Small Business News

SEO is one of those areas that many businesses charge a fortune for, and they will often cheat to get your ranking high for a very short period of time. It is also often made out to be more complicated than it actually is, but that is possibly because many businesses who offer seo services do not fully understand it.

Generally, we recommend building an optimized web site, as the underlying code is looked at by google. As well as getting links to your site from other sites, the content that is displayed to visitors is important, eg google will rank you more highly if you have links to other useful web sites.

SEO is all about what google considers to be a relevant site when somebody types a search into google, and google has now developed to become very accurate at getting the right search results, hence it is the content of your site (what the visitor sees plus underlying code) that will affect how high your ranking is because this is what matters to the person doing the search.

There are a number of ways that a site can be optimized for search engines (ie google), both visibly and in the code of your web pages, eg the words you want to be found with have to appear as often as possible. I would also recommend getting as many links to your site as possible. We can do this as a package for a one-off fee of £89 and we guarantee to get you at least 200 unique visitors a month within six months. There is a knack to this as there are certain things google looks for. SEO is really not complicated, its just about knowing what to do.

We don’t guarantee where your site will be listed, this could change as other competing web sites are created or updated. What we do is create reliable, well written, user friendly sites that google can easily retrieve the content from.

There are a number of options for increasing your ranking for particular keywords. If your site has been designed by TWL Media then keywords relating to your business will already be set up in the code of all your web pages and within the web page text, so it is just a matter of making your site look more appealing to google:

1) The more sites that link to yours, the higher your site will be placed. If these sites link to your site using the words relating to your business then that’s even better. This is the main thing that will make a real difference to your positioning.

2) If you place links within your site to other sites, that will increase your google page rank and improve your position in the listings

3) You can set up a google adwords campaign- you pay a small fee (eg 50p) per click through and your listing is displayed on the right hand side of the google search results. We do find that these work well with our clients.

4) Finally, there is research to suggest that the more pages and images or other types of content (eg video/PDF) your site has, the more highly it will rank with google

1) Ask for a discount on advertising- with businesses holding back on advertising, many publications/media services will be willing to offer advertising at between 1/4 and 1/2 the price of their usual rates, just to get their spaces filled!

2) Aim at a higher end market- this area of the public are less affected by the economic downturn so bring in a better quality product or a more tailored service and target this at the people who still have money to burn.

3) With businesses tightening the purse strings on advertising, you can use the opportunity of less competition to really make your business known- so use the suggestions above to put together an advertising campaign to really make the most of it.

