Rawbusiness features selling online versus the high street

Rawbusiness Member Features article on Selling Online versus selling on the high street. Key differences are high lighted in these 2 different ways of marketing, with advantages and disadvantages for both. The importance of good designer lead websites is obvious for the online store with good ecommerce web designer and CMS secure sites being key to success. Afford Web Design with website designer Suffolk UK has experience in these needs.

Are looks everything in Webdesign?

Surfing through different websites on the internet, a great looking website will always attract you as a viewer. And the looks of a website are very important. But websites can not thrive on looks alone.
A website has to not only look good and function properly. And you should always remember that the purpose of most websites is to be found on internet searches, to appear on page 1 of Google and to enable an increase in traffic to your business. Anything that might restrict any of these points should be used carefully.

When it comes to websites ranking on the search engines, robots are the key. And to achieve high ranking, you need the search engine robots on your side. Robots crawl through the text of your website but do not see images, images are more or less useless from the robots view. So any web design that is mainly images may well lose out when crawled by the robots compared to a website that has fewer images and more text. This is why flash websites can perform badly in search engine rankings. They look great but are difficult to crawl.

Websites needs to be designed as robot friendly as possible. It needs to be fully compliant with current web standards, none compliance can mean that a robot only crawls part of a web page rather than the whole page and so misses key points on your web page. A robots ideal web site would be pure text and code. Very boring for humans.

So for a website design to function well it needs to satisfy robots need for text and code and humans need for looks and images. So it is the balance of these two factors that is important. And a good web design should give equal effort to both aspects to give you a website that will perform.

So the answer to the question is NO looks are not everything in web design.
Feature article by Afford Web Design Suffolk UK in Raw Business http://www.rawbusiness.com/features/are-looks-everything-in-webdesign-afford-web-design-suffolk-discusses-157.php

What does a website bring to your business?

Business web design Suffolk

When a business decides to get their first website, they see it as a tool to attract more customers and increase their business. And this is exactly what a website should give to a business, whether its a new website or an established website. Unfortunately alot of businesses don't really know what they want when they coomission a website design. They think that 'all websites are equal'. And this is far from true.

To illustrate what I mean by 'all websites are not equal' I will elaborate on this. At its simplest a website is an extra form of advertising for your business, like an online brochure or leaflet. And like any brochure or leaflet, there are several points that will determine whether your brochure will 'pull in extra business'. The biggest difference between paper and internet brochures, is that the internet offers so much instant choice to people. So you need to 'grab their attention' very quickly and a slick website may or may not do that. A few points to good website design for success in business.

• Design of the website or brochure is important. A design that looks good is important in attracting attention. But equally important is a design that is easy to read, easy to follow and gives a clear call to action. A website looks great but is difficult to navigate or difficult to find contact details is little more than useless. So looks are important in website design but they are not everything in web design. 
• Website must project exactly what your business is about in an instant. For example a lovely picture of a motorbike on the front page does not on its own indicate whether you sell, repair, review, polish, drive, rent, photograph motorbikes or maybe sell motorbike clothing, holidays, garaging. The first page of your website has to convey exactly what you do within a few seconds because most people assess whether to stay on a web page or not within just a few seconds.
• Web site design should be clearly show your contact details. Your contact details should not be an after thought in the footer but near the start of the web page. This is particularly important for 'smaller, unknown businesses'. Big businesses like Marks and Spencers are well known and don't need added credibility on a web page whereas small businesses that want to widen their market to become national or international need to give themsselves added credibility with good contact information. Many people are nervous of online information and added credibility is good.
• Web site must be easy to navigate. If I land on your web page having searched for motorbike helmets, I need to be able to see exactly where to find my information on motorbike helmets. The information or page link should be very clear. If I can not see it within a few seconds I will go to another web site to find my information.
• Links on web pages should work correctly. This may sound obvious but how many times have you clicked web links and either nothing happened or you were directed to a parked page? Web links must work correctly.

If all these web site design pointers have been addressed, you will have a working and useful website. The next step is to optimise your web site for the search engines to get found by the search engines. Affordable Website Design Suffolk UK can help achieve good business web sites within a sensible budget.

Worst Web site Design Mistakes

PDF files on a web site are a lazy way for a web site designer to upload information. But users hate pdf files on a web page. They have to click to view in a new adobe window, and standard commands to save or print don't work.  The only reason for ever using a pdf file is if there is a large document or manual available for printing.

