For Easybiz the challenge was to keep people informed of everything that was happening on the walk, including throughout the early hours via social networks, their own website designed by Easybiz and also add photo’s and videos of the walk almost live and put together the videos after the walk via YouTube.

Web Design & Social Networking

The plan for Bantamstrek is making sure people are kept interested in what is going on, and even though the Bradford Burns Unit is a great cause, getting the majority up to speed still takes effort. This is also an issue faced with the latest walk, the Three Peaks Walk, which we opted to use Guy Branston as the face of the walk. Only to find 10 minutes after we had added the news, along with all the artwork of Bradford City defender Guy Branston to the website, news came out that he had been released by the club.

With so much changing, with things such as that, keeping people up to date on a walk, with no source of fast power except a car charger, there was a lot to think about. We had to make sure we got as much footage as possible and even had two people taking photo’s as part of the team. In all it took a team of 3 to cover the walk in even a basic manner. In other words, getting the right balance of photo’s and videos is not as easy as it looks.

Worthwhile Job

However it was the videos in the end which got attention and all of that work collecting clips to be used was worth it. The photo’s even though important are just not as useful as the clips. Because people will pay more attention of videos and hopefully share them with friends. The photo’s were useful from a point of view of social networks because people share and tag themselves and friends into them. This then makes the photo’s available for a wider audience than just the website.

The moral of this story is that it is important to make you website and social networks work together in order to get the best results.

Business considerations

• Helping the client understand what all that jargon really means
• Building trust with business web design client
• Explain truthfully the facts about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Set-out time scales and help client understand the role they have that will help avoid disapointment of delays.

The latter is having given the client the understanding about the web design process, there are some tools a web designer will need from the client. This mainly refers to content, including any photos personal to your business.

Some web design companies may be good at putting together information to compliment your business, but your web designer is an expert in web design. You will know your business better than any web designer, so it is important to provide clear guidance to speed the process up and avoid mistakes.

SEO Is Not A Quick Fix

Search Engine Optimisation is a long winded process which as a long term plan will really put your website in a strong position on Google that if done right is an investment for the future.

Nobody has any say over how Google list your website or when. And if you consider how many other businesses are competing with your business for first page on Google that may have been around for years, finding your business on page one for worthwhile keywords is a big achievement. If you want instant results you will have to get involved in the pay per click adverts on Google.

Businesses spend from £100′s to £100,000′s a week! So ask how much your humble budget is paying for. In an industry with such a difference in services and prices it is worthwile listening to those industry that will talk down expectations rather than talk them up.

Unless of course you are paying £1000′s a month.

]]> http://www.easybizsites.com/smallbusiness/seo-search-engine-optimization/managing-business-websites-expectations/feed/ 0 http://www.easybizsites.com/business-news/india-tops-spam-list-its-official/ http://www.easybizsites.com/business-news/india-tops-spam-list-its-official/#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:15:45 +0000 Easybiz Sites http://www.easybizsites.com/?p=3131 After all, when was the last time you had made any contact with these Indian web companies, giving them permission to email you? No, well ...]]> Most business owners will no doubt be inundated by emails from India offering business website design and Search Engine Optimisation. But the very means they are using to try and encourage you to have them look after your business on the internet, are themselves going about the job of internet marketing completely the wrong way.

After all, when was the last time you had made any contact with these Indian web companies, giving them permission to email you? No, well that might explain why India are now top of the countries responsible for spam emails.

India have effectively put themselves on an email experience par with Nigeria, famous for scamming unsuspecting people in the UK and USA out of millions of pounds every year. It is really not good practice to claim to be good at web marketing and be responsible for creating such a bad reputation. There is nothing wrong with touting for business on the internet, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. The latest announcements that place India at the top of the spam list have been a direct result of two things happening in India. The first being the rise of the internet and web use in the country, which has been fairly low tech, allowing many PC’s to be hijacked.

The BBC reported that “

The inexperience of the many first-time net users in India had led many to fall victim to hi-tech criminals, he said.

“The latest stats show that, as more first-time internet users get online in growing economies, they are not taking measures to block the malware infections that turn their PCs into spam-spewing zombies,” he added.”

