Matt Cutts has repeatedly said that quality content is key to Google rankings, and Bing’s Duane Forrester reminded marketers that “all SEO ranking signals revolve around content of some kind” at SMX Advanced 2011. High-quality, search-friendly content allows businesses to populate their sites with keywords and valuable information for visitors (and both are important to search success).

Brafton’s infographic, Why Content For SEO, explores how content is key to search engine visibility.

Via: Brafton

To find out more about Chichester Design’s web content services, including SEO services, contact Michelle on +44 (0) 1243 787542 or info@chichesterdesign.co.uk.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I like to keep an eye on all things Google when I get a spare minute or two at my Chichester Design desk and I think the value of
Google Verbatim for business websites is well worth highlighting. It allows business website owners to see how well their site is truly ranking.

Google Verbatim is a search mode in Google that allows users to perform searches that are affected only by the keyword entered. You thought that was what happened anyway? The truth is very different – Google corrects any errors you may make, such as spelling and grammar. It also uses factors such as location, plus 1s and your search history when choosing which search results to return.

Google Verbatim strips all this back. The search mode is kind of new and kind of not. Traditionally you could make verbatim searches using + in the search bar. However, this service was quietly withdrawn earlier this year, which I assume was because of the launch of Google+. So, Google Verbatim is the replacement.

Google Verbatim does not tailor search results and, because of the forensic results it provides, business website owners can get an insight into just how good (or bad) their online profile is. At a time when the focus seems to be strongly on the boom in
mobile browsing, mobile website optimisation (MWO) and social media optimisation (SMO), Google Verbatim is a reminder of the importance of search engine optimisation (SEO) in the online business world.

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

That’s the big question. Can it give the mighty Zuckerberg creation a run for its money or will it be another damp squib like Google Buzz or Google Orkut? Google are claiming that its 12-week invitation-only trial attracted more than 20 million souls, which is a tidy amount. However, given its track record, I don’t think anybody is betting the house on it succeeding.

You can certainly understand why Google is chucking the kitchen sink and millions of dollars at creating its own social network. Just look at the power of Facebook – almost 800 million people use it across the world, including 26 million in the UK.

It is estimated that US$1.3 billion will be spent worldwide on Facebook advertising by businesses in 2011. Why? Well, in the UK, one in ten visits to a website originates from the social network, while  business intelligence company Experian Hitwise claims that one Facebook fan equals 20 additional visits to a website. It’s easy to understand why companies are investing in social media optimisation and social media marketing.

It is also easy to see why Google wants a slice of this pie. It clearly means business – new features are going up on Google+ all the time –but only time will tell if Plus becomes a credit to the search engine-istas or another mark in the negative column.

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

I’ve mentioned before that mobile browsing is fast growing in popularity – it is forecast by some to overtake PC browsing in the next five years – and I think that Google’s acquisition of Motorola will help drive this growth and maybe even accelerate it. It also makes mobile website optimisation increasingly important for online businesses when it comes to designing or redesigning their websites.

Motorola will enable Google to better develop its Android mobile device product, not least because of the large number of patents the manufacturer holds. In short, it lets Google do hardware – to date it has remained software-focused.

This investment should help it enormously in its fight with Microsoft and, more importantly, with Apple in the mobile device arena. How long before we see a Google mobile device to really take on the iPhone and iPad? Apple’s huge profits should certainly be a major incentive.

A player of Google’s profile and resources in the mobile device marketplace will not fail to make waves and businesses should be aware of the likely impact. Having an online presence that is not only compatible with but is able to exploit a rising amount of mobile browsing will be crucial.

By supercharging its mobile device profile with the acquisition of Motorola, we can expect to be using the likes of Google
Wallet (mobile payment) and Google Places (location-based loyalty schemes) a lot more and businesses will have to be ready for this.

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

Google +1 is a tool much like Facebook’s “Like” button that allows people to recommend places, products, services and much more. However, a major difference is that the +1 function can be applied to what Google calls the open web and the recommendations can be seen not only by family and friends, but the world in general.

You’ll need a Google account and public profile to use the tool (which ties in nicely to expanding Google+), but once you have, you can flag up websites that you think are worth sharing. From a business point of view, this is a very interesting move from Google that could have serious ramifications for online business development.

I’ve spoken before about the importance of social media optimisation and an integral part of such a marketing strategy is a
Facebook business page (not to mention Twitter and LinkedIn business accounts). Consider the growth of these tools and their value to businesses and Google+ becomes a very exciting proposition, not at least given the ability to link it with other Google services.

Whether you’re a restaurant, a taxi company, a boutique, a bed and breakfast, an accountancy firm or a design company, Google +1 is a potentially powerful tool as it aims to harness the power of referrals, just like the Facebook “Like” button but on a wider scale.

As you would expect from Google, the company is throwing its considerable resources behind the launch (although the Google +1 site does have a problem with erroneous apostrophes according to our copywriter). The Google +1 introductory web video says that the web is a big place and that +1 is a tour guide. Nicely put. Everyone buys tour guides and businesses benefit from being in them. Let’s see what happens from here.

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

Browse the web or pick up a paper and you can read about the details of Google+, its services and its features, and I’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on it in the coming months to see if it sinks, like predecessors Buzz and Orkut, or swims.  But apart from its success or failure, the fact that Google has had another go underlines just how important social networks and social media are.

