EyePlot Digital

Exploring New Channels To Enhance Income

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The enterprising segment of people can now make use of a vast number of channels available, to earn residual income. Such channels essentially involve a one-time participation for you to turn an idea into income opportunity. More often than not, they would provide rich benefits over a long period of time. Let us explore some of these channels in detail.

Saving In Banks, And, Investing In Potential Stocks

Make it a point to save a percentage of the amount of money you have, with a bank or a company, as a fixed deposit for a defined amount of time. This will generate money in the form of a fixed amount of interest over an extended time interval.

The potential companies offer a part of their profits in the form of dividends, if you are a shareholder owning their stock. So, investing in such companies might just be a better idea than accumulating cash at home.

Lease A Part Of Your Assets

If you own a property not being used currently, you would rather do wise to make good use of it by leasing it. You have options to sign a leasing agreement, for a long term, with a corporate entity or an individual. This makes you entitled to regular income in the form of monthly rentals for the duration of the lease.

Franchise

If you belong to the segment of successful business owners, franchising would be an effective way for you to expand your business, as well as your income. Look around and you would find a number of upcoming businesses in need of your name to boost their business prospects. Explore them, franchise by giving them your name, and earn a share of their revenues.

Generate Income Online

If you have a web portal or a business portal that consistently ranks high in search engines, you may allow other individuals or businesses to use it for online advertising. Such individuals or companies would then be entitled to pay you a commission, every time a user clicks on their ads.

Apart from these channels, you may also generate income by patenting your ideas or products, and then selling the same to earn royalties. If you are an artist, you may earn further by selling copyrights on your accomplished works of literature, architecture, or fine arts.

Merits Of Online Business

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The only thing that connects people across the globe is the Internet. Well, whats better than starting an online business and making your presence felt globally? But if you are not sure about starting an online business, think fast and think smart. Apart from being an effective marketing strategy, it has many other advantages as well. Read on to find out more about this as a career option.

The Advantages

Cost Efficient

If you start an online business, you require minimum investment and limited start up time. This means that you can start your work almost immediately. But be sure that whatever services you offer online must be of a very good quality and must also be useful for the end user. Also, all you need to pay is the amount for your system and for the Internet connection. Therefore, it is a very inexpensive way of communication.

Great Marketing Tool

Since more than half the world depends upon the Internet for answers to hundreds of their questions, Internet proves to be an efficient marketing tool. Also, it is quite a powerful medium as the mindset of the people is such that they usually believe things given on the Internet... and is there any need to mention that it is one of the fastest means of global communication.

Environment Friendly

Another advantage of an online business is that it is an environment friendly way of running an enterprise. You do not need the fuel to go anywhere; you do not use paper, hence no cutting of trees and no noise pollution either. You can keep all your records in your system and keep a record of your communication with your customers as well.

Avoids Office Expenses

You do not need to spend money and time on constructing an office or spend hours in traffic. You can work from your home quite conveniently and at your own pace. Since there is no running around, you can actually take a breather once in a while and enjoy yourself.

You Become A Global Professional

An online business is a sign of professionalism and making your presence noticed across the world. The best part is that you may not be required 24/7 but since you run an online business, your work is on display every time and everywhere for everyone.

Learning About Internet Marketing

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:00:00 GMT

If you are planning to an online business or a home based business, you must learn about internet marketing skills and techniques. Today online presence is critical to the success of any business. Since internet has such a vast reach, it offers numerous opportunities. So the best thing you can do for your business is to start learning as much as possible about internet marketing.

Online

One of the best places to gather information about internet marketing is the internet itself. Just do a search on a search engine and you will have access to vast array of information. You can basically learn about all aspects of internet marketing here. However, you do need time to do this.

College Or University

Another way to learn about internet marketing skills and techniques is to enroll in a university or college. Most universities and colleges will be allow you to enroll in a course to learn about internet marketing and related areas. Who says you can enroll in a college only with an aim of earning a degree? You can take as many courses as you need without the need to enroll in a degree earning study program.

Online Forums

You can join online forums to learn more about internet marketing skills and techniques. There are so many forums that are specifically dedicated to online marketing topic. Many affiliate marketing programs have their online forums which you can join. You can discuss or inquire about any topic relating to internet marketing via these forums. Members of these forums share their marketing tips with other members. Sharing marketing tips and strategies helps to improve a company's image and that is why it is encouraged.

University Library

Obviously you can always go to a library to learn more about internet marketing skills and techniques. If possible, you should access a university library. Check out the books on online marketing and business to learn as much as possible about the topic.

With information easily accessible today, one does not need to earn a MBA degree to learn about internet marketing. With the help of above mentioned resources you can learn as much as possible about the topic. Plus with the help of internet you can keep abreast of the latest trends in internet marketing.

Tips For Creating An Effective Website For Your Online Business

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:00:00 GMT

For any online business, the website is the platform where your customers will judge you. In most cases it will be your website that will create the first impression on your prospective customers. Therefore, it is very important to pay special attention to your website. This is true even for those businesses that do not have an online presence.

Content

When you are creating a website for your online business, there are few things that you should keep in mind. First, content is of utmost importance. Remember that people will be visiting your site looking for information on specific products or services. Your website should provide the information they are looking for.

The content of your site should not only be helpful, but also be readable. The content should be written in easy to understand language. Visitors do not like to read long sentences filled with heavy jargon. Plus the content should be free of grammatical and spelling errors. Content filled with grammatical and spelling errors simply shows that you do not care and this impression you will not like to create.

Graphics

Besides the content, you should focus on the graphics. However, do not overload your main page with graphics. A page loaded with graphics takes too long to download and most visitors will not wait for more than few seconds for a page to download.

Color

You should choose the color theme of your website carefully. Some websites have a gray background and gray color font, thus making it very hard for the readers to read the content. Do not make this mistake. Make sure that the content is clearly visible.

Navigation

It should be easy for visitors to navigate through your website. There should not be any broken links, as that is very irritating.

Security

If you are selling online, make sure that the transaction page is secured. This shows that you care about the security of the information provided by customers to you. Furthermore, no one likes to do business on an unsecured site.

Contact Information

Make sure that you website carries your business logo and contact information. Contact information is very important, because tells your prospective and existing customers that they can reach someone in the event they have any query or issue to resolve. It adds credibility to your website and online business.

Having a testimonial page is a good way to convince visitors to do business with you.

With the help of these tips you will be able to create a website that works for you.

Kaboodle: Shop Til You Drop

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Are you a serious shopper? Do you love to hunt down bargains online? If so, then you’ll love what Kaboodle has to offer. This fantastic fashion site is a must for all people that love to shop online. Not only will you be able to view new products and fashions that you have never seen before, but you’ll also be able to interact with a fashion-savvy community. Share your shopping thoughts, ideas, and questions with a large bunch of people that really know their stuff. You can think of this site as a way to gain the opinions of hundreds of people all at once.

If you have ever gone shopping by yourself, you know how hard it can be to decide upon one item or another. Even if you go shopping with friends, you never really know if something looks good or not (let’s face it, friends aren’t always truthful). With Kaboodle, you can ask thousands of people what they think about a particular item that you want to purchase. You can even ask the community whether or not you should purchase that one item at all. In addition, you can chat, post, and share all of your fashion thoughts.

Another great addition to the Kaboodle site is the snapshot button. With this button downloaded on your toolbar, you can visiting any site on the web and take a picture of any item. This way, you can save the photograph with the site information, post it on the Kaboodle site, and ask for thousands of opinions. You can also create an extensive shopping list that includes photographs, product information, and the opinions of friends, family members, and those that use this site on a regular basis. Lastly, you can find lots of items that you have never seen before by looking at things others have posted.

With Kaboodle, you’ll always be ahead of the fashion trends. If you love to shop, there’s no site on the internet that’s quite as great as this one. Shop, find, select, ask, talk, and discuss fashion all day long. Install the snapshot tool to do away with bookmarking; find new trends; and create a detailed shopping list. This site is the social networking tool for all fashionistas, and it’s also great for those with no fashion sense at all – this is one community that’s not shy about tell you what they think!

Do outbound links help improve rankings?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:00:00 GMT

For many years search engine optimistion professionals have always tried to protect their PageRank by not linking out believing that they will be losing PR as a result of an outbound link. I have always thought that this may not be the case and that linking to an authoriative website which is in the same industry as your website can provide a search engine with information about your industry itself. It seems that there is now evidence or at least some collective agreement that this may be the case.

I personally adhere to the rule that you should only link to highly relevant authority websites targeting a similar keyword phrase. I also try to reduce the outbound links to between 4-10. If done well you also tell human visitors that you are associated with that quality website which tends to help them and search engines work out where you fit in industry and keyword wise.

You can find out more from Aaron Wall's blog

Using Twitter To Market You Brand

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:00:00 GMT

More and more companies are discovering the advantages of using Twitter to market themselves and find new and interesting ways of engaging their customers. However, it isn't the right answer for everyone. There are some questions that you need to ask before you sign your company up to a Twitter account.

Who will be your Twitter voice? These days, with many companies experiencing layoffs and dealing with overworked staff, it is important to consider who in the company will be in-charge of updating the Twitter account. Not only does the person need to have some degree of comfort and familiarity with communications and technology, he/she needs to have the time to engage with customers, answer questions and deal with complaints. This will be especially true for larger brands that will probably have many followers and have more people engage them online. Will the person have the time to continue monitoring Twitter, or will the account fade out after a few months?

What does you company have to add to the Twitter experience? Twitter users are already becoming selective of who they follow on Twitter. If your account is set up in such a way that you are only using it to broadcast sales, advertise blog posts or generally spam, you will find yourself with very few followers, or followers with little actual interest in what you are saying. People might follow you in the hope that you will follow them back and thus increase their follower numbers, but this is not really the best scenario. How will you use your Twitter account to actually engage people and drum up interest in your brand? What can you do to make followers passionate evangelists, and muster enthusiasm for what you are doing?

If the answer to these questions is "I don't know," you might want to reconsider your choice to join Twitter. Know why you are going in and what you are going to do before you risk making a misstep and end up tarnishing your brand.

EyePlot on Twitter

Content is King.

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Content, Content, Content!

One of the important, if not most important aspect to successful web design is content. People do not go to a web page to talk about the layout and the html, they go to a web page because it contains the content they want to find. Whether it be the latest gossip about music, or a technical explanation of theoretical engineering models, the web sites that succeed have one thing in common, content.

While you want your layout to be good and eye catching, and you want the site to run smoothly, nothing is as important as making sure you have quality content. The trick is in finding quality content. This has been something that people have looked into for a long time and not surprisingly a few fairly common answers come up.

The first key to finding good content is in deciding what content you want your site to have. Once you know what content you want to have, the next step is in finding a place to look for that content. Thankfully, there are a number of places on the internet that provide quality content, or can help you find a person who provides the content. Once you have the content decided on, and someone to provide it the next step is of course putting the content on the site.

This may all seem rather obvious, but there is no end to the stories of people who have not gotten their content done correctly and their sites have failed. Yes, content is the most basic part of a successful site, so don't be trapped into the trick that so many people fall into. Make sure that you not only make your web content a priority when you first start, but keep it a priority as you long as you continue to develop and improve your site.

How to set up a 301 redirect using htaccess

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

We have recently had two clients who have changed their domain names and we have set up a couple of domain level 301 redirects for them. By creating a 301 redirect on a domain you are telling the search engines that the domain is still live but has merely changed. Therefore, all authority and links built up over time pointing to that domain can be transferred.

We use .htaccess files on our websites to create search engine friendly url's and so use the .htaccess file to perform our 301 redirects. What we do first on a small domain is create the following code:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/$1 [R=301,L]

This pretty much tells the search engine that everything on this domain is now transferred to www.yourdomain.co.uk - so copy the above code and replace the yourdomain.co.uk with your new domain. You then upload the .htaccess to the root of your domain where your index.html lives.

Then, we log into Google Webmasters Tools and inform them of the move in the domain settings area.

If you have lots and lots of pages then you should not use a general 301 permanent redirect but should individually assign each old page with a new page but that is a whole new articles.

Note* This .htaccess method of redirection works ONLY on Linux servers having the Apache Mod-Rewrite moduled enabled.

Top Iphone Productivity Applications

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Most people look at the sleek styling, flashy interface and surfeit of touch screen games available on the iPhone and instantly dismiss it as a product for hipster twentysomethings, without any use in the business world. This could not be further from the truth. Many excellent applications are available for the iPhone make it an excellent, indispensible resource for everyone.

If you, like most businesses, depend on Microsoft products such as Word for the majority of your documents, you will find Documents to Go an excellent application. This software has been familiar to users of Palm product for years. It is an easy to use piece of software that brings Word, Excel, Power Point and more to the iPhone. You can create, edit and save documents on the iPhone, and then synchronize them to your desktop or laptop. The interface is spontaneous and easy to use, and it supports many different document types.

Evernote is a free application that allows you to remember anything and everything that happens in your life. You can use it to write text notes, record voice notes, or use the iPhone's camera to take a snapshot. You can save all of these to the iPhone, back them up online, or download them to the Evernote desktop software. One of the excellent features is that you can search for text within photos, which can come in handy if you find yourself using this application a lot.

There are also several applications to help organize your life. One of the most popular and well reviewed is Bento, a personal database manager that will help you keep up with all of the details of your busy life. If goes beyond a standard contacts database, and includes thing like project timeline trackers, membership, to do lists and more.

This is just a small sampling of the software that makes the iPhone more than just a fun toy. It is a powerful piece of technology, and has a wide range of uses.

Follow Jay on Twitter

Successful Link Building

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Considered one of the most important strategies for search engine optimization, "link building" is a necessity for achieving top ranks in the major search engines. There are various simple methods you can employ to acquire backlinks to your site, to drive website traffic and to help improve the visibility of your site.

Backlinks are one-way links from other websites to your site. Also called "inbound links" these can be extremely effective in search engines as long as you are careful about the sites which are linking to you. Selecting appropriate and relevant sites to "backlink" to you is crucial here - lots of links from junk or inappropriate sites can actually harm your page rank.

Just as you have evaluated another website to make sure it is appropriate for a backlink, bear in mind that others will be doing the same to yours. Make sure your site is focused, easy to navigate, quick loading and that your links are ordered in a logical, easy to understand fashion. Ensure your site is dynamic and interactive with your visitors and that there are reasons for people to come back time after time. Your site needs to show webmasters that it is worthy of a link - would you bookmark it?

Submitting articles to article directories is also a successful way of generating links. These directories allow you to promote your online business by mentioning your URL which helps to drive targeted traffic to your site. Again, be careful when selecting directories as there are many junk directories out there (nicknamed "bad neighbourhoods") which can damage your site's credibility.

These steps might take some time to implement but if you have a desire to optimize your links and page rank this additional time spent initially will be well worth it.

Twitter - Real time search.

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Twitter uses the analogy of birds twittering in the trees that quickly spreads from branch to branch, tree to tree and valley to valley. Therefore, Twitter allows a very fast form of word of mouth communication in real time. This whole concept has made Twitter one of the most exciting forms of communication around. I must admit, it took a while for me to get my head around Twitter and see it's full potential. However, I have now seen the light (raises hands to sky and bursts into song).

So, how powerful is Twitter? Well, many celebs (as much as I hate using that word) use it to keep in close contact with their fans and is fundamental in engaging with their 'customers' and building their brand. Some companies use it to monitor brand reputation and can address negative feedback almost instantly before it gets out of hand. Also, and in relevance to this article, it has the power to quickly send the word out about a product in real time.

Take for example a film. It would take days normally for a review to come to light. The review will need writing, then publishing then reading and although it may only take a weekend, that weekend could be make or break for that film. The marketing of that film could be pumped up to promote the main revenue takings upon release over a weekend. Even if a review were published online it would take at least a few hours for the review to be indexed by the search engines before being consumed by the public.

Twitter is different. Twitter allows people to 'tweet' in real time about a film. People will know before that person who tweeted about the terrible film that the film is rubbish before its even bought up the final credits.

The real power of Twitter lies in the real time search and publishing ability.

Twitter Applications

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

"Application" is the current 21st century buzzword in add-on gadgets and widgets to improve the functionality of everything from iPhones to Google are made available.

With Twitter being the current communication tool of choice, I have found seven of the most popular and interesting Twitter applications to enhance your Twitter experience.

1. Twitbin. Twitbin is a simple extension to the Firefox browser which carefully orders all your friend's tweets into a handy sidebar. You can send and receive messages through it, and share links.
2. Tweetbeep. Working in a similar way to Google Alerts, Tweetbeep allows you to keep track of conversations that contain any specified keywords and updates hourly. This can be anything you like - you, your product or your company.
3. Tweepler. This clever little application allows you to actively manage your Twitter follower by classifying them as either "follow" or "ignore". This saves time as you do not need to individually visit each follower's profile.
4. Twitpic. The most popular Twitter application available, Twitpic very simply allows you to share your photos on Twitter.
5. Twittersafe. For those Twitter users that have spent months and years building up a huge community of followers, Twittersafe is an essential application. It allows users to back-up and restore their entire Twitter contacts at the click of a button.
6. Twapper. Working in conjunction with a 30Boxes calendar account, Twapper enables a user to post tweets directly into their calendar online or from a mobile phone.
7. TwittyTunes. Another application from Firefox, TwittyTunes allows you to let your friends know what music you have been listening to via Twitter with one click. It supports a large number of players including Last.fm

At the last count there were several hundred Twitter applications available for desktops, mobile phones and the iPhone, all of which help to enhance your Twitter experience.

Follow Jay on Twitter

Seven Tips For Using Google More Effectively

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Many millions of people worldwide rely on Google as their search engine of choice. However, with over 3 billion pages to search through, the results can often be overwhelming. Here are my top seven tips for searching more effectively using Google.

1. Search for a whole phrase. By simply putting the words you are looking for within a "..." Google will restrict its search to sites which use that phrase in its entirety. For example, if you searched for Big Blue House, Google would return any pages which featured those three words. By searching for "Big Blue House" it will only return pages which include that exact phrase.
2. Definitions. By using the term "define:" Google will return a number of definitions and links for your selected word.
3. Calculator. Google will perform simple arithmetic through its search bar by using "+ - * /" and parentheses.
4. Unit Conversions. By typing the information into the search bar Google will perform conversions for you - anything from kilos to pounds or from dollars to yen.
5. Wildcard. The * works as a wildcard in Google. If you have a phrase and you are missing one word you can replace it with the * and Google will return options for you. This is particularly useful when searching for song lyrics you are not entirely sure of.
6. Synonyms. By using the ~ symbol (the "tilde") before a word Google will not only search for that word but also its synonyms. If you were to search for "~kids beds" for example, Google would return results for both "kids beds" and "childrens beds".
7. Advanced search. If you can't remember these shortcuts or need additional refinements then simply use Google's "advanced search" option.

With so many pages available, these various clever shortcuts will help you refine your search. Google can help you find answers to life, the universe and everything you ask about...!

Podcasting - A Must For Businesses

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

In the internet age, companies are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to market their products and services. Simple websites, blogs, forums and even Twitter, businesses are using new marketing tools to communicate more effectively with their customers.

One unusual but effective way of improving your business performance is through podcasting. Providing audio content that customers can listen to at their own convenience is a marketing tool that is increasingly being used by businesses across the world.

There are several factors to take into account when making an effective podcast. Firstly, the content should be informative and interesting to customers whether or not they buy your product. Podcasts should not be audio commercials. Just as you would write an informative article on your blog or website, a podcast should be an unbiased and informative piece.

Secondly, have a clear idea of what you wish to say on your podcast and make sure you stay concise and on topic. Have some good quality recording equipment with which to record your podcast so that it sounds professional.

Thirdly, keep your podcast brief. They aren't a substitute for a radio broadcast and they are more effective as short, punchy broadcasts which customers can listen to as they carry on with their busy lifestyle.

One final use that successful businesses have made of podcasts is as an internal tool to keep employees informed. Successful sales stories, business strategy and best practice can be shared easily through an easily downloadable podcast that employees can listen to at their convenience.

New technological marketing tools are being utilized successfully by forward thinking businesses. Podcasting can make your business stand out as an industry leader, provide regular content to attract and maintain customers and, most importantly, help drive sales.

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How To Make Money Through Blogging

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Whilst there are many out there who use their blogs to share their opinions on their chosen subjects, it is also possible for writers to use their blogs to bring in some extra cash.

Firstly, and most commonly, there are many advertising schemes currently available. For popular blogs it may be possible to sell advertising space directly; for the rest there are schemes such as Google's AdSense or BlogAds that place unobtrusive, contextual ads on a blog and those that pay commissions for click-throughs to the advertised sites.

The next logical step in advertising is full blog sponsorship, although this is more likely to be applicable to popular blogs with a high level of traffic.

There is also a number of affiliate marketing schemes available to bloggers to help generate income. Affiliate marketing involves a company paying the blogger a commission for promoting their products or services. Here income is generated through various ways - by clicks, by leads or even by sales. Amazon and Linkshare are two of the most popular affiliate schemes.

Another way to generate income is to sell your intellectual property through your blog. Rather than selling a product or service directly, you might wish to sell ebooks, articles or associated service linked to the subject matter of your website.

Related to this, many bloggers have been hired for their writing services. Many businesses are looking to publish blogs but do not have the in-house expertise to write the content. Similarly, many bloggers are now being hired to write for other media - magazines, newspapers and non-blog websites. Use the quality of your writing to secure commissions. Hired bloggers can be quite useful for obtaining good links as part of an online marketing campaign.

It might take a series of initiatives and a number of different blogs but it is possible to generate income through blogging using these straightforward steps.

Five Essential Elements for a Successful Website

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

There are many factors from the simple to the technologically advanced that contribute to the success of a website. Considerations including layout, colour, content and ease of use are important, but these are the five key ingredients all successful websites share.

1. The site should be easy to navigate. One of the key issues here is to ensure that the primary links to different areas of the website should be near the top of the screen. With today's increasing screen resolutions and growing monitors it is key that the navigation links appear towards the top of the screen.
2. The site should be easy on the eye. It doesn't have to be state of the art, but the site does have to be clean, well organised and visually appealing. It should also look like it has been regularly updated.
3. The site should have clear and obvious contact details. Visitors want to be able to contact your business easily and so make these details clear and offer several ways of getting in touch (telephone, address, e-mail etc)
4. There should be a robust and easy-to-find "About" page on the website. Customers are interested in knowing more about who is behind a business or website and are more likely to trust a provider with whom they can create a personal connection.
5. The site should have a useful and effective search tool. Visitors want to easily find what they are looking for without trawling through lots of web pages and so a good, easy-to-access search tool can help users find the specific content they are looking for.

These are just five of the key elements for a successful site. As technologies develop there will always be ways to improve your online content and so it is essential that you keep your knowledge and website updated.

LinkIn to Jay Hands or follow our updates on Twitter

Gio Compario - will he compete with Compare the Meerkat?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

I think we can all safely say that the Compare the Meerkats (Compare the Market) has been one of the most successful adverts in 2009. However, there is now a competitor in the form of Gio Compario (Go Compare) the slightly, ahem, rotund opera singer.

If you have not heard of Gio Compario then you will do soon. He looks like a slightly Italian Peter Kay - though i doubt he's ever been to Bolton.

The world of car insurance has always been a particularly competitive one. The compare the meerkat campaign really has been a masterstroke and shows how a bit of clever linguistic charm and some coolio viral marketing has made the smaller brand a significant player in the insurance industry. I bet the shareholders are over the moon.

So, can an annoying, portly italian opera singer called Gio really compete with Aleksandr Orlov the amazing meerkat? Well, he does have a microsite to help promote him and you can always become a fan of his on FaceBook and he is already becoming quite popular. He has got a quirky catchline in the form that 'he's only a tenor'. However, i cannot personally see Gio Compario having the same impact as the Meerkat. The character does not seem as 'friendly' or 'approachable' as Aleksandr and the whole concept just seems to imitate the original far too much.

The Compare the Meerkat range has taken influence somewhere from some source as its very hard to design in a vacuum but will be seen as the original and the best and poor old Gio a mere imitation.

Best of the Web (botw) promotion code. September 2009.

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Best of the web or botw as it's better known is a well trusted and respected website. Getting a link from this directory costs about 200 for a life time link. However, the directory celebrates the 15th anniversary this month so there is a discount code which is called appropriately enough 'since94'. This code will give you a whopping 20% off.

So, what are you waiting for? Go get yourself a decent link from a trusted, aged domain. I just have...

What Are Web Standards?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The term "web standards" sounds suitably vague but its importance cannot be underestimated. Groups such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) have established technologies for interpreting and creating any web-based material and it is these technologies which are called "web standards".

The aim of ensuring high web standards is delivering the greatest number of benefits to the greatest number of web users. The Web Standards Project puts it succinctly as it "fights for standards that reduce the cost and complexity of development while increasing the accessibility and long-term viability of any site published on the Web."

Websites developers that adhere to these carefully designed standards ensure that their sites are accessible to the greatest number of internet users utilizing different devices and browsers to access online content.

Online marketeers tend to adhere to web standards to improve a websites rankings in the search engines. Having a website that fully validates is not of major importance but helps reduce 'white noise' and allows the search engines to index websites easier.

For a site to boast that it complies with web standards, it generally needs to make sure that it has valid (or near valid) HTML (the markup language that describes the structure of text-based information in a document), CSS (the style sheet language used to describe the presentation of a document) and JavaScript (the scripting language used to enable access to objects within other applications). Publications from various sources including the W3C and IETF are generally relied upon as the basis for these standards.

The benefits of adhering to web standards are varied and significant. Sites that meet web standards are generally more accessible (they use less bandwidth) and are easier to maintain. They are also "future-proof" which means they aren't rendered obsolete with technological advances and are compatible with newer browsers.

Sites developed using web standards continue to function as new internet devices are developed and new browsers evolve and so the standards are crucial to retaining the integrity of the World Wide Web.

How Safe is PayPal?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

PayPal is increasingly becoming the preferred payment method for millions of internet users and web masters of e-commerce websites thanks to its simplicity and security. With increasing levels of internet fraud, however, is PayPal as safe and secure as we think it to be?

PayPal goes to great lengths to ensure its security is as robust as possible and there are several ways it uses to do this.

Firstly, PayPal guarantees 100% fraud protection by confirming every transaction with an e-mail to the account holder. Any transaction which hasn't been authorized by the account holder can be dealt with by PayPal's 24/7 team of investigators and PayPal offer 100% protection against unauthorized payments.

Secondly, PayPal is a particularly safe way to conduct eBay purchases. Not only does it offer buyer protection against items failing to arrive (or if they are significantly different to the way they were described) but it can also cover shipping costs with its "Buyer Protection" scheme.

The very nature of the way the PayPal system operates also helps to make it extremely safe. As personal financial information is only stored on secure servers, an account holder only provides their e-mail address online when making a purchase. The merchants receive payment without ever seeing any personal financial information and information is sent using a high level of data encryption.

Besides offering excellent buyer protection, PayPal also boasts of a team of over two thousand worldwide specialists to protect account holders from fraud and identity theft. They use sophisticated, state of the art fraud models to monitor transactions and to identify suspicious activity.

So, the simple answer to the question "how safe is PayPal?" is "very". Whilst no online system can be completely foolproof, PayPal have built a reputation for excellent security and continues to be a leader in safe online payments worldwide.

Jay on Twitter

Google Streetview and Privacy

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Google's innovative mapping application Street View was launched in the UK in March 2009. Today, Google Maps provide a photographic 360 degree view of streets in towns and cities across the world.

Despite its increasing presence, Street View has been roundly criticized all over the globe and has been accused of invading privacy and of facilitating crime. From Tokyo to deepest Huddersfield (where the Eyeplot office are located) there have been protests and attacks on Street View camera cars as concerns about privacy refuse to go away.

Google argue that Street View is the logical evolution of the humble map - from hand drawn plans through technologically advanced mapping to 3D photographic representations. Many millions of people have used the service across the world and it has proved extremely popular since its launch in the USA in 2007.

In an attempt to ensure privacy Google ensures that only images visible from public roads are used in Street View. Google argue the images show "the sort of level of detail you would get from driving down a road, the sort of picture you would see in an estate agent's window." The technology also automatically blurs faces and car registration plates.

Despite public concerns about privacy there has been no successful challenge to Street View. An American couple lost a court case against Google in early 2009 and having conducted an investigation in 2008 the UK's Information Commissioners Office (ICO) were "satisfied that Google were taking adequate measures to evade any threat to the privacy or security of individuals." One such safeguard is that every single picture has an adjoining "report a concern" button which enables users to have pictures removed.

The argument will no doubt rumble on as Street View is expanded to include more geographical areas but despite the company's recent modifications following discussions with European data protection authorities there appear to be no privacy cases to answer.

Four Effective Ways To Increase Your Blog Subscriptions

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

There are many ways of measuring the popularity of a blog. Page views, site visits or the traffic visiting a site are all ways of determining how successful a blog is. For many, though, it is the number of subscribers to the blog which determines its true popularity.

There are several effective ways to increase the number of subscribers to your blog and of them these are my favorite four:

Ask for subscriptions. I know it sounds obvious, but simply ask your visitors and readers to subscribe. Good web copy persuades people to act, and asking for a subscription often has the desired effect. You can easily do this at the end of each post.

