Blogs - BT Business products & services

Small businesses are embracing the Internet in increasing numbers. This year, a quarter of UK retail spend – £78 billion – is projected to come from online sales and there is clear opportunity to cash in on cost-conscious customers going online.

We are currently receiving 1,000 registrations a week for new domain names and websites as companies try to pocket a share of this.

However, many are still selling themselves short and squandering cash on sites that are effectively withering on the vine. A recent BT Business survey of more than 70,000 websites found alarming and damaging weaknesses in the websites of many UK SMEs. So much so that 13 per cent actually rated their own sites as “very poor”.

Only one in 3,000 were using keywords – relevant words or phrases that a customer might use to find a company’s products or services on the Internet. In addition, only one in 130 are using code in their site to make them visible to the search engine ‘robots’ that scan them, which can help enhance a website’s search engine ranking. The analysis also highlighted the fact that 42 per cent have websites with bad pages – containing broken or invalid links.

Just as surprising is that only one in ten (11 per cent) update their website every one to two days – even though regularly updated content is vital to securing a good search ranking.

This situation is comparable to buying a new car and then refusing to put fuel in it. The vehicle may look good on the drive, but it serves very little purpose.

Some businesses may feel they lack the technical ability, knowhow or resources to make the most of their websites and adopt search engine optimisation (SEO), increasingly seen as the ‘magic bullet’ of the e-tailing world. However, this would be a big mistake. There are simple measures that can breathe new life into sites.

Websites should be easy to navigate, contain relevant, well-written and updated content and precise descriptions of products and services. Having a Contact Us page, linking to partner websites and printing a company’s web and email address on printed material all help with building traffic.

Businesses can complement their sites by joining free business social networks which are not only tried and tested SEO tools but interactive communities that enable SMEs to trade, market themselves and engage with customers, suppliers, partners and like-minded enterprises.

Finally, businesses can also add extra value with cost-effective, tailored web-hosting products and packages that maximise a website’s full potential and make it easier for customers to find them. These offer domain names, secure web space, templates, e-marketing capabilities, online shopping features and ongoing support. These seemingly small and simple things to implement mean small companies can now perform as effectively as big corporations online.

Jerry Thompson
Director, BT Business Products and Online

You can now contact the Featureline helpdesk online using our new Online Chat instant messaging tool. Quick, easy and convenient - get instant advice on the Featureline service, calling features and technical problems.

Just visit http://www.bt.com/business/help/featureline (NB you may need to copy and paste the address into your browser) and click on the green 'Chat online' icon. Also available from this page is the Featureline user guide, FAQs and troubleshooting pages - making it a one-stop shop for help and support.

Your views count! We'd love to have your opinions of the new Online Chat service - what's it like to use? What's good? What's not?... Please let us know!!

 

Cheers

Featureline Product Team

There are several things you should consider before rushing into purchasing your online name.  The domain name you choose represents you and your business, so choosing the best online name is very important.

 

• Make sure your domain name relates to your website and contains relevant keywords.  This is extremely important in Search Engine Optimization when customers try to search for you in search engines.
• Create a brand from your domain name.  The name that you use to advertise your business is the name you want as your domain name.  That way it will be easy for customers to remember.
• Make sure your domain name is easy to remember in its own right, too.  The more memorable your domain name is, the more customers will find your site.
• Keep your domain name short and simple.  The longer and more complicated your domain name is, the bigger the chance your customers will forget or misspell the domain.  Avoid using hyphens and numbers as this only makes domain names difficult to remember.  You can only increase your branding with an easy-to-type domain.
• Register all the extensions.  Once you have decided on your domain name, register the .com, .co.uk, .net, .org, etc extensions. For businesses, .com is the most common extension.  So start with .com and point the rest of the extensions to the same website.

 

Choosing your domain name is as important as choosing your company name.  Choose the right domain and watch your business grow!

 

Please comment on this article - any questions you’d like to ask, anything you’d like to know?

 

Good Luck,

 

Web Hosting Product Team

A new approach to service status alerts

If you’re a Twitter user and your Broadband service is provided by BT Business, then we’d like you to take part in a trial, which will deliver service status updates straight to you via Twitter.

 

So, how do I take part in the trial?