• .com represents the word "commercial," and is the most widely used extension in the world. Most businesses prefer a .com domain name because it is a highly recognized symbol for having a business presence on the Internet.
• .net represents the word "network," and is most commonly used by Internet service providers, Web-hosting companies or other businesses that are directly involved in the infrastructure of the Internet. Additionally, some businesses choose domain names with a .net extension for their intranet Websites.
• .org represents the word "organization," and is primarily used by non-profits groups or trade associations.
• .biz is used for small business Web sites.
• .info is for credible resource Web sites and signifies a "resource" web site. It's the most popular extension beyond .com, .net and .org.
• .mobi (short for "mobile") is reserved for Web sites built for easy viewing on mobile devices.
• .us is for American Web sites and is the newest extension. It has the largest amount of available names in inventory.
• .cc was originally the country code for Coco's Keeling Islands. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .bz was originally designated as the country code for Belize, but is now commonly used by small business who can't get the name they want using the .biz extension. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .tv is for rich content/multi-media Web sites, commonly used within the entertainment or media industry.
• .vg is the country code for the British Virgin Islands. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .ws was originally designated as the country code for Western Samoa, but is now commonly used as an acronym for "Web sites." It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .name is the only domain extension specifically designed for personal use. It is commonly used for easy to remember e-mail addresses and personal web sites that display photos or personal information about an individual.
• .co.uk is the country code for United Kingdom. The .co portion of the extension indicates the domain name is for commercial purposes (similar to a standard .com extension). It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .org.uk is the country code for United Kingdom. The .org portion of the extension indicates the domain name is for an organization. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .me.uk is the country code for United Kingdom. The .me portion of the extension indicates the domain name is for an individual. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .de is the country code for Germany. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country. If you are not a resident and citizen of Germany, the Administrative Contact for this domain name registration will automatically be assigned Network Solutions' German proxy contact information.
• .eu is the country code for the European Union. Registration of .eu domain names requires registrants to meet one of the three eligibility requirements: have a registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the European Community; have an organization established within the European Community without prejudice to the application of national law; or be a natural person resident within the European Community. Alternatively, you can secure the use of a .eu domain name by using Network Solutions .EU Registration Service. Network Solutions Europe, LLC is the registrar for all .eu domain names. Click here for more information.
• .be is the country code for Belgium. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .cn is the country code for China. It may be registered by businesses, organizations and sole proprietorships from any country.
• .com.cn is the country code for China. The .com portion of the extension indicates the domain is for commercial purposes (similar to a standard .com extension). It may be registered by businesses, organizations and sole proprietorships from any country.
• .net.cn is the country code for China. The .net portion of the extension represents the word "network", and is generally used by internet infrastructure providers. It may be registered by businesses, organizations and sole proprietorships from any country.
• .org.cn is the country code for China. The .org portion of the extension indicates the domain is for an organization. It may be registered by businesses, organizations and sole proprietorships from any country.
• .cn Regional names. There are 34 regional .cn extensions available, for example, .bj.cn. The .bj portion of the extension represents Beijing and the .cn represents China. These extensions may be registered by businesses, organizations and sole proprietorships from any country.
• .tw is the country code for Taiwan. It may be registered by businesses, organizations and sole proprietorships from any country.
• .com.tw is the country code for Taiwan. The .com portion of the extension indicates the domain is for commercial purposes (similar to a standard .com extension). It may be registered by businesses, organizations and sole proprietorships from any country.
• .org.tw is the country code for Taiwan. The .org portion of the extension indicates the domain is for an organization. It may be registered by businesses, organizations and sole proprietorships from any country.
• .at is the country code for Austria. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .com.mx is the country code for Mexico. The .com portion of the extension indicates the domain name is for commercial purposes (similar to a standard .com extension). It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .co.nz is the country code for New Zealand. The .co portion of the extension indicates the domain name is for commercial purposes (similar to a standard .com extension). It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .net.nz is the country code for New Zealand. The .net portion of the extension represents the word "network", and is generally used by internet infrastructure providers. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .org.nz is the country code for New Zealand. The .org portion of the extension indicates the domain name is for an organization. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .gs is the country code for the South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .tc is the country code for the Turks & Caicos Islands. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .ms is the country code for Montserrat. It is unrestricted and may be registered by anyone, from any country.
• .fm is the country code for Federated States of Micronesia, but is commonly used for FM radio.
• .am is the country code for Armenia, but commonly used for AM radio.
• .la is the country extension for Laos, but also used for Los Angeles, Louisiana or Latin America.
• .us.com is an alternate domain for the United States
• .uk.com is an alternate domain for the United Kingdom
• .eu.com is an alternate domain for the European Union
• .de.com is an alternate domain for Germany

1) You will need to pay for hosting of your site as well as the design so look for someone who will do both for you at a reasonable cost

2) Look for someone who will give you all the code that comprises your web site. If you decide to move your hosting elsewhere you will need this. Good designers will give you a copy of your site on disc.

3) You should look for someone who has experience of both graphic design and an understanding of the customer experience of a site, eg what keeps a visitor from clicking away to another site.

4) In order for the site to perform effectively, it should be written by an experienced programmer and not build using a tool such as Dreamweaver

5) Unless you are comfortable making updates to the site yourself, go for a package that allows you to request changes, eg your phone number might change or you may want to increase your prices. Content managed sites are all well and good but unless you are knowledgeable about web layout and general design, it is best to leave this to the experts.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about sending emails for marketing purposes- many people think that this is classed as spam. As we understand it, spam is generally anonymous bulk email sent to annoy or gain illegal access to personal details (eg the typical 'You need to log in to your online banking' scenarios).

According to the Information Commissioner's Office, email can be sent to your customers or those that have shown an interest in your services as long as the following rules are obeyed:

1) In every email you must include an opt-out to a valid email or web address

2) You must clearly state your identity in the email

3) The recipient has not opted- out of receiving your emails or other marketing of your services

There is currently no specific legislation to cover email sent to business addresses and these Regulations only apply to marketing emails sent from within the EU.