If we’re looking at this from a business perspective, just look at how Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have developed in recent years, with company pages and adverts on Facebook, corporate profiles on LinkedIn, the wildfire-like spread of businesses on Twitter and the rising popularity of sponsored accounts. Social media optimisation has become de rigueur for businesses and an integral part of website design. Go without it and a company would be accused of living in the dark ages.

Setting up Twitter accounts and Facebook pages, building blog pages, writing blogs – there aren’t many website development projects at Chichester Design that don’t feature some, if not all of these components nowadays.

For a company that dominates the online world, with its search engine and the likes of Google AdWords, Gmail, Google Places, Google Wallet, etc., you can see why it has been so keen to add a social network to its empire. The opportunities are quite mind blowing. Google+ is the outcome of Google’s Operation Emerald Sea; it’s still being trialled but a full launch can’t be far way. At the helm is CEO Larry Page. Let’s see if he turns out be Captain Ahab.

To find out more about Chichester Design’s social media services, contact Michelle on +44 (0) 1243 787542 or info@chichesterdesign.co.uk.

Online sunglasses retailer EODiwear came to us with a brief to give them a dynamic web presence that would reflect the style and standard of the eyewear they sell. They specialise in heavy-duty, high-standard sunglasses which are designed to see some action, and survive it.

One of the first things we did was to get our photographer to shoot EOD’s extensive product range so that the performance eyewear could really be shown off to site visitors. Another key feature of the website was an online store with e-commerce functionality, allowing shoppers to purchase their sunglasses there and then.

Naturally for a sunglasses company, visibility is very important, so we fully search-engine optimised the new website in order to maximise EODiwear’s online presence. There are also links to the company’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, which comes as part of our social media optimisation package. Gratifying Google has never been so important if you want to appear high up in search engine rankings and grab consumers’ attention, so that’s what we’ve done.

Of course, the project also included a fresh look for the site and the new website design went down well (as did everything else) – read the testimonial here. All in all, it was a great project to work on with a really enthusiastic client.

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

Facebook Deals is an extension of the Places mobile app and allows retailers to offer discounts or other offers to consumers via their mobiles. To receive the digital discounts or offers, users have to check in using their phones when visiting participating stores.

Retail partners in the UK include Starbucks, O2 and Argos. Starbucks are giving away 30,000 free tall filter coffees and offering three pieces of cake for the price of two, while O2 is offering 10% off all accessories and limited giveaways of PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 in selected stores. Argos is donating £1 to the Teenage Cancer Trust for every check-in this week.

Other retailers getting involved include Yo! Sushi (handing out 2,000 free meals), Mazda (20% off all MX-5 models) and Alton Towers Resort (opening a day early for the new season exclusively for Facebook users who check in on 18 February).

I think the arrival of Facebook Deals underlines the growing importance of not only the role of this social network in the business world, but of social media marketing and mobile and smartphone-based marketing in general.

Facebook Deals will allow retailers easier access to core consumer information. They can see how many people are checking in and when, and track consumer engagement by age, gender and interest. Marketing strategies will be stronger because of this information, not least because businesses will be able to use this data to enhance their use of other online advertising, whether through Facebook or other sites, such as Google.

I also think that Facebook Deals makes it unequivocally clear that businesses, whether small or large, must engage with social media. Websites must be interactive and must feature links to Facebook business pages, business Twitter accounts, etc. And, websites must have smartphone compatibility – that’s how more and more purchasing is happening – just look at the development of near field communication (NFC) technology and the concept of paying for products and services using a mobile phone.

The breadth and depth of Facebook’s consumer base makes it particularly important and positions it especially strongly. With the value of recommendations and referrals continuing to rise, Facebook holds a huge advantage thanks to the opinion-forming base that sits within it.

Facebook Deals is not the first location-based mobile application – Foursquare and Gowolla are already out there- but the power of Facebook will have these rivals looking on uncomfortably. I can see only one winner in the race to become the holy grail of location-based mobile discounting.

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

2010 saw a phenomenal rise in the use of web videos, on both company websites and dedicated business YouTube or Vimeo channels. The limitations of a static website in an increasingly competitive marketplace is proving a key driver, with businesses now chasing the competitive edge of interactive online content, such as web videos.

This growth is why we’re expanding the Chichester Design services package to include a greater focus on the production of web videos. We created web videos for a number of clients in 2010 and over the coming months you’ll see a lot more emphasis on this web development feature from us.

So, how do you use web videos? First and foremost, you can use a web video on your homepage to introduce your business, demonstrate a new product or give details of a new service. Done professionally, web videos deliver the key messages and the consumer engagement that translate into healthy profits.

Of course, a dedicated web video channel on sites like YouTube or Vimeo can also be created. Which one is best? You’ll find our thoughts in this earlier blog – as ever Google plays a major part in the answer. This kind of marketing material gives a business a much more dynamic profile.

Web videos can also help a business climb the search engine rankings. Gratifying Google is a must for any company with online aspirations in today’s business world and web videos on your homepage, and other pages for that matter, act as an extremely valuable SEO tool.

I’m looking forward to developing this service and integrating it more extensively into the website design and development work we do at Chichester Design. I’ll keep you posted.

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