Make it easy to subscribe. Ensure that there are both RSS and e-mail subscription options, and that these feature prominently on your blog (often in more than one location). Sometimes a dedicated subscription page can work which clearly and simply lays out the ways in which readers can subscribe.

Educate your readers, many of whom might not know what an RSS feed is or how they can be updated on your content. Publish an easy guide to subscribing and then link to it below your RSS feed icon so visitors can understand what they need to do.

Make sure that you post in the important forums in your industry or specialist area. If you are helpful and proactive, other readers will be more inclined to visit your blog to see what you have to say. By ensuring steps 1, 2 and 3 are in place, your subscriptions will increase.

Publish your blog posts via Twitter through an RSS feed (you can use a software such as twitterfeed.com)

Ensuring you have a bank of regular visitors is the key to the success of a blog. These steps ensure an increase in subscriptions.

Follow Jay on Twitter

Copywriting is The Key to Online Sales Success

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

It is all very well having a beautifully presented, formatted website to sell your products and services but the site will only be a success if it also contains compelling, persuasive copy. The key to creating a successful e-commerce website is great copy.

'Copywriting' is the term for words that get people to take action. Images might help the look of a site but they won't help increase sales or make customers return regularly. Only by including good quality, interesting text can you ensure you maximize the sales through your site.

The importance of copy on your site cannot be understated. Good quality copy should do two things - it should grab the attention of visitors and it should provide a clear and effective message to prompt interest and trust. Professionally written copy is designed to immediately capture customer attention and to persuade them to act without delay. It is compelling, interesting and engenders some form of action on behalf of the reader.

Writing good copy isn't about using long, clever words. Indeed, it is quite the opposite. Keep the copy simple, precise and easy to understand. A great idea is to research other advertising copies that have proved themselves by generating millions of sales and draw inspiration from them.

Whilst writing interesting online content in order to ensure visitors return is the key element of copywriting, it can also incorporate the use of keywords to ensure that search engine rankings are optimized. Using keywords and phrases (but only as part of a fluent text) can assist in moving your site up the rankings and generate more traffic.

Using persuasive words is all powerful in the world of online selling. Without good quality copy to back up your site you are simply not maximizing your site's potential.

What is Direct Traffic in Google Analytics?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

I have been asked a number of times what direct traffic is in Google Analytics? If you log in to your Google Analytics account and take a look at your traffic sources you will more likely than not see your main source of traffic comes from (direct)[(none)] which Google themselves say 'indicates visitors who visited the site by typing the URL directly into their browser'. Well, this would be great if it were true but it's not. For example, i help manage a website that sells 'washing machines' and other household appliances which receives approximately 30,000 visits a month. Apparently 18,000 of these visitors come from 'direct' traffic. As much we would love over 50% of all visitors to type the domain name directly into the browser every month it is unlikely. So, what does the direct traffic mean?

It means simply that the browser did not pass a referrer to the tracking system. Google really didn't know where the traffic came from as it did not have the data available so it is placed in the 'direct' category. There are a number of reasons why Google didn't know where this traffic came from including:

There was no referrer. Somebody may have typed in the domain name directly, clicked on a link in an e-mail or clicked on a saved bookmark.

The search engine spiders and bots may be indexing from their own list of URLs (from a previous crawl to save processing power) rather than following hyper links.

There was a referrer but the browser isn't passing it. Internet Explorer for example passes no referrer if the click from the referring page opens a new browser window. In the case above a majority of traffic will come from third party sites such as Kelkoo. Therefore, it is harder to track that traffic in Google Analytics without some tinkering.

So, the explanation given by Google is not totally correct. That aside, Google analytics is an awesome piece of software for checking on your websites success.

Tranquility Beds - UK Bed SuperStore

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Cutting Edge e-Commerce Software

EyePlot have finally written and launched the latest version of their e-Commerce software and marked the occasion with the new Tranquility Beds website which specialises in selling beds online.

The new software is a massive improvement on the already successful e-Commerce platform completely written in house by EyePlot and focuses on massive features including improved usability features all based around the main objective of selling products online. Check out Tranquility Beds which has been highly optimised for the search engines and we hope will do very well. Already we have seen improvements with the traffic.

Want an e-Commerce Website?

If you are looking for a cutting edge e-Commerce website to sell your products online then why not call EyePlot and we can show you the software running. Call Steve or Jay on 01484 531122 today.

Using Facebook To Advertise

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The ever-growing phenomenon of Facebook is giving companies an increasing edge in advertising. Facebook offers the opportunity to reach over 200,000 potential clients that are active users. With Facebook advertising, you are able to attach social actions that will optimize the relevance to the users you are reaching. The creation of your ad is simple. It is easy to add images and text that will make your ad appealing to the viewers. Facebook also offers different methods of payment. The advertising company has the option of paying per click (CPC) or impression (CPM).

What are the benefits to advertising with one of the world's fastest growing social networking sites? Facebook's credibility skyrocketed when Microsoft invested $240 million, stating that the up-and-coming company was worth an estimated $15 billion. An advertiser has many different options for reaching their target audience. With any Facebook account, you are given a profile page that you can use to provide company information, logos, upcoming events, and other important information.

With Facebook's group feature, you can join existing groups or create your own just for your business. This is an up-and-ready marketplace available that you can use to advertise services and promote your sales. Facebook also offers a Badge feature, which they describe as "a customizable way to share your Facebook information with other websites," which will link your friends to your company's website. You are able to promote an event for your company by using Facebook's free Events application. Another benefit is the ability to follow your friends' status updates and more closely study your potential clients.

Using Facebook to advertise your company will allow you to reach a whole new realm of prospective clients. By promoting your sales or services with one of the largest networking sites available on the web, your company is greatly increasing the chances of a return on their investment in online advertising.

The Benefits Of Using A Blog For Your Business

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

What can a blog for your business do for you? The self-promoting publishing sites offer entrepreneurs the ability to interact with their customers and employees by sharing company news, industry gossip, the sporadic outburst, and the options to allow their readers to comment on the information by sharing their own ideas and points of view.

So, what exactly is a blog? "A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically � like a what's new page or a journal," states Pyra Labs Blogger. There are two types of blogs: personal blogs and business blogs. Personal blogs usually follow the typical diary entry format, while business blogs allow a company to share their skills and knowledge, increase their web traffic, and establish an additional connection with potential clients.

The benefits to a business blog for companies are abundant. Blogs provide businesses the opportunity to share their knowledge on a particular subject, which increases their notoriety noticeably, particularly in a knowledge skill company. They enable the business to more directly accommodate the clients' needs because they will receive a higher frequency of feedback from their readers.

Business bloggers are also able to update their blogs at the simple push of a few buttons. This saves companies the time and effort required to publish periodic newsletters or informal reports. Their clientele can easily reach the company's updates right at home on their own computers without chancing if they even read them after putting them aside for later reading, after retrieving them from the mailbox.

Altogether, business blogs can create improved communication between the company, existing clients, and potential clients, therefore, generating a higher level of business promotion.

Maximize Your Twitter Account For Search Engine Visibility

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

If your company is using Twitter as an outreach platform, you should be ensuring that Google, and other search engines, are noticing you as they begin to index Tweets. There are some simple things you can do to get the most Google Juice from your Twitter account. Following these steps will make sure your company begins to show up in search results.

Ensure that you have chosen your username well. If you have a long or complex company name, consider using an acronym, or a keyword that will describe your company well. Simplicity is very important here. You also want to make certain that you have a keyword rich biography. You only have 140 characters to make a good impression, so make it count. Don't forget to link back to your website. Some companies create a special landing page to link to from Twitter, something that personally welcomes a person clicking on the Twitter link. This will give them more information than the home page of their website would.

As you are generating content for your Twitter account, try to strike a balance between keyword-rich Tweets and attention-grabbing material. Don't let your account devolve into another source of spam. Give your users interesting content, but at the same time, think about the core keywords that drive your brand, and use them within your Tweets. Try to keep your Tweets around 100-120 characters; this will allow followers to retweet easily without editing.

If you are going to link to your site, make sure you use a URL shortener, such as bit.ly, is.gd, or tinyURL in order to make the most of the 140 character limit. The more content and keywords you can provide, the better it will be for your brand.

Beyond being a messaging platform, Twitter can help drive people to your website via search results. Always remember this while you Tweet, and you will see a direct improvement in your search visibility.

Jay Hands on Twitter

How To Build Reciprocal Links To Your Web Site

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

These days having a great web site is not enough. There are billions of sites out there, all competing for attention from an increasingly fragmented audience. One thing you can do to increase the visibility of your site is to participate in a link exchange. Having more links directed back to your site is a great way to boost your rank in search engines, driving more traffic to your site. This article will show you some easy ways to start a link building campaign.

The first thing you need to know is that it is better to have one link from a good website than ten links from bad websites. What makes a website good or bad? Well, Google is able to recognize link-spamming pages, and links from these sites will adversely affect your ranking. As well, if you are getting links from sites that are thematically dissimilar to your site (for example, if your history page is getting links from sports car pages) this will also lower your rank. It is better to take your time and make direct connections with other sites in order to generate links.

The first thing you need to do is to know the theme and topic of your site. What are you writing about? Jot down a list of key words that describe your site. Run some searches on those key words and take a look at the results. Find the pages that are up-to-date, well-written and reflect your values. Look for the contact page, and reach out to the website owner. Write him a polite letter asking about the possibility of a link exchange. Make sure he understands what you are offering and what you would expect. You might be surprised at how many people will say yes, especially if you have taken the time to craft a well-designed, well-written site yourself. People like to be attached to things of value, and this includes the links they share.

Following these steps, and working to create a great site will increase your links and your site's visibility.

How Strong Is Your Home Page?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

How Strong Is Your Home Page?

When a potential client visits your website, they are greeted with your home page. This information is their first impression, and, in many cases, can determine their opinions on your credibility, experience, worthiness of their business, and your target audience. Basically, will they buy into your brand? It is important for your business to determine to whom they are trying to appeal with this home page, and what information they are trying to convey. There are many important factors in place when designing a home page.

How Strong Is Yours?

It is imperative to make sure that your home page clearly states who you are, with information such as your company name, branding and tagline. Make sure that the visitor can easily determine what type of services you perform or what products you are selling. Visitors to your home page should be able to see what they can do from your website, such as making appointments, checking prices, placing orders, or downloading more information or free trials.

As previously stated, your home page is your client's first impression of you, and those are hard to shake. Your home page should indicate the type of businessperson you are, as well as your differentiation from your competitors. Are you reliable and dependable? Are you organized? What makes you stand out from your competitors? Do you provide the best quality or the cheapest prices?

A common mistake businesses make with their home pages is the belief that as long as they have a website, it is good enough. However, while a snazzy design is not necessary, it is important to present your information in a professional fashion. Visitors to your website may not be professional website developers, but they can easily tell if the website was designed by an amateur.

In all, having a strong home page provides a business with the opportunity to convey important messages to its potential and existing customers. Because it is so easy to navigate from one company's website to another's, it is important for your customers to see what it is that makes your business stand out.

Follow EyePlot on Twitter

Do you hear me now?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Do You Hear Me Now?

Everyone who is involved in web design seems to be looking for the same thing, a way to grab attention in a way that has not been thought of before. While this is an admirable goal, it should be realised that you don't have to come up with something completely new every time you start a new design project. Yes, you need to do something unique, yes it needs to be original, but sometimes, using something that is familiar may be the best way to grab someone's attention.

When you use something that is familiar you are calling up a person's memory. If that memory is a positive one, chances are the person will react favorably. The trick is finding widely accepted images and slogans that people will find it easy to relate too in a positive fashion. By doing this you tie your website to a positive feeling and this is one of the goals of web site design.

An important thing to remember is that while you want to try and create a feeling of familiarity, you want to avoid any outright infringement of copyright. A lot of companies have built themselves up off of their brand image and they do not like it when others try to use that same image to benefit themselves.

In the end by creating a design that reflects something known and comfortable to people, you can yourself put quite a bit. However, anytime you are mimicking something you need to be careful that you do not come to close to the object you mimic. Not only does this lead into a questionable legal area, but it also can turn off the very people you are trying to bring in.

Great web design is a tricky thing, but by knowing what people like, you are one step ahead in the game.

Ranking for Singular and Plural Keywords

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Ranking for Singular and Plural Keywords

I had a client ask me earlier why her website appeared for the search term 'lesbian forums' but not for 'lesbian forum'. As a domain becomes stronger and more authoritative through editorial endorsements (mainly links pointing back the the website using a variation of anchor text fro various websites).

Pretty Pink Pearl is a lesbian social network website that thrives on an interactive community creating interesting posts and relevant forums so having a good placement in the search engines is paramount.

Search engines generally look at plural keywords for high volume search terms. To rank for both keyword terms you will need to optimise for both terms. So, by including the keywords throughout the webpage high in the page copy and in header tags, getting inbound text links for both terms from highly ranking and high authority pages.

Bing and Google - what are they all about then?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Bing

Bing is a decision search engine engineered by Microsoft and officially announced on May 28th, 2009. Bing uses technology from the Farecast and Powerset acquisitions combined with new algorithms which seems in the early days to be providing very relevant results. Bing also fashions a colorful page design which is ever changing and looks great.

Bing as a brand is also an attempt to eliminate the confusion caused by Microsoft's "Windows Live" branding. Bing is now everything "search" related, whereas Windows Live encompasses the remnants of Microsoft's consumer software products.

Google

Google is to the late nineties and early nineties what Alta Vista is to the early nineties. Google pretty much dominates the search engine market and recent news suggests that MSN and Yahoo want a slice of the pie.

Google not only provides search and advertising services but also provides a plethora of tools and applications including Gmail, Google Maps and You Tube. Most of these tools are free (services such as Postini are subscription based) and the majority of Google incomes comes through the targetted advertising AdWords and AdSense platforms.

Google is moving towards the web-based applications with acquisitions including Jotspot, 2Web Technologies and Zenter which are very similiar to Word applications and maybe a pre-cursor to a competitor to Word as Google has stated it's intentions to launch its very own operating system.

Using Twitter For Business

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Whilst the immensely popular microblogging site Twitter might be useful for discovering what your favorite celebrity had for lunch, it is also increasingly being seen as a vital business communication tool. Twitter users have 140 characters with which to communicate and if you join Twitter you can "follow" and "be followed" by anyone registered with the site. This form of permission-based marketing can be an effective way of promoting yourself and your business.

One of the simplest ways to become involved is to use the Twitter tracking function (or an external application such as www.tweetbeep.com) to identify keywords and phrases within Twitter posts that you wish to be notified of. You can then become involved in the community surrounding your business and add value with your industry knowledge. You can begin to influence conversations with people in your industry and network with like-minded people as well as "mingle" with the industry leaders.

When you do start "tweeting" about your business, do so in a positive and useful way. Link to blog posts or interesting articles and let people know of any seminars or webmeetings you are holding. Make sure also that you see social networking as a positive for your business by including pictures and personal stories - it is often useful to have several people posting on Twitter from your organization.

One of the main benefits of using Twitter is to interact with potential customers. Twitter is excellent for posing questions and inviting comments and so use it for asking people for feedback or to name new products and to generally let them tell you what they think. As well as promoting your current offers or latest blog post you can generate a network of interest in you and your business.

For those forward thinking businesses keen to use new communication tools and who invest the time building a network of followers, Twitter is proving to be an invaluable marketing opportunity.

Follow EyePlot on Twitter

Bing - can it compete with Google?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The launch of Bing has certainly showed that Microsoft is ready to take on the dominant search engine Google. Bing was launched in the United States on 3rd June 2009 and it started off with a healthy 8% market share of all web searches in that first month. After just one month Bing seems to be gaining ground on Google and from a personal basis the search quality results seem very favourable.

Will Bing ever catch Google? It is unclear. Obviously, Microsoft have the determination and the financial clout to compete with Google but it will be an uphill struggle. In the online marketing industry Google are seen as the paid advertising search engine with lots of emphasis on its revenue generation and it's close ties with Apple may cause some to believe that Google is now becoming just like Microsoft.

The web users getting bored or frustrated with Googles results may now turn to Bing as a credible alternative. Bing certainly looks funky and cutting edge but time will tell. I hate to say it on a personal level but Microsoft may have done alright this time...they still need to sort out their browsers though.

Security On Social Networking Sites

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Recent high profile news stories about sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have led many to question the security and privacy of some of the internet's most popular and well-known sites. There are various factors at play here and security problems can crop up in many forms.

Security breaches of social networking sites do not necessarily have to involve the theft or hacking of individual's personal information. MySpace was effectively shut down in October 2005 as the result of the "Samy" virus and whilst "Samy Is My Hero" was added to the top of every affected user's page, no-one's personal information was stolen. There have also been recent hidden virus attacks on both MySpace and Facebook users disguised as personalized video links.

Part of the security and privacy issues surrounding sites such as Facebook and Twitter are caused by what the industry has termed the "password antipattern" - a feature that seems beneficial at first but ultimately results in more negative consequences than positive. Interactive features on social networking sites require the inputting of e-mail addresses and passwords and these practices have become so commonplace that the average user often doesn't realize that providing this information is to share it.

The negative publicity attached to social networking sites and the accusations that they aren't responsibly protecting personal data has led to a number of suggested responses from boycotts to a universal code of ethics for such sites. Until such a time as users take a more careful and less casual approach to sharing this personal information it will be difficult to solve any of these problems although many sites are endeavoring to protect their integrity by taking additional steps. Photo sharing website Flickr met the security standard in late 2008 by moving away from a "password antipattern" philosophy and it is hoped that others will follow.

Follow me on Twitter

How To Write An Interesting Blog

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

In the 21st century blogging has become a new way for millions of internet users to keep a diary, express their views or keep in touch with far-flung friends or relatives. Whilst everyone knows how to start a blog, it is much more difficult to create a blog with interesting content that makes people want to return to it again and again.

If you are interested in making your blog popular and interesting, have a look at various popular sites to determine what it is about them that makes regular visitors pop in every day. Is it the content that appeals, or the writing style? Are they funny, honest or sad or are they about interesting topics? People generally return to a blog if they like what you are saying and how you are saying it so ensure you make the content interesting and the style relevant to the content.

One thing that readers like is that your personality comes out in your blog content. Don't be afraid to express opinions or state your viewpoint in order that your unique personality shines through in your writing. Invite comments and interaction from readers to create debate and the feel that readers are part of an online community and link to and from bloggers who like your writing.

Also don't forget to make sure your blog looks appealing. Make sure the layout is readable and appealing and add interesting links and information to your sidebar. You can make an interesting blog header or add videos or photos to your blog posts to make the content varied, interesting and visually appealing. Web design is important as it creates a good first impression of your site.

Those blogs which attract significant internet traffic boast some or all of the above qualities and it is these that can help you keep your own blog fresh and interesting. Blogging is fun and a great way to market yourself online.

How To Expand Your Brand Using Social Media

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Today not a day goes by without another major brand showing up on social media services in an attempt to engage their customer base online. For every company that does this well, there is at least one that blunders in and makes a mess of things. If you are thinking about using social media for your company, you should have an organized plan.

The most important thing you can do before engaging in the conversation is to listen. You don't want to be like that person at a party who overeagerly attempts to talk to everyone and instead alienates people. You should only join in when you know what people are talking about. There are many free tools to help you listen to the online conversation.

If you don't yet have a Gmail account, get one. It is free and full of useful tools. Once you have logged in to your account, go to Google Reader. This is a free RSS reader. You will use it to track mentions of your brand.

Open a new tab and go to Google Blogsearch. Here you need to type in the keywords you want to track (for example, your company's name, your product, your competitors, whatever you should be paying attention to). At the bottom of your search results page you will see subscription links. Copy these links and paste them into the Add Subscription field back in Google Reader. This will make sure that every time Google finds the search term in a blog, it will display this blog post in your reader. Read these carefully.

This should just be the first step. You will want to add Technorati, Twitter Search and others searches to ensure you are hearing everything about your brand or product. Once you understand what is being said, and by whom, you can get your company ready to join the conversation.

Developing An Iphone Application

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Developing An Iphone Application

With millions of iPhones circulating among the world's population, it is a great idea for website developers and internet marketing agents to take their content and make it available in an application on the iPhone's platform. While it is seemingly difficult, there is an abundance of material available for those that are looking to turn this possibility into reality.

How do you know if you are able to develop these apps? According to Apple, you should have a basic understanding of the following concepts: 1) Basic information of Xcode and Interface Builder and their function in application development, 2) How to determine new Objective-C classes, 3) How to create and release objects in Objective-C (memory management), and 4) The role of delegate objects in the management of application behaviors. For those that are not familiar with these topics, Apple offers an introductory guide to application development at http://developer.apple.com.

An important concept to keep in mind is that the applications on the iPhone are much different than receiving web content on a PC. Material can only be accessed through the fingers, and should be engaging and interesting. In order to successfully create your own application, you need to be familiar with the use of the iPhone.

Safari, the web browser on the iPhone, is able to take most existing websites and make them readable to the user. With little work, your website can be an up-and-running application in the iPhone community which can increase popularity and notoriety of your website. A few tips for success: Safari does not yet support Flash. To keep your website as fully-functioning as possible in the application, avoid using the parts of the site that require mouse hovering since there is no mouse available on the iPhone. Also, keep in mind that the iPhone does not manage wide layouts without columns efficiently.

For those that can successfully develop an application for the iPhone, it will be nothing but an asset for your website.

Choosing a Browser

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

With the growth in popularity of the internet over the last decade, web browsers have become as important and indispensable as spreadsheets or word processing. For many, clicking the little blue "e" icon is their pathway to accessing the web but over recent years there has been a proliferation in the quantity and quality of web browsers available to internet users.

According to internet usage statistics, the three most popular browsers used today are Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox. In addition, there are also a number of popular and well-known browsers including Opera, Flock and Google's own Chrome, launched in 2008.

Security is a key issue for many internet users and each browser performs differently in this regard. Some contain built-in anti-malware and phishing filters and you should check how robust the security is through your chosen browser especially if you are likely to be transacting online.

Speed is also a factor and the page-load time can vary from browser to browser depending on how much of your computer's memory they consume. It is also possible to customize many of the browsers currently available with add-ons and applications in order to personalize your online experience.

The key advice to selecting a browser is to try various options. Most can be downloaded free of charge and you can use different browsers simultaneously with no conflict. Many online users now use several different browsers for different purposes. By road-testing the various options you can find the one that suits you best.

What Iran Can Teach Us About Marketing?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Even if you generally stay out of the current news you have probably had a chance to hear about what is going on in Iran. What really makes this fact remarkable is that the Government of Iran has done everything it can to block mass media communication, but still the stories are getting out. It may not seem like it at first, but a close look at Iran can tell us something about marketing.

Most people think that the only way to succeed in marketing on the internet is through expensive online marketing campaigns. However, all you need to do is look at what is going on in Iran and you know that this is not the case. By having a small but well organized team, you can get your marketing message out. The trick is that the message has to be compelling.

If you are wondering how best to conduct the next marketing campaign then you need to find a way to make your message strong, and compelling. It needs to be something that the current user driven community will not only notice, but spread. You want your message spread through blogs, social networking sites, and even go out into the world separate of cyber space.

In the end, Iran teaches us a lot. However, learning the lessons that Iran teaches us is pointless unless we implement them. You don't need to be trying to bring down an existing social order, or even trying to stir up trouble, you just need to have a message that people can get behind. By having a compelling message to spread you are in a position to take advantage of the unbelievable aptitude of young people worldwide to create networks.

Is the future of journalism now in our hands?

New Google Brand Update

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

In March 2009 Google performed an update to its algorythm which seemed to give a boost for big brand names in its search results.

There has been a fair bit of movement in the Google Search results over the past few weeks but without a pattern to follow and find out exactly whats going on. In late June there has been plenty of authority websites appearing throughout the search results. So, what does this tell us about the latest tweak (i'm not sure if it is an official update yet?).

Well, it is a well known fact that to rank well in the search engines you need to a good link building campaign from quality websites and have excellent onsite optimisation including clever keyword placement and accessibility. However, at the present time Google looks like it is allowing more authoritative website to rank better based on internal links and and authoritative trust even where they have fewer quality links than their competitors. Good internal linking has always been important but now t seems on some sites more important than ever.

This, if maintained, will have large implications and mean that larger sites can rank well forcing smaller companies out as there are only ten of those hallowed places available. This will mean that smaller and medium companies will have to work harder to get on the first page. I cannot see the major benefits for Google in doing this but there must be some method to their madness somewhere.

So, how does one become a brand authority to allow better rankings? There is no magic formula to become a brand but there are a number of factors which help Google recognise your site as a market leader. They include mentions in the authoritative news pages where there is no direct link to your website but you are mentioned in the copy (example of EyePlot mentioned in the copy of the local paper). Actual links from these website are more powerful and indicative that you are authoritative and well as buzz mentions from web 2.0 websites such as Yahoo Buzz, Facebook, Twitter etc. These can all be factors in associating your website as a market leader as the 'endorsements' you recieve are from powerful market leaders or strong authoriative sources themselves.

Other indicators are likely to include searches for your brand name itself. So, if people are searching for your company name to reach your website then Google knows that people are aware of your website already and it is a likely authoritative website. If you have Google analytics installed then you can see this yourself (and presumably so can Google if you ticked that 'allow your data to be shared boxes').

It will be interesting to see where this update goes.

Link Building

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Importance of Link Building

Link building is one of the cornerstones of a successful internet marketing campaign. It is also one of the most time consuming and frustrating of all online marketing tasks.

There is no doubt about it, you will need to try and increase the quality and quantity of links pointing to your website in order to increase the visibility and traffic to your website. This article is designed to be a comprehensive guide to link building and will, over the next few weeks, introduce the reader to the concepts and techniques based on experience by the website specialists EyePlot Web Design.

The first three articles will cover the basic structure and functionality of links, why they are critical to an internet marketing campaign and how the search engines use them in their algorithms. Articles four, five and six will cover strategies for research and help the reader decide on quality of links. The rest of the articles will cover link building strategies.

The Basics of Link Based Search Engines

When the Google search engine model was created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin they had pioneered a new way of determining the quality of a webpage. After all, if you can serve quality websites to your users then more people will use it. The more people use your search engine the more market share you control. The more market share you control the more you can charge for advertising space. At its simplest PageRank is based on a system where a link from a particular webpage is a 'vote of confidence' from one page to another. The theory works that by measuring not only the keyword prevalence of a webpage but also the 'amount of votes' a webpage has, then the webpage is considered more important by Google. It is therefore awarded greater PageRank. Also, the greater importance or PageRank a voting webpage has, the greater amount of importance (PageRank) is passed on. In layman's terms, it is better to get quality links from quality webpages rather than low quality links from low quality web pages.

This model was soon manipulated by webmasters in the same way that metatags were manipulated in the late nineties. Therefore, webmasters knew that by getting lots of links from web pages they could achieve high ranking websites. This model still applies in a limited way today (July 2008) although Goolge has improved its ranking system since.

You can easily determine the PageRank of a particular webpage by downloading a PageRank toolbar for your browser or by visiting a PageRank checking website such as http://www.pageranktool.net/

Improvements in the Ranking System

Since 1998 most of the major search engines has based their systems on the link based ranking model. Some search engines have slightly different algorithms from each other which is why you get different results from different engines. Even in Google you will see different results as queries are served from different datacentres in order to share the burden of processing resources. There is a constant battle to create more relevant results in order to become market dominant and therefore sell that precious commodity of targeted advertising space.

Not only are links counted towards ranking but also the text used to link pages together which is called the 'anchor' text. The internet is based on 'hyper links' and has always used this form of linking pages together. Anchor text is now taken into consideration by the search engines when pages are indexed and every few months the indexed pages are checked and processed to determine the inter linked relationship between web pages. The technology, quality and 'intelligence' of these search engines algorithms are evolving everyday in order to provide the most relevant results from a user search query. Remember, the search engines need relevant search queries in order to gain market dominance and make themselves more money through the extraordinarily profitable targeted advertising they sell.

Lets take the football team 'Huddersfield Town' as an example. For those of you not aware of this football team it is a team based in West Yorkshire, England. If lots of webpages link to the Huddersfield Town football clubs homepage using the link text 'Huddersfield Town FC' then the website will rank well for that term. Those links are much more valuable than a 'click here' text link. The search engines therefore use this link text to determine what the linked page is about. Therefore, if the Huddersfield Town FC homepage has title tags and relevant text to 'Huddersfield Town FC' then Google will place even more importance on this link. In the early days some people used to 'Google Bomb' whereby lots of different webmasters would use anchor text to direct to a webpage so it would rank naturally for search terms in the anchor text. The most famous example was George Bush and the 'miserable failure' - link to BBC site

Google will also take into consideration the semantic attributes of the link in terms of the text surrounding the link. This is again a recently added evolved practise of the search engines. So, if the page making the link is about the economy of Italy and has a link it will not hold as much weight as if that linking page were discussing the strengths of the Huddersfield Towns midfield or central defence or indeed football tactics in general.

Also, a link from the local council or high authority body would hold much more weight than a web blog of an unknown fan. I always make the analogy of a well known local doctor giving a person a character reference as oppose to a random bloke from the local pub. Some of the best links to get are from .edu or .gov bodies as these naturally hold more 'trust and authority' in the eyes of Google which will be covered shortly.

