Google Grants is a unique in-kind donation programme that awards free AdWords advertising to selected charitable organisations. Google is well known for it’s support of organisations that share their philosophy of community service to help the world in areas such as science and technology, education, global public health, the environment, youth advocacy and the arts.

What is Google Grants?

The Google Grants programme empowers non-profit organisations to achieve their goals by helping them promote their websites via advertising on Google. Google AdWords ads appear when users search on Google. When you click one of the ads, you are brought to the website being advertised.

AdWords and How it Works

With Google AdWords, you only reach people who are interested in your organisation’s information and services.

When Google users search on keywords that are related to your organisation, your ad appears next to relevant Google search results under the Sponsored Links sections. A click on your ad takes users directly to your website.

So instead of looking for an audience, you’ve got an audience looking for you!

Reach Your Target Audience

When creating keyword lists, a good question to ask yourself is: “If I were researching information or opportunities offered by my organisation, what would I type?”

The more specific your ad text and keywords, the greater the chance that you will attract users who are interested in learning more about your organisation:

Track Your Performance

From within your AdWords account, you can review the performance statistics of your ad campaigns. You will be able to view the number of times that your ad was viewed (an impression), the number of clicks on your ad, etc. You can even track conversions, such as donations, newsletter sign-ups and volunteer registrations!

Since you have access to all of this valuable information at your fingertips, you can make strategic decisions on how to expand your account, as well as which poorly performing keywords and ad text to tweak.

Need Some Help?

Chichester Design has an in-house Google Advertising certified partner who can use their skills to manage your online marketing campaigns for maximum awareness for your organisation.

Apply for a Google Grant Today: www.Google.co.uk/Grants

Product Extensions comes to the UK after being trialled in the US last November and its aim is to further enhance adverts by including more relevant and specific information, i.e. product images. Product Extensions allows advertisers to select specific products to appear within AdWords paid ads when triggered by certain keyword searches.

The same cost per click is incurred by advertisers whether users click on the main text ad or through the Product Extensions plusbox. However, there is no charge for merely expanding the plusbox without clicking through to the site.

The launch of Product Extensions is clearly designed to improve the performance of AdWords search campaigns and introducing a stronger visual format is likely to give advertisers using the new feature a definite advantage over those that don’t. A Google blog cites the example of SonyStyle.com, which reported a 9% increase in conversion rates for their ads with Product Extensions.

Google AdWords is a core service at Chichester Design and our team includes Google AdWords Certification holders, of which there are only a few in our area. Google AdWords is a powerful pay-per-click advertising service which includes site-targeted advertising. Ads are short, normally comprising one headline and two additional text lines.

Online advertising and marketing is a major business strategy and Google AdWords campaigns form a central part of this type of business development. Advertisers pay a fee each time a user clicks through from an ad to their site and they can place their adverts to appear in connection with specific searches. The performance of these ads is tracked, allowing service providers such as Chichester Design to develop campaigns to produce the best possible results for advertisers. It’s all very clever.

To find out more about Chichester Design’s web design and development services, including Google AdWords, contact Ben on +44 (0)1243 787542 or info@chichesterdesign.co.uk.

• We’ve grown 50% since last year
• We’ve completed projects for companies such as Field & Fork, Chalet Floralie and Mafi Mushkila
• We’ve incorporated a marketing department offering a whole new range of services
• We’ve moved to a bigger office in Chichester and set plans in motion for a London office opening in 2010
• We’ve acquired 2 more Google qualifications- Kate has become a Google AdWords Professional and Chichester Design has become an Authorised Google Apps Reseller
• We’ve temporarily taken on editing the South Coast Design Forum e-newsletter as well as taking care of compiling and sending the newsletter and maintaining their website

Chichester Design would like to thank all of our customers and colleagues for their support. Please read on to find out more in our yearly round-up.