The tactics to get business from countries from the UK, certainly does feel a little Nigerian 419 and it is very worrying that businesses could fall found of scams directed from India which could damage a growing reputation in the world economy. It is easy to want to save money by using Indian web companies, but whilst the spam problem is rife, and until tactics are changed with the spam emails. You are probably going to do your business more damage than good for many reasons.

So it is great to see India developing into a nation with such clout now, but there is still a long way to go when it comes to really understanding the web.

We put together our business web design Service Plans, working in much the same way a mobile phone contract works by reducing the set-up fees on our web design and at the same time allowing our clients to benefit from important extras associated with business website design such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

But even with lower set-up costs than our competitors and the fact we include CMS blogs as standard on our business web designs, where our competitors charge on average over £150 extra each for these things. We understand the confusion that there are “web designers” out there that can charge as little as £99 a year for a website.

Hidden costs of cheap business web design

Prices vary because not all web design is created equally. For some smaller businesses, especially start-ups the temptation is to tick the box that says “all businesses need a website” and without understanding the impact you website will have on your business, will naively choose the cheapest they can find. This is a common mistake made with web hosting when choosing the cheapest. The mistakes made by doing that has lead to people losing web designs they have paid for when they cut costs and bought cheap lifetime hosting, supplied by a re-seller wanting to make a fast buck.

To design a business website requires a number of different skills. Effectively anyone can set up a “web design” or “web hosting” business, but not everybody will have combination of skills required to guarantee you are not paying for a web design that is actually working against your business.

These skills include website design and development, graphic design and a good working knowledge of Search Engine Optimisation. After all a business should have a good looking website that encourages people to contact you and can be found on Google forunimportant key phrases people use to search Google for people in your line of business.

Depending on what services or products you sell will tell you how much money you have just lost by cutting costs on your website whenever somebody wanting to buy is on your website but decides to move on and find a competitor instead. This is business that you had wanting to buy from you, but you lost it because you put effort in finding a list of the cheapest web designers and got what you paid for. No, sorry less. Because every time you lose a customer that wanted your service, the figure being earned is money being lost.

By choosing the right company to deal with designing your business website you are making an investment. In some businesses just one sale or call can mean the website has paid for its self. But the opposite is true when you lose business because you cut corners when it came to finding the right business web designer.

Time is money, so when an expert is spending time your web site, it is bound to cost more than it would for somebody to copy and paste text into a dated free static HTML template and add a bit of spam to your business website and pass it off as SEO.  To do all these jobs properly take time andexpertise, so you need to know that the person dealing with your business brand where most people will see it first, are not designing a business website that makes your business look bad.

For business web design call 01274 792006 and speak to a web designer that will design a website and find the right deal for your business.

With the use of malware scammers can changes the details you see when you log into your business bank online. There is a simple way to recognise it, the first being that banks never ask for your bank card pin number, if you are at a fraudulent website it will. As a rule of thumb, never disclose your pin number online, even if you think you bank are asking for it. In fact, never disclose you bank card pin number even if your bank ask you over the phone.

There are many different banking scams that are “phishing” for your bank details, so how do you recognise them? Well for a start if it is asking for your pin, you should know something is wrong. Phishing can be done as an email from your bank, which looks very convincing (it has to) usually saying that your bank needs certain information or your account will be frozen (that is one example, but there are many other takes on that). But the most concerning is the use of Malware called Zeus (one example) which will wait until you visit your banks website and direct you to a near identical website which will ask for extra information including your pin number.

Either way, the information you enter will then be sent to a criminals email for them to use your account how they please.

Many banks have come up with ways of keeping your bank details secure from things such as key logging software/malware, which logs the strokes you make on your keyboard. The owner of the key logging software is then able to intercept what you have typed, including any bank details you have entered into banks online.

For small businesses, keeping your bank details safe is vital, so it is best to keep your bank details offline rather than online. Use virus software and make sure you use the rule of thumb of never giving out your pin number.

