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Web Design Tips: Series Introduction

0 comments on this article Posted by Phil Brassington in Website Design on June 22nd, 2011 , tagged with web design tips.

Last week I wrote an article highlighting 5 killer errors that website owners can make and in response to some of the comments asking for more detailed information, I have decided to write a series of positive web improvement articles.

The series is not aimed only at the technical experts who create the websites themselves, but is for anyone who is involved in a business website. So regardless of your technical expertise, if you own or maintain a business website, write the company blog, or work to try to bring in more visitors then these tips articles are for you.

Each article will cover a single topic and will contain simple to follow web design tips and information that you can use right now to increase the effectiveness and profitability of your website.

Please read article 1 with tips on getting the words on to the page, titled Writing Compelling Web Copy

Search Engine Optimisation: Matt Cutts Advice Part 3

0 comments on this article Posted by Phil Brassington in Search Engine Optimisation on June 20th, 2011 , tagged with Google, Matt Cutts, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO.

Over the last month we’ve posted a couple of times about an article by Matt Cutts. Firstly, Sarah refreshed and posted on the golden nuggets Matt gave us in a news article a while back. Later it struck me how little things have changed and I mused about the similarity of advice given then and the more recent advice Google gives us.

Today I want to talk about the one missing piece of information that Matt gave us.

Search Engine Optimisation: Don’t Over Do It!

Using the same keywords over and over again on the same page in an unnatural way is called “keyword stuffing”. It’s a big Google no-no and let’s face Google are smart enough to not fall for that.

Matt said, “After you’ve said it two or three times, Google has a pretty good idea — ‘OK, this page has something to do with this keyword’. Just think about the two or three phrases you want to be known for and weave that in naturally.”

So if you do web design in Stafford for example and you wanted Google to rank you for these keywords then you would need to have these specific words in the title, main header and first paragraph, but simply forcing the term, ‘web design in Stafford’ over and over, every second sentence is going to raise a red flag with Google.

Know before you write your article or web copy what the target keywords for this item are and then creatively weave them in a few times, but not more than three or four.

So climb the rankings with a consistent message, that offers something to the users and don’t over do it. Remember, Google is just too smart to be out smarted.

5 Fatal Web Design Flaws or How to kill your website in five easy steps

5 comments on this article Posted by Phil Brassington in Website Design on June 17th, 2011 .

1. Fill Your Site with Loads of Boring Text (often because your SEO told you to)
Writing loads and loads of text that doesn’t help your visitor is one great way to ruin your online business.

A sea of text that doesn’t give any valuable information is sure to put your visitors off. It’s true that Google loves text and relevant text can help your ranking with Google, but pages and pages of irrelevant text is not going to help anyone.

Tip: Only write as much as you need to and make sure every word counts, either in important information for your visitor or in converting your visitor into a customer.

2. Fill your site with pointless pictures
Loads of pointless images are really going to put off your visitors. Make sure your images add something to the overall visitor experience or offer a visual clue. Images add to your page weight and will make your page load slower, so less is more.

Tip: Only add a few relevant images that add something to the users experience, preferably, an image that gives the user a visual clue they are in the right place.

3. Make sure that Google Can’t See Your Site
If keywords that are relevant to your business and website are not on the your website then Google isn’t going to show your site in their search engine results pages (SERPs). Think about how searchers will look for website or business and make sure that those keywords are on your website.

Tip: If you sell widgets in Staffordshire, then make sure that ‘Widgets in Staffordshire’ is in your page title, your header 1 tag and in the first paragraph. Also putting these important keywords in the meta description and in the meta keywords will help.

4. Hide Your Phone Number and Contact Page
Although you’ve written a load of tosh and google can’t find or crawl you, by some miracle someone has made it to your website and wants to contact you about your product. So make sure that you have your phone number and contact form readily available.

Tip: Put your phone number and a link to your contact page on every web page so that customers can get in contact with you. The easier the better.

5. Write it, Launch it, Leave it!
Once you have finished your website off and launched it, leave it be. No new content, no updates, loads of out of date information. If you never cleaned or painted your store front, never changed or dusted the window display, passing customers will quickly get turned off and the same is true for your website.

Tip: Your website needs regular updates. Make sure you update relevant information on the website, add news stories or blog articles and keep things fresh.

WordPress Admin Area Has Internet Explorer 9 Issue

10 comments on this article Posted by Phil Brassington in Web & Internet General on June 16th, 2011 .