Our team is growing…

Many of you might have worked with Ben and Jeremy over the years but here are a few more names and faces that have worked with us during 2009 and you might not have had the pleasure of meeting yet:

• Ben Davis – Managing Director, Project Manager, Problem Solver, Photographer and Nocturnal Mountain Biker
• Simon Batchelar – Executive Director, Financial Brain, Voice of Reason, Audiophile and Husband-to-be
• Jeremy Gilbert – Senior Web Developer, Coding Wizard, Cheese Loving Rugby Nut and Father-to-be
• Ashley Stevens – Junior Web Developer, Boy Genius, Web Enthusiast and Media and Photography Student
• Kate Lassetter – Marketing Consultant, Search Engine Optimisation Expert, Organiser and Lover of Tapirs

Did you know Chichester Design is now in East Pallant?

Chichester Design is now located at Hollybrook House, 4 East Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TR.

You can find us just a few doors down from the Chichester District Council Offices and directly opposite the entrance to the Pallant House Gallery restaurant, Field & Fork.

This makes it really handy for meetings as Field & Fork knows how to make a good coffee and make exceedingly good cakes- Sam’s are far better than Mr Kipling’s.

As our offices are located on the top floor of a beautiful old Georgian building without a lift, we are more than happy to meet people in Field & Fork which on ground level and has wheelchair access.

If you haven’t been to see us in East Pallant this year, why not pop in and see us?

We’d love to see you and you can even have one of our spectacular limited edition pens – what do you think of that?

Would you like free hosting next year? Save £230 with the Chichester Design Referral Programme

We know that the best business is done by people recommending other businesses to their friends, family and colleagues.

We’d like to think that you would recommend us to someone you know and as a thank you for doing so, providing that your recommendation goes on to become a new customer, we’ll give you free hosting for a whole year.

That’s a saving of £230!

Would you like to recommend someone and claim your free hosting?

Either email us and let us know their details or feel free to pass on our details so that they can contact us.

Chichester Design has a new website

We decided that it was about time for a Chichester Design website design refresh.  The problem is that when you design websites for a living, regardless of how important it is to sell your services, your own website can tend to suffer. You always put those updates off and concentrate more on the bread and butter stuff.

But as we soon came to realise there is nothing more important than your own website when you’re in this business.

With more team members and more services to shout about we thought it would be a good chance to update our design and create a website that really reflects our brand as it has developed. The design is fresh, funky and highlights our love of the whole social media revolution as well as our commitment to exceeding our customers’ expectations.

Our website also highlights our new and improved range of services and features a load more additions to our project portfolio and examples of our photography for your perusal.

Check it out, you know you want to.

Chichester Design is here to Jumpstart your Google Adwords

Jumpstart for Agencies is a new business development service that makes it possible for Chichester Design to offer clients an extra element to their Google AdWords Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, at no extra cost.

We are currently the only agency in the Chichester area that Google are working with to offer a premium Jumpstart AdWords Management Service that can help to develop your business and, ultimately, maximise your Return on Investment.

What’s AdWords all about?

Paid search allows advertisers to tailor messages with precision in order to target the needs of their prospective audience and they have complete control over the budget – it is possible to set a daily budget for as little or as much as you would like.

What’s more, all campaigns are built according to a clients’ individual business objectives, whether these are to increase an online profile by generating more visitors to a website, or develop a more complex marketing strategy such as increasing sales of specific products.

What’s Jumpstart all about?

As Google AdWords Certified Professionals and part of the Jumpstart programme, Chichester Design’s Ben and Kate are now able to work closely with Google UK’s in-house AdWords team.  This enables us to take your paid search a step further.

We can create a bespoke campaign using Google’s industry-specific expertise as well as independent 3rd party reports from Hitwise on your direct competitors.

What’s the catch?

Believe it or not, there is no catch.  Our affiliation with Google means that you get the premium Jumpstart service absolutely free. Everyone knows that there’s no such thing as a free lunch but the reason that Google have teamed up with Chichester Design to offer this complimentary service, which will make paid search marketing strategies fly, is because it’s open to all those who spend £3000+ on their AdWords campaigns per month.

You can think of it as a reward for those clients who are interested in dedicating a proportion of their marketing budget to AdWords and are wise to the old proverb that you’ve got to “speculate to accumulate”. The current B2B online market is now estimated to be worth £200 billion, and Chichester Design is here to help you get right to the centre of the action, for just:

A one-off account set-up fee + a minimum spend of £3000 on your PPC campaigns + our monthly management fee

How can you resist?

