Professional, knowledgeable, innovative, friendly, supportive.
We have an opening for an experienced web developer – you will be joining a friendly team at our offices in Exmouth town centre, and will need to have at least three years commercial experience of building ecommerce websites in PHP.
There are several other essential skills we require, please read details on the recruitment page here: http://www.wnwdesign.co.uk/p/recruitment
That page also has details of how to send your CV for consideration.
Search Engine Optimisation is a detailed and ongoing process of building your site’s reputation in the Search Engine listings, and before your website has gone live you should have already been working on a lot of the aspects of your website that influence those listings. Things like linking structure, keyword-rich content, sitemap pages, image alt tags, etc. However, on the most basic level, when your website actually goes live none of this will matter if Google can’t see your site, and there are a few very important things to do, and some to avoid, in order to ensure this is the case.
Publicise Your URL
First off, you need to let Google (and all the other Search Engines) know that your website now exists. One of the best ways of doing this is getting a link from a website that already lists well – it will count as a good ‘vote’ for your new website, and plus a well-listed website will be checked quite often by Google so they will see the link quickly.
Alternatively (or as well) you can set up a Google account for your site and submit a sitemap in Google’s Webmaster Tools area. This allows you to give Google information on your new website and its content.
Bing also has a Webmaster Tools area, and AOL and some others allow you to actually ‘submit’ your site URL to them for indexing.
Check Your Robots.txt
The robots.txt is a file that can be placed on your site hosting space and that the Search Engines know to look for. It can hold instructions to Search Engine robots (hence the name) about what pages on the site to spider (look through) and which not, and also where the website’s XML sitemap is stored (a file listing all the pages, their importance and last update dates).
A robots.txt that states ‘Disallow’ and then has either a / or a folder or file after it, is asking the Search Engines (either a specific one mentioned in the line above, or all is an asterix is used) to not spider those areas. The / means the whole site. In order to allow the Search Engines to see and list the whole site your robots.txt needs to have either nothing after the ‘Disallow’ or to use ‘Allow’ and then a / after.
If you have an /admin/ area or /cgi-bin/ or other folders and files that you don’t want listed in Google, you can list them in here to be ignored.
Use Visible Coding
Once you’ve publicised your URL and made sure your robots.txt file isn’t impeding the Search Engines finding and spidering your site, you need to consider your site coding. A Flash site, for example, is next to invisible to Google – it can’t read the text and doesn’t see the content, so it has no idea what your website is about. At the very least a Flash site has to have an HTML version, but ideally you need to make your website without Flash (limit it to dynamic banners if you must).
If your website is built with HTML coding that the Search Engines can see, great, but you need to ensure it’s not bloated and over-complicated (they are only robots after all, and can get confused if you have piles and piles of code and links all over the place) and that it has an understandable page and link structure. This way you stand more chance of the Search Engines quickly seeing all your site content, it’s hierarchy, and therefore also when it is changed and expanded.
You also need to avoid building your site from frames, which is an out-dated method often used to build sites with framed navigation, but that disguises the true content of the page from the Search Engines and can harm your listings badly. No-one really uses this method anymore though, and with good reason.
Now Go Forth, And Optimise…!
Now you know the Search Engines see your site, don’t leave it there, work on getting excellent listings and bringing in the millions of searches made every minute on the internet! Do your keyword research, optimise your page content and text, show Google what your images are about with alt tags, keep your website fresh and updated, relevant and interesting, and get links in with networking and Social Media. With a visible site and clear, structured coding, you will be building on excellent Search Engine Optimisation foundations.
About The Author: Camilla Todd manages Search Engine Optimisation, social media campaigns and brand awareness for WNW Design SEO clients. You can follow her on Twitter @camilla_wnw, email her at camilla@wnwdesign.co.uk or phone on 08456 588310. You can also follow WNW Design on Facebook here.
Well it’s the end of another year, time for a bit of reflection on what we have achieved and certainly what our goals are for 2012. We’d like to wish all our clients, partners and associates a very happy holiday, whatever you celebrate (even if it’s just good food and time off work!).
This has been a busy year for WNW Design, with an awful lot of time focused on development projects such as our Mazurka Hub (which streamlines the creation of and updates for our Ecommerce websites) and our Ebay and Amazon integration with Mazurka, which allows customers to manage order-processing from one central location.