Firstly you need to have a Twitter account. If you don’t have one, then go to www.twitter.com and create one.

Then, when you're logged in to your Twitter account, go to our Twitter Service Status page and click the Follow button. Shortly after doing this, you'll receive a confirmation message from us.

We then need to know which telephone numbers you’d like us to keep you updated about and whether It’s your telephone service, broadband service or both.

To do this, simply send to our twitter account BTServiceUpdate a direct message with your BT Business broadband telephone numbers in the format shown below :

Telephone Service only   D BTServiceUpdate REG TEL <telephonenumber>

Broadband Service only  D BTServiceUpdate REG BB <telephonenumber>

Both Broadband and Telephone D BTServiceUpdate REG BBTEL <telephonenumber>

*replace <telephonenumber> with the number for which you want updates on, excluding any spaces.

If you have multiple numbers you’d like to be kept up to date about, just repeat the process for each telephone number.

Once you’ve done this, we’ll keep a record of what you told us and when we have any relevant updates, we’ll send you a direct message to your twitter account.

How do I un-register?

If you only want to stop receiving updates on a single number you can send an UNREG message in the same format as that shown above, but replacing the work REG with UNREG i.e.

D BTServiceUpdate UNREG TEL 01234567890

To cancel the service, simply stop following us on Twitter. If you have any questions, please just send us an "@BTServiceUpdate" reply via Twitter and well get back to you.

We’re trialing this service in the U.K. and so if you have any feedback we’d appreciated it. Just send us a direct message in the format D BTServiceUpdate FB <and the message>.

The need to be efficient and productive is even more pronounced in today’s climate, and the idea of updating or implementing new communications solutions can often seem like an unnecessary cost.

Email on the move is a popular choice for businesses of all shapes and sizes for a number of reasons, and the ROI of such projects can be quick when the right option is taken. Your workforce is always contactable and can access outlook functions such as calendar and contacts whilst away from the office.

The implementation of such a device can improve team efficiency by up to 38%, and helps individuals recover around 250 hours of downtime a year¹.

Why not make your field force even smarter by looking at FFA?

FFA (Field Force Automation) means that as well as your workforce being contactable, many of the admin functions become automated and allow even more productivity to be realised.

FFA encapsulates a number of solutions ranging from vehicle tracking to full job automation and anything in-between. It allows the business and their workforce to remain integrated with real time task management and workflow process updates directly from the user ‘in the field’ using a hand-held or other mobile device. It means that previously manual processes such as signature capture, database updates, people management and stock management can now be done in real time and automatically entered in to the back-end systems.

FFA delivers tangible improvements to worker productivity, an increase to customer service and also profitability. It means that your workforce remains in contact and productive and solutions can be tailored to meet various budgets and specifications.

So rather than ask ‘why should we invest in FFA solutions’, the question should be ‘why haven’t we invested in FFA solutions’. 

What good is your site if no one goes to it?  It’s really important to make sure customers can find your website!

 

Organic Traffic – To bring natural traffic to your website, you need to choose the most effective domain name.  Choosing the right domain name is extremely important as it affects ranking in search engines.  You want your domain name to be short, simple, and related to the industry/service that you provide. 

 

Search engines use keywords when searching for websites.  Selecting the right keywords or search phrases is very important and they should be placed in your website meta tags and in your copy.  Placing your keywords in meta tags is important for search engine spiders to find your website.  Meta tags are HTML codes that are put into the header of a web page.  The more the keywords are placed throughout the website, the higher your ranking can be.

 

SEO Friendly – Making your website search engine friendly is extremely important to getting found online.  The more search engine friendly your website is, the higher your ranking will be in web search results. To make your website search engine friendly you need to:

 

• Choose the keywords that best describe the topic and content of your website.
• Create as many links as you can to and from your website.  Search engines deem your site more credible when your website links to and from good quality sites. 
• Make sure your website design is easy to navigate and well organised.  A site map will help improve your rankings.
• Use HTML tags for titles and headings, and meta tags to help search engines list your website in their indices.

 

Paid Traffic – If you choose to spend money on increasing your traffic, you need to decide what the best method will be of reaching your demographic.  You can choose from different online marketing methods, the most popular being Pay Per Click, text ads and banners.

