Seven Creative Logo

Tag: SEO

  • Extend the registration period of your domain name for better SEO

    SEO boost - extend the renewal period of your domain name
    For an SEO boost – extend the renewal period of your domain name

    The website domain name is often overlooked in SEO terms as people focus on inbound links and optimised web copy, however, your domain name – or in this instance the information relating to it – is one of the important criteria used by Google when evaluating your website.

    We all know that new domain registrations are likely to be sand-boxed as Google prefers to err on the side of caution when it comes to a potential pop-up website, however, once your site is established and your domain name is at least a good few months old, Google will begin its ongoing assessment of your website including the information relating to the domain and use it to decide how important your site it.

    Google really ‘likes’ older domain names with long registration periods to go. You can now commonly register the most popular domain names for up-to 10 years. Not only will you save money and not have the hassle of trying to remember when it’s due for renewal, you’ll have the extra SEO benefit of indexing better within the search results!

    If you’re still unsure about why this is important, think about it like this. If I were of a nefarious persuasion with wicked SEO skills, I could very easily set up an eCommerce website, optimise it to get it to the top of the search results and start taking money off people. This is very easy to do and there were, for example, some very high profile cases of this happening, for example, during the most recent Wimbledon tennis tournament.

    This type of site has to be quick – people are going to start complaining pretty quickly when they don’t get what they’ve bought so the site isn’t going to be up for that long when the authorities find out. Therefore, if Google sees a new website with a recently registered domain name and a short registration period, alarm bells will go off! This is why a pre-emptive suppression within the search engine results is the simplest solution to this potential problem. The legitimate sites will register their domains for longer and they’ll still be up and running in a few months. It’s a bit like a website probationary period.

    In summary, if you want your site to be taken seriously by Google and indexed properly, extend the registration period of your domain name.

    If you need help with your domain renewal period, or anything else relating to SEO or search engine optimisation, call us here at Seven Creative on 0114 235 2002 or see the other contact options 

  • How to redirect index.php for SEO

    If your homepage is being treated by Google as two separate pages – e.g. site.com/ and site.com/index.php – you may be experiencing search engine indexing issues too. Unless the index file is redirected to the root, your homepage may be being treated as two different pages but with duplicate content which can cause a whole host of indexing problems. This is, however, quite an easy and quick problem to fix.

    Before you start, make sure that mod_rewrite is enabled with PHP and that your using PHP version 5.2.6 or higher.

    Note that this fill will remove all instances of ‘index.php’ in all your page URLs so make sure that this isn’t going to cause problems before you do it.

    Also, this fix requires a good working knowledge of HTACESS as mistakes can be very serious so please don’t attempt this unless you know what you’re doing!

    Here’s the code you’ll need:

    RewriteEngine on
    RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /(.*)index\.php($|\ |\?)
    RewriteRule ^ /%1 [R=301,L]

    Here are the steps to add it:

    1. Open your HTACESS file in preparation for editing it. There are several ways to do this including via FTP. However, don’t forget to back it up first!
    2. Once your HTACCESS file is open and ready for editing, add the code (above)
    3. Finally, save the changes to the HTACCESS file and test that it’s working.

    Need help? Give us a call on 0114 383 0711

  • Search Engine Optimisation – getting it wrong vs. getting it right

    If you’ve ever paid for search engine optimisation (SEO) or are wondering if it will help your website, you need to read this.

    SEO is certainly a buzz word at the moment but where do you get all the facts – how much should it cost? What results should I expect? How do I tell if it’s working? Am I being ripped off?

    This article will show you how SEO done well will give you great long-term results and how SEO done badly can ruin your website rankings.

    So, what is search engine optimisation?

    SEO is simply the process communicating with Google and the other main search engines to make sure they have a clear understanding of how important your website is, where your target customers are, and what your products & services are.

    Once this is done properly, you’ll appear in search results when your target customers search for the products and services you provide… or at least that’s the theory!

    So, why is this not simple?

    It’s not possible to get an accurate number of how many websites there are currently available but the last estimate put this approaching three quarters of a billion (750,000,000) with the majority of these in English.

    Every one of these sites wants relevant visitors and the search engine’s job is therefore to fetch the appropriate results for you when you do a search based on factors such as where you are, what language you speak, and what you’re looking for.