We expanded our team once again, and are pleased to welcome Natalie in Marketing. We also expanded our hardware with two brand new servers.
In April and March we held a successful series of free Social Media Seminars for clients and potential clients, with our MD Nigel speaking on the benefits of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other platforms for your business, plus how to get started and utilise them to best advantage.
We also supported the first steps of many of our clients into that Social Media arena, and are looking forward to doing the same for 2012.
Like many businesses, we spent some time trying to gauge Google’s new Social platform, Google+, and (again, like everyone else) are still trying to work out whether they have failed or whether sheer perseverance and visibility will eventually turn G+ into a success. You can find us on Google+ here.
Our staff blog posts of note for 2011 were:
~ Making Blog Comments Work For Your SEO
~ Drawing A Blank: 6 Ideas For What To Say On Your Business Social Media
~ Google PlusOne Button Statistics
~ Why You Should Be Paying Attention To Google’s New PlusOne Button
~ Google Adwords Rules
~ Take Control of Your Social Media Time Management
We hope you’ve all had a productive and enjoyable year, and are enjoying the festivities in preparation for the holidays. WNW Design are working until lunchtime tomorrow and then we return on January the 3rd, so have a great break everyone and we look forward to working with you all in 2012!
In my previous blog I wrote about the importance of setting up a social media account for your business. Now, let’s analyse the reasons why social media campaign are not always successful.
Some businesses set up their social media accounts and then don’t manage them correctly which leads to a great disappointment rather than success.
Let me list and analyse some of the most common reasons for that:
List of Reasons
1. The account looks abandoned – Some businesses get very excited about the possibility social media gives. They set up their account and… don’t do anything else about it, thinking it’s just a toy for teenagers. Wrong! Social media can be very successful bringing you high quality traffic, however the only condition is that it needs frequent updates so that it doesn’t look abandoned. It’s easy as the only thing you have to do is to write what you know best – what is happening with your business.
2. Lack of control – People tend to worry that they won’t be able to control what others (employees, customers, stakeholders) say online about their company, products and services. Can they control what is being said in real life then? With a social media account not only will you know when your products or services are criticised therefore change them, but also with its constantly improving features you can listen and monitor the online conversations. If you are willing to listen to feedback and attempt to turn a complaint into praise, you won’t have a problem.
3. Fear of the new – Although we like new gadgets etc, at the same time we are afraid of anything that’s new. However, any business owner knows they need to stay ahead of technology and customer habits, and if your company doesn’t occupy its space in social media then one of your competitors will.
4. Lack of time – You‘re too busy to go online. Do you realise 2/3 of the society use internet on daily basis? Your customers are there too! For a successful business online presence should be as natural as breathing or driving a car. If however you personally can’t spare any time at all, dedicate a suitable member of staff in your company or find an experienced company who’ll take care of your campaign on your behalf.
5. Liability – If you’re afraid that your employees will say something online that affects your company, there’s a solution for that: set up a social media policy! That will tell your employees clearly what expectations you’ve got towards them and allow you to avoid unpleasant situations.
6. No plan – Sometimes the social media marketing starts just as an experiment, which results in it not being included in the overall marketing plan. You need to set out your objectives and goals, how much time you aim to spend and what kind of content you will share, and what your aims are (to increase conversation, to increased sales, to increase leads?) and how you will measure this.
7. Financial resources – While social media sites are free of charge for participants, a good marketing campaign including them will require financial resources. In your planning determine a budget for your company’s social media presence.
Social media is a powerful tool in your business growth. If your campaign is not as successful as you expected, take some time to analyse the reasons for that – you may find some obvious areas where you can improve and start to build a successful business social media presence.
About The Author: Agnieszka Wach is the administrator and receptionist for WNW Design, and also assists the SEO team with website optimisation. You can email her at agnieszka@wnwdesign.co.uk or phone her on 01395 542569. You can also follow WNW Design on Facebook.
The social media phenomenon has been gaining popularity all over the world.
It is no longer just for talking to friends or regaining long-lost connections – its importance for businesses should not be overlooked as part of corporate social media branding.
The social media account is no longer a “could have”, it’s a “must-have”. Nowadays customers don’t rely on newspapers, radio or TV advertising only, they are using the newest technology as it comes out, and more and more people are depending on the internet for what they want.
