Archive for February, 2012

It currently has website traffic to it.
Website, Blog and Email setup and all access details given immediately on purchase.
Time can be spent on getting more website visitors as the website is already built and optimised.
Domain may have a Google pagerank.
Branding / Logos already created.
The website has ‘age’ which is a factor in Google’s ranking factors.
Full of relevant / unique content.
Existing Links to it (hyperlinks).
Generally there is more chance of the website being a success than starting a brand new website.
The website is operational and ‘up and running’ already.
Has an existing client base.
The previous website owners will lend support.

We have an Essex cleaning website for sale as a previous client decided he wanted to concentrate on a different business after our redesign of his site.

If you are interested please give me a call or email and will give you some details, I thought I was about to sell this domain to another cleaning business owner as we have spent some time on extra SEO and changing and tweaking the site for them (and adding a customised blog). They are now stalling as they are having trouble getting the money together, so if you want a ready made nice / unique site with loads of good content then this may be a good deal for you.

The site is 4 years old (Google Pagerank 2) and is rated in the top 10 for most of its essex / cleaning key search terms and has a new blog and loads of good / fresh / unique webcopy. This Essex Cleaning Company website is currently optimised for Billericay / Brentwood but can be optimised for any Essex areas.

I have completed a SEO project on this website to give any new potential owners more benefits. We have created a detailed SEO document for your attention, this details exactly what we did to  it, we hope this will make the website buying process easier and hope it give you a better understanding of our professional service.

We propose to transfer ownership of the website to the new owner with associated work for graphics and site contact detail updates. Sale to include transfer to new owner / change of all contact details on the site / cosmetics changes to the site / optimisation for new areas of operation / Google Places listing / Google Analytics reports / domain email account and setup help1

This is a tailored version of an email we recently received from a client who got it from a website design company that were sending out lots of emails to website owners hoping to persuade them that their website needs some SEO attention. Check our normal sarcastic comments in bold.

I’ve made a few notes about your website [no you haven't] and I have some feedback about your site that might be useful to you.  I work for [a website design company] (you might have heard of us [only heard bad things I am afraid], we are an award winning, low cost website design and promotion company that’s just had it’s 15th birthday [why is your website only 8 years old then?]  and is probably the most recommended web services company in the UK [no your not]).  I’ve noted down some important things as I looked at your site. I see you have Google analytics installed, which is excellent, but there are lots of things I would recommend you do to increase the number of visitors that find you in Google. If you’d like a copy of the official Google SEO (search engine optimisation) guide that we normally only send out to clients [even though its not your product and its free to anyone] I’d be happy to ping you back a copy. Alternatively do a google search for “optimising my website for google” and you’ll find all the details you need.

If you are interested in hearing how I think you can improve your website to get a lot more out of it for relatively little cost, drop me a line back and I’ll go through the notes I made.

Complimentary Competitor Analysis:

If you like I can analyse your competitors with our in-house designed software which will give you an instant insight into how easy it would be for you to achieve a dramatic increase in website visitors, and a matching increase in your business. I can tell you a few sneaky facts about your competitors and see how many people are searching Google for exactly what you do. No charge, just be interesting to see!

I wish you every success with your website

Lots of people see Facebook as a platform to chat with friends, post holiday snaps and maybe even play games.

You can do all of that on the site of course – but you can also create business profiles, which work separately to a personal profiles. These are known as ‘Facebook pages’.

Building a home for your business on Facebook is free, easy to do and can become a great online marketing channel.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to get started.

Step 1 – Set up your page.

Visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php.

This is where you begin the process of creating a page and it’s the first step towards bringing your business to the site. Select the most appropriate category for your business, which for most should be ‘Local business or place’.

You are then presented with a form to fill in. Select what type of business you are from the dropdown menu, and add your business name, address, postcode and telephone number.

Next, Facebook offers you the opportunity to upload a profile picture. You can upload an image directly, or import a photo from your website. If uploading an image directly, make sure it is 200 pixels wide, as this ensures best fit. When the page is set up, this image will display in the top-left-hand corner and will essentially act as the logo for your business on Facebook.

