Ray at Inderford approached us and asked us to create something for him, using the company’s existing visuals, that he could then update and expand as and when he wanted. So, once we had the photography in the bag, we designed and developed a content management system (CMS)-based website for him.

A CMS-based website gives the user the independence to make changes to their website whenever and wherever they like. New products, new services, details of new staff members – all can be added easily and for free.

Simple, easy to navigate and easy to amend – I think that this kind of website is going to become the standard for SMEs everywhere. You can visit our online portfolio for more info and a look at the new Inderford website, as well as many others.

In addition to photography, we offer lots of other services that complement our web design and development, such as digital marketing, Google Adwords, Google Apps, branding, SEO, copywriting and more.

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

So, imagine if you’re from a generation that grew up with shillings, O Levels and computers that took up whole rooms. Imagine how overwhelming that view must be. Changing this view is the premise behind Silver Surfers’ Day, an initiative backed by the likes of the BBC, Google, Skype, the NHS and Decca Records to get over 50s online.

Working with creators Digital Unite, we’ve helped create a new website for Silver Surfers’ Day, which takes place on 21st May this year.

The initiative is designed as a simple introduction to using the web for over 50s, so we’ve helped make the functionality of the website just as easy. Visitors can choose from a range of doors, labelled Get Started, Send Email, Online Shopping, etc., through which lies straightforward instructions and advice on the chosen subject.

It’s a great initiative and we’re hoping that it gets plenty of coverage on the radio and online. Check it out at www.silversurfersday.org.uk.

To find out more about Chichester Design’s web design and development services, contact Michael on 01243 787542 or info@chichesterdesign.co.uk.

Update:

• Watch Sir Terry Wogan promoting Silver Surfers’ Day on the BBC Breakfast TV on Thursday
• Listen to Sir Terry Wogan promoting Silver Surfers’ Day on Friday’s Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2

Chichester Design recommends using landing pages to tie in with digital marketing campaigns from email newsletters to PPC. Having a specific and carefully designed landing page linking from an email newsletter or a Google AdWords ad is more likely to maximise your return on investment. Just think about it, if you’re directed to a homepage it can be confusing for you to work out where you should navigate to next, if directed to a specific landing page you will do less of the thinking and more of the doing. Therefore, landing pages help with navigation, internal linking and aid search engine optimisation in that they help both visitors and search engines find their way around your website.

Another advantage of using landing pages linked to digital marketing campaigns is that you can gain more customer insight using analytics tools.  You can use analytics data to find out where your visitors come from, what links they clicked on and how long they spend on your website. This kind of information can help maximise the effectiveness of future landing pages.

It would be great if it was possible that every webpage on every website was optimised for search engines; Chichester Design’s SEO expert would be in the money and we would all be able to find what we are looking for very easily. However, this is not always possible, particularly with large ecommerce websites that sell many products and have many pages. Creating dedicated landing pages per product range, rather than per product, gives you that opportunity to optimise them better with keywords, headlines and other SEO techniques but does not mean quite so much work- not necessarily good news  for us but most definitely good news for you J

So basically, hell yeah, landing pages are great for SEO! If you have an ecommerce business landing pages are a must to make your website more accessible to customers, more user-friendly for customers and maximise the chance of a conversion. To find out more about Chichester Design’s Search Engine Optimisation and web copywriting services contact: kate@chichesterdesign.co.uk.

Digital marketing can be defined as any number of mediums such as social media, Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimisation, articles, blogs and forums.

Utilising digital marketing is clearly becoming more popular when we consider that there has been a 70% increase in budget spends for 2010 on off-site social media investment and a 64% increase in on-site social media investment as well as a 64% increase in budget allocation to Search Engine Optimisation (Econsultancy, Marketing Budgets, Feb 2010).

It also seems that Google AdWords is still the digital marketing medium where people spend the biggest chunk of their budget but Twitter is the most popular social media marketing tactic used.