To find out more about how Chichester Design can set-up and manage your AdWords account or how we can work with our affiliates at Google UK to maximise the efficacy of your AdWords campaign contact Kate

Chichester Design is now an authorised Google Apps reseller

We are offering you the Google Apps Premier service with local set up and support carried out by our trusty technicians.

Google Apps provides reliable, secure online applications and communications wherever you work.

Some of the main features are:

• Gmail – webmail (email through your browser) and mail client (e.g. Outlook, Mail) on your computer
• 25 GB of email storage – it’s usually around just 5 GB!
• 99.9% uptime reliability guarantee – so no worries about your email going down
• No adverts – enjoy reading your emails without ads popping up and distracting you
• Powerful spam filtering, anti-virus and automatic message threading
• Google-powered email search – allowing you to find information and emails instantly
• Google Calendar, Google Docs and many other useful tools
• Mobile services with several options for accessing and syncing all your information while on the go, on your laptop, blackberry, iPhone, you can be productive with Google Apps even when not at your desk

Interested?

You know you can’t live without Google Apps! For more information take a look at our website or to arrange a time for us to set up your account contact Simon

Team News

This year Chichester Design introduced marketing to their services.  Kate Lassetter has worked for the company doing bits of copywriting and SEO for the last 3 years but in 2009 she took the plunge to join us on a permanent basis.  Kate’s now a team member enabling us to offer our clients key marketing services:

• Copywriting – We can write engaging, informative copy to promote any product, any service, any industry, either off or online.
• Social Media – We can build your brand using the likes of Twitter, Facebook and more.
• SEO – We can get your website higher on Search Engine Results Pages.
• Marketing Consultation – We can discuss what will work for you and write a comprehensive strategy that will see a significant return on your investment.
• Google AdWords – We can work with our contacts at google to manage your AdWords account and optimise your ads for a maximum return on investment.

Our Executive Director Simon Batchelar has also been setting the cogs in motion to open our new London office.  Simon has been dedicating a lot of his time to learning about the Google Apps program and as a result Chichester Design is now an Authorized Reseller. Read more about Google Apps.

Ashley has joined the team and has been helping with the configuration, development and maintenance of websites. In his spare time Ashley owns and runs independent fashion blog ‘Thread Rave’ and has plans to launch indie fashion brand ‘The Rave Line’ in 2010.

And for a bit of ahhhhh factor – Jeremy and Celine are expecting a baby in the new year so we all wish them the very best of luck and look forward to meeting the little one.

Keep in the Know

We’ve always got something to say for ourselves. So why don’t you stay in the know about what’s going down here at Chichester Design through social media:

• Check out the CD blog
• Become a fan of Chichester Design on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter
• See what we’re listening to on last.fm

Here’s looking forward to a prosperous and successful 2010, when we look forward to working with you on your web design and development or marketing projects.

Warm wishes and best regards,

Ben, Simon, Jeremy, Kate and Ashley

Chichester Design

After stating that page speed is already a factor in the AdWords quality score, Matt Cutts of Google has recently said that the search engine will soon also consider page loading time as a factor for Search Engine Optimisation.

Page load time will just be the latest factor taken into account when ranking a page. There are currently around 200 individual ranking factors considered by Google as important in terms of SEO and each is weighted differently.

In order to play things safe, you should be aiming for a page to load in less than 5 seconds, and it is believed that from next year Google’s Algorithm changes are likely to deem any site with a load time of over 20 seconds as too slow.

This is an attempt to detect spam more easily, which is often delivered via servers crammed with hundreds, if not thousands, of similar sites. Meanwhile, this should help high quality sites to rank higher and more relevant pages to be displayed, therefore improving usability.