To get some fans on board early on, the following screen allows you to invite friends to like your new page. It’s also possible to import contacts in order to attract a few more people.

Finally, you are presented with an opportunity to add a link to your website, along with some ‘about’ text.

Once you’ve complete that, your page is out there and has been published on Facebook.

Step 2 – Getting going.

Now your page is online, it’s time to look at the different elements you can edit or add content to.

The left-hand column is home to page navigation and a counter showing how many likes your page has.

The central area is the wall of your page – much like a wall that a regular profile page has. This is where you post updates. At the top, there’s also a gallery of pictures that is automatically generated by the page, and this will fill up as you add images.

The right-hand side hosts various other links (including one to your page stats), sponsored ads and an illustration of how a paid advert for your page might look. It also shows who is entitled to administer or edit your page – so you should see your own Facebook image there as you’ve set the page up.

Take some time to familiarise yourself with the different sections and see what Facebook allows you to edit. For example, depending what type of business you have told Facebook you are, there are loads of extra fields in the Info section that can be completed – for example, opening hours and parking details.

Step 3 – Add your first update.

Adding updates to the wall is simple – just type what you want to, and publish. There’s also the ability to post a link, upload a photo/video or pose a question.

When you post something here, the update will appear in front of the eyes of people who have liked your page. They don’t need to keep checking your wall to see what you are up to – the updates go to them.

Step 4 – More detailed page editing.

Here you can change your page setting, allow or stop fans posting their own wall messages on your page, ban users, add new page administrators, select which area of the page you would like new visitors to land on and get access to help articles.

This is also where apps can be edited. Facebook pages can accommodate apps, and there are a lot of different ones out there. For example, there’s a YouTube app that allows you to display YouTube videos in one separate section of the page, known as a ‘tab’.

If an app like this is added to your page, it will appear down the left side of the page with the Wall, Info, and Photos sections.

Get more fans for your page

Promote it: Now your business has a Facebook page, it is vital that you mention it wherever you can online – in your email signature, on your website and maybe forum profiles you have. Don’t forget offline though, on things like printed materials, brochures, invoices and business cards.

Give people a reason to ‘like’ the page: Okay, so you are going to tell people you are on Facebook, but why are you on Facebook?

Do you plan on posting details about special offers and discounts, or perhaps general information about contemporary interior design, the latest wedding trends or which hairstyles are turning heads? Do you want to use the platform to provide transparent customer service?

Hints and tips

Start conversations: Facebook pages offer a great opportunity to chat to customers – so it’s a good idea to work on initiating conversations. And if people contribute to the page with a post or comment, get talking! Begin by finding out who the contributor is and why they are interested in you. Essentially, social media is all about interaction.

Check out the stats: An ‘insights’ email is sent out to you every week by Facebook. This reveals which parts of the page are popular, the reach of wall updates and where links to the page have been posted. You can also check out your stats at any time by clicking the ‘View Insights’ link that sits on the right-hand side of the page.

Add images to your posts: Statistics show that people are more likely to click if a post is accompanied by an image.

You can select a custom URL for your page: At first, when your page is created the URL it is given is long and contains lots of numbers. However, once you have 25 likes, Facebook will allow you to change this, and you can select your company name. That’s good for search engine optimisation, and easier to direct customers to or tell them about.

Post updates once or twice a day, people will tune out otherwise. As for what to post, think about the content. It might be of interest to you, but will it be of interest to customers, and does it encourage engagement?

Get a Twitter account  for your business, Here is a step by step guide Celebrities, fictional characters and the man on the street – no matter who you are or what you have to say, Twitter is open to you.

And if you run a business, there’s lots for you there too.

The social media site can be used as a free brand channel by companies big and small; you can grow a community of loyal, engaged customers who want to know what’s happening with you.

The platform allows you to ‘talk’ to your customers, directly, in real-time.

