Keep your New Year's Resolutions with 10% off

Happy New Year  to you all!

We hope you had a lovely Christmas break and have come back to work feeling positive & optimistic for 2011 - I know we have!

We are also hoping that some of you have set a new year's resolution to set up a new website for your business or update your existing one. So, to help you keep your resolution, we are offering a 10% discount on new websites orders placed in January for our blog readers. So why not get in touch for a quote?

One of our resolutions is to make sure that we blog at least once a week (thanks to the challenge set by Wordpress), our key weekly post will be our 'How to' guides posted on a Friday, and have also been told that designer Neil has planned a monthly series on using Mod-X, so please make sure to subscribe to our blog so you don't miss out.

If you have any suggestions for a How To guide you'd like to see, please let me know by commenting here or sending us a tweet.

Here's to a great 2011!

8 Features of Accessible Websites (Part 2)

This is the third post in our 'Social Media 4 Non Profit' series, and the second part of 8 Features of Accessible Websites.

Last week we looked at:

1. making sure your website works in any browser
2. that it can be navigated & used without a mouse
3. that text can still be read when resized
   
4. that audio & visual content is available in alternative formats

This week, I have a few questions for you to ask yourself.

5. Is a list of all pages available?
Somewhere on your website there should be a list of all of the pages on your site so that visitors can, at a glance, see all of your content and click directly to the page they want. This is often called a Site Map, or could be a Table of Contents or similar.

As well as helping with accessiblity, it also lends a hand to helping boost your search engine rankings, as each page has a guaranteed link back to it. Plus it can help the little 'Google Bots' discover every page on your site to give you a greater chance of being found.

6. Do your links make sense out of context?
Imagine you are skimming through a website and all you can see (or hear) are the words that link somewhere else.... now if all you get are 'click here', 'this link', 'read more', 'here', you don't get much of an idea of where you will get to if you do 'click now'.

Try to make sure that your link text tells people where they are going. For example, in the following sentence 'Find out more about us' link the text 'about us'. Link news article headlines to the full article, rather then (or as well as) a 'Read More' link.

7. Do images have descriptions?
For every image that adds to the content of the website, for example a diagram or map, you should have 'alternate text' and/or a long description available that tells people what's going on in the picture. This is needed for people with poor visibility as the description will be read to them, for people who may have images turned off, or if for some reason your image is no longer available. Again, it can also help with search engines as Google can pick up the images on your website to display within their image serach results.

8. Is your code valid?
A little bit on the technical side, but valid code is good practice and will make sure there are no mistakes. A missing comma or end bracket can mean your site won't work at all. There are checks you can run on your website to see how valid your website code is.

Again it will also help with search engine positions, making sure the search engines have the right information available, it helps with browser compatibility, and all of the accessibility guidelines I haven't yet mentioned.


This isn't the be-all and end-all guide to accessibility, but it's a step in the right direction and the very minimum you should be doing to ensure your site is accessible. For more information on the full guidelines visit the W3C Website.

How to...Write Website Content (Part 4 - Quickstart Guide)

This is a quick guide that brings together everything mentioned in Parts 1 to 3.

Where To Start

1. Make a cup of tea (or coffee).
2. Make a list of all the pages on your website.
3. Write the name of each page at the top of a new sheet or paper, or page if you're using a computer.
4. Makes notes and lists on each page about what you want to include. Don't forget to include links and images you'd like to see too.

Define Your Audience

1. Write a list of everyone that will visit your website. (See Part 3 if you get stuck for ideas)
2. Make notes on what your audience will want from your website.
3. Make notes on what you want your audience to do on your website.
4. Review your Content Notes (from Where to Start).
• Will they find what they need?
• Is it where they'd expect it?
• Have you left anyone out?
• Are they drawn to where you want them to go?

Expand Your Content

1. From all of the notes expand your bullet points into sentences.
2. Review Part 3 - What to Write About if you are still stuck for the type of information to include.
3. Add page titles, sub-headings and emphasis where needed.

