Web Design Tips: Adding Engaging Content

0 comments on this article Posted by Philip Brassington in Website Design on July 14th, 2011 , tagged with .

In my last web design tips article I talked about ensuring that your adding fresh new content to your website. The case for adding content on a regular basis is compelling.

Without wanting to repeat myself, regularly adding content helps with your creditability, increases dwell time on your site and also Google loves it. So you need to regularly add content to your website.

In this article I’m going to discuss different types of content and give some tips on using it to engage your visitors.

Types of Website Content and How to Use It

When I’m talking about content I simply mean the stuff you fill your pages with, be it text based information about your products and services, videos, podcasts or articles. As I have said before, your website design images are also classed as content but images aren’t relevant in the context of this article.

Product and Service Information Pages
The same as in the last article, I’m starting with the most important and most overlooked area, so take note. Your product and service pages are your website’s bread and butter and are so often overlooked.

In an age when a conversation can consist of 160 character tweets and facebook status updates, when so much importance is put upon social media it is really easy to overlook what is really important.

The most important content on your site tells your visitors about your products and services and more importantly, how they will help them, solve their problems. Essentially, why they need you and your product range.

Web Tip 1: Go to your product and service pages right now and check that the benefits (not the features) of your products are completely clear.

Podcasts

Podcasting is a twist on video content. It’s a piece of audio, spoken voice or musical, that your visitor can either stream and listen to via your website or download and then listen to it on their computer or on an an iPod or other MP3 player.

I’m not a huge fan of podcasts, but that is probably because I don’t ever really listen to them. Personally I would never sit down and just listen to the radio but I do sit down and watch telly, so for me, I think that video will bring you greater rewards than podcasting.

Web Tip 2: Experiment with podcasting. This can add a new dimension to your website content.

Videos

Web Design needs interesting ContentEveryone has heard of YouTube and the millions of videos it hosts. Your probably also aware that YouTube is owned by Google and that Google now lists YouTube videos on its results pages. For this reason alone, creating some interesting video content that promoted your business is a good idea.

What you may not be so familiar with, and this is really powerful, is the trend towards using YouTube as a search engine. If you want to learn about the American Civil War for example, you could Google it, get a Wiki page on it and read about it. But if your thirteen then why read when you can watch a four minute video that gives you all you need?

Web Tip 3: A Video that goes Viral will be watched by millions of people. Make your videos informative and inventive for maximum effect.

News and Blogging

Once you have your products and service descriptions pages up and exciting your customers, then this is really where it’s at, especially as far as getting regular content onto your website is concerned.

Writing a blog is the ultimate way to demonstrate your superior knowledge in your chosen field. Whether that field is Web Design, Gardening, Stamp Collecting or xxx writing a regular blog is a great way to add content and continue on your journey of web success.

I want to cover writing news articles and press releases in another article and I think that good blogging should also have its own article as well, so keep your eyes peeled for those in the not too distant future.

We use these tips for our customers when we are creating their websites at Rake Mark web design, Staffordshire. They really work and you can put them to good use without any real cost on your own website, that’s the beauty of the web design tips series.

EEK! The Ruler in Microsoft Word has Gone?

0 comments on this article Posted by Sarah Brassington in Fun, Tutorials on July 12th, 2011 , tagged with .

Ok a real quick little article, may I just say this has absolutely nothing to do with Web Design but will be useful all the same.

I have just had a client say that she has spent weeks struggling with writing word documents because the ruler at the side had disappeared and had to use the “Full Screen” reading mode so that she could see what was gone on.

I am afraid it is one of those really, really simple answer’s, but only if you know it! So here it is:

If your screen looks like this:

Ruler has gone in MS Word ?

Ruler Disappeared in MS Word ?

Step one:

Hover over the top or bottom of you document, until you see this icon:

White Space Icon

White Space Icon

Step Two:

Double click – your ruler should now be back ….   told you it was quick !

We are happy to hear and hopefully help about sticky problems that you may have – either send us an email or comment on a post or post to our Facebook Page.

Web Design Tips: Keep Your Website Content Fresh

1 comment on this article Posted by Philip Brassington in Website Design on July 4th, 2011 .

Regularly Updated Website Content.