A mass of text. A mass of text in a web page is difficult to read and boring to look at. Text is essential on all web pages because text is what robots 'see'. So make your text more interesting and easier to read with headings, sub headings, paragraphs and simplifed language if appropriate.

Tiny font size. Tiny font size causing tiny writting. It is important to make your web site acessible to all people not just the under 40 year olds. Use a font size that is easy for everyone to see.

No Page titles or poorly written page titiles. Page titles are an important part of web site design yet many people ignore this key information. Search engines use page titles to define what a web page is about. And when a page is bookmarked, the page title would is the default entry in the FAVOURITES listed. So make your page title work for you. Dont give your home page a page title of 'Home' but rather your company name or website name. View your page title in the html coding within the tags.

Too much Advertising. Web users have got used to adverts on line and tend to ignore banners and boxes that look like adverts. So dont put off your browsers with too many adverts.

Links that dont work. Links that take you to a web page that doesn't exist or has an error in the address are very annoying to users. Check all links are fully working so browsers get the most from your web site.

Check these common and very annoying mistakes are not on your website or web pages. So you keep your browsers longer so they may buy or make contact. Wed site design that is cost effective, reliable and easy to use from Afford Web Design.

Video on Google I/O Seo website review

Video from Google I/O search engine optimisation review last month. It lasts 60 minutes but worth watching for the nuggets of seo information given if you want to improve your web site design. Matt Cutts and his team take a selection of web sites and look at how they could be improved and what may hinder high ranking by search engines. Includes information about meta tags, titles, descriptions, use of images, spamming and lots more using real sites to highlight main pitfalls in web design.


More on Afford Web Design, the affordable web designer in Suffolk.

Third part in series of Key SEO facts for Success

SEO success

This third part of the series on key facts for seo success adds more key points to aid website success. This article focuses on 3 areas, namely Alt tags (also called alternate tags), Anchor tags and Checks to website ranking.

Firstly ALT Tags or ALTERNATE Tags are the words that you see if you hover your mouse over an image. Sometimes these words are useful and describe the image, and sometimes they seem to be nonesence. Although these words are not necessarily seen, because you may not mouse over an image, they are none the less important and add to seo of your web page. They are an opportunity to add extra keywords to your page. The article gives the exact script to insert on your web page.
Second point covered is Anchor Tags. These are the words that are used to hyperlink to other pages or websites, the hyperlink tags. Again this may seem like a small point but anchor tags are strong affirmations of what a web site or web page is about. So if an anchor link to a website called http://www.dirtydogs.com/ was on the words 'click here', this would indicate to a search engine robot that 'click here' was what the web site was about. Similarly if the hyperlink was to the words 'dirty dogs' this would obviously give a strong link to the web site that it was about dirty dogs and this would enhance the web sites seo.

Note that the keywords dog and wash are in both the filename and the text on the link. Why would anyone throw away this way of increasing a web page standing by linking to other pages and websites with words such as click here or press here. The article gives the exact script needed for the tags.

The third and final key point for seo covered is checking Website Ranking. And stressees that improved ranking can not and will not be instant. It takes time to improve seo or search engine optimisation for improved web site ranking.  Ranking takes time and patience. New web sites will always be ranked low. A websites positioningneeds pages to be optimized, as well as promotion of web site.

If you can not commit to all these actions, call Afford Web Design, the affordable website designer in Suffolk UK and for just £75 per month we can get your website really well displayed (min 6 months contract).

Key Facts for SEO Success part2

SEO success

Second part of the key seo facts for success series of articles published today with key seo facts for success2 (search engine optimization success) published today. Written in a very understandable style for newbies as well as long established website designers. Tips for everyone to improve and check their web sites.
This second article focuses on spin on top ranking and some of the ways that less scrupulous seo search engine optimisation companies use to convince inexperienced customers to subscribe to their services. Cloaking of websites which is a dangerous activity and not considered legitimate by any search engines. Do not get involved in this sort of non optimization. Flash animation is discussed as a tool on web sites. It looks great to humans but no necessarily to robots and therefore search engines. So be aware of these problems with flash web sites. And finally a very simple tip that is all too often neglected and overlooked because it is so simple. Use your url names, file names, page names, image names to get the most from them. Why call a picture of a dog 1.jpg if you could call it dog.jpg. The search engine robots would understand what your website was about better by this simple labeling system.
The next in series of seo search engine optimisation tips will be out soon to carry on the numerous tools that you should optimize to get the most out of your website and website design. If you implement these simple tools, your web site will benefit in rankings. Or if you prefer get an affordable search engine optimisation company to optimize all these items to increase your ranking. Of course a good small business website design company should automatically include all these tips as part of their normal web site design process.