How alarmed should we be? Well, there has always been bank scams. But the malware has a ways of outsmarting your virus software each time it is update that is why it is important to keep your virus software upto-date (in other words, always make sure you accept those annoying updates).

But many banks such as HSBC, Nat West and Nationwide have taken an effective steps that are still one step ahead of these scams. In fact the care many banks take online probably makes it safer than any other means of using your bank. So do not be alarmed. But as ever do be on your guard.

Watch out for the following

If your transaction is slow
If you are asked for entire passwords or pin numbers.
If you are suspicious phone your bank.
Anything that looks out of place on the website.
Emails asking for urgent information about your bank account.

One of the biggest problems for small businesses is dealing with problems with the bank. Being hit by online fraud is a concern, and with the majority of us catching on to certain scams, the criminals have had to improve what they do. So if you are logging into you business bank account, are you sure you are logged into your bank account or a website pretending to be your bank?

With the use of malware scammers can changes the details you see when you log into your business bank online. There is a simple way to recognise it, the first being that banks never ask for your bank card pin number, if you are at a fraudulent website it will. As a rule of thumb, never disclose your pin number online, even if you think you bank are asking for it. In fact, never disclose you bank card pin number even if your bank ask you over the phone.

There are many different banking scams that are “phishing” for your bank details, so how do you recognise them? Well for a start if it is asking for your pin, you should know something is wrong. Phishing can be done as an email from your bank, which looks very convincing (it has to) usually saying that your bank needs certain information or your account will be frozen (that is one example, but there are many other takes on that). But the most concerning is the use of Malware called Zeus (one example) which will wait until you visit your banks website and direct you to a near identical website which will ask for extra information including your pin number.

Either way, the information you enter will then be sent to a criminals email for them to use your account how they please.

Many banks have come up with ways of keeping your bank details secure from things such as key logging software/malware, which logs the strokes you make on your keyboard. The owner of the key logging software is then able to intercept what you have typed, including any bank details you have entered into banks online.

For small businesses, keeping your bank details safe is vital, so it is best to keep your bank details offline rather than online. Use virus software and make sure you use the rule of thumb of never giving out your pin number.

How alarmed should we be? Well, there has always been bank scams. But the malware has a ways of outsmarting your virus software each time it is update that is why it is important to keep your virus software upto-date (in other words, always make sure you accept those annoying updates).

But many banks such as HSBC, Nat West and Nationwide have taken an effective steps that are still one step ahead of these scams. In fact the care many banks take online probably makes it safer than any other means of using your bank. So do not be alarmed. But as ever do be on your guard.

Watch out for the following

• If your transaction is slow
• If you are asked for entire passwords or pin numbers.
• If you are suspicious phone your bank.
• Anything that looks out of place on the website.
• Emails asking for urgent information about your bank account.

In this episode we take a look at online christmas shopping and give tips to people with e-commerce business websites and eBay sellers about getting the best from their products online. Including how best to list things and what to watch out for that might be causing you to lose sales.

We have a round up of the business internet news and also have a feature on Getting Your Business to the Top of Google. As well as a look at giving social networking for businesses the personal touch there are plenty of reasons to download the new business website design podcast.

Oh and did we mention that you can also win £30 for Google Adwords?

Listen on Podomatic

Order a website before December 15th and you will save 25% on the set-up fee if you are happy to wait until the 3oth January for your website launch.

The normal wait time is 4 weeks, but due to the Christmas holidays things take longer. Because of this we thought it would be a nice touch to pass on some savings to you.

Call us on 01274 792006 If you would like a business website design.

All you have to do is submit us a question via Facebook, right here by making a comment. And the best question will win £30 credit for Google Advertising. To use the voucher you do not have to spend x amount to get it, it is real credit with no catches. Great for giving you business a good chance of getting found on Google in the run up to Christmas.

The closing date is 9th December, and you can ask as many questions as you want. Ask us anything about your business website and the internet, whether you need advice about Google, getting more visitors, improving the look of your website or advice on Social Networking. All questions are welcome. Those questions will be answered on the Podcast, out on 12th December.