Google loves it, your visitors want it and you need to provide it.  So welcome to the next in our web design tips series, the importance of adding new content to your website.

I wrote a paragraph in an article about website mistakes that discussed why you need updated content. I found that one paragraph titled ‘Write it, Launch it, Leave it!’ really wasn’t enough to give you what you needed.

Why Keep Updating Your Website Content?

The first and most obvious and also hugely overlooked reason for regularly adding new content to your website is it gives your visitors, your potential and existing customers, a reason to continue to visit your website.

Tip 1: Give your visitors valuable content when they come and the promise of more again the next day, and they will come back time and again until they are ready to become a customer.

Think about the journey that a visitor takes, especially if they’re buying a big ticket item. Once they’ve found you they’ll take a look around your website to get some information about  product from your website. If they need a bit of time to decide then new content will keep them coming back to you and your website.

A second reason is that it helps your customers to trust you. When you write blog articles and create podcasts and video’s then you are demonstrating that you have knowledge that is useful. This is really helpful in service based and value added industries, like financial services, where expert advice adds value to your offering.

Tip 2: Build your reputation and become an authority in your chosen market and give your customers confidence in you.

Adding relevant interesting blogs, videos and other engaging content will increase something called dwell time, which is the amount of time that visitors spend on your website. This is the third reason for adding regular content to your website.

The topic of ‘Engagement Objects’ and their effect on converting visitors to customers does deserve an expanded discussion, but that will be another blog for another day. For right now just take my word for it, engaging content keeps them on your site longer, which in turn gives you a better chance to convert them into a customer.

Tip 3: Engaging content keeps your visitors on your site longer which in turn helps you convert more of your visitors into customers.

And in case you still needed more reasons to add regular content to your site, a fourth reason to regularly add content to your website is that Google loves websites that regularly add new, original content. It gives a weighting to this when deciding where to place you in search engine results pages.

Filling your site with hundreds of re-written articles is not a good idea, the whole Panda / Farmer update that Google rolled out earlier this year was designed to slap website owners that did this. It has to be original content, based on original ideas.

Tip 4: Google loves sites that regularly add content, but it has to be original content that is no where else on the web.

So this is why we need to update the content on our websites, I think the case has been made clearly. Any one of the reasons should convince you. The next step is what content we need to be adding, I’ll cover that in my next web design tips article.

Until then, this is your friendly neighbourhood Staffordshire Web Designer signing off.

Bourne Supremacy: Mum-In-Law Rant Goes Viral

9 comments on this article Posted by Philip Brassington in Fun on July 1st, 2011 , tagged with .

Just as I was wondering if I had anything good for a Friday Fun, a little beauty drops into my inbox.

This email has gone uber viral around the web and has even been picked up by the mainstream news media. It is being reported as being an email from Carolyn Bourne to her soon to be Daughter-in-law, Heidi Withers.

Caroline Bourne seems to have taken exception to Heidi’s lack of manners and Caroline totally takes her to task in the email over her rudeness. The email went viral after Heidi received the email and was so shocked when she got it she forwarded it on to some friends, who also forwarded it to a few friends and the rest as they say is history.

Being a dad of three with two in their teens I do have a bit of sympathy towards Caroline, but some of it is a way over the top mega rant (in a very upper class way) and fair warning to anyone thinking of telling someone off via email.

There are a few versions doing the rounds but I think this is the fullest. I cannot vouch for its accuracy. Sit back with a nice Friday cuppa, and enjoy.

##EMAIL FROM CAROLYN BOURNE##

It is high time someone explained to you about good manners. Yours are obvious by their absence and I feel sorry for you.

I am being kept awake – or woken early – by Edward [Freddie's father] who is so profoundly upset by your behaviour on your recent visit that he is depressed and anxious.

Unfortunately for Freddie, he has fallen in love with you and Freddie being Freddie, I gather it is not easy to reason with him or yet encourage him to consider how he might be able to help you. It may just be possible to get through to you though. I do hope so. Your behaviour on your visit to Devon during April was staggering in its uncouthness and lack of grace. Unfortunately, this was not the first example of bad manners I have experienced from you. If you want to be accepted by the wider Bourne family I suggest you take some guidance from experts with utmost haste. There are plenty of finishing schools around. You would be an ideal candidate for the Ladette to Lady television series. Please, for your own good, for Freddie’s sake and for your future involvement with the Bourne family, do something as soon as possible.

