A well functioning website should be jigsaw of inter-connecting pages that cater for multiple user groups

Have you ever wondered how much of what you do is unnoticed?

Every day in the UK good work escapes praise. People get ignored and services get forgotten. Answers get lost and questions remain unanswered. It’s life..but it shouldn’t be, especially when it comes to your business’ website.

We’ve had loads of enquiries about getting your site indexed by search engines recently so we thought a blog article could help turn sites from secret gardens into public parks.

We’ve had a whip round our team and come up with the following tips.

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Improving navigation gets users to visit more pages on websites.

“Sameness is the mother of disgust, variety the cure.” Francesco Petrarca

There should be a logical route to any page on your site from your homepage in three clicks or less.

But what if you have thousands and thousands of pages? How can you get them all in your site within three clicks? You need to be creative, this rule is not for bending.

1. Drop downs – A dropdown menu categorises content quickly which helps a targeted user to find what they want, fast.

2. Tabbing – Tabbed pages are useful for multi-faceted organisations or businesses who have a wide range of services. By skipping to the pages relevant to their area users only find content useful for them.

3. Calls to Action – Getting users to contact you can also be done by offering clicks to themes or subjects rather than business areas. Think outside the box.

4. Landing Pages – Be flexible. Cater for different kinds of users by incorporating search forms or having good quality related links to pages on your site that interest them.

Correctly linking to pages within your website gets them high up the rankings

“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” Galileo Galilei

Everyone knows that users need to find your website when using search engines. But finding the right page within your website can be the difference between a bounce and sale.
When a user searches for a phrase related to a service or product you offer, you want that specific page to be at the top rather than the homepage. Why depend on the user to click three times when they can click once?

1. Link structure – Make the link structure of your website as flat as possible ensures that both product and service pages appear in the search engines.

This means linking to as many important pages as possible from each page. A great way to do this is again implementing drop down navigation.

2. Anchor text – Make sure your links have the right ‘anchor text’.  If you want a page to appear in the search engines for a particular key phrase, make sure that the key phrase is used as the text to link to it. This means both links on your website and on others.

3. Use the correct URL – When linking to your website, choose the most relevant page. For example, if you are promoting ‘family law’, then make sure you link to the ‘family law’ page within your website.

Use social media to generate targeted traffic

“When you give yourself, you receive more than you give.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery

In most cases your website should be the hub of your online presence. Your social media profiles act as spokes or outposts around the hub to engage with your audience and drive traffic to your site.

1. Useful information only- Social media is great for sharing content, provided it is useful to your audience. An effective way to drive traffic to your site is to simply ask your fans or followers what they would like to see from you and then create it and promote through your communities. An on site blog, for example is one of the simplest and most beneficial methods for improving your website’s search engine rankings.

2. Find Relevent Conversations- Another way to use social media to drive traffic is to go out looking for conversations that are happening around your industry and services. Become a member of the community, offer expert advice and where appropriate link back to your website. Again you should always ensure you direct people to the most relevant page in your site.

If you would like to have a chat about improving your website’s search rankings and traffic levels, please call Jon Eaton on 0114 279 7779.

Speaking to The Guardian this week Zuckerberg talked about the future of Facebook, “If we succeed [in innovating and remaining relevant] there is a good chance of bringing this to a billion people… it will be interesting to see how it plays out.”

To celebrate this new milestone Facebook are running a sweet campaign called Facebook Stories where half a billion Facebook users across the world can share stories about how they use Facebook and how it has impacted their lives.

The stories range from funny to moving, for example “Holly Rose, a mother in Phoenix, who credits a friend’s Facebook status message telling women to check for breast cancer with her being diagnosed in time to treat the disease. She used Facebook for support during treatment and became a prevention advocate herself.”

This got us thinking, what would happen if Facebook disappeared? Would you care? Would you be able to cope?! To answer these burning questions, Quba Director Darren Bristow and Account Exec Jonathan Eaton took to the streets armed with a video camera and microphone. Here’s what the folks of Sheffield had to say:

The special occasion.

Not long after the wedding, baby ‘online reputation management’ was born. Everyone was happy and a long life together seemed on the cards.

The problem is, as Jeremy Kyle can confirm, SEO wasn’t really the father.

It had quickly gone back to its old ways of indulging in link building with dodgy websites and Social Media was left to have it away with old man Mr. Brand Manager, 79, from Harvard (whenever she could get a look in).

However, I still think the marriage can work. SEO and Social Media should stay together and raise ‘online reputation management’ as their own. But maybe rename it ‘online audience engagement’ to dispel the bad memories.

As you may know, ‘online reputation management’ is the process of finding mentions of your brand name (usually by using social media tools) and then getting involved in the conversation. This can sometimes result in you being able to link back to your website.

