Letting things slip

So, I've learned the hard way, if you don't maintain hard work and effort, the positive results you saw developing before your very eyes, will inevitably slip. I guess this isn't news to me really, I know that when you let things slip, results suffer. I'd worked so hard with the marketing and SEO for our website. Our MOZ ranking was 6, I was increasing back-links to the site and we were registering in the Top 8% of websites for traffic according to Alexa and had a website grade of 98. I became complacent and everything has gone haywire. I haven't made a blog post for a couple of months, have totally ignored Twitter and have lost an element of interest in chasing back-links to the site. We're now only scoring 86 on Hubspot and our MOZ rank is down to 4.8. I feel really disappointed in myself for not maintaining the work I'd done and I feel as though I've let the site down too.

Marketing/SEO is a boring, thankless task, however without it, an online business will fail to meet it's potential so it is an imperative part of the work that we need to carry out on a daily basis. Time to get back to the drawing board and come up with a rejuvenated plan of action to get the scores back up there again. I'll post the results!

20 Useful Website Tips

Below are a few simple website tips that you may or may not find useful. I’ve written these tips down for people considering having a website developed as a simple guide of things to consider. Seek advice when considering having a website developed and always approach at least 3 or 4 companies before selecting your designer/developer.

1.    Make sure your site is laid out in an organised fashion. Don’t let your visitors get lost.

2.    Use images to enhance your site. Remember to use “alt” tags.

3.    Always include a sitemap for the major search engines to find.

4.    Offer secure on-line payment – this instils confidence in customers.

5.    Make it easy for people to contact you. Have a quick submission form on every page

6.    Publish genuine customer testimonials. Make sure you can back them up.

7.    Avoid the use of pop-ups. They’re annoying and people will leave your site.

8.    Give visitors the chance to sign-up to your site. This will produce email addresses so that you can create mailing lists.

9.    Use a hosting company that can offer you dedicated support. If you have a Joomla website, use JoomlaWired hosting for example.

10. Let people know why you are unique on the homepage of your site – don’t make potential customers hunt for this information.

11. Before your site goes live, proof read it. Spelling mistakes and poor grammar make for an unprofessional site.

12. Consider hiring a professional web designer/developer

13. Have a blog associated with your website and post information relevant to your business.

14. Don’t copy content from other pages. Search engines don’t like it – neither do I.

15. List your website in online directories.

16. Use free website grading sites to glean advice as to how to improve your SEO grade.

17. Don’t overload your site with bells and whistles – it’s distracting.

18. Make sure all your links work.

19. Use Google analytics, it’s free and informative.

20. If you have the time and inclination, post news items on your site regularly. It keeps the content fresh and search engines like this.

Website Content

If you were to take an honest good look at the content on your website, how would you rate it? Is the content up to date, inspired, fresh and relevant? Unique content is one of many keys to search engine success. Content, along with link popularity and social media, plays a crucial role in your search engine ranking.

When considering revising the content of your website, it's important to take into account the needs of your customers as well as search engine optimisation. Your content should be keyword rich, but use keywords and phrases wisely and relevantly. You can have keyword rich content that might boost your Google likeability, but if it makes no sense to potential customers, it's useless.

Base your content on the requirements of the customer, put them first. Make sure that your website content is well planned and structured. Using headings will encourage this and H1 tags are good for SEO. Make your headings catchy and intriguing. Let the customer know they're looking in the right place but force them to read more by not giving away too much. The longer someone stays on your website, the more likely you are to get your message across or sell your product.

When producing content for your website, think about what appeals to you when you visit other websites. If the content is unclear and confusing, it will probably annoy you. If it annoys you, you can be fairly certain that it will annoy other people. When people become irritated with a website, their easiest chance of escape is navigating away from the site.

Make sure your spelling and grammar are great. If you're trying to promote yourself as a professional business or individual, it reflects badly if your website is littered with spelling mistakes. If you're not confident in creating your own unique content for the site, I would recommend that you consider employing someone to do it. Copywriters are trained professionals and will know exactly what to write and where to write it on your site. Although it may be another added expense to the development of your website, it should be money well spent. Another  point to remember is that your website designer is unlikely to be a copywriter so don't expect that content will be included as part and parcel of the website design and build.

Just a short post this one, but hopefully it's proved to be helpful.