 

Whether you opt for organic or paid traffic, being search engine friendly is the first step to ensuring traffic comes to your site.  

   

Good Luck,

Web Hosting Product Team

What makes a bad website? Here are the most common website mistakes that are made.

 

Not Defining A Goal – Define the outcome of what you want your website to achieve.  Can your customer find all the information they are looking for or purchase a product from your website easily?  If your goal is to increase sales, have you targeted the right audiences?  Take a step back and look at your website from a customer’s point of view.

 

Bad Web Design – Bad web design can ruin the chances of someone staying on or purchasing from your website.  A good design involves more than just a good colour scheme, background and logo, it involves font style and size and the overall layout of the site.  Your website should be well organised and easy to navigate.  Abandonment rates are much higher when a customer cannot find what they are looking for.  Your website shouldn’t be an eye sore and your customers should be able to find things in as few clicks as possible.

 

No One Can Find your Site – What good is your website when it’s not linked to anything and can’t be found?  Make sure you submit your website to search engines and that the content is search engine friendly.  Having many links coming to and from your website will increase your rankings.   

 

Not Updating Your Content – Repeat visitors like to see what’s new and exciting on your page.  Old content looks stale and boring and will loses your customers’ attention.  Keep your content up-to-date and interesting to ensure more traffic.

 

Keep these tips in mind to increase your chances of a successful website.

 

 

Good Luck,

Web Hosting Product Team

It’s one thing to have your business online, but it is another thing to bring in money online.  Creating a successful business can be done if you follow these tips.

 

Get the right name – Picking the right domain name is very important.  Picking something easy to remember will bring more visitors to your site and make your advertising more effective.  A domain name can also enhance your image as an authoritative name will open doors for business.

 

Get a professional design – More and more customers are searching online.  Having a professional-looking website will help persuade potential customers that your business is legitimate.  Make sure your website is quick to load, too.  If a user has to wait more than 5 seconds to see your website, odds are they will hit the back button and look for a faster website.

 

Make purchasing easy – Make sure the customer knows how to buy your product.  Let the customers buy the product as quickly and easily as possible.  The more clicks they have to carry out, the less likely they will complete the transaction.

 

Bring in the traffic – What good is your website if no one can see it?  Get your website in search engines, advertising, email marketing etc.  Incorporate keywords into your site through metatags, headings and body text.  The more traffic, the more sales.

 

Create a buzz – Nothing makes a search engine happier than getting a referral from a popular site.  Consider printing your web address on everything including: business cards, vehicles, yellow page ads, clothing, door hangers, letterheads etc.

 

Email your customers – This can be an effective way to build up a stronger relationship with your customers.

 

Consider these tips with your online store and you will not be disappointed.

 

 

Good Luck,
Web Hosting Product Team

In this long, but hopefully useful follow up, we look at how to take our search knowledge and apply it in a useful way to web content. We can look at Meta information and how this can use our earlier keyword research to help search engines identify results that match the user search.

So, what exactly is Meta information? Meta information or tags, as they are more often called, are information inserted in the “head” of your page code, this information is intended for browsers and search engines. First let’s have a look at how this looks in the code.

<HEAD>

<TITLE>Smiths DIY Ltd</TITLE>

<META name="description" content="Visit Smiths DIY for all your DIY needs - supplying tools, fixtures and fittings at the lowest prices. Smiths Ltd has been supplying DIY enthusiasts in the London area for 20 years.">

<META name="keywords" content="DIY, home improvement, gardening, furnishings, decorating, kitchen, bathroom, lighting, shelving, flooring, tiling, tools, power tools, paint, lumber, aggregates, plumbing, pipes, Smiths DIY, Smiths London">

</HEAD>

That might look like gobbledygook, but to browsers and search engines this is important information. Let’s have a closer look.

Title tag

The title tag tells browsers what to call this page. It helps separate pages and marks the main subject of the content. Look at the top of your browser and you will see this page’s title tag starting “Show me the way to go home part 2...” What you write here will be the link title in search results.

Tips: keep it simple and try to accurately sum up what the page is about.

META – description tag

This tag gives a description of page subject and content, it’s also what you see in search engine results under the link, summarising what the page is about. Obviously this is a great chance to attract visitors to your site based on what they see in search results.