You can also take this further, monitoring the internet for mentions of the keywords you’re focusing on and doing the same – something I like to combine with ‘online reputation management’ and call ‘online audience engagement’.

The problem for many SEOs seems to be engaging in a meaningful way, with the process being too lengthy for not enough SEO benefits.

This is because many SEOs in competitive markets subscribe to the approach that the value of links need to be judged in terms of their perceived popularity and the time it takes to build them. This essentially means spending as little time as possible getting links from sites with as high PageRank as possible.

In other words, they subscribe to a purely short term approach, which usually leads to using methods that Google works against.

The benefits of integrating Social Media and SEO can be exponential for your brand in the longer term, if you spend time trying to do it well.

For example, if you engage in a meaningful way, with something to say of value to the audience, then they are one step closer to becoming advocates for your brand. And how do you advocate a brand online? By linking to it.

If you devote just a small amount of time towards Social Media in your SEO campaign and strive to do it well, then it could be well worth doing it at the expense of some of those mediocre ‘quick win’ links.

Quba account executive Jon Eaton discusses how the Rauol Moat case shows the power of Social Media in reporting live events and exposing the unknown.

In the three weeks since Rauol Moat went on the run 700 pages on Facebook have been created, tens of millions of tweets have been tweeted and upwards of 800 videos have been uploaded to Youtube. Online audiences have remained huge since his death with social media channels playing a huge part in keeping the story current and on the lips of 61 million British people.

One group praising Moat attracting upwards of 30,000 fans has even prompted the Prime Minister to condemn supporters of a man he publically dubbed a ‘callous murderer’.

In such extreme circumstances it is difficult to see what a business could learn from what appears to be exceptional online behaviour in exceptional circumstances.

How could this be relevant for my business or organisation?

How can online hysteria make me money or generate interest in what I do?

Social media channels are becoming increasingly important for people looking for information on live issues.

The amount of references to Facebook and Twitter in news reports show that both the press and public are increasingly trusting social media to find reliable information. By having a credible and active presence on these areas you can gain exposure to audiences hoping to find useful information which influences their opinions and decisions.

Using different social media channels together can tell a story in a multi-media style.

Using different kinds of websites such as Youtube, Twitter and Facebook together can produce a content rich and engaging informational resource which will boost your online reputations and encourage people to visit your website. Being able to give users a complete experience helps to retain and entertain them which improve your chances of doing more business online.

Social media can undeniably create huge momentum and interest which you can use to your advantage.

From nowhere the Rauol Moat story has become one of the most debated online issues with huge numbers of users participating. When social media users find something of interest to them their behaviour almost acts as a free publicity tool. The ‘viral’ effect of large numbers of users talking about the same thing promotes strong engagement. All you need is the right message.

Social media monitoring can find unexpected sources of dissent.

If there were thousands people rallying against you or actively supporting an opposition wouldn’t you want to know? By watching the activity of people you do business with online you can find out where your service is doing well and falling down. If you ignore your online audience behaviour in your sector could you be in a position where your reputation is being damaged and you can’t defend yourself?

Digital agencies can help you coordinate your social media operations in a way which is completely advantageous

Knowing how and when to communicate on social media sites to deliver results is both complicated and tactical. Deciding what to say and where to say it requires carefully planned individual strategies created by experts. At Quba we use cutting edge monitoring skills and our knowledge of online behaviours to deliver measurable results for your business. To find out how please contact David Sealey on 0114 279 7779.

Being a Sheffield born lass working in a Sheffield agency again this means a lot to me, as it does to all Sheffield’s proud residents.  Sheffield’s bid is supported by a website, Facebook fan page, Twitter account, Flickr photo group and YouTube channel. Phew! Great work guys!

Sheffield’s bid is based on 13 principles including music, talent, history, environment and so on. One of the most interesting for me is Sheffield: Connected City and Sheffield: Business City. These are detailed on the website as follows,

“In 2013 Sheffield will sit at the heart of the most digitally connected region in the UK. The £90 million Digital Region initiative will bring the first major deployment of super fast broadband in the UK to our city, providing endless possibilities for our 2013 programme and the city’s digital future. With 5 international airports and 9 million people within an hour of the city, Sheffield will invite the world to visit in 2013.

Sheffield aspires to be the most creative city in the UK by 2020 and aims to be a benchmark for the way in which businesses operate and innovate through a creative approach. Electric Works, part of Sheffield’s new and unique Digital Campus, is the only office building in the UK with a helter-skelter slide!”

