Feel free to drop in for a chat any time, and offer some opinion on the eclectic decor…

Our new address is:
York House
Blackbrook Park Avenue
Taunton TA1 2PX

Telephone 01823 44 44 42

Who are Cardstream?

Cardstream are a global payment gateway offering excellent online payment processing with industry leading security and the UK’s lowest rates. For more information about the Cardstream company and their services, please visit www.cardstream.com

Does this affect me as a client of HigherSites?

In short, no. HigherSites will continue to operate as before, but with all the improvements our new relationship brings. The only real major difference is the new location…

Required Skills - we will only consider candidates with the following:

• Advanced object oriented PHP5 skills
• Intermediate to advanced SQL with MySQL
• Good customer skills and the ability to visualise projects from the user’s viewpoint
• Good CSS skills
• The ability to write well structured and tidy code
• Able to work as part of a team, showing initiative and commitment to deadlines
• At least 2 years’ commercial experience
• The ability to hand-code a whole page with nothing more than Windows Notepad (we don’t expect you to work like this, we just like to know that you can)

Preferred Skills - we will give preference to candidates with the following:

• Good Javascript and experience with MooTools, jQuery or similar
• OS agnostic - happy to work on Mac, Windows or Linux
• ZCE qualified
• 4 years or more commercial experience

Salary commensurate with experience.

Please email david at highersites dot co dot uk to apply or call Rob or myself on 01935 426958.

This is the question that every website owner asks me and the one to which there is no straightforward easy answer. My dad always used to impress upon me that you can’t get something for nothing. Google is the same. You want a top rank, you’re going to have to put in some effort. Quick fixes invariably don’t work.

Here’s how I answer the impossible question: “How do I get to number one in Google?”

1. Stop fixating on positions!
   Seriously, why bother giving yourself this headache? Rankings fluctuate all the time and if you bury yourself in reams of ranking reports, you will have a miserable life! It’s useful to keep an eye on your various rankings, on say a monthly basis, but this should not be your focus.
2. Write great content!
   That’s what your visitors come looking for, that’s what Google is interested in, so that’s what is required for better rankings. However, don’t go writing loads of keyword heavy splurge - Google won’t be fooled, and your visitors won’t be sticking around or coming back. Remember: you write your content for your visitors, not the search engine. It’s critical to understand that point.
3. Use a variety of media types.
   Supplement your text content with images (complete with ALT descriptions of course), because that will make your content more readable. Users generally won’t read pages upon pages of pure text - you need to break it up with diagrams and images wherever possible. Consider using video on some of your pages, and make sure you syndicate this to YouTube, Doodacky and others. Also, transcribe the content of the video for users with hearing difficulty… remember, Google is a user with hearing difficulty.
4. Allow social interaction.
   Let your visitors comment on your articles, or review your products. This builds trust and creates a community feel to your website. Additionally, your users will be creating search engine friendly content for you!
5. Regular updates.
   Regularly updated and fresh content is important.

You’ll notice I didn’t mention links there, and yet Google is very interested in inbound links to your website. The simple reason is: if you’re creating great content, people will link to you, and that’s the best sort of link building you can do.

SEO isn’t so much about tweaking tags and keywords any more. Google keeps raising the bar and making its algorithm smarter. So, why not just do the smart thing, and focus on making your website better and better? As a result, your visitors will come back, your website will be generating a “buzz” online, and Google will take note.

If you focus on the content first, the rankings will come. If you have no patience, chuck some money at AdWords!

The Internet. It’s a changing beast. I look back fondly on the days where META Keywords held the key to unlock search engine success. I would finish a website, tap in some keywords and submit it to HotBot, Infoseek et al, check the rankings a few minutes later, re-tweak the keywords, re-submit, and then check again. Heck, it was possible to get anything to the top of the search engines within a few hours. Things have moved on.

Progress is a good thing. Early Internet users will no doubt recall that every search engine query returned copious amounts of porn websites, no matter what keywords you entered, and whilst some might have been quite happy with this arrangment, it was abundantly obvious that the search engines needed to pick up their game somewhat. This is the principal reason behind Google’s meteoric rise. Indeed, Google claim that more than 1,000 years of programming time has been devoted to their algorithm, and development is still ongoing. In fact, they sometimes make as many as 10 changes to the algorithm each week.