Skim Read Your Content

Quickly skim read through your content, don’t take in too much detail! Do you get the main gist?

Review Your Content

Read through what you have written and answer the questions below.

1. Have you started and ended each page with the most important points?
2. Do page headings clearly tell you what the page is about?
3. Do sub-headings give you the main point of paragraphs?
4. Does key text stand out?
5. Are sentences short?
6. Do paragraphs stick to one main point?
7. Are acronyms expanded?
8. Is the text clear and easy to read?

Get Someone Else Involved

Now you have done all the hard work find someone else who can read the text. Get them to answer the following questions:

1. If you skim read, do you get the main point of the page?
2. What keywords stand out? (Are these the ones you want to stand out?)
3. Is the text clear and easy to understand?
4. Is the information you want available? Is it easy to find?

Hand it Over

Finally, you can now hand it over to your web design team! Please make sure it is typed up, proof read and spell checked to make life a little bit easier for us.Now, sit back and relax!

How to....Write Website Content (Part 3)

What to Write About

Now you know why you need to write content and how to make it good for the web. But what exactly do people want to know? What should you talk about? Here is an idea of the kind of content to include – some of it may seem obvious but is often left out.

What do visitors want?

This is the million dollar question! Sometimes it’s obvious – people visiting a hotel website want to know if rooms are available, what facilities there are and how much the room will cost. Sometimes it’s more difficult. Should you mention the history of the company? Do visitors want to know what computer software you use? And this varies so much depending on your target audience and their aims.

Who are your visitors?

This has been looked at briefly in the other parts, but lets have a look at different types of visitors and what they want.

Prospective Clients

These are the people you most want to come to the website and the ones you most want to impress. They need to know straight away that:

• You can help them – you provide the service or product they are looking for
• You are professional
• They want to buy or deal with you

They will need to be able to get to a contact firm or contact details easily and that all product and service information is quick to find and easy to understand.

Yet even in this group you will have a number of different audiences to please. Including the person who will have to pay (will want to see prices), the technical person (will like to see lots of detail – how, why and what), and others.

Existing Customers

They know you and have already decided to deal with you, so the chances are they are coming to repeat a purchase, or are looking for a phone number or address. You need to keep current customers in mind as they are likely to refer you to their friends, colleagues, family etc. This is also an ideal opportunity to let them know about other services and products you provide, to let them know how well you are doing and confirm that they have made the right choice dealing with you.

Competitors

Everyone checks out the competition every now and then, so don’t let them have the satisfaction of thinking their site is better than yours! Make sure your content is up to date, publicise your achievements when you get them – but don’t lie. You will always get caught out in the end.

Other Visitors

Other examples of people visiting your website may be:

• Job hunters
• Members of the press
• Casual browsers
• Stakeholders
• Your staff
• An enthusiast

Each one will have a different reason for visiting, you need to determine which audiences are most important for you and target the content to suit.

A Guide for Standard Pages

What to Write on Your Home Page

Every website needs a home page. It should give each visitor an overview of who you are and what you do, allowing them to decide if your site is of interest to them. The ultimate job of the home page is to draw people into the site by providing points of entry that will appeal to each target audience.

Contact Us

This page should be easily accessible from every other page on your website. It should provide all of your contact details, including address, phone number, and email address. Yu could also include a contact form to make sure you get specific details from a customer enquiry.

A map and directions should also be available if you expect visitors to visit you. The map could either be an image accompanied by text-based directions, or a link provided by Google Maps or Multimap.

About Us

This could either be a page or group of pages depending on how much information you want to provide. This shoudl establish your business credibility by giving customers reasons why they should deal with you It may include:

• Company History
• Information about your Team or Staff
• Customer Testimonials
• Where you work
• Your Values
• How you Work
• Company Accreditations or Associations

Basically anything that you feel would be of interest to the customer. If you can break this up into a number of smaller, manageable paragraphs visitors will be able to skim the content and pick up on the bits that interest them the most.