With this in mind, the back end of your website needs special attention to improve optimisation and this is where the expertise of Chichester Design’s web developer, Jeremy, come into full swing:

In a nutshell, Jeremy advises the following:

• Don’t overload your website with images – large files take longer to load
• Consider the benefits of Javascript over Flash – Flash is overdone, takes longer to load and makes websites over-complicated
• Host videos on YouTube and provide a link from your website – YouTube is so large it has the capability to load quickly and a link to YouTube is doubly great for SEO
• Avoid having “enter site” introduction pages – reduce loading time, number of clicks and let your visitor get straight to the info
• Use XHTML and CSS to set out your website – using tables for layout clutters markup and really slows load times, whereas storing style information in an external CSS file keeps everything tidy and ensures page load times are fast
• Make sure images are optimised and exported at the correct dimensions – large image files scaled down by the browser will take a much longer time to load than an image that has already been scaled down by image editing software
• Keep the markup simple – most HTML tags can be styled with CSS so there’s no need for them to be nested
• Images should ideally be used only for headers and never larger bodies of text – static text consumes only bytes where images consume thousands of bytes
• Make use of server side compression software – this ensures files are at their optimum size prior to being sent to the client browser, this is a great idea for script (e.g. PHP) and CSS files where the focus is not on semantics

If you would like further advice on website development and Search Engine Optimisation then the Chichester Design team is here to help. Give us a call on 01243 787 542 or email us at: info@chichesterdesign.co.uk.

Do you know what won us over? Jumpstart for Agencies is a new business development service that makes it possible for us to offer our clients an extra element to their Google AdWords pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, at no extra cost.

Paid search allows advertisers, like you, to tailor messages with precision in order to target the needs of your prospective audience and they have complete control over the cost of acquisitions.

As Google AdWords Certified Professionals and part of the Jumpstart programme, Chichester Design’s Ben and Kate are now able to closely with Google UK’s in-house AdWords team.  This enables us to take your paid search a step further and create bespoke campaigns using Google’s industry-specific expertise as well as independent 3rd party reports from Hitwise on your direct competitors. 

Wondering how Jumpstart, works and how it will really benefit you and your business? Here’s a breakdown of the process:

Consultation: After we’ve registered your interest in Jumpstart, we’ll discuss your business needs and the objectives for the campaign in detail with our associates at Google UK.

Confirmation: Once you’ve agreed how much you’d like to invest, we’ll confirm the minimum daily budget with Google and they’ll then assign one of their industry specific AdWords campaign developers to the account.

Customisation: Within a few days a customised AdWords campaign with the search terms that will trigger your ads, advertising copy to promote your business, and the suggested price per click to maximise your return-on-investment will be generated.

Optimisation: For the first few weeks of the campaign we‘ll work side-by-side with Google to improve its performance; suggestions for improvement may include changes in keywords, copy and bids.

Sophistication: Once your AdWords campaign is live, we’ll work with Google further to grow your overall online marketing strategy using their products. For example, if you want to build a presence on YouTube, get your business listed on Google Maps or turn your site into a transactional ecommerce site by accepting Google Checkout, we can work with Google to make this happen.

What’s the catch?

Believe it or not, there is no catch.  Our affiliation with Google means that you get the premium Jumpstart service absolutely free. Everyone knows that there’s no such thing as a free lunch but the reason that Google have teamed up with Chichester Design to offer this free service that will make paid search marketing strategies to fly is because it’s open to all those who spend £3000+ on their Adwords campaigns. 

You can think of it as a reward for those clients who are interested in dedicating a proportion of their marketing budget to Adwords and are interested in the old philosophy that you’ve got to “speculate to accumulate”. The current B2B online market is in fact now estimated to be worth £200 billion, and our special introductory offer means you can be right at the centre of the action, for just:

A one-off account set-up fee + a minimum spend of £3000 on your PPC campaigns + our monthly management fee

How can you resist?

To find out more about how Chichester Design can set-up and manage you Adwords account, or for more information on how we can work with our affiliates at Google UK to maximise the efficacy of your Adwords campaign, contact us today.

Ben at Chichester Design became curious about Google Adwords as a business avenue almost three years ago and decided to swot up and become a certified Google Adwords Professional qualification as fast as his Managing Director legs would carry him. He did all his reading around the topic and watched the tutorial slide shows then excelled the online exam in November 2007. Ben soon acquired a good portfolio of clients from far and wide who were very grateful of his plentiful Adwords knowledge and expertise.