Follow Your Customers
The ultimate goal is to get leads and new customers, and social media provides an excellent opportunity for that. What needs to be done is fresh content added on regular basis as this is what drives other social media users to your account.
Statistics show than businesses that spend six or more hours a week using social media get 52% more leads than the ones who do not. (All research published here).
Companies using Twitter usually double their number of monthly leads in comparison to those who do not.
Recent studies show that 2/3 of internet users use social media.
Setting up a social media account not only will give you a better branding but also provide you great credibility by having online communication with your customers. Once your social media partners know you better, they’ll want to do business with you.
This also worked both ways – opening your company up to customer feedback can result in product improvements that can improve sales, and less guessing as to why your customer base may or may not be buying certain items.
A social media account is the best and cheapest way of introducing new products or services. Not only you can easily spread the news but also inform about the launch day and products price.
Another great feature is the possibility to share valuable content in many different ways. You can like blogs, articles and videos, which can assist with your Search Engine listings and also encourage more potential customers to follow your updates.
Showcasing your company or products via fan pages or groups that you can find on social media websites is another way to get your name out there and get some internet-based networking started.
How To Use Social Media
As in real life communication, people like it when you listen to what they’ve got to say. Therefore be authentic, ask questions. Of course, at some point it will be good to present what your business has to offer but be careful not to annoyingly repeat the offer over and over again.
There are many ways to build relationships online. Helping people solve their problems is one of them. The best thing about that is that it doesn’t even matter where in the world they are.
If you don’t feel confident enough to set up a social media account yourself, speak to our experienced Social Media team for a friendly advice.
Social media is not just a toy, it’s a powerful tool to help your business grow. You must, however, be respectful and careful with your actions to make sure you do not alienate or ignore customers, spam your followers or get your account blocked.
It is easy to get it wrong by pushing your products or services instead of introducing their value. Offering value means to get in touch with people who will actively want to buy your products or engage your services.
So make your online presence a helpful and informative one, providing clarity, conversation and information to those that are interested. Take advantage of the fact that social media has made the world much smaller and easier to reach, and with this world comes your customer base – make your business accessible to them and reap the benefits!
About The Author: Agnieszka Wach is the administrator and receptionist for WNW Design, and also assists the SEO team with website optimisation. You can email her at agnieszka@wnwdesign.co.uk or phone her on 01395 542569. You can also follow WNW Design on Facebook.
I’ve been reading and commenting on a few SEO-related blogs recently, and noticed something that is both frustrating for me and counter-productive for the sites I am commenting on. On almost every good-quality blog I have visited, my comments have gone into moderation rather then going live straight away. Obviously this is incredibly important if you get a high level of traffic and therefore lots of spam, and don’t want to subject your visitors to a barrage of useless comments when they visit. However, it can also present a barrier to sharing content, and there are ways of avoiding this.
In many cases I will link to a blog article because I find it useful or want to share, and that’s fine. But in some cases I want to link to a blog specifically because I have something to say in response to it, and I am linking with the intention that my blog/twitter/facebook followers read both the blog in question *and* my followup comment. Perhaps because I can’t respond in the space that something like Twitter offers me, but I still want people to see my stance on the matter being discussed.
In these cases, I want to post my comment and then share a link to the blog while I’m still looking at it. If my comments go into moderation I can’t share a link yet, as no-one will see my comment. And with a load of other things to do in a day I am unlikely to remember the blog later and go back to check if my comment is approved and then link.
There are two easy ways to fix this, and ensure that commenters link to your blog while they still remember about it. One is to turn off comment moderation. Make sure your blog has an excellent spam filtering system (something like Akismet for WordPress works excellently) and then check for spammy comments a few times a day. Unless you really get a vast quantity this may be perfectly adequate for ensuring the site appears full of quality comments and well-maintained.
The other way to get around this problem is to have comments go into moderation, but to set up an alert system to let commenters know when their comment is live. I’d happily tick a box for ‘Email me when my comment is moderated’ and the email can contain quick links to the blog, and for sharing on Social Media.
It takes a lot of work to build a site to the stage where you get regular comments and can really generate discussion on your blog posts, but it only takes a little bit of work to really make the most of that discussion – so sort out your comment moderation and let your blog commenters do some SEO work for you!