We have received calls this week reporting issues with the administration area on WordPress when viewed within the IE9 web browser. The issue seems to be with the HTML text editor when adding or updating a blog post.

Reported issues are disappearing text when changing from HTML view to Visual View and tool bar problems on the HTML text editor.

This seems to be an issue with the editor itself which is the TinyMCE HTML editor. TinyMCE have reported this as a known bug with IE9 that is now fixed and released so the latest versions of WordPress should have an updated editor which should fix the issue.

IE9 came out of beta in February (with an RC release) and the official complete product was released in March. I find the new IE9 browser much faster, cleaner and more reliable than its predecessor IE8 but it is only available for Windows Vista and Windows 7. If you can upgrade to IE9 then it’s a good idea. If you have upgraded to IE9 and you’re experiencing problems then let me assure you that a few kinks along the way is par for the course and no reason to go back to IE8.

For the time being it is advisable to simply use Firefox or Chrome a as an immediate fix. Firefox is my preferred and default web browser anyway.

A longer term solution is to upgrade WordPress to the most recent version and this seems to be working fine with the latest release of IE9 and other major browsers. To update your WordPress installation contact your system administrator or hosting support partner. If that’s Rake Mark, then don’t hesitate.

Please feel free to report any further bugs or issues relating to WordPress and IE9 via the comments section below or by contacting Rake Mark via our website

Man Down! Sage Pay Gremlins Back Again

0 comments on this article Posted by Phil Brassington in Web & Internet General on June 14th, 2011 .

Yesterday and today has seen the return of the Sage Pay gremlins with the third man fraud scoring system failing to bring back results. The issue was first noticed yesterday with new transactions not returning a fraud score.

Over a year ago I wrote about how impressed I was with Sage Pay, leading me to recommend them to existing clients and every new client. Last year the payment gateway provider rolled out a raft of changes and updates and was plagued by problems for a number of months.

Third Man Down on Sage Pay Website

The system has seen a period of consistent stability with no reports in to Rake Mark of any issues since the end of April, but this is the latest in a string of outages that the third man system has had this year.

As of 6pm (ish) only a few transactions still don’t have a fraud score with a couple more than 24 hours old (which will now presumably never get a complete score).

We’ll keep you posted of any more Sage Pay related issues.

Your Staffs Web Designer’s Number One Tip: Register Your Own Name

0 comments on this article Posted by Phil Brassington in Website Design on June 13th, 2011 , tagged with Website Design.

“If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it,” says the Baz Luhrman song of 1999, ‘Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)’, which is based on the article by Mary Schmich.

As a professional web developer in Staffordshire, my one tip has to be, ‘Register your own domain name’.

Domain Name Madness

Of course Rake Mark can take care of this hassle and register your name for you and if you ask our customers they’ll tell you that we are a trustworthy bunch and your domain name is safe with us. But not every Staffordshire web design company are as honest and as open as us.

And this is where you’re problems may begin.

Web Design Project Nightmare Scenario

You have selected the name for your new venture, agonised over the domain name for your new website and taken considerable care in finding a website design company that suits your needs. You ask them to register the names for you and after an initial consultation they get to work.

It soon becomes apparent that the design team are not the great fit that you hoped. They don’t seem to get what you wanted, don’t understand what you are trying to achieve. Its a shame but you are going to have to go elsewhere.

Or your website designer seems to have lost interest in your site and you really need some changes making asap. Your tired of being ignored so you’re going to go elsewhere.

You assume that because you instructed the web designers to register the names that they’re yours. Guess again.

Its only now you discover the true colours of the company that you have asked to create the website of your dreams. You now find that they are refusing to release your domain names. Or if they will allow the name transfer its under a major protest and will only allow the name to be transferred once you have paid an inflated bill.

Domain Name Heartache: Prevention is Better Than Cure

The sheer volume of heartache and problems that I have come into contact with over this single issue is unreal. It is the single most common problem that we come into contact with and in many cases the client has to register a new name and start again from scratch.

The sad truth is that it is totally avoidable.

If you create your own account with a registrar like 123-Reg then you can register any domain names yourself and keep control of your names at all times. It is a hassle, I’ll admit. You have to create the account, register the name, point the name at your web developers servers and then remember to renew the names (you’ll get emails to remind you).

But its worth it.

Another potential banana skin is not all website developers will allow you to keep your names registered elsewhere (and you have to wonder why) and then point them at their name servers. But that’s OK, plenty of us good guys do.