It is always a surprise to me how many myths there are about business website design, or more to the point business websites. Below are some example of these myths that I will debunk. Listen to our podcast for more similar tips.

1.       Build it and they will come.

The biggest myth of all. It started from the Film “Field Of Dreams” and has been repeated many times, even on the Morrisons Christmas advert by Freddy Flintoff. It is the biggest load of tosh uttered by anybody when it comes to having a business website.

When you went into business did you just set it up, do nothing and wait for people to come? No. Well why should this logic be applied to websites. You will have to invest a lot of time and effort into getting your website bringing home the bacon. Just like with anything else.

If you do not have the time, pay an expert to look after this side of things for you. And this is an expert in business website design and promoting your websites. Remember Myth 6, your IT guys are ok for adding content, but not for optimising it for Google or designing new parts to your website.

2.       I can save money by getting a friend to create it.

Apply any of these to this – my uncle, nephew, dad, mum, son, daughter. This is your business and you are seriously considering letting somebody without business expertise loose on something that is going to be the first impression many have of your business. The thing that when you have talked to a potential customer, they are going to look at before doing business with you – just to check up and make sure you are as good as you make yourself out to be.

You have just made one of the most common, and costly errors you can in business with the decline of offline directories such as Yellow Pages. Not only do people find you on the internet and decide whether to call you based on how professional you look, yes look. It matters not what your content says about how great your business is, if the person who designed your website did not know how to design a website that would have the right information in the right place, and look professional.

And if you think you have clinched a sale, or you are confident of getting that contract you are chasing. Beware, they will be checking up on you just to make sure you are what you make your business out to be. If you website looks like it has been designed by a 16 year old or is a free template website – that tells them all they need to know about what to expect from your business. Even if you are the best in the world at what you do.

3.       I get loads of hits, that means my website is working

The word “hits” is misleading. That is calculated for every page impression. By that, when the same person navigates from page to page, it is classed as a hit. It is also classed as a hit if they have a problem with the loading of the content on your page and press F5 to refresh the page. Hits are very misleading and they should say “hits are vanity, unique visitors are sanity”.

But even if you are getting lots of unique visitors to your business website – if you are not converting them, it is a sign of failure somewhere. Your website might be putting people off – and that is criminal. You might have people beating the door to your business down, yet you have fluffed it big style because you cut corners on your website and people hit the back button because they did not trust you.

It can also mean that people are searching for something else, and your website is doing well on Google somewhere that has a double meaning. For example if you type “carpenters” into Google, you will have some varied results. If you website has not been optimised or has been badly optimised it could well mean there is a link on Google that simply says “carpenters” and people are clicking on it. Well you get the idea.

4.       My business website is part of my advertising budget.

No, your website is your shop window. And care and consideration should be taken to make sure the content is up-to-date and that the design is too. It costs nowhere near as much as having a complete refit of a shop to modernise your website, but all the same, your website should not be sharing the advertising budget. Because if people know who you are, they will check up on you on Google and hope to see a professional looking website which reflects what they expect to see when dealing with a professional outfit.

If you have not dedicated enough of your budget to your website – and still think it is part of your advertising budget, you might as well just send out a bunch of flyers telling people how great you are followed by a bunch of flyers saying “ignore the last flyer – we are rubbish”.  Because that is what a poor business website design will be doing for you. It is not advertising, it is the first or last impression a person will take of your business.

5.       Just making up testimonials is ok because who can tell the difference

Yeah, yeah. Treat your potential clients like mugs, that will really impress them. People are very savvy at sussing out frauds nowadays, we see them all the time and the first thing we usually do is think that the people are fly by nights.

If you are a new business, make the effort to get real testimonials from any business you do, or from people you have done “free work” for. At the end of the day, make sure the testimonials contain info that will give people an idea of where to look to see if they are genuine or not.

It is great to have testimonials on your website. It is not a deal breaker if you do not have any, but people do not like being treated like fools, so is most certainly a deal breaker if you lie to people.