The SEO addiction

The problem with Search Engine Optimisation for Joe Bloggs is that it seems to be an unquantifiable phenomenon. There doesn't seem to be any right or wrong answers. I don't know how many times I've typed searches into Google to increase my page rank, moz rank, backlinks and hubspot score. I seem to gain a little each time, but I've not had any overwhelming results yet. It's a tedious, laborious exercise that shows very few tangible results.

I must admit, I'm despairing somewhat about the battle of the rankings in an effort to increase work. We have a steady stream of work which is great, but we also have visions of taking the business to the next level and going global (don't we all!).

One of the worst aspects about SEO research and work is the amount of spammy mail you end up getting in your inbox. I opened my mailbox this morning to find 37 messages from companies and individuals promising to get me to the number one spot on Google and other search engines, all for a price of course. I guess I could pay someone to do all the hard work, but I've learned so much that I now have this overwhelming urge to keep plugging at it in the hope that we'll get results.

The site currently ranks in the top 12.9% of all websites according to Alexa, so I suppose this is a result in itself. When we first started out, I think we were way down at 46% so improvement indeed.

It's important to remember as well that our main as Polaris Design is to create quality websites for our customers - which we continue to do, but this SEO bug seems to have taken hold and turned into an addiction. I'll probably spend the next 3 hours now scouring the internet in the hope of finding the answer to the elusive question - "how do I get to number 1 on Google?".

5 Tips To Convert Web Traffic into Sales

Below are 5 useful tips to help you turn your visiting website traffic into sales. There are thousands of tips, websites and companies out there who will offer advice – free and paid, but I thought I might add some of my own thoughts.

Our business – Polaris Design Studios - started out in the same way as many others, an innovative idea and a skill set that other people wanted and needed. From gaining a few local customers our business has grown to encompass clients from as far afield as Costa Rica and Australia. As our website has grown in popularity, it’s become easier to convert our visitors into paying customers as we now have people visiting the site who actually need our service.

The one thing that will keep your business thriving is a return on your investment or ROI as it is commonly known. You’ve often got to speculate to accumulate and the bottom line is having the courage to invest in the hope/certainty that you will get a return. One of the main driving forces behind your success is you. Your determination and commitment will ultimately determine the level of your success. Yes, you will at some point have to invest money, but there are lots of things that you can do yourself. One of your major investments will be a website unless this is something you can develop to a high standard yourself. Other things like Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing can be done without a large expenditure if you’re prepared to put in the time and the effort.

I hope you’ll find these tips useful; I always look forward to hearing your comments. Feel free to get in touch with your comments, I value them.

1. I think the first tip is probably the most important and relates to your website. In order to convert visitors into traffic, you need to instil confidence in potential customers. One way to do this is to have a superb looking website with flawless functionality. Basically, your website needs to look good and work well. If you put buying goods into real time, you’re more likely to purchase goods from a shop that is clean, well presented and shopper friendly. This applies to your website equally. If your website hasn’t been updated within the last 18 months, it’s really time to consider giving it a facelift or at least adding/updating your content. Find a web design company who you feel comfortable with and strike up a long term relationship.
2. Offer secure on-line payment. In this day and age people have grown considerably more suspicious and paranoid with regards to parting with money on-line. Provide various payment options – Paypal, Sagepay, etc. Also consider giving your clients the option of paying via on-line bank transfer. This puts the customer in control and can boost confidence.
3. Offer guarantees and flexible payments. At Polaris Design Studios, we’re committed to providing quality web design and development and we make sure the customer gets what they pay for. We don’t expect people to give things away for free (we always ask for a 50% deposit), but be flexible with regards to your payment options. If you’re selling goods, offer a money back guarantee (and stick to it). Treat your potential customers as you would like to be treated. One of the best ways to generate business is by word of mouth. If a shopper has had a great experience on your website, they will tell other people. People always like to boast about bargains and great products!
4. Great communication is a key element of boosting your sales. If someone makes an enquiry, respond to them as quickly as possible. The longer you leave correspondence, the greater the likelihood that people will look elsewhere. When you do correspond via email with your potential customers, try and produce unique mail. Customers like to feel valued. If you write personalised emails, this will make your potential customer feel important and individual. Don’t just copy and paste pre-written emails. Include the customer’s name (if you know it) and refer to specific parts of their enquiry.
5. Give your customer an incentive to buy from you. What can you offer that competitors either can’t or won’t offer. Enter customers into a prize competition when they have purchased from you. Offer a free gift/product with a minimum spend. Give reductions on shipping costs if customers buy more than one item.

