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How do users read on the Web

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:52:16 +1300

When it comes to understanding how users read on the Web, the simple answer is:

They don't.

People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. Internationally acclaimed expert on Web Usability Jakob Nielson conducted extensive research on how users read web content. His studies found that 79 percent of test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word.
With this important discovery in mind, it would be logical to conclude that Web pages have to employ scannable text.
Scannable text consists of the following attributes:

highlighted keywords: hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; others include using typeface variations like Bold or underlining, and a change of colour
meaningful sub-headings : these should be relevant to the information contained on the page, and designed to help people find what they are looking for quickly – using "clever" subheadings achieves nothing when it comes to enhancing scannability)
bulleted lists: like this one here assists with rapid absorption of key information
one idea per paragraph: users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph. This also helps greatly in segmenting page content into key groupings for linking to other pages on the site.
the inverted pyramid: this is a paragraph style, starting with the conclusion and following with the most important information, followed by supporting or background information. Journalists have used this method for decades to convey the most information as early as possible in an article. Those who are truly interested will read on or follow links to get the details.
half the word count (or less) than conventional writing. When it comes to the content on the page, less is more. As with the inverted pyramid paragraph, keep things concise with the most relevant information presented in a shorter section of text. Remember: those who want more information are happy to link elsewhere on the site to find it.

Combining all these points to achieve good scannability will make your webpages more effective at conveying information to users. The next topic covered in this series goes into more detail on what people are looking for when they use the web, but for now it is enough to know that Scanning text is an extremely common behaviour for experienced web users.
According to Jakob Nielson, the dominant reading pattern for web users looks somewhat like an F and has the following three components:

Users first read in a horizontal movement, usually across the upper part of the content area.
Next, users eyes move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal movement that typically covers a shorter area than the previous movement.
Finally, users scan the content's left side in a vertical movement.

If you apply the F scan idea, then the highlighted text will catch the eye as it scans, and the information in headings, followed by the first line or two of text is more likely to be read. After that, it is the left hand menu bar or a list of bullet points that is likely to get the attention. Nielson concludes that users typically see about 2 words for most list items; they'll see a little more if the lead words are short, and only the first word if they're long.
To read more on this subject, here is a link to Nielson’s eyetracking studies data.
If you wish to learn more about creating more scannable content on your website using key words relevant to your business, send me an email or give me a call.
Craig Cochrane
Web Tonic

Website Types

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:58:31 +1300

There are two main types of websites to choose from:

HTML (or Static) and CMS (online Content Management System)

When you need a website to be designed, you need to think about what you want from your website to help you choose which type is best for you.

Static or HTMLwebsites: A static or HTML based website’s pages are constructed in the HTML language with the text information inserted inside the code. This can be done with different types of editor, but usually if any changes need to be made to the page, the page needs to be edited off-line then re-uploaded to the webspace. Unless you know how to write HTML code, a static site is one that you cannot change yourself and you will need to pay a web designer to change for you.

The advantages of HTML websites are that their simplicity makes them quicker and therefore cheaper to construct. If your site is for displaying fixed information that is unlikely to require updating or renewing on a regular basis, then a static HTML site could be a good option for you.

Content management website (CMS): A CMS website is one where all the text information is stored inside a database online, and placed onto the page interface when a user visits the page. The site layout or template a CMS site is more complicated to design than an HTML site, and allows a wider range of design options, functions and features. The cost of a CMS site is understandably higher than a static site.

However, a CMS has an easy to use interface that allows technical and non-technical staff to create, delete and amend the site’s content without the need of a web designer. E-Commerce sites (ones with online shopping functionality) are an obvious type of website that benefits from the CMS option. However, more and more businesses are seeing the advantage of being able to update and add content on a daily, weekly or monthly basis without the need to pay a web designer to do it.

A blog site is another common form of CMS website, where large amounts of content are stored, displayed and added on the functioning site.

Other advantages of a CMS site include being able to display different content to different sectors of your target market. For example, the content displayed can be programmed to match a user who has become a member of the site, so that their name or preferences appear (e.g. a sports shoe website that displays specials to match the sporting preferences entered by a user when they register).

