The Client

“Marshall Artist was born in London EC1 in 2001 and quickly became acknowledged as one of the UK’s best loved emerging menswear brands.”

The brand has been represented at some of the UK’s finest stores including Jones and Selfridges of London, as well as international stores including Colette of Paris and Ships of Japan. Marshall Artist has been spotted on the backs of many key people over the years including Jude Law, David Beckham and the Gallagher brothers to name a few. The brand has also been frequently featured in ID, The Face and GQ. The brand is currently distributed in the UK, USA, Canada, Denmark, Japan, Korea, China and Australia.

Designing the Website

When it comes to designing a fashion websites we were really privileged when Marshall Artist wanted NeonLobster to redesign a Magento website to help promote the upcoming Marshall Artist brand.

You might say fashion isn’t our main area of expertise (football, rugby and beer are!) but we also know a little bit about Magento and eCommerce design, and we could tell that the Marshall Artist brand needed a revamp online.

We needed to bring down the bounce rate which the previous holding page didn’t really do the brand justice. The aim is to get people into the site to see and feel the whole clothing collection via the shop and lookbooks. Neil Maloney, the Creative Director at Marshall Artist designed the look and feel of the website working closely with the brand guidelines and NeonLobster’s advice on layout and best practice web development.

The result of the Magento re-design

Homepage

The Lookbooks

Social Networking

Twitter

Facebook

Check out the cool video display of Facebook marketing data in the United Kingdom. The data was provided by Nielsen. Out of the 27 million people that user Facebook every month, the video displays some really interesting insights into the UK audience.

Watch The Video

To Sum Up

• 27 million Brits’ use Facebook every month = 2/3 of the British internet population!
• On average users spend 7 hours a month connected to Facebook, 4x the amount of time they spend on other major sites like Google,Twitter,Yahoo,Windows Live.
• 1 in 5 minutes online is spent on Facebook.
• 51% female, 25% under 25 and 30% over 50
• Average number of friends is 130.
• 71% of british users connect with their friends on Facebook every .
• 67% of 18 – 34 year olds connect with friends on Facebook several times a day.
• 62% of people use Facebook while watching TV.
• You can reach more 18 – 34 year olds through Facebook than through TV
• 16% of users have made product purchases as a result of Facebook friend interactions.
• 62% of Facebook users access Facebook on a mobile phone.
• 26% of users access Facebook via a tablet
• Over 50% of 18 – 24 year olds say it’s the first thing they access in the morning and last thing they access at night!
• So… Brits like Facebook!!

Yesterday Google announced that they are rolling out a commercial model for Google Shopping, already in place in the US, worldwide. The commercial model for Google Shopping, built on Product Listing Ads will now rollout in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Australia and Switzerland.

What does this mean for the Google Shopping experience?

Google is rolling out the shopping update gradually in order to give merchants time to adjust to changes,  with the first big update is set to come into action on 13^th February 2013! The new format will bring sponsored product listings into the space currently taken by adwords listings, making the process of product searching simpler for the user by bringing products to the forefront of the SERPs.

More change will come in the form of allowing users to refine their product searches by different attributes,  such as brand/ manufacturer and price. They’ll also be featuring larger product images in order to people a better idea of how a product actually looks. The net effect of this is to make Google shopping a much more viable platform for searching directly for products and shopping: bringing yet another aspect of the online experience even more firmly into Google’s sphere of influence.

This update to Google shopping just goes to highlight Google’s almost obsession with search quality and relevance, as they expand further into yet another corner of the web, working to provide users with the best quality of product search possible.

Learn More About The New Google Shopping Updates

The transition to the commercial model will be complete by the end of Q2 2013. We’ll also be offering some incentives; details will follow, on this blog and via email, in the coming weeks.