Tips: include a call to action can help draw people to your pages. Remember to include geographic information if it’s relevant.

META – keywords tag

This tag is where specific descriptive words are used to describe a site or page content. In the past this was seen as extremely important for SEO, but more recently keywords Meta tags are used by some but not all crawler engines. The impact may have changed but it is still worth defining the key words that reinforce the content and subject – especially to those search engines that continue to use the meta tag.

It is definitely worth stating that while the keyword tag may have diminished in usage, the process of researching appropriate terms is still crucial to SEO. By understanding what word or words people will associate with a site or page you can ensure this is reflected in the content – something considered far more important to most search engines.

Tips: try not to use more than one or two words at a time – three at most. Separate words with commas. Make sure you mention your brand or company name.

Building a successful business takes a lot of hard work and dedication.  Bringing your store online is a great sales channel to help increase your customer base, brand and success.  Here are some tips to help you develop a successful business online.

Regularly update your website content
Keeping your customers up-to-date is a great way to keep them coming back.  Big changes are not necessary, but keeping your content fresh will create staying power.  Customers get bored easily.  Search engines also like fresh content.  Update your content regularly to get higher rankings and create stickiness!

Create a solid customer base
Hold on to customers as long as possible to build a good rapport.  Selling to existing customers is easier than finding new ones.  Loyal customers are the best and most cost-effective source for revenue and referrals.

Easy navigation
Make sure your customers have a clear understanding of where to click to buy from your website.  Have an obvious shopping cart with a user friendly checkout form.  Customers have a limited amount of clicks before they become uninterested or bored.  The simpler the better.

Make yourself available
Make it easy for customers to contact you if they have any questions or inquiries.  Customers on the verge of buying may have some questions, for example.  This will give you a chance to overcome their objections and make that sale!

Cross-sell/Up-sell your products
Cross-selling/up-selling is the easiest way to get customers to buy that one last item.  Customers will appreciate the option to view other products that may be of interest to them.  Up-sell with accessories or warranties for your products, you will be surprised how much it can increase your margin.

Bringing your store online is an inexpensive opportunity that can only benefit your growing business.

Good Luck,
Web Hosting Product Team

There has never been more competition for peoples’ attention online, and the need to provide a concise message in a visually engaging format is a must.  People typically give under 10 seconds to a site when they first arrive, so you have to have impact.  Too much copy or complex images only serve to expedite that process.  Here are some suggestions for cutting through the clutter and making your site a “must visit” site.

 

• Keep it Clean and Simple – Portraying your message to your viewers is best achieved when your website is simple. Does having more on your page necessarily make your page stronger?  Keep your content focused.  A simple page with a clear message will make a bigger impact. Less is more.
• Simple and Easy Navigation – Having clear and easy to understand navigation is important, as navigation appears on every page.  Viewers should know where they are, where they can go and what options they have.  Make your navigation stand out by changing colour, shape or size.
• Effective Images/Icons – Choose the right images/icons to help express your message.  They should have a clear meaning.  Make sure the images/icons are of good quality.  The right image/icon will bring your page together.
• Colour Scheme – Choose strong colours that reflect your brand and also grab the viewers’ attention.  Use bright colours on content that you want viewers to notice.  The colours you use will help define who you are as a brand.
• Bold Logo – Having a strong and bold logo helps create a lasting first impression.  A bold logo establishes the attitude and tone of voice in your brand name.  Your logo distinguishes you and gives your viewers a sense of who you are.

Keep these points in mind and you will have a website built for success.

 

Good Luck,

Web Hosting Product Team

A very important aspect of any web presence is how visitors find you. How do they make their way to your homepage? Attracting new and existing customers to your pages and sites requires you to be easy to find after all. One of the more common uses of the web is to find information; prices, dates, locations, specifications, listings and businesses. All manner of research starts with a search.

A good place to start understanding how you can apply this to your site and content is to have a closer look at the types of searches people run. Let’s assume for the purpose of this article that I own a DIY retailer called Smiths Ltd. We sell everything for the DIY enthusiast. Now take this and look at the common types of searches:

Company or brand/identity search.

