As we come to the end of another year now is a good time to give your website a quick health check and make sure it’s ready for the year ahead. Here are 5 easy things to look at and what to do if they need fixing.

1. Speed
In the age we’re now living in everyone wants information in a split second and gets frustrated if they have to wait. We’re very much a ‘now’ society. With this in mind Google has really pushed on to include website speed as one of their major ranking factors. Forget Google for a minute (if you can), no-one likes watching a wheel spin as a site loads… if it doesn’t flash up in front of your eyes pretty quickly, most will move on to one that does.

There are various reason’s / excuses why your site might be slow; bad code, large images that haven’t been compressed enough, slow server… but the bottom line is that if it is slow you will be losing out. All our sites run on fast reliable servers and use the latest technologies to enable them to run fast and smooth… making your content readily available to your customers in a flash!

2. Mobile Responsiveness
This is a given but you would be amazed at how many sites still don’t work properly on a mobile or tablet. Apparently it is as high as 80% of UK sites are still asking you to pinch and zoom to view their content. I don’t know about you but I will leave a site instantly if it isn’t mobile responsive. Don’t get left behind… If you are in this category now is the time to talk to use about an upgrade.

3. Security
We all want our information to be secure and so does Google. This year has seen them really push hard on security to the point where they now say that being on https has become a ranking factor for websites. So if you’ve not got an SSL certificate for your site then now is the time to do something about it. So what is an SSL certificates? It basically encrypts the data sent between visitors and a website. So for example it helps keep your sensitive information, like credit card information from being intercepted. It’s essential to use an SSL certificate if you are selling online and now Google will even flash up security warnings on contact forms if there isn’t one present. As approximately half of the world’s web users are on Google’s own Chrome browser this is a big deal… would you enter your details on a site with a great big security message… I know I’d think twice.

If your site is hosted with us ask about getting an SSL certificate added for FREE. If you don’t host with us… we can sort you out as soon as you see the light and move to us :)

4. Promotion
Don’t think that once you’ve spent all that time and money building an amazing website it will automatically get lots of traffic, sell loads of products, or fill your hotel rooms… it won’t. Once you have a website that is only the beginning. You then have to market it… to tell your customers about your offering and convince them to buy from you. You need to do this in different way, frequently and in a creative way that will engage them. If you aren’t doing this one of your competitors certainly will be.

How many different ways are customers able to find out about your website – Google, Facebook, email newsletters…talk to us about things that work to increase traffic, both volume and quality, to your website. You won’t regret it!

5. GDPR
Say what? GD what? If you haven’t heard about it yet then listen up. GDPR comes into force on 25th may 2018 and if you haven’t heard much about it yet you soon will. It’s a very big deal.

“The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) is a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU).”

Even if you only use Google Analytics or a simple contact form on your website you still need to be aware of this and comply.

Don’t leave it to the last minute and deal with it next May… start now and save yourself a whole load of stress and grief. Talk to us about your options and what it means to you and your marketing.

There has been a lot of chat in the online community about Google’s Mobile First-Indexing. If you have a website that isn’t mobile responsive should you be worried? Technically, yes, because as the name suggests, Google will create its rank and search listings based on mobile content.

Here’s what you need to know about Mobile-First Indexing:

Mobile-first indexing explained.
Google has stated that mobile searches now exceed desktop searches. However, Google’s algorithms are set to evaluate rankings and search listings based on the desktop version of a particular site – causing a discrepancy in search results especially for those who took the time to make their websites mobile. To fix this, Google will now look at the content, link structure, etc. of a mobile site first if it is available. If you don’t have a mobile site, it will revert to your site’s desktop version but may rank your site behind those that do.

Mobile-responsive sites are your best bet.
The good news is that if your website is mobile responsive there is no need to do anything else. Just make sure that all SEO factors are in place – proper link architecture and structure, good and high quality content, etc. However, if you do have a different mobile version of your website that carries just the basic content compared to your desktop version, you should have a rethink… as the mobile site is the one Google will crawl and focus on.

To be safe, make sure your website is fully mobile responsive with exactly the same content as your desktop version.  

Hidden content on mobile sites is fine.
Good user-experience is best practice!

Design elements that hide your content, such as accordions will now be crawled and the content read by Google. You will not be penalised for creating a site that is designed primarily for mobile users.

Mobile-first indexing is still at the beginning stages of roll-out.
Google has started rolling out the mobile-first indexing policy. They haven’t specified dates yet for a full roll out but it’s going to happen very soon. It is still in the experimenting process but if all goes well, it will be rolled out in the next few months.

In 2017 it is highly likely that Google will only use the one indexing model – mobile.
At the moment, and during  rollout and experimenting phase, Google will use two indexes to determine search and ranking results: desktop-first and mobile-first.

BUT – we won’t know which. When Google is confident that  their mobile-first indexing is working, they will drop the desktop-first index.

So what does this all mean?

Mobile-first indexing is still in an experimental phase – but it is coming!

Be prepared for such this huge change in how Google ranks your website by making sure it is mobile-responsive.

More people are using their mobiles to search now than using a laptop or desktop – so don’t fight it, embrace it!

If you would like to find out more about how to start optimising your site for mobile, you can follow Google’s recommendations listed on their blog post.

Over the years, web designs have changed. With majority of people using smartphones and tablets, not all information has to be ‘above-the-fold’ anymore. People don’t mind scrolling – it has become a natural way of life to do so.