For most business owners, a CMS programme that is easy to use, in a WYSIWYG format – what you see is what you get – is usually the best option. A good web designer will include a tutorial as part of the package and be available to provide refreshers at a reasonable rate should you need help updating your content with something little more ambitious than adding new specials uploading photos, or refreshing the homepage text.

Need to ask more about Selecting the right type of website?

List of previous blog topics in this series:

1. How to get a Domain Name for your website

2. Website Hosting Facts

This month’s topic:

3. Types of Websites

Next topic:

4. How do Users Read on the Web?

Website Hosting Facts

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 12:33:15 +1200

Part 2: Website Hosting Facts

Now that you have your domain name registered, it’s time to think about how and who you want to host your website. For this you will need to look for a website hosting service that meets your requirements.

A website hosting service stores your website on a special computer called a server, which is online 24/7 so that internet users can access it at any time.

Costs and services can varysignificantly so you need to look at what you are really getting for your money. A good way to work out what is right for your business is to weigh up what is important to you and what you can live without.

Most people have their website designer or web manager handle their hosting. Although it is possible to handle your web hosting independently through sites like Free Parking, when it comes to sorting problems it’s generally better to have it all under one roof. In saying that, you should ask the following about the web hosting service provided.

Location: Many hosting platforms used by website companies are off-shore. This is not a bad thing necessarily, especially if you have a dot com address or are targeting customers from all over the world. However, if your business is aimed solely at a local market, then it is a good idea to host in the country where your target market is.

If you have a New Zealand and an Australian arm, then it makes sense to host a separate landing page with an Australian web hosting service, rather than just having one or the other.

A good web service provider will have more than one option available for web hosting.

Security: What sort of anti-virus and spam protection is in place at the hosting stage? Too little and you will be spending half your morning deleting spam – too much and you may be filtering out important messages. A good website management service will spend some time tweaking your settings when you first sign up in order to get it right.

Up Time and Recovery:Up time equates to the availability of your website online. Ideally this should be all the time, but because we live in an imperfect world, the best you can expect from a Web Hosting Service is making sure your site is up 99.9% of the time. Most will have a Service Level Agreement to provide this, but what you need to ask is whether this is being monitored and what sort of back-up system is in place. If your site is down frequently or for more than 24 hours, then you run the risk of Google removing you from its rating system. If this happens then you will need to request reinstatement from Google a process that can take a week or longer.

Need to ask more about Website Hosting?

List of previous blog topics in this series:

Next topic:

1. How to get a Domain Name for your website

3. Types of Websites

This month’s topic:

2. Website Hosting facts

Domain Names

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 09:00:00 +1200

Part 1: How to get a Domain Name for your website

As with anything, a good place to start is from the beginning. The first thing you need to have a website for your business is a good Domain Name.

What is a Domain Name?

A Domain Name(also called a URL) is the name you register your website under, for example: businessdevelopmentcompany.co.nz

Your Domain Nameis what customers use to find your business online. It acts as an extension of your business name, and you will build your brand around it in the same way you would your business name.

Registering your domain name

A Domain Name needs to be registered. Registration is paid on an annual basis, just like a car registration.

It is important to keep your registration current, otherwise you risk losing your Domain Name to someone else, along with all the work you have put into promoting your online brand under that name. It’s the online equivalent to having to start again with a new business name after one year of trading, advertising and building a customer base around your business.

The cost of registering your Domain Namewill vary so shop around.

Need some help registering your domain name?

How do I choose a good domain name?

Finding a good domain name for your business might seem straightforward but sometimes what you want is already in use by someone else or just isn’t suitable. It’s always good to start with your business name or what you do, and to think about your target market.

Reserving a domain name makes it unavailable to others even if you aren’t using it for your website, but still needs to be renewed each year to keep it. Once you have it, your domain name becomes an important part of your business branding so choose wisely and think about what it says about your business.