Search engines also take into account relationships between websites such as the IP addresses of the websites (to ensure one person isn't creating a network of sites on one server in order to manipulate the search engine rankings), domain name registration through something similar to WHO IS again to ensure these links or more organic than contrived. There are many things the search engines will look at (which is part of the reason Google and related search engines buy software companies to incorporate these into their algorithms).

Onsite Optimisation

Therefore, by using the above techniques, Google can try to create a ranking system based on organic user linking as oppose to singe web masters manipulating the search engines. Web masters cannot manipulate search engine ranking through on site factors alone. That is not to say however that search engines do not take into account navigation, page structure and the semantic layout of content as they do. It is also possible in less competitive industries to rank well using purely on site techniques, however it is near on impossible to do so on more competitive terms.

The link based model simply places higher importance on the assumption that a high quality website with interesting copy will attract links organically from other well designed and quality websites. You should always bear this in mind when obtaining links. You should say to yourself 'would I class this link from this website as a quality link?'. Sometimes of course you can obtain low quality links in the hope that they will one day become quality but that is a matter of judgment.

The Trust Factor

Going back to the doctor analogy I made earlier, the search engines also place a fair amount of importance on the trust of a linking domain. Again, a link from a trusted domain is seen to be less likely to be spammy than one from an unknown website. This again is to reduce the likely hood of spammy links or manipulation of the search results. One single link from a website such as the BBC is worth more in Googles eyes than 100 links from unknown websites with little trust. In a self perpetuating cycle, trusted sites become trusted over a period of years and from obtaining links from other trusted sites. In a way it tells Google who already knows about these trusted sites that you are worthwhile listening to and are therefore providing decent, high quality content.

Also, as a by product of receiving links from trusted sites you become trusted yourself and can start to become authorative and give out the Google love yourself.

In the next article we will be discussing more about links.

AIDA: What is It?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

AIDA is a well known marketing strategy and stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. It is straight forward and aims to describe the sequence of events required to make sales technique more efficient. It basically means that you should aim to capture the attention of a user and then stimulate their interest by describing your product/service and explain how it benefits them. Once you have gained their interest you generate a desire for your product/service and then provide an action whereby they can purchase that product. This strategy generally works well.

A good example of how this can be used is a compelling and brief heading leading in with a small paragraph of text. Then, you may describe how the products would benefit that person in some way and increase their productivity or improve their health. Selling the benefit is very important. Benefits sell. Features generally do not.

Once you have persuaded the client that the product can benefit that person in some way it is now important to allow easy access to action the purchase of that product. Normally this may only require a button. If people are getting all the way but pausing at the final stage you may increase motivation to convert by increasing a sense of urgency such as a limited time-offer or a limited supply.

It is important to apply the AIDA principles to text and design elements on your website. The most important elements can be placed on the top left to make it stand out and ensure that users see it first and then guide the text down and through the stages of the AIDA principle i.e the interest and desire stages. Finally, we can place a 'sign up now' or 'purchase' button.

It's an important aspect to understand that nice design won't sell. You will need great copy in the right place to sell your product/services. The design should reinforce the copy and not take attention away from the goal!

Finally, it is important to think and establish goals for the website as oppose to allowing your web designer to design and then fill the website with copy.

YouTube: You're the Star

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to be the star of your own movie? Well, there’s no need to speculate any longer. With YouTube, you can become the most popular person on the internet within a matter of moments. This clever site allows any person to create, post, and share any kind of video with people from all over the globe. If you never got a chance to experience your fifteen minutes of fame, now there’s a simple way to do it. All you really have to do is come up with an idea that will have the internet community talking.

You can literally find any kind of movie on YouTube. Who uses this site? Regular people that have an idea for a movie of PSA use this site. The great thing is that the site itself is so simple to use that any internet user can easily create a movie to show the world. This is just another way that the internet world is coming closer together. While there are lots of blog sites and social networking sites, a site that allows the entire world to see, hear, and watch other internet users is mind blowing.

Do you have an idea for a short movie? Do you have something that you want the world to know? What about a skill that you want to show others? All of these things can be quickly turned into a short movie with the help of YouTube. If you are a bit camera-shy and you don’t want to be in the spotlight, consider heading to this site in order to view other entertaining videos. By typing in a search term or name of a town, you will probably come up with thousands of movies that will interest you.

YouTube may seem a bit extreme, but it is one of the most popular sites on the web. Everyone has something to say at some time, and what better way to say it than with a short movie? Show the world what you can do by creating your own video. Even if you think that nobody will want to watch your video, simply posting it to the site will prove you wrong. The fact is that someone wants to see what you want to show, so go ahead and give it a whirl – with this site, you’re the star of your very own movie.

YouTueb has been a fantastic medium for people into online marketing to promote their own brands. Contact us to find out more.

Yahoo360: Up or Down?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Yahoo360 began as a social networking site. This site includes ways to upload photographs, post blogs, and share information with other users. The site itself has been in Beta mode for quite awhile now, though some claim that the site is actually finished. Will Yahoo ever finish this product? The answer to that question remains to be seen, but those that have used this site before would like to see the finished product. As with other social networking sites, this one includes ways to connect and interact with friends, family, and colleagues – in essences, this site is just another chunk of the web 2.0 movement.

Yahoo recently announced that it will no longer continue to expand upon and fix Yahoo360. In fact, the company plans to abandon this concept altogether (if they have not done so already). Regardless of whether or not this particular site is functioning, it is still a prime example of the recent internet site pattern. As sites move away from non-interaction, more and more social networking sites are beginning to pop up. This is all part of a large plan to bring those that use the internet closer together. In addition to allowing internet communities to interact with one another, these sites also do one more critical thing: they make the internet easier to use.

More designers and web programmers (including those that originally worked on Yahoo360) are beginning to realize how important worldwide communication is. This is why these people are working towards an internet that is alive with the voices and chatter of millions of people. Why should the internet remain silent? In the eyes of those that are part of the web 2.0 movement, it shouldn’t. Everyone that uses the web has a voice, so why shouldn’t these voices be heard? With social networking tools that allow everyone a chance to speak, the internet is now louder than ever before.

However, it’s hard to wonder whether the fate of Yahoo360 will end up being the same fate that most social networking sites suffer. While many of these sites are going strong right now, there may be a time when they are no longer sufficient. In fact, many believe that Yahoo is working on another kind of interaction tool that will trump all of those other networking tools out there. Will social networking (as we know it) last for many years to come, or will it simply work until the next best thing comes along?

Yahoo: Do You?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

It seems as though Yahoo has been around since the internet was born. This search engine company was originally founded in 1994, and it keeps on growing even today. Many people use this search engine as their main searching tool for its user-friendly web design. In fact, it remains one of the most popular search engines on the web. While this company was build upon a simple web search idea, there are many other products that are owned by the company today. Some of the most popular sites that are run by Yahoo are the ones that prove to be incredibly easy to use.

Yahoo Maps, Messenger, Mail, and Groups are the main sites that this company owns. All of these sites have been developed by designers that want to make the web a friendlier place. It seems as though these designers have succeeded in this task, since more people find these services easy to use. While there are certainly a lot of other search engines, map companies, and messenger companies out there, those that are loyal to this one company tend to stay loyal. In actuality, those that have grown up using the services that this company provides still use them today.

What makes Yahoo so different from all the rest? It can all be summed up to one simple concept – the internet community is a friendlier place thanks to companies such as these. Nearly anyone can use the internet these days. Even though the web began as a mess of numbers of hard to read sites, this isn’t the same web that exists today. Thanks to the web 2.0 generation, those programmers and designers that currently build websites have one goal in common: to make the web accessible for everyone. What does any of this have to do with that famous search engine?

Without companies such as Yahoo, searching for information on the web would be difficult. Using great designs, clickable links, large search boxes, and accurate information, this search engine remains one of the top on the web. Sure, there are plenty of competitors out there, but you’ll probably find that this one company tends to shine above the rest. Have you tried out this search engine? Have you compared it to other ones? If so, you’re sure to discover what so many people already know – there’s nothing hard about using any of the programs created by this company.

WordPress: Got Words?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The internet has never been a friendlier place. With the numerous social networking programs and other communication-based sites, anyone can accomplish any task on the web – even if that task happens to be creating and posting to your own personal blog. You don’t have to be a professional web designer in order to use WordPress – the blog posting system that allows everyone to have the last word. What does this site do? Think of WordPress as a large site that is solely dedicated to giving you a voice, and it does it all in style. Confused? Well, let’s just say that you don’t need HTML skills in order to create your own blog on this site.

WordPress is a user-friendly site that was created for everyone to use. If you want to create a blog that the world has access to, then head to this site and get started right away. Since this site includes templates that are simple to use, all you really have to do is choose the template that you like and start typing. You can also install different themes on your new blog, and you can switch those themes when you feel like it – all without knowing anything about true coding.

Up until this point, those people that wanted to create a website had to hire site designers. Hiring expert designers is a great idea if you run a small company, but it’s not such a good idea for individuals that just want to be heard. This is why WordPress is such a popular tool with all bloggers out there. Not only will you be able to create a blog, but you will also be able to tell the world exactly what you think. Nearly everyone that uses this site loves how simple it is to run, and you never have to worry about any kind of site maintenance.

With sites such as WordPress, the internet is now accessible by anyone of any age. You can have your own site, post your own thoughts, and share your ideas with the world without hiring a design team. You can create an interesting site that is full of great design simply by selecting the template that you like. Since this site is so easy to use, it is almost impossible to imagine a simpler way to create and post to your own unique blog. Do you have something to say? Why not say it from the comfort of your very own blog site.

Wikipedia – Your Encyclopedia

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If you have just started to use the internet, you may not yet be familiar with Wikipedia. This site is actually one of the most popular on the entire web. The interesting thing is that this site is not filled with games and social networking tools. Instead, this site is filled with valuable knowledge. This is mostly due to the fact that this site is a virtual encyclopedia, but it is a lot more than that too. Have you ever wondered who writes all of those physical encyclopedias? Have you ever wondered if the information contained in them is accurate?

Well, with Wikipedia you can decide what’s accurate, and what should be left out of the encyclopedia altogether. How can this be possible? You see, this is not any ordinary encyclopedia. This site is filled with a number of encyclopedic entries that are created by users just like you. That’s right – you create the pages of this virtual encyclopedia. So, how can you be sure that any one person knows what they are talking about when they create a page? Well, those that create pages must be able to provide sources and references for their statements. However, if you want to change a page, this can be done with ease.

Sometimes the information listed on Wikipedia is not accurate. But, this is not an issue since any user can correct information listed. Simply submit your corrections to the site editors, and you will likely find that your addition to the page has been added. In many ways, this site is like a living encyclopedia that just keeps on growing every single day. As more and more people contribute their knowledge to the site, the site begins to grow and fluctuate. The best part about this site is that it’s completely free.

That’s right – Wikipedia is free for all internet users. You don’t have to pay any fees, you don’t have to sign up for any newsletters, and you don’t have to contribute to a yearly fund (unless you want to). All you have to do is keep using the site as your main source of information. While there is some dispute as to whether or not the site is actually a reliable source, many will agree that this site does contain a lot of helpful and accurate information. If there is something that you want to know more about, simply head to the world’s first virtual encyclopedia.

Web Design: Who Can Do It?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Contrary to popular belief, web design is not a simple task. Sure, there are lots of programs and tools that will help anyone to build a quick website, but truly great sites are the product of hours of work. In order for a site to function properly, expert designers must work on that site for quite a long time. The ideal end result of a website is a site that looks great, functions perfectly, and includes lots of interesting details. Then again, there is a fine line between an interesting site and one that is simply overcrowded – this is where those skilled designers come in.

Websites have to include great graphic design, easy to understand tools, and incorporated internet technologies. This means that a web design team must think, plan, model, and finally create a website based upon all of these steps. The thing is that most websites never work the way that they are supposed to work the first time around. Instead, it actually takes a number of tries in order to get a site running smoothly. Is it worth it for small business owners to hire web designers to work on a site?

While there are lots of web design companies out there, you have to be careful about which one you choose. Some larger companies actually use the same basic web template for every site that the build. What’s the problem with this course of action? Well, if you have the same site as every other small business on the web, then you can be that your clients won’t find your site unique in any way. In addition, you will be paying top dollar for something that is sub-standard. Instead of falling into this trap, hire a small design team or independent designer. You’ll find that these experts can create some mind-blowing sites.

If you want your site to stick out, then make sure to invest in decent web design. Otherwise, your site will look like all the rest. Sure, a design team might be an expensive investment, but it is a true investment all the same. A well designed, easy to use, site will attract lots of visitors. Not only will your business begin to increase with this kind of site, but you will be able to show the world that you are not just another fly-by-night web company. If you’re serious about your site, make sure to hire the right kind of designers.

Web Accessibility: What does it all mean?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Up until a few years ago, the internet was a scary place for a lot of people. Those that attempted to use the internet during this time often found that sites were next to impossible to figure out. With the new web accessibility movement that is occurring, anyone can use the web regardless of disability, age, or any other concern. All of this has been made possible with the help of great web designers and software programmers that are part of web 2.0. These innovative people have decided to make the internet a safer, happier, and easier to use place for everyone.

Using specific graphics, fonts, and clickable items, modern designers and programmers can now create sites that won’t prevent anyone from using them. The theory behind this kind of site creation is called web accessibility. The idea is to create an internet that is user-friendly for everyone from children to elderly folks. Is it working? Many people believe that this concept more than works – it’s actually the best thing to hit the net since the web was created. In many ways, this new way of looking at the internet actually helps to bring people together.

If everyone on the planet can use the internet, this means that everyone will be connected in one way or another. For example, a child in Asia may be reading the blog posts of an elderly woman in Idaho. As the two begin to communicate, they will also be able to understand where each person is coming from. As dialogue begins to open up, the world suddenly becomes a smaller place. The things that can be achieved with a bit of technology are truly amazing, and this new concept is certainly no exception to the rule. Are you part of the internet community and taking advantage of the new web accessibility?

What does it take to become involved in web accessibility? Well, if you come across a site or networking tool that isn’t easy to use, you may take the time to contact those in charge of the site. Your suggestions will probably be greatly appreciated, and the site owners may decide to make their site more accessible for all kinds of users. Eventually, everyone will be able to go online and search the web. From all corners of the earth to all ages of the people on the earth, the internet is no longer a scary place thanks to a worldwide effort to bring people closer together.

Web 2.0: A New Generation of Inventors

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

What is web 2.0?

This term is used a lot lately, though many people aren't entirely sure of its meaning. You can think of this term as a sort of new internet generation. You see, those that are presently working on internet development and web design have a whole different agenda than those that originally began using the internet. Rather than simply putting up sites that function and gain traffic, those that are part of this new generation have one main goal: to increase communication. This is precisely why more social networking sites keep popping up on the web every single day.

As with any other kind of generation, web 2.0ers are different than their internet forefathers were. These innovative people want to make the web a friendlier place for all kinds of users from all over the world. This is precisely why they are focused upon creating social forums, connecting users with one another, and developing secure sites that can be trusted at all times. Why are these people going to such an extent to start a global conversation? Well, the answer to this is debatable, but there is one main theory that tends to stand above the rest.

Most people that can be considered a part of web 2.0 grew up with a laptop in front of them. They spent their days on the internet, they communicated with friends and family through online messaging systems, and they knew all corners of the virtual world. So, it only makes sense that these individuals would try and connect the world in a better fashion through social networking sites. Of course, this might mean that these sites are a current trend, and they may not last when the next internet generation begins to take over.

The next time that you hear the term web 2.0, you will be able to understand what it refers to. If you use any kind of social networking site, then you have this web generation to thank. Up until this new pack of internet users came along, the web was a cold place. Now, people from all over the globe can meet, share ideas, and become a large virtual community. If the entire world is connected at some point, then this would be the ultimate goal for the new generation of web users, developers, and designers - are you part of the internet world?

Top 10 Most Important websites

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Ever wondered what the most important websites are? Well, thanks to those clever folks at SEO Moz we can now know.

So, here they are according to SEO MOz, the 10 most important websites out there...

No surprises at number 1 with Google. I wrote a piece a few weeks ago about how i believe Google has the best business model ever.

Twitter: Are you tweeting?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

It seems like everyone is talking about Twitter lately. Even nightly news broadcasts are checking in with the conversations that happen on this site. If you are confused by all of this virtual buzz, rest assured that you are not alone. Most internet users don’t have a strong grasp upon the twittering world. In fact, many people that use this service are not sure what it does, or what it can do for them. Thankfully, there is a simple way to explain how this service works, and why it might be something that you should be using.

Simply put, Twitter is a kind of tool that allows random people to “follow” one another throughout the course of a day. In many ways, this is a social networking site. How does it work? As soon as you sign up for an account, you will be asked to state your current activities in one short blurb. For example, if you were writing a blog post you would post: “so and so is writing a blog post.” At this point, everyone that is part of your account will be alerted as to your newly updated status. The interesting thing about this site is that people you might not know may also be interested to see what you are doing.

Since Twitter will ask you a few basic questions about yourself (name, type of work, interests), those that share your line of work or interests will be able to view your public profile. This means that they may decide to “follow” you, and gain updates every time you post a new activity. For some, this service might seem rather creepy, but for others it can also be a great networking tool. If you happen to work in a field that many people find interesting, you may gain a great number of followers, and some of these followers may even want to hire you.

Clearly, there are goods parts and bad parts to the whole Twitter concept. If you aren’t sure whether or not you want a virtual community following your every move, simply give the site a try for a few weeks. You may just discover some great contacts, connections, and even a few job offers through this site. If not, at least you will be able to tell your friends and family exactly where you are and what you are doing at every hour of the day – are you being followed?

So, now you know about it, why not follow our Twitter account?

Technorati: Are You Part of the Conversation?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Who reads the millions of blogs that are currently being written? Well, with Technorati you can read all of those blogs in a snap. Millions of people have important things to say every single day, which is why so many people write in blogs. Up until this point, reading all the information that was posted on the internet was impossible. Instead of finding out about every blog out there, people had to choose one or two select blogs that they were interested in. Well, all of that has changed and now it is possible to hear the internet community speak all at once.

Technorati collections, highlights, and distributes new blog posts from all over the globe every single day. This means that the folks running the site actually collect over 1.5 million new posts nearly every hour of the day. Every time you visit this site, you will see what the latest blogs from all over the globe are all about. If you thought that the world was a large place, you’ll find that this site makes it a whole lot smaller. While all of this blog updating is impressive, this site goes one step further.

Technorati matches all of those blog posters with various media outlets that may be interested in what bloggers have to say. This means that a simple blogger from Omaha could suddenly wind up in contact with a representative of a large news station in New York City. Do media reps really visit this site at all? You bet they do. Just as the rest of the world is constantly searching for fresh ideas, media reps are looking for the newest concept as well. Never before have common bloggers and media giants met in such a fashion as this.

If you run a blog then you need to keep writing. While you may not think that anyone reads what you write, this isn’t true now that Technorati exists. Not only will you gain a small group of followers, you’ll gain an internet nation of followers. Who knows, you may even wind up being showcased on the nightly news. Don’t keep your thoughts and secrets to yourself, share them with the world. Even if you don’t have a blog, there’s always time to start one. With sites such as this one, you’ll find that connecting with your fellow human beings is a lot easier than you may think.

Technorati is great for blogging ideas as part of an leading targetted traffic to your website as part of a online marketing campaign.

Software Development: What Is It?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

What is software development? Do you need it in order to develop an internet company? In order to create various software products, a lot of research must be put into those products from the start. Aside from simple research, marketing and engineering must also be taken into account. When all of these things are combined the end result it a software product. Many companies hire programming teams in order to come up with software that has been specially made for one unique product. Do you need a unique type of software for your current business? If so, how do you go about creating this software?

Unless you have some degree of computer programming under your belt, it is best to contact specialists in order to work on software development for your company. These software teams are generally expensive, but recent trends show that more and more companies are searching for overseas developers that come at a fraction of the price. Of course, if you decide to hire an overseas team you may not be able to see the finished project until it is actually completed. Otherwise, you can simply look for a team within North America that suits your budget.

In an internet world full of newly developed companies and strategies, software development has proven to be rather important. Still, this doesn’t mean that you need exclusive software in order to run your web company. If you aren’t sure either way, contact a development team with the questions that you might have. These experts will be able to tell you rather quickly what kinds of software you do need – if you need any kind at all. It never hurts to opt for a consultation when you aren’t sure of a specific product.

Do you need software development? Well, that is really a question that only experts can answer. Now that you know what this term actually refers to, you can start thinking about how a unique program might benefit your company. Selling products on the internet takes quite a bit of knowledge, concentration, and dedication, which often means looking into new concepts and ideas that you might not know much about. As soon as you learn about these things, you can scratch them off of your list one by one. Whether you decide to have your own software created or not is up to you, but at least you understand the basic concept now.

Social Networking Websites - Which One Do You Choose?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Let’s face it – there’s no shortage of social networking websites out there. But, if you are new to these sites, choosing just one to use can be a challenge. How do you select one from the crowd? Well, there is no simple answer to that question, though there are some ways to narrow down the selection. The first thing that you can do is speak with your friends, family, and colleagues – what sites are they using? Then, you may want to visit each site, see whether or not it’s easy to navigate, and decide upon the right site for you.

Then again, who says that you have to choose between all of those social networking websites? So many people use nearly every site out there in order to network. Most people have Linked In accounts, MySpace accounts, Facebook accounts, and many others. The great thing about these sites is that there’s no limit to the number of accounts that you can have, so why not use them all? If you really want to market a business or product, there’s no better way to get the world out on the internet street than with a networking site.

Simply create pages on each of the popular social networking websites. Then, add all the people that you know (import contacts from your email account), and tell them all that you are on numerous sites. You’ll be surprised to learn just how many people you can contact by joining various networking sites. This is the best way to market any product, but what if you simply want to connect with long lost friends, lovers, and relatives? Well, the same basic social networking concept applies here too. Think of joining all those different sites as attending numerous parties in the course of a year – why would you choose just one?

Allow those social networking websites to work for you by becoming a member of all of them. The world is waiting to hear what you have to say, and all those old friends will love to reconnect with you once again. Sure, there are lots of sites out there to select from, but isn’t variety the true spice of internet life? If you want to become a part of the ever-changing internet community, don’t limit yourself to just one site. Instead, join the worldwide cocktail party and create an account on each site that you find.

How do you fancy having a social network site of your own like MayContainNuts? We specialise in designing social network websites. Call us today!

Online Forums: What Are They?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Surprisingly, a lot of people don’t use online forums. This is largely due to the fact that many people are not sure of what these sites can do for them. While these forums were originally created as a way for a large internet community to communicate and speak with one another, today these sites are also useful marketing tools. There are so many different sites of this kind on the internet that it’s hard to list them all. However, some sites are more popular than others. But, before we can get into those details, it helps to know what these sites can be used for.

Online forums are meant as a way for people to communicate with one another. In addition, these sites can be used as marketing tools. How? Well, if you know a lot about any one subject, then you can easily spend some time responding to random posters on these sites. As more and more people learn about your area of expertise, many people will begin to rely upon your advice. For example: if you are a professional plumber that owns a plumbing company, you may want to seek out a home repair forum.

As your presence becomes known in this home repair forum, people will begin to ask you for your advice more often. As the word gets around about your skills, you can start telling people about your company. In short, these online forums build customer trust, and that is truly priceless. Of course, some of these forums don’t exist for any business purpose at all. If you simply have something to say (and no soap box to stand on), then you can post your ideas and feeling on the internet. You can bet that someone somewhere will respond to your post within a matter of hours.

If you want to spread the world about your business or if you just want to get something off of your chest, use the many online forums that are out there. You’ll soon find out why many people use these sites, though you may not understand why you didn’t begin using them earlier. Start looking for the right kind of site for your thoughts and ideas today. Do you frequent any of these forums? If so, share your thoughts with the world – someone out there will love to listen to what you have to say.

MySpace: Do You Have a Space?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Fri, 15 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Long before most other social networking site existed there was MySpace. This site drew people from all over the globe to it in the hopes that they could connect with long lost friends and relatives. As more and more people signed up for their own chunk of the web, thousands of other people followed suit. Today, this site is still quite popular with many people from around the globe, and it still proves to be extremely useful for both personal and business purposes. Did you know that you can use this site in order to market your products?

That’s right, MySpace can be used in much the same way that Facebook can when it comes to products. How? Well, if you know how to use Facebook as a marketing tool, then you can use this site in the same manner. If not, let’s break it down in a simple way: the more people that know about your product, the more products that you can sell. For example: if you create a webpage for your product, then you will begin to send this webpage to all the people that you know. If these people happen to use My Space, then they will join your product page.

In turn, these people will tell their friends about your product, and your product will begin to sell like mad. This is one simple example of how MySpace can be used to market a product. You can also use this site to post advertisements about your product. As with most other social networking tools, My Space allows you to purchase small advertising space for a minimal fee. One you have a great advertisement written, people will be able to view your advertisement as they use their own My Space accounts. In every manner, social networking tools such as these have changed the face of the internet.

Not only is MySpace a great business marketing tool, it is a fantastic way to reconnect with old friends. Do you miss that old college boyfriend or girlfriend? Why not look them up on My Space? You’d be surprised at all the people you can find on this site. Social networking is something that every internet user should grow accustomed to. Not only are these sites great for business, but they are also fantastic for keeping in touch with the world. With the help of sites like these, the world can suddenly begin to see eye-to-eye.

LinkedIn - Are You A Part of It?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Are you part of the LinkedIn community? If not, you are missing out on one of the biggest and best networking tools on the internet. This site is for those that want to make new connections within the business world, and it has been proven effective time and again. If you think that you have a service or product that more people would enjoy, then you have to take advantage of this networking site. How does it work? Well, consider this site as a sort of massive conference room where all the best and brightest business people in the world stand around a giant water cooler.

In short, LinkedIn works via people to people connection. For example, if you happen to sell a specific product, you probably already know a lot of people that are connected to that product. Think about it – your customers, fellow employees, manufacturers, and many more people all know about the product that you sell. When you add all of these people to your personal Linked In home page, then they call all interact with one another – but it goes even further than this. Not only can they interact with one another, they can also interact with all the business people that they know.

So, your product goes from being related to a few people to being related to thousands of people – all with one simple LinkedIn profile page. This is precisely how this site works, and millions of people across the world use it every single day. In addition, Linked In will show you those people that may be related to your industry – even if you don’t personally know them. Then, you can contact those people, offer your services, and see whether or not they can become a new part of your Linked In page.

As you can see, the internet community is a rather small place. The more people you know, the better chance you have of networking across borders and through physical dividing lines. Thanks to this technology, there isn’t any person on the earth that you can’t reach. If enough people join LinkedIn, then everyone can become connected to each other. This means that your business can grow by leaps and bounds overnight. If you have something to share or sell, you simply can’t afford not to use Linked In. Join this community of movers and shakers today, and see just how many people you can get in touch with.

You can get started by linking into my account Jay Hands

Google Latitude - What's Your Location?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Where in the world are the people that you talk to every day? If you want to know the exact locations of your friends and family, think about using Google latitude. This innovative tool from Google was meant to be used in conjunction with Google Maps, but it can now be used on any computer or cell phone. What does this program actually do for you? Well, think of it as a way to learn a little bit more about your friends. How? This program will show you where your friends are located on an interactive map – down to the very street that they live on.

While Google latitude technology has some people wondering about privacy issues, other people find this tool extremely useful. In fact, this is just another way that the internet has become easier for all kinds of people to use. As more and more people from around the globe use the internet every single day, connecting with those people that you do not personally know is quite possible. In fact, most people don’t know everyone on their MSN of Facebook list. Still, that doesn’t mean that you can’t have some idea where your virtual friends live.

Not sure where Congo is located? Simply type in the proper information and Google latitude will show you just where your Congolese friends reside. You can also use this program in order to find specific locations in your own town. Not sure where that local business is situated? Why not use this great Google tool to find out? You can consider this great program as a sort of personal map – it will show you precisely where you need to go in order to find what you are looking for. The most amazing thing about this program is that it works with any cell phone or computer.

While using Google latitude used to mean having a compatible cell phone, this isn’t the case any longer. Instead, all you really need is an internet connection in order to find a specific location. Simply head to the Latitude site, type in what you are looking for, and find exactly what you want in a matter of minutes – no matter where you may be. The world might seem like a vast place, but the internet brings us all together every single day. With tools such as Latitude the world is no longer so bit – in fact, it’s pretty small when you think about it!

EyePlot Make the News

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

A Meltham couple hope they have created the Facebook of the future.

Teresa Millward and Helen Brearley have set up a free social networking site for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The site, Pretty Pink Pearl, and its associated clothing line has been their dream project for two years.

But since its launch last week it has already attracted hundreds of members.

Founder Teresa Millward, 32, said: "We started the business in a tiny bedroom of our old home.

"We put our savings and a lot of time and effort into it so hopefully it will continue to be a success."

Teresa is a full time foster carer while Helen, 45, works for a Honley-based architect.

They formed the company in partnership with Lockwood-based Eyeplot Digital Ltd.