If you are thinking about setting up a Twitter account for your business, it’s actually one of the more simple things to carry out.

Step 1 – Get up and running

Visit twitter website.
Go to twitter.com and type in your details on the homepage. Your full name (your actual name, not your business), email address and a password are required at this stage. The next screen is where you pick a username. It’s best to select your business name, and if it’s more than one word push it all together, or alternatively use an underscore. Once this is done your business is on Twitter!

Next, you’ll be presented with a ‘wizard’ to help you get going. This gives you to chance to find people to follow – celebrities pop up here automatically, but you can type in an interest such as ‘business’ and Twitter will then suggest others you may be interested in. Start off by following five accounts.

You’ll then get the opportunity to follow a further five accounts from a specific category you may be interested in – for example music, entertainment, fashion or technology.

After you’ve done this, you can then search for existing Twitter users by name to follow, and are invited to import your contacts from AOL, Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail and Messenger. Note: You’ll only find users who have allowed their accounts to be found by email address.

There is the opportunity to skip each of these steps via a ‘skip this step’ link on the lower left-hand side of the page.

Confirming your email address is an important final step in the setup process. Once you have clicked the link in an email sent to the account you registered with you’ll be able to access all of the social network’s features.

Step 2 – Dress up your profile

As it stands, your account will be pretty plain-looking. To add some personality to it, head to the administration area at the top of the page (the tab that is represented by a person’s silhouette) then click ‘Settings’, and finally ‘Profile’.

It’s possible to:

• Add a profile image to represent your business – possibly your logo or a picture of whoever is going to manage the account
• Insert the URL of your website
• Input your location
• Edit your real name (not your @ username)
• Create bio text to describe your business – who you are, what you actually do and the reason you are on Twitter (maximum 160 characters)

In addition, under the ‘Account’ section here, you can change your @ username (maybe you have made a mistake or something better has popped into your head?), add a location to your tweets and adjust how your Twitter page appears – which can be found at twitter.com/YOURUSERNAME

Delve into the ‘Design’ area and you can change the appearance of your Twitter page. There are several set design schemes that can be used, and it’s also possible to add a custom background image.

Step 3 – Tell me if my ears should be burning!

Finally, within the ‘Notifications’ section you can specify when you would like to be contacted via email by Twitter itself. It can be each time someone mentions your Twitter username, if someone sends you a direct message, also known as a DM, or if someone new has started following you.

Once you’re done, you’re ready to get tweeting!

Top Twitter Tips

1. How do I talk to people? Use someone’s name on Twitter – so @stevesmith or @joebloggs for example – and they will be alerted to the fact. It’s called a mention.
2. What is a retweet? It’s seen as a big compliment, generally, but essentially it is recirculating something someone has said on Twitter. You can edit the tweet and insert your own opinion too.
3. How do I keep up with everything people are saying?  If you start following lots of people, your timeline will start to fill up, but you aren’t expected to read everything. In time, you will begin to spot the users and tweets of interest to you. It’s a bit like skim-reading a magazine.

Create a Google Places Listing for Your Business, This is a feature that allows businesses to create a listing with the Google search engine for free.

It actually works independently to the paid-for listings and organic, or natural, listings, but businesses listed on Google Places get excellent exposure – the results sit ahead of the organic listings for searches. So it’s an extra way to increase the visibility of your business, on Google, for no cost.

Google Places results appear on a page when the search engine thinks someone is on the lookout for a local business. A potential customer might search for Electricians in Essex, for example, and Google will come up with results for electricians listed on Google Places for that area.

If your business is listed, it could appear for a related search – so web users will see your business name, a link to your website, a link to a Google Places listing page, your address and your phone number.

How to get started

To get going, visit (or create) your Google account, and search for Google Places, obviously to add your business, you need a Google user account – you’ll be prompted to insert your details to begin the process.

Firstly, enter your business’s main phone number to see if there’s already some information about it on Google Maps. If this is the case, you’ll be able to edit any existing information and add new details, including photos and video.
Your business may already be in Google Places, in which case you need to claim your business. As it stands, the listing will include information collected by Google through the web. Check all of this if this is the case, and add the extra detail as if you were starting from scratch.