In this type people are searching for you as a company or organisation. So example searches would be: Smiths Ltd, Smiths DIY, Smiths hardware etc. The focus is on who we are.

Business and industry specific.

This is where the user is searching for a product or service over the actual organisation or supplier. To use our example this might be: lumber, tools, power tools, fixtures and fittings, tiles etc.

Geographic searches.

Using geography in searches is still important in many cases. This could be country, region or town/city depending on the nature of the search: DIY London, lumber merchants Yorkshire, Smiths DIY UK etc.

Obviously, there are many searches that combine these types at once. A logical search might be combining product brand searching with business or industry searches: Black and Decker power tools, Smiths bathroom fixtures, Smiths Ltd lumber. Geographic searches tend to combine products and names already with the associated area.

So the first stage is to establish what your customers could search for. Identify your target market and what words and terms they are likely to be using. Once you know what people are searching for you can begin to tailor your site and content.

In part 2 we will look at how we can apply this research to websites and their content.

The FeaturePhone is the dedicated phone for Featureline customers and is designed to make using your Featureline service even quicker and easier.

 

But we’d like to hear from you – the people who actually own and use the phones.

• What do you like/dislike?
• What’s useful/annoying?
• Have you got any tips for other users?

 

We’d love to hear your comments and experiences, both good and bad.

 

Find out more about the FeaturePhone

  

Cheers

Featureline product team

Email marketing is a quickly increasing trend to market and promote your business to current and potential customers.  Sending email newsletters is a quick and effective way to reach customers and keep them up to date with your business.

 

Make Sure it is Solicited - Unsolicited email (SPAM) is sent to millions from a programmed email list and is often detected and blocked before it reaches an inbox.  Give your customers the option to opt in and out of the email newsletter. 

 

Save Money - Sending email newsletters saves money, time and resources.  It replaces direct mail which is expensive and time consuming.  Email newsletters are quick and easy to put together and cost next to nothing to send to your customers.

 

Great Communication Channel - Online campaigns are a great way to relay information, advertise promotions and sales, and broadcast announcements about your company to your customers. They bring traffic to your site and keep customers up-to-date with your business.

 

Value your Customers - Make your customers feel important by sending them personalised email newsletters.  You will gain their loyalty and generate positive word of mouth.  Email newsletters are interactive and easy for customers to forward.

 

Track your Newsletters – Anything can be tracked with email newsletters.  You can see how many people open them, how many click on certain links, how many forward them to others and more.  Track the behavior of your customers and find out what does and doesn’t work.

 

Keep your Business Top-of-Mind - The customers that sign up for your newsletters are your most dedicated customers.  Keeping your business fresh in your customers’ minds and making them feel valued will only enhance your brand and help you bring in more business.

 

Email newsletters will help your business look more professional and will strengthen your rapport with current and potential customers alike.  Email newsletters will drive traffic to your site and keep your customers informed of products and promotions.  Watch your business grow!

 

Good Luck,

Web Hosting Product Team

Back in September this blog discussed the trend of online retailers shrugging of the economic downturn of recent times. There were some very positive figures from the industry, with online retail revenue increasing by an impressive 50% in 2007. Since then the full extent of the downturn has become more apparent, in recent months especially. So how has this affected eCommerce for the year and indeed the crucial festive period?

Evidence seems to suggest that while retailers are feeling the pinch in their retail outlets, their online business has not followed suit. While the high street has seen its worst run in to Christmas in 30 years* eCommerce has held steady and shown year on year growth. UK “e-tailers” have seen shoppers leave the high street for their web browser with 16% more sales than this time last year**.

Internet research company, comScore has reported that online retailers are using free shipping as a powerful incentive to shop online for Christmas and even the impending New Year sales. With shoppers looking to make savings where they can, online retailers are perfectly placed to use incentives and Internet marketing to meet their customer’s needs.

In the end IMRG is still reporting an increase in UK online sales of 26% for November going into December, and given the gloom and impact of the slowdown in other markets, that really is impressive growth.


A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year from all at BT Web Consult & Build!

 

* The Guardian

** IMRG (Capgemini)

Writing web copy is different from ordinary writing.  You need to sell and capture the reader’s attention and also have key words to bring traffic to the site. Developing effective web copy is the key to selling your idea.