What We Do - Your Products & Services

This could also be a group of pages with one dedicated to each product or service, and will vary greatly depending on your company. If you're selling online maybe you'll want to write about specific brands, new products or best sellers. If you are providing services explain how they work and what the customer gets.

You should try and incldue the following if you can:

• Product/Service Description
• Features
• Specifications
• Images
• Case Studies
• Downloadable brochures or leaflets

Latest or Company News

A news section on a website gives visitors a reason to return to your site. It can include whatever you want, from welcoming new members of the team to general industry news.

Other Pages

You can add as many or as few pages to your website as you like - the possibilities are endless. Other examples of what you could include on your website are:

• Blog - similar to news, but tends to be less formal and can comment on anything you like.
• Resources - links to related articles or partners, downloads and more.
• Gallery - photographs of your products, your hotel, golf course, restaurant or whatever else you are advertising.
• Frequently Asked Questions - answers to questions visitors may have.
• Guides and 'How To' - give visitors information on how to use your product.

How to....Write Website Content (Part 2)

So what is Good Content? In my opinion it is content that gives the user exactly what they are looking for. It is clear and concise, easy to understand, accessible and, from a more technical point of view, optimised for search engines. Writing content for your website is not the same as writing content for a company brochure or leaflet because people read differently on-line – they scan the content and don’t read each individual word. It needs to grab their attention and they must be able to quickly find the information they are looking for. Once you have their attention the chances are they will stay to read the detail.

Your competitors are only two clicks away

When you are searching for a supplier, how long does it take you to go from one to another? You search Google and click on the first result, decide straight away you don’t like it, so how many clicks does it take for you to get onto the next website? Two. One back to Google and one on the link below. People everywhere are doing this all the time – so what if they are searching for you? Your website must tell them what you do instantly, it should look professional and make it easy for them to get to the content they need. Your content must grab their attention and encourage them to read about you, which in turn will encourage them to get in touch, which leads to sales, which leads to profit...well, you get the idea! So how do you write good content?

Your target audience needs the answers...

You need to determine who your target audience is and what they would like to achieve from visiting your site. Whether this is getting a phone number, looking for information, filling in a form or buying something. Once you have decided you can aim your content at the various audiences (as you may have more than one!) What will they be looking for? Is it easily accessible? Will they understand it? Will it make them purchase or get in touch?

..and they want them quickly

People will spend about 3 seconds scanning your website before reading anything. You have 3 seconds to grab their attention and entice them to read more. So don’t waste time using clever, meaningless headings, concentrate instead on easy to scan content. Our top tips for writing text are:

• Start and finish with the most important points (the postscript is the second most-read section of a letter!)
• Use sub-headings to highlight the point of each paragraph
• Use bold or highlighted text for key points
• Use lists to break up the text
• Stick to one idea for each paragraph so when users scan a paragraph there’s only one idea for them to grasp.

Don’t try to confuse your audience

People are bombarded by adverts everywhere they go and tend to ignore anything considered ‘marketing speak’. Keep your content objective and back it up with evidence where you can, for example facts and figures or customer testimonials.

Make sure that any acronyms are expanded at least in the first instance and that any specialist terms are explained, but make sure you don’t patronise your audience. It can be difficult to get the balance right as you may have a number of different audiences visiting your site, from those who will know every technical term in the book to those who are looking to learn.

Be Friendly

Friendly, clear and simple language is much easier to read and understand, and enables visitors to quickly scan text. Write as if you are talking to your visitors in person. Keep your content direct and to the point without adding too much “fluff” - make sure your visitors can tell exactly what you do! Keep lines and paragraphs short and use simple sentence structures.

What to do now

It can sound a lot, but I promise you it is easier than it sounds!

In Part 1 we ended with a document containing a list of all of your pages with outline notes, bullets or paragraphs on what to include. Now expand (if you haven’t already) each bullet point or note into a sentence or small paragraph. If you already have paragraphs make sure that they only contain one point and separate out those that contain more. Don’t worry too much at this stage about the fluff, long sentences and language.

