SEO scams: avoid getting burned!
This month we managed to save one of our clients from an online scam that was almost believable. Some loser with a British accent rang up and said he could offer them the top spot on Google for a certain amount of money. He claimed that his company was officially certified by Google to sell the top ranking for their industry, and that if they didn’t pay the money quickly, he would sell it to their competitor and they would miss out. Thankfully this client got in touch with us first, and we were able to step in. The scammers […]
Officially AdWords Certified
This week we received a certificate from Google recognising us as being AdWords Certified. That’s exciting, because it means we’ve proven to Google that we know what we’re talking about when it comes to AdWords. It’s also exciting because it means that when you use us to run your AdWords campaigns, you know you’re in safe hands.
So what is SEO?
According to a recent American study, 11 percent of people thought the abbreviation HTML (hypertext mark-up language, used to create web pages) was a sexually transmitted disease. They were also confused about “gigabyte” (27 percent thought it was an insect found in South America), “motherboard” (42 percent said the ‘deck of a cruise ship’), “MP3” (23 percent thought Star Wars robot), and “Blu-ray” (18 percent saw a marine animal). It is unsurprising then that 77 per cent of the sample had no idea what the term “SEO” meant.
Basic web design mistakes
There are so many different ways to design good websites. While all well-designed websites have features that are unique, they all follow a series of basic rules that govern their look. And you don’t need a degree in visual design or web development to know when these rules have been broken. So here are some of the biggest rule-breakers in web design:
SEO case study: The Limo Club
When The Limo Club got in touch with us, they were in a state of crisis. They had just had a new website built for them, but everything had gone wrong. None of their contact details were correct and the booking form wasn’t functional, meaning they were missing out on essential business. What’s more, the overseas company who had built the site wasn’t cooperating. The first thing we did was build The Limo Club a temporary site to replace the broken one, and immediately the bookings began to come through again. We then built them a new site from the […]
4 reasons to have a blog on your website
If your business website doesn’t have a blog, you’re missing out! And here’s why. Search Engine Optimisation Having a blog on your website is one of the most effective tools you can use to drive traffic to your site and make your website appear higher in Google. Every time you write a new post which includes some relevant keywords, you increase your chances of people being able to find your website when they search those keywords. Also, search engines such as Google like websites with active blogs. An active blog tells Google that your website is constantly being updated (an […]
Social media and crime
In our reading this week we came across an interesting infographic which explained a few startling connections between social media and crime. Some of the interesting statistics included: 66 percent of active Facebook users do not know about privacy settings 47 percent of teens have a public facebook profile viewable by anyone 78 percent of burglars have admitted they use Facebook, Google Street View and other social media platforms to select victim’s properties. 54 percent of burglard say that posting status and whereabouts on social media is the most common mistake made by homeowners. The financial cost of cyber crime […]
Top 10 time-saving tech tips
This week we got lost in YouTube, as we all often tend to do, and found ourselves watching a TED Talk which explained 10 tech-related tips to save yourself time. We already knew a few of these tips, but there were some that we didn’t, so we thought we’d share them on our blog. Without further ado, here are 10 top time-saving tech tips:
10 reasons to have a mobile-friendly website
These days people are using mobile devices to access the internet more often than ever before, and the trend shows no signs of changing or slowing down. In fact, Google has said that by the end of 2014 they expect people to be accessing the internet via their mobile device more than anything else, including PCs. This has big implications for you if your site isn’t mobile friendly. If your site isn’t functional on a mobile device, you’re immediately cutting out more than half of your potential traffic. To make your site mobile friendly, it needs to incorporate what’s called “responsive […]
10 tips for writing better Facebook status updates
One of the key aspects of running a Facebook page is consistent posting, but if you manage a page for a business, organisation or cause, you probably know how hard it can be to think of engaging and relevant updates – especially when you’re trying to post something every day. We recently found a great infographic explaining how to write effective status updates on Facebook, and other social media platforms too. The ten tips it listed included: Post an interesting fact Share a tip Endorse content Don’t always ask a question Inspire action Tell users what to expect Add a […]
Simple SEO techniques to increase your site’s rankings
People often ask us why Google is displaying their site on page 15, and not on page 1. There’s never a simple answer to this question because Google’s complicated algorithm, which decides how sites rank, takes into account more than 200 factors based not only on your site, but your competitor’s too. But while the answer may be complicated, the solution need not be. So often when we run a free SEO report on websites we make just a few simple recommendations that will make the world of difference to its rankings. Best of all, they require virtually no technological understanding […]
Why have a website?
Welcome to the very first post on our blog… and what better subject to talk about in an inaugural post than the very things we work with every day: websites. According to a recent study of small to medium New Zealand businesses, only half had websites. While it’s true that not every business needs a website, here are 5 great reasons why having a website is a good, no great, idea. The Yellow Pages is dying Nearly 90 percent of New Zealanders go online to research products and services before purchasing. That’s a lot. By not having a website, you’re […]