The business information form

The key with the information page is to fill in as much detail as you can. Your company name, address, website, description, categories that suit you, whether people go to you or you go to them, opening hours and payment options can all be included.
You can also:

Upload up to ten images (including a company logo)

Link to a maximum of five YouTube videos

Insert additional info such as parking availability and brands stocked

All the while, you will see your business listing plotted on a map to the right of the form. You can also fix your placement on the map if Google has got it wrong.

Proving you are who you say you are

For your listing to go live, you will need to verify that you are attached to the business; Google will send information to the registered address for the user to complete the process. This can be carried out by phone. Google says verification will take up to two weeks.

Once created and verified you will start showing up in Google Places. Your details will potentially appear when someone searches for what you do, whether with a location, or if Google knows the location the person is at.

The details are also included within a specific Google Places page for your business, where customers can add reviews and upload images.

How results are ordered

Google says that the results displayed are all down to relevance – in the same way that Google Maps works. Google Maps and Google Places are free services, so you can’t ask, or pay, for a better ranking.

How’s the page doing?

As someone with a listing, Google provides insights to help you judge how well it’s doing. You can find out how many times your listing has appeared, the number of clicks within your page and what’s not being clicked and searches that bring back your business as a result.

Top Tips

It’s a good idea to use a business-focused email address to register your Google Places listing, as it can then be kept separate from any personal accounts.

When you are submitting your phone number, use a public-facing contact number rather than a mobile one. This avoids any unwanted out-of-hours calls, and Google may already have a landline listed for your business – that’s important as the search won’t show if the numbers don’t match.

If you want year on year increases like one of our client’s websites shown in the below Google Analytics statistics graphic you should consider us to build and promote your website

Your website is your shop front to the world; understand how hard your website is working for you with a Website and SEO Healthcheck once we take on your website for a a SEO program. We’re always looking for new ways to help you grow your website business. We use a collection of useful marketing aids, helpful tips and practical advice to help you engage with customers and successfully promote your website and your business. It’s completely free as part of our SEO package, additionally you will:

• You also have access to a dedicated SEO and Marketing Consultant.
• Practical advice, hints and marketing insights
• Get guides on how to set-up your business up on Facebook and Google Places
• A complimentary website healthcheck, if you don’t have a website, information on how a website could benefit your business

We currently have three clients within the top 10 for the search term ‘Essex Builders’ so can claim that we are pretty good at building and optimising Essex Builders Websites, here are some pointers that have helped us achieve high rankings for Essex Building Companies

1 Before / After Building Photos -  These are good for the gallery but not ‘ideal’ for the main page – imagine someone looking on your site for 5 seconds and just seeing a ‘before’ image they would probably click off and look at another site that just contains professionally completed  main images. The before and after types photos could be within the site for interest within a Gallery. There is no other builders website that has this before and after on the main page and thats probably for a reason.

2 Improve the website -  As we have previously informed you the website is crying out for more pages about your services. If you moved your business your  new address would be built into these new pages to ensure you are optimised for all your services in your new area. We have other builders as well as other building related / tradesmen sites that have a huge % more visitors than your site purely as they have engaged us to ‘optimise it’ (SEO) and create the webcopy (text) for the new pages. This option is obviously the best but also most costly and happy to talk about this in depth as I believe its your best bet long term. Some choices:

Optimise current site for new area (1 hour)
Create new pages on the website with new webcopy (text) on current site specifically for your new area (x hours depending on amount of pages / text)*
Advertising on Google (adwords / pay per click) more details here  http://www.delicious-webdesign.com/seo-ppc-adwords.html

Optimising Essex Builders Website-

Option 1 – Quick review of complete site then optimising site specifically for ‘loft conversions in essex’ -  2-3 hours £80-£120