We recommend that if you are going to use your customers or potential customers details for e-marketing, that you set up a mailing list and include details of at what stage of communication you received the email address and a flag to indicate if they have opted out of communication so you know who you can contact.

Please note that these comments are based on our understanding of the regulations at the time of writing and we accept no liability for any inaccuracies or errors.

Full details can be obtained at www.ico.gov.uk

There are a number of free directories where businesses can advertise their services for free. But you need to be careful because some of these do not have a good relationship with search engines.
Here are a few sites that we recommend. Some of these are local to Gloucestershire, which is good if you are a local business:

www.articlesbase.com
www.freeindex.co.uk
www.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk
www.smilelocal.com
www.theworkslocal.com

Get your site added for free to suitable free directories- just enter your details at www.twlmedia.com and we will do all the work for you.

Put on your specs and get booted up because the most cost effective way of getting your message across is by email. Why?

Its free! The majority of businesses now have a broadband connection, so why pay for phone bills or stamps when you can provide the same information in an email?

Its fast! Email is now one of the fastest ways to gain or lose potential customers. There are many software programs that allow you to send hundreds of emails in a matter of minutes to all your customers on your mailing list. This is probably the most effective and efficient way to tell your customers about updates and changes to your range of products or services.
You should aim to reply to your emails within a few hours of receiving them, that way a rapport can be built up almost like a telephone conversation.

Better than a telephone call, you have a log of everything that has been said, in case you are prone to forgetting details. Emails also carry as much weight in a court of law as headed letters.

As moods, personalities and emotions are difficult to convey when using email, symbols, referred to as "emoticons," have been developed to help communicate feelings and show some personality when appropriate.
Not that I would recommend using these in business emails, but here are some of the symbols used to represent emotions:

:-) happy- we all know this one
:-e disappointed
:-& tongue tied
:-/ perplexed
;-} leer
:-D shock
:-| indifference
;-) wink
:-O yell
:-( sad

A professionally designed web site is only as good as the business it is promoting. If you have not received enough orders to cover the cost of your web design, then here is where the problem may lie...

1. There is not enough choice- the customer is looking for a green biscuit tin, but you only sell red ones.. that won't go in their kitchen!
2. Your prices are too high. Try to keep in line with your competitors
3. There is not enough information displayed about each product, or images that clearly show your product
4. Your business should be contactable by phone, mail or email. Many potential customers like to contact you before placing an order.
5. Your web site has not been advertised- if nobody knows about it then it won't be found. As well as online advertising, you should include your web site details in your printed literature wherever possible
6. You need to remind visitors about your site. From experience, we have found that around 10% of visitors become customers, but only if you collect their details and keep in touch!
7. You need to have a reason for potential customers to visit your site over competitors, ie a unique selling point. For example, faster service or free delivery
8. The SEO information has not been set correctly for your site. Your keywords should contain a list of the products/services you sell- no more, no less. Many web designers, such as ourselves, include this as part of the web design process, but it is worth checking.

PageRank forms the basis of Google's ranking system when providing search results. The PageRank is a number that represents the importance of a page based on how many links there are to that page on other sites on the web. There are other factors that determine where a web page is listed in the search results, but the PageRank is probably the most important factor.

So essentially, the more sites that link to yours, the higher your page rank will be. However, the links to your site are worth less if they are coming from a site that has a lot of outbound links, e.g. directories containing thousands of links.

Based on these findings, we can design a web site to channel the PageRank for a page, eg. by creating less pages with more information on each.

It is now possible to view the ranking of a web page via the Google tool bar. However, these rankings are only updated every so often, so are thought to be as accurate as the rankings used in search results.

At the time of writing there is a fundamental flaw in the design of PageRank which means that whenever a new sitemap is uploaded for a site, the PageRank for that site is reset to 0. This encourages site managers to keep old versions of site maps on their sites that don't necessarily reflect the current web pages, which is not good practice in web design.

Even google's own home page only has a page rank of 8/10.