More from Afford Web Design, the affordable web designer Suffolk.

Key Facts for SEO Success

SEO success

New article on the key facts for seo success (search engine optimization) is the first of several part series of articles on seo tips. Seo is key to the success of any website although alot of website owners are unaware of its importance. But the only way any website will rise to the top of any search engine is by adhering to clear guidelines and earning a good reputation.
This first article tackles ALT tags, the line of script that you sometimes see when you hover over an image. This script can not only describe the image it is written next to, but also add extra relevant keywords to a web page.
The second key fact discussed is Anchor text, the text that a hyperlink will be attached to. And it is import that this text is relevant to the hyperlink. For example if the hyperlink is to a page titled The Edge Restaurant Port Isaac then the anchor text should be these exact words or similar.
And the third key fact discussed is Page Rank and keeping a check on your page rank. Page rank is given by Google and is an indication of how much Google rates your website or web pages.
The next article in the series will be available in a week, so watch out for more seo tips or success in your web site.

More from Afford Web Design, the web designer in Suffolk UK.

Plan for Search Engine Optimisation Success

Before doing anything, it almost always pays to plan your strategy, and for website promotion and search engine promotion this is also true. And as with many things, there are various ways of planning your strategy, some better than others. For search engine optimisation, failing to plan is planning to fail. And this could be an expensive failing. I am going to outline what I see as key steps to take in planning seo success.

First choose your keywords. Keyword research should be one of the first things you do when designing a website and these keywords can then be used in your search engine optimization campaign for seo.
Second, design your website with these keywords in mind. Design an eye catching site with text and images. You need a mix as images catch peoples eye but text is what you need for the robots to understand what your page is about.
Thirdly, optimize your website with tags and headings to suit your keywords. Carefully word your title tag, description tag, keywords, headings and script.
Fourthly, submit your site to the search engines to be crawled and listed. Choose the search engines you use to fit the categories you want to list in and the countries you are wanting listings.
Fifthly, I'm afraid its then a waiting game. Search engines and listings are not instant, they may take hours, days, weeks or months. In the meantime, analyze your traffic and ranking trends to see if you are being listed for the keywords or phrases you need. If you are inadvertently being listed for floral rather than floral dresses, you are not going to get found. And this may be because floral is sited as a word in your text more often than floral dresses or dresses. So then you can further optimise your site to get the right listings.
The key is to plan for all of these steps in advance and methodically work through them.

It is important to follow all the steps to get things right. Too many people think web promotion is just about submitting your website to search engines and directories and letting the robots crawl through your pages to get a ranking. But this is just a small part of the story, to make it really work you need to do the basic work of optimization before you submit to the search engines and directories. If you can't do all this yourself, find a budget UK seo company that understands all these issues and can get your website optimised and ranking for you, with affordable search engine optimisation.

More from Afford Web Design the Suffolk web designer in UK.

How to pick the keywords for your website?

Web design

Picking the keywords for your website is one of the first things you should consider. But for many websites it is one of the last things considered, it is often an afterthought after the website has been designed and written. So if you want a new website or to revamp an existing website, keywords are the first thing you should address or your web designer should address.

If you listen to people talking about their business and website they may often say that they already have a website, and that they rank high on Google. Fine. But just because you rank high on Google doesn't necessarily mean you are getting the most out of your website. There are a number of issues:

1. First point is “What keywords is you website ranking for?”  If your keyword is obscure and rarely searched for, even if you are number 1 on Google you will probably get little traffic.
2. So the second point is “What is the monthly search volume for your high ranking keyword?” Most people say the name of their business is the keyword that they rank for on Google. So unless your business is well known and searched for by many people, an national business or a high profile store business, it is likely that the search volume in tiny. And this will not grow your business. To check out how many search for a particular keyword term, go to the Google keyword tool and look at the search term and the search volume. This can really highlight the fact that the specific keyword chosen is all important.
3. Third point is to know what keywords your main competitors rank for? Surprisingly most businesses with website have no idea what their competitors use as keywords. It is important to know what keywords the top companies in any business sector are focusing on, so we can tailor our keyword searches.