Most New Zealand based businesses will want their business name followed by .co.nz as their domain name, and will also reserve an additional domain name with the .com or the newly available .co variation to protect their interests – either from the competition or in case of future expansion. Don’t get paranoid about what other names might be a threat if someone else starts using it: reserving every variation on your business name can be expensive, so sometimes you just have to know when to let go.

What does your domain name say about you?

Let’s say you own Tentertons Sports Shoes Store on the High Street in Rangiora, and tentertons.co.nz already belongs to Tentertons dressmakers in Porirua.

Any alternative you consider should be something memorable or already part of your branding. If you market yourself as Tentertons: the Sports Shoes Store on the High Street, you could try thesporstshoestore.co.nz, or if your branding is: Tentertons Sports Shoes – helping kiwis to run, jump and play since 1967, then runjumpandplay.co.nz might be a good alternative.

The wider you stretch your net, the bigger the holes – try not to be too generic. You might find that sportsshoes.co.nz is too broad for your market, and a variation like trainers.co.nz could be misconstrued as belonging to a business offering personal fitness trainers or private tertiary institute.

Don’t make it too difficult for people, either too long or with repeated letters that make it easy to misspell: tentertonssportsshoesstore.co.nz would not make a good choice.

How important is the domain name suffix?

A crucial part of your domain name to consider is the end – called the domain namesuffix. Suffixes include .com, .co.nz, .co.uk, and over 30 others that are available to choose from.

The suffix tells people where you are promoting your business, but not necessarily where you are based.Only companies registered and operating in Australia can own a .com.au domain name. Everywhere else it is a free for all! So your NZ based business can register for a .co.uk if you want to focus your marketing in the United Kingdom. Most people, however, will stick with their country of origin and/or go for a .com if it is available.

Part of the suffix of your domain name can also tell people what type of entity or type or site you have but this is not always clear either. Some are strictly limited to who can use them, like .govt, .ac, but others are open to anyone.

If a name you want for your website is not available as a .com or .co.nz you will be offered alternative suffixes like .net or .org. You need to know that .net is usually a network provider like paradise.net.nz and .org usually denotes a non-government organisation or not-for-profit entity so be wary of using one of these for your business. You are better off being a little more creative to secure the .co.nz suffix.

Need some help choosing your domain name?

This month’s topic:

1. How to get a Domain Name for your website

Next topic:

2.Website Hosting facts

Plus one by Google

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:48:20 +1200

Those of us familiar with Facebook know all about the ‘Like’ button. Now Google has come up with +1

Google’s +1 is aimed at helping people discover relevant content on a website, a search result, or anad that has been given the thumbs up from the people they already know and trust.

From the perspective of someone giving a +1 to a page:

As with ‘Like’, you would click +1 to publicly give something your stamp of approval. For some, Google’s +1 is an endorsement of a website or page you like or wish to give your support to without going to the trouble of adding a link to it from your own website, or posting it on Bing, Twitter, Diggit, Facebook or any other web2 forum.

Google Buzz for example, is better used when you want to share or start a discussion about something: Have you seen this blog? or What do you think about this page/article?The + one action merely shows which pages in a Google Search are flagged as worth a look by people they are connected with.

Although this may mean you can be less selective about which sites you wish to give a +1 rating, it would make sense to remain judicious in who or what you put your name to. Whilst it may be great to share that you rate the fan page for Rhys Darby or the All Blacks, you might be better leaving that sort of thing on Facebook and limiting your +1s to businesses you have dealt with or pages run by people you would actually recommend to someone.

You can however choose not to display your +1s on your Google profile, so they only come up on the relevant Google search pages.

When the Google search results are displayed, everybody can see aggregate annotations (how many +1’s that page has received). Signed-in users also see personalized annotations from Gmail, GoogleTalk and Google Contacts as well as people they follow in Google Reader and Google Buzz. The same applies with members within a shared circle of contacts in Google+. In other words, Google may show personalized annotations to any signed-in user who has a social connection to a +1.

A search result may show a potential visitor that 99 people have + 1’d a particular page, but also that 3 of their connections also recommended it.

