Category Google

3 Ways To Get Your Business Online For Free

By admin
On May 31, 2014
In Blogs, Google, Social Media, Web Design

1: Set up a Facebook page

The chances are that you, or one of your close friends or work colleagues uses Facebook. If not. Then stop reading and sign up. For the rest of you who are (or have people close to you) living in the year 2014 then all you need to do is set up a page, you can do so by following this link HERE.

The reason why owning a Facebook page is more useful than a couple of years ago is that Google has started factoring them into their algorithm. If you type in your company name into Google after setting up a page there is a high chance your businesses page will appear (see our image above). Be sure to secure your unique username for your page, you can do this in the settings of a page.

2: Set up a blog

Setting up a blog is totally free and is a great way to start off the process of getting your business online. I recommend the following:

Tumblr – Tumblr, recently acquired by Yahoo! is one of the most interesting blog networks out there. It’s certainly the most interactive. You can choose from a wide variety of themes (design/style/layout) and it’s really easy to use. The URL will be your business.tumblr.com.

Blogger – This Google product can be found HERE, you can again have a different theme on there your business.blogspot.com
WordPress.com – WordPress is by far the most popular CMS, and is what your web designer should be setting you up with. Like Tumblr & Blogger, WordPress offers a similar service. You can pick from themes & it’s very easy to add and edit pages/posts. yourbusiness.wordpress.com is what it will look like. Once you get some funding together you should talk to a web designer about building a custom theme which suits your business & if you sell products introduce an e-commerce aspect to it.

3: Set up a Twitter account

Contrary to popular belief, Twitter is the ONLY real social network. No other platform allows you to interact like Twitter. You can talk to anyone who wants to listen, and even if they don’t. In the same was as Facebook, Google has allowed Twitter profiles to be promoted in it’s algorithm. So by simply having a profile you will have a platform to work from, will receive exposure in Google & you can talk to anyone who could possibly be interested in your product.

There is evidence to suggest that a dormant social media profile on Twitter/Facebook will not be factored into a Google algorithm nor will a blog thats not being updated. So once you start, don’t stop or else that initial impetuous will be lost and it could end being detrimental to your business.

In summary, if you want to get online to start marketing your business it has never been easier. We would recommend you have a play around with the options we gave above on a personal level before you implement into your business.

If you’d like some free and detailed advice then feel free to give us a call on 020 8144 5685 or email matt@freshdeveloper.com.

Why You Shouldn’t Use Internet Explorer

By admin
On November 21, 2013
In CSS, General, Google, Web Design

Microsoft Internet Explorer has had a good ride. It’s had fun while it lasted. However, I’m afraid now the only reason they have any sort of a market share is because Microsoft sells it’s desktop & laptops so cheap that if you were to open a office or currently have one it’s not worth the hassle to switch.

With a variety of new web technologies like HTML5, the 8th edition of Internet Explorer for example doesn’t support it. With 19% of the websites out there now being run on WordPress (this will only increase) we find that earlier versions of Internet Explorer find it hard to process load around 60% of these sites if compatibility issues are not addressed properly. Compatibility testing is needed to make sure your site works on Internet Explorer whereas Chrome, Firefox & Safari all work perfectly fine each time.

Whats the reason for this?

Google & Mozilla for example pay independent security researchers to check for bugs. Microsoft don’t do this. They are such a big corporation now that they work in house to fix issues and therefore aren’t motivated to change. They also fix bugs on a schedule, whereas other browsers are more fluid & allow changes to be made whenever they are needed.

Market share decrease

Have a look at the below graph, you can see how IE’s share has decreased substantially over the last few years

In September 2008, IE had 67.16%, Google Chrome had 1.03%, Mozilla’s Firefox had 25.77% & Apples Safari had 3.00%. Now from last month, October 2013 IE has 28.96%, Chrome 40.44%, Firefox 18.11% & Safari 8.54%. As you can see by these stats the shift is significant.

How is this going to stop?

In my personal opinion the rise of Mobile & the poor usability of Internet Explorer will only mean the decline will not stop. It will eventually become redundant. The functionality of IE has been imporved in the newer additions & they have gone back to the drawing board to build from scratch but I still don’t think this will be enough to stop the decline when Google & Mozilla’s absolute priority is making sure their browser is the best.

How does it affect your business

If you are a business owner and are getting a website built you need to make sure there is compatibility testing, if a potential customer reaches your site & bits of it don’t work they will be instantly put off and you will lose business.

Our Advice

If you are a business owner & your staff current use IE. Make the change to Google Chrome. It’s quick, virus free & easy to use. Having Internet Explorer will only cause issues and frustration for less tech savvy members of staff that don’t know there are any other options out there.

Google’s algorithm change will affect your small business

By admin
On October 9, 2013
In Google, SEO

Keyword optimisation has been the buzz term in SEO since the industry came into being. Optimising your site with selected keywords would help your site appear on Google when someone typed that particular word in. That’s still the case, however Google has now started to include phrases or questions into it’s mystical algorithm.

So now, rather than having a page optimised like: Hairdressers Luton | Male Hairdressing you should be thinking about optimising like: Where is the best hairdresser in Luton?

With features like Siri on the iPhone becoming more prevalent Google has adapted & become more human. And this trend won’t stop until every single question has been answered.

This means that by simply looking at your business, listening to your customers and remembering their questions you can optimise your site much easier than before. This change means that it has become easier to be found when you offer a specific and unique solution to a question, but it will make it a lot harder for small business to compete with bigger businesses when it comes to the broader questions.

Where is the best pizza in Luton? Well unless your called Best Pizza then your going to find it difficult to compete with Pizza Hut/Dominos/Pizza Express because the amount of people talking and commenting on pages on those websites with that expression will still be taken more seriously by Google.

The ‘Hummingbird’ according to the Guardian, is the biggest change in Googles algorithm since 2010. However, I feel this is just the start.

By Matt ‘Woody’ Wood