To learn more and get started you can visit: http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2456103

A better shopping experience

These changes to the Google Merchant platform will create a better shopping experience that will benefit both shoppers and merchants. Shoppers will find products in one convenient place and quickly be able to compare features, find the best prices, read reviews, and identify great merchants easily – while advertisers will be given more granular control over product listings and traffic they can generate.

Let us know your thoughts on the new Google Shopping updates!

Last Thursday, Google had their first Google Engage for Agencies day after a break during the summer and NeonLobster Design went after receiving an invite from our account manager at Google Towers.

The Engage for Agencies is a programme developed by Google to support smaller agencies specialising in search engine optimisation (SEO),  search engine marketing (SEM) and website design to engage better with their clients.

Having a good 404 error page is something a lot of web design companies ignore or just simply forget about. Has your site got an error page?

Sometimes it may not be your fault visitors landed on error pages, but being able to communicate and direct them back to the home page is as good as a second chance to re-engage a visitor. Error 404 pages can help you do that.

So for a web designer or developer, though sometimes you cannot control the cause of error page, but you can minimize the damages by using a custom 404 page. The page can be used to educate, encourage visitors to re-search, display related information visitors may be interested in or even redirect them back to your homepage.

In this blog post I have showcased 12 cool and creative 404 pages from across the web. The first showcased 404 page is for one of our clients, The Bakers Federation.

1) Bakers Federation 404 Error Page

Visit the website

2) Mint.com 404 Error Page

Visit the website

3) Elliot Jay Stocks Error Page

Visit the website

4) Clever Concepts 404 Error Page

Visit the website

5) Blog Mixer 404 Error Page

6) Alarmes 48 404 Error Page

Visit the website

7) Door Step Diary 404 Error Page

Visit the website

8) E-Moxie 404 Error Page

Visit the website

9) Nosh 404 Error Page

Visit the website

10) Lono Creative 404 Error Page

Visit the website

11) Bronco 404 Error Page

Visit this website

12) Distilled 404 Error Page

Visit the website

Here is six of the best personal services currently on the web for storing your data.

Cloud storage is the secure storage of your data which is stored in a remote location and accessed via the web. There are many benefits of cloud data storage, the main one being that you can access, sync and share your data from any web-connected device. Alternatively, local files can be backed up to the web, ensuring that you have piece of mind should a hard drive fail or become lost, damaged or stolen.

Different services offer different features, functions, specifications and prices.  For this blog post we have created a round-up for seven popular services aimed at the consumer end of the market; Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Microsoft Skydrive, Dropbox, Amazon Cloud Drive, Live Drive and Box. We try to offer an insight to each of the different cloud solutions to help you chose the best service for your requirements.

Google Drive

Google Drive has evolved from Google Docs and integrates with many of Google’s other services. This is one of the factors that makes Google Drive a very appealing proposition. Users get 5GB of storage free, and those with a Google account will not even need to register. Users with a Google Docs account will have their documents ready and waiting. There is the option to create new documents, set viewing and editing permissions, sync with Gmail and drag and drop to a Drive folder on the desktop ready for sharing.

Highlights

• Free
• Integration with Google services
• Desktop Drive folder
• Great search capabilities

Specification

• Price – Free/ $2.50
• Storage – 5GB
• Operating System – PC, Mac, Crome, iOS, Android

Applie iCloud

Apple iCloud follows in the tradition of all Apple services by endeavouring to provide a seamless and intuitive experience. On offer is 5GB of free storage, where users can store music, photos, documents, apps and backups. If this is not enough there is the option to upgrade, with an extra 10GB costing £14 a year and 20GB at £28 a year.

Highlights

• Free
• Intuitive interface
• Automatic syncing

Specification

• Price – Free/£14+
• Storage – 5GB
• Operating System – MAc, PC, iPad, iPhone

Microsoft Skydrive

The SkyDrive service from Microsoft is a storage facility for keeping important files. The SkyDrive app allows users to wield the Fetch feature, which effectively gives access to folders from another PC.