About The Author: Camilla Todd manages Search Engine Optimisation, social media campaigns and brand awareness for WNW Design SEO clients. You can follow her on Twitter @camilla_wnw, email her at camilla@wnwdesign.co.uk or phone on 08456 588310. You can also follow WNW Design on Facebook here.
Blogging as your company can be somewhat daunting – you’ve got a brand new Social Media account with lots of white space, no followers and no idea what to say. It may seem at this stage that there is nothing interesting going on at your company to talk about – but there are plenty of interesting and relevant things to be said about any company and yours is no different.
Keep this list of content ideas handy and simply work through them one by one every time you want to update your account… you’re bound to find something that you can talk about.
1. Company Changes
Changes and achievements suchas new staff, work experience students, staff passing qualifications, new premises, annual meetings, company mergers.
2. Products & Services
This one is perhaps the most obvious – you should be using your Social Media accounts to alert customers to new services they may be interested in. So any new products or product ranges, services, any product reviews (on your site or others), special offers or discounts on products, price changes, delivery option changes, new stockists or partners.
3. Industry
You can post about industry events such as conferences or trade shows (and if you attend you can write more detail and post photos), industry body news, rules and regulation changes, technological advances, seasonal information. This one is quite specific to your industry, so try to put yourself in your customers shoes – what might they want to be kept informed on? If you sell horse-riding gear you may want to update fans on the latest competitions and races. If you operate a garage you may want to post advice on how customers can maintain their vehicles in the particular season and what checks to do, etc.
4. Website
Use your Social Media accounts to alert customers to new items on your website – feed them back to your pages where they can actually click ‘buy’ or phone you to convert into business. Let them know when there is a new blog to read, a newsletter has been sent out, new pages or sections have been added, or new functions added such as online purchasing, order history, new payment options, etc.
5. Publicity
Any references to your company or products in the media, magazine features or articles, appearances on TV or new adverts can be showcased to customers.
6. Plugging Others
This is the last item but it is by no means the least important – in fact it may be one of the most important types of update. Highlghting your customers, companies you work with or good causes can encourage them to do the same in return and you can gain valuable visibility for free.
So talking about and publicising any charities you support, local fundraising, plugging clients or customers that have bought something or passed courses, or had success with your services (best to get permission before mentioning companies), and giving out thanks to companies and individuals you have worked with.
I haven’t even yet mentioned ideas such as running small competitions for fans/followers to win vouchers or freebies in exchange for posting photos of your product/service, simply asking questions when you update such as ‘what do you want to see us post about?’, requesting feedback or asking people relevant questions about your business area. Research can be very helpful, so look around at a few other Social Media accounts belonging to your competitors and related businesses and see how they are doing it, and what works.
Essentially Social Media is all about conversation and give and take, and it may take a bit of practice but almost any small business has the potential to be able to generate a little community online that can turn into repeat sales and word of mouth publicity.
About The Author: Camilla Todd manages Search Engine Optimisation, social media campaigns and brand awareness for WNW Design SEO clients. You can follow her on Twitter @camilla_wnw, email her at camilla@wnwdesign.co.uk or phone on 08456 588310. You can also follow WNW Design on Facebook here.
Anyone with our Mazurka software operating an online shop (so, offering products you can ‘buy’ on their website) who also submit a Google Products feed will need to read this update.
Google Products have introduced some required fields (you can read my explanation and introduction to these changes here) and we’ve added these into the product and category details of Mazurka product management.
What does this mean for you? It means that you may need to add three fields:
Google Category
REQUIREMENTS/EXCEPTIONS: This field is required if your products fall into the Clothing & Accessories, Media or Software categories. If they do not, it is still recommended that you select a category but not required.
This is a field you need to specify for each product, but it can be specified at the category level.
In your admin area, go to your Products tab, and click the ‘Edit’ button next to a category. Then click ‘Additional Details’ at the top, and you will get this screen:
Use the ‘Select a Category’ drop-down to choose your top-level category for the products. It will place this choice in the ‘Google Product Category’ box. Then use the ‘Select a category’ dropdown again to choose a sub-category. When you run out of categories the screen will say ‘No more child categories’ and you can click ‘Submit Category Details’ to save your choice. Get as specific as you can, but don’t choose a subcategory if there isn’t one that suits, you can leave it on a top-level category if you wish.