Here are a few examples of your lack of manners:

When you are a guest in another’s house, you do not declare what you will and will not eat – unless you are positively allergic to something.

You do not remark that you do not have enough food.

You do not start before everyone else.

You do not take additional helpings without being invited to by your host.

When a guest in another’s house, you do not lie in bed until late morning in households that rise early – you fall in line with house norms.

You should never ever insult the family you are about to join at any time and most definitely not in public. I gather you passed this off as a joke but the reaction in the pub was one of shock, not laughter.

I have no idea whether you wrote to thank [your future sister-in-law] for the weekend but you should have hand-written a card to her.

You should have hand-written a card to me. You have never written to thank me when you have stayed at Houndspool.

[Your future sister-in-law] has quite the most exquisite manners of anyone I have ever come across. You would do well to follow her example.

You regularly draw attention to yourself. Perhaps you should ask yourself why.

It is tragic that you have diabetes. However, you aren’t the only young person in the world who is a diabetic. I know quite a few young people who have this condition, one of whom is getting married in June. I have never heard her discuss her condition. She quietly gets on with it. She doesn’t like being diabetic. Who would? You do not need to regale everyone with the details of your condition or use it as an excuse to draw attention to yourself. It is vulgar.

As a diabetic of long standing you must be acutely aware of the need to prepare yourself for extraordinary eventualities, the walk to Mothecombe beach being an example. You are experienced enough to have prepared yourself appropriately.

No-one gets married in a castle unless they own it. It is brash, celebrity style behaviour.

I understand your parents are unable to contribute very much towards the cost of your wedding. (There is nothing wrong with that except that convention is such that one might presume they would have saved over the years for their daughters’ marriages.) If this is the case, it would be most ladylike and gracious to lower your sights and have a modest wedding as befits both your incomes.

One could be accused of thinking that Carolyn must be patting herself on the back for having caught a most eligible young man. I pity Freddie.

##END OF EMAIL##

 

Christmas is going to be fun in this household this year.

Have a good weekend, Phil

 

 

Get your domain name back in 8 Steps

0 comments on this article Posted by Sarah Brassington in Website Design on June 30th, 2011 , tagged with , , .

This Article follows on  up one of our previous articles about Domain Name Registration and why you should register your own domain name.

Sadly, again this month we have had a new client come to us, requesting we create a website for them but we have struggled to get the domain names transferred and the registrar’s tags altered so that we could use the client’s original domain name.

So if another web design company has your name and they are refusing to give it back and you need to get it back then this is article will tell you what to do.

About Nominet

Nominet is the Internet registry for .uk domain names – this covers any email or web address that ends in .uk (or .co.uk, etc).

Nominet

Thanks Nominet

Nominet was established in 1996 as a private, not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee. It was formed as a replacement for the original Voluntary Domain Management Group; then known as the ‘Naming Committee’.

This replacement was a necessary step as in the 1990’s the commercial selling and demand for TLD (Top Level Domains) grew and it became obvious that the small Voluntary Management group could not cope with the increase in volume.

Give me my name Back ! …..  please

Please be aware, this is for .co.uk names only and for this simple process to work you need to have originally registered and paid for the name yourself. If your web design company registered the name then it can get tricky, but the most important thing is have evidence you paid for the name to be registered.

Step 1*.  Find the original Invoice (and any renewal one) to prove that the domain is yours.
Step 2. Go to http://www.nominet.org.uk and click on the ‘login’ button in the top right corner.
Step 3. Click on the in text link ‘access your account’ in the first sentence.
Step 4. Clink on the in text link ‘re-establish your identity’
Step 5. Agree to the terms and click next
Step 6. You have a few details to fill in now, just follow the wizard.
Step 7. Make a Payment if necessary
Step 8. Nominet, now have it all in hand and they will contact you, ask for your proof (we faxed ours over) and job is done!

We also asked them to change the tags back to the original Clients account, I think they charged us £10 one off fee for this.

So £12.00 to re-establish your identity and £10 to change the tags £22.00 cost to the client and they have their name back – totally cutting out the rouge web designer.