Some of these changes are made to specifically counteract the actions of Search Engine Optimisation, but most are refinements that help to deliver better search results for Google users. Google’s motivation for making these continuous refinements could hardly be considered altruistic - I’m sure they are acutely aware of the fickle nature of the Internet user. In all likelihood, you are a Google user, particularly considering that (as at September 2009) more than 83% of the world’s search traffic ends up at Google’s door. But, I’m guessing that you probably don’t have any special love or affection for Google itself, you probably don’t go home and worship before an effigy of the Google logo and if another search engine came along that offered you better speed and more relevance you would have little or no hesitation in switching.

Herein lies a key concept in the world of search engine marketing: Google’s index and algorithm is what makes them the best, and they know that. It stands to reason therefore that Google would go to some lengths to protect their main asset, particularly when their revenue stream (Adwords) depends upon the popularity of the engine. If we all stopped using Google, then companies would stop spending money on pay-per-click advertising with Adwords. Given that Google makes its money from the sponsored listings on the search page and not the natural search results, which do you think they would rather see businesses using? So, any trick SEO experts can come up with to manipulate the algorithm in their favour will sooner or later be discovered and legislated against, usually with fairly drastic consequences for the rankings of the websites that are using such tricks.

So what’s left? Are we as website owners forced to become subject to the whims of a corporate giant that is beginning to look like it has aspirations for complete global domination in all areas of IT and Internet? Well, generally speaking, yes we are. Google control their index and regardless of what some SEO companies will tell you, it’s not really possible to manipulate that index and enjoy long term benefits. Every week that goes by, Google shut the doors on more and more under-handed or “black hat” SEO techniques, and woe betide any website employing them. And this may well prompt you to ask the question that I used to title this post: Is SEO dead?

No, far from it. However, as the landscape of search changes, we have to adapt and change too. Businesses that are prepared to be agile and make changes to their online offering will always fair better. The ever increasing focus on social interaction and networking means changes for us. Why? Because Google will give the people what they want - it has to - and the people want social interaction. Internet users love Facebook, Twitter and blogging. Why? Because it gives them a voice. Give customers to your e-commerce store a chance to come and review your products and guess what? They will come and review. Further, they will be creating content for you, content that Google will be interested in indexing. Yes, our whole perspective is changing.

What is SEO now? Sure, there is a need to get your code optimised, but that’s a one-off task. What can we do on an ongoing basis to increase our search engine ranking? Believe it or not the answer is simple. Content.

Write more content and you will have more content in the index and more chances that people search for you will find you. Write good quality content for your visitors and they will enjoy their visit to your website. Regularly update the content on your website and your visitors will come back regularly, and so will the Googlebot. Further, if your content is great, other websites will link to yours and that will increase your profile online and your search engine rankings.

Spread your content through all available social networks and you will massively increase the number of people looking at and linking to your content. Google is very good at identifying website that have an online “buzz” about them, and it is these sites that will enjoy the best rankings.

Speaking of rankings though, don’t fixate on your position! You will have a miserable life constantly checking search engine ranking reports and trying to explain minor shifts this way or that way in your rankings for this query or that query. No, instead focus on increasing the traffic to your website. Watch your analytics and visitor stats. Then, make the most of the visitors you are getting to the website. Surely, you would rather make more money from the visitors that you do have than less money from a greater number of visitors?

SEO is not dead, but it doesn’t really revolve around tweaking keywords and code any more. Link farms are being factored out of the algorithm on a daily basis. There are fewer and fewer quick fixes, and those that still exist or that spring up in the future will be short lived too. Really, many more things are involved with online marketing, but we’re only talking about the things we should be doing anyway. You don’t get something for nothing. Invest time and effort in your website and it will pay dividends. Leave your website to stagnate and no amount of money or time invested in SEO is going to get you a lasting top ranking in Google or any other search engine.

Of late (and I suspect it’s due to burgeoning financial problems) I have experienced a large number of clients coming to me for suggestions on how to improve their website and make it do ‘more’ for them. This is great because for ages I’ve been encouraging them to use it as more than just a pretty picture telling people what they do, so I’ve put together a Smashing Mag style 5 point list on what I have been advising.