Full Article

Personalised Search. The Future of Search Engines

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

It is a very exciting time for us search engine marketeers with new types of data being made accessible for search purposes. The major thing to restrict search is the data availibilty. Once a piece of data is tagged with meta data it can be found. For example, if your mobile phone held various data about you then you friends could find out which club you are in on a Saturday night up town (rather like Google Latitude).

Google has been talking about personailised search for quite some time. In the future i think we will start to see 'related' websites from a search query. For example, if you queried 'Gigs in Huddersfield' i don't think it would be unreasonable to start seeing websites regarding the following.

Bands in Huddersfield (related websites)
Band Venues in Huddersfield (Sponsored listings)
Guitar shops in Huddersfield (Related products)
Band Insurance (Sponsored listings)
Music Clothing Stores in Huddersfield (Related products)
Music Reviews from Huddersfield (News sites)
Alternative Results (Similiar queries in nearby towns)

Now, imagine that all our browsing and purchasing habits are captureed and stored - rather like what happens with Amazon when you are offered 'Books you may be interested in'. Obvisoulsy, this will require extreme trust from the major search engines and would be a spammers dream should any data be lost. However, if we are confident that by releasing some personal data about ourselves then the search engines may use the information in a beneficial way. The search engines will know information about us and make assumptions about our lifestyle, interests, disposible income all from previous purchases and feed us relevant results accordingly. Google will also pick up data about where you live from you IP address and previous search history and serve more localised results. The search engines know that we like doing our food shopping from Tescos so it suggests that when we perform a search that a special offer from Tescos, ASDA and Morrisons are included but the high end stores like Marks and Spencers and Waitrose are not.

I think we will start to see a rise in personalised search soon from the major search engines.

Apple and Google getting too close?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The Regulatory bodies in the United States of America are concerned about the increasing intimate relationship between the two heavyweights Apple and Google. The relationship is even so close that the two companies share board members. This is obviously worrying when both companies have such a large market share in similar industries.

The main concern that the Regulators in the U.S. think that the two internet giants could potentially violate competition laws as both companies have vast investments in the mobile phone market. The products that both companies have in the mobile communications industry are iPhone and Android and the browser market in the form of Safari and Chrome. Both companies also have the video services iTunes and YouTube, the photo services iPhoto and Picassa and competition to Microsoft Office in the form of iWork and Google Docs.

Where the relationship of these two companies gets closer is the fact that Google is producing applications for Apples iPhone including Google Maps and Gmail and Latitude is surely on the way. Therefore, the two could in theory start to dominate the mobile phone market to a significant degree. That is where markets become dominated by one particular company and competition is restricted by the dominant parties. Not good for consumers.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

Best Tips for Advertising

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Best Tips for Advertising – Making it Work

Most small businesses are strapped for cash, especially at startup stage. Unfortunately, one of the things that gets cut, or at the least cut back, is an advertising budget. This is the opposite of what you need to do to get customers in your door or to get your phone to ring, though. Here are some of the best tips for advertising to make sure your dollars generate the most amount of leads for your business.

When applying the best tips for advertising, make sure you are targeting your appropriate audience. You know who your best customers are and what your target demographic for your sales and service are. Apply your advertising campaign to draw their attention. Point out your competitive advantage. There are plenty of clever ads but unless you have a global brand that’s recognizable by simply a logo or slogan, you need to tell people what you do. Explain the pro’s of your business and what problem you solve or benefit you provide them with.

Another one of the best tips for advertising is to not let your budgeting run your campaign. If you budget for $3,000 dollars a month, the bookkeeping side of it seems very simplistic. But most businesses go through seasonal highs and lows so this means that you are putting too much money into advertising at a low point and not enough during the peak season. Take the annual amount you have budgeted for advertising and divide it up based on season, not by month. And don’t spend all of it on one form of advertising, either. Diversify your advertising portfolio into a few mediums that you’d like to try and monitor them to see which ones are getting the most bang for your buck.

Pick places to put your ads that your demographic uses. Just because something is your favorite doesn’t mean that it represents the best choice for your demographic. Find out where they look, read, and shop and put your advertising there. To save money, consider buying remnant space. This is the space that newspapers or TV stations can’t sell. You may not get to pick your spots but you can save anywhere from 30 to 80 percent off the original price. Hopefully, you can employ some of these best tips for advertising to make your sales stronger. Remember, the bottom line is that advertising costs money and it takes money to make money. Don’t cut corners in this department, just spend wisely.

Business Studies Resources

Facebook - so what's it all about?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Facebook –Not Just For Friends and Family

It’s nearly impossible not to hear someone talking about Facebook these days. Still, if you don’t know what this site is all about, have no fear – this article will tell you all you need to know about the most popular networking tool on the web. In addition, you’ll also find out how you can use a simple networking tool to spread the word about your business. Not only will you be able to reconnect with old friends and family members using this site, but you can easily make the site work for you if you know a thing or two about web marketing.

So, how can Facebook help you marketing your products? Well, think of this site as a giant circle of the world’s population holding hands and signing – ok, maybe that’s taking it too far. Still, the idea behind this networking site is to connect with as many people as possible. While some people merely connect in order to catch up on current friend and family news, others use this site as a means to network with possible clients and customers. How? Well, it’s simple really. The first thing that you need to do is to set up an account of your own.

But, instead of using your name for your new Facebook account, use the name of your business. Then, add all of the people that you can think of (simply import your email contact lists) to your new account. Next, send out fliers, notifications, and other updates that are related to your business. Are you having a sale? Tell everyone that you know. In turn, they’ll tell everyone that they know, and (in the end) millions of people will know about your sale. See how this site works? Another thing that you can do is advertise on this site.

It is now possible to pay a small fee in order to advertise your business on Facebook. By writing up a small advertisement of 200 words, you can tell everyone that uses the site about your business. This is not only effective, it is a great way to get the word out about your business – no matter what your business might be. In the end, this social networking site is a great way to communicate with friends and family members, but it is also a perfect marketing tool. Once you start using this site, you’ll be amazed at all the people you can contact in a flash.

Stiff Upper List

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Whilst looking around the internet during my lunch break (yes, i know that is very sad) i found a great little directory with some links to fantastic sites. I submitted some of our clients to this directory which is very well structured and organised.

What's more, it has a fantastic way of ensuring that your submission is actually made by you and not a spam bot and that you are a UK resident (or at least have a knowledge of the UK).

So, go check out Stiff Upper List today!

Ezinearticles - Get Ready to Write

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Ezinearticles – Get Ready to Write

Do you know how to use the ezinearticles website? If not, then you may be missing out on one of the best ways to spread the word about your business. Originally, this site was set up as a sort of article resource, but it is now quickly becoming one of the fastest ways to promote any business. Millions of companies from around the globe are now composing their own articles that showcase their industry knowledge. Once these articles are submitted to the site, they are then approved for submission and posted to a large database of similar articles. So, how can you make your articles stand out?

By using keywording tactics, your ezinearticles can stand out from the crowd. If you aren’t sure what keywords are (or how to use them), it might be a good idea to read up on the topic, or simply contact a online marketing company. In addition to keywording, you can also use various other marketing tactics in order to drive traffic to the articles that you post. The only thing to remember is to make sure that your articles actually hold some useful and helpful content. If you post articles that are filled with nonsense, nobody will believe that you know what you are talking about.

However, if you post articles that are helpful, then people will begin to realize that you know your stuff. This, in turn, can help generate more business for your company. How? At the bottom of all ezinearticles there is a space available that lists your personal information. This information box includes your name, age, and company info. In addition, you can also add a link to your company website. As people begin to read your articles, they will also being to click on your website. In the end, you will wind up with a huge amount of traffic.

As you can see, ezinearticles is a smart idea for any internet business owner. No matter what you are trying to sell, think about writing your own articles. If you can’t write, there are lots of freelance writers out there that will ghostwrite your articles for a minimal fee. The internet is a great way to reach the world and tell them about your business. Sites that list thousands of articles will help to spread the word about the goods that you offer. If you are confident about your product, make sure that the world can read all about it!

Zero Impact Advertising

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:00:00 GMT

What a fantastic, environmentally friendly way to brand yourselves. This example of zero-impact advertising using sea water for the Sea Life London Aquarium is a perfect example of using public opinion in a positive way to raise brand awareness.

The brand awareness campaign was rolled out using team of taggers wearing scuba diving gear spraying over 2,000 images of sea turtles, sharks and sea horses all over London. While this may not work well in very hot countries this particular approach is a quirky and high impact form of advertising. The company behind the advertising campaign was Curb.

Start selling your products online.

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

E-commerce Websites – What You’re Missing

If you have a product to sell, you may want to look into building your own e-commerce websites. What is ecommerce? What can you do with it? Well, simply think of this concept as your own virtual shop front – a way to show the world that you are open for business. Of course, the hardest part about ecommerce doesn’t have much to do with the website itself. Instead, as with any other product or service, you will have to know how to market your company on the web if you want to attract buyers and gain lots of profit.

This is where web marketing comes into play. You see, it’s all well and fine to build lots of fancy e-commerce websites, but if you can’t get people to actually visit your shop then nobody will know what you are selling. How can you do this? Well, there are a number of useful tactics, but when it comes down to it the best way to market your site is to hire a professional web marketer. These experts know how to drive traffic to your virtual store, so that you can show the world the goods and services that you have to offer them.

Why is this necessary? While various e-commerce websites are a great start, running an internet business is not exactly like running a brick and mortar business. You see, if you set up a shop on the busiest intersection in your town, then people are likely to see your shop and stop by for a visit, right? Well, if you can’t get those internet users to your street to begin with, then you are setting up your shop in a ghost town. Do you see the difference? If you want to bring people into your store, then you’ll have to hire a fabulous marketing team.

Start by looking for those designers that can create fabulous e-commerce websites – after all, once that traffic does begin to flow into your virtual store, it helps to have a flashy store to show off. Once this step has been completed, make sure to speak with some internet marketers that really know their stuff. These experts will drive all the traffic you need to your site. When you combine that great store front with the right marketing tools, the result is an internet business that was meant to thrive. Are you setting up shop online? If so, make sure that you have all the right stuff.

How to Get More Pages Indexed in Google

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:00:00 GMT

How Do I get More Pages Indexed in Google?

We get asked this fairly regularly. So, how do you get more pages indexed in Google? Here we go. Over simplified i know but it makes it easier to understand.

OK, so the world wide is is large. Very large in fact and even the great Googel is not 100% sure just how big it is. In fact, most of the internet is utter tripe and worthless junk. Google therefore only indexes a portion of the web. It does have the money of course to buy additional computers but is it really wrth the time, effort and bandwidth it would take to index pages that are essentially junk? This is where Google's content duplication checking comes into play but that's a whole different article. Google is in fact believed to have the largest crawling and indexing facilities at present.

Googlebots go out and pull down web pages and then analyse the contents of that page and stores a representation of that webpage in Google large database index. The index is not a complete copy of the internet. It is a representation of the better pages on the internet. From that index PageRank is calculated and the algorithms determine the search results. The only pages that can show up when a user performs a search query are the pages included in Googles index. If your page is not included in the index then it will not show for a particular search term.

Becasue therefore, the web as a whole is much larger than the database index Google has to make a decision on what webpages it will spider and from there what it will index. If Google indexed every webpage that it was aware of it would take up far too much processing power and resources used to currently update news pages and current affair websites. Therefore, Google does not index every webpage it knows about.

So, How do i get more pages indexed by Google?

Google has limited resources so cannot index the whole internet. So, how do you get more pages indexed? How does Google look towards allocating resources across the internet and the webpages? Google does have a large but ultimately limited range of url's that it can index. Therefore, it if in a webmasters interets to make taht job as easy as possible for Googlebot. The easier the job you make for Googlebot the more likely it will send a bit of time on your website.

It is generally believed that Google will index a site better if that website has a higher PageRank. If you have a few pages and they are all a decent PageRank they will get into the index no problem. However, the problem arises when you have many webpages with very low Pagerank. These pages can even fall into the supplemental index.

Clean Code Helps

Ensuring that you have clean HTML code and that there is not lots if internal javascript or flash menus etc that can impede a spiders accessibility is a great way to ensure you get spidered and indexed. Reducing any 'white niose' from your web pages also increases download speeds and decreases bandwidth usage.

Duplicate Content

Search engine marketeers pay a lot of attention to duplicate content, link building, increasing PageRank (though the latter is not as important now for a purely ranking factor) and improving link struture through internal navigation. By improving link structure a webmaster can start to spread out PageRank throughout the website. However, from a personal point i think that quality of code is paramount in creating a search engine friendly website.

Increasing Page rank to improve Indexing

Probably the most important factor in getting your website to be indexed more by Google is to increase PageRank which in turn is increased through global link popularity of your website. The best way to achieve this is by getting links from other high PageRank websites. This will be dicussed in greater depth at another point.

Can you Digg it? Yes you can...

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What is it that you Digg? If you love to hear news and gossip from around the globe, then you have to stop what you are doing and visit this innovative site. What does this site do? Simply put, it is a way for every single person on the face of the internet to post news, write news releases, and talk about what they want the world to know. This site is open to the general public, and anyone can post anything that they want to on this site. Forget about visiting tons of news sites every day in order to find out what’s going on around the globe – there’s no need to go hunting for news when you can just dig.

Do you have something to say? Why not head to Digg and post your own news? If the world loves what you post, then they will click on the “dig” button creating an instant buzz. If even people love your ideas, then your post will rise to the top of the Digg pile where millions of people can see what you wrote. How amazing is that? In addition to posting and broadcasting anything that you like, you can also join in a discussion based upon your topics. How does this work?

Well, what good would Digg be if people couldn’t talk about what they read? That’s why the creators of this site have made it possible for users to rate, discuss, and interact with one another. Keep your eye on the articles that you post… you never know when you may become the hottest topic of conversation. This site is an excellent way for everyone to have a voice, and it also happens to be one of the top spots to go if you are in the mood for some celebrity gossip. That’s right, all the news about those celebs that you love is often posted on Digg first.

So, what are you waiting for? Head to Digg, find out what you should already know, talk, discuss, and argue amongst other users, and then think about sharing your own ideas with the world. Soon enough, you’ll find out whether or not people actually dig what you have to say. If not, well, there’s no limit to how much you can post, so just give it another shot. Have you ever been to this site? What do you think of it?

Digg can be used as part of an online marketing campaign.

What is Delicious?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What is Del.icio.us?

del.icio.us – Bookmark with Style

One of the most innovative websites to hit the internet in the past couple of years is del.icio.us. This site is actually a sort of social bookmarking tool that helps users to visit sites that they may not have thought about before. How does this work? When you use this website, you will be asked to bookmark any websites that you enjoy using. Once you have bookmarked a few sites, Delicious will then pull up any other sites that are related to the site you originally bookmarked. Sound confusing? Well, it isn’t. In fact, the concept is actually quite simple once you get the hang of it.

Here’s an example of how to use del.icio.us: if you bookmark a site such as www.pets.com, the Delicious will pull up other sites relating to pets that other users have bookmarked. In short, this site will help you to discover the web in a whole new way. Originally, Delicious was founded in order to show casual internet users various other sites that they might not be using already. However, this site has now turned into a very useful marketing tool. How can Delicious be used as a marketing tool? Well, the concept is really quite simple when you think about it.

The more people bookmark certain sites, the more these sites become popular. Thus, if you are able to create a sort of “internet buzz” about a specific company using various search terms, then your site may just rise to the top of the del.icio.us trend. See how easy sites such as Delicious make internet marketing? Even if you aren’t into the marketing aspect of this site, using Delicious is a great way to explore the internet from various perspectives. Whether dogs or frogs pique your interest, you are bound to discover a number of sites that you’ve never heard of just by using the Delicious tool.

Have you ever tried to use del.icio.us? What was your experience like? If you think that this site sounds intriguing, then go ahead and give it a try. If worse comes to worse you’ll just end up knowing more about your favorite topic than you ever thought was possible. With sites such as this one, even those people that don’t normally spend hours searching the internet can enjoy all that the internet has to offer. Are you Delicious? Why not head to this superb bookmark site and find out?

Yahoo Buzz. What is it?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Yahoo Buzz – Stay in the Know

Yahoo Buzz is one of the largest up-to-date news sites on the web. This sites features current news stories from around the globe, and these stories are updated every couple of minutes. Is there really that much news out there? Well, that depends on what you consider to be news. While your nightly news station tends to filter out most news stories, there are lots of smaller stories that are never broadcast. Well, that is, up until this point. Thanks to sites such as the one that Yahoo has created, even the smallest stories can now be read by people all over the world.

Many of the stories on Yahoo Buzz are sent in from regular people that happen to come across random articles in smaller newspapers. Interestingly, some of these smaller stories are actually picked up by larger newspapers and broadcasters. In this manner, sites such as these really provide the world with those strange news stories that you may hear once in awhile. How does the site work? Well, as with most sites these days, this one is entirely user-friendly. To begin, simply head to the site itself, and take some time to look around.

From the moment that you first visit Yahoo Buzz, you will see a number of news stories flashing all over the site. If you want to narrow down the selection a bit, you can easily type a search term into the box that is provided. However, most people love to just look around at the many stories that pop up constantly. This way, you can see what’s happening around the globe without ever really searching. Those stories that gain the most user ratings are often placed towards the top of the stack, and those that are really great are marked with a special “B.”

You’d be surprised at all you can learn about the world from Yahoo Buzz. What’s happen in your own backyard? Are you sure that you know all the details about a particular story? If you want to be the one that knows about everything going on, make sure to visit this site. Sure, you can pick up a stack of newspapers and watch all the news channels, but you’ll never compile a stack of stories such as the ones posted on this site. What’s new in the world? Why not find out what all the buzz is about around the globe? Make this site a part of your daily routine and you’ll never be left in the dark.

Yahoo Buzz is a fantastic way of keeping up to date with news as part an online marketing campaign.

Get the best out of your site by blogging

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Blogging - Do You Have a Voice?

When it comes to the internet, there’s no such thing as the sound of silence. Since the blogging community has taken over a lot of different sites, the internet community is now closer than ever before. If you have never had a blog before, then you may be interested to know more about them. Simply put, a blog is a type of website that features your own thoughts, comments, reviews, articles, and ideas. In short, it’s a way for those that are normally quiet to have quite a loud voice.

Blogging is a great way to express your ideas. Creating your own blog means having your own website that features your own thoughts. Thanks to various user-friendly blog sites, building your own pages is really easy to do. In fact, most of these sites feature great templates that anyone can select from. All you really have to do is find the one blog site that you find easiest to use, choose your desired site template, and start typing away. In addition to being a great way to speak your mind, blogs can also be helpful networking and work tools.

Are you in expert in your field? If so, you may want to think about joining blogging sites in order to share your knowledge. This way, you can update your blog regularly (think about adding new product ideas, creating press releases, and informing your general public), and add your blog site to your business cards or email signature. As soon as you clients catch on to your updated blog, they will see that you really know your stuff. Can’t write? If you aren’t exactly gifted with a pen (or keyboard), then you can hire professional writers to create blog posts for you. Not only with this look great in the eyes of clients, but you may gain an internet following as well.

Everyone has some kind of voice. Blogging sites make projecting this voice easier to do. Whether you want to interact with the internet community or simply tell the world that you know more about your business than anyone else, learning all about blogs will change the way that you work the web. What do you have to say? Do you want the world to hear your thoughts? Start thinking about what you might want to post. Soon enough, you’ll have your very own blog on the vast internet.

If your are interested in creating a blog for your website then just call us.

Great Head

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Alright, its a cheap gag...anyway, here is a bit about the head tag. The head tag is part of the 'meta data' of your website. It will not be seen by your users but will be seen by search engines.

I always feel that the meta tags are important. Many professional web designers tend to leave this meta data out. I have seen some newer tags gain popularity recently called the geo tags. I'll cover these later in the article.

So, what is the head tag? The head tag is the 'thinking' part of the website. It gives information to user agents (search engine spiders) about the xhtml document (you're not still using html are you?) such as the language of the document, the title of the document and various information not considered to be quality document content for the user (you).

A meta tag is created by declaring a property value and a content value. For instance 'meta name="author" content="jay hands" /'

So, in this example the name attribute is given a property of author and the content attribute is, well, its content.

What you need to remember is that the content property is always present as it is the content whereas the property value may change. For instance, you may have a property value of description and then the content of that property value description. You will always have a content attribute which will describe the property value.

The most popular attributes are keywords, description, author and copyright. You should always use these tags as part of good web design standards.

When it comes to search engine optimisation the meta tags have been over the years as they can easily be manipulated by web designers so the search engines pay less attention in regards to its ranking algorithms. However, some search engines such as Yahoo and MSN still use meta tags whereas Google does not. That aside, always place your keywords meta tag near the top of te page followed by your description. You should not repeat your keywords in your keyword metatag too much as it will be classed as spam. Just use the keywords that will be found on that particular page. You only need about six or seven keywords all seperated by commas such as keyword1,keyword2,keyword3. Put your most important keywords first.

Write a good description metatag as some search engines use this tag to display your website in its search engine rankings (SERPS). Therefore, having a well written description can encourage users to visit yur webpage over your competitions.

Geo Tags

Geo tags are relatively new tags. They are used to describe whereabouts your website is based. Of course, your servers IP address will always be logged. This server is based in London somewhere. I'm not sure for certain as i do not tend to venture south of Sheffield...why? There is no reason. Everybody knows that the best music, beer and women are from the North

Anyway, i have started using geotags such as geo.position and geo.country as Google starts to produce more localised results. I have questioned many search engine optimisation experts about this and they suggest there is no benefit? I think there may be and anyway, it's not going to harm my website.

So, how do you use geo tags? Well, the geo.country tag is easy. The content will be 'england'. So, it will look something like this 'meta value="geo.country" content="england" /'

The geo.position using longitude and latitude co-ordinates for the content. The easiest way to find out your co-ordinates are to visit multimap, type in your post code and in te information will be your longitude and latitude co-ordinates. You want the ones in brackets.

So, your tag should look something like 'meta value="geo.position" content="53.5,-2.12″ /'

So, that's about all you need to know about metatags. There is more but this article was written as a brief overview. I hope you find it useful.

Just a last point to remember. Remember that a metatag is a stand alone tag so you need to close it using '/>' in order to validate xhtml properly.

Twitter as a link building tool

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Not so long ago, somebody did something rather cool and people would refer to it in a blog post. It would spread out by readers of the blog who may again link to it from a new blog post and links would be built up organically that way. However, that was until Twitter came along and changed all that! Now, poepl Tweet about cool stuff and provide a link through a URL shortener. That's absolutely fine if you have thousands of followers but most people don't. Most peoples tweets don't reach half of the people thet would have done before. In fact, Tweets can be a fairly low return on investment as, especially if you have a lot of subscribers, you rarely read any of the articles posted. Also, as many of your suscribers will be in a fairly niche industry with followers who are in the same interest fields as yourself. After you see the same tweet on the same articles time and time again they just become annoying or at least 'white noise'.

The strength or value of tweets are also limited as Google persuaded Twitter to 'no follow' all external links. many people in the SEO circles are touting Twitter as a great link builder but too be honest it is fairly limited as a link building platform. Sure, you can get links from there but what it is better for is getting insider and expert knowledge from a select group of experts and interacting and building up relationships in order to slowly build trust and links in a more organic way.

Hopefully Google will not buy Twitter and become even bigger by the aquisition and allow Twitter to grow on its own but we shall see.

Want to follow me on Twitter?

What are acronyms?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

There appears to be quite some confusion between web developers the difference between the tags and . To clear up this confusion let me explain the difference as best I can. The HYPERLINK "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/text.html" W3C describes the two as:

ABBR - Indicates an abbreviated form (e.g., WWW, HTTP, URI, Mass., etc.).
ACRONYM - Indicates an acronym (e.g., WAC, radar, etc.).

Perhaps not the clearest description known to man.

In Layman's terms the difference lies in the way the term is pronounced. An abbreviation represents a term spoken in individual characters, such as H.T.M.L ("haych-tee-em-el"). An acronym however, is a term spoken as it is spelt, such as DOM. DOM stands for Document Object Model, and is pronounced "dom", not "D.O.M" ("dee-ooh-em").

We all love Internet Explorer 6

Sadly there is one other thing that separates from . Internet Explorer does not recognise the tag. Now why the IE team chose to not include this feature is beyond my guesswork. However it is something we as web designers have to take into account to understand exactly how our scripts will be rendered and understood. I personally use the tag anyway. Whilst is still standards compliant I feel that is a more correct usage. In addition to this, the lack of IE support for this tag does not affect the final outcome of the document in IE, it is simply ignored.

Accessibility to Rank Better

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

An accessible website is just that...accessible to everyone. The code that lies behind it is very clean if you seperate style from structure. So, when a search engine spider such as Splut or Googlebot visits your website, it can tell just what your website is about much easier than one full of junk code.

So, what are the benefits of creating a website that is accessible?

Cleaner Code

Having cleaner code means that the search engine can quickly determine what your website is about. If you use XHTML elements semantically then the search engine will tell from the early inclusion of the title, h1 and h2 tag exactly what your website is about.

In the early stages spiders will not index deeply into your site and may only index the first one hundred lines of code. If this code is full of junk then you gain no benefit whatsoever. However, if these first hundred lines contain h1, h2 and good clean content then you have a much better chance of ranking well as the spider gets more information from your website.

ALT Descriptions and Images

Not all people can view images. Not all people want to. Some people browse the internet with images turned off so they can surf faster. Good practice always means you should put some alternative text to replace the image in these cases.

Googlebot? will index this alt text, especially if it is linked, and may carry as much weight as a pure text link. Very important! Some search engines will not index alt text due to spam in the past but if you play straight and do not overload the alt text with rubbish you will be fine. It's also good practice.

Better Menus

Some users who may have visual impairment may browse your website tabbing from link to link. As a screen reader used by some visually impaired users cannot understand images, you should use text links which are descriptive of the destination of the text link.

Search engines are placing more and more importance on text links and especially the actual text of that link. Do a search for anchor text and you will see what I mean. The web is built on a mass of links and the search engine algorithms are now putting major efforts and emphasis on text links.

If you create your menus properly, using ul and li tags with great descriptive text in so the search engine spiders can read and follow these links, not only will your SERPS increase, but your Page Rank will be spread throughout your site better also.

Site Maps

Sitemaps are very handy for visually impaired users as they allow the user to visit all pages from a website from one simple page. That is, if the designer used his text and alt tags properly.

Site maps are also wonderful for search engines as they can index the whole of your website in one visit. I recently did this for an e-commerce site I designed for somebody. Not only that, but the internal text links, with those alt tags, provide great material to get your SERPS rocking.

The Page Title

One of the most important things that a website provides for a visually impaired user is the page title. It tells them exactly what the page is about. Therefore, titles such as Homepage, About Us etc are useless to a visually impaired user.

Therefore, you should use descriptive title tags. Anybody who knows anything about SEO also knows that the title tag is one of the most important aspects of your SERPS.

The secret here is to keep your title short and sweet. About five words but not reams and reams which I see often.

Semantic Mark Up

Visually impaired users can also navigate from header to header rather like the page to page as outlined above. Visual users tend to scan a web page rather than read it, looking for useful, relevent bits of information. This method allows a non visual user the same option.

Therefore, A good idea is to mark up your code in a semantic fashion. Putting the most important information on that web page in h1 tags and then lessor important information in h2 tags and so on and so forth.

Search engines also pay a lot of attention to these tags and will index these elements as being important. Consider it highlighting certain parts of your webpage for the search engine spider. If you make the job easier for the spider, it will make life easier for you.

Conclusion

So, even if you have never considered accessibility, just following some of the practices may mean your web sire ranks higher in the search engines. Although on-site is only a small part of a successful seo campaign, it can help you achieve much more traffic and opens your website up to users that you would otherwise have lost before. Want to rank better?

Twiter Experiment

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:00:00 GMT

OK, we are going to trial running an e-commerce site and promoting special offers in tweets.

Eldon Electricals is a provider of white goods in the UK and have a successful e-commerce website.

What we intend to do is start to roll out special offers view the social network website Twitter. You can follow Eldon on twitter.

WebFluence - the new search engine from SeoMoz

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The team at SeoMoz have not only indexed the whole of the internet but have now launched a search engine.

The search engine is a user generated search engine whereby users submit a URL and associated search terms. I can see a big potential for much spamming but i'm sure the fellas at SeoMoz have looked at this and catered for it?

Will be interesting to see what happens. It can be found here WebFluence

SEO Tips for Small Businesses

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

One of the best SEO tips for small business is to think like a big business. Consumers on the internet have no idea how big or small your business is and there is no reason to tell them unless that is your pitch, that you are a small business and that's why they should do business with you over a big business. If that's your game great, but the idea still applies. You want to use the same SEO techniques that big business uses to bring in new customers. Tried and true SEO tools that can help you expand your business.

Probably the most useful SEO tips for small business are to use keywords and keyword phrases wisely. Key words and keyword phrases are used for internet searches on sites like Google. It's the actual search words a web surfer punches into the site. When your website content is rich with keywords and phrases that are related to your product or services, the search engine takes the browser to the landing pages that have those words embedded in their content. Successful placement and use of keywords can increase web traffic to your site exponentially. Indeed, this is one of the best SEO tips for small business out there. Get into the habit of constantly thinking of keywords and phrases that can keep you at the top of the search lists.