1. Not communicating effectively with your existing customers

2. Relying on just one or two main forms of marketing

3. Running ineffective advertising

4. Failing to focus on the benefits that your product or service offers your customers and clients

5. Not using email marketing (E-marketing) effectively

Email Campaigns

How to successfully market your business using the power of email:

1. Frequency - Not one email, not three, but eight. Don't listen to the doubters on this - High Frequency works.

2. Personal - Personal messages to the reader. No glossy 'newsletter' format

3. Not just selling, give information aswell.

4. Titles: The titles are designed to get readers to open the emails - very important.

Are You Charging Enough?

Recent reseach has shown that small businesses do not charge enough. There are many, many reasons for this but the bottom line is this:
1. Until you truly value what you have to offer, how can you expect your customers to value what you have to offer.

2. There is no right or wrong price. Only what your customers are willing to pay. Trying to guess what that is is crazy. So you need to test different price points.

3. The fact that you may be in a highly competitive market does not stop you raising your prices. Only a minority of people buy on price (despite what they tell you)

4. There is a growing proportion of the population for whom price is just not an issue. If you don't believe me, take a trip to Harrods. You should have at least a section of your business that is targeting the high end, wealthy buyer.

This old article from 1885 offers the following advice to advertisers. It is still applicable today:

1. The first time people look at any ad they don’t even see it.

2. The second time, they don’t notice it.

3. The third time, they are aware that it is there.

4. The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they’ve seen it somewhere before.

5. The fifth time, they actually read the ad.

6. The sixth time, they thumb their nose at it.

7. The seventh time, they start to get a bit irritated by it.

8. The eighth time the start to think “Here’s that confounded ad again”.

9. The ninth time, they start to wonder if they may be missing out o n something.

10. The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbours if they’ve tried it.

11. The eleventh time they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.

12. The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.

13. The thirteenth time they start to feel the product has value.

14. The fourteenth time they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.

15. The fifteenth time, they start to yearn for it because they can’t afford to buy it 16.The sixteenth time they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.

17. The seventeenth time they make a note to buy the product

18. The eighteenth time they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.

19. The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.

20. The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offered.

A domain name is a specific web site address that you choose (subject to availability) and purchase from a domain name supplier. Our domain name is "twlmedia.com". A domain name is your Internet "trademark" and is unique to you.

Yes. You will need a domain name and you will need hosting for your web. We can provide and set up these for you. The cost of hosting including a domain name are in addition to the cost of web design.

Search engine optimization is the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site. SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.

E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily since the spread of the Internet. Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as Business-to-business or B2B.
E-Commerce allows visitors to access your website, and go through a virtual catalog of your products / services online. When a visitor wants to buy something he/she likes, they merely, "add" it to their virtual shopping basket. Items in the virtual shopping basket can be added or deleted, and when they are all set to checkout...they head to the virtual checkout counter, which has the complete total, and will ask them for their name, address etc. and method of payment (usually via credit card). Once they have entered all this information (which is being transmitted securely) they then just wait for delivery. Your business will be sent an email to tell you about the order and you ship the goods to the customer.

Once your site is built and you have approved the design/content the site will be uploaded to the host. Each website is optimized to be search engine friendly. We will submit your site's information to all of the major search engines upon completion. We will also monitor your site in the search engine listings and continue to enhance and submit your site on a regular basis. To maximise your sites visibility you should aim to promote your web site wherever possible, eg include it on your letter head.

If you have an existing site with another business, then you can transfer your domain name (web site address) to TWL Media providing that the business you are with allow this. We would generally redesign your site for a very small fee so that we can optimize it for google.

Should you choose to move your web site from TWL Media to another host, we will transfer your domain name to the new host until the next renewal date for the domain. The new business can then take over that domain name.

A web site is a promotional/marketing tool that allows you to promote your business, hobbies and interests to a world wide audience. The Internet became popular in 1984 and since that time it has become the first point of reference for most people when they are looking for a product, service or for information on a myriad of subjects. A website is available for viewing 24 hrs per day 365 days of the year, information can be acquired, and products or services purchased at a time convenient to the public.
The cost of buying a web presence is economical due to the fact that hundreds of pages of information or products can be effectively "advertised" and are continually advertised without the need to buy costly advertising space in newspapers, periodicals, journals and directories like the "Yellow Pages".