*Of course ‘Step 1 is ask the person who has the name to return it to you. Try phoning them and emailing them first. Once this has failed and some dofus thinks they can hold your feet to the fire then follow our instructions.

Using the AIDA Four Step Web Copy Writing Process

0 comments on this article Posted by Philip Brassington in Tutorials on June 29th, 2011 , tagged with , .
A grumpy looking girl not enjoying her copy writing

Writing Your Web Copy Can be Fun, Honest

When I was writing my first web tips article on copy writing it started to get a bit long, so I decided to take my own advice and split it into two articles, so this is a bit like ‘Writing Compelling Web Copy – Part Deux’ (or part three if you count the five quick tips from Friday)

This is really the foundation stone of writing copy so not really a web tip, but if your new to copy writing then this really is my take on the starting point.

The generally accepted four step process to writing good copy can be expressed using AIDA, or in its long form, Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

Attention:
You only get one chance to make a first impression and your headline is where you can do this. Use attention grabbing headlines, pose tough questions or make bold promises, but grab the readers attention.

Interest:
Now you have their attention, build interest their interest in what you are selling. Focus on benefits rather than features. If your not sure what I mean, then remember that your reader will ask, ‘why should I care?’ or ‘how does that help me?’. Answer that question then they are more likely to respond.

Desire:
Build a genuine need or desire for the product by painting a picture of how this can help. Use real life examples to really bring the product to life and help the reader visualise themselves feeling great using your products or services.

Action:
You’ve done it, whatever it is your selling, their buying, but you need to tell them to buy, however ‘Call this number now’ doesn’t always do it. Try to use compelling language that makes it easy for the reader to say yes and difficult to say no.

Writing a compelling call to action is an article in itself, but do not overlook the need to ask them for the business.

Remember AIDA when weaving compelling words to help your customers visualise themselves using your products and services to solve their problems.

Most web designers in Staffordshire and across the UK will make an additional charge and no one knows your business like you, so roll up your sleeve and get writing you copy for your new website.

Web Design Tip: 5 More Copy Writing Tips

0 comments on this article Posted by Philip Brassington in Website Design on June 24th, 2011 , tagged with , .
Use a Word processor

Tip 1: Use a Wordprocessor

Its Friday and I don’t have any Friday fun, so what is a staffordshire web designer to do. Well I have compiled some real quick copy writing tips.

If you read my copy writing article from earlier in the week then these five tips will help you to build up your knowledge and add even more power to your writing.

Tip 1: Use a word processor
If you don’t have a copy of Microsoft Word then download Open Office or use Google Docs. But whatever you do, use a word processor. It checks your spelling and grammar and makes it easy for you to edit and change your words without having to re-write all your copy.

Tip 2: For heavens sake write something
Don’t put it off, get started. If you wait for the perfect phrase to come it could be a long wait. Start writing and it will all begin to flow. The editing process will take care of everything else. If you are following the previous tip then its in a word processor and easily changed later anyway.

Tip 3: Proof read it
Catching all the spelling mistakes and grammar errors in your word processor doesn’t mean that it all makes sense. Always read through your work. If you can, wait an hour or overnight between finishing your article and proofing it.

Tip 4: Share it and get feedback
Once you have proofed, get someone else to read it over. Once you are both happy that their are no errors then move on to how persuasive the copy is. Would your friend buy the product? What would make them buy it?

Tip 5: Edit Aggressively
You’ve probably written twice as much as you needed to, so trim it down. If you can get your point across in twenty words then use twenty words. If you can trim that to eighteen and still have the same impact, then do it. Use as many words as you need to and no more.

There’s Still More

Another Web Design Tips article will be coming soon, next week sometime, so make sure you share this article, leave comments and check in next week.

Thanks
Phil

Rake Mark Solutions, Web Design Staffordshire

Web Design Tip: Writing Compelling Web Copy

0 comments on this article Posted by Philip Brassington in Website Design on June 22nd, 2011 .

Web Design Tips, Article One, the first in a series of articles packed full of web design tips aimed at all people who own or maintain a website.

Copy means the text that you put on the page and writing compelling copy is a vital part of designing and building your website. With poor copy, with reams of over flowery text, no one will do business with you, they’ll all be asleep (or navigating to another site, more likely).