Some other SEO tips for small business include using links, especially deep linking techniques and consider a wide variety of link exchanges. Using links to draw people to your website through SEO is an art and when it is done well it can really drive the traffic to your website. It's easy to do and with the flexibility of the internet you can change up links as often as needed to keep up with changes in the marketplace. Using links well is among the top SEO tips for small business success.

There are lots of SEO tips for small business and all should be considered, just make sure that the tips for small business that you use are relative to your specific business. Some techniques won't work as well for one kind of business over another type of business. You want the SEO components of your website to be relative to your specific products or services. It is time to put SEO at the forefront of your marketing thinking and use it well.

Business Networking - Building your Network

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Business networking is one of the most beneficial things you can do as a small business owner. Business owners are consumers as well and building your network with owners like yourself will help to build a community that you can draw on each other's influences and experiences. Furthermore, this helps to work towards goals that can help out small business as a whole in your neighborhood.

To help you get on your way to strong business networking, keep in mind the following tips and tricks. Networking is all about authenticity and being genuine. It's about seeing how you can help others and, in turn, they will see how they can help you. Visit as many groups as you can that spark your interest. They were created with the purpose of helping business owners network and build relationships so take advantage of them. Once you find a group or two that you enjoy, seek out volunteer opportunities in them. Use it as an opportunity to become more visible while giving back to the support channels that have helped you out.

When conversation arises, ask open ended questions of other small business owners. This opens up discussion between everyone. Use these discussions to display that you can be a powerful resource to them in their business networking contacts. It will keep you visible and others will turn to you first when they need help. In turn, it will create a powerful network for yourself when you need someone to turn to for suggestions and ideas. Be able to answer the question, "how can I help you?" Too often, we're approached in these types of settings and help is offered to us but we're not exactly sure what we need. Going in with a purpose will help people become more effective towards your goal.

The contacts and referrals you get from strong business networking can be one of the most valuable assets you can create for your small business. Best of all, the cost is minimal if anything at all. Make sure that you help others and are genuine and they will return the favor tenfold. Treat their referrals with respect as you are now a reflection on them and help out anyone that they refer to you. There's an honor and trust that goes unspoken between small business owners across the globe. By treating others with dignity, you can utilize the best resource out there that any small business owner could ask for.

Business Studies Resources

Business Networking

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Business networking is one of the most beneficial things you can do as a small business owner. Business owners are consumers as well and building your network with owners like yourself will help to build a community that you can draw on each other’s influences and experiences. Furthermore, this helps to work towards goals that can help out small business as a whole in your neighborhood.

To help you get on your way to strong business networking, keep in mind the following tips and tricks. Networking is all about authenticity and being genuine. It’s about seeing how you can help others and, in turn, they will see how they can help you. Visit as many groups as you can that spark your interest. They were created with the purpose of helping business owners network and build relationships so take advantage of them. Once you find a group or two that you enjoy, seek out volunteer opportunities in them. Use it as an opportunity to become more visible while giving back to the support channels that have helped you out.

When conversation arises, ask open ended questions of other small business owners. This opens up discussion between everyone. Use these discussions to display that you can be a powerful resource to them in their business networking contacts. It will keep you visible and others will turn to you first when they need help. In turn, it will create a powerful network for yourself when you need someone to turn to for suggestions and ideas. Be able to answer the question, “how can I help you?” Too often, we’re approached in these types of settings and help is offered to us but we’re not exactly sure what we need. Going in with a purpose will help people become more effective towards your goal.

The contacts and referrals you get from strong business networking can be one of the most valuable assets you can create for your small business. Best of all, the cost is minimal if anything at all. Make sure that you help others and are genuine and they will return the favor tenfold. Treat their referrals with respect as you are now a reflection on them and help out anyone that they refer to you. There’s an honor and trust that goes unspoken between small business owners across the globe. By treating others with dignity, you can utilize the best resource out there that any small business owner could ask for.

Business Studies Resources

SEO for Business

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If you are considering taking your business onto the internet you need to understand the concept SEO for small business, or search engine optimization. This tool will push your business to the top of internet search sites such as Google. SEO employs a number of different techniques and it's important to understand search engine optimization and how it can be the difference between internet success and failure. Sometimes overzealous companies launch sites without SEO included in the design of the website and end up not getting the most business they can online. Be careful that you don't fall into this trap. Understanding SEO for small business will keep your business at the top of the search lists.

SEO for small business is most important design feature to consider when building a website. The ability to understand and utilize SEO methods will put your business ahead of the competition. The best part is that because the internet is so versatile and websites can be changed constantly and easily, you can keep abreast of changing search engine optimization techniques and keep your website current and receive the most possible hits through high search engine rankings. This is what you want to achieve as studies show consumers seldom go beyond the first few hits in a web search. You want to be as close to the top of that list as possible.

Pertinent to SEO for small business design is how keywords and keyword phrases are used in the website content. These words will be embedded in your website pages so that when a search containing these words is conducted on Google, the web user is directed to one of your landing pages increasing the possibility of making a sale. If you get into the habit of making up keywords and phrases and change them occasionally you will learn what words are best to put you at the tops of the search list. You can get great results using SEO for small business techniques.

Use SEO for small business to push your business ahead of the competition and direct as much business as possible to your website. And, make sure that once they are on your site they stay there. So, be sure to have interesting content and design. Understanding and utilizing SEO for small business can take your small business places you never thought possible in terms of sales and new customers.

Using Twitter for Business

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

To be successful in business you cannot set up shop and expect the clients to beat a path to your door. You will need to create some sort of marketing campaign to raise awareness of what it is you do. You will need to identify who your market is and how your product fits in that market.

Many people at the minute are using Twitter to market themselves. It is quite sensible for companies to leverage a social network like Twitter. There are many articles out there talking about how social network sites influence consumers. Of course the real evidence has not been proven and therefore the Return on Investment is unquantified.

I think we are to the point where clients are going to force our hand get us online marketeers to help them make the most out of sites like Twitter.

There is one thing that Twitter is good for and that is reputation management. If used wisely Twitter can be used to track any mentions of their product/service/brand and then drop in a helpful and polite post. This will be seen by many people and help towards the public relations of a company. They are still pushing their brand but in a very subtle manner.

A not so great way to promote a brand is to write articles, produce sales content, blog posts mentioning their brand and then force it in peoples faces. People will tire of this approach when overused.

So, overall, Twitter can be used as a marketing tool if used properly and subtly and is a fantastic reputation management tool and allows a brand to connect better with their clients.

SEO Design for Websites

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

When you find yourself in a position to finally enter cyber space and begin internet marketing you want to make sure you keep SEO design for websites in mind. SEO is search engine optimization and what it does is put your website at the top of the list when people do searches on search sites such as Google. SEO is vital to getting traffic to your site over your competitors. Studies show that when consumers search for specific businesses, they will typically only go to the first few sites that pop up on the search. This is where SEO design for websites becomes so important.

SEO design for websites can be very basic but also very complex at the same time. It starts with your website content. The best content is rich with key words and key words phrases. These are words that relate to your business that are most commonly searched. For example, if you business is cat whisker trimming and somewhere in one of your landing pages you have the term cut cat whiskers, every time someone searches cut cat whiskers, they will be directed to your site. The frequency with which the term shows up in the content on your site determines your position in the search engine line. Of course, writing content that is keyword inclusive without sounding weird is challenging but certainly not impossible and definitely necessary.

Some people make the mistake of designing their websites before even considering SEO design for websites which puts them behind the eight ball immediately. Designing for SEO right from the beginning is important and designing your website around SEO is very prudent and will pay big dividends in the future. Remember, it's the content that will keep viewers on your site so keep it interesting and informative. SEO design for websites is definitely an art form and does take a little practice, but once you get the hang of it you find yourself continually finding ways to take advantage of SEO and updating your site accordingly.

SEO design for websites takes a little discipline, but once you understand all the nuances and how it can positively affect traffic flow, it becomes obvious how important SEO is for a successful website. Smart website marketers understand this from the very beginning and take advantage of SEO right away. The internet is powerful marketing and harnessing it is very important to your success.

The little things in SEO still count

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Most professional SEO's will make a number of recommendations to their clients which will most probably include various recommendations such as:

Use hyphens to separate keywords in a url
Use one (and only one) H1 tag in your copy
Use a number of H2 and H3 tags in your copy
Use a keyword in your copy and make it bold
Include keyword rich anchor text in your copy
Ensure your keywords are at the front of your title tag
Make sure your title tag is relevant and contains no more than 65 characters
Make your code lightweight - i.e. less white noise
Employ relevant keyword to alt tags
Sculpture your PageRank by adding rel="nofollow" to contact, login, terms pages.

These recommendations are often discarded by middle management who want results quickly. Normally, budgets are restricted to just a number of the recommendations in a conversation which goes something like:

SEO Client : So, we have XX to spend this month on SEO. Which of the above can you do for me?

SEO : Well, if I were you I would do all the above.

SEO Client : Ain't gonna happen chief. Not got the money - we're in a credit crunch, Give me the most important 4.

SEO : Well there isn't really a...

SEO Client : Give me the top four.

SEO : Well OK, try X, Y and Z.

SEO Client : Nice one - and we can forget the other points?

SEO : Well, not really no. I mean, they are all needed. Individually they are not going to have a major impact but together they will.

What I am trying to say here is that the little things do count. Things like avoiding canonicalising, eradicating duplicate content, creating link acquisition programmes and targeting your keywords can have a massive impact on search results. However, in a project the small things can be overlooked very easily.

Great post by points by Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz

Toys R Us should have hired an SEO

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If only Toys 'R' Us would have invested in an SEO company then they would have spared the egg on their face of purchasing a domain for $5.1 million and rendering that domain name worthless within days. OK, worthless is a little harsh but they obvisouly purchased that domain because it was ranking in position #1, #2 and #4 in Google for the search query 'toys' with the intention of using the power that domain had picked up and transfer it to their existing domain ToysRus.com

Every SEO worth their salt would know that the correct thing to do in this instance would be to use 301 forwards from Toys.com to specific pages on the Toys R Us domain. Hell, even a full 301 to the route would have been a better option but this was not the case. Unfortunately, the web team involved only forwarded the domain name meaning essentially that Google has de-indexed the domain. Also, Google will look at registration details when a domain changes hand but this is beyond the scope of a small blog post.

For the price of hiring a half decent SEO company (or even a knowledgeable web company) all these embarrassments could have been avoided!

Semantics Markup Web Design

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If you are in the internet business community you have probably heard of SEO for web design, but have you heard of semantics markup web design? Basically, semantic markup is the programming your website so that the code used actually seems a bit like English rather than computer code. Using this kind of coding makes it easier for search engines to pick up a website's content and analyze it for SEO components and of course then sending the site to a specific website's landing page or pages. Semantics markup web design is another important component of web design that is friendly to the search engine sites.

Semantics markup web design should be utilized when developing a website as it will help out your website at the top of search engine ranking as well as make your site easier for web surfers to find. Semantic coding is good to have and really is a standard in website design. You should talk to your web design professional about how semantic markup web design can help your website get recognized by the search engines. You need every advantage you can get to draw traffic to your website and making sure your website uses semantic markup is very very important. Old school coding isn't just confusing to regular people it's also confusing to the search engines!

If you have an old website you may want to consider upgrading it to conform to semantics markup web design and take advantage of what semantic markup has to offer in terms of better recognition by the search sites and the traffic that will ultimately be sent to your site. This kind of upgrade could greatly help your old site get some fresh new traffic and be successful beyond its current position. Semantics markup web design can be the difference between success and failure.

Chances are if you are developing a new website you are already employing semantic markup web design and that's great. It is an important part of your websites architecture and will continue to be on into the future. You will be happy your website employs semantic markup when it comes time to upgrade or change SEO components as they evolve. It is always best to do something right from the very start and using semantic markup web design makes good sound sense for your new or old website. Success can be had with semantics.

Search Marketing Tips

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If you are contemplating doing business on the internet and are interested in how to best use search marketing, you may want to consider some search marketing tips. First of all before you even launch your new website you need to make sure that the design architecture is SEO friendly in order to get the best possible SEO results. When your website design is not conducive to SEO techniques then you risk the possibility of not ranking very well on search engine sites such as Google. This is an important thing to remember. Starting your website on the right foot SEO wise is good business and will save a lot of headaches in the future.

Add to your list of search marketing tips the frequent use of key words and keyword phrases when designing your website. You want every page to be embedded with relevant key words in order to get search out by the search engines and put to the top of the line. In fact, this is a good habit to get into, always be thinking about what keywords relate to your site, now at the design phase and later at the maintenance phase. Keeping your site rich and current with good keywords will help immeasurably and is one of the best search marketing tips you can get.

Links are another thing to put on your search marketing tips list. Links can add a huge number of hits to your site by using other sites to get to the search engines. Creative uses of links and cross links can really move the traffic to your website. That's traffic that you wouldn't ordinarily have so the use of links can be very important to your success. Your search marketing strategy when well laid out will pay big dividends. You also want to make sure you stay on top of emerging optimization trends and changes.

There are many search marketing tips to consider and you should consider all of them. Just remember that the best way to get the most bang for your buck is to make sure your website is designed for search marketing optimization from the very beginning. The website architecture is very important. Make sure you web design professional understands the importance of search marketing and how it applies specifically to your website needs. Use these search marketing tips well and your website will be very successful.

Search Engine Optimization for Beginners

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The term SEO gets thrown around the internet like crazy and it has become necessary to explain search engine optimization for beginners. SEO shouldn't be scary but a lot of internet business people are intimidated by SEO and how it works. SEO is simply a manner to determine where your website will rank in search engine queries. Sites like Google seek out those websites that are chock full of SEO design and point the searchers in the direction of those sites most SEO friendly. SEO is a very important tool in internet marketing and every cyber space merchant should have an understanding even if cursory of SEO.

Search engine optimization for beginners should start right at the beginning, in other words at the design phase of a website. SEO should be employed right from the very start of conceptualization of a site. SEO needs to be incorporated in the websites architecture so it may be maximized at the launch as well as into the future. An SEO friendly website is key to drawing large amounts of traffic to your website. Search engine optimization for beginners may seem a little daunting to understand but it really isn't hard to comprehend at all. SEO is kind of a high tech version of guaranteeing good placement in old school advertising like the yellow pages.

To really get search optimization for beginners to understand, you must look at the very basic component of SEO which is keywords and keyword phrases. These are the words that people will type into search engine sites when looking for goods and services and the companies that provide them. A SEO based website uses keywords embedded in their webpage content to attract the search engine to their particular site. So if you sell aardvarks and you have embedded the phrase cheap aardvarks into your web pages, when an aardvark customer types that phrase into Google or some other search site most likely your site will pop up amongst the first in the search results.

Search engine optimization for beginners should be relatively easy to figure out and once you have a grasp of it, SEO will come easy and you will enjoy its benefits for many years to come. It should be easy to see that there is no need to fear SEO and how it works. Just know that it can greatly help grow your internet business exponentially.

Reliable Hosting Company

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The importance of hiring a reliable hosting company cannot be understated when you are in an internet based business. People want access to your website twenty four hours a day seven days a week. If they cannot do that they will pass you over for another website that faithfully maintains that schedule. The internet is all about convenience and when a website is down it is not convenient for anyone. You need to make sure you website is host by a reliable hosting company with a long history of good service you can always count on. There is nothing more deadly to an internet business than down time. Down time means lost sales and possibly lost customers. If a customer doesn't feel like they can rely on your website due to constant problems, they will leave you for someone else.

Employing a reliable hosting company can be the difference between success and failure. See the problem is you have no actual control over when the website is up or down. You can't do anything about it only your website hosting company can. So, when you are getting calls about problems on your site and you tell the customer the problem is with the hosting company, they are not going to care. All they know is your site is down and they can't use it. That's just no good for anybody and reflects badly on your ability to do business and be reliable.

A reliable hosting company will make sure your site is functioning all the time. And, they will have backup systems should something happen and there is a problem. In addition to back up systems a reliable hosting company will fix the problems as expediently as possible limiting down time to the absolute minimum. You should never have to worry about when your website will be back up and neither should your customers.

A reliable hosting company is your first defense against problems with your site and will make all the difference in the world to your internet success. Access to your website is everything without it your internet business is nothing. People can't buy from someone who isn't there. Being down is not an excuse in this day and age. The reliable hosting company will have all manner of built in fail safe systems to keep you up and running as much as possible. Make sure you don't scrimp on reliable hosting.

Paid Search v. Organic Search

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ever wonder what the difference is between paid search v. organic search? Well, simply put a paid search is really on par with paying for advertisement. A company pays an advertising fee to advance their company's website up the rankings in search engines like Google. An organic search results in websites that have relevance to the searched phrase or phrases. Whether it is prudent for you to use a paid search v. organic search is really up to what your advertising budget will allow and if it really is the best use of your advertising dollars.

The argument in paid search v. organic search by a lot of companies is why pay when you can milk the cow for free? See, creative use of search marketing techniques can render the same results as a paid search can. Ok, true the paid search is guaranteed to have a high ranking, but you have to ask yourself how important that is in your situation. If you can get the same or similar results just by being creative with your SEO plan, why pay for advertising? Big companies can afford paid searches obviously and to them it's a no-brainer. But, can your company afford it? And, should they afford it? Again, it's up to you and your budget.

One of the things that has brought paid search v. organic search to the spotlight and necessitated a definition for both was that a large portion of internet users had no idea that some of the companies brought to the top of their searches were paid adverts! This facilitated the need to distinguish between paid search v. organic search so as not to fool consumers into thinking their organic search results were pure coincidence and because the website owners were such geniuses when it came to SEO. Consumer groups demanded the distinction be known to internet users.

It may be interested to note in the paid search v. organic search model that Google claims their users click on organic results more often than paid advertisements. That could well be a factor in one's choosing paid search v. organic search. Why waste money? No doubt the debate will go on in marketing departments all over the globe as to whether one should employ paid searches or organic searches. The news is still good for small businesses though, creative use of SEO will give good results still.

Marketing Your Business Online

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Isn't it time you started marketing your business online? Have you been waiting around to see where internet commerce is going? Well, its exploding by leaps and bounds and now is the time to get on the band wagon and go for the ride! Marketing your business online will change the face of your business forever, just as it has changed the faces of millions of businesses all over the world in the last twenty years. The online market place has been well received by consumers and every day more and more people get their needs from online vendors. The power of the internet can bring a myriad of new customers to you with very little effort and expense.

Don't be like a lot of people and delay marketing your business online because you are worried about cost. Cost is no longer a factor when launching an internet marketing program for your business. There are so many options available for marketing your business online and you can find one that will fit your specific budget. Demand and the advancement of technology have made marketing your business online easy, inexpensive and fast too. Most web designers can have something ready for you in a few weeks. Sometimes it can be in days. With that kind of turn around there is no need to delay any further, you can be up and running on the internet sooner than you thought.

The new business that will come in when you begin marketing your business online will stun and amaze you. Indeed, you will wonder what took you so long to get into cyber space. There are millions of potential customers all over the world and you can reach all of them. Try doing that with traditional marketing programs. The reach of the internet is second to none and it's just getting larger and larger every single day. People enjoy the convenience of buying on the net.

Marketing your business online makes good sense and if you want to remain relevant and viable you must begin to use this powerful tool to bring in new business from all over the globe. Internet marketing is here to stay and becoming part of it will grow your business beyond anything you have ever dreamed of. Your customer will appreciate your marketing your business online as well because it will make their buying experience more convenient. Start your program today.

Local Marketing with Your Website

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The universal access the internet gives businesses is unprecedented but have you ever considered local marketing with your website? It's easy to lose sight of the business opportunities that are right outside your door when you enter into internet marketing. Thinking on a global level sometimes shrinks our ability to remember the local business available but left untapped. That's local marketing with your website should always be a consideration. It's easy and you can enjoy the benefits it will bring to your business. And, importantly it will establish your business as part of the local business community. Having local roots is always good for business.

The best way to begin local marketing with your website is the old fashioned method of word of mouth. No matter where you are or where you go always mention your website and how to get there. Just like passing out a business card, which you should do as well along with your website on it. But, let's say you forget your card and want to direct someone to your site. Well, your website may be too long of them to remember or you may not have a pen so just give them a one of your keywords to search in order to get to your site. Word of mouth is powerful and just the curiosity factor alone will drive people to your site.

Think of local marketing with your website in the same way you would think of traditional marketing techniques. It's all about networking. Go to local businesses and ask them if they want to share links. By adding your link to their website and theirs to yours, both businesses can enjoy new and fresh traffic to your local websites. It's all about adding old concepts to new ones and enjoying what the power of the internet has to offer. Local marketing with your website can be fun and very profitable.

Taking advantage of the local marketing with your website is smart and will deliver great dividends to your business. It' is always a good idea to do business locally and people appreciate being able to use local vendors and your presence in cyber space just solidifies your business acumen and ability to stay current. Don't forget about all that business right in your home town, remember to always be local marketing with your website as part of your continued sales strategy.

Link Baiting for SEO

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The main reason for having a website is to take advantage of its power and draw traffic into your business that is where link baiting for SEO can come in really handy. When you link bait you are essentially asking people to click on a link you have embedded in some other internet vehicle besides your own website or through a search engine. It could be a blog or online newsletter or even someone else's site. Link baiting is a form of back linking and can be very effective in generating website traffic. Link baiting for SEO is a smart and inexpensive way to fortify your SEO program.

Link baiting for SEO is a fairly new practice but it has exploded beyond what anyone could have imagined. Any successful website in cyber space should have a link baiting program. It's so easy to do and is limited by nothing but your own imagination and creativity. Finding outlets to use link baiting in can be fun and can also bring in pockets of business you never even realized were available. When you are link baiting for SEO you can take advantage of so many different places on the internet. You can begin quite simply too. Just ask friend your business associates to allow you to add your web site link onto their blog when you respond or make comments to it. You should be prepared to add theirs to yours as well.

Taking advantage of link baiting for SEO can be a great networking too as well as you brings all kinds of businesses together through the link baiting process. Link baiting for SEO is good business practice for everyone on the internet doing business. It doesn't matter what business you are in either, but using complementary businesses as a guide for link baiting is a good way to start your link baiting program. Then you can expand into other areas.

SEO is an art and link baiting for SEO is a great new component to add to that art. Any exposure out in cyber space is good for your business and using link baiting is a prudent and wise practice. Every day you can come with new places to link bait and because it's so easy to do you can build a large network of back links that all point to your website drawing in all sorts of new traffic and sales.

Best of the Web

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Best of the Web is a great place to get a decent link from. Most internet directories are a pretty poor place to get links from however BOTW is one of the better ones.

They are running an offer this month to get 25% by using the Promo Code: SAVE25

It's just a shame i updated all our links last month!

Link Bait Traffic

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Link bait traffic can be a great innovative way to generate some excitement about your website. Link baiting refers to the practice of back linking through various internet forums. When you link bait you embed a clickable link back to your website on someone else's medium. It is like a blog for instance. Say, you go on a blog and make a comment, then you can throw in a phrase like, let me know what you think or for more information click here. What they click on is a link for your website. Back linking has been around for a while but internet users are beginning to use link baiting as a serious component to their internet marketing campaigns, with great success.

Driving traffic to your site is really what you live and die for as an internet marketer and link bait traffic is just another really cool way to generate some buzz. Where and how you use link bait traffic tactics is really limited only by your own imagination. The opportunities to create traffic through link baiting are endless. Take a spin around the net and you will see link baiting being used everywhere. It's effective and unlike other internet marketing techniques it is unobtrusive and non offensive because it gives the internet user the choice of clicking on your link. Link baiting doesn't force you to click on the site.

Link bait traffic opens up a whole new world of customers you may have never known were there either. Readers of XYZ blog may have never known of your existence until they read XYZ blog. They may have been looking for your products or services for ages but just never were directed to your site. Well, now you have them! New and fresh link bait traffic can breathe new life into your internet business. Take advantage of link baiting and watch how it can increase your website traffic quickly and with no cost to you.

The innovative method of link bait traffic is as exciting and interesting as the internet itself. It's truly a new age solution to the old problem of driving site traffic while not having to spend and arm and a leg to do it. When combined with a good SEO program. Link bait traffic can really make a difference in your internet sales. Why not try link baiting and see how far it can take you.

HT Access Commands

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

An htaccess file can be created through a text editor like Notepad, and is a basic ASCII file. It doesn't need a name in front of it, because it is the extension. For example, you would see .htaccess, not something.htaccess, when you access the file. All you do is open the program, and save a blank document or a document with one character as .htaccess. Make sure that you remove the file extension from the file when you save (.txt, .doc, etc.). This will make the file a member of the ht access commands family and not just another file on your computer.

Uploading .htaccess files and ht access commands isn't a complicated task. They do need to be added in ASCII mode, not binary mode, so make sure you keep an eye on that. To protect your server and keep your security in place, you may need to use a CHMOD code, such as 644 or RW-R--R--R. This action will ensure that your server can read the ht access commands, but also keep a browser from accessing them, so that your site is protected. If you're not quite up to par with this type of information, let's break it down a little more for you.

Ht access commands are ways of making your server or website do things. They were designed for use with Apache, not NT servers. You can use ht access commands for security, for disabling directory browsing, limiting upload sizes, making certain files inaccessible, having custom 404, 500, and 403 pages (common error pages), preventing hotlinking, blocking referred traffic, and blocking access based on IP addresses. These things are mostly security fixes, but essential to webmasters and bloggers alike. An .htaccess file should be supported by your browser if you run Linux, Unix, or Apache, but the web host you use might prevent you from using it. You can tell by whether your host has password protected folders. If so, .htaccess is acceptable. If not, you're probably not going to be able to use it.

Ht access commands can allow you to use different index files, stop directory listings, ban users or allow users specifically, automatically redirect users, change file extensions, password protect files and folders, and help you create custom error pages on your website. Whether or not you can use these files will depend on the server and web host that you use. However, if you are able to use them, they can help create a secure, more customizable environment for your web design than you would have without ht access commands.

Internet Marketing for Small Business

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

There are so many marketing challenges and expenses for small business but with internet marketing for small business all of that has changed. The internet is a powerful and inexpensive marketing tool that can expand the growth of your company beyond anything you ever could have imagined. Internet marketing for small business has become so much easier and affordable in the last decade that any business can have a presence on the internet. All it takes is the leap from traditional marketing to internet marketing. It's really the same thing just out in cyber space and internet marketing for small business is the most powerful marketing available to small business.

The new business that can be unleashed by internet marketing for small business is so big as to be almost unimaginable. With a good internet marketing program and website your small business can begin flourishing the moment your launch your website into cyber space. You can now enjoy all the benefits larger companies get from the internet without blowing your whole marketing budget. Technology and increase in demand has made internet marketing for small business not only attainable but necessary to achieve continued growth in the global marketplace.

Growing a small business is hard no matter what, but taking advantage of internet marketing for small business is smart and will help to keep your business relevant and up to date. It also opens up a whole new world of potential customers just waiting to buy your product or service. The internet makes it so easy to reach millions of web surfers cruising through the marketplace just looking to spend money. Your small business should be there waiting to collect that money and now you can. Designing and building a website for your business is easy and the sooner you get to it the sooner you can partake in the traffic the internet offers.

Internet marketing for small business is a real no-brainer. Having dominance in the marketplace over your competition by having a great internet marketing program will make your small business even more successful than you ever imagined. The internet is here to stay and more and more consumers are out there just waiting for your business to establish an internet presence. Take advantage of the situation and develop an internet marketing program sooner rather than later. Internet marketing for small business can take you to new heights and a degree of success you have only dreamed of.

Safari 4 - public beta launch

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

OK, so Apple have released the public beta version of Safari 4 for both OS X and Windo, Windo, Win...i just can't say it - you know the Microso, microsof, micro - you know what i mean. I was never really a fan of Safari 3, bit too minimalist for my liking so lets hope this next version is better. Apparently, it is packed with over 150 features (hmmm, let's not hope they've gone the other way either!).

One of the main features is the introduction of the Nitro engine which is a speedier JavaScript engine that apparently runs 30 times faster than Explorer 7 and three times faster than Firefox 3.

I don't know how it handles video yet but apparently some bleeding edge web technology has been included which includes HTML 5's media support. Hopefully our new media rich website will work fine!

Another feature of Safari 4 is the top sites which loads by default when you launch Safari. This was one of the top features of Chrome.

Anyway, lets see how safari 4 holds up in the current browser domination war that seems to be starting up. Let's hope it's better than Safari 3!

Wahooo! Dynamite Marketing launches

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Yep. myself and Steve finally launched Dynamite Marketing this afternoon which is a web site designed to take the strain of our ever increasing demand for online marketing.

SEO Tools

Ever wondered if your website is up to scratch? Well, wonder no more as there are SEO tools currently available and even more under development. We have currently launched a few beta tools including a web site analyser that checks to see if all the important elements are in place on your website

More to follow

We have a lot of plans for Dynamite Marketing including online marketing as well as brand reputation management and advanced traffic analysis. I can see you're a little over excited at the minute so we'll keep you informed at a later date.

Is real time search the future for search engines?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Twitter is starting to beta test certain accounts for real time search. The search appears in the signed-in homepages of accounts. There already is a search facility in use by Twitter which is useful for determining what is hot online.

