Archive for April, 2011

9. It is important to choose the best domain name!

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

A number of times, clients have come to me after they have already registered their domain name.  In many cases this is not an issue.  However, sometimes by choosing a slightly different domain name could have meant better search engine results.

Many years ago I used to own an embroidery and screen printing business.  Due to this I have always kept an eye on what is going on in the apparel decoration industry.  Therefore, about 2 years I decided to set up an online store to sell Christian garments.

To start with I set the store up as part of Digital Ark.  After a couple of months I was struggling to make it any higher than the 3rd page of Google.  This was a silly move as Digital Ark was focused on web design and web hosting.  I registered the domain www.christianshirts.co.uk, designed the site as Christian Shirts by Digital Ark and was very quickly making the first page on Google for 3 of the key searches.

Another great example was another one of my clients.  They were expanding into specialised green roofing systems.  After discussion and some key search word analysis, it was agreed to set up a new web site (as opposed to setting up the green roofing as part of the main web site).  As they wished to focus on the local market, Colchester was also added to the domain.  www.greenroofcolchester.co.uk was very quickly achieving a top search ranking for green roof Colchester or green roofing Colchester.

However, just by setting your domain name to something that contains key search words, it does not always work.  I wanted to register a domain to help promote the discounted web hosting services that I offer for Christian and charitable purposes.  Many of the domain names I wanted were taken.  Therefore, I registered www.christian-web-hosting.co.uk (I have registered domains with single hythens and had good results).  Alas even with a lot of hard work optimising and promoting the web site, it still does not appear anywhere in organic search results.  Conclusion, it is being penalised for 2 hythens.

Conclusion

There is no ‘silver bullet’ to what does and does not work.  However, it is worth taking a moment to consider what is the best domain name for your business.  Getting this right could result in more search traffic.

If you are thinking about registering a domain for your business and would like help, please do not hesitate to drop me a line on simon@digitalark.co.uk.

Regards

Simon

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8. Does your business web site have a purpose?

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

Have you ever stopped to ask the question “what am I / my business trying to achieve from our web site?”.

Don’t be surprised if you can’t answer this question straight away!

In the late 90′s, through the 00′s and even today, many businesses and organisations were told they needed a web site but never really stopped to think why (and more importantly what it could do for their business).

This has led to million of web sites being published with no clear message and no clear objective.

I also think that this problem has been perpetuated as many web sites are designed by graphic designers or more technical focused people who are very must focused on making the design look good and / or the technical infrastructure that makes the site work!

Both are very important but it does not help meet the objectives of your business.

So it is important when building a new web site (or reviewing and existing web site) that you ensure that suitable time is committed to defining the objectives of the web site (what will you as a business consider as success).

I would recommend keep it simple and less is more.  You should be able to clearly articulate the objectives.  It is a good idea to right them down.

Examples of real objectives for your web site will normally fall into 3 general catergories:

Provide information

Allow potential clients to understand what your business does, location, opening hours, etc.

Engagement

Provide information to potential clients to prompt them to engage with your business i.e. place a call, book a meeting, request more information, join mailing list, etc.

Sale

Provide information to potential clients to allow them to make a buying decision and place a transaction through your web site.

Obviously this is only covers the objectives in a very high level and over the coming months I want to unpack some of these topics in more detail.

So lets take one example.  You may own a kitchen fitting company.  Therefore, the objectives of your web site could be:

  • Provide examples of your work (credibility)
  • Prompt potential clients to contact you for an estimate

A kitchen sale is a big transaction so it is very unlikely a client will place an order through a web site without meeting you face to face.  Therefore, it is sensible that your objectives are to make you stand out from the other kitchen designers causing the required action of the potential client to phone or e-mail you to book a free estimate.

With this objective clear in your mind, you then can maximise the design of your web site to achieve the required objectives.  This means that your business web site has a clear purpose and you should gain an increase in business.

Over the coming months I will develop these themes further.  In the meantime you may be interested in the free resources on my web site for planning and designing your web site.  Simply join our web site by following this link and completing the simple form Free Web Site Design Guide.

Digital Ark is very focused on helping businesses and organisations to use their web site and online marketing to achieve real business objectives.  If you would like to know more, please drop me a line simon@digitalark.co.uk.

Kind regards

Simon

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Posted in Local Mobile Search, Website Design | 4 Comments »

7. What do you do when your web designer goes missing?

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

Many small (and big businesses), organisation’s and even individuals (like blogger’s) rely on the service of a web designer to provide web site maintenance and web hosting.  So what happens when your web designer goes missing?

This actually can be more serious than you may think.  By sharing the recent experience, hopefully it will provide insight into the potential problems.

Scenario

I was approached by a client whose current web designer, who was also providing hosting, had advised that they were ceasing to trade to pursue other interests.  The web designer had been very honest about this on their own web site and advising that they would provide support to existing clients to transfer to a new provider.  This included listing e-mail addresses, mobile and landline telephone numbers.

I agreed to take on the site and set about the work to transfer the domain to my hosting service so that we could transfer the web site.

The client provided me with access to their Control Panel that allowed me to access the web site files, e-mail accounts, etc.  However, it did not allow the change of domain TAG or nameservers to transfer the web hosting.

Issues

When I looked at the web site I realised it had been developed using a CMS (content management system), meaning that I could not just copy the source files to upload to the new web hosting account.

The client did not have the necessary log-ins, passwords to access the CMS to enable the back up of database, source files, etc so that they could be transferred.

It became very clear that we would need the support of the existing web designer to help facilitate the transfer of domain and web site files.

I sent a couple of e-mails to the web designer asking for clarification on what package was used to develop the web site and if they could make the changes to the domain TAG and nameservers.  Unfortunately no reply.

I asked the client to contact the client.  Again no response.

Over a number of days, numerous attempts by the client an myself were made to contact the web designer.  Unfortunately no reply.

I then tried calling and leaving voice messages on the listed numbers.  I even sent some text messages to the mobile.

At this point I was getting very concerned, especially as the domain was due for renewal at the end of April and did not want the client to risk losing the domain name.

Fortunately, the domain name had been registered in the clients name, not the web designer (see blog post 4. Do you own your domain name).  This allowed me to contact Nominet (the UK registry of .uk domains).

They were very helpful and could see that the domain was in the client’s name and confirmed that it would be possible to use the “Reestablish Identity Process” to regain control of the domain.  This is a great service that allows the domain owner (or their web designer) to apply to regain control of the their domain.  The service costs £10+vat and as long as a suitable document on headed paper can be produced confirming the right to the domain, Nominet will allow the owner to regain control.

Fortunately, just as the client and myself were going to go down the path of “Reestablishing Identity”, the web design got in touch, changed the TAG and I transferred the domain to my service.

Unfortunately, while this process was going on, I did have to redesign the web site for the client as I did not think we would get access to the old web site.

Closing thoughts

This is a real world example.  So in order to try and protect your domain and web site:

  • Always ask for the domain to be registered in your own name
  • Ask for all the required log-ins to Control Panel’s, online products used to develop your site (i.e. WordPress, Joomla, etc)
  • Ask about the web designers policy for transferring your web site

The first point is really important.  If the domain is registered in your web designers name they are the legal owner, you can not use the “Restablish Identity Process”.  This will then require you using the Nominet Dispute process (which can be very expensive depending on the level of investigation) or the small claims court.  All very time consuming, expensive and stressful.

If you have any questions or would like to share your thoughts, please drop me a line at simon@digitalark.co.uk.  Remember Digital Ark will always register your domain in your name.

Simon

 

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