I moved back to Sheffield a couple of years ago after being away for seven years. Since then I have been amazed by the enthusiasm and passion for collaboration I have seen between people in the city. Sheffield really is an innovative city for business, especially digital business. I think of grass roots groups and events such as Sheffield Geek Ups, The Girl Geeks Dinner, Unconference to name but a few. These people take the time to organise and attend these events simply because they love what they do. I think of innovative Sheffield based small businesses like eco-friendly bag producer Bag It Don’t Bin It or Scout and Guide social network Skowt and I feel so lucky to be a part of this vibrant and exciting community.

So, my fellow Sheffielders, lets say a prayer for our beautiful city and trust that we’re going to be the next City of Culture not only because of our rich cultural contribution but for our fantastic people, our innovative and creative approach to business and our forward looking principles. I love you Sheffield! Let’s create something amazing!

The event was organised by Quba alum Rob Wilmot and the keynote speaker was Chris Brogan. If you haven’t heard of Chris before, he is an eleven year veteran of social media, web and mobile technologies. He is the best selling author of the books Trust Agents and Social Media 101, and his blog is in the top 5 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati. Obviously I was keen to hear him speak…

Anyway, Darren Bristow and I arrived Wednesday morning and I immediately spotted Rob sitting with my former Together Agency colleagues, Jason Burrows and Nick Wright (now of Hubbub Ideas ). After the joyous reunions, I was introduced to none other than Chris Brogan himself. I sat down to chat and was pleasantly surprised to find him soft spoken and eager to pay attention to what other people have to say.

They often say that what makes a person popular is their ability to make whoever they are talking to feel like the most important person in the room. Chris certainly has this skill, I observed him quietly working his magic on everyone who timidly (or otherwise) approached him to chat throughout the day. He also takes care to remember names and to tailor his talks to his audience. For example, being nervous and not sure what to do, I gave him my business card after we finished chatting in the morning. During his introductory talk he made a passing comment that he “throws away 90% of business cards” he receives. I was mortified until he followed up with “Rebecca yours is safe”. That’s a good memory!

The key points I took from his talk were points that marketers should tattoo to the inside of their eyelids. So simple, yet so often forgotten:

Listen - The first step of understanding what people want from you (or your brand) is to just LISTEN. People are talking, don’t try to stop it or move it to a more acceptable platform just spend some time finding out what they want.

Be humble – Do not go on about yourself all the time (ooops). Chris emphasized the 12:1 rule, for every 12 posts you make helping others you can make 1 promoting yourself. When you do make your one request for help, people are much more likely to help you.

Be human – Find out people’s names, who they are, what they do and what they need. Make them feel important, be compassionate and build a mutually satisfying relationship. This is pretty hard to fake, but hopefully you won’t need to since your customers are the ones paying your bills ;p

He wound up the presentation with strategy points for career and personal development as follows:

• Lay out your lifestyle wishes online and offline
• Pick a niche
• Set goals (business, financial etc)
• Build a homebase (website)
• Visit outposts (social networks)
• Promote others and get yourself noticed
• Refine how to be helpful
• Provide value every day

Do you know what counts as value to your audience? What’s your niche? Do you have a homebase and do you know which outposts you need to visit? What should you do when you get there? If you would like to discuss any of these questions, feel free to mail, comment or tweet me.

Image source: Flickr

New Business director David Sealey discusses how working with Quba is more reliable and enjoyable than watching Capello and the boys getting thrashed by Germany…

1. Goal-keeping

At Quba protecting our customer’s goals for a project is hugely important. Using a team of dedicated specialists and in house project management software we never let our clients down by letting deadlines spill over…

2. Converting Chances

We believe in creating websites which deliver measurable results for businesses. Our digital marketing and e-commerce teams can help streamline your online sales process.

When we do conversion optimization we don’t bring on Heskey at 4-1 down.

3. Teamwork

Quba is an integrated digital agency with designers, digital marketing specialists and dedicated account managers involved in all our projects. We meet regularly to discuss ideas and allow our skills to complement each other for the benefit of our customers.

4. Management

Our account managers work hard to make sure that everyone working for them knows their role.  Each Quba client has a dedicated manager to help make their online strategy work; If your result is in question, we wont twiddle our thumbs.

5. Technology

Unlike Sepp Blatter we love technology and will utilize any applications which could help you; even if they are “expensive”, “impractical” or inconvenient. We’ll use specialist software to prevent your online operation making mistakes which could affect your business.

If your website is letting you down or making you unhappy, give me a call.
Dave Sealey

0114 279 7779

dsealey@quba.co.uk

The famous PageRank bar.

PageRank was patented by Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they founded Google way back in 1998.

It is an algorithm that determines how popular a website is, assigning a ranking to a page depending on how likely a user is likely to come across it by randomly clicking links on the website. A simple explanation is that it shows how popular a page is in terms of the popularity and volume of the pages that link to it.