The underlying theory is, the personal connection to those three recommendations is stronger than the 99 anonymous +1 endorsements.

From the perspective of the page owner:

Adding the +1 button to your pages allow users to recommend your content if they choose to, knowing that their friends and contacts will see their recommendation when they undertake Google searches.

The only downside is that they have to be signed in as a Google user for it to work.

Once signed in, the Google search result snippets will show which pages found in a relevant Google search they have endorsed to their contacts and they in turn can see which pages have been + 1’d by them. If none of your connections has +1'd the page, the snippets for each page linkwill simply display the aggregate number of +1's it has received.

Although having +1 capability on your webpages does not boost that page’s rankings directly in Google searches, it has the potential to increase your chances of traffic from a prequalified visitor – someone they know has endorsed this page, so they are not only given another reason to visit your page, but are likely to be more receptive to what they find there.

Also interesting is that once you add the +one button, Google may crawl or recrawl the page, and store the page title and other contentindirect response to someone’s +1 button impression or click.

If you’d like to better understand the Google +1 application in relation to your business, contact us today.

10-tips-better-ranking-seo

Mon, 16 May 2011 14:20:24 +1200

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an important part of your website development. Without the inclusion of good SEO, your website can’t do its job properly, and you won’t geta good return on your investment. You wouldn’t pay for your company car or work van to be sign-written and then leave it in a long-term parking building, would you? No. You would drive it around town so that as many people as possible could see it. The same applies to your website: unless you take steps to get it seen by as many people as possible, the chances of anyone finding you online are greatly reduced.

1. Identify the correct key search phrases

The first step to good SEO is to pickthe appropriate key phrases for your business. They need to be relevant to your products or services, and in some cases your geographical area. Try to think what your potential customers would type in to find what they are looking for, rather than industry-specific jargon.

You can use Google’s Keyword Tool and other free online search tools to help you brainstorm appropriate keywords.

2. Key phrases in headings (h1-h6)

Search engines give weight to any words that are included in the visible elements of your web pages’ headlines or anywhere that text is bolded, highlighted, or linked. In the context of ranking by key search phrases, the words and phrases you are emphasising to site visitors are probably relevant to your site’s content.

3. Key phrases in content

Using key phrases in your site content increases their relevance to your site. As engines get more sophisticated, it's not just the targeted keyword phrase that counts, but the mix of all the words on the page that help to determine what the page is about.

The search engines would assume that frequent mention of certain products, services, problems or solutions associated with a business is logical. Using key phrases well in the body text in a natural sentence form would reasonably equate to a density of 15% or less.

Any more could be seen as blatant ‘keyword stuffing’ which is not only interpreted negatively by the search engines but a real turn-off for visitors to your site.

4. Key phrases in page title

The page title tag (or "meta title") is the text that appears at the top of your browser window when you view any webpage. Meta-tags may not be as important to search engine ranking calculations as they used to be, but

search engines still reference these fields to identify what keywords you see as most representative of your page’s content.

Have a customized title for each page - don't be lazy and use the same title for every page on your site - and take the time to create good titles, as they are a great sales tool too.

5. Key phrases in page description

The page description is what people see displayed with the search results. Good use of key search phrases here will not only help the search engines to list your site by relevance to your targeted searches, it will also help people decide whether or not to navigate to your website for what they need. It’s important to remember, therefore to write your page description to appeal to human readers as well as the search engines, rather than just a run of nonsensical keywords thrown together.

6. Get back-links to your site

Generally speaking, the more websites that have links coming back to your website, the better it is for you. If a lot of other websites link to you, search engines conclude that lots of people find your content useful or interesting, which makes your webpage rank higher than a similar page with fewer inbound links.

You must remember, however, that quantity alone will not work; the quality of inbound links and their relevance to your site matter greatly.Relevant links not only help with rankings, they are good for business; those browsing relevant sites are more likely to be interested in the topics, products or services featured on your site.