1. Email newsletters

It’s the obvious one, but seldom used as well as it should be. We have developed (here comes a mild sale pitch) an amazing enewsletter module for our CMS, it has SO much potential, but of the clients who own one, only a small percentage take advantage of its power. If a person has expressly requested more information on your products or services from your site by signing up - that’s like someone walking into your shop and asking for something - these people are valuable and should not be ignored! The enewsletter shouldn’t just be ’something else you can do every so often’ - if during this so called time of financial crisis you need to raise awareness of your products and services, or more importantly your BRAND, then enewsletters are the perfect way to do this. Regular emails are the equivalent to TV ads, radio ads and billboard posters. Even if people don’t read or act on your story on how you have just moved into new offices, or your report on how the environment is being helped by your charitable efforts, or indeed the launch of a new range, they will have seen it drop in. Chances are they’ll delete it, but they’ll have you logo / name in their mind again and when they DO come to looking for that product or service again, they’re sure as hell more likely to select you over someone else they’ve never heard of. Another thing is to Group your subscribers. Obtain as much information on where they’re from, what they purchased or requested more info on and send them only emails relating to this. If they asked for info on holiday only in the UK and you start firing off cheap flights to New Zealand, they’ll soon think you’re not paying attention to their requirements and probably unsubscribe.

2. Clear message, stronger calls to action

Just today I was looking through some competitors websites as part of my research for a new client, and one of sites I stumbled upon, had I not known what they did previously (by my client telling me), I had to read, click and re-read about 3 pages before I completely understood what they were about, and why I might want what they are offering. I always think there is a tendency among companies to force themselves to appear more complex, advanced and ‘high-end’ than they really need to. Imagining probably that by using long, complicated terms it will elevate them from the competitor. Not true. If you think about when you are looking for anything online, what do you look for first - a site which is easy to use and makes it clear how to get in touch / buy / search for the product you’re after. So BIG clear buttons, do away with a homepage explaining how the company was started in 1915 from a bike shed and has been through XYZ times, try and explain who you are or what you do in less than 20 words.

3. Integration of other elements (Social networks)

Everyone’s banging on about Social Media Marketing, and while it maybe the current buzz word in web strategy, it does have its reasoning for being there. Facebook, Myspace, youtube and twitter plus any others you care to mention, all have drawn huge audiences, and while it’s completely inappropriate for any company to wade in thinking they can wack a few phrases about and dominate Google’s rankings, it is important to understand what getting into these ‘circles’ entails. It’s an entirely different or alternative form of marketing here. There is no taste, feel or touch, so you must go entirely on language - or ‘vibe’. Let’s say you’re selling mobile phones, to simply start targeting people on facebook that show the slightest interest in mobile phones and selling at them will most likely turn them the opposite way you want to go. However, if you show willing to offer assistance and guidance on selecting the right phone, while addressing them in a language they understand, you will build up a trust and in turn loyalty towards your brand. Once you have this, you’re half way there. There is nothing more powerful than a friend telling a friend to check you out as they instantly will trust their judgement. Brand loyalty is what can be gained from effective Social Media Marketing.

4. Know your audience

Websites, like English celebrities, date quickly. So if or when things change within your company, for example to adapt to the changing financial climate you’re company adopts a new method of working or selling or promoting, then your website should reflect this. Quite often website owners base all the content along with the design, on what they feel they themselves, want or like. I know loads of business owners that have very little personal interest in what they do or sell, which is fine, as long as they know how to connect with their audience. If customers feel that you’re just putting up information on your site for the sake of it they are far less likely to feel engaged as with a company who sound like they love what they do as much as the people they’re selling to.

5. Manage content, stay fresh

Continuing on from point 4, to ensure people return to your site, it’s vital you update the information contained within it. For months I was checking a favourite band of mine’s website hoping they would update it on when we could expect more songs / gigs from them but alas, they didn’t. Eventually I gave up, and only recently discovered they had released a new single a while back, through an online music store that happened to be promoting it - if I wasn’t subscribed to their news, I would never have been on and subsequently bought the track. Many people always say to us “but I don’t have the time to update the website”. If this is the case, then I always give the same reply. “You have 3 choices; make time, get someone else in the company to make it their job, or employ us to manage it for you”. It doesn’t take a huge amount. It’s like anything, cleaning the bathroom, cutting the grass, doing the recycling; it’s something you make time for. But because those things physically exist and build up, you recognise the fact they need to be done. If you could physically see users leaving your website each month, perhaps it would persuade different thinking. Part of our new strategy for larger clients with budgets, but not enough time is to effectively become their walking, talking (and most of all, THINKING) CMS’s. We are responsible for ensuring the content stays fresh each month. It would be our responsibility as a creative agency to call the client, find out what’s been happening throughout the month and report it in any way we see fit. Again, this won’t just relate to standard things like hitting sales targets or launching a new product range, we aim to ensure each time something is spoken about or acted on, it is another step in forming a relationship with the customers. So there we go, just some ideas I’ve put together based on recent experiences with our clients, hopefully someone may also find it useful!