Many within the SEO industry think that it is an outdated metric to use due to the availabilty of more complex and detailed tools, but it’s still a useful indicator as to Google’s perceived popularity of a site – particularly for the hobbyist that doesn’t have access to professional tools.

Why do older sites tend to have a higher PageRank?

This was a question I was asked today, and in my opinion, the answer is not as obvious as it seems. Some believe that the older a site is, the more trust it gains from Google and therefore the higher PageRank it achieves.

This answer isn’t strictly true. You cannot gain PageRank without having any links, and therefore it isn’t just the age of a site that correlates to higher PageRank.

From my understanding of PageRank, I believe that the answer stems from the popular Six Degrees of Separation phenomenon.

Ten years ago, the internet did not have as many websites as it does now. Therefore, if you had a few links to your website then you were more likely to be a few links away (or degrees of separation away) from a popular website. This means that if someone randomly clicked around the web then they were more likely to land on your website.

Thus it was easier to gain PageRank – and the PageRank would increase over time as a consequence of being a few degrees of separation away from a popular website that has had ten years to increase its popularity (in terms of links).

This is why older sites tend to have higher PageRank – as long as they have a few links.

What is the future of PageRank?

Google’s long-established algorithm is under threat from Social Media-based alternatives. For example, Facebook’s Open Graph is perceived to be a threat to Google’s PageRank algorithm, with an alternative algorithm based on how many people ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ a page.

I don’t believe that this is a viable competitor at present, as the strength of Google’s algorithm is that it is very difficult to ‘cheat the system’ or manipulate results. Facebook’s Open Graph looks to be very open to these problems at present.

However, it’s only a matter of time before there is a big change in the way search engines return results. The question is whether Google will be the ones to make it.

Quba created the interactive www.speedosculpture.com site to showcase the new Speedo Sculpture ShapeLine series, widely described as the closest thing to made-to-measure swimwear available on the mass-market.

The site utilises fashion photography and video podcasts on subjects such as body image, shopping, and positive thinking. Speedo Sculpture also links to Speedo’s large social media presence, which includes active profiles on Facebook and Twitter.

Matt Jones, director at Quba, commented: “Quba has developed a reputation for thinking digitally about brands and marketing, and we were delighted to be chosen to work with Speedo.

We have already seen a high volume of traffic to the site, which demonstrates how joined-up digital and social media campaigns can enhance brand awareness and reputation.”

Following research into keywords and online consumer search behaviours, the site has also been heavily optimised, helping it rank highly when people use search engines to find swimwear.

Ricky Chopra from Speedo added: “I’m really pleased with the results we’ve got from Quba. Not only have they produced a fantastic new website but the overall strategy is proving to be a success, particularly as it ties in with other initiatives such as our PR and advertising campaign.”

We estimate that tens of thousands of people are affected by internal sex trafficking in the UK alone.

My Dangerous Loverboy, a collaborative voluntary project between digital agency Quba and film-makers Virginia Heath and Grant Keir, uses social media websites such as Facebook and Youtube to raise awareness of a largely undetected crime. Having attracted over 500 fans on Facebook and taken their message into 25 schools in the city the group could be in line to win the new ‘Best Cross Platform’ Category at the awards ceremony in Leeds next Monday June 14.

My Dangerous Loverboy- Stop Sex Trafficking Now

Internal sex trafficking, where young people are trafficked between cities within one country, is estimated to affect upwards of 10,000 women and young people in the UK alone. Many victims are befriended by criminals who gain their trust by buying them gifts and building sham relationships. They are introduced to Class-A drugs and alcohol then forced to have sex with other men and moved around the UK sex trade in gang networks.

By interacting with young people away from the classroom My Dangerous Loverboy encourages young people aged between 12 and 18 to be creative in communicating the campaigns key messages. Through making posters, writing music and shooting their own video adverts the young users help safeguard their own futures by raising awareness in a way which captures their peers attention.

Founder Darren Bristow said: “Having three young daughters of my own I was very eager to do something when I met Virginia and learnt about this horrendous practice.

By taking our message to websites used by young people we have seen how their creative energies can help our message to develop and create real hype, which has been hugely rewarding.

To be nominated for the award is a great honour but the wider aim is to raise awareness still further and help protect future generations of young people from a life of abuse. Whether we win or lose if more people go online and join our campaign groups it will help us continue to make a real difference.”

My Dangerous Loverboy is always looking for people to help out and anybody interested in giving some of their time can do so by contacting Darren Bristow at dbristow@quba.co.uk. To give your support visit the Facebook page please go to http://bit.ly/bDbK8k or watch the Youtube video by going to http://bit.ly/9bZyNP