While you may be ready to join in the bandwagon and have a website designed with the trendiest features, think again. Not all that’s popular can have a positive effect on SEO and online marketing. There are several things to consider, especially when you plan to market your website. After all, you have to market your website, right? What’s a website for if you don’t bring in the traffic through digital marketing?

web-design-trendsHere are the top three trends you may want to think twice … or thrice before using:

1. The Sleek & Clean Hamburger Menu

Notice the 3 stacked lines in websites, which when tapped, will show the navigation menu? That’s the Hamburger. While it does the job in removing clutter especially when you’re aiming for a minimalistic design, it has a terrible impact on SEO. Believe it or not, a lot of people do not know what The Hamburger is. This results to extremely high bounce rates. Next, it reduces discoverability of pages – which is critical for e-commerce sites. Lastly, it is not measurable. You cannot determine where users are clicking, which is a very important information so you know which pages appeal to your audience. As a golden rule, do not compromise discoverability for good looks.

2. The One-Page Site

The one-page website, as the term suggests, is an entire website in just a single page that loads all the information dynamically. A simple click or a tap, a content block will appear. There’s no need for scrolling as everything is basically in that single page. For the user’s end, it is incredibly simple to use because they do not have to sift through multiple pages to find what they are looking for. But on an SEO perspective, this is a nightmare. First of all, these dynamic sites take longer to load and we know that slow loading sites do not look good in Google’s eyes. Next, Google stresses the importance of internal linking. With a one-page site, there are internal zero links. Lastly, search engines take into consideration the number of pages that are indexed. With this design, all that is indexed is just one page – which again, is not good in the eyes of Google.

3. Infinite Scrolling

With all the social media profiles and pages we all go through, infinite scrolling is something our thumbs naturally do on our mobile phones. Since most people browse websites on their smart phones or tablets, even web pages now have an infinite scrolling design. It’s good for end users as all the data is in a single, long page. There is no need to go through several pages. SEO wise, however, it’s a different thing. Too much JavaScript is required for infinite scrolling and we all know that search engine bots cannot crawl nor read through JavaScript. Just like the one-page site mentioned above, there are no pages to be indexed in this type of design. Lastly, it’s also not good for tasks which require a user to take action, thereby affecting conversion.

As you can see, following trends is not usually a good thing. Think again when jumping into what is popular because sometimes, old, tried and tested methods still work best for you and your business.

By now, most site owners realise the importance and value of SEO in the development and growth of their site. A properly optimised site is going to rank better in the search engines, see more targeted traffic being directed over, have a higher conversion rate and much more. However, SEO is incredibly long term and nothing can rush time. It takes time for a site to build a good trust factor with the search engines and until that happens, most of your off-site SEO efforts are going to produce minimal results.

If you recently launched your site and are already looking into SEO, here are a few things you should focus your time and energy on.

Start a Blog
Start blogging right away. Start with at least one blog post a week and see if you can work up to one a day within the first year of your blog’s life. That may seem like a huge ordeal now, but you’d be surprised at how easy it gets to write a 350-500 word blog post with practice. You’ll learn how to better formulate your thoughts, present a single idea and flush it out entirely with time. If you aren’t confident in your writing ability or are struggling to come up with topics, turn to your employees and co-workers for help. The worst thing you could do is launch a blog and then not routinely update it with fresh content.

It takes a long time to hone your writing skills, find and develop your niche, build your reputation and attract loyal readers to your blog, so don’t expect to see major results fast. However, just like your site, as your blog ages it earns more trust from the search engines. Individual blog posts can start to rank for targeted keywords, increasing your online brand presence.

Build Your Social Network
If you are just getting onboard the social media marketing train, you’re in for a surprise! Social media marketing takes a lot more time than most companies realise, and it needs a solid strategy to run on. Don’t walk into social media blind and hope you’ll figure it out before something goes wrong. Take the first year of your site’s life to really develop your social profiles and connect with your target audience. What kind of content are they looking for from you? When is the best time to engage them? Which sites do they spend most of their time on? If you want your social media marketing efforts to be effective, you need to understand the behavior of your target audience so you can better reach them.

Focus on On-Site Optimization
The first year of your site’s life should really be spent focusing on the site itself. Don’t worry too much about developing a full blown link building strategy just yet; it’s more important to make sure your site is in the best shape it can be! Work on creating great webpage content, developing an internal linking structure that helps keep your visitor engaged, tweaking your landing pages to improve their conversion rate and so forth. Your website is going to be the hub of the rest of your Internet marketing. It doesn’t matter how great everything is off-site if your website doesn’t measure up. At the end of the day, it is your website that is going to convince visitors to act. Does it matter how many show up or how they got there if you website fails to convert?

Plan an Editorial Calendar
Content pretty much fuels all of your SEO and social media marketing. Without great content, you don’t give your target audience a real reason to check out your site, profile or blog. In addition to all the content you have to create for your sites, you also need to start looking into 3rd party sites where you can publish guest content. Take the first year of your site’s life to build relationships with industry bloggers and other site owners that allow guest articles to be published on their site. Identify which popular industry blogs cater to your target audience and start laying the groundwork to get one of your articles published there. If you can create an editorial calendar for you to follow, you’ll be able to get a jumpstart on your content marketing.