Twitter has started a revolution in a conversation based medium based around the system. Twitter's tagline is 'See what's happening � right now'. Everything is going real time for Twitter. There is no question that conversation snippets like Twitter are gaining popularity online whether that be the status update of Facebook, blogs or Twitter. People want to know what is happening now, in real time.

This leads to an inevitable question. What are Google going to do about this? With the focus on real time it is hard to see how Google will adopt a real time engine. The results from Google search queries are almost certainly determined in advance as the processing power required would be immense. Such a real time search engine could seriously threaten the search engine powerhouse. There is a social search engine called WhosTalkin.com which i found whilst trying to put together a Brand Reputation campaign together.

So, how will Google put together a real time conversational feature? The only viable way i can think off the top of my head at the minute is through its personalised search which it is currently working towards. One thing should be counted on however and that is that Google will try to compete with the Twitter model. Obviously, there is a potential for generating vast revenue through its targeted advertising as well. Facebook has become much more revenue focused and even Twitter has promised that it will look at revenue generating models this year.

Watch this space.

Scoutjet comes a sniffin'

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I was going through our server logs this morning when I noticed a new address being listed with a URL of http://www.scoutjet.com. Normally, i find people trying to reverse engineer our website and see why we are high ranking and occaionally content scrappers and various other spam bots but this one caught my attention.

It turns out that this is the name for the new search spider that belongs to Blekko the search company being run in stealth mode by Rich Skrenta formerly of Topix and DMOZ. I then noticed on Matt Cutts twitter that he mentions them. Maybe they will become a competitor to Google? Maybe, they will become another start up with lots of funding and talent but fall by the wayside. Who knows? Anyway, here is a link to their website. ScoutJet.

Choosing a web design agency.

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The first step in designing and building a website is figuring out how to find a web design company that is right for your particular needs. Sounds like it could be tough, but really it isn't. The choices of web designers are vast and abundant due to the explosion of the internet in cyber marketing over the last fifteen to twenty years. There are many different types of web designers out there and you will do best by using one with the right mixture of experience on the internet and the creativity necessary to make your website stand out amongst the competition. Deciding how to find a web designer is easy. You just need to go with a professional with a good portfolio and references.

Worrying about how to find a web designer is silly because there is nothing to worry about. It just takes a bit of time. But, it is time well spent when you consider the benefit of finding the right web designer. Your website design is your first impression on the web surfer, and you know what they say about first impressions. You never get a chance to make another one. That is why getting your web design right from the very moment you launch your site is eminently important to be successful.

When you figure out how to find a web designer make sure you don't forget to make sure that web designer understands your unique message and how you want to communicate it. You will work closely with your web designer to come up with the best possible design unique to you and your company. This is how you will be successful in your internet marketing campaign. Consumers like uniqueness and will purchase from businesses they consider different from the rest of the available competition. Your web design is your competitive advantage and when you decide how to find a web designer it important that your criterion be that the designer knows and understands this concept.

How to find a web designer may seem like a difficult question at first glance, but it's not really. It is just important that you know exactly what you want in a web designer before you start to interview prospective designers. There are professional web designers just waiting for you to contact them. These pros know exactly what you need to be successful and are willing to help you right now.

How to Find a Web Designer

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The first step in designing and building a website is figuring out how to find a web designer that is right for your particular needs. Sounds like it could be tough, but really it isn't. The choices of web designers are vast and abundant due to the explosion of the internet in cyber marketing over the last fifteen to twenty years. There are many different types of web designers out there and you will do best by using one with the right mixture of experience on the internet and the creativity necessary to make your website stand out amongst the competition. Deciding how to find a web designer is easy. You just need to go with a professional with a good portfolio and references.

How to Build Website Traffic

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If you are starting an internet business or considering putting your existing business on the web and are wondering how to build website traffic don't be worried, it's almost like building your traditional business. Start simply and increase the complexity of your efforts at different stages. There are many ways to build website traffic and all of them can work for you. A lot of people worry about how to build website traffic unnecessarily. They think that it costs a lot or that others have already gotten all the business from the net. None of that is true at all. This is especially the case as to the part about competitors already having all the business. The internet has exploded with new consumers and the demand far out sizes the supply.

The key to how to build website traffic is to start SEO before you even launch your website. Make sure the design phase of your website includes building SEO friendly website architecture. This is important at the beginning and throughout the life of the website. Using SEO to draw traffic to the site is the single most important component to internet marketing and making sure your site is SEO friendly will be the difference between instant success and instant failure. Once you site is up and running you need to be able to make SEO changes as SEO evolves. A site that isn't SEO sensitive will be harder to draw traffic to.

Another answer as to how to build website traffic is an oldie but a goodie and that is the old school word of mouth method. Alert everyone you possibly can about your website and start to create a grassroots buzz that will hopefully be part and parcel of a an eventual roar. Combine that old time word of mouth with some new high tech methods like link baiting, and your website traffic is sure to start flowing. All this is affordable too and in most cases is absolutely free. It's all about being creative when you need to figure out how to build website traffic.

How to build website traffic is really just a question of what methods work for you. It will take a little experimentation but the tools are all right there for you. You just have to dive in and find out what works best for your particular situation. The main thing to understand the traffic is there for taking.

The long tail is getting longer.

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

News on the vine tends to suggest that the long tail is getting longer! It is a fairly well understood principle of online marketing that those search queries which tend to be longer are more likely to convert. Also, a search query that contains a number of words is more likely to send qualified traffic than a single word query.

According to recent findings 1 and 2 word queries are in decline whilst 4 and 5 word phrases are increasing. This may suggest that users are becoming more search savvy.

Four-word search queries are up 12% since 2007, and five-word search queries are up 16%.

We have certainly seen some trends in the e-commerce sites we look after in the sense that many users tend to use the long tail in terms of looking for products and many of our e-commerce sites convert at above average rates. Our e-commerce systems also cater for the long tail on structure which we were aware of over two years ago.

It is a welcome change that the long tail is becoming more popular!

Get More Traffic with SEO

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Moving traffic to your website is the most important aspect of having a website and you can get more traffic with SEO assuming you know best how to use it. Search engine optimization or SEO is the key to moving people from search sites such as Google directly to your site. Google and other search sites use specific criterion for pointing a query to a specific site. Knowing how to use that criterion to put your site high in the search engine rankings can be your key to success on the internet. To get more traffic with SEO you need to begin at the beginning.

You website architecture should be designed to get more traffic with SEO right from the very beginning. Don't even start building your website until your design professional assures you how your will get more traffic with SEO from your specific site. Work from an SEO stand point outward when designing your site. The rest of the design characteristics of your site will mean nothing if there is no traffic being directed to the site from the search engines. What good is that? Not any good at all. The main thrust of the website is to maximize available traffic and that should be your web design credo.

To get more traffic with SEO consider the rich and frequent use of keywords and key word phrases. Every page of your website should be embedded with words that directly relate to your company, product, service or some other attribute. When web surfers query a certain phrase or word in Google, they will be directed to the landing page with the most richly used keywords or keyword phrases. You need to find out which relative keywords or phrases are searched most and then creatively embed them into your content. This will guarantee traffic to your site when one of those phrases or words is typed into a search engine.

Links are another way to get more traffic with SEO. Using links on other companies' sites pointing consumers in your direction are also used by the search engines. This exposure is easy to get and usually free depending on what kind of deal you have with your link swapping partner. No matter what you do, you will always get more traffic with SEO and the creative use of it. Get to know how SEO can work best for your website.

End of Canonical Indexing?

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Eric Schmidt once called the Internet a cesspool. Why a cesspool? Well because mainly due to the amount of duplicate content and lack of relevance in many web pages. As much of this cesspool comes from duplicate content a tag had now been created so the three main search engines can understand and avoid canonical indexing. Canonical indexing is where basically your homepage (mainly) will have up to 4 versions of the same page. The new tag looks a little like this.

<[a] rel="canonical" href="http://www.website.co.uk/product.php" />

We use something called .htaccess to get around this and have done for years but may start to look at this after some reviews from the SEO world have been received.

As Google explains you can simply add this tag to specify your preferred version of a URL inside the section of the duplicate content URLs.

The information has come from Matt Cutts, the Google Engineer, so it is from a reliable source. We'll have to see where it all goes.

I don't think it will clear up the cesspool but it will at least address an issue many websites have of Canonical indexing.

Get listed on Google Business Listings

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

With the recent launch of Google Latitude I believe that the future of much of Google's emphasis will be on local search. Afterall, they will be able to target plenty of targeted advertising that way as well. Therefore, it is important that your business is listed in Google Maps and the local business listings. Your business mat actually already be contained in the local listings and you may only need to 'authorise' that it is your business. If it is not then you can follow these simple steps to get it included to get more exposure for your products and services.

With the Local Business Center you can add the following information about your business to Google Maps:

Business name
Business address
Business phone number
Business descriptions
Photos

If you have never set up a Google Local Business listing then this is how to:

Go to Google Maps http://maps.google.co.uk
Click "put your business on Google Maps"
Sign in or Create an Account
Click "Add New Business"
Enter your business information
Click "Next"
If it shows your business is already on there, click "claim listing"
If it's not there, click "add listing"
Then you can enter additional details such as business category, opening hours, photos, payment options, etc.
Click submit
At this point, you will need to verify you business by phone or postcard (it is an automated phone call so is very quick). After you are verified, your info will appear on Google Maps.
Later on, you can go back to Local Business Center to edit your information, see how many people went to your listing, o r create coupons.

There we go! Not a whole lot of work for potentially a great deal of exposure and added convenience for your potential and existing customers looking for what you offer.

Well? What are you waiting for?

Custom Web Design

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

When finally taking the plunge and entering cyber space as an internet marketer, it is easy to blow off creating a custom web design for some boiler plate design everybody and their brother uses. That's understandable. A lot of people would just rather take the easy way out because it seems like less hassle and appears to be cheaper in the short run. The truth is by not using a custom web design you could be costing yourself a lot more over time in lost sales. Having a custom website assures that you carve out your own little piece of the internet.

Think of custom web design like you would the design of a physical store front. You want to stand out from your competition. People should feel like your business is separate and different from everyone else. The internet is the perfect place to express your business's individuality in a sea of sameness. If people are bored by your website or find it tedious to get around like any other website, they may leave quickly and never proceed to that all important check out page. This will end up costing you sales. Consumers want to be made comfortable and that transfers to the internet. Having a custom we design can set you apart and increase your sales exponentially.

In online marketing as with traditional marketing, offering something different than your competition is what keeps you in business and using a custom web design for your site is the first defense against being lumped in with the rest of the sites out there. Showing creativity in a custom web design will go a long way to getting and maintaining customers in cyber space. The internet can be a barren place when searching through the same old websites day in and day out, but when you have something truly different, consumers will stop surfing for a moment and have a look and hopefully open up their pocketbooks.

The best thing about custom web design is it is limited only by your imagination. The capacity and knowledge that web designers have is truly extraordinary and you do can pretty much anything you like with your site. The possibilities are endless. There are so many interesting things you can do to make your site stand out and your web designer will know exactly how to use custom web design to best represent your product or service.

Snake Oil Salesmen

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Whilst discussing with a potential client various techniques and practices used as part of a search engine marketing campaign we came across a technique used by some companies to scare the client into thinking that all other companies are cowboys.

Apparently, another search engine marketing company had told this client that the practice of submitting an article with a link back to the clients website can get you penalised or even worse, banned from the search engines. This is not true! True, if you base your whole campaign on using many article submission sites then the links you get will not count for much and pass very little link juice but you will not be penalised? If this were the case then you could quite easily sabotage your competition and destroy their online exposure.

I would have expected a comment like this from a small inexperienced company but surely not an established online marketing company.

Google Bitch Slaps Japan.

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

On February 11th Google penalised Google Japan for purchasing links, something that violates Googles terms. Too cut a long story short, the Google Japan team took on a marketing initiative of of paying bloggers to write reviews. Paying these bloggers equates to purchasing inks as these links were not naturally gained as editorial endorsements. In turn, and just like a rough night out in Burnley, Google's search quality team slapped Google Japan with a PageRank penalty redusing the Pagerank from a PR9 to a PR5.

Something similar happened to BMW a few years bac. They we're dropped from the Index for a few days. I think they we're cloaking using JavaScript off the top of my head but you'll have to check that?

Anyway, what this is designed to show is that nobody is too big to get bitch slapped by Google - not even itself! Stay the right side of them...

Now, the other side of all this could by analysed by saying that Google don't have complete market dominance like they do over here with the likes of Yandex and Naver which are still having a dominant presence. So, cause a stink so that you know full well people will Digg, blog naturally and generally link back to Google Japan (very much like i did just and i didn't even put a rel="nofollow" on in admiration) and they will get all the links without having to pay for them! Nice one Mr Japanese Google Sir.

Link building through directories.

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Increasing a brands visibility online is crucial for a success onsite or offsite business. However, driving targeted traffic to your website can take a lot of time and effort and is often outsourced. This is important for a number of reasons outside the scope of this article suffice to say that a little bit of knowledge in the SEO game can be dangerous.

Obtaining link from other websites is fundamental to a websites success in the search engines. This is due to a number of reasons but mainly, as we can see from the PageRank patent from Google, it classes as an editorial 'vote' from another website. Obtaining links or 'back links' from quantity websites can influence your search engine rank immensely. In the same sense, obtaining links from directories can also play a role in the search engine marketing process. Online directories exist for the sole objective of providing targeted links to surfers to various sites categorised under structure, relevant topics.

Before the search engines algorithms become so advanced many search directories were a valuable way to find relevant websites. Nowadays you cannot expect too much traffic from a directory submission but what you can expect is a back link to your website. Achieving rankings in a competitive industry will require more than directory links but it is a very good place to start a campaign. We actually do it for reasons other than this but we would be giving away trade secrets that keep us where we are today.

How to submit to a directory

When submitting to a directory, the major hindrance as well as the major benefit lies in the human editor. You need to look at directories that at least have some kind of moderation, preferably by a human editor. So, look for directories where your submission will be viewed by an actual person who determines how relevant and unique your website is. After passing the editorial scrutiny and review, your website will be accepted in the directory. This back link automatically establishes the credibility of your website; so the search engines will start to consider links submitted from directories. Some directories even feed their databases to other directories and search engines. This is how links can start to filter and multiply through the internet and gain back links for your website.

Quality Counts

The qualilty of the directories you are obtaining will determine how much weight the search engines attribute to your website. Depending on the quality of the directory and the number of back links your website has, search engines will be able to determine your relevance and qualify your website accordingly. This is one smal part of the SEM process.

Some of the better directories include amongst others;

Name	Category	Submit	Type	Estimated Value	Domain PR	Y! Inlinks
dmoz (open directory project)	General			5 - Exceptional	8	62267502	2007-07-17
Yahoo! Directory	General			5 - Exceptional	8	1955685	2007-07-17
Librarians' Internet Index	General			5 - Exceptional	8	157333	2007-07-17
Inc.com Recommended Start-Up Resources	Business	Submit	Directory	5 - Exceptional	7	242810
Nature.com Recommended Links	Science	Submit	Directory	5 - Exceptional	9	1235021
About.com	General	Submit	Other	5 - Exceptional	8	10641477
BBBOnLine	Business	Submit	Directory	5 - Exceptional	8	33200862
The Vegetarian Resource Group	Health	Submit	Directory	5 - Exceptional	7	63068
PhysOrg.com	Science	Submit	Directory	5 - Exceptional	8	660902
Open Source Initiative	Computers	Submit	Directory	5 - Exceptional	7	1273114
Business.com	Business	Submit	Directory	4 - Strong	7	3567361
Best of the Web	General	Submit	Directory	4 - Strong	7	525992
JoeAnt.com	General	Submit	Directory	4 - Strong	6	76764
eHub by Emily Chang	General	Submit	Other	4 - Strong	6	104337
FreeIndex	General	Submit	Directory	4 - Strong	6	118926
Environment Directory	Science	Submit	Directory	4 - Strong	7	25095
The following table of directories can be found in full at SEO Moz

Custom SEO Websites

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It's important that your website is reflective of your unique position in the marketplace and also that it attracts as many viewers as possible, that is why custom SEO websites are the most successful. When you customize your website you become more recognizable in the internet market, just like in the traditional physical market place. Expressing your uniqueness is what draws in your customers and attracts potential customers. Just like what an interesting space or exciting product does for a physical business, a custom websites does for cyber merchants. It draws in internet surfers and hopefully makes customers out of them.

Building a custom SEO website gives you an advantage over websites that don't employ SEO techniques or that use some predetermined program for SEO that turns out to be ineffective. You want your business to be among the first in line on an internet search site like Google and by designing a custom site with SEO as its backbone you are well on your way to doing just that. Good use of SEO techniques separates successful websites from unsuccessful ones. You should always strive to set your business apart from the competition and by successful SEO you can do that very effectively. Your custom SEO website can put your business heads and shoulders above the competition.

A lot of businesses forgo designing custom SEO websites and go with template programs designed for ease of operation and uniformity. Those are not necessarily good things and do nothing to separate one business from another. How boring would it be if everyone had the same website design? And, forgoing a custom SEO website means your site is beholden to someone else's ideas of what SEO should be not yours. Customizing SEO for your particular business is a smart marketing tactic and will pay off dearly in the end. You don't want to look like the competition you want to be seen as better than they are and having a custom site will certainly set you apart.

A custom SEO website design may be the very thing that skyrockets your business growth. Having a unique and interesting site that ranks high in the search engines makes success all that more attainable on the internet. You can enjoy many benefits from a custom SEO website with very little effort. Demand and technology have made obtaining a custom SEO website a reality for any business.

Protecting your blog posts.

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

There are thousands and thousands of blogs everywhere you look. Some people are genuinely interested in a topics whereas others blog for blogs sake. It is normally the latter who copy other peoples blogs and post them as their own. Don't get me wrong, i'm all for sharing and this whole web 2.0 thing is great - the ability for people like you and me to publish our own work online and voice opinions without hiring an expensive web designer. However, protecting of copy is important to maintain a level of standards. It is also important so that the search engines don't find duplicate content in their indexes and lower the importance of your webpage. We will further discuss duplicate content at a later time suffice to say avoid it.

The following is the process that we go through when we find that our copy has been copied or 'scraped' by a third party. It is by no means the only way, t is merely the way we find acceptable and effective.

To get content removed from a third party website is not an expensive process nor is it time consuming and you certainly do not need a legal team to do it.

Stage 1: Find out who is copying your text

We use a website such as http://www.copyscape.com. This website will look for content which is very similar to yours throughout the website. It is fairly accurate for what we are trying to achieve. Then, once you find a web page or web pages that are copying yours we need to find out who is running them. Again this is fairly easy. You can of course always use the contact form but we can get a better idea from the WHO IS data. There are numerous online services offering look up ata but we use http://www. nwtools.com. You should now be able to find a contact email an if the who is data is protected an email service address which can be contacted.

You should take down the URL that has been copied. Use the copyscape tool to try and identify exactly which pages haves been copied as if one page has been scraped it is likley that more have been copied from teh same domain.

Stage 2: Contact the copier

You can perform an IP address look up on the blog or website that has copied you. This will normally give you the webhosts URL and contact methods. The webhosts will normally act upon violations of copyright but sometimes they can be a bit arsey so you need to format the communication (normally an email) correctly.

Here we go. Please note that this is currently is US legislation as we have found most abuse of copy to come from there:

Todays Date:

Your Name:

Recipient: (This will be the web host hosting the website)

Dear Sirs,

This letter is a Copyright infringement Notice as authorized in the US Copyright Law - paragraph 521(c) under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

The infringing material appears on a webserver which IP has been assigned to you, thus you are the responsible of the material which appears on this server.

1. The copyrighted material, which belongs to me and appears illegally on your server, is the following:

Blog post titled "[Your Title]"�, published on "[Date of the Blog]"� by "[Your Name]"� and can be reached on the following URL: "http://www.yourwebsite.com/my_copied_article"�

2. The material which violates my copyright is situated under the following URL

"http://www.blog.com/the_copied_article"�

3. My contact information is:

Name
Address
Telephone
Email

The above email address is a working e-mail address and is my preferred contact method.

4. I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

5. I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

If there are any issues you have please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kindest Regards

Your Name

This process will work most of the time. Sometimes the host will ignore you but mainly they'll get back to you. Sometimes they will ask you to fax a letterhead paper for their own personal records but that is rare. At the end of the day it is worth the hassle to get the offending text removed and often the webmaster of the infringing website will not scrape your copy again.

Creative Web Design

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Having a creative web design for your website can make a big difference in your internet marketing efforts. Consumers love creativity and the internet is a blank tableau for anyone who wants to express the creativity of their particular product or service. Cyber space offers a perfect opportunity to spread your promotional wings. Using boiler plate templates for your website is not only boring it may turn off potential and current customers. You can use creative web design just like you would use any creative marketing to get your point across. Think of it like a very creative advertisement in the paper or on the telly. So it is with the internet.

There are so many sites on the internet that all look the same, with a creative web design you can set your business apart from all the ubiquitous sites on the internet. Studies of internet commerce show that the more creative the site the more traffic and the more retention, and of course the more sales. After all that's what this is all about, increasing sales? Otherwise there is not much of a point in any design let alone a creative web design. Your website is your calling card and offering some respite from all the blandness involved in surfing the net will bring you the attention you deserve and require to increase sales.

What is great about technology and the internet is the ability to have all kinds of creative web design available at your finger tips. In concert with your web designer you can get as creative as you like. Technology has opened up doors that make any design possible no matter how far out or intricate. You can now make your mark in cyber space and enjoy the benefits that come along with it. A creative web design is the key to making your internet marketing program successful and sustained.

Make your website a showcase of creative web design so your company will stand out amongst the millions of other sites on the web. There is no excuse not to let your mind wander and be as creative as you want to be. Internet surfers and your present customers will well appreciate the effort to make your web site interesting as well as useful. Make your web site interesting and easy to use and you are well on your way to internet marketing success. Good luck.

Church Web Design

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If it's time for to go cyber with your church you will find choosing your church web design will be one of the most important things you do to establish cyber presence on the internet. But, it can be as much fun as it is new. And, although it may seem more complicated than cranking out the weekly news letter or sermon on the copy machine, it's really not. Your church web design should be no different than any other promotional or informational materials your church has put out in the past. You are just using a new medium to get out the word. The options offered by getting on the internet are limitless.

Imagine the convenience putting your church into cyber space will give the congregation and your church web design can be a paragon of this convenience by offering quick easy access to important church activities, events and information. Web design is an art as well as a science and when utilized correctly can make huge changes for the organization. It's amazing what can be accomplished by having a church website. Your congregation has never been so well connected. Church web design is really just a matter of transferring your message into cyber space from the traditional world. It's easy and fun.

Even though it is really up to you how to develop your church web design according to your vision, however there are some standards in web design to consider. For instance, you want the congregation to be able to find information on your new website quickly and easily and with as little loading time as possible. Consider this when putting your church web design together. Fast access to pertinent information is the key to a happy congregation on the internet. You also want to consider the most important aspects of the site, like where church members would most likely go when they get on the site. Maybe the calendar is the most important page, well then put it as the homepage. Small things like that go a long way with church web design.

Successful, church web design also depends on where you site appears when people are searching for it. You want to incorporate search engine optimization techniques when developing your church web design so your ranking on sites like Google will be optimized. This way current and possible future members can find your web site.

Analytics for the iPhone and iTouch

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Why on earth would you not want to know all about your unique visitors, average conversion rates or your bounce rate now you've rolled out that new landing page? You can now get your Google Analytics direct to your iPhone or iTouch. To be honest i'd rather wait till i got home and enjoy my country walk with the wife.

Anyway you can get to all of your analytic reports and data with Analytics App for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Whether you're on the road, in a meeting, or sitting on the throne, Analytics App gives you quick and easy access to your analytics data.

Easier than checking with your browser

The Analytics App interface makes it easier than even using your computer's browser to check and analyse your website stats! You'll find yourself checking your stats with Analytics App not only on the go, but at your desk as well!

Be More Productive

You need at least one productive app on your iPhone, right? Analytics App can make any spare moment a productive moment. How many leads did you get today? What keywords were hot this month? What content brought in the most conversions?

Google Latitude launches!

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Google have today launched software that allows mobile phone users share their location with friends. Google hope that it will help people locate each other whilst they're out and about.

Steve Lee, product manager for Google Latitude said 'what Google Latitude does is allow you to share that location with friends and family members, and likewise be able to see friends and family members' locations'.

So, essentially, the benefits could include if you arrange to meet friends at a bar, you could see if they had arrived yet and if not how far away they were. You could find friends who were in a particular nightclub or even business partners who were in a meeting venue.

In order to protect privacy Google ensures that users sign up for the service and allow people to view each others location. People can also share how much or little information including precise location, geographic area, city or nothing at all.

The software highlights Google's fascination with mapping and location technology. Location is an important part of navigating the real world, and Google clearly sees its geographic services as a way to establish a more personal connection with customers who today use Google. Of course, nothing Google does is without intent and Google obviously see a huge potential in location based targeted advertising avenues. Imagine walking down a street looking for a restaurant and receiving discount vouchers for meals or getting advance notice of special deals when walking through the town centre.

Once again, Google strengthens it's hold on the Internet.

Watch this space!

Affordable Web Design

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

One of the biggest reasons people delay getting a website is because they fear not being able to get affordable web design. Fortunately, because of technological advances and an influx of designers into the marketplace, affordable web design is here and it's here to stay. There is no longer any reason to put off staking your claim in cyber space and utilizing the power of the internet. Web design today cost a fraction of what it did ten years ago. The explosion of the internet in the past twenty years has really made internet marketing attainable no matter how big or small your business is.

It's time to jump on the internet marketing band wagon and start to harness the power of the internet and access to affordable web design can make it happen for you. Getting on the internet keeps your business relevant and brings a new vibrancy to your marketing efforts. The results will astound you. Affordable web design makes it a breeze to start enjoying increased sales the minute your new site launches. It's so easy to get started too, all you have to do is find a designer with experience and know how to help you design the best possible website for your specific business. Then you launch the site and get going racking in those new sales.

Affordable web design doesn't mean cheap web design. Because of all the technological advances in web design, going with an affordable web design program does not mean you will sacrifice anything in terms of a powerful and effective design. There simply is no real reason to overspend on web design. You will get the very same quality website and need to have no fear about getting into the internet marketing game. All you have to do is enjoy the results that come with an internet presence.

Getting into cyber space and taking advantage of its power is not just a great idea, it's a necessity and with affordable web design there is no excuse to delay building a website right now. Staying competitive is still as important as it always was and having a website will keep you in the game and increase your sales exponentially. With affordable web design available to anyone, diving into cyber space has never been easier or more accessible. So, get with the program and start reaping the fruits of internet marketing today.

Using video content on your website.

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Early in 2008, Google started to show various elements into the search engine results pages (SERP's) including use of its Local Business listings and video thumbs. The majority of the SERP's still show text but anything can make a website stand out and encourage click throughs must be acknowledged. It is more than likely that multimedia elements will start to dominate the SERP's in the next few years.

So, by using video you can incorporate something a little different both on your website and in the SERP's. Here are a few pointers on what to encourage in video content for your website.

Great Content

Make sure you create a video worth watching. A professional video about your products or services can be used both on and off your website.

Video Hosting

Specific hosting providers can help manage your video distribution and help get your video indexed by the search engines. They can also help reduce bandwidth load on your server from video streaming.

Use a Video Host that supports indexing

You can find out if your current host is getting videos indexed by the search engines by looking at Google Video (video.google.com) and check for a few videos from that provider.

Using a Good Title

Text is still king when it comes to indexing so you will need a good search engine friendly title for the video. 'About Us' is not as friendly as 'AARDBalm - an environmentally friendly alternative for embalming'.

Have a Good Thumb

By creating a great thumb you can ensure that your video thumbnail stands out from the rest. Some videos start with a few seconds of black before fading into the main content. A black thumbnail won't tempt anybody to click on the video whereas a still of the main body will.

Get the Professionals In

A homemade video with poor lighting and sound can do more damage than good. We used to tell people not to get cheap business cards but this is now more applicable to video. A professional production company can put together a quality video for a couple of grand. If your video is bringing in targeted traffic then this is a small price to pay.

Google Malware Warning!

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Did anybody else notice that all the internet froze up on 31 January 15:15 GMT? All websites had a 'This site may harm your computer' link on whatever search query you performed.

This must have been quite a big anti spam test to avoid BadWare online - i'll keep my eye on this and comment further.

I was on Datacentre 66.102.9.104

Times is hard. Make the most of it.

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Economic downturns affect us all in business and are generally seen as a bad thing but they can present opportunities. There has never been a more important time to ensure that your website is full of unique, quality content aimed at the more budget conscious web user. People will be looking harder for a bargain so ensure you are targeting the right keywords and have the right copy to get the most out of your website.

By analysing various data including Google Analytics, Word Tracker and server side statistics you will able to determine what actual people are searching for. Then, by using these terms in your copy within your descriptive text you can capitalise on these new search terms.

Ensure that you use these terms consistently and concentrate one or two keywords per page only using the keyword in your title tag and image tags and throw in a few header tags all related around the same key phrase.