I hope this article has proved somewhat helpful. We pride ourselves on our Customer Service. Our clients are our revenue and allow us to maintain our business. Without them, our business wouldn’t exist. We recommend that you treat your potential customers in the same way, and they will buy your products and services.

At Polaris Design, we thought it might be useful to provide our visitors with what we think are the top 10 tips for a great website. Unfortunately, there is no magic recipe to create the perfect website, but to encourage people to visit again and again, some of these suggestions might help.

We’re always keen to hear your views so please feel free to leave your helpful comments for other visitors to our site.

1. Have a common theme and design running through your website. Keep all the pages the same. Navigation is the tool that visitors rely on most when visiting your site. Keep it in the same place on every page, that way no one gets “lost” and frustrated and presses the dreaded red X.
2. This tip relates somewhat to the first in that a good structure for your website is essential. Search engines and visitors like your website content to be well organised and easy to read. Use headings that are clear and point potential customers in the direction that you want them to go!
3. Customer exposure to the internet is huge. With huge numbers comes variation. It is important to take into account the needs and abilities of potential visitors to your site. Can your site be accessed by people with a visual impairment? Do the images on your site appeal to people of many cultures and background? Is it possible that your content may prove offensive? How easy would a sufferer of dyslexia find your site to read? Have you avoided the use of clashing colours which may affect people who are colour blind? Is the content of your site pitched at a level that can be read by the masses?
4. Make your website look professional. In days gone by, it was a novelty for a business to have a website and many amateurs tried their hand at creating their own. A website is now an integral part of any business and like other aspects of your business, it is something that you should invest in. Unless you are able to create your own professional looking site, it is imperative that you source a company who can build you an attractive, functional site. It may be tempting to spend as little as possible on a website, indeed, I’ve seen people who are only willing to spend as little as £150 on a small business website. Ultimately, you get what you pay for. If you generally retail your online goods at £50, you wouldn’t suddenly start selling them for £25. Website development is exactly the same. Although a website is not something that you can touch and feel, it is a tangible part of your business. For a well constructed website, you should be looking to invest a minimum of £300-£400 for a basic site and upwards of £1200 for a simple E-Commerce site. Check out on-line portfolios and ask for references.
5. A simple tactic to increase your online sales is to offer related items to what your customer has already purchased. For example, if you sell dog collars and a customer buys one, you might recommend that they buy a leash or a water bowl. Simple but effective.
6. Include testimonials on your website. Some consumers are still somewhat suspicious of purchasing on-line. Give your customers confidence by showing them that other people have visited your site, purchased items and are satisfied with them. Don’t try to pull a fast one and include fake reviews. Treat your customers as you would like to be treated – fairly and honestly!
7. Communication is key to building good customer relationships. Make a promise to your customers that you will respond to their enquiries within 24/48 hours and stick to it. Show yourself to be reliable and trustworthy, it will do wonders for your online reputation. Instilling confidence in your potential customers is a key factor in turning visitors into paying customers.
8. Incorporate social media into your website. Social media is a massive phenomenon which has great power in getting people to your site. Give your visitors the opportunity to share your site with their friends, work colleagues and family by ensuring you have social media functionality. Encourage people to bookmark your site and Digg your site. Have highly visible social media icons on your website, particularly when you have special offers or sales.
9. Consider registering your business/website with your local Chambers of Commerce. Being associated with a credible, well known association can build confidence in your business. You may also find that after joining your local Chamber of Commerce, there may be several ventures that might benefit your business, for example, the opportunity to speak at a C.O.C event, the opportunity to provide sponsorship. Membership to local Chambers of Commerce can cost as little as £180 per year.
10. Update your website content regularly. An easy way to do this is to create a blog. Let visitors to your site know what you’re doing, how you’re progressing and your general thoughts on your specific topic. A website that remains static for a long time becomes uninspiring and boring! Give your customers something to think about or comment on. Encourage your customers to interact on your website and be part of your website community. The more people you have participating in your website, i.e. leaving comments, positive feedback, you’ll tend to find, the more you get!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this short article and that it’s proved useful in some small way! We’re in the process of implementing many of these points and look forward to launching our new website in the very near future. Keep visiting and if you require any help or advice, feel free to get in touch. We look forward to hearing from you.

As always, we appreciate your comments and feel free to leave your website URL (great for creating inbound links!!!)