For new business websites we would search for a keyword to work on. A relevant keyword should have an adequate search volume (say 3,000 per month) plus little competition. Once a good keyword has been identified, then the website can be tailored to this keyword to get ranked on that keyword. By selecting the correct keyword, we can often deliver results in a reasonable amount of time.


But to get your website performing really well and drawing in creased business, you must get ranked for more than one keyword, aim for multiple keywords to increase traffic. For this you need to consistently work on a website to get the benefits of keywords. Once you have a top 3 ranking for a keyword, it is well documented that a certain percentage of clicks will be received. And each new keyword that ranks will adds to the traffic volume.
So for to optimize website traffic and keywords, make these steps:

1. Identify a seed keyword to get started.
2. Use several keyword tools to research relevant keywords which have satisfactory search volumes.
3. Check competitors websites to discover the keywords they are targeting.
4. Build a keyword list of possible relevant keywords for website.
5. Select a target keyword to start optimising website.
6. Begin SEO process on customer’s website for the target keyword or build website using target keyword.
7. Once website achieves a top three ranking, return to step 5 and select a new keyword to target and add to original keyword.

Affordable Web site Design UK offers budget seo UK and affordable search engine optimisation.

Choosing a URL or Domain Name for your Website

You have decided to get a new website or revamp your old website. You may have a very clear idea of what you want to call your website or you may have no idea. The name you call your website should be similar or the same as the domain name you choose or the url you choose. The domain name or url has to be purchased and can only be bought if no one else has already bought that name.
Buying a domain name or url is quite simple but an important part of affordable website design, just follow these steps:


First search the name you want to see if it is available. For example if you have a shop called Janes you may search for Janes and find that it is not available as Janes.co.uk or Janes.com or Janes.info but it is available as Janes.biz. Alternatively Janes may not be available at all. If your shop is very well established with a very large following on the high street, then you could either try to buy the domain Janes from someone that already has it, but this could be a costly option. A better option would be to add a slight variation to the name you are searching for, for example Janes-fashions or Janes-fashion-shop or Janes-sweets or Janes-sweet-shop or Janes-cakes or Janes-cake-shop. This slight variation has 2 effects it makes a new set of domain names available to search and it also better desribes your shop to anyone in the UK or further afield that may never have heard of it. People and the search engines would then know that Janes is either related to fashion or a fashion shop etc..


Once you have decided on the best domain name for your website, you then pay an annual fee to register the right to use the domain name. This registration fee is a very affordable part of web site design  and may be as little as £10 per year, the url tags .com and .biz are more expensive than .co.uk or .me.uk and many other tags.


Once you are registered as the owner of the domain name, you have the right to use that domain name and no one else can use it. Next you need a website and then hosting for your website, this is the web space where your website will be placed online. Hosting may be payable per year or per month and may vary from £10 per month to £50 per month depending on your exact needs.


Selecting your domain name is an important part of your web site design , so choose carefully, once you have your name you do not want to change. Your domain name should ideally be the same as your web site name. So anyone that knows of your business or cause, they can easily remember your website name to be able to find your domain name url, this is invaluable in advertising for your website and aids affordable website design.


So if your business or cause is called Dirty Dogs then your website domain name should ideally be http://www.dirtydogs/ or http://www.dirty-dogs/ or something similar. This way your domain name 'is what it says' and the domain name could be the exact term that someone types in a search box looking for dirty dogs or how to clean dirty dogs. This helps to validate the website amd aids affordable search engine optimisation.


Of course lots of domain names are already owned and used by other people and businesses. So how easy is it to buy the name you want your web site? Well as already stated, what ever the term you are looking for, there are always a few variations that you can try if your first choice url is not available, such as


www.DirtyDog or www.Dirty-Dog or www.Dirty_Dog or www.DirtyDogs or www.Dirty-Dogs or www.Dirty_Dogs


and each of these variations could be tried with various end url tags such as .co.uk or .com or .net or .info or .org. Namely:

www.DirtyDogs.co.uk or www.DirtyDogs.com or www.DirtyDog.net or www.DirtyDogs.info or www.DirtyDogs.org

If your web site design is being done for you, they should help you select teh most appropriate domain name url choice to reflect your website, your business, your type of business as well as to be search engine friendly. All Afforable web site design UK include the purchase of a suitable url domain name.