Here are some SEO tips that should help you optimise your MS Office Live site.

In this example we will be portraying a plumbing business who would like to target two areas - congleton and sandbach

1. Login to your website control panel in MS Offive Live.

In this demo we will use the homepage for our SEO example

2. Chose the home page and click 'properties' from the control panel.

In the 'Page Title' box enter the targeted words followed by your business name e.g. plumbers,plumbing, sandbach, congleton - Smiths Plumbing services.

3. Now click on the 'Search Engine optimisation' tab.

Enter your keywords e.g. the words or phrase that you think a customer would search for e.g. sandbach plumber, congleton plumber.

Enter a description of the services your business offers.

4. Repeat this procedure for each page but remember that your titles (page title) should be different for each page e.g. the contact us page should read something similar to : - plumbers, plumbing, sandbach, congleton, contact us - Smiths Plumbing Services.

This should hopefull help to add some SEO to your Office Live website.

Your domain name is the nucleus of your identity on the web.

What should you take into consideration when choosing your web identity?

Good Practise

• Keep it short.
• Make sure it is easy to spell.
• Make sure it is easy to pronounce on the phone.
• Use simple and plain English.
• Use real words from the dictionary.
• Use search engine keywords.
• Keep it descriptive! Use words which describe exactly what you do.
• Keep it simple and don't confuse your audience. What is this? www.tunapiano.com Is it 'Tuna Piano' or 'Tune a piano'?
• Cover your options and buy more than one domain if you need to.
• Only index one domain per website on search engines, if you wish to avoid diluting your search engine ranking.
• Choose the right domain provider. They are not all the same and many have hidden charges.
• Use a popular and mainstream domain extension.
• Choose the right domain extension for your market or country. For example .COM for International; .CO.UK for UK; .CA for Canada; .COM.AU for Australia.
• And finally, check your spelling before you buy and register online.

Domain Name & Business Name & Brand & Company Name !

Ideally you will have one business name and it will be the same name for your domain, your business brand and your business name.
However you will find that all of the short and identifiable domain names are not available.

So....assuming you are based in Manchester, your business is called 'Northern Plumbing Limited' and you run a home plumbing business. Then you should register two or more domains:

www.manchesterplumbers.com
Or:
www.manchesterplumbers.co.uk

And:

www.northernplumbing.com
Or:
www.northernplumbing.co.uk


With this in mind, you should ideally print www.northernplumbing.com on your business stationery (business cards, letterheads etc) and you index www.manchesterplumbers.com on search engines as it contains search engine keywords and more importantly, it says exactly what you do.

When you have settled on several available name choices, see what your friends and clients have to say. A name that may make perfect sense to you may be too hard for other people to remember. Is your domain easy to say? Is it hard to spell? Do you have to explain why you chose the name?

A lot of people can recognize good web design when they see it on the web. But most people don't really know what makes that design good.

How do you define "good design?" Is it subjective, like your favorite flavor of ice cream? Although there is some subjectivity within good design, there are artistic principles that good design is built from. Here are a few that form the foundation of good design.

1. Proximity

Because items that are in close proximity to one another become one visual unit, items that are related to one another should be grouped together. Laying out related items on a website page this way helps the eye associate the information and enables the viewer to mentally categorize the information easily. The flip side of this principle is that items that are not related should not be placed in close proximity to one another.

The purpose of the principle of proximity is to organize information in a way that enables viewers to quickly and easily comprehend. When information is organized, people are more likely to read it and respond. People are also more likely to remember information that is organized.

How can you determine if items form a visual unit? Squint your eyes and look at the page on a website. Now count the number of times your eye stops as it views the page. On a page that is using the principle of proximity well, your eye will stop three to five times. In other words, there will be three to five groups of information for the eye to comprehend separately.

2. Alignment

You've seen website page layouts where the text and graphics are placed wherever there happens to be space. The effect is messy, with no impact. Nothing should be placed on a page arbitrarily. There should be a visual connection between each item on the page. When items are aligned, it creates a cohesiveness that the eye appreciates.

The purpose of alignment is to unify the website page. Imagine a well-organized kitchen. All the pots and pans are stored in the organizer, the fruit is nicely displayed in a basket on the counter, the spices are all on the rack - everything is in its place. A page layout needs the same thing.

Look at a website page that you feel is good design. Now focus on the main visual element. Where does your eye go from there? Do you see how other elements are aligned with that one main element both vertically and horizontally?

3. Repetition

Good design repeats some aspect of the website design throughout the site. It's this repetition that makes all the pages in a site look like they belong together. Color scheme, graphic elements, typefaces - all of these elements should be repeated - used consistently - throughout.