If you have any sub-categories within a category, this will have to be done for each sub-category individually.
To assist you working out where your products fit, here is a page with a full breakdown of the Google categories.
If you have an SEO package with us we can make all these category changes for you – please me know at camilla@wnwdesign.co.uk (or on Twitter if you like) know if you require this. If you don’t have an SEO package we can still do this for you, contact us for a quote.
Brand
REQUIREMENTS/EXCEPTIONS: This field is not required if you are selling books, media or custom made goods. You can just leave it blank in these cases.
This is a product-specific field, and will need to be entered for every product. Click ‘Edit’ next to a product and you will see the field at the bottom of the screen:
If you submit your products via CSV and have this field in there, please contact us about automatically filling this field for you using your data.
If you have large quantities of items that have the same brand, contact us for entering them in bulk.
Barcode
REQUIREMENTS/EXCEPTIONS: This field is not required if you are selling clothing or custom made goods.
This is also a product-specific field, and will need to be entered individually for every product. For some shops you may find that this field is already filled, if you have been providing barcodes in your shop data.
You can find this field next to the ‘Brand’ field discussed above:
The barcode can be one of several trade numbers, including:
UPC: 12-digit number such as 001234567891
EAN: 13-digit number such as 1001234567891
JAN: 8 or 13-digit number such as 12345678 or 1234567890123
ISBN: 10 or 13-digit number such as 0451524233. If you have both, only include 13-digit number.
Again, if you have this in CVS or spreadsheet format and need help adding it to your products, contact us and we can import the data for you.
Ultimately, not entering these required fields may not stop your Products feed running straight away, Google will likely leave some time for people to catch up on these changes. However, they do officially take hold on September 22nd so I’d advise adding whatever data you need to around then. Even if the data is not required, if you can add it then it’s a good idea to do so, because your Products will both list and perform better with more information.
About The Author: Camilla Todd manages Search Engine Optimisation, social media campaigns and brand awareness for WNW Design SEO clients. You can follow her on Twitter @camilla_wnw, email her at camilla@wnwdesign.co.uk or phone on 08456 588310. You can also follow WNW Design on Facebook here.
Google is introducing more mandatory categories for your Google Products feed from September, meaning you have to add these before then or your feed will stop working and your products will not appear.
If you’re not quite clear what I’m talking about, let me rewind… When searching for products on Google you have likely seen the small listings at the top with images and prices:
These results are pulled from the Google Shopping search area, which you can find here: www.google.co.uk/products
If you have an eCommerce shop and an SEO package with us, we are more than likely to be submitting your products to this area. If not, you would need to be doing this yourself, by setting up a website Google account, setting up Webmaster Tools and then adding a feed through the Google Merchant Centre.
From September, Google are requiring that all products have additional required fields of availability (in stock or out of stock), category, image link and size, colour, gender, age (in clothing only).
You can read their Blog post on the changes here.
So make sure you’re up to date with these changes come September, or give us a shout and we can help you set up Google Products for your eCommerce site. If you have SEO with us you don’t need to do anything, we’ll do all this for you.
About The Author: Camilla Todd manages Search Engine Optimisation, social media campaigns and brand awareness for WNW Design SEO clients. You can follow her on Twitter @camilla_wnw, email her at camilla@wnwdesign.co.uk or phone on 08456 588310. You can also follow WNW Design on Facebook here.
Google has made a load of big changes and updates recently, including launching their latest attempt at a Social Network (Google Plus), a new design and new Analytics reporting. For now though, a quick blog to show you where you can keep track of the clicks and impressions on the Google PlusOne button we were discussing recently, and which we’ve been installing on many client’s websites since then (the blog I posted recently is here).
Google has added tracking information for +1 buttons into Webmaster Tools – an essential tool you need set up for your website. If you have an SEO package with us we will likely have your website set up and verified on Webmaster Tools, and you can check with us for stats or access to this information.
In Webmaster Tools there is a +1 Metrics section where you can see impressions, clicks, choose dates and more:
I’ll be blogging about the rest of the Google changes very soon…
About The Author: Camilla Todd manages Search Engine Optimisation, social media campaigns and brand awareness for WNW Design SEO clients. You can follow her on Twitter @camilla_wnw, email her at camilla@wnwdesign.co.uk or phone on 08456 588310. You can also follow WNW Design on Facebook here.