Users can collaborate with other groups and share Word documents, Excel files and other Microsoft Office files. There is also a SkyDrive app that allows users to access files while on the move.

Beyond Office files, users can share photos with friends and family directly from within a web browser.

Highlights

• 7GB of Free storage
• Sharing via a web browser
• Mobile app
• Cheap storage upgrades

Specification

• Price – Free
• Storage – 7GB
• Operating System – Mac, PC

Dropbox

The Dropbox service is a simple set up and use cloud facility that provides 2GB of free storage. Users simply set up an account and can start sharing files. A folder is created on a selected computer and files are then placed into the folder by other users, computers and devices.

Users get an extra 500MB of storage for each referral that goes up to a maximum of 18GB.

Highlights

• Free
• Easy set up and use
• Up to 18GB of free storage
• Simple sharing

Specification

• Price – Free/ $19.99+
• Storage – 2GB
• Operating System – Mac, PC, iOS, Android

Amazon Cloud Drive

Not content with being the biggest on-line retailer, Amazon includes its Cloud Drive service for account holders. This offers 5GB of free storage (with options to pay more for extra) coupled with a number of easy to operate upload options. Users can drag and drop folders to the Cloud Drive icon, right-click on a file/ folders and send to Cloud Drive. The service allows for a seamless experience with transfers running happily in the background. Plus, if there is an interruption, the service automatically restarts without losing any data.

Highlights

• Instant access for Amazon account holders.
• Competitive pricing
• Drag and drop transfers
• Automatically reconnects dropped connections

Specification

• Price – Free/ £6+
• Storage – 5GB
• Operating System – PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Blackberry

Live Drive

Live drive is a cloud storage service that offers packages for home and business users alike. The home packages start at £4.95 a month for Backup, which allows for unlimited storage. For £9.95 a month Briefcase offers an immense 2TB of storage. In keeping with cloud storage services, installation is quick and easy, and users can log in and view their files from anywhere. Further peace of mind is provided by military grade encryption and multi-location backup sharing.

Highlights

• Unlimited storage
• Variety of packages
• Multi-location backups
• Easy to setup and use

Specification

• Price – £4.95
• Storage – Unlimited
• Operating System – Mac, PC

Box

Box (formerly Box.net) is an online file sharing and cloud storage service for. The company has adopted a freemium business model, and provides 5GB of free storage for personal accounts. A mobile version of the service is available for Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, WebOS, and Windows Phone devices.

Highlights

• Free account available
• Great online collaboration
• Variet of packages
• Free trial for businesses

Specification

• Price – Free / £11
• Storage – 5GB+
• Operating System – Mac, PC, iOS, Android

One of our clients 92 Dental had their website nominated for the Heart Internet Website of the Month for September. The winner was announced as Neil Judges Portfolio website, a web designer based in Bournemouth. You can see the website here.

Our website design for 92 Dental came 2nd by 0.1% behind the winner with votes in the thousands.

Thanks to everyone for voting!!

The 92 Dental Site:

Google Autocomplete is the service formerly known as Google Suggest. Autocomplete attempts to guess your search aims as you type and will offer suggestions. You can select an offered suggestion by clicking on it, and that saves you from doing any extra typing. Sometimes Google Autocomplete will give you the answer to your question before you need to actually search, such as when you’re looking for the correct spelling of a city or full name of a historical site.

Comparing US Autocomplete and the UK Autocomplete

The below slideshow compare the results for the US and UK Google Autocomplete search feature:

• A

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• B

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• C

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• D

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• E

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• F

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• G

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• H

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• I

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• J

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• K

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• L

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• M

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• N

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• O

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• P

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• Q

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• R

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• S

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• T

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• U

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• V

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• W

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• X

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• Y

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• Z

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The search results – even those after entering just “a” or “b” – are influenced in large part by what other users in your geographic area are looking for, according to Mark Paskin, a software engineer on Google’s search team.

