In today’s economy your on-line presence is a vital part of your business and marketing strategy, and your domain name must be central to your website development and branding. As your on-line presence matures, customer awareness of your on-line identity increases, as does the profile of your website in the search engines. With this in mind, your domain name becomes an extremely valuable asset to your business and is key to your on-line success.
It’s not uncommon for your web design agency to register and manage your domain name(s) on your behalf. This often makes sense, as your web design company knows the set-up of your website and hosting. However, it is of vital importance that YOU are the owner of your domain name so that you can retain the rights to this essential part of your website.
Ensuring that the correct registration details are recorded when purchasing your domain can save unforeseen costs and difficulties in the future. Recent months have seen some of our new clients’ experiencing problems with their domain name ownership. This is down to their previous web designers registering domain names on their behalf, but recording themselves as the registrant. In some cases this has resulted in domain names being held to ransom for high fees when clients’ come to change service providers. In the worst case scenario providers refuse to release domain names at all, claiming they are the legal owners.
When registering your domain name, ensure that your business is recorded as the Registrant. This means that you are the legal owner of the domain name, and if you ever need to change providers, you will be able to do so. It’s also recommended that you are recorded as the administrative contact, in order to approve changes to the domain name such as contact details or change of service provider. You might however wish to consider recording your web designer or web design agency as the ‘technical contact’, as it’s this contact who manages the technical aspects of your domain.
If you have the incorrect details recorded for your domain, these details can be changed, but this can be a time consuming and costly process and may depend on the provider that currently holds your domain name. Always ensure that you are the ‘Registrant’ as this is the legal owner of the domain name.
Posted in Articles, Domain Names & Hosting | 1 Comment »
We have been working closely over the last few months with a small team in Shrewsbury, that have set-up a new business providing on-line video tutorials for the latest DJ software. The team at AbletonDJcourse.com have spent the last year planning, writing and composing comprehensive video tutorials for DJ software Ableton Live. The new website utilises streaming flash video to deliver on demand video tutorials to it’s subscribers.
The team from AbletonDJcourse.com approached Vibe with their own ideas on design, concept and how they wanted the site to work. They required our expertise to develop a video library to utilise Flash Media Server Streaming, and implement a payment gateway.
We provided the technical expertise and development for the on-line video catalogue delivered by on-demand streaming. We had to implement secure payment pages for the site to collect payment subscription purchases and renewals, and of course deliver the video tutorials to only subscribed members.
The video library was developed to enable the team at abletonDJcourse.com to upload new and replacement videos, as they are constantly tweaking their existing content, and already have an ‘advanced course’ in the pipeline.
To find out more, take a look at www.abletondjcourse.com
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Running an e-commerce site? Then you’re probably aware of how competitive it can be, battling with rivals in the search engines and competing for your share of those on-line sales. In order to be competitive in this market, you need an effective search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy in place, and as a site owner, you need every bit of help to give you that competitive edge. There are common mistakes which can reduce the effects of your SEO efforts within your basic site maintenance.
Product Descriptions & Maintenance
One of the most common areas where site owners can improve their sites SEO is with their product descriptions. Many site owners fall into the habit of copy and pasting product descriptions provided by product manufacturers and distributors, though this may be a time saving method, it goes against the guidelines of SEO.
Google likes good ‘unique’ content, and using the copy and past method is placing content onto your site that is identical to that of other e-commerce sites that may sell the very same products. With other site owners utilising these time saving methods, you’re potentially publishing duplicated content, and this can have a detrimental effect on your search engine rankings.
Product descriptions don’t need to be pages of text, but by writing your own you can publish better optimised and unique content, offering a much improved user experience. You can emphasise your brand and selling points within your descriptions, and in some cases utilise niche keywords tailored to your target market. This will provide a better buying experience for your customers, as your descriptions will match the style of your site, appealing to your target market and not just seen as another site using a generic description seen elsewhere.
Aside from product descriptions, many e-commerce systems allow you to maintain product titles and meta tags, so try to include product keywords in your title and meta descriptions. Though these efforts won’t send you site rocketing to the top of the search engines overnight, some products in less competitive markets may move up in the search results, and in some cases an increase of 1 or 2 positions may be the difference between page one or page two in the search results pages.
