Google AdWords Keyword Tool - probably the most useful optimisation tool available for free

Many people start the search engine optimization campaigns a couple of steps too late. This means a huge amount of wasted effort, time and energy.

The steps that many people are choosing the most efficient keywords in the first place. If you just pull them out of the air from guesswork, you're like an archer just shooting off in all directions without stopping to check where the target is. How many arrows do you think will actually hit bullseye?

So how do we find out what the best terms are? Well, handily for us, Google is happy to give us all kinds of useful information to aid us in our endeavours. One of the most useful tools is the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. This free online service can give you detailed facts about which terms people are searching on, how many competitors there are in the UK (or your country if you're not in the UK), and how many competitors there are globally.

So instead of just guessing what terms people are searching on, you can find out not only what keywords their using, but how popular each of them are.

This information can be downloaded for number crunching and manipulation to work out the best terms based on search volumes v competitor volumes.

Check out the Google AdWords Keyword Tool here.

Read more SEO and web design tips here or see our basic breakdown of what SEO is here.

Thanks for reading!

How to get to #1 on Google - locally

Are you a business owner? Are you listed on Google local business centre? (Recently renamed as Google Places)

If you answered yes to the first question and no to the second, then you're missing out. You can think of Google Local Business Centre / Google Places as Google's Yellow Pages - you can have a free listing there, giving details of your business address, phone number, website and much more. Then if someone searches for your services in your location, your business will be listed above all the regular results.

It only takes a few minutes to set up and could mean massive exposure for your business, completely free - so what are you waiting for?

Sign up now at... www.google.com/local/add

Of course, all of the websites we make are listed on Google Local business Centre as a matter of course.

If you'd like more advice on making the most of your website, click here.

How do I get my website onto the front page of Google?

Ah, the $64,000 question. Well, there are a number of ways you can do it, but rest assured - all your competitors want to be on the front page of Google too, so if you think it's going to be cheap and easy, think again.

Get to the top of Google, guaranteed... as long as you have deep pockets

The only way to guarantee being on the top of the Google rankings for your chosen terms are by paying Google to be in their 'sponsored links' - via their system, which is called Adwords. It works on a bidding system, so if you sell knitted hamster handbags you may well be able to get their pretty cheap, but if your business has the word 'insurance' 'travel' 'flights' 'recruitment' or one of many other extremely popular and highly competitive phrases, you could be paying over £20 per click, and there could be thousands of clicks per day. Not for those on a tight budget.

Of course, you can try to use Adwords with pretty much any budget, but if you've only got £50 a month to pay and you're competing against the big boys, you may find your budget is spent before you've had a chance to say 'small fish'.

Tips for making the most of Adwords on a budget : as most business advisors will tell you aout business in general - niche niche niche. If you can show that you are THE specialist in a specific area/field/colour etc, you cut down your competitors hugely.

Natural search listings

If you're not paying to be in the 'sponsored links' you'll have to do it the hard way, via the 'natural' search results. This means convincing Google you are the best site and should be the top result for whatever phrase it is the user happens to be entering. There are two main sides to this:

On-Page : your website has to be built to be Google friendly, and that means relevant text, no useful text in images, logical use of keyword rich headings, relevant page names, labels on all your images, keyword rich internal links and widgets and lots of relevant key-phrases scattered at natural intervals around the content. It means providing useful free information for passers-by and generally proving you know what you're talking about. If your website is not already built this way, it's painful to make it so later, so make sure it's built right the first time. Naturally, all of our websites are entirely Google friendly.

Off-Page : Google counts a link to your website as a 'vote' for your website. The more of these you have, the higher up the rankings your site will go. But it's not entirely democratic, links from highly rankings sites count as more important than votes than from unknown sites. You can get links by adding the site to directories, getting other webmasters to link to your site, setting up social networking sites and publishing articles.

You can, of course, do this for yourself, but be prepared for rolling up your sleeves and spending many months of nights in. Simply learning about the methods will take many hours, let alone the hard slog of carrying it all out. And results can be slow and disheartening in the early days.

Or, you can hire a professional to do it for you. This is course is another minefield, but not one within the scope of this article. Read more about how to avoid some of the most dangerous SEO pitfalls here.

Websites for Cheap!

We are proud to announce the launch of a new product - websites for sole traders and small businesses. This is an affordable website deal, with guaranteed results!

They are only £200 to set up and £25 per month to keep us beavering away on making sure each website performing fantastically. Not just websites for cheap, but looking great and performing on Google too!

You can find out more about our affordable business websites here.

We say - keep it simple! With a simple website that is guaranteed to make you more money than it costs. How does that work? Well, all of our client websites are on the front page of Google for the terms they need to be. This means they get lots of enquiries from people who are looking for their services, right at the critical moment. As long as they convert some of those enquiries, they are making more money than their website costs them.