When you have your paragraphs - read through them. Now is the time to focus on removing the fluff, making sure sentences aren’t too long and revising the language. Imagine you are a visitor to your website and ask yourself:

• Do you know what this company does and what they can offer you?
• Is the point of each paragraph immediately clear?
• Do you need to read a sentence several times to understand it?
• Would you be happy to deal with these people?

When you are happy, find someone else to read through it and ask them the same questions.
You should now have your content written! Or at least know how to do it!

How to....Write Website Content (Part1)

One of the biggest challenges you will face with your website is writing the content, and it can be very daunting! It is important and there’s a lot of pressure to get it right first time. Plus there are a million and one places to start and it does takes time.

There’s no real way to get away from it – unless you hire a copywriter to do it for you - however the benefits are long lasting and profitable. Below are the reasons to for spending the time writing your content, and in this series will be a number of tips to help you write content and avoid writers block!

Why write content

It is an old cliché, but it is very hard to write a series like this without bringing it up, Content is King.

Content is so important to your website because it will help get you found in search engines and will give existing and potential customers the information they need. You can tell potential customers exactly what you do, how you do it and point out all the good bits about your company, and its products or services Best of all - they have chosen to read it and are probably sitting comfortably in the comfort of their own home or office. It gives you the chance to blow your own trumpet beacuse, lets face it, if you don’t do it, who else will?

Don’t panic, your content will never be perfect

This may be a funny way to start a paragraph, but it’s true. You should always strive to be better, to improve your content. I know that the thought of writing everything down and it being ‘set in stone’ is overwhelming, like having brochures printed – once it’s sent to the printers, there’s no turning back. A website is very different, it is meant to be dymanic, and can be easily chanegs as needed.Whether a spelling mistake has slipped through or you don’t like the way a sentence is worded, you have the option to fix it, without having to enter discussions with the printers or start all over again.

Writing good content takes time

Like any job worth doing, you need to give it some time. If you keep your goal in mind – a well written website that brings in plenty of new business – and if you can plan to spend 30 minutes every now and then working on a section, your content will be written in no time at all.

Start at the beginning...

Ok. So now that you are relaxed – you know it has to be done, you know it’s not going to be set in stone, you have decided to spend some time working on it – where exactly do you start?

Write a list of all of the pages needed on your website, starting a new page with each title.

It is likely that the Home or Index page will be first in your list, but this may not be the best place to start as this can incorporate bits and pieces from all of the other pages, and should ideally be a summary of what can be expected on the website or show of all the best bits. So choose the page that you are most confident writing and start there. How about the Contact page? Or About Us? And then get scribbling – make notes, bullet points, or if you feel up to it whole paragraphs. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can get something down. Now do this for every page and you’ll have the outline for your content. It’s as easy as that!

Come back next week for Part 2 - What makes good content?

Writing Content for your website

April has flown & May is very nearly here. We have been pretty busy at Picseli, and have been searching for some blog posts that we feel would benefit our readers. So we have paid attention to our customers and one of the biggest issues faced is... writing website content!

It doesn't matter what your company does, it is a daunting task. You have about 30 seconds to write something exciting anough about your company that will make people want to stay and read more. So where do you start?

May Your Content be King
We have decided that May will be content month at Picseli, dedicated to helping you write content for your website. Now, we are not copywriters, but have written the content for our own website and, so far, it appears to be working for us. So we will let you into our little secrets and help you take the next steps in getting your website content written!

5 Part Series
Every Friday, throughout May and starting tomorrow, we will publish a post related to helping you write content for your website. So why not bookmark this page or subscribe to our blog feed to make sure you don't miss out? If you want to be emailed whenever a new post is uploaded send an email to rhian@picseli.co.uk.

How to...find out if your website is accessible in 6 steps

The Disability Discrimination Act states that businesses must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that their information (among other things) is accessible to everyone. How far you choose to go with it is up to you, and will depend on your target audience. However, there are a few simple checks you can carry out on your own website to get an idea of how accessible your website is.