According to Dave Chaffey of Smart Insights, when it comes to creating the very best digital marketing mix, you should make sure that you:

• Start with your website goals and how to create value for your customers
• Research your online marketplace to define your most appropriate marketing mix for your digital strategy
• Integrate web analytics, on and offline conversion tracking and optimisation so that campaign performance can be tracked and optimised
• Implement the tactics that fit your goals best and remain flexible and agile

 And when considering the recipe for campaign success, Dave suggests that you:

• Develop a campaign that creates a buzz that people can engage in and participate with
• Develop a campaign with momentum
• Use a steady drip effect to connect with your audience e.g. repeat email  campaigns when possible
• Reach prospects and customers through your networks
• Integrate cross channel messages e.g. sending a teaser email prior to a direct mail increases success rates
• Integrate email newsletters with social media

 If you would like to know more about what makes a successful marketing mix or you would like Kate our Digital Marketing Consultant to start work on your campaign strategy today, drop us an email.

You like that? Bet you did! Stay tuned to read more from Chichester Design on this year’s TFM&A including YouTube Vs Facebook and Is the Future mobile?

On the day of its release the people who deal in business intelligence for digital and social media Trendrr revealed that, despite the usual delays that trending topics from Haiti to the death of Michael Jacskon create, there were no less 177,000 Tweets just in the first hour.

I know that Chichester Design’s Managing Director Ben was very excited about the impending launch and was checking the Apple website as well his favourite forums more than hourly to get a peek at Apple’s new addition, but what did those Tweeters really think?

It seems that opinions were almost split down the middle, with 48% feeling as excited and passionate as Ben but slightly more of you (52%) were of the same opinion of me i.e. could iCare less?!

Call me controversial (no, please do!), but I’m not that fussed about Apple as a brand, I don’t have spare £££s to burn, I don’t like computer games and I would rather read a good old fashioned book that’s made of paper, thanks all the same.

Ok, there were the 29% that said they intended to buy the iPad and 19% who appreciated it as a great new bit of technology. However, 21% of all tweets couldn’t stand the name – I for one think it sounds like a feminine hygiene product or something a pirate would wear (?!)

There were a further 19% who weren’t in any way turned on by Apple’s shiny new toy, they were particularly peeved that the iPad can’t support Flash or multitask, and then there were the 11% who were just sick of the hype.

Find out more for yourself here. What will you think? I wonder…

“How do I get my website to the top of Google?”

“How can I get more traffic to my website?”

“Is it worth me starting up a business for this, that or the other?”

And we thought as a special treat we would give you a few hot tips that will get you well on your way to a prosperous 2010 and stop Ben sounding like a monotonous old broken record all at the same time.

“How do I get my website to the top of Google?”

This is the age old query (well, digital age anyway) to which there is no one simple answer I’m afraid. But there are several things that everyone can do to improve their Search Engine Optimisation and therefore improve their rankings in the search results, here’s just a few of Ben’s favourites:

Search Engine Optimised webcopy – The first place to start with regard to Search Engine Optimisation is top-notch content. You need content on your website that is relevant, interesting, informative, easy to read, easy to navigate and fresh.

One of the most important elements of webcopy is that it contains the keywords that people will be searching for in relation to your product or service. For example, with the Chichester Design website we make sure that words like “Chichester”, “web design”, “web development”, “copywriting” etc are prominent (and of course choosing a nifty company name such as ours tends to help a little). But be careful not to just use keywords for the sake of it, they should fit naturally into the flow of your copy so that people actually gain something from the content, and we don’t mean a headache!

As people and search engines scan read online it’s important that your content is organised in such a way to aid this. Consider using subtitles and bullet points to break up the copy and improve readability. Linking to other relevant pages within your website also help the readers and the search engines to find what they are looking for effortlessly.

No one likes stale content and with the Internet being such an evolving and interactive place there really is no excuse for the boring and clichéd. Make sure that your content stays up-to-date so that your readers stay interested and the search engines keep coming back to crawl.

Google AdWords – Using Google AdWords to promote your services can work hand-in-hand with Search Engine Optimisation. AdWords also use keywords as a point of relevance and you will notice that the sponsored ads always appear alongside natural search results (on the right-hand side and at the top) for whatever keywords or terms you are searching for on Google.

The difference between sponsored ads and organic search is that sponsored ads are likely to be far more specific and more useful when searching for specialist products or services and when comparing prices and expertise.  For example, if you search for “bike maintenance Chichester” you may see a sponsored ad from Bike-Master and if you click on that ad you will be taken directly to the Bike-Master website so that you can contact them and find out more about their services. On the other hand, if you were to click on an organic search result it could be an article about the Council maintaining cycle routes – not really very helpful if you need to fix your bike – you see the difference?