 

Know your Customers – Speak in first person to make the customer feel more valued.  By knowing your key audience, you will be able to connect with your customers on a personal level.

 

Be Consistent and Keep it Simple – Web copy should be easy to understand, short, and simple.  Be organized and consistent when laying out the content of your website.  Customers should find what they are looking for and not be confused by where to go. 

 

Eye Catching Headers – Headers are an effective way to catch a customer’s attention.  If you do not get their attention, they will leave.  Keep headings short and include key words to be search engine friendly. 

 

Be Search Engine Friendly – Key words and links to and from the website should be included for increased chances to show up in search engines.  Select key words and place them in the title, headings, bullets, and body of your website.  

 

Sell Yourself and Your Products – If the goal of your site is to get customers to purchase, call-to-action language is the way to go.  Call-to-action language encourages customers to do something on your site.

 

Edit Edit Edit – It is important to make sure everything is grammatically correct and free of errors and typos.  Errors make you look unprofessional and the reader may question your credibility. 

 

It’s the words that ultimately make the sale and deem your site a success or failure.  If you want your site to be a success, developing effective web copy is a good start.

 

Good luck,
Web hosting product team

Once an odd category squeezed between laptops and Smartphones, Netbooks (also called mini-laptops) seem to be one of the fastest growing categories of computers at the moment. Arguably, with a street price around £250 they represent a tremendous value for what appears to be just a scaled down notebook.

 

But what are they used for?

They’re small, but not small enough to fit in a pocket like a Blackberry. They have a keyboard, but not one on which you would wish to spend hours typing. In fact they’re mostly fit for web browsing, watching videos, light email use and online applications.

 

So who’s using them?

First impressions would position the Netbook as a consumer product but the way HP and Dell present their respective offering suggests that they could be used in a business context as well, for instance as an ultralight notebook.  

 

Personally I’m not convinced that portability is the main driver here, I think that a mini-notebook running Windows Vista is mainly seen as a very cheap mobile computer. The argument is that if it doesn’t fit in your pocket it will have to be carried separately, making the size and weight savings over a normal notebook less material. 

 

The next step, however, is to decide if they are powerful enough for a mobile workforce and whether constraints on IT budgets in a time of recession will force managers to have a second look at them. As far as our IT Support Manager Advisors are concerned, they see little difference between a Notebook and a Netbook as long as it’s running a recent version of Microsoft Windows. Things would be different if Netbooks started to introduce Linux more openly in the business environment, as it would prompt a review of the ITSM scope of support. 

 

What do you think?

Is there a place for Netbooks in the SME environment? And if so, will it lead to a higher penetration of Linux in the workplace?

 

Cyril Le Roux,

BT Business IT Services Team

The latest trend among the SMB market is getting your business online. In today’s age of Internet surfing, an online presence is expected. Instead of the Yellow Pages, people now research companies on the Internet. Whatever your business, your potential customers will be looking at your online presence before they decide whether or not to visit your location or hire your services. If you don’t have a website your business may be deemed out of touch with today’s market and discarded as not creditable or amateur.  

 

 A website can:

• Increase sales by breaking through geographical barriers, becoming globally accessible and being online 24/7/365
• Decrease your costs by sending communications online instead of “snail mail”
• Prove to be an economical testing ground for new products and services
• Help you to find out what products or services your customers like and how they feel about your business by posting polls, surveys, feedback forms, and analysing website statistics
• Enhance credibility, reinforce branding and boost business presence
• Offer you the opportunity to inform potential customers about what your company is about and why you deserve their trust and confidence
• Allow communication with loyal customers but also with potential customers, associates, and business suppliers
• Offer unlimited trading hours: customers can look up products and services, business hours, and location at any time
• Help you to build trust in your company, which is a big factor in driving sales, building customer relationships and gaining new customers. Post pictures, company history, testimonials and anything that will build a customer’s trust in your site.

Being online can benefit every type of business or service. A website helps you to widen your customer base, increase awareness of your brand and gain credibility and loyalty from present and potential customers alike.