Website Design

An integral part of any business in these times is a website. Many customers will now base their opinion and first impression of your business as a result of finding you on the internet. A website should be considered to be your store front and as such, it is crucial that you pay heed to how the site looks and operates. Think about when you go shopping, be it for groceries or a brand new outfit for a wedding. Think about how the store is laid out and then think about the moment when you go to the till and the cashier gives you the bill. How often have you been checking your receipt as you push the trolley out of the store wondering what on earth you've spent money on. I'm sure we've all done it and believe me, this is nothing to do with chance.

These are clever tactics by large stores to encourage you to part with cash. Have you ever wondered why the bakery is generally located at the back of the store? The luring smell of freshly baked bread draws you into the store (sometimes further than the fridge where the pint of milk that you need is located!) and encourages you to spend more time in the store. Next time you're doing your grocery shop, look
at the items on the shelf that are at eye-level. Notice that these are generally the most expensive items with the prices increasing from left to right (the way that we are trained naturally to read!). The cheaper items tend to be on lower shelves (we have to put more effort into buying these ones, including bending down!

It comes down to this, the longer you spend in a store, chances are, the more money you'll spend. This applies on-line too. The first obstacle is getting people to your site, the second is keeping them there and the third is encouraging people to spend money in your store. It is important to lay out your site in a clear
and logical manner and keep people interested. Personally, I can't stand adverts. When they pop up in a box in the middle of my screen, I generally close the site, go back to my search results and go to the next website down in the hope that these annoyances won't appear on that site too. If you must have adverts,
try having them in strategic places and give the visitor the choice whether or not they want to view them. Another point to bear in mind is that when these pop-ups are clicked on, your visitor is generally directed away from your site so they really are counter productive.

When considering the design of a site spend some quality time thinking about it. Many web designers will give you pointers and assistance with the design of your site. Most of these designers are professional and it generally pays to listen to them. If you have your own ideas of how your site should look, share these with your web designer but be prepared to come and go. At the end of the day, if you insist on a specific design, the web designer will go along with it (they may not publish it in their portfolio!) because they earn a living from creating websites. Website designers are usually qualified and have up-to-date knowledge regarding
website design, planning and implementation. If you take the design aspect of your site into your own hands (unless you have a good design background) you may suffer in the long run. If you are unhappy with the suggestions made by your designer, speak with them. Alternatively, shop around until you find a designer that you feel comfortable with. Ultimately, any web designer will give you the best advice possible since this will result in increased traffic to your site which may in turn lead to repeat business for the web designer.

One aspect of your site that you will want to look impressive is any graphic images relating to your business/product. You should always bear in mind copyright issues and the best advise I can give is to sign up to a site that offers stock photography. Some sites will provide limited free photographs that may just suit your needs. Ask the web designer to make sure that any images in the site have alternative text that search engine crawlers can pick up. This is a small issue that is often overlooked but can result in a greater number of visitors to your site.

When Polaris Design are asked to design and develop a site, a popular question that is often asked is "why am I not on the first page of Google?". This comes down to search engine
optimisation. I would consider web design and SEO to be two separate pieces of work, although most designers/developers will design a site which is search engine friendly. You should understand that SEO is not an exact science and that there are never any guarantees of where your site will rank
with search engines. There are many aspects to consider including how long the domain has been registered and how many inbound links you have to your site. There are lots of companies and freelance SEO experts out there who are only too willing to offer their services. Alternatively, find out for yourself how to best optimise your site. If you're prepared to spend a few hours in front of a computer, you can do wonders for your page ranking independently and negate the need to pay someone else to do it for you. If you want your website professionally "optimised" be prepared to pay for the services you will receive. Generally, the payback should be good as you will have greater numbers of visitors to your site.

Finally, when considering having a website designed and developed, be prepared to make a financial investment. For a basic Content Management System, you should be prepared to spend a minimum of around £350 upwards. For an e-commerce site, starting prices will be around £600 to £800 and upwards depending on your requirements and functionality of the site. If you consider the cost of advertising, these prices are fairly small in comparison and are generally one off fees that will give you a respectable looking
website. You should look to have your site revamped every 12 to 18 months to keep it looking fresh and the content relevant. Be wary of companies and individuals who claim to produce all-singing all-dancing CMS E-Commerce websites for £150, you get what you pay for! Reputable designers and developers put a lot of time and effort into their profession and this will be reflected in the prices that are charged.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article and I wish you well in your website design project and business.