We're so confident we'll be able to get sole traders more customers through the web, we're offering a special guarantee. If after twelve months, you don't feel your website is making you more money than it cost, we'll refund the full £200 setup fee!

So for affordable websites with minimum risk and maximum gain, visit www.affordablebusinesswebsites.co.uk

What are reciprocal links?

To answer this question I'm going to start at the very beginning, to make sure no one gets lost. If you know some or all of this already, feel free to skip ahead.

A link is a word or phrase on a webpage that you can click on, and it will then take you to a different webpage.

An outbound link is when you link to someone else's site from your webpage.

An inbound link is when someone else links from their site to yours.

Reciprocal links are when you agree with the other webmaster to exchange links - i.e. you link to their site and they will link to yours.

(An important note I want to make here, which may seem obvious but I have been asked a surprising number of times, is that you don't have to ask permission to link to someone's site. A website is by definition in the public domain - if someone is publishing information in the public domain, they can hardly then get upset if you point it out to people. Quite the opposite, as I'll explain below, you are doing them a favour. So don't waste their time by emailing asking permission to link to their site)

So why bother with reciprocal links? Well, apart from the obvious benefit that you could gain traffic from related sites that click through to yours, inbound links are the original basis for the Google algorithm, and therefore the Holy Grail for many Search Engine Optimisers. Google uses a 'democratic' system to rank pages, counting each link to a website as a 'vote' for that site. But it's not quite as simple as that. The votes of some sites have a heavier weighting, so for example: if The Guardian newspaper linked to you, it would count as a more important vote for your site than if your mate Dave linked to you from his wedding website.

However, Google is moving away from this method and it is only one of many ways of rankings websites that is in their toolkit. A reason for this is that some webmasters abuse the system and set up huge networks of websites, created simply for the purpose of linking to each other. They charge small webmasters a monthly fee and guarantee them high Google rankings, but this practice degrades the experience for visitors as they bounce from directory to directory, never reaching a final destination. Therefore, Google blacklists websites it discovers doing this.

Despite these caveats, it is still worth building a dedicated partners page or even section, which is unobtrusively linked to from your homepage, and having limited numbers of links to related sites listed, on the condition that they link back to you. Try to make a decent proportion of these 'deep' (not just to your homepage) link too.

Happy canvassing!

SWD Recommended in Real Business Online Magazine!

Clare Hibbet of iComplete has recommended Simple Website Designs Ltd in an article offering suggestions to people starting a business on a small budget. Our quality bespoke designs at extremely competitive prices have been recognised for their professionalism and value for money.

iComplete offer a range of business services at low monthly fees, meaning small businesses can have all the advantages of software, hardware, technology and other services which would normally be prohibitively expensive.

Click here to see full article

Should I use music on my website?

Not unless you like making enemies.

Embedding music that automatically plays in your website is a fast way to irritate a huge chunk of your visitors, making them click the back button faster than you can say Snow Patrol.

Reason number one - lots of people surf the Internet at work, and the last thing they need is your music blaring out their speakers unexpectedly while the boss is chatting at the next desk. It's embarrasing and makes them look unprofessional.

Reason number two - many people are already listening to music while surfing the Net. So if your music starts playing over theirs, both sound awful.

Reason number three - what makes you think they like your music? Do you know your visitors that well, that you can be sure they have the same taste as you. And are in the mood for that choice at the time?

'But I have a pause button!'
Even if there's a pause option, you'd better be sure your site really is special enough for them to take the time to search for an often fiddly cryptic little button, instead of just hitting the back button, which after all is huge and they already know where it is. Why bother when there's a million other sites out there?

The exception - if you're a band, you may have the closest thing to an excuse to having music playing automatically when someone hits your site, but in my opinion, it would still be better to confront them with a big play button, and give them the choice.

Arbitrary surveys of the people in my circles who use the Internet the most, overwhelmingly suggests that they find automatically playing music intrusive, offensive and most will leave the site instantly on principle.

So, the negative effects far ourweigh the questionable benefits. You embed music in your website at your own risk.

Natural SEO hints and tips for beginniners

A fellow web designer at a networking event once described natural search engine optimization as a 'Dark Art', and I really felt he summed up what I had suspected all along. Google are often cagey about what you can do to get to the top of their rankings, and not without reason - spammers will abuse any information they can get.

What should get you into number one position is providing a quality service or product for humans and a good website that is accessible to most visitors, and easy to read and use. Not stuffing the website full of keywords, building networks of pointless robot oriented directories and generally making sites which are unpleasant for human users.

However, there are some things you should be doing to take advantage of the search engine robots methods of figuring out the best time to display your site; because if you don't, even if you have the most beautiful site in the world, with childsplay navigation and heaps of free useful information - Google, Yahoo, ASK etc might not realise.