 

Good luck,
Web hosting product team

Last week (13-17th October) was Small Business Week

 

During the week a number of events were held around the country and each day focused on a particular topic. One of the topics was Flexible Working – either Home Working or the ability to work on the move. Flexible Working can provide a number of benefits including – cost savings on travel, flexibility to attract and retain key staff, improved work life balance for employees and flexibility to respond more quickly to customers.

 

There are a number of products and services which can provide the solutions to help a business implement Flexible Working, for example the ability to access to emails and data on the move by using a mobile device such as a Blackberry or the ability to access the internet from a laptop at BT Openzone hotspots. For Home Workers this could include a remote extension at home linked to the office telephone system so a home worker is able to work as though they were in the office.

 

But it’s not just about what products and services can help Flexible Working; for many businesses, implementing Flexible Working can raise new issues as well as provide many benefits. The aim of Small Business Week was to share knowledge and experience to help address such issues.

 

With this in mind I’d like to ask: Have any of you faced any issues implementing Flexible Working and if so, how did you solve those issues?

 

For further information:-

Small Business Week

A Flexible Working Guide

 

Hi, my name is Dave and I work as a Featureline Product Specialist. I'd really like to hear what you think about any of the following web pages. So please go ahead and click on one of the links below...and let me know your thoughts:

 

Featureline - product pages

Featureline Compact - product pages

 

Featureline - Help and Support pages 

Featureline Compact - Help and Support pages

 

Do you like the pages? What's good? What's bad? How do you think I could improve them?

 

I'd love to hear your feedback, so please post a comment and make your vote count!

 

Cheers,
Dave

 

Once you have your website up and running, you need to find ways to drive traffic (visitors) to your website.  The first thing most site owners do is see how they fare on a search engine site like Google.  Unfortunately, most times site owners are disappointed when they type in categories that they think will be strong in; they usually find that they have to scroll down several pages, if they show up at all.

 

There are many easy ways to help increase your placement within the most popular search engines, now I say help because there is never a sure way of being placed on the top pages when it comes to organic search. Here are a few key pointers that will help with your placement within the top search engines:

 

1.      Think about your web copy  – this is one area where many people think the more content, the better, whether it is relevant or not. This is not the case.  Before developing your content take some time to come up with effective keywords that your customers and prospects might type into a search engine that relate to the product and services you are providing.  Make sure that each keyword is somewhere in the content on at least one page within your site. The more times you have these words throughout your website, the better (within reason).  And remember, it’s better to have less text as long as it is effective and packed with relevance than a lot of text that makes your site just ramble on. Even emboldening your keywords throughout your site will help with placement.  One more thing, make sure to update your content on a regular basis. Customers don't like to read the same thing over and over again and search engines dislike sites that are stale with old content.

 

2.      What does your website title bar say? – this is another thing that people overlook when developing their website.  The title bar is located at the very top-left corner of your web browser, this area is looked at by search engines all the time.  Just having your business name appear is not enough, go back to the keywords that you came up with before you developed your web copy and place a few of them within the title bar.  Place a few on each page, again don’t go overboard; generally half a dozen per title will work well.

 

3.      “Strength in Numbers” – for many years businesses have been coming together to gain purchasing power over suppliers and working together with one another to refer the others' products and services, that they know their customers are looking for and vice versa.  The same goes for the internet; it's surprising how effective having links to and from your website can be with search engines.  Talk to your suppliers, partners etc. about getting a link to your website placed on their website. Look also at creating a page for your partners.  In addition take full advantage of your web hosting plan and if it offers features like a blog creator, photo gallery or HTML newsletter manager then use and publish these as well. Then you'll really be starting to build your online web presence.

 

4.      Website submission – now that you have your content developed, your title bars up to scratch and you are linked to some really effective partners, take another look at your web hosting package and see if there is a search engine optimisation tool included within your package.  These tools can also prove an effective way of quickly submitting your site to the various search engines.  In addition, many optimisation tools will scan your site and suggest further relevant keywords that you can place within your site content, meta tags and alt tags.

 

 Keep in mind that these are just a few things that can help you to improve your sites search engine rankings.  There is never a 100% guarantee for becoming number 1, 2, 3 or even popping up on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd page.  The more things you try, the more you will improve your search engine ranking potential.

 

Good luck,
Web hosting product team