And what users want in the US may not be what users want elsewhere – in Britain, Hong Kong or in any of the 178 other international domains served by Google.

In search of the A-to-Z of the internet, we checked what Google autocomplete recommends in Britain, the US, India, Hong Kong and Nigeria.

The results of our experiment show how differently people use the web across the world, and sheds some light on their interests.

Other Similar Blog Posts On The Web

• The Google Alphabet: An Autocomplete Snapshot From A to Z

How long does it take to optimise a dental website? In order to answer this question you need to know the steps to optimising a single page. Then all you need to do is figure out how many pages you have.

We have built and developed many Dental Websites that we are always looking to optimise. Check out our Dental Web Design portfolio on our website.

Tips To Improve Website Optimisation

1. Write more targeted content than your best competitor. Content is king
   1. Does your page have more text content than your competitor’s page?
   2. Type the target keyword into Google.
   3. Look at the top five pages, find the page with the most content and make sure your page has more words than the biggest competitor. (Even if it’s Wikipedia!)
2. Insert your keyword at an average of two times for every three paragraphs of text or once per paragraph if you are unsure.
3. Write your meta description tag as if you only reason visitors will click on your listing is because of the way you describe your page. It needs to be catchy so it stands out.
4. Link to your page from other pages on your site.
   1. Make sure that the anchor text is the keyword you are targeting.
   2. Make sure you only link from relevant ones.
5. Go out and find websites that will link to the page you are working on using the keyword as anchor text.

SEO Friendly Page Must Do’s

Competitor Research

We would suggest doing 20 – 30 minutes of competitor research. What are other dentists writing about? Where are they getting links from? Are they sharing their content on Social Media Networks?

Write 500+ Words Of Fresh, Unique Content

We would suggest going back to optimised pages and ‘refreshing’ content so that it is up-to-date. Google love to crawl websites that keep content up-to-date. (Look at Wikipedia for example) Even if you just tweak the content and add more value to it this will help improve your optimisation.

Keyword Density

Keyword density is important because search engines use this information to categorise a website’s theme, and to determine which terms the site is relevant to. The perfect keyword density will help achieve higher search engine positions. Keyword density needs to be balanced correctly (too low and you will not get the optimum benefit, too high and your page might get flagged for “keyword spamming”). We would recommend using some of seoMoz’s Tools to assist with your research.

Meta Title Tags and Descriptions

Write your meta description tags and title tags as if you only reason visitors will click on your listing is because of the way you describe your page. It needs to be catchy so it stands out. This will be displayed next to many other search results! What words will make internet users click on your webpage?

Internal Linking

We would suggest spending around 30 minutes on internal linking. You should create links from relevant pages that will be useful for your visitors. e.g If you are talking about Dental Implants why not have a link to your Dental Implants Fee page? The user will want to click through for that type of useful information.

External Linking

We believe that getting external links is one of the most important objectives for attaining high rankings on Google search results. We figure that the more links you have to your site is kind of like having more Word Of Mouth referrals to say “Use this business or practice!!”

Related Posts

You may also be interested in reading our blog post on Search Engine Marketing For Dentists.

If you continue to produce relevant content and garnish your links with calls to action and a good star-rating, you can beat your competition without having to drastically improve your authority in the SERPs.

SEO benefits of rich snippets

• Stand out from competitor’s links and draw attention to your relevant result page
• Providing an instant call to action by including direct terms in the search query
• Increased click-through rates. Id much rather click a page that has been reviewed well and updated recently.

An Example Of A Rich Snippet For Recipes

The below example of rich snippets has been used to make this particular recipe stand out in Google SERPs. This is achieved by adding data markup language techniques to the page.

Google suggests using microdata (recommended) . Google supports rich snippets for the following types of content; reviews, people, Products, businesses and organizations, recipes, events and music.

A Look At Rich Snippets – INFOGRAPHIC

Visual Guide to Rich Snippets on SEOmoz created by BlueGlass Interactive.