One of the most important things is the domain name. Using relevant keywords in picking your domain name makes a huge difference to how Google views your site. Some forums claim this is not the case, but research done by ourselves and other SEO experts offer evidence that keywords in the domain name have a big effect. Please note though - this does not mean you should abandon your company name and opt for a long string of keywords as your domain - it's all about balance. If you can get a domain name that contains keywords and still looks and sounds good to humans, great. But none of your SEO should sacrifice human users, or you're missing the point.

A second point of major importance is header tags: <>, <> etc. Google's robots use these to understand the content of the site. Try to make sure these are relevant and logically used, and contain keyword phrases where possible. The higher up the page, and the larger the header tag, the more importance Google will assign to it. Don't overdo it though, it's about relationships within your page. Put all of your text in header tags in an attempt to make Google think it's all important, and it will just dilute itself as Google will ignore all the header tags, taking you back to square one.

Another important factor is internal links. Make sure your links between pages include meaningful words and a logical structure. I.e. 'bookkeepingservices.html' is better than 'services.html' for obvious reasons.

That's enough to be getting on with for now. Add us to your feed reader and check back often for more web design hints and tips for an effective website.

Digital World Politics

Gordon Brown has been quoted as saying having The Internet is now as important as having gas and water in your home. That may be arguable, but being linked in to a global network can certainly have a very real and serious effect on our lives and lifestyles, as we can see as photos and comments are blogged and tweeted from dangerous areas gripped in political turmoil, right as the action happens.

The Prime Minister says that the modern technological networks have changed foreign policy forever, meaning the 'little people' can have their voices heard much more easily, without needing access to massive funds to broadcast messages via television or radio.

It could mean that as images and comments bounce around the world at lightning speed, public opinion and will grows faster than when we had to rely on a few brave journalists' articles, and what the newspapers decided was newsworthy and appropriate.

So does this increased flow of information mean we will take better action faster, and ultimately make the world a better place? Time will tell.

Tips on Resizing Images with HTML

One of the most frequent mistakes we see amateur web designers make is not resizing images to the appropriate size, and relying on html tags to resize it on the fly.

This has a number of negative effects. One is that the browser isn't designed to resize images, so it can distort the picture, making it look bad.

More importantly however, it can mean that the visitor is forced to download massive files for absolutely no reason. This slows down the website, uses up bandwidth, and generally gives the user a bad impression.

So make sure you use image editing software to make your image exactly the right size before you upload it to the web.

20% discount on websites in June

We're offering a 20% discount on all websites ordered in June.
So if you're a small business, charity or public sector organisation and you need a new professional, affordable website - get in contact before the offer ends!

Press Release: 20% discount on web design

Press Release: 20% discount on websites in Berkshire, June only!

Should I use html keyword metatags?

Using the html keyword metatag used to be the accepted way to tell search engines what your website was about. It was solely for the robots and they used the information to accurately index your site.

Unfortunately, due the abuse by spammers, who just stuff them full of words completely unrelated to the content of the site, the keyword metatag has fallen out of favour, to the point that Google completely ignores the keyword tag. However, there is some evidence that Yahoo and Ask.com still use the metatag information to assist them in their indexing, even if they don't use it as a primary factor.

As SEO is a matter of tapping away at every little angle, it's probably still worth putting them in; even if they only make a little difference, that's still a little difference.

However, don't rely on them, and don't expect Google to make any decisions based on them.

Some tips for writing your keyword metatags:
- Don't use more than 40 on any given page
- Always use plurals
- Don't bother using capitals or non-plurals
- Make sure the keywords also appear in the body text of the webpage

How to keep your website up to date

One of the most common questions we are asked when chatting to new clients is how they'll be able to update their website. More and more people want full control - so they can keep their websites up to date, fresh, and useful for repeat visitors. A fine and noble goal!

It comes down to two choices, having your web developer make updates for you, which is all well and good if they have the time and the instructions are clear and followed. Or there is CMS, or a content management system, which gives the client access to the website to edit certain sections themselves.

There are merits to both methods, so we say, and a good web designer will offer both, to cover all the bases. That way if you just want a quick edit you can make the change on the spot see the result instantly, or if it's something a bit more fiddly or you simply don't have the time, you're not left out in the cold.

When getting a new website, make sure you find out from the designer what options you have for updates. If there is no CMS and they plan to make the updates for you, what sort of timescale will that be on? Within 24 hours? Within a week? Six months? Also, if it's more than a very minor change, will they show it to you in a development areas first to make sure they understood your instructions?

If they do offer CMS, ask to see it in action. You should be able to follow how it works intuitively. Some sites have complicated folder structures and procedures which can take weeks of hard graft to learn. If you end up with one of these, chances are you'll get frustrated and abandon it after tearing your hair out for a few months, leaving your website to go stagnant.

For more advice or to get in contact, visit our website.

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