It is a good idea to have specially designed landing pages for each product or service that you are advertising through AdWords, which should also be Search Engine Optimised. The main reason for this is that if a person has to make more than one click after clicking through from your Ad to your website, they will get bored and leave.

Social Media – Using Social Media such as Twitter and Facebook has been increasingly popular over the last year and 2010 is heralded to be “The Year of Social Media” so it seems there’s much more excitement to come.

Google has been indexing blog posts for a while and this indexing is usually as quick as the posts are frequent, which has seen blog pages coming up trumps in the organic search results. For example, if you search for “Google AdWords Chichester” the Chichester Design blog takes places number one and two in the search results.

The mighty search engine has now turned its attention to indexing social media posts, which are showing up in search results far more regularly. For example, Google recently launched its real time search feature which uses social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, to provide live commentary, links and reportage related to a user’s search. Not only that, but Google’s fusion of blog, news and social networking content has produced a search results page which focuses on synergy more than ever before. That means your Twitter or Facebook profile page can now be as important as your website itself.

“How can I get more traffic to my website?”

This is what everyone wants but some seem to believe that it will just happen as a result of a flick of a switch overnight; it takes considerably more effort than this. First of all, people need to know that you’ve got a website and then they need to know what it is and how to find it.

Marketing Strategy – Kate’s always reminding us that any business needs to have a good, solid marketing plan in place to survive but this does not necessarily need to cost the earth.  The purpose of a marketing strategy might be to raise brand awareness, attract new customers and retain existing customers. But, whatever mode of communication you choose, your key call to action would usually be to get people to visit your website and find out more about you. Thus, you should use other media to drive visitors to your main marketing vehicle (your website) and from there it will create new leads and conversions.

Digital media is a much more cost-friendly and accessible option for many and the likes of e-newsletters, PPC and distributing press releases online seem to be taking over where direct mail, print advertising and snail mail press releases left off.

Chichester Design offers a full marketing consultancy service, which includes a proposal to help you take all sides of marketing into consideration to achieve the best mix for your brand. There are so many options available now and newer mediums like social media cost more in time management than hard cash so are a more viable option for start-up businesses.

Search Engine Ranking – as long as your website is ranking well in the search engines for keywords relating to your business service or product you should acquire a good share of traffic. For example, our clients Ski Floralie wished to rank for terms such as “ski chalet”, “luxury chalet” and “Luxury chalets Saint Martin”. As a result, we have re-written their webcopy as well as their page titles and meta descriptions for their web pages to include these terms.

Since we published this new and improved Search Engine Optimised copy online just after Christmas there has already been a 60% increase in web traffic to Ski Floralie’s website. With time, the website should also rank higher in search engine results for these specific terms and encourage those people searching for those terms to visit the website and hopefully make a booking.

“Is it worth me starting up a business for this, that or the other?”

Traditionally, when considering starting a business, conducting market research is perhaps the most vital step. After all, without such consideration, the endeavour is merely a shot in the dark – which is really a rather irrational and foolish way to go! When it comes to the web the story’s the same, with the identification and targeting of a niche being make-or-break for your business.

Google Trends – It’s exciting (exciting for us, at least!) that such a large volume of web traffic is directed through the major search engines. Such a high percentage of the population search the web that usage data is an invaluable resource for identifying what’s being searched for and whether/how well that search is being catered for. Even more invaluably, Google publishes this data for free at Google Trends.

Not only is Trends an interesting way to identify niches, but it’s also an excellent way to find the optimum keywords for a website, depending on the present popularity of certain topics. Entering multiple keywords returns a graph comparing the popularity of each keyword over a selected time span. Not only do correlations emerge, but a clear winner when it comes to which keyword to focus on.

Hitwise – Similarly to Google Trends, Hitwise can help to identify online marketing opportunities for clients based on how their online presence compares to competitive websites and, in turn, maximize the return on their investments.

Hitwise offer a range of services for this purpose. For example, Hitwise Rankings are updated daily and provide a comprehensive overview of top performing websites across more than 160 industries. With over 1 million websites categorised, this tool gives marketers a complete view of their industry and specific online competitors.

Chichester Design offer clients free access to Hitwise analysis reports (which can cost up to £1000) through their premium AdWords Management service, Jumpstart. Read more about how Chichester Design can Jumpstart your AdWords.