Incorporate keyword rich text into descriptions and ensure that you provide a landing page that users click through to read further information about each product or service. If you are doing something different or better than your competition let people know. Don't hide it away until the final checkout.

Make sure that your website is user friendly and you have tested your website on friends and relatives. It's no good being on the first page of Google if your sire doesn't immediately instil confidence in your users. Make your navigation flow through the various questions your users will have ensuring all important pages can be reached within four links. By not using Google Analytics you will be missing out on valuable information about your website including bounce rates which will tell you if your website is engaging users.

Small Changes Can Have Big Impacts

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We had a client who had a successful e-commerce built with us a couple of years back which had a fantastic turnover and very profitable margins. The website was increasing in orders and turnover as brand awareness increased following exposure in the search engines.

The website, as is the case with most new websites, was building up exposure through the organic search results which concentrated most of its efforts for capturing targeted traffic through the Pay Per Click system of Google Adwords. After a while the website started to reach the first page of Google for its target keyword and the orders kept flooding in. In fact, so much that it was a management problem sorting all the orders out and delivering throughout the UK.

Lessons were learnt and we as a design agency learned much about marketing and e-commerce from this one project. The client sold the e-commerce site on as the orders were coming in so fast it was too time consuming fulfilling the orders. The client didn't want to employ staff and wanted to keep things simple. What did they do? They changed their business model.

We have recently designed a new website for the client who has changed their business model which is proving even more successful. They are still producing exactly the same product but instead of marketing towards the general public they are targeting retailers. Therefore, they still produce the product at about the same price with the same mark-up but with less overheads (and therefore increased profitability) and they no longer need to work weekends!

Sometimes just changing one small thing can have massive benefits.

The End of Neutrality

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In December 2008 it is alleged that Google, the super power in search engine retrieval was up to something which could either be seen as fundamentally good for everyone or trying to further dominate in a very lucrative industry (selling targeted adverts).

Google always lobbies quite publically for neutrality in regards to web traffic and how it is handled with no website being treated differently than any other. However, it has been suggested that Google may have approached a major cable and phone company to create a super fast lane into which Googles own content will be delivered. Therefore, websites like YouTube would be super fast. This practise is called 'edge caching' and encourages ISP's to install additional servers on their networks to deliver high speed traffic. Any company can do this and it is not exclusive. However, not many companies can afford or wield as much power to be able to do so. Having competitors in business is important to keep the other companies 'on their toes'.

So, is it for the greater good of everybody or for Google themselves? Is it both?

Whatever the answer to the question it certainly goes against the Google ideology of 'neutrality of traffic' and will mean that Google Maps will run faster than Windows Live Maps and Picasa will be faster than Flickr.

Many people are in favour of edge caching as it speeds up the internet in general but i will stay wary.

I am reminded of the old saying 'Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely'.

Affordable Website Design Solutions

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Getting a website up and running can seem like a daunting task, fortunately there are affordable web design solutions available making your entree into cyber space marketing a lot easier to swallow. Your web design is the most important task in building your website. You want your design to be simple, informative and chock full of search engine optimization techniques. All of this could sound expensive, but fear not, all manner of affordable web design solutions are yours for the asking. Finding the web designer that can best translate your business message on the net is all you need. Once you have that out of the way then it's just a matter of building and launching your site.

Its technology and competition that has made affordable web design solutions so attainable. Like all booming business, millions of vendors have shown up on the internet scene making bringing pricing down to meet demand. Technology has developed to bring down the cost of production as well. The internet now is not the internet of twenty years ago. The evolution has made it possible for anyone to launch a website and harness the power of cyber space. The effect it can have on your business can be profound. The right website can increase your business exponentially.

Taking advantage of affordable web design solutions is not only smart, it's necessary in today's competitive business market. Staying current and relevant is important to all business and as consumers begin to rely more and more on the internet for all their purchases, having a website is essential. Your current customers will appreciate your new presence on the net and future customers will come to expect it. It's now easier than ever to establish a presence in the cyber market and having accessible affordable web design solutions make it a real no-brainer.

Affordable web design solutions are your key to developing and launching your business into the 21st century and taking advantage of all the millions of people who utilize the internet every day. Putting yourself into a market of that size makes your sales possibilities limitless. Internet marketing is the wave of the future available to you now. You owe it to yourself and your business to establish your place in the internet market and use those affordable web design solutions to design a website that will astound your current customers and attract prospective new customers.

Get Traffic with Link Baiting

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you need to generate some excitement to your website get traffic with link baiting. Link baiting is a relatively new term used for back linking marketing techniques. Link baiting is when you have your link appear in places one wouldn't normally think of under circumstances not normally thought of as commercially motivated. It is much like blogs for instance. When answering or commenting on someone's blog, you can add a link into the body of the blog's text. The idea of course is that readers of the blog will click on your link and view your website. The ultimate goal is to get traffic with ink baiting to generate some extra sale from your website.

It really is easy to get traffic with link baiting and it doesn't cost anything. It's truly and ingenious way to harness the power of the internet and generate more traffic to your website. Link baiting can really help boost traffic and when used with a good SEO program can really bring in sales you otherwise wouldn't have found elsewhere. The possibilities of link baiting are endless and limitless. You can be as creative as you want with link baiting, there are no boundaries. Getting your link out there can take many forms and can tap into untold countless new markets.

Of course blogs are just one of the ways to get traffic with link baiting. You can use online newsletters, other people's websites, you name it. Wherever you can put a clickable link is an opportunity to put link baiting to work for you and your business. Traffic to your website is the life blood of your internet enterprise and generating traffic continually is the key to internet marketing success. Think of all the different ways you can get more traffic from link baiting. The possibilities are mind boggling.

With so many creative ways to get traffic from link baiting there are bound to be ones that fit your business model perfectly. The best part is you can link bait anywhere. It doesn't even have to directly relate to your business. Anywhere you can get more traffic with link baiting is a target. When you are surfing the net yourself keep an eye out for all the possible link baiting opportunities. See what other sites are doing to link bait and use it for your own marketing. After all, why reinvent the wheel? Start link baiting.

Online Marketing for Small Business

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Online marketing for small business has opened up the power of the internet for everyone no matter what size your business is. The internet has become a phenomenal force in commerce and if you own a small business you need to get on the band wagon and enjoy the success the internet has to offer you. Online marketing for small business can grow your business exponentially in very little time. You just need to get out there and get started and soon you will see what millions of other online vendors have seen in the past fifteen to twenty years, explosive growth and opportunity.

Online marketing for small business can lead to sales from places you never even imagined. Unlike, traditional marketing your reach online is vastly larger than any other marketing tool at your disposal. You can find customers all the way around the world. The opportunities are endless. And, it's inexpensive too and any small business likes to hear that word when it comes to marketing. With very few resources you can unleash the power of the internet quickly and effectively. Online marketing for small business can change your business in so many ways you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

If this idea scares you a bit, don't worry there are experts out there who can help you navigate through all the steps of launching a successful online marketing campaign. The best thing about working with the internet is there are no limits to what you can do for your business. Online marketing for small business means you get the opportunity to display your business in any light you want to and change it as frequently as you like. Unlike traditional advertising and marketing methods, if you have a sudden change of products or services then you can just add it on to your website. Try that with a newspaper or magazine ad that once printed must go out and you will find it just does not work in that mode of advertising.

Online marketing for small business has changed the way the world conducts commerce. Small businesses can get all the benefits of finding new customer that big businesses can only without the cost of a massive marketing campaign. Take advantage of all the internet has to offer and start reaping the rewards of a worldwide audience. Online marketing for small business could change your business for the better in so many ways.

EyePlot Were Twittered

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Late in October 2008 myself and Jay gave over an hour long presentation to budding entrepreneurs at the University of Huddersfield.

We gave advise on a range of topics including financing your business, presenting and positioning yourself in the marketplace, sales techniques, attracting targeted traffic and various business related information.

The talk went very well and we are hoping to do more public speaking offering business advice to students again shortly.

For more information on what is going on at Huddersfield University visit Business Mine.
EyePlot Twitter

The Four Stages of a Start Up Business

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 03 May 2007 08:59:34 GMT

The Embryo Stage

The embryo stage is the starting point of any business. It begins with conception and ends when the egg hatches and the chick appears. This is a very formative stage and determines what the enterprise will look like and its direction. It is its potential that is being developed. The embryo stage is crucial for any enterprise whether it's a commercial business , or a social or aesthetic understanding. It is the 'getting ready' stage where the founders and the opportunity may have already come together and, as happens in conception, the characteristics of both will now be in the embryo. The point at which a legal entity, such as a company, is set up will depend upon the local circumstances; although it is best to do this as soon as possible because it ties the founders into the project and makes for a sharper focus for all concerned. It also helps to resolve any questions of commitment before they become a real problem.

The Nurture Stage

Many enterprises find it difficult to take the step that finally gets a reliable product out of the door to a real customer. Like the chick that has to be fed and nurtured by its parent, the enterprise needs to be helped along through this stage. This is the point at which the business incubator can be so important in providing a supportive and nurturing environment. It is a very formative time for the entrepreneur and the team as the business becomes a reality. Their learning curve is probably at its steepest in this stage.

The Fledgling Stage

In the fledgling stage the chick loses its down and grows real feathers as the enterprise begins to look like a serious business. The dependency on outside help is steadily reduced as the baby bird learns to fend for itself. It is able to fly greater and greater distances and find more of its own food. Here there are less new tricks to learn, but the enterprise has to become more proficient at doing them. Speed of response and finding resources become second nature. Staying alive becomes much easier and the enterprise is less vulnerable to predators or accident.

The Take Off Stage

This is the stage to becoming a viable and growing business. The enterprise either 'takes off' or else remains as a small business. The difference between the real entrepreneur and the lifestyle entrepreneur is now revealed. The lifestyle person is quite happy to settle down maybe in a niche market and the enterprise matures and settles down. The true entrepreneur is stimulated by what he or she has already achieved and is now ready to race ahead. It is here that a market share is achieved that puts the new business among the leaders, if not in the lead.

Start Up Company To Do List

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 03 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Before starting down the following list, you need to know that the two main reasons for business failure are the inability to attract customers because the business (or its products and services) were not unique enough and/or the inability to control the cash as it enters the business. If you don't do the former properly, you won't have the latter to worry about - which makes 'your ability to market your business ' the biggest challenge facing new business owners.

Work out how much money you need for your personal ongoing survival each month. This is a key figure, because you'll have to include your wages in the cash flow projections.
Do some very rough Cash Flow projections. If you've never been in business, or you're not financially aware, don't be put off by the words 'cash flow!' Calculate what your sales are going to be each month and when people will pay you, along with your monthly expenses. You list this in columns month by month with your opening bank balance at the top and your closing bank balance at the bottom of each month. Calculating sales and expenditure is a tough task because you'll have to 'read a crystal ball' but there's no other way. The amount you 'go into the red' in your cash flow projection which will tell you how much money you'll need to put into the business - it's as simple as that. Your expenses will include a wage for yourself which should be kept to slightly above what you need to survive.
Work out how much money you have. Calculate what you can gather together to put into the business. Does it equal or exceed the amount needed in 1) above? If it doesn't, then do not despair - there is plenty of money around for those with a good business idea. You'll need to be prepared to compile a great-looking Business Plan.
Gather your thoughts. Start to put your rough ideas down on paper. (Who, what, how, where, when, why, etc.)
Do market research. Conduct some fairly thorough market research to ensure people really want what you'll be offering, and are prepared to pay the price you'll be charging.
Check the internet. Sit on the internet undisturbed for at least a whole day and research how others do what you intend to do. (Learn from them, pick up the jargon, get to know the industry inside-out, try to ascertain costs, industry profit margins) Don't be a smarty-pants - accept that you probably know virtually nothing compared to the amount you're going to need to learn. If you think you know-it-all, chances are you don't!
Find your USPs? USPs are unique sales propositions - the things that make your products or service different from everyone else's. However, USPs are not better quality, best service, etc. - it's 'what makes you special?' This is one of the most important things you can do. What's the point of opening a business the same as others already doing it unless you can capture a market?
Find some expert advice. (From someone who has been successful in business. Beware of listening to those who've been unsuccessful in business.) You need to talk to people like Business Link and to go on their free 'starting in business' course at the very least, or discuss your business idea with your local enterprise Agency or Chamber of Commerce.
Calculate your production capacity.
Check competitor's prices. Start working out what you will be charging.
Do three more projected cash flows. You need to be looking 12 months ahead, preferably 2 years - showing worst case, optimum case and best case financial scenarios. (Plenty of free training is available for this.) Include sensitivity checks - for example, what will happen if the price of raw materials increase sharply?
Calculate gross profits. i.e. profit before you start to pay overheads such as rent, lighting, etc. Get help with this if you don't know how to do it.
Calculate Net profits. i.e. the profit after all expenses have been deducted but before paying tax. Get help with this if you don't know how to do it.
Calculate your break-even figure. This is the point where you start to make profits. E.g. when we sell X amount, we cover our bills. If you don't know how to do this, find some help from someone who is good with figures and finance.
Check when you will run out of money. You need to be prepared if things don't work out as planned, and to know how long you've got!
Do you need money? Start to find out where you can borrow money from, if you've calculated that you'll need it. Note that Grants for starting a business are very few and far between, although there may be grants around for social/community businesses connected to education, recycling, sport, arts, etc. Besides, the amount of time and effort involved in obtaining a small grant, may be better spent finding customers.
Trading Licenses. Check if you need special licenses to trade and whether you are eligible to obtain them.
Intellectual Property. Check what aspects of IP you may need to protect. (e.g. patents, trade marks, business name registration, etc.)
Compile a Marketing Strategy. This simply means writing down how you are going to market your business and to whom. Define who your customers are and where they are located.
Premises. What do you need, where should you be ideally located, do customers come to you, or do you go to customers? What do you need? Office space, workshops, manufacturing plants, etc. Could you work from home?
Plant & Equipment. What do you need? How much does it cost? Have you put everything into your projected Cash Flow?
Critical Paths. Draw up a critical path analysis (a time frame) of what will happen in what order and when.
Business Plan First Draft. Sit down quietly for at least a week and do a first-draft Business Plan. (There's plenty of free training available if you don't know how.)
Find some expertise. Find an experienced business person (or Business Link Adviser, or the like) to tell you how good (or bad) your Business Plan is and how to improve it. Listen to them as they are on your side! Willingly accept constructive criticism - don't argue with people. Always thank them for helping you out.
Re-evaluate your position. If you've followed the steps so far, you should have a gut feeling about whether you have the makings of a business and whether you are prepared to take the risk, or whether you need to re-think. Remember, once you start a business, you cannot claim social security (unless in the government's special 'Into Business' Scheme, and your business is you source of income from now on. AT THIS POINT...IF YOUR BUSINESS PLAN SEEMS VIABLE, CONTINUE. (IF IT'S NOT, YOU'D BETTER STOP RIGHT NOW, AND THINK AGAIN.)
Organise some business training. If you've never run a business before, the University, Business Link and local Enterprise Agency can help you here for free.
Finalise your product/service to saleable standards.
Legalities. Decide which legal framework to work under (Sole Trader, Ltd Company, etc.)
Accountant. If an Ltd company or partnership - organise an Accountant or solicitor to set it up.
Register your trading name and any unique trademarks.
Organise insurance. (Minimum Public Liability, equipment and vehicles.)
Open a business bank account. Put your initial capital into it.
Register with the Inland Revenue Dept. Start paying your NHI stamp. (Mandatory within 3 months of commencement of your business.)
Consider being VAT registered - this is optional if your turnover is expected to be below £58,000, but it has certain advantages and disadvantages. (e.g. you get to use the cash you've collected through charging VAT until it's time to pay it to the government.) The main downside is the large amount of paperwork you'll have to do.
Set up your office. This may be at home or elsewhere (the most suitable location) and establish a business address to work from.
Buy equipment. Organise computing and other office equipment, plant, machinery, etc.
Arrange a business phone/fax number
Arrange a suitable e-mail address. Try to avoid Yahoo, Hotmail or the like. These may be suitable for private home use, but don't look professional as a business e-mail address. (Try to obtain dot.com, dot.co.uk, dot.biz, etc.)
Design and get a Business Card
Arrange corporate stationery. (letterheads, invoices, etc.)
Set up your financial systems. (invoicing, payments, journals, etc.)
Organise suppliers. Check they have the best prices.
Organise your first marketing campaign. Launch yourself with enthusiasm into the market place.
Organise a solicitor to draw up contracts and Confidentiality Agreements if your company has special secrets, or intends to enter into licensing, etc.
Join a few network associations. Most business marketing nowadays by start-ups is done through networking - getting around to various meetings and meeting people; establishing new contacts.
Set up a good web site. We don't believe attract very much business because there's so many of them. However, web sites are a great tool to show off your business once you've met your customer, or a place to direct people to assess your products, services and prices.
Set up an effective credit control system. You'll need Application Forms to be completed by all those who want credit terms from you. Sadly, between 1 and 10 people in every hundred you deal with will not pay you. You need a system to check your customers out before you supply products and services to avoid giving credit to high-risk customers. The weaker your credit control system, the more you'll experience bad debt - and ALL businesses experience some bad debts. If someone doesn't pay you, it's no use getting angry - you have to look in the mirror to find out how they got away with it!
Set up your trading Terms and Conditions. Have them printed on the back of your invoices. Ideally, they should be finalised by a solicitor, but you can get a feel for what you are going to need by 'stealing' your competitor's Terms and Conditions to start yourself off. Terms and Conditions are particularly important if you are selling a service where staged payments may be involved or where there could be doubt about work quality, etc. What you don't want is to spend two weeks working on a project for someone, only to be told in the end that they don't like your work and so will not be paying you! In a court of law, your Terms & Conditions may be the only thing you can lean on.
Set up your invoicing and payment disciplines. You do not need a book-keeper or accountant in the early stages of starting a business, but you do need to keep strict records of every payment you make and every penny that comes in. If you do this, then you may be able to get an accountant at the end of the year to do your tax return for, say, £200 to £500. However, if you turn up at the accountants with a 'Tesco bag full of receipts' that don't match your cheque stubs because you didn't write the amounts down, then your accounting bill could run into thousands of pounds.
Business Launch. Clearly define how you will launch your business into the market place. Even those with 'the best product since sliced bread' have to launch their business - you'll need to proactively tell people you exist.

This list covers the main aspects of setting up any type of business. There may be many other issues you'll need to address, depending upon the nature of your business, and you are advised to seek advice to determine what such issues might be.

Choosing a Business Name

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 03 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Choosing your business name is probably one of the most important things you have to do when starting a business - sadly, many do not take enough time and end up changing it after a while - resulting in the unnecessary costs of changing business cards, stationery, informing clients, etc.

Take your time in choosing a name. It has to last for the whole time your business will exist, (which could be your lifetime?) and your business existence could well rely on what you call it. Many companies have failed simply because of a poor choice of name. Rarely can a company change its name cost-effectively once the original name is used.

Avoid using initials. Initials don't generally convey a comfortable feeling about businesses and their products.

Brainstorm with others to come up with a name. It's often amazing what they might suggest that you would never have thought of.

Don't try to be smart by using a name that is similar to a famous business name. People will see right through you, and see what you are - a potential copycat! Check that your name is not similar to others in the same industry, otherwise you might have it taken off you if they have the name registered, and you don't. (Quite a cost, if you've already made your business cards and letterheads, etc.)

Avoid complicated words that people cannot spell or pronounce easily. If someone has to ask you how to spell it or pronounce it - it's a clear warning sign for you. Consider using a name that starts with "A". Many industry directories and Yellow Pages, for example, list in alphabetical order. If you company begins with a "Z", you can guarantee you'll always be last on any list.

Check that your name doesn't mean something bad in a foreign language if you are dealing across international borders. There have been many instances of names withdrawn from the market place because it was found to have nasty connotations in a particular language.

Consider made-up words. (e.g. Kodak.) Although they may convey neither positive or negative perceptions, they are usually a lot easier to register.

Use the name on a few potential customers to see what they think. You need to make sure the name doesn't create any bad feelings or negative impressions.

Consider using all capital letters. This makes the name stand out in blocks of text.

Consider creating a name that gives people a clue about who you are and what you do. (William George Web Designers may be better that WG Design?)

Ask yourself whether the name sounds right for the image you are trying to project?

Check that your name is legal - some names are certainly illegal. For example, you can't use Ltd unless you are a limited company, and even then, you can only use Ltd on the end of the company name. It's also illegal to use a name that creates an impression that you are attached with a government authority. There are also around 130 names that require approval, such as the words British, Royal, National, Charity and English.

Keep the name succinct. Don't be smart by calling yourself a mouthful of words like The ABC Weatherboard Roofing Tiling and Fencing Company of the United Kingdom.

Finally, check the Companies House web site at www.companieshouse.gov.uk where you can search (for free) what company names are already in existence. (Once there, click on the 'company information' button.) What's the point of choosing a name that already exists? Besides, if it exists, then the chance of the registered company suing you is extremely high - and the longer you use a name that is registered to someone else, the higher your legal bills may be down the track. (The other company might sue you for loss of business because you've been using their name!)

Why Do Businesses Fail?

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 03 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

There normally a number of consistent reasons why a business fails. Here are the top 12 reasons why businesses fail. Learn from them, and plan NOW to avoid failure.

Lack of Expertise

The first question to ask is whether you've got what it takes to run a small business. You may have run a department in a big organisation, but is that experience going to be as useful as you think? After a lifetime in large companies, many people simply cannot face life outside the cocoon. They have become specialists relying on other specialists, and supporting staff to get things done. Starting a business from scratch calls for remarkable versatility. The owner-manager types the invoice with one finger in the evening, does the books at weekends, sells on Monday, designs on Tuesday and delivers when he/she can.

No Product Strategy

New business people almost always define their product in physical terms. Customers, on the other hand, want their needs satisfied. Compare a Bic and a Parker pen. In basic physical terms they are very similar; they both write well, their caps protect your pocket from ink stains, both have clips that can hold them in place and they are comfortable to grip. But one costs around 10p and the other from around 3. Customers pay the extra 2.90 for largely intangible benefits such as status or the pleasure it brings as a gift. Bic and Parker are both successful products but the needs they satisfy are poles apart. Until business people can define their market's needs they cannot begin to assemble a product to satisfy them.

Miscalculating Market Size

People often shun the rigours of market research or simply do not know how to carry it out cheaply. Their judgement is subjective and they can develop the iceberg syndrome, believing that the small number of customers they can see are a sure indication of the mass of other customers. It is a fundamental misconception to believe that people are simply waiting to be sold goods/services and that competitors are blind or lazy. New businesses need perception of the market they aim to satisfy. There has to be a well-developed marketing strategy before a business is launched.

Under Estimating Start Up Time

Money must often be invested in premises, equipment and stock long before customers come along to buy. There are always problems getting a venture off the ground, yet new business people mostly count on a smooth ride; you should estimate how long you think everything will take and then double it and add a bit more. If you have to open for a certain date, say for Christmas, and you do not open until January, your business will be ruined before it begins.

Lack of Capital

Over-optimism about market size and underestimating the time needed to get started invariably leads to working capital problems. Scarce cash is tied up in stock that will not be needed for months; this could be used to pay rent and your living expenses. Until customers start buying in reasonable numbers, money is flowing in one direction only - and may run out. It is hard to get money when you need it desperately. The time to negotiate an overdraft with a good margin of safety is at the outset. A well-prepared cash flow forecast will also help you to decide how much is needed and when.

High Start Up Costs

Every new business has to spend money on items such as fixtures, fittings and equipment. The danger lies in spending too much too soon. People from business often have extravagantly high standards. They expect an electronic typewriter and photocopier close to hand and an executive style office at the outset. These overhead expenses have to be recovered in the price of the products to be sold, and the essential competitive edge can be lost at the outset. New businesses should be lean and meagre.

Fast Initial Growth

Most people think their problems are over once customers start to roll in. Unfortunately, they have just begun. A business changes its shape very rapidly in the early weeks and months. As sales grow, ever-increasing sums of cash are needed to fuel growth. Soon the bank is accusing the owner of over trading, growing faster than cash resources allow. Once again, a good cash flow forecast would help predict the problem and win over sceptical bankers.

Mistaking Cash for profit

Employed people view the money that comes into their hands as being valuable for spending. Usually their pay cheque reaches them after a wide range of deductions have automatically been made. The reverse is true for the owner-manager. Cash flows into the business intact and he/she has to make provision to pay National Insurance, VAT, income and possibly Corporation Tax, supplies, etc. Too often, entrepreneurs yield to the temptation to use this cash to maintain their living standards in the belief that it is largely profit. When the bills come in, they cannot meet them. The Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise are the most active in putting businesses into liquidation.

Wrong Location

Where you conduct your business and how much rent you pay is vital. For shops and restaurants, which rely heavily on passing trade, this may seem obvious - yet many get it disastrously wrong. One central London site has had five restaurants open and close in the last eight years. It cannot be all down to bad management or bad luck.

Wrong People in the Wrong Jobs

Big companies that employ thousands of people can afford to make mistakes in staff selection. They can even carry a few passengers. A new business person taking on the first employees cannot afford to get it wrong. Taking a partner is a popular alternative to employing someone but partnerships, like marriages, often flounder on misconceptions and misunderstandings.

No Management Accounts

Liquidators say almost all the businesses they are called in the wind up, have no reliable management accounts. "If only I'd known the financial situation earlier" is often the failed entrepreneur's stock exclamation. New business people often see accounting as a bureaucratic nuisance carried out for the Inland Revenue's benefit alone. Those same people would never drive a car without a fuel gauge, speedometer or oil pressure indicator. Yet they set off at break neck speed, running their businesses with only the annual accounts to guide them, and break their necks. For them, the end of the first year is often the end of their business.

Head in the Clouds

Many people are destined to fail before they even start because they don't understand the realities of setting up a business and running it effectively. Some of these are the people who wander around aimlessly without a business plan but talking constantly to all and sundry about how they are going to be a millionaire next week. There are also those who can't get out of bed and force themselves to be at work by 8am every day. Then there are those who believe that sitting staring at the office wall will bring customers in, and those that take days off because they think things can wait until tomorrow. There are those who regularly go out for lunch and never return to work. A start-up business is highly demanding - much more demanding than working for someone else. Building 'castles in the sky' is quite okay provided they are given firm foundations.

Managing Cash Flow

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

85% of all businesses that go broke did so because they didn't manage their finances properly - and usually this means they didn't manage their Cash Flow properly. If you have more money coming in than money going out - HEAVEN!

If you have more bills coming in than money coming in - HELL! The tool for controlling which direction you are heading is your Cash Flow.

Responsibility For Your Companys Cash Flow

Don't just leave it to your accountant! Take a basic accounting course so that you can read financial statements.

Monitor Your Financial Situation Constantly

You should always know what your daily sales are and have a rough idea of what is going to come in over the next few weeks. In addition, you must always make yourself aware of what expenses are going out in comparison to what sales are coming in. When things get tight, don't let anyone on your team buy anything without your permission.

Personally Be Involved In Forecasting Sales And Budgeting Expenses

As the business owner, you must get yourself involved in estimating sales and expenses for the quarter and then modify them as the quarter proceeds. Leaving it to others can be (and often is) fatal. When using spreadsheets, it is simple nowadays to produce several scenarios. You should at least calculate the worst, best and most likely scenarios.

Adjust Your Marketing Strategies According To Cash Flow

The whole point of monitoring your Cash Flow is to catch small problems before they turn into major headaches. If sales are down on budgets, start looking for answers. Are you aiming at the wrong market? Was the advertising effective enough? What do we need to do to get sales on track?

Set Up A Cash Reserve

If you do this, you have somewhere to go if the cash suddenly dries up.

Organise Backup Finances

Communicate with your bank manager regularly. He/she can possibly organise invoice factoring, lines of credit, overdrafts, or even find an equity partner. The trick is to have things in place well before you need them.

Lease Instead Of Purchase

Leasing costs more in the long run but it also means a lot less cash up front.

Control Expenses

You have to become very strict with expenses. Constantly look what you are paying for. See where you can trim the fat. Try to find cheaper suppliers. Don't put on extra employees unless they can bring more into your business than what you are paying them. Don't overstock. Remember, every time you write a cheque, you have to have at least an equal amount coming into the company at the same time.

Speed up Receivables (The Money people owe you)

You can maximise your cash flow by trying to get paid quicker. Never get slack with people who owe you money. Set up your terms of trade and stick to them. Consider asking for part payment in advance. Consider sending out reminders. Don't give credit unless they prove their worthiness.

Slow Down Your Payments

Although you should never fall into arrears with your suppliers (for obvious reasons) you should stretch out payments for as long as legally possible and never pay bills earlier than the creditors terms of trade unless there are substantial benefits, such as a large discount for earlier payment. Even then, a large discount received in exchange for a large hole in your cash flow may not, in fact, be a benefit

Semantic Web Design Importance

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The definition of "semantic" is "the meaning of"; the representation of something.

Semantic web design is the structuring of markup documents, whether they be XML or XHTML, so that the meaning or context of the content is recognisable to computer systems, such as browsers and search engine spiders.

EyePlot is a limited company based in Huddersfield.
EyePlot specialise in web design and search engine marketing.
EyePlot's website can be found at www.eyeplot.com.