6.        My IT guys are the right people to design a website

Your IT experts can deal with a certain amount of work. But business website design means having a number of skills that go beyond the scope of your tech guys. In the world of website design there are many differences between the person who designs the website and those that develop it, some web designers can do both. But just because somebody can do all the “technical stuff” does not mean they understand business, or design, or marketing, or search engine optimisation.

Choose a website design company that has specialist business website designers who will take care of all aspects of your website in one place, so you are leaving nothing to chance. Otherwise you will need to find a website designer, a website developer, a graphic designer, a search engine optimisation specialist and a marketing expert. The best thing to do is to find an all-in-one business website designers that tick all of the boxes for you. That is the most affordable way. But leaving it to the IT guy is simply cutting corners which will be costing your business, even if you cannot physically see what you are losing.

7.       My website is not bringing in new business it must be rubbish

Well maybe, but if you have gone about everything in the right way then this is probably not the case. So lets assume for a moment you have chosen a great business website design company but your website is still not bringing in new business, it probably is not the website.

Many SEO companies will give you instructions on how to get your business to the first page of Google. Are you doing all you should be doing? Have you tinkered with the website adding more information where an expert has told you to leave it alone? Have you not bothered with your blog or adding new content?

Have you used any Search Engine Optimisation for your website? If it cannot be found, it does not matter how good it looks, or how well it gets the information across.

Finally are you judging how well your business is doing by how many people ask for you via your online contact form or email? Usually people will call the number they find on the website, so if you are not checking on every call, you might be being a little harsh on your website.

8.       If I add a forum it will attract lots of people.

If you add a form it will either only have the posts you have made on it, or just get overrun with spam comments. Message Forums take a lot of time and effort, and money to get going. You have to offer something that has a niche and that nobody else is really offering. People are quite loyal to the forums they use. So to move them away takes a lot of doing.

A message forum is one of the hardest things to get working, because there are so many things to balance. Especially today as we want information now, we do not like waiting more than a few minutes for a reply on a forum. In order to post in the first place, we have to see that the forum is already busy (that is how we work out if we are likely to get a fast reply).

It is a classic catch 22, you need people posting to satisfy the quick need for replies. You need lots of posters for good content for search engines. But nobody will post unless there is already lots of content and regular posts, as well as many users.

So if you are thinking adding a message forum to your website is the magic answer to getting lots of people using your website – I would advise searching for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Much less effort and about the same results in the overwhelming majority of cases with message forums.

9.       I can “do” a business website for next to nothing

Ever heard the saying “you get what you pay for”? Well that pretty much sums up everything I have to say on the matter. What is your line of business? Do you think any Tom, Dick and Harry can do as good a job as you. Are there a lot of those small details you really should know before making an attempt.

Can a mistake be costly to your reputation and lose you money. Well if you do not really know what you are doing, you are best leaving it to an expert who does. And yes, it will cost more than £100 if you want it done properly.

10.   My business is too small to need a website.

It could be argued that the opposite is true. After all, if Virgin did not have a website would people stop flying using Virgin Atlantic? No probably not. But you are relying on Yellow Pages for your business and the ever unreliable “word of mouth”. If you have found business slow in recent years you might be mistaken in thinking it is all down to the economic situation. But that is a very convenient excuse for those businesses that have chosen to do everything the same as before it began.

At about the time this happened, the last nails were being put into the coffin of offline directories. So much so, that even JR Hartley is now Day V Lately in the rebranded Yell.com adverts (notice they do not advertise the telephone directory anymore). Why, because everybody is using Google.

So if you are too small to have a website – your only going to find you are on a downwards trend for business as people can access services by simply opening a laptop, looking at their mobile phone, without the need to go home to find the answers.

No business is too small to have a website. A business website is standard for all businesses if they want to compete on a level playing field with their competitors.

The first episode we have considered to be a pilot and we will be making a few changes for the December Podcast, where we are still wanting businesses to contact us and get their name heard on the podcast as well as any links to their websites.

When you do listen to it on either iTunes or Podomatic, please remember to take a second to leave a review. It all helps us know how many people are listening.

To subscribe to the Easybiz Pod via iTunes

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You can also download the podcast at the bottom of the page on Podomatic. But do remember to leave us feedback.