The purpose of repetition is to create consistency and to add visual interest. Repetition creates a professional, polished look that the eye is drawn to. When a website design uses repetition and is consistent, it is more likely to be viewed and read.

Here are some ways you can create repetition beyond simple consistency in typefaces and colors: Use some element in your logo as a major graphic element in the design. If you are using a ruled line, make the line more interesting visually by perhaps making it with tiny dots or dashes, then repeating the line element throughout the design. Create patterns that are repeated throughout the design. Take a small element and place it somewhere on each page for a whimsical look. Just be careful not to overdo the repetition, or viewers will be annoyed rather than pleased.

4. Contrast

The principle of contrast states that if two items are not the same, then they should be different - very different. Contrast creates an organizational hierarchy of the information and graphics on a webpage. When using contrast, you can't be a wimp! The contrast must be strong to be effective.

The purpose of contrast is two-fold: to create interest on the page, and to organize information. A page that is interesting to look at is more likely to be read. And contrasting elements will help a reader understand the way the information is organized.

Contrast can be created in many ways. You can contrast large type with small type, a serif font with a sans-serif font, bold with light, smooth texture with rough texture, a small graphic with a large one, a dark color with a light one.

A design that integrates these principles will automatically gain a professionalism and polish that it would otherwise lack. Next time you stumble across a website design that makes you say "wow", check for these principles - you'll find them quietly working to make that design a good one!

Websites are the most cost-effective way to promote and conduct business.  But how do you know when the time is right to redesign your website? 

Here are some points you should consider before embarking on a website redesign.

How do you rank against your competition?

Your website is the first impression someone has of your business, and your  visitors will be conducting some online comparisons.  Does your website look dated next to your competitor?  Has a competitor recently redesigned their website to stand above you in both search engines and viauality?  Staying one step ahead of your competition is always a good idea.

Is your website still valid?

If your website is more than a few years old, there is a good chance it was designed and developed with non-standard code.  Websites with standards compliant code are easier to maintain, rank higher in search engines, have increased accessibility and ensure design uniformity. Check the W3C Validator!!!!

Is your websitescalable?

Today number of legacy technologies have been set aside in website development.  The risk to you, the website owner, is that you will be unable to find people to develop your website.  If your website is running on one of these older technologies now is the time to update.

Is your website more than simple information?

Early websites were strictly informational. Today a website has much more functionality. Contact forms, mailing lists, forums, blogs, reviews, calendars, rss feeds, audio and video - all of these (and many more items) are becoming commonplace on websites.  Having such features will both keep your website current and give visitors more reasons to return.

What is your website for?

Besides technology and visual concerns looking at obvious items such as website goals is important.  The days of having a website to merely have a website are gone.  Today websites focus on return on investment and serve as a tool for converting visitors into customers and clients.

Visitor feedback?

Every day your visitors tell you is useful on your website and what is redundant.  Website stats and analytics give you this information.  Look at your stats and analytics and see if you are meeting your visitors needs.  This information is invaluable when considering a redesign. 

To Summarise

Websites and the technologies behind them change rapidly. 

New technologies improve how your website is built (both from a visual and technical standpoint) and make it easier to manage.  By considering the points above you will be able to determine if the time has come to redesign your current website and make it work harder for you.

Lime Dezign specialise in offering affordable web design for small businesses and sole traders/partnerships.

We take the burdon of website design, search engine optimisation and web development away from businesses to allow them to concentrate on other important aspects of business.

Each and every website we design is unique - we do not use templates or off the shelf packages -  leaving you safe in the knowledge that you will receive a unique professionally developed website with no hidden costs or extra charges.

Web design or website design is the visual and functional elements of your website that drives intended visitors to buy your offers.

A visitor can be a search engine crawler or a user. While crawlers read all page contents, users just scan through the page and choose those items that catch their eyes. But both rely on how well the navigation links or menus are organized.

Here are some important factors on deciding which design is best for your website and that contributes to the success of your goal.

Clear and Simple - Give what your visitors came for. Remember, they landed onto your web page because they think that you got something they want. Don't disappoint them with bunch of noisy texts and graphics that could distract them. Focus is achieved when things are simple.

Visible Navigation - Navigation is the next thing that visitors will look for, so make sure that labels are visible and meaningful. It takes visitors to relevant webpages. Don't make them looking and guessing because they will cetainly move away from your website.

Quick and Punctual - Don't keep your visitors waiting for your website to show up. The faster the better. Minimize the use of graphics or at least decrease the size by having them optimized to an acceptable quality level. Eliminate other elements that don't contribute to the success, and of course, make sure your web hosting is fast and reliable.

Major Browsers Friendly - Try browsing your website with Internet Explorer 6 and 7, Firefox, Safari, Netscape, Opera, and don't forget, your mobile phone. See if webpages are shown correctly and make necessary adjustments. This is very important because this makes your website looks available to most users.