Before long, Ben had so many clients asking him to manage their accounts that he decided it was time for the Chichester Design team to branch out a little. Ben knew just the woman for the job, a keen marketer who’s especially good at copywriting and Search Engine Optimisation with a nifty use of keywords. On deciding that she would be perfect Professional Adwords Individual material, Ben called on Kate and the rest is history…

Kate has been with the Chichester Design team on a regular basis since January 2009 and after a few months of intense studying she has managed to add another string to her bow and just last week bagged herself the Google Adwords Professional qualification. It’s not only a great asset to Kate as an individual but also excellent for the team as it means we’re well on our way to becoming the only Adwords certified company in our area of the South Coast.

Most importantly, this is great stuff for you, the customer, as we are the most qualified people around to manage your Google Adwords accounts and maximise your Return on Investment. It’s true that Adwords aren’t particularly tricky things to create but if you want to get the most out of your online advertising campaigns, obtaining the highest quality scores and the lowest Cost Per Clicks, this is where our expertise is paramount.

Advantageous Adwords

“What are the benefits of Google Adwords?” We hear you cry, well here you go:

* Relevant/targeted ads- you reach your customers at the precise moment they’re looking for your products or services

* Huge scale distribution- ads can appear on Google.com search results (reaching more than 80% of Internet users worldwide) as well as the Google Network of search and content sites, such as AOL, Amazon and The New York Times

* Real time distribution – Google’s technology matches advertisers’ ads to relevant content in real time

* Customized targeting- you can target your ads in about 40 different languages, throughout more than 190 countries

* Daily budgeting – you can carefully monitor what you spend on advertising by setting a daily budget that you are comfortable with

* Pay Per Click (CPC)- you only pay when people click on your ad and these people are the most likely to make a conversion

* Pay Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)- only available for campaigns that don’t target the search network and you only pay after your ad has been displayed 1000 times

* Optimum performance- using online tracking tools, you can keep a close watch on your ads’ effectiveness and your ads can be continually altered and refined to drive even better results

* Accountable and measurable results- you can choose a pricing model that best suits your needs and measure your Return on Investment

Adwords are ideal at a time when advertisers don’t have money to risk on pricey Above-the-Line ads that might or might not catch their target audience’s attention and result in them retaining enough information to later make a conversion. Make sure you are there at the forefront of the action, when your customers are searching for what’s on offer, so that they can click right through and view your web pages, leave you their contact details or make a purchase.
Google Adwords is the way to go if you want to build brand awareness, generate leads, identify prospects, generate sales and acquire new customers. And the Chichester Design team are most definitely the people to help.

Give us a call or drop us an email today and ask to speak to Ben or Kate who will give you a free, no obligation, Adwords consultation. We will looks at your business needs and identify how we can manage your Adwords campaigns most effectively to give you the best Return on Investment possible.

Find out next week how Chichester Design have struck up a special relationship with the guys and gals on the Google Jump Start team…

“A computer user’s representation of himself/herself or alter ego, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games [or] a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on Internet forums and other communities…”

As we’ve been pretty gung ho with all this social media lark we thought we’d get with the program and create our own funky little avatar fellows as a way to introduce you to the Chichester Design team.

By the power of Google, Ben came across a nifty little programme called Portrait Illustration Maker that lets you create a cartoon version of yourself, incorporating immense detail from hair style and skin tone to eye colour and nose shape. It was great fun creating representations of ourselves and meant that we were free to include all the things we like about ourselves and leave out all the bits that make us run away screaming from mirrors.

So here we go, introducing the Chichester Design Avatars:

From left-right: Ben, Jeremy, Kate & Simon

Not only do our avatars give all our customers a clue (I say clue, rather than wholly accurate portrayal!) as to what we look like but it also gives you a little insight into our personalities and puts a friendly(ish) face (or four) to the team.

The idea behind this master plan was to make us more approachable for the time when you want a website design consultation, advice on the right social media marketing mix for your brand or when you’re looking for someone to manage your Google Adwords campaign.

We are just people after all, and, although we spend a lot of time hidden away in our Chichester office tapping away at keyboards, we love nothing more than being allowed out to meet up with potential clients for a bit of a chat about the services we offer and what we can do for you and your business.

So, don’t be shy – and don’t be put off by our quirky interpretations that have resulted in a gang that wouldn’t look out of place in a Scooby Doo adventure- we won’t introduce you to any scary ghouls but we will get to the bottom of your design problems (See what I did there?)! Get in contact with us today.