1. Is your website code valid?
Valid code means that it has been written according to a set of guidelines. Think of it as writing an essay using correct grammar. If the reader isn't distracted by poor spelling and misuse of characters like semi-colons, they find it easier to read, if the structure is logical it makes it easier to understand. So while valid code isn't the be all and end all of accessibility it's a good starting place.

The easiest way to check your code is to visit The W3C Markup Validation Service and enter your website address, this will then let you know how many errors are in your code. If this number is high, it is may be worth getting your website looked at.

2. Do Images have descriptions?
All images that display information should contain a description, in an 'alt' tag. In Internet Explorer, hover your mouse over an image and a description should appear. Check that this relates to the image and is an accurate description. This text will appear when images cannot be displayed, or will be read via a screen reader to those with visual impairments.

3. Does your website have a sitemap?
Somewhere on your website there should be a link to a sitemap or a list of all pages on your website. This allows visitors to quickly see exactly what content is available on your site and stop them getting lost on your site.

4. Do you need a mouse to access your website?
Leave your mouse alone and try to navigate through your website using the TAB, SHIFT+TAB and ENTER or RETURN keys on your keyboard. If it can't be done visitors who cannot use a mouse will not be able to access your website content.

5. Do links make sense out of context?
Read through the links on your website. Can you tell just from the link text where it will go? For example a link saying 'Contact Us' tells visitors you are likely to get to a page containing contact details, while 'Click here' or just 'here' could lead anywhere.

6. Can your text be resized?
For visitors with poor visibility it must be possible for the text on your website to be resized. To check that this can be done in Internet Explorer go to 'View' > 'Text Size' > 'Largest'. Make sure your website can still be used at this size.

These are basic accessibility checks and will not give you a full review, but can give you a good idea. If lots of issues arise from the checks above it is highly likely that your website is not accessible. For a full accessibility review of your web site call Picseli on 01792 222302.

Search Engine Update

Due to the lack of blog posting and changes to the website, I was interested to see what effect this would have on our website search engine rankings... so here you are:

web site design swansea from position 51 to 14
website design swansea from 20 to 5 - PAGE 1!
web design swansea from 17 to 16
swansea web design from 37 to 30
web designer swansea from 19 to 16
web development swansea from 13 to 4 - PAGE 1!

So, as long as you have content that is targeted and relevant, and that the site is updated sometimes, you will do well in the search engines.

I am confident that the process could be sped up, but am none-the-less pleased with the results. To prove it is working (because there is no point being on page 1 of Google for phrases no one searched for!) we have had clients who have found us on Google give us a call.

To help improve your search engine rankings give us a call on 01792 222302 to find out how to best improve your website.

Companies Act 2006

A quick guide on what your website needs to contain to comply with the Companies Act 2006.

In short, you must include your company name, in legible lettering, along with the registered company number, place of registration and registered office address. Plus, you must also state if the company is being wound up.

Example Text

Business Systems Services (UK) Ltd is registered in England & Wales.
Company registration number 3804012.
Registered Office: Systems House, Phoenix Way, Garngoch Industrial Estate, Gorseinon, Swansea SA4 9WF

Don't forget your e-mails

This information should also be included on e-mails when the e-mail could be considered a business letter if in paper form.

This information was taken from http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/promotional/busStationery.shtml

Will you stick to your New Year's Resolutions?

Happy New Year!

It's that time of year again when everyone decides to give up smoking, lose weight or start exercising. Or read more, start a hobby, become successful...the options are endless. It's a time to be positive and look at new beginnings, so is it time for a new beginning for your website or does it just need a bit of a detox? If you know your website needs sorting out but aren't sure exactly what needs doing, here are a few New Year's Resolution ideas for you.

1. I will update my website once/twice a month/week/day
2. I will improve my search engine position
3. I will get a website!!!!
4. I will start selling online
5. I will review all of my website content regularly
6. I will make sure my website is compliant with all relevant legistation (bit of a mouthful I know, but worthwhile none-the-less!)
7. I will start marketing my website
8. I will consider my user's needs and get my website to fit
9. I will start a blog
10. I will use my website to win new business

Our Resolutions this year are:
1. To post to this blog at least twice a week, including a 'How To' every Friday
2. To keep Tweeting
3. To keep the website up to date, ineresting and informative
4. To add fun stuff, such as games and downloads.