    The problem is that if Google can’t understand the purpose of your site or doesn’t get a true representation of how important your site is, you won’t appear in the right results.

    So, what is the wrong type of SEO?

    Google is a piece of software, it visits sites using what is known as its ‘Googlebot’ and the measure it uses to evaluate sites is called its algorithm.

    Poor quality SEO companies will tell you that Google assesses a website is by looking at how many other sites link to the website in question– in other words, lots of links to your site = important website – but this only has a very small element of truth in it.

    The reality is that Google is not stupid. Back in the old days of the internet you could get away doing SEO like that but Google continues to become smarter and its algorithm continues to update.

    In fact, you probably heard of the recent infamous Panda and Penguin algorithm updates where sites that had focussed on inbound linking to increase their position in the search engines suddenly dropped out of the rankings overnight – and there were some very high-profile casualties of this!

    So, what is the right type of SEO?

    Getting your SEO right is not rocket science, it just takes a bit more care and attention. Selling someone SEO and then simply creating links to their site is either lazy or unethical (or both!). It may work for a while, however, as soon as you stop paying for this, the results will disappear again… and this is your best case scenario!!! Google is now also penalising sites that use poor quality links so, if your site is important to your business, you’re really taking a huge gamble!

    This graph shows the difference between focussing your SEO on inbound links vs. focussing on good quality content and on-page SEO
    This graph shows the difference between focussing your SEO on inbound links vs. focussing on good quality content and on-page SEO

    I did say, however, that there was an element of truth in using link building as part of your SEO strategy, and there is. Link-building should form at least part of your SEO strategy, but you have to be very careful to make sure that the links pointing to your site are from good quality and relevant websites. Get this right and you’re on your way. Get it wrong and it can be disastrous!

    The best way, however, to do your SEO properly is to do what we here at Seven Creative have always done – focus on high quality content. You’ll see not only an instant boost and an increase in rankings whilst your SEO campaign is in progress, you’ll also see a long-term boost way beyond this. This way, link-building is not something that has to be pro-actively conducted, rather it becomes something that happens organically.

    We (here at Seven Creative) have always said that good quality SEO should primarily focus on ‘quality content’ & ‘on-page SEO’ – and it’s what we’ve always done. Don’t get ripped off, get it done properly.

    Call Seven Creative today on 0114 383 0711 or get in touch through the contact page to see how SEO done properly can benefit your business.

  • Content Writer – Copywriting for SEO

    An SEO Content writer will produce website copy optimised for search engine indexing whilst still making sure it’s clear, engaging and natural to read
    An SEO Content writer will produce website copy optimised for search engine indexing whilst still making sure it’s clear, engaging and natural to read

    It’s no secret that in order to get your website to index to its potential, it will probably need a little help now and then. The problem is, though, that the majority of people who you ask for help in this department will probably end up with someone telling them that just they need inbound links… and lots of them!

    Suddenly, however, for a lot of website owners it all went wrong! Google changed the way it evaluates websites and many people who had spent money on SEO saw their sites free falling out of the rankings overnight. The two things you need to know about Google are firstly, it’s not stupid and secondly, it doesn’t like to be manipulated.

    Whilst it is partly true that inbound links are important, what these so-called experts don’t tell you is that, as with everything to do with SEO,  it’s all about quality – not quantity.

    Good quality inbound links should only be part of your website SEO strategy.

    Having a high number of poor quality inbound links was all-of-a-sudden one of the indicators Google used to see that the site owner was trying to manipulate the search results by making their site appear more important that Google would have assessed it as.

    So what’s the SEO solution?

    We’ve always said that content is king. If you focus on creating a high-quality website that people will enjoy and you’ll do well in the search results. Good quality, engaging content – and lots of it – will provide information and resources for your site visitors and Google will reflect this accordingly in the search results.

    Copywriting for SEO is creating that text specifically crafted to make sure you clearly communicate to Google what your site is about. It will include your keywords and key-phrases at a natural density whilst still making sure the content is clear and engaging.

    A good SEO copywriter or SEO content writer will produce clear, legible and engaging text that will be feel natural to read but still include the correct density of your keywords and key-phrases

    …and the best thing is, it’s all perfectly above board according to all the major search engines! This is a win-win situation as your site visitors will be presented with well-written copy and the search engines will be able to figure out clearly what your site is about.