Option 2 – Full Review of site. Optimising all services and specifically optimising for ‘Loft Conversions in Essex’ and all loft conversion related search terms. Creating new pages for each of your current 6 services and adding 1000 extra words on the site over all services  – 2-3 days £300-£350

Option 3 – As option 2 but additionally adding a total of 2000 words to the site and adding 6 pro stock images, full onsite and offsite ‘optimisation’  Adding text to all pages including adding another page of faqs specifically for loft conversions. If you have lots of loft conversion images will add these to your loft conversion gallery. 4-5 days £500-£600

Option 4 – As option3 but additionally adding a total of 3000 words to the site / 12 pro stock images / New pages for FAQs / Loft Conversions etc info / Loft Conversions Types / Loft Conversion Gallery. £600-£700

Option 5 – As option3 but  with a new website of 10 pages specifically for loft conversions that will include another 3000 words / 12 pro stock images / 3 Galleries £1500

Twitter

@ = Reply: Use this to address a public message to a user.
RT – Retweet: This indicates a posting is a retweet from another user.
DM – Direct Message: You can only send a direct message to someone who is following you.
# – Hashtag: Used to categorize tweets and keeps tweets grouped together.

Facebook

Like: This allows other users to know if you appreciate a particular post.
Poke: A way to interact with friends and has flirting connotations. Avoid in business matters.
Status: A microblogging feature to inform other users of your actions and thoughts.
Tag: Marks a photo or video with text to identify a person.

You Tube

Like: YouTube users have the ability to vote videos up or down with the like or unlike buttons.
View: Usually refers to viewer count, which keeps a record of the number of views a video receives.

Google+

Circle: A categorization system for friends and followers.
Green: When a post is marked with a green button it is public.
Blue: When a post is marked with a blue button, it is only for people in your circles.
Hangout: A group video chat feature for users in your circle.

Tumblr

Dash: Short for dashboard, it is the main news feed of Tumblr blogs you follow.
Heart: Users can like posts by clicking on the heart above the post in their dash.
Tag: Categorization system for posts that allows users to find new blogs.
Reblogz Users can reblog posts they enjoy to their own blog.

Digg

Digg: Refers to users liking a post.
Top News: The main page of Digg that shows the most shared posts on Digg.

 Twitter

1 Create a Twitter handle. Use either your business name or a name your clients and customers will recognize.
2 Follow other users that are in your field, clients, and customers
3 Make it onto #FF (Follow Friday) lists. These lists recommend other Twitter users follow you
4 Recruit followers by letting people know you’ve joined Twitter. Post to other social media platforms and websites with links back to your Twitter.

Facebook

1 You must set up a personal profile before you create a company page (it is against T&C to create a profile for your business.)
2 Create your company page and add company information, photos, videos, upcoming events, and links back to your website.
3 Join groups on Facebook that are relevant to your business and company interests.

YouTube

1 Before you set up a YouTube account, you must first decide if video content creation will benefit your business.
2 lf the answer is yes, set up your YouTube account. Your account will be linked with any Google accounts you have.
3 Once your first video is posted, share it through your other social media platforms such as Facebook.
4 Connect with customers by liking or commenting on user customer testimonials.

Google+

1 Initially you will need a Google account and simply click on the Google+ icon to begin the process.
2 Add team members VIPS and customers to separate Google+ circles to organize your news feeds.
3 Connect your Google+ page with website using the Google+ Badge / Logo.
4 Begin posting content such as status updates, videos or photos to your Google+ account.

Tumblr

1 Tumblr requires a bit more planning and designing than the other social media sites. You need to choose a theme when creating a profile.
2 Begin to post. The most popular tumblr posts often have images associated with them
3 When you create posts on Tumblr you can have them instantly shared with your Twitter and Facebook feeds
4 Follow other blogs from clients, customers, and fellow businesses.

Digg

1 Digg is a social bookmarking site. After you create a profile you can post links for other users to “digg.”
2 Try to create catchy or interesting headlines and content that other Digg members may enjoy and make viral.
3 Post your Digg link to your other social media sites to encourage traffic to the article.