So here is an introduction to Writing Compelling Web Copy.

Budget Enough Time to Write Your Web Copy

We have all been caught out with the amount of time required that copy writing takes, especially when a deadline is looming. An hour per web page is the minimum that you should allow, often a first draft can take this long.

If writing your copy is stalling your web project then you may want to either cut the number of web pages or hire a copy writer (which can cost less that you think).

Tip 1: Don’t underestimate how long it might take you to write the copy for your website. Allow at least one hour per web page.

Write More About Benefits, Less About Features

You don’t buy shampoo, you buy beautiful manageable hair. When you buy a car you don’t just get a means of going from A to B, you buy an identity that this car represents and that you aspire to. Guy’s don’t buy drill’s just because they need a hole in a wall.

Beautiful hair is the benefit of shampoo. Your kids getting the best possible start to the day is the benefit of nutritionally balanced breakfast cereal. And I’m sure you can work out several benefits that a high output, hammer action power drill gives the man that wields it.

Tip 2: Customer’s buy on benefits, not features, so list the features but explain the benefits in detail.

Get the Tone Right

Although your business may deal with a wide range of different customers from varied backgrounds all with individual needs, each piece of copy writing will be aimed at a specific segment of that audience. Its important to write specifically for that intended audience.

Web pages tend to be more general than when your writing copy for an advert but even so, it is important that the tone and language that you use is appropriate for the intended reader. It is best to avoid specific terminology unless your writing is aimed at technical experts.

Doctors, for example, may expect a certain amount of technical language, assumed knowledge and abbreviations. This will apply to other groups as well, but this is the exception, not the rule.

Tip 3: Use the language and tone that your intended audience is expecting. Avoid technical jargon unless you are sure they want it.

And There’s More…

When I started this blog post I wanted to give a good depth of information so that it could be read and acted upon. It’s quickly become apparent that a full copy writing tutorial can’t be put into 500 – 600 words, which is my self imposed blog post limit.

So having read over 500 words, I hope the three tips you have will help you power your web copy, but there’s plenty more web and copy writing tips to come.

And please feel free to leave comments below.

Web Design Tips: Series Introduction

0 comments on this article Posted by Philip Brassington in Website Design on June 22nd, 2011 , tagged with .

Last week I wrote an article highlighting 5 killer errors that website owners can make and in response to some of the comments asking for more detailed information, I have decided to write a series of positive web improvement articles.

The series is not aimed only at the technical experts who create the websites themselves, but is for anyone who is involved in a business website. So regardless of your technical expertise, if you own or maintain a business website, write the company blog, or work to try to bring in more visitors then these tips articles are for you.

Each article will cover a single topic and will contain simple to follow web design tips and information that you can use right now to increase the effectiveness and profitability of your website.

Please read article 1 with tips on getting the words on to the page, titled Writing Compelling Web Copy

Search Engine Optimisation: Matt Cutts Advice Part 3

0 comments on this article Posted by Philip Brassington in Search Engine Optimisation on June 20th, 2011 , tagged with , , , .

Over the last month we’ve posted a couple of times about an article by Matt Cutts. Firstly, Sarah refreshed and posted on the golden nuggets Matt gave us in a news article a while back. Later it struck me how little things have changed and I mused about the similarity of advice given then and the more recent advice Google gives us.

Today I want to talk about the one missing piece of information that Matt gave us.

Search Engine Optimisation: Don’t Over Do It!

Using the same keywords over and over again on the same page in an unnatural way is called “keyword stuffing”. It’s a big Google no-no and let’s face Google are smart enough to not fall for that.

Matt said, “After you’ve said it two or three times, Google has a pretty good idea — ‘OK, this page has something to do with this keyword’. Just think about the two or three phrases you want to be known for and weave that in naturally.”

So if you do web design in Stafford for example and you wanted Google to rank you for these keywords then you would need to have these specific words in the title, main header and first paragraph, but simply forcing the term, ‘web design in Stafford’ over and over, every second sentence is going to raise a red flag with Google.

Know before you write your article or web copy what the target keywords for this item are and then creatively weave them in a few times, but not more than three or four.

So climb the rankings with a consistent message, that offers something to the users and don’t over do it. Remember, Google is just too smart to be out smarted.

Previous entries
Recent entries