These are all examples of content that can be understood by human beings but not computers systems. How can we overcome this hurdle? With semantic structuring.

Content is held within 'tags'. These tags are built upon syntax rules. For example, the <p> tag represents paragraph text content. Whereas an address could be held within a paragraph tag <p> quite easily, it would be much better enclosed within an address tag; <address>. This means that not only can humans read the address, but computers also recognise the content as an address too. This is semantic web design.

EyePlot Digital are one of the few providers who offer semantically correct web design services in Huddersfield and Yorkshire. If you would like more advice about web design, or the topic of this article, then feel free to call us on 01484 531122, or take a look at our page on web design.

Yahoo Updates Search Ad Platform

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Yahoo has been conversing with those in the field of search engine optimisation about the new update codenamed Panama. Panama has taken about 18 months to complete and instead of relying on information provided by Overture (a company Yahoo purchased in 2003 and an industry leader a few years back) the new Panama update relies on the information from the Yahoo index itself.

Yahoo is trying to capture the relevancy rating that has proved so popular with Google Adwords. Yahoo's current ad system is not very flexible and only takes into account the amount of money an advertiser is willing to spend. This new update by Yahoo closes that gap by provising a Quality Index where a number between 1-5 is assigned to an advert which takes into consideration the ads click through rate, keyword relevancy, the landing page, the display url amongst others.

Also, Yahoo are updating their interface and making it easier to use. Anybody who has used Overture and Adwords will hands down agree that Adwords is much easier to use. Overture also takes a few days to show and advert whereas Adwords shows an advert within 15 minutes. yahoo have also addressed this issue by allowing your ads to go live within minutes.

This is a welcome change but will it make Yahoo market leader again in the lucrative Pay Per Click market? Well, been as though Google had this nailed before work even started on the Panama update, i doubt it. I'm sure Google have something up their sleeve.

The new Yahoo update is likely to go live in the first quarter of 2007

Focusing your Website

jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Janet Jackson, co-owner of R2J2 Studios says "Every website decision you make should be thought about in terms of what your customers need,". R2J2 Studios are a Web design company for small businesses, and to meet their visitor needs she suggests focusing your website towards one of the following three general styles:

Relationship-building website

This type of site focuses of developing relationships with it's visitors over time. It encourages, interaction and communications by providing visitors with valuable information while requesting and information from visitors in return.

These websites offer educational information and motivate repeat visits. They are designed for businesses which benefit by interacting with their customer base.

E-commerce

An e-commerce website can simply sell one product (a software program for example), sell many products, or a service. Transactional e-commerce websites are designed to cater for visitors ready to make purchases.

Information Based

This final type of website is based around the provision of information; primarily of marketing nature, and invites visitors to learn about the site owner's company and what it offers. This type of site is a good choice should you be expecting customers to call or visit after researching your company online.

Based in or around Huddersfield and need more information about marketing, search engine optimisation and website design? Contact us on 0870 99 05 188 for a free no-hassle consultation.

Becoming Successful in Business

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Having a successful business can come down to a lot of things such as being in the right place at the right time, knowing the right people and having a good rub of the green. Becoming successful in business however relies on a number of key attributes to a persons' character. The latter is also sometimes referred to as business acumen. A person with this acumen may start a business which may not be at the right time. For instance, a market may not yet be ready for a particular product. However, with this acquired business acumen then the next business they set up is more likely to succeed.

To become successful in business you require a good deal of FACE. Let me explain.

Focus

Focus is important to becoming successful in business. Without focus you can become easily distracted and lose direction. You can easily take your eye off the ball and let opportunities slip through your hands. When a lioness is hunting she must focus in on one target alone. If she loses focus on her target then the split second that is given to the prey means the lioness loses out on lunch. In business it is important to keep a target in mind and aim towards that goal. If there is not enough focus then that business is likely to flounder and fail.

Advantage

In business it is important to have a product that is different from the competition, something that can help seperate your product from all the others in the marketplace. A good businessman will spot this and push that product. They will sell the unique benefits that their product has other the competitions'. Therefore, advantage is possessing the vision to understand and promote product and service benefits over that of your competitions.

Creativity

Creativity, innovation and vision are key to succeeding in business. Creativity is the most important aspect of success in business. Creativity is having the vision to look at products in the marketplace and creating solutions to peoples' problems at an affordable price. Creativity involves thinking of new ideas, assessing them and then taking advantage of those new opportunities and creating a valuable commodity.

Ego

Ego is something individual to everybody. Everybody has a different personality with differing personality traits. It helps us judge things we hear, see and experience and dictates how we react to those things. Some of our traits are obvious to others whereas others are only known to ourselves. Being successful in business means that we have to be able to be honest with ourselves and understand what success is. To some, success is financial freedom whereas to others success is being the author of our own destiny. However, you cannot rely solely on self-assurance, dedication and perseverance. You must be able to make calculated risks and have mental courage to hold out over the rough times. It could on the same measure be knowing the right time to give up on a project to mitigate loses. Afterall, good businessmen and woman do not blame others for their failings - they learn from that experience and bounce back.

If you are serious about becoming successful in the businesses world maybe you should first evaluate whether your FACE fits?

Importance of the alt attribute

contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Much discussion comes of the importance of alt attributes when used on images, and their effect on search engine optimization.

An alt attribute is alternate text which displays should the image is belongs to not be available. Initially alt attributes were created for text based browsers such as lynx, which does not support visual media such as images. The alt text is intended to describe what the image is of, and should be used only for that.

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN include the alt attribute text as body text. In theory therefore visitors could find your page through search engines by searching for what you place in your alt attributes, though it is generally believed that very little weight is actually given to this text. Nevertheless alt attribtues are mandatory should a site wish to comply to W3 standards, and aids the accessibility of your website.

For more information on how we can help improve your accessibility, or search engine optimisation of your website feel free to call us on 0870 99 05 188 or drop us an email.

The Tag</h1> <p>contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>The <strong>title tag</strong> is without a doubt one of the most important factors to take into consideration when optimizing your website's pages for the search engines such as <a href="http://www.google.co.uk" title="Google UK">Google</a> and <a href="http://www.yahoo.co.uk" title="Yahoo UK">Yahoo</a>. This is because most of these search engines and directories place a high level of importance on words that exist within your webpage's title tag. The tag is usually also used by search engines as the title of your listing on their results pages.</p> <h3>Position</h3> <p>The correct position to place the title tag is between the <head> and </head> tags within your markup document. It should only be used once.</p> <h3>Tag limits</h3> <p>It is recommended that your title tag be between 50 and 80 characters in length, including spaces. The length of the title tag value which different search engines accept varies, but so long as you stay within these limits your page should be read without a problem.</p> <h3>Title Tag Tips</h3> <ul> <li>It is recommended that you include one or two of your most important keyword phrases which describe your site's purpose (or what phrase you would like to be found under) in your page's title tag, but be careful not to just place a long list of keywords. Doing so will mean you run the risk being categorised as spam by the search engines, which can ultimately lead to your website being blacklisted and banned. Ideally your title tag contain keyword phrases and also remaining readable as a sentence.</li> <li>Try to make your title sound interesting. Remember, even should you get the number one spot on the results pages your listing still needs to be able to pull prospective visitors in.</li> <li>It is recommended you place your keywords at the beginning of the sentence so they do not risk possibly being cut off by some search engines with a character limit on the title tag.</li> <li>Every page in your site should ideally contain it's own unique title tag text, which in turn relates to the content displayed on that page.</li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Increasing Google PageRank</h1> <p>jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>PageRank is the process <a href="http://www.google.co.uk" title="Google UK">Google</a> uses to determine how important the internet's web pages are. It is all tied in with <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/search-engine-marketing.php" title="Information on search engine optimisation and marketing">search engine marketing</a> and is one of many ways in which Google identifies which pages should appear where in its results.</p> <h3>Backlinks</h3> <p>If you are serious about increasing your Google PageRank then you need to concentrate on getting "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backlink" title="Information on backlinks">backlinks</a>" to your website. This is the term used to refer to other website who link to your own site. You can exchange links with other websites with relative ease, however try to ensure you only trade links with sites hosting relevant content, and make sure you do not trade links with a "link farm" - a site whose existance pivots around exchanging links with others. You can register your website with directories, such as the <a href="http://www.dmoz.org" title="Open Directory Project">Open Directory Project</a>. It is handly to be listed in directories or websites with a high PageRank whenever possible.</p> <h3>Backlinks - Internal</h3> <p>As your website develops and its page count increases you can create your own backlinks by linking to relevant pages within your own site. By doing so you are creating an internal network of resources on your site. This is a technique you may have noticed the <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com" title="EyePlot link to relevant pages within its site to assist visitors and search engine marketing">EyePlot</a> website use. However, keep in mind that the number of internal links you create plays a part in the equation - don't place too many too soon.</p> <p>The best way to increase your website's PageRank is to equip it with high quality, original and relevant content that other people will naturally want to link to.</p> <h3>Need Help?</h3> <p>If you would like to see your website achieve a high page rank and search engine rankings then call EyePlot today on <strong>0870 99 05 188</strong> for a <strong>free search engine marketing consultation</strong>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>The Advantages of CSS in brief</h1> <p>contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com" title="EyePlot Digital Web Design">EyePlot Digital website</a> was created using CSS. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet. It is a process of seperating structure from appearance in your XHTML documents. CSS commands can be placed inline with the document in the <head> section of your document. However typically commands are placed in a seperate .css text file.</p> <p>CSS is an easy language to use, but a fairly difficult language to truly master. This is sheerly down to the number of commands available and the relationship between those commands on the page. Let's say we want to create a style for a heading tag, <H3>. In your style sheet, you set the color of your H3 tags to red, like so:</p> <pre> H3 { color:red; } </pre> <p>Now as oppose to traditional markup techniques, should you have twenty <H3> tags on your page, and decide you would rather display your headings in green, you no longer need to scan through your entire document changing font tags within each heading. All we now have to do is change the command in the style sheet.</p> <p>As you can imagine if you have a large number of tags, whatever they may be, this method can save you an enormous amount of time and effort.</p> <p>Additionally using CSS to style your documents means you no longer have to rely on tags such as the font tag. This means your markup documents are much leaner which in turn will help you <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/search-engine-marketing.php" title="EyePlot use a number of methods to help increase search engine rankings.">climb higher in the search engines</a>, and also increase page loading times on slower computers that do not benefit from a broadband connection.</p> <p>This is only intended as a short introduction to CSS, to demonstrate just a handful of the advantages that can be gained by using it. If you would like more information on CSS and how it can be integrated into your website then call us today on <strong>0870 99 05 188</strong> for a <strong>free</strong> consultation.</p> </article> <article> <h1>The fall of Meta Tags</h1> <p>jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>Back in the mid-90s, when Take-That! were all the rage and Big Brother was not corrupting our minds with its television garbage, the internet worked in a very different, decidedly simpler way. <strong>Meta tags</strong> were the dominating element which would make or break a website in the search engines.</p> <p>Meta tags are contained within the <head> tag of a <abbr title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</abbr> document. They do not serve any visual purpose to a web page. They exist only to provide basic information to clients (such as search engines) by which their contents can be categorised.</p> <p>Meta tags can be used as many times as required, and can contain the attributes <em>content</em> (a mandatory attribute), <em>http-equiv</em> and <em>name</em>. The <em>content</em> attribute contains the meta tag's information for transmitting, which in turn is linked to the <em>name</em> or <em>http-equiv</em> attribute. This 'handle/content' logic is used widely throughout HTML and can furthermore be passed onto <abbr title="eXtensible Markup Language">XML</abbr> - an increasingly popular language for cross-platform data transmittal.</p> <p>The <em>name</em> attribute of a meta tag can be anything you wish. Several commonly used names include <em>keywords</em>, <em>description</em> and <em>author</em>. The <em>description</em> meta data is often used by search engines (such as <a href="http://www.google.co.uk" title="The UK Google Search Engine">Google</a> and <a href="http://www.yahoo.co.uk" title="The UK Yahoo! Search Engine">Yahoo!</a>) to display a brief overview of the web page on its <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=web+design+huddersfield&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8" title="An example Google results page">results pages</a>. When executed correctly this is perhaps the most useful meta tag; a short, well-produced description can attract visitors to your website.</p> <p>The <em>http-equiv</em> attribute can be used instead of the <em>name</em> attribute and will make an <em>HTTP header</em>; information passed to the server on which the web page is being hosted. The <em>content</em> attribute can be <em>refresh</em>, <em>content-type</em> or <em>refresh</em> and more. It is perhaps important to note that the latter <em>refresh</em> tag is intended to tell search engines how often to return to your page. However search engines are highly unlikely to listen to this and therefore this content type is not recommended.</p> <p>To summarise meta tags are only a fraction as powerful as they were in yesteryear. They now barely scratch the surface in the battle for the number 1 spot. If you would like to push your website to the top it is recommended you hire a <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/search-engine-marketing.php" title="EyePlot are Search Engine Optimisation Professionals">search engine optimisation professional</a> such as <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com" title="EyePlot Digital homepage">EyePlot Digital</a>. For a <strong>free</strong> consultation or informal chat about how we could help your company give us a call today on <strong>0870 99 05 188</strong> or <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/contact.php" title="Contact EyePlot about Search Engine Marketing">e-mail us</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Build it and they will come</h1> <p>jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>Webmasters are so obsessed with their website ranking well for a particular keyword in a particular search engine that they forget the purpose of their website. The purpose of their website is to create enough marketing interest in your service or product that you can make that potential lead a sale or conversion.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine" title="what is a search engine?">search engine</a> that they forget the purpose of their website. The purpose of their website is to create enough marketing interest in your service or product that you can make that potential lead a sale or conversion.</p> <p>Many webmasters ask how we get our websites to the top of the search engines so quickly and so easily. They ask about keyword density. They ask about what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_rank" title="what is page rank?">Page Rank</a> they require to get a good ranking. They ask how many back links they require from other websites. They are all missing the point.</p> <p>You will get a high ranking website if you create a quality website. That is all search engines and in particular Google is looking for. Google especially relies upon relevance and will reward websites that are relevant. Therefore, forget about ranking well in the search engines and concentrate on having quality, original copy text. Consider an analogy of a business. If you run a business that focuses purely on making money then sure, you will make money. However, if you concentrate on giving your customers fantastic service and reliability then the money will follow as a by product. What's more, you will be more successful than if you followed the former business model.</p> <p>Google itself states that you should design your websites with your users in mind and not the search engines. Remember, Google just want relevant results on the first page of it's search engine results (SERPS) and not pages of a low quality with the perfect mix of keywords and title tags. If you run Google Adwords campaigns then you will understand exactly what we mean.</p> <h3>So, what will Google look for in a relevant webpage?</h3> <p>Relevance of copy in regard to the search term. This can be measured by actual visitors visiting your site from the SERPS as well a people linking to your website from <a href="http://del.icio.us/" title="visit delicious">Delicious</a> and the like. The internet is organic and search engines rely on the fact that over a period of time good quality websites will attract the attention of other websites and various online communities linking to you.</p> <p>Build a quality an unique site and they will come.</p> </article> <article> <h1>XHTML vs HTML</h1> <p>contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p><abbr title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</abbr> is rapidly becoming replaced by its standardised cousin <abbr title="eXtensible HyperText Markup Language">XHTML</abbr>. The differences between the two languages are very small but the benefits of switching is definitely worth the effort. The main benefit is that XHTML is far more flexible and can be read by many more devices than simply a standard computer, like mobile phones, palmtop devices and other scaled down internet browsers. In the industry this flexibility between formats is known as <em>portability</em>.</p> <p>As the abbreviation would suggest, XHTML is also extensible; a fancy way of saying that new tags can be added without an update document type declaration.</p> <p>For more information about XHTML and how it's benefits could be implemented into your new or existing website contact EyePlot Digital on <strong>0870 99 05 188</strong>. All of our <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/web-design.php" title="EyePlot offer web standards compliant web design">web design services</a> use XHTML and are standards compliant.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Link Exchange for Beginners</h1> <p>jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>There are many methods you can use to increase your website's traffic. Link Exchange is one of them. Also known as "Reciprocal Link Exchange" the technique, as the name would suggest, involves swapping links with other websites. The easiest way of exchanging links is to contact another website owner (known in the industry as a <em>webmaster</em>) and ask them if they would like to participate in a link exchange between your sites. You put their link on a page within your website and the other webmaster will place a link to your website on their own in return. Exchanging links in this manner has obtained much more popularity in recent years following the move by top search engines such as <a href="http://www.google.co.uk" title="Google UK">Google</a>, who began favoring websites that had a greater number of backward links.</p> <p>It is always beneficial to participate in link exchanges with websites with a similar content theme or area as your own. This can sometimes be tricky as many webmasters will not swap links with websites they consider to be in competition with their own, but if you can achieve a great number of links from similar websites then you will be well on your way to the top.</p> <h3>Non-Reciprocal Link Exchange</h3> <p>According to <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/search-engine-marketing.php" title="EyePlot are search engine optimisation experts in Huddersfield">search engine optimisation experts</a>, search engines no longer place as much emphasis on reciprocal links, because they have discovered new ways to detect reciprocal linking and ignore it from their ranking calculations. Owing to this non-reciprocal link exchanging - one way linking - supersede the usual reciprocal link trading techniques.</p> <p>Link exchanging has been researched heavily in the past few years and there are a great number of resources that can help you learn more about how to achieve good search engine results; an excellent online resource for beginners is <a href="http://www.apromotionguide.com/" title="A Promotion Guide">A Promotion Guide</a>. If you need results quickly however you can always use <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/pay-per-click.php" title="EyePlot offer Pay Per Click in Huddersfield">Pay Per Click</a>.</p> <h3>Want to take action?</h3> <p>If you would like to see your website achieve high search engine rankings, an increased level of traffic and subsequent sales then call EyePlot today on <strong>0870 99 05 188</strong> for a <strong>free</strong> search engine marketing consultation.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Modern Search Engine Optimisation</h1> <p>jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>In the early days of the internet when <a href="http://www.google.co.uk" title="google">Google</a> and <a href="http://www.yahoo.co.uk" title="yahoo">Yahoo</a> was still run by two students and <a href="http://www.altavista.com">Alta Vista</a> was the main player, getting your website to the top of the search engines was simple. You added some meta tags and keywords to your website and loaded the pages full of keywords related content.</p> <p>However, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine">search engines</a> and information retrieval became big business and those small companies run by geeky students had shareholders to please and so the relevance of information retrieval became paramount to a search engines success.</p> <p>Google is the major player when it comes to search engines. Google uses over 100 factors in deciding where your website will appear in the search engine ranking pages (SERPS). Google relies heavily on back links to a website as well as the <em>quality score</em> of your website.</p> <p><a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/search-engine-marketing.php" title="search engine optimisation">Search Engine Optimisation</a> is now more about analysis more than anything. There are various tools produces such as Google Sitemaps and Google Analytics that can help a webmaster see how the search engines are interacting with their website. Google is becoming extremely clever and is separating the men from the boys when it comes to search engine optimisation. Search Engine Optimisation is about watching, researching, making small amenedments and then waiting for the results of those actions. SEO is a waiting game now where results can take months to appear. However, the financial rewards for a high ranking website in Google or any other major search engine are huge!</p> <p>The basis of a high ranking are steady foundations. You need a <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/web-design.php" title="website design">website designed</a> properly in the first place to get anywhere. If your website is easy to navigate and read then it is easily read by the search engines themselves.</p> <p>If you are interested in what EyePlot can achieve in the search engines please feel free to <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/contact.php" title="contact us">contact us</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>The Importance of Web Design Standards</h1> <p>contact@eyeplot.com (Steve Tucker) — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>Maintaining a website designed using <a href="http://www.w3.org/" title="The World Wide Web Consortium">web standards</a> is easy. The <abbr title="Extensible HyperText Markup Language">XHTML</abbr> is very simple and so logical that it doesnt make any sense to continue using the complex and chaotic markup documents created with traditional page layout methods. If we look deeper into the global effect this has on the World Wide Web then you will see that easily maintainable XHTML documents also translate effectively into almost every internet-enabled device. This means that we no longer have to create several versions of each website to satisfy different audiences. EyePlot Digital produce all their <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/web-design.php" title="Web Design to Web Standards">web design</a> work to web standards as it also opens up new audiences that have largely been ignored by traditional website design methods, and in addition to results in better <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/search-engine-marketing.php" title="Search Engine Optimisation">optimisation for the search engines</a>. This all adds up to a more successful, effective website.</p> <p>The explosion of <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/business_basics/469294.stm" title="British Broadcasting Corporation">mobile phone technology</a> and it's popularity is a good example of this. Almost everyone reading this article will have a mobile or <abbr title="Personal Digital Assistant">PDA</abbr> and a good majority of these devices will have access to the Internet. However, if this is the case then why isn't everyone using these devices to browse the World Wide Web? The answer comes down to traditional website development techniques; simply put the websites of today are simply not built to cater for tomorrow's technology. Had web standards been followed from the beginning, back when website development took off, those internet-enabled devices could be used to browse the web today.</p> <p>It is not just mobile phones and PDAs that benefit from web standards, however. Audio screen readers for the <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/accessibility.php" title="Accessibility Statements are Important">visually impaired</a> also take advantage of the clean, structured XHTML documents. Any future browser or Internet-based technology that can read HTML will also be able to understand these markup documents. In this current period of web development we are forced to re-develop our websites every few years due to incompatiblities with new technological advancements.</p> <p>For more information on web design standards and how they are implemented call us at EyePlot on 0870 99 05 188, or <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/contact.php" title="Contact Us">send us an e-mail</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Search Engines go mobile</h1> <p>jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>There are about two billion people in this big old world that use mobile devices. Most of those mobile devices are internet enabled. Most people who use the internet use search engines to find what they are looking for. Getting the idea? That's right. We are not far away from mobile devices being used fairly often to search the internet.</p> <p>There will of course always be differences. People will search differently using a mobile device as they would if they were using a desktop. For instance, when you are using a desktop you may be searching for anything and everything as there is a perception that you cannot do this for mobile devices. This in theory is not true but people are still using outdated non-cross platform web design techniques. Anyway, at the minute (August 2006) people do not use mobile devices for e-commerce - but they will in time.</p> <p>At present, mobile device users search for very specific things such as bus and train time tables, movie times, football results etc.</p> <p><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/" title="Google">Google</a> is a big player in <a href="http://www.google.com/mobile/mobile_search.html" title="Googles Mobile Search">mobile search</a> at present and is trying to team up with China who have a huge internet industry at the minute.</p> <p>How does this affect you? Well, one thing you need to ensure whenever you have a website designed is that it is cross platform and future proof. HTML is being slowly phased out and replaced by its new and trendier cousin XHTML. XHTML is a cross between HTML and XML. XML actually allows computers to 'understand' what a website is all about. Websites designed using XHTML will work in today's and tomorrow's browsers. Websites designed using XHTML will also work in tomorrows new mobile devices such as mobile devices.</p> <p>So, when you ask to have a website designed make sure that the website is future proof.</p> <p>Want to know more about <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/web-design.php" title="web design">website design?</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Ebay Price Hike</h1> <p>jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>I always find it strange when people trade online and do not have full control of their business. For instance, <a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk" title="ebay">Ebay</a>, like most other companies when they become huge, can do pretty much what they want. They always tend to forget about the people who put them there.</p> <p>Whatever business model you have, one of the most important things is to have control of your business. As we have seen recently, Ebay have increased all their prices to keep shareholders happy. After all, Ebay are there to make money like any other business. People sometimes view Ebay as a public service. It is not. It is a business and its sole purpose is to make money.</p> <p>Having an <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/web-design.php" title="ecommerce web design">e-commerce web site designed</a> may be more expensive initially but it can be used in conjunction with an ebay shop to help control cash flow. Once the e-commerce shop starts to do well you can use ebay then just to shift surplus stock. This is what most of our successful e-commerce clients do.</p> <p>Ebay has become rife with amateur sellers who are willing to reduce profit margins to an unsustainable level. The bottom will fall out very shortly.</p> <p><a href="http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1845168,00.html" title="Guardian article">So, has Ebay had its day?</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Search Engine Promotion</h1> <p>jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>Helping your company's website to become better known makes your business better known. It also lets you communicate with more prospective and existing customers. These hurdles are of such importance that they can often make or break a company. Your website has to be made visible to those who are interested in your services and products but don't yet know your company or its web address. This is where <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com" title="Search Engine Optimisation">search engine optimisation</a> comes into play.</p> <p>Visitors to your site will be a mixture of those who have found your website via links or ads on other websites, who know of your business already, and those who have arrived as a result of using a search engine such as <a href="http://www.google.co.uk" title="Google">Google</a>, <a href="http://www.yahoo.co.uk">Yahoo</a> or <a href="http://www.msn.co.uk" title="MSN"><abbr title="Microsoft Network">MSN</abbr></a>.</p> <p>Most businesses become visible on the world wide web through a delicate combination of online optimisation techniques and high quality <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/web-design.php" title="Web Design">web design</a>. EyePlot can help you with this. We have many years of experience and have helped many businesses achieve financial success thanks to our ability to promote high search engine rankings.</p> <p>Interested in how we could help your business succeed? We don't bite - give us a call today on <strong>0870 99 05 188</strong> or <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/contact.php" title="Contact EyePlot Digital">email us</a> for a <strong>free</strong> consultation.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Achieving Brand Relevance</h1> <p>jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <p>Achieving <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/graphic-design.php" title="Branding">brand relevance</a> is all about keeping the brand current in the market place, and linked, at a macro level, to its times. Whilst that may seem to be simple enough, it is actually quite difficult to establish and maintain such a delicate balance in the rush of business.</p> <p>The brand reproduction that began at the end of the 1990s, changed the rules for effective marketing strategies, requiring more that the usual gain in short-term brand awareness accomplished through the repetition of marketing messages. While still of great tactical importance, merely maintaining the brand in front of its target audience does little to guarentee that the brand has a freshness about it or a positive significance. It must be monitored closely and passed through effectively in all mediums including <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/web-design.php" title="Web Design">web design</a>, <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/print-stationery.php" title="Stationary">stationary</a> and <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/print-stationery.php" title="Print">print</a>.</p> <p>As businesses, non-for-profits, and government entities alike are embracing branding and spending more money on marketing, their brand messages need to become more complex and orchestrated to carry more meaning and to establish an effective brand relevance. The traditional strategy of repetition is inadequate of themselves to create either the "authentic newness" or the "individual meaningfulness" that are all hallmarks of contemporary brand relevance.</p> <p>For more information about effective branding <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/contact.php" title="Branding in Huddersfield">contact us</a> on <strong>0870 99 05 188</strong>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>The 4 P's of marketing</h1> <p>jay@eyeplot.com (Jay Hands) — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT</p> <h3>What is Marketing?</h3> <p>A big part of marketing is building relationships with your clients. It is all about letting people know what you offer and how it can benefit them in a certain way. Afterall, how can you sell your goods or services if nobody knows that they exist? Marketing is where your company makes its money.</p> <p>So, briefly put, you let your clients know that you have a product that they require, you tell them how it benefits them and they pay you. Simple.</p> <h3>The Marketing Mix</h3> To make marketing more simple, marketing professionals refer to the <em>four P's of marketing</em> or the <em>marketing mix</em>. They are product, place, price and promotion. Let's examine each one individually. <h3>Product</h3> These are the products or services that you sell. There is not much more to say on this topic except that you need to know that a particular client requires your product or service. <h3>Place</h3> <p>This refers to how you get your products or services to your customer. Some people actually produce goods whereas some never see the product and simply 'drop ship' their goods. This is often the case with internet companies who sell goods online and get a third party to ship the goods out to the customer. The place becomes important if you know that a client will prefer to touch and feel a product before they buy or whether the end customer will now really mind but just want the goods. For example, if somebody knows they want a certain television which they have found in a high street shop and they are just looking for the same make and model online to get a better price.</p> <h3>Price</h3> <p>Pricing is very important. Under charge for a product and people will perceive your goods or services as 'cheap' and maybe lacking in quality. Over charge for your goods or services and people will go elsewhere. There are certain industries where low profit margins are necessary such as electrical goods where the business model is based around getting high numbers of goods shipped out.</p> <h3>Promotion</h3> <p>This is a major area of marketing. How do you let people know about the services or goods you sell? You can achieve this through various means such as leaflets and <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/print-stationery.php" title="business print">business print</a>, personal sales calls or through internet search engines. The latter by far is the most effective for a business as it does not cost anything and produces a great deal of business sales.</p> <p>The whole purpose of promotion is to get people to know what you offer, how it benefits them and that you can supply this demand.</p> <p>Also, you need to let them know why they should use you and not your competitors. Our personal approach at EyePlot <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/web-design.php" title="web design">Web Design</a> is through personal recommendation. Many people see a fast return on investment from their website as we understand not only web design but also online marketing. This is our Unique Selling Point.</p> <h3>What Now?</h3> <p>Anyway, we hope this introduction into marketing is helpful and you use some of the points above to further your business.</p> <p>Remember, if you need any help we are always available on 0870 99 05 188 or simply <a href="http://www.eyeplot.com/contact.php" title="contact us"> contact us</a> using our online form.</p> </article> </main></body></html>