    What is a good content writer?

    A good content writer is someone who is able to produce clear, natural feeling content that is easy to read and engaging whilst still making sure that the content is optimised for search engines.

    Content writers know that SEO is a very important consideration for nearly all sites these days whilst remembering that ultimately it will be humans who read this text.

    Copywriting for SEO refers to content specially created to help your website index within search engines by clearly communicating what the subject of page is. if this is done correctly, your visitors will engage with you and Google will index you.

    Why is Seven Creative different to the other SEO companies?

    Here at Seven Creative, we’ve been practising high-quality, above-board SEO for many years. Our main focus has always been on quality content and not inbound links so the recent Google updates were great news for us and our customers.

    We specialise in content writing, copywriting for SEO and general SEO services and we provide a tangible, long-term boost right up the rankings with a tangible return on investment

    Find out today if your website content is optimised for SEO by getting in touch with us. We’ll provide you with a free initial analysis of you site and a list of recommendations.

    With prices starting from £199 per month for SEO services it’s within almost all budgets.

    Call us on 0114 383 0711 or email seo@sevencreative.co.uk or visit our contact page

     

     

  • Find Out For Free if Your Website Should Be Ranking Higher in Google

    Find out for free during June ’13 if your website is working as well as it could be. Call us on 0114 383 0711
    Find out for free during June ’13 if your website is working as well as it could be. Call us on 0114 383 0711

    “Why am I not on page one of Google?”

    So you’ve got your website, you may have even paid for extra SEO services, but if you’ve ever thought to yourself: “I wonder if my site could be doing better in Google?” or “I wonder if there are any problems with my site that might be stopping it from indexing properly?” – then good news! If you’re based in the UK and are one of the first 10 respondents to this post, we’ll provide you with a completely free report on how your website is performing in relation to its potential.

    “Your free website evaluation”

    Basically, we’ll analyse those often invisible aspects of your site that can mean the difference between page one of Google or page ten. Everything from whether your inbound links are beneficial or detrimental to your site; whether your content and images are optimised; whether your site is converting visitors efficiently; what your competitors are doing better than you; what your keywords and phrases are; and much more.

    “Small tweaks to your site may be all that is required to get you up the rankings in Google”

    Often, just a few simple tweaks is all it takes to get up the search engine rankings. This might be, for example, removing a few bad inbound links or getting the density of your key-phrases right through SEO copywriting services. Whatever the reason your site might not be indexing as well as it could be, we’ll find out for you and let you know the steps you need to take to fix the problems.

    “Don’t delay!”

    Simply fill in the required details below, press send, and we’ll get back to you a few days later with our findings. If you’d prefer to speak to us in person, drop in for a coffee or call us on 0114 383 0711

    Remember, this is completely free but only during June 2013 for the first 10 UK based respondents, so get in touch now!

    Apply for your free web evaluation from Seven Creative

    Please fill in the following required information to request your free website evaluation.

    Error: Contact form not found.

  • R.I.P Adobe Flash Player – August 15th 2012

    Adobe Flash Player meets it's demise
    Adobe Flash Player meets it’s demise

    Not so long ago, the only way to have a half-decent looking animation on a website was using Adobe Flash.

    Movement and interactive images could help sites engage with their customers and it was therefore a useful tool for some sites.

    Because, at Seven Creative, we have always focussed on creating usable and optimised websites without sacrificing anything to ‘floweriness’, we’ve generally always avoided using Flash or, at least, only ever used it where appropriate. We could see the usefulness of the software for some niche sites, however, the negatives always outweighed any potential gains.

    This is why we could see the impending end of Flash when most of the industry was still using this technology.

    One of the main issues with Flash is that it can’t be read by search engines. Sites that are built this way – or even have areas like their navigation in Flash – will not index for these generally highly important site elements. Opportunities are lost as function is sacrificed to form.

    One of our other main bug niggles with Flash is that you can’t edit it in the way that you can easily edit HTML using a WYSIWYG editor which is why it’s not something we would feel comfortable providing to our customers. Technology has evolved and there are newer and better methods for providing the same level of animation and interaction but with easily editable content.