Search Engine Friendly - Every web design must employ on page search engine optimization techniques. To your surprise, these are the basics in  designing a website. Simply put up a relevant title, meta description, meta keywords, character encoding, and language used in each webpage. Also put up  a descriptive alt property for each image tag, and title for each link tag. Lastly, put up a robots.txt or meta robots to tell search engine crawlers which webpages should be indexed and which to exclude.

Keep those in mind to get the best website design that delivers and most importantly, due to the simplicity and added seo value, the cost is lower.

If you are planning to build a site that contains hundreds of pages, needs constant updating without needing to upload web pages to your web host, consider using a content management system or CMS.

1. A CMS web site is database driven.

This allows you to create and store hundreds or thousands of pages in the database without the need to update each one of them.

2. Separate design and content.

The design of the site template is separate from the content. This allows you to change the design any time without affecting the content stored on the site.

3. Use cascading style sheet (CSS) to control site appearance.

Altering one CSS file will allow you to change the design and/or color of your CMS site. The consistency of the design can be preserved.

4. Multiple authors

If you have different authors that wish to contribute to your CMS web site you can set up multiple user access in the administration panel. They can just login and begin adding their content.

5. Access from anywhere

Authors and editors can access the site from any computer with an internet connection. This means users can update the site at the same time from any location in the world.

6. Web site management panel

The backend administration panel not only provides the ability to add content but also to add modules such as polls, banners,
forums, shopping applications, news management and menus.

Authors can be given limited permissions to prevent them from editing content which they are not authorized to change.

7. Schedule content updates

Publishing content can be controlled by creating a draft first then publishing it later. This is handy if you need to coordinate content from multiple authors.

8. HTML knowledge not required

A CMS site allows non-technical people to add content. They just need to login with a user name and password then use the web editor that’s built into the CMS to add their content.

9. Saves time.

If you were using a static site to add content from multiple authors, each author would have to download the pages from the server to their computer first, update them, then upload them back to the server. This would be very time consuming and could generate a lot of errors.

10. Create search engine friendly pages

The separation of content from design allows you to easily include keywords in the URL of each page. If the title of your article was “Content Management System Benefits” your URL would be written as:

http://www.domainname.com/content-management-system-benefits

Some CMS sites automatically generate the correct meta tags for each web page which would help them to spidered by the search engines.

11. Attracts visitors

A CMS site attracts visitors because it can be constantly and rapidly updated. It not only generates pages that are search engine friendly but can produce lots of links from the new content that is added and syndicated.

12. Create automatic RSS Feeds.

RSS or really simple syndication is integrated automatically into many CMS sites. Every time you create a post or make a comment it creates a feed for it. This allows visitors with RSS Feeders to read the post at their own leisure.

Conclusion

A content management system is a powerful tool for businesses that want to present lots of content from multiple authors and gain lots of visitors. It also has the capability to expand as your business grows.

Critical Web Design Considerations

1. Will the site be valuable to users? If I can't confidently answer "Yes" to this question, I know the site isn't worth building. First, what's the point in building something that isn't valuable? And second, it's nearly impossible to market a web site that isn't considered to be valuable by users. For example, high search engine rankings are dependent on high link popularity (other sites linking to your site). Who's going to link to a site that isn't valuable?

2. Will the web site be more valuable than competing web sites? Web users tend to visit more than one web site when doing research or making a purchase. If my site is not the most valuable to consumers (information, best prices, easiest to use, fastest to load, etc.) how will I manage to be competitive?

3. Do I have the resources needed to continually improve the site? If I launch an incredibly valuable web site will my competitors shut their sites down? Of course not. So planning for future upgrades, additional content, analyzing site stats, usability improvements and other tweaks that will help me maintain my competitive edge is critical to the site's long-term success. This involves a budgeting a combination of time, technical skills, and/or money.

4. Am I committed to marketing the web site? Without marketing, steps 1-3 are a serious waste of time. Why create something valuable if I'm not going to tell anyone about it? This also involves time, technical skills, and/or money, but it's time and money well spent assuming I've taken the steps to create a valuable web site.

5. Am I committed to offline success? Having created a great web site and driven targeted traffic to it is really only half the battle. What happens when leads or sales start coming in? Am I prepared to respond to leads in a timely manner? Can I fulfill orders, deal with the inevitable customer service questions and keep inventories in stock? A web site is only a tool that works for a business. Is the underlying business sound?

The following are some simple tips for a successful e-commerce website

1. Communicate extensively with your (potential) customers before, during and after a transaction. This includes confirmation emails, web chat sessions, forums etc.