And to make sure we keep them, I have set up an account at 43things.com

43Things is a website that allows you to 'List your Goals, Share your Progress, Cheer each other on'. Why not add your goals? Once they're written down they become a lot harder to ignore.

If you do decide on a website related resolution, please share it with us. Comment on this post or send me a tweet. If you need a bit more of a hand we are more than happy to help, give us a call today on 01792 222302 or email hello@picseli.co.uk to find out how we can help you stick to your resolutions.

Good Luck!

Quick SEO Update

I am not the most patient of people when it comes to seeing results and thought I would check today to see whether the changes I have made to the website have made a difference. In many cases the results have improved by up to 2 pages!

web site design swansea from position 194 to 173
website design swansea from position 161 to 154
web design swansea from position 176 to 157
swansea web design from position 179 to 172

I know that the results do fluctuate regularly based on everyone else's changes and Google's feelings, but I was pleased to see that we are progressing.

Keywords

Having done some research into what Google users search for I will focus my SEO efforts on 'web site design swansea' - wish me luck!


The whole Picseli site has now been indexed in Google, so this is a good time to start a concentrated effort to get the site well ranked.

Current Position

According to http://www.mynameissteve.com/google-page-rank picseli.co.uk currently ranks at position 175 (page 18) in Google for 'web site design swansea'. However when I did the search myself found us at position 202 (page 21).


For 'website design swansea' we can be found on page 17 (position 161) and for 'web design swansea' we're on page 18 (position 179). Not bad as a starting point, but still plenty of opportunity to improve.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to analyse our websites - it's available online, is easy to use and understand and provides plenty of information.



Baseline

So as a baseline to mark our search engine progress, between 21st October and 9th November we have had 153 visits to the website from 51 unique visitors. Of these visits, only 16 came via search engines, all using the keyword 'picseli'. We currently appear number 1 in Google for Picseli (One advantage of choosing an unusal company name!)

Currently it is only the Picseli home page and blog that have been indexed by Google. To find out which of your website pages are indexed by Google enter site:yourdomain.com in the Google search box. The search results will then return every page from your website that Google knows about. If it returns no pages or very few, you need to do something about it!

Choosing Keywords
Over the next few weeks I will keep an eye on these statistics and keep you posted. However, the first thing to do is identify the keywords I want to be found for. Picseli is one, web design swansea will probably be another, but the competition is high for this and many of the sites currently on the first page have been around for a lot longer than us. But what else is a challenge for?

Beat the Credit Crunch

This is a difficult time for everyone (and probably not an ideal time to be starting a new web company) but it has happened before and people have survived. BSS did, for example. It was hard, and redundancies were made, but BSS is still going strong and believes they will get through this one too. To do this they have put a lot of time and effort into marketing as they strongly believe they can help others get through it!

Online marketing is the way forward
One of the cheapest ways of marketing is online, via your own website. Obviously BSS is lucky, having it’s own web department to handle it, but there are steps you can take to help you along.

How do you compare?
The Internet is the first place many people look for a new product or service as they can easily compare a lot of companies and products before making their decision. So what you need to ask yourself is – does your website offer people enough information to properly compare you and your competitors? If not, then the chances are they are using your competitors.

Improve your site
Over the next few weeks I will be sharing with you some of the things BSS has done (and Picseli will be doing) to improve our websites and promote ourselves.

Proof is in the search engines
Picseli is a brand new website, the first content was uploaded on 21st October 2008. So this is a clean slate and it is my job to make sure the website is found in search engines and I will share some of my tips with you. This website will be my proof to you that the work we do does make a difference.

Need a hand?
However, if you are keen to get your website up to scratch please give us a ring now on 08702 402777 or email Rhian@picseli.co.uk to arrange for a website health check to find out what your website could be doing better!