    Roll on a few years and Apple release their range of mobile devices that don’t support Flash. Suddenly, there are a lot of websites that won’t display properly – if at all – on some mobile devices.

    This shook the industry and signalled the beginning of the end.

    Android – Google’s operating system – is released and initially supported Flash, however, they’ve recently said that, from version 4.1, they’ll no longer be supporting this anachronistic technology.  So, from August 15th 2012, any Android device that does not currently have Flash Player installed will never be able to install it.

    There is no doubt that other browsers will also begin to end support for this technology over the next few years.

    Good news for us and our customers but bad news for the hundreds of thousands of websites out there that rely on Flash.

    You might think that we’re still OK at the moment as this currently only really effects mobile devices, however, they already account for a good chunk of the visitors to most websites and this is only set to increase. This is before you get us started on the missed opportunities in search engine optimisation terms!

    If you want our advice, act now. Dumping Flash might not be such a big issue for most sites and may not require a full rebuild.

    If digital marketing is all about spotting and taking opportunities, seeing an opportunity and ignoring it is madness!

  • How to Add Users to your Google Analytics Account

    If you want someone else to be able to view or use your Analytics account then you should carry out the steps below:

    1. Log in to your analytics account at google.com/analytics

    2. Go to your account dashboard or the dashboard for the domain you want to share access to

    3. Click on “Admin” at the top right of the screen (see below)

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    4. On the next screen, click on “Users” (see below)

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    5. On the next screen, click on “+New User” (see below)

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    6. Insert an email address (or choose from one you have used previously) and assign them as either a user or administrator, then press “Create User” (see below).

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    TA DAH!!

    The added user can now use view your analytics reports

  • Sales and marketing optimisation

    Consider the alternatives

    If you were in any doubt that offline advertising spend had fallen in 2009, this physical comparison between the Yellow Pages directories from 2009 and 2010 should convince you. The 2010/11 edition is literally 40% thinner than the 2009/10 edition.

    According to IAB (2010), in the UK, the entire advertising sector contracted by 16.6% in the first half of 2009, however, the online advertising share grew by 4.6% to a record 23.5% share of the market.

    Obviously, in the midst of a recession, you’d expect advertising spend to decline, however, it seems as if many companies are realising that the traditional forms of advertising and marketing may not be the best way to reach customers and deciding rather to look towards the internet.

    Google dominates the pay-per-click (PPC) advertising world with a 65.4% market share (AFP, Feb 2010) and for most people, they’re the only place they’ll ever think of advertising online.

    There is, however, another way!

    The primary objective, when deciding your marketing approach, will be to give you the best return-on-investment (a.k.a. ROI) which, to put it another way, basically means get the most customers for the least spend.

    Google advertising is great for some businesses, but for others, it’ll never work – potential customers simply don’t use the internet to find some kinds of suppliers. Even for the businesses where it potentially works well, so much money is sometimes wasted through poorly researched and implemented key-phrases and badly-planned campaigns that they never reach their potential. Besides this, as the main player in the PPC world, competition for key words and phrases can be fierce!

    Social network advertising, on the other hand, has shown some fantastic results with campaigns we’ve run recently. One of the main problems with Google PPC  is you are only able to target customers geographically. Social Network Marketing, on the other hand, allows you to also target customers demographically and psychographically!  As a relatively new avenue, the current costs can be much lower than Google PPC and you have the option to also pay by impression if you’d prefer.

    Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) as another way to boost your organic search engine rakings. Whereas the results can sometimes be much less tangible than the PPC campaigns; a well optimised web site can give a much better ROI over time.

    If you’re certain that traditional Search Engine PPC is the one for you, consider Bing, Microsoft’s search engine competitor to Google and Yahoo. Bing is currently gaining search engine market share from Google and Yahoo remains a force in the market.

    Whichever you choose, as ever, the key to getting it right is good planning.

    More information

    With many years experience of online and offline advertising campaign planning, setup and management, Seven Creative are perfectly placed to help your business get the best ROI by optimising your sales and marketing activity

    If you’d like Seven creative to help you with your marketing strategy, give us a call on 0114 383 0711 (international: +44  114 383 0711) or contact us through the website