2. Be honest about delivery times and P&P. Most of the complaints about online retailers concern the shipping or posting process. Choose your shipping partner carefully.

3. Offer as much information as possible on your products. Provide photos, specifications, details, reviews and external links to make sure that the customer knows what they are buying.

4. Ship internationally. This is a common way of boosting sales. However, you need to be careful about not getting stung by scammers or fraudsters by extending credit.

5. Offer different languages. A controversial, yet-easy to implement, feature is translation. Google site translator allows you to choose between 25 pairs of languages. While the resulting translation is often approximate, it is better than nothing and is certainly cheaper and faster than having to get a full time translator.

6. Update your website as often as possible. This will almost certainly insure that your website occupies a good place in search engine results plus there's nothing more worrying than to read that an e-commerce website was last updated in 2005.

 

It seems that everyone from the 15-year-old child to their Grandmother is able to design a web site these days. You could also build the site yourself using a word processor or other web site program; however if you choose this route, plan on spending quite a bit of time learning, to get your site to look professional. Creating a web site is not as simple as typing a letter.

If you want your site to look professional, it is imperative to have a designer that will be with you from the start to the finish of your web site and will also be there in the future should you need changes or updates to your site. So how do you distinguish who is a good designer or a bad one?

Here are some important steps to take before making that important decision:

1.Credentials – does the person or business have professional qualifications in Web Design and the Internet? Are they certified in any particular area of web design? You can often check this out by going to their “about” page on their web site. If they have taken the time to gain the qualifications, then you know they are serious about their business.

2. Experience – how long has the person or business been designing web sites and working with the Internet? If it is only a short time then they may not be familiar with all the technologies available in designing a web site and may not be around to take care of your future needs.

Look at the design of their web site and other sites that they have designed by going to their portfolio page. Do the colors and text look balanced? Do all the links work, does the site load fast and is it easy to navigate the site? Do all the pages have a consistent look?

3. Testimonials – this will give you a good idea of the service and design you can expect. Look through the testimonials of satisfied customers. The testimonies should have the email address and the web site address listed (so you can contact them if need be). Beware of fake testimonials in which just the name is listed but no email or site address.

4. Vision – create a basic plan of the type of web site you want. Do a search of other sites on the Web, to get a rough idea of what type of site you are looking for, that is unique to your business, (not just a copy of someone else’s). Sketch your ideas out on paper, so that when you contact your designer, you already have a good idea of what you have in mind.

Decide what kind of web site it should be – will it be an informational web site, a web site that will continue to expand as you develop your business, or an e-commerce web site with a number of products for which you accept online payments?

5. Technology – if you want to use advanced technologies on your site, such as flash, shock wave, database integration, make sure your designer is familiar with them and how this may affect your site. They are often expensive to implement and may not be needed for you to set up your business on the Web.

6. Contact – make sure you can contact your designer by phone or email and see how long it takes for them to get back to you. If it takes a long time, then this may be an indication of what your future contact with them will be like. Are they helpful, professional, polite and friendly? I find this always makes it easier to do business and less stress on yourself, since you will want it to be a strong and stable relationship.

7. Free Consultation – once you have a plan of what you want on your web site (or even if you don’t know where to begin), contact your designer for a free consultation before you set up a contract. Most web designers will give you a free consultation if they want your business. This will help you clarify what is expected in the design process.

8. Contract – make sure you have a contract drawn up before you make any payments. It should state clearly what is included in the contract e.g. how many pages, links, graphics? Does it include marketing and maintenance of your web site? If not, then ask what does it cost for the extras. This can include domain name registration, scanning and optimization of graphics and hosting. (see my article “how to choose a hosting company” at www.isitebuild.com/webhostarticle.htm)

9. Pricing and Payment – surf around the Web to compare prices, so you have a ballpark figure of what to expect for your site design. You can expect to pay half of the full price up front. If they are professional, they will accept credit cards for online payments. Do the prices include submitting your site to the main search engines? (This should be done by hand if it is done properly). Don’t be misled by those that say your site will be submitted to 3000 search engines by automatic submission software.

10. Testing – your designer should test your site before it is completed. Will it look good in Internet Explorer as well as Netscape browsers? What screen resolutions can it be viewed in? It should be able to be viewed in all resolutions. Without extensive testing, your site may not look good to a large number of your customers.

11. Ongoing Support - support means that you know you can contact them to get a prompt and courteous answer to any question or concern you may have. Can the designer grow with your web site? You may want to make additions or changes to your site in the future especially if your business is expanding. Does your designer have other ideas for driving traffic to your site (since this is the lifeblood of a successful web site)?

If you follow these 11 steps in choosing a web site designer, you can then be reassured of great design and support that will contribute to the ongoing success of your business.