There is a nominal fee levied by Somerset County Council to cover the cost of hiring the venue and the buffet lunch. This is normally about £20.

To register your interest or book your place, please call Matt Ballard of the Economy and Europe Group at Somerset County Council on 01823 355867, or call David at HigherSites on 01935 426958.

SPAM is the scourge of the Internet, and for those that don’t know, we’re talking about unsolicited emails here not meat in a can. Anyone who has held an email account for any length of time and is active on the Internet will no doubt be batting off solicitations to buy Viagra, extend one’s manhood, or help deposed African dictators launder their money. Most of us simply delete these messages as soon as they arrive, which begs the question, why do the spammers do it? What is their rate of return?

Well, it would seem that the rate of return is a staggering 1 in 1,000,000! This doesn’t deter the spammers though, they just send more emails!

So, how can they afford to send out this large volume of messages? Simple answer: they can’t. Spammers don’t buy their own servers - they would be blacklisted and blocked within minutes - instead they steal bandwidth from unsuspecting ISPs and Internet users. This could be in the form of a website email form that can be hijacked and manipulated, it could be a direct hacking attack on a server, or it can be through computer viruses that infect home PCs and allow them to be controlled by the spammers for sending their messages.

And because they are stealing their bandwidth, there is a cost. A recent research study in the US concluded that spam costs US business over $20 billion per year!

It may come as no surprise then to know that around 45% of all emails are spam!

And how about this for shocking? A new study has revealed that creating and managing spam uses enough energy each year to power more than 2.4 million homes!

You’d be justified in asking why we can’t stop this from happening, and the answer is that we could. We could re-write the email protocols to work more like instant messaging, where you have to approve someone to be on your contact list before they can send you messages. This new protocol could easily be phased in over a number of years, with software systems supporting both protocols in the interim period. The problem is the cost involved and the need for people to work together toward a harmonious solution. Such scenarios rarely occur, so it looks like we will be stuck dealing with these messages for some time yet.

Today sees the launch of the mighty Monkey Timer! (www.monkeytimer.co.uk).

Rob and myself have been developing the Monkey Timer after we thought it’d be nice to find out how long we spend messing about with clients speaking on the phone, emailing and so on, and seldon remember to count the hours - and so monkey timer was born!

Not a lot else to say, other than it’s free, its easy and it’s now live so go on over to www.monkeytimer.co.uk and set up an account to begin timing anything you spend time on! ]]> http://blog.highersites.co.uk/2009/03/the-highersites-web-app-monkey-timer/feed/ http://blog.highersites.co.uk/2009/03/new-site-launches/ http://blog.highersites.co.uk/2009/03/new-site-launches/#comments Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:56:12 +0000 Tom Wittlin http://blog.highersites.co.uk/?p=70 Due to a complete lack of time to update our own website, (as usual) I’ve decided to drop in a quick entry here to announce the launch of a few new exciting developments from the HigherSites camp.

First up is Classic Planes over at www.classicplanestv.com which is an exciting holding site in advance of the full site launching within the next few months that offers fans of Classic aeroplanes to relive marvelous moments throughout aeronautical history. Focussing primarily on WW2 the site offers spectacular mixes of 3D renders and live video to create short films on specific stories.

Second up this month is the rather tasty www.southern-fried-chicken.com which have long been a client of ours, but decided to give their site a refresh for ‘09. Rather helpfully, they decided this should happen around the same time they came up with their new ‘Empire Fillet’ burger, and once I laid eyes on this beautiful creation it was obvious this was the driving force of the website. So it became then that the burger was pretty much the largest thing on the site, along with the slightly left-field tag line of ‘tastier than…’ and then several random ideas. We’re currently trying to adapt this functionality to include a live Twitter feed that would allow any burger munching connoisseur to suggest what they feel the burger is tastier than.

This was probably one the hardest projects for me to work on as I had to sit for several days putting together concepts of burgers while most of the time starving hungry…

So there we have it - 2 new launches in 1 month, more later!