Google Analytics – We recommend Google Analytics to all Chichester Design customers and will set up this free service as standard whenever we build a website.

This is because Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. With the help of Analytics data you will be able to focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver return on investment, and improve content on your site to convert more visitors’ enquiries into sales and commissions.

Google Analytics has the enterprise level capabilities you would expect from a high-end web analytics offering and provides timesaving integration with Google AdWords as well as non-AdWords initiatives.

In summary…

You now know the resources you need to work out whether it’s worth going forward with your business concept, how you can get your website to the top of the Google search rankings and how you can generate more traffic to your website.

Well there’s not a lot left to say apart from, what on earth are you waiting for?!

And remember if you need any help with Search Engine Optimisation, web copywriting, Social Media Optimisation, Google AdWords, marketing strategies or any of the other services that Chichester Design specialises in, we’re only an email away. Contact us now and start 2010 off the right way.

We know how important website usability is and we stress that a website that you can find your way around and use to fulfil your goals, whether it be to find out information, book tickets or post a comment, is a good website.

Good website navigation is not only great for usability but also great for search engines.  If you are thinking of applying any Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to your site then the navigation is the ideal place to start and our SEO experts would be glad to help you with this.

The B2B Marketing’s best practice guide suggestions for making your website easier to navigate, and Chichester Design’s little gems of the month, are:

Create a naturally flowing hierarchy

Make it as easy as possible for users to go from general to the more specific content they want on your site.  Add navigation pages when it makes sense and effectively work these into your internal link structure.

• Avoid creating complex webs of navigation links e.g. linking every page on your site to every other page.
• Avoid going overboard with slicing and dicing your content (it takes twenty clicks to get to deep content).

Use mostly text for navigation

Controlling most of the navigation from page to page on your site through text links makes it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your site. Many users also prefer this over other approaches, especially on some devices that might not handle Flash of JavaScript.

• Avoid having a navigation based entirely on drop-down menus, images, or animations (many, but not all, search engines can discover such links on a site, but is a user can reach all pages on a site via normal text links, this will improve the accessibility of your site; more on how Google deals with non-text files).

Use ‘breadcrumb’ navigation

A breadcrumb is a row of internal links at the top or bottom of the page that allows visitors to quickly navigate back to a previous section or the root page. Many breadcrumbs have the most general page (usually the root page) as the first, left-most link and list the more specific sections out to the right.

Put an HTML sitemap page on your site

And use an XML Sitemap file. A simple sitemap page with links to all of the pages or the most important pages (if you have hundreds or thousands) on your site can be useful. Creating and XML Sitemap file for your site helps ensure that search engines discover the pages on your site.

• Avoid letting your HTML sitemap page become out of date with broken links
• Avoid creating an HTML sitemap that simply lists pages without organising them, for example by subject.

Consider what happens when a user removes part of your URL

Some users might navigate your site in odd ways, and you should anticipate this. For example, instead of using the breadcrumb links on the page, a user might drop off a part of the URL, in the hopes of finding more general content.

Have a useful 404 page

Users will occasiosnaly come to a page that doesn’t exist on your site, wither by following a broken link or typing in the wrong URL. Having a custom 404 page that kindly guides users back to a working page on your site- perhaps your root page- can greatly improve a user’s experience.

• Avoid allowing your 404 pages to be indexed in search engines (make sure that your webserver is configured to give a 404 HTTP status code when non-existent pages are requested).
• Avoid providing only a vague message like ‘Not found’, ‘404’, or no 404 page at all
• Avoid using a design for your 404 page that isn’t consistent with the rest of you site.

(Taken from B2B Marketing, July/August 09, p40)

Like these tips and hungry to get your navigation in tip-top condition? Contact us today for a quote and we’ll help with all your web development and SEO needs.

Chichester Design is pleased to announce an exciting new website for Bayleaf Garden Services, a family run business based in the Chichester area.

As well as creating a fresh, organic look and incorporating vibrant images, Chichester Design have highlighted the wide range of gardening services available throughout.
The other key features of this website are the fantastic gallery, showing some of Bayleaf’s most inspiring creations, and the Gardening Diary, which takes visitors on a journey through the gardening year, offering an array of useful information on all things gardening.

Not only is this website extremely easy on the eye it is simple to navigate and reveals Bayleaf as the local garden service that you can truly trust.

www.BayleafGardenServices.co.uk