You can find the Professional Status page by clicking on the AdWords Qualified Individual or Company logo that is visible from the individual’s or company’s website. If you do not find it there, simply ask your professional for the link to the page. Once you find the page, it is important to check for the following things so you can ensure that the page and professional are authentic:

• The professional’s business name.
• Professional Status page hosting by Google. The prefix of the URL string should be ‘http://adwords.google.co.uk/select/ProfessionalStatus.’
• Google’s validation of the individual or company’s Qualified status.

If you find a page that does not include all these characteristics, please let Google know by completing this form.

Chichester Design’s Ben Davis is a AdWords Qualified Individual which means he’s met Google’s requirements to attain recognition as a Qualified Google Advertising Professional.

Improving your online advertising

Let customers know you have what they are looking for. If you compare your ad to competitors’ ads on Google, does your business stand out? Your ad text should highlight your unique selling point at the current time, whether it is free delivery, discount prices, or quick service. There are also advantages to mirroring keywords in your ad text. If a user searches on a keyword you’ve included in your ad, that phrase will appear in bold, highlighting that you have what the user searched for. Learn about creating great ads.

Your keywords are the terms you have chosen that, when searched on Google, trigger your ad. The more specifically your keywords relate to your product or service, the more likely you are to see results. Review options for your business by visiting the keyword tool for suggestions. For example, if you sell a range of hiking shoes, ‘men’s hiking shoes’ will out-perform the more general ‘shoes’ or ‘hiking’ as a keyword, yet it is still broad enough to be a term users will search on. You can also use keyword matching options to further refine what searches your ad shows for.

Users do not spend long on a website if they cannot immediately see what they are looking for. Choosing a landing page with content relevant to your ad text and keywords will mean visitors to your site are more likely to turn into paying customers. Often your homepage is not the best place to link to: edit your destination URL so that it links straight to a product or service specific page, where customers can either buy from you or contact you.

Your ads will show in a higher position based on their ranking. Did you know that how much you bid for your keywords is only one factor considered? We reward relevant ads by showing them in higher positions according to their Quality Score. In general, the more that users searching on your keywords click on your ads (clickthrough rate) the better your Quality Score and ranking will be. Choosing relevant keywords and ad texts helps you manage costs and improve your ad’s visibility. For help reviewing and optimising your account, see best practices from Google advertising experts.

If sales and leads, rather than clicks, are your focus we’d encourage you to set up conversion tracking. This free tool allows you to track which keywords lead to user behavior you find valuable on your site: such as a purchase or submission of an enquiry form. Once you set up conversion tracking, you’ll be able to see this information alongside your clicks and impressions each time you log into your account. You can edit your keywords and bids to focus specifically on those you know are generating most business for you.

You can gain useful insight into your advertising performance by using the AdWords Report Centre. Schedule custom email reports that show your click statistics by campaign, Ad Group or keyword. If you have conversion tracking set up, your reports will also include information on sales and leads from your AdWords advertising.

Find out about our free online seminars that can help you learn more about your AdWords account.

Get simple Optimisation tips with example keyword lists and screenshots that are relevant to your business.

Learn how to improve the ranking and visibility of your site on Google’s free search listings with a whole range of tools. Webmaster Central provides you with information on how Google indexes your website. You can see how your site is doing in our index and tell us how you would like your site to be crawled and indexed.

Millions of people search Google Maps every day for information about businesses in their area and beyond. Once you’ve added a listing to our Local Business Centre, users will be able to find your business details, from your address and hours of operation to photos of your shop front or products.

Google AdSense matches ads to the specific content of your site. Whether you already have a team selling your advertising space, or whether you’re new to monetising your website, AdSense is a flexible option. Choose where on your site text or display ads show, so they fit with the overall look and feel. It’s easy to start generating additional revenue from the web pages in your current inventory.

business, not your IT, with Google Apps
Save time and money and increase the focus on your core business by outsourcing to the Cloud. Google Apps lets your business save time and money by outsourcing email, calendar and desktop productivity tools to Google. This provides your employees with universal access to essential applications at low cost, and there is no hardware or software for you to install and run locally.

Get more info about Google’s products and services.

Source: Google