Product Images
You can optimise your product images for search results too, as search engines now index images found on websites and can therefore refer more traffic. Images can be optimised by labelling them with descriptive alt tags. Image alternative text should provide an accurate description of what the image is, so any user would be aware of what an image is and its context should it not load on a web page. Including keywords and product detail in your image alt labels can help with SEO. Many e-commerce sites may utilise your product titles to populate this attribute for you, or may offer a field for you to do this manually for each product image. Adding alternative text to images will not only provide more content for search engines, but will again improve the users experience of your site.
If your unsure as to weather your publishing good, accurate content within your product descriptions, ask your web designer or SEO consultant for advice.
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When talking to business owners about their website, it is often asked what information does a website need to publish and are there any legal requirements. Many business and e-commerce websites don’t meet UK legal requirements when publishing information on-line, this can be as simple as displaying a contact email address.
When a business is providing an on-line service such as a public website, it must publish an email address, not just a general contact form. In many cases this is one of the most frustrating requirements, as it’s well known that any published email address will become a magnet for spam.
Any business providing an on-line service (a website is a service), whether involved in e-commerce or not, should provide the following information, which must be easily and permanently accessible by website visitors as stated by the E-Commerce Regulations 2002.
- The name of who’s providing the service, so this must be the full limited company name and not just a trading name.
- A valid email address for general contact and enquires, a contact form alone is not sufficient.
- The business trading address, and in the case of Limited Companies, the registered office address. This must also be a geographic location as a PO Box address is not sufficient.
- In the case of a limited company, the company’s registration number and the place of registration. e.g. Company Registered in England and Wales. This is a requirement of the Companies Act as from 31st December 2006, not the E-commerce Directive.
- Membership details if the business is a member of any trade or professional association, including any registration numbers.
- If the business is VAT registered, the VAT number should be published, even if the website is not being used for e-commerce transactions.
- Any prices published must be clear, unambiguous and state weather prices are inclusive or exclusive of VAT.
- Any delivery costs that may apply.
Finally, do not forget the Distance Selling Regulations which contain other information requirements for on-line businesses that sell to consumers (B2C, as opposed to B2B, sales). For details of these requirements, see the article, The Distance Selling Regulations – An Overview.
This article is a simple guide to setting up a business website, many laws may apply depending upon the location of your consumers, as different rules apply when selling to different parts of the world. For more information read more about The UK’s E-commerce Regulations or visit the business link article E-commerce and the law. If you are ever in any doubt, always seek legal advice from a qualified professional.
Posted in Articles, Business, Content Management, E-Commerce, On-line Marketing, SEO, Web Design | 14 Comments »
The new year always prompts us to consider the year ahead, how we can improve services and achieve growth. One of these considerations may be your website and how it integrates with your business and marketing strategies. With several millions of websites now on-line, a strategic approach is required in order to compete successfully. This strategy needs to address your website exposure and conversions, which are effected by a number of elements that drive higher volumes of quality traffic to your site. Website design, architecture, content and search are all elements that need to be carefully considered.
Design & Architecture
This includes the structure of your website, so consider using engaging headings, strap-lines and content. Intuitive navigation and clear ‘calls to action’ will enable users to find your information, resources, services and products quickly and easily. Calls to action will improve lead generation and promote the beginning of the sales process.
Content
Your content needs to be relevant and up to date, as this is essential for both the user experience and search engine optimisation. Website interaction can be improved with blogs, forums, comments and reviews, all of which will encourage user generated content and can also be an added service or resource for your customers.
Traffic
All things considered, all the above is useless without visitors, so driving targeted traffic to your site is just as essential. Building links can raise the profile of your site within the search engines so submit your site to relevant and industry specific directories. Combining unpaid search with pay per click advertising will increase the exposure of your website online. Google Product Search is another free service from google that can connect your websites products with searchers. However, don’t forget off line PR, many well thought out online strategies are designed to work with and support off-line marketing activities, channelling visitors to your site and building your brand awareness.
Analytics
One of the great things of the internet, is that website traffic can be measured. Google Analyticsis a free tool that provides powerful analytic tools and can report on visitor behaviour on your website. Here you can see how users are navigating your site, helping you identify potential issues and the user journey before conversion. These tools can also provide information on traffic sources and keywords used to find your site, providing valuable information that can be utilised for on and off line marketing. If you are unsure about how to install google analytics, some web hosting services include site reporting tools, so speak to your web designer or web hosting provider.
Posted in Articles, Business, Content Management, E-Commerce, On-line Marketing, SEO, Web Design | 56 Comments »