Eek. Rake Mark Registered My Name

As premier providers of web design in Staffordshire you can relax with Rake Mark. You are always totally welcome to move your name elsewhere (try it if you don’t believe me). So if your name is with us you can rest easy.

So why am I telling people not to register their domain names with us? Well it would be a bit hypocritical and self-serving if I said ‘Register your own domain name… unless your using Rake Mark’. I would in effect be saying trust no-one but Rake Mark and we do have honest competitors. The issue for you is you may not know who you can trust until its too late.

So as the song says you should always wear sunscreen and, when it comes to web design, register your own domain name. If you don’t then in both cases you might get burnt.

Les Paul Guitar Google Doodle: Best Google Doodle Ever

1 comment on this article Posted by Phil Brassington in Fun on June 10th, 2011 , tagged with Friday Fun, Google Doodle.

The Les Paul Google Doodle

Wow! That’s all there is to say about the Google Doodle from yesterday. I thought the fully working Pac Man was brilliant but this topped that and then some.

In case you’re unaware of what the Google Doodle is, its usually an image to represent both the Google logo and also something of significance like Lewis Carrol’s birthday or the first man on the moon. When you click it it takes you to a google search about that topic.

Yesterday there was a collections of guitar strings shaped to represent a guitar and a the Google Logo, all in aid of Les Paul’s 96th birthday. Although that in itself was clever, the show stopper was being able to strum the guitar. Different strings had been grouped so that different mouse swishes would bring up different chords.

It really was genius.

Since the rugby season is over and there’s no test match this week I am really focused on Rake Mark work, which is great because we are suddenly very busy. So with everything that’s going on I really didn’t have a Friday Fun lined up or the time to find / write one.

But regardless of the bags under my eyes and lack of time in my life I had to share yesterday’s Google Doodle.

I hope you didn’t miss it.

Website Design Success Lies Within a Partnership

1 comment on this article Posted by Phil Brassington in Website Design on June 7th, 2011 .

For your new website design and development project to be a success you need to be a part of it, from day one all the way to the day your new website goes live (and beyond really). The most successful projects I have worked on have been ones where the client was actively involved throughout the process.

I was reminded of this when I heard how Sir Chris Hoy MBE, the multiple world and Olympic champion track cyclist, played his part into the building of the new Olympic Velodrome. Although the architects knew how to build beautiful buildings, they had never competed in track cycling so they asked for Hoy’s advice on how to make the perfect track.

The result? The track and the building are being hailed as a major success. The track shape, air temperature and the position of the infield are all very important for a track cyclists. But don’t forget the loo.

Chris mentioned that one thing that might be appreciated is a toilet near the start line. And he got his wish. There is even rumours that one has a plaque on it just for him.

It is this partnership between both the web development team and the website owner that will create a successful website project. As your website developer we know from experience which ideas will be effective and which have been tried and failed. That is our job.

But only you know your industry, your customers and your market. You know what your website needs to do, how it will fill the needs of your business and those of your customers. And it is this partnership that creates success.

Rake Mark will be able to build you a solid foundation, a website that simply looks the business and works to maximum effect. We can help you promote your new website, increase visibilty and drive traffic to it.

Only you know where to put the loo.

Trade Mark of ‘rake mark’

9 comments on this article Posted by RM-Administrator in Rake Mark News, Tutorials on June 4th, 2011 , tagged with Rake Mark, Trade Mark.

Earlier this year, we registered the name ‘rake mark’ for our family run website design business, established and registered as a limited company in 2006. As part of that process we needed to do some research into the legal bits and pieces associated with that registration.

What Trade Mark Symbol Should I use?

According to the IPO ( Intellectual Property Office ) there is no legal requirement to publically Identify your trademark, however if you choose to do so, using the ® Symbol or the abbreviation “RTM” (for Registered Trade Mark) is also recognised to show that your trade mark is registered. To use either of these identifiers the mark can be registered somewhere other than in the United Kingdom.

Using either the ® symbol or the abbreviation when your mark is not registered would be breaking the law under Section 95 of the Trade Marks Act 1994.

However, contrary to common belief using the ‘TM’ is not indication that your mark is actually registered, only that it is being used as a trade mark. The symbol ‘TM’ has no legal significance in the UK.

We created a couple of ® Symbols for our own use and thought we would share so feel free to download for your own Marks.