humans ... this results in surfers wasting their time on sites which contain nothing of value (usually just lots more links, which send you round in circles), but once the unsuspecting visitor has been tricked into clicking, the webmaster has made his money, whether or not you got what you wanted. These activities degrade the quality of the Internet and frustrate users and genuine website owners and designers.

Like Google (who remove and bar such players from their listings) we think very little of these people, who contribute nothing and are concerned only with making a quick buck, not providing a useful service.

So all our methods are white hat, Google approved and recommended, and genuine. It means you may not be found internationally on major keywords which have multi-national corporations paying dedicated teams millions of pounds to get them there. But it does mean you are almost certain to come up on your business name and industry in your local area, and be found by people who are actually looking for you.

Some of our methods:

• Search engine submission with data brief
• Accurate, relevant keywords, titles and descriptions (embedded data the search engines analyse)
• Using specific keyword rich page titles, headers, subheaders, internal linking, and page copy
• Using text links that both humans and search engines can follow
• Making accessible sites (to people with disabilities and low speed connections)
• Google sitemaps
• Giving clients advice on further methods

How to Write Copy for your Website Homepage

Homepage Heaven

Your homepage is arguably the most important page on your site. It’s the place most people will land and the impression it gives in a few seconds will determine whether people continue to a contact or sale, or just keep surfing. There are a number of things you can and must do to ensure your homepage is working effectively for you, from having an attention grabbing title, to aiming right with your product, establishing trust and hitting them with the unmissable specials.

Catchy Titles

A few carefully chosen words can catch someone’s attention, intrigue and have them eager for more. If you have a great unique selling point, use that, or here are some more ways to make an impression with a headline:

• Use ‘how to’ phrases – people are often looking for information quickly.
• Promise a major benefit – save £100 a year
• Target specific customer types – e.g. websites for plumbers, the potential clients you cut out will be balanced by the increased interest of the targeted group
• Ask a question that makes them say ‘yes!’ – Are you baffled by the Internet?

One Product or Many?

If you only have one product or service, it’s important to get to the point quickly. Hit them with your Unique Selling Point straight away, and the benefits they will gain from purchasing what you offer.

If you offer a range of products it is more important to emphasise why you are the company to go for. You could sell yourself as the best value in the market place, on location, variety or quality customer service.

If you have any unmissable specials, make sure they're clearly explained and immediately spotted.

Establish Trust

Everyone says they offer great customer service, but can you prove it? Use customer testimonials to show you’re not just blowing your own trumpet.

Also, stating what qualifications you have and even providing scans on the certificates will prove that you’re serious about what you do. If you have any awards, don’t be shy! Tell your customers what they are for and include logos of awarding bodies.

Now it’s possible for anyone to make a website, many people are worried that a company they contact online might take their money and run. If you can include an address and photographs of your premises or branded vehicles, you prove you are not a fly-by-night rogue trader.

Especially if you are going to be collecting customer information, include a brief statement about your privacy policy and link to any relevant legal documents.

Finally, using the logos of relevant associations and official bodies, or even just other known companies can give you ‘borrowed credibility’.

Reading Post Business Profile

Simple Website Designs has been chosen for a Business Profile in the Reading Evening Post! They're keen to get us to elaborate on how the Credit Crunch has made us busier than ever, and how we make sure we're offering the best websites at the best prices. We are answering questions and a photographer will be visiting to snap us in our natural environment... We'll post as soon as we know when the profile will be published.

BNI Membership

We are proud to report that we are now members of Reading Abbey BNI group, and are looking forward to many lucrative partnerships.