7. Correct back-links to your site

It pays to be very selective about your outbound links and your requests for inbound links. Look for websites that have similar subjects to yours, good rankings and good traffic. There may be less good sites available on specialist or niche topics, but this translates to less competition for rankings.

Not all sites will accept your request for linking back to your webpage, but you should still secure a few. Be careful about which sites you target, and check your links regularly.

8. Do NOT get links from link farms

Your website shouldn't link to, or be linked from, websites with any of the characteristics of link farms.

Link farms are not to be confused with directories, which are excellent places to get your site listed. Link farms are websites that have been set up for the sole purpose of gathering masses of links, and using them to falsely boosting the rankings of everyone involved. The end result could earn you a ranking penalty, or your website might even be banned from the search engine altogether.

9. Key phrases in anchor text of links

The anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a link; those highlighted words that take you to another part of your website or from one site to another.Placing key phrases in the anchor text of links is considered one of the most valuable areas of search engine optimisation.Additionally, the wording of the anchor text of an inbound link is one of the most concise assessments another person can make about what your website or web page is about, creating a stronger motivation for them to navigate there.

10. Links in articles

Articles can be used to bring new, targeted visitors to your website. It’s an inexpensive technique for effectively marketing and promoting your site and building incoming links, as well as creating interest and establishing credibility around subjects that are relevant to your business or field of expertise.

This can have a positive effect on your ranking and importance in search engines and can help you to get better positioning for your targeted key search terms. Articles that are interesting and topical attract visitors searching for new information on your targeted subject, and will go a long way in building your reputation as an authority in this area.

Craig Cochrane

Senior Web Designer and SEO Technician for Web Tonic

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how toincrease the search engine rankings of your website.

birthday-present

Sun, 01 May 2011 08:30:49 +1200

Web Tonic turns two this month, and we are offering $300 off a self-managed website as our birthday present to you.

Web Tonic’s Content Management Systems (CMS) allow you to have control over your website, so you make any changes to your website yourself, when you want to make them. Our systems are easy-to-use; if you are able to email or use word processing programmes then you can use our CMS systems after only 2 hours training.

Our systems are normally priced from $1297.00, but if you register interest before the end of our birthday month, May 31st, then they will be priced from under $1000.

You can view our website design Content Management Systems options here.

If you are looking at a brand new site, or at upgrading your site, contact us today to register interest in our $300 new CMS website.

You can download your $300.00 promotional voucher here.

Or you can request a quote here.

10 CMS Questions

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:37:07 +1200

A CMS website, or Content Management System, is a website that allows you to log in and change the content of your website without needing to know how to write programming code. In other words, you can add or remove text, images and pages without having to get your web designer to do it. With a CMS website you can keep your website content fresh with regular updates so that visitors will see the most up to date information about your products or services and you will significantly improve your chances of ranking higher with the search engines.

Not all Content Management Systems are the same. As with any purchase, it’s important to do your homework. Knowing the right questions to ask will help you to make a better, more informed decision so before you sign up for a CMS website, here are my Top 10 CMS questions.

What are the design options?

Having the site design you want isn’t always straightforward. Some content management systems have limited choices in design features or a finite set of templates. In order to get your website to look how you want it you need to ask: can I apply any website design and then create a template within the system, or do I have to start with an existing template on the system and then modify it. Modifying a set template will not only cost you more money to set up, you could end up with a compromised format with a ‘forced’ layout that can make updating content more difficult later.

What is the ongoing hosting charge per month?

Some CMS systems cost more than others to purchase, but is the cheaper design cost being offset by a high monthly hosting charge? You may think you are getting a good deal, but if you add up how much extra a year’s worth of hosting costs, are you actually better off? How long before your website is no longer cost-effective?

Is the content management system transferrable?

You might be perfectly happy with the company whose CMS system you choose and have a long and happy relationship, but what if somewhere down the track you no longer feel you are getting the service you need? What if the business closes or changes hands or the needs of your business changes and you wish to switch to another provider? Can you take your website with you or is the system tied into that company only? You may find that moving somewhere else means starting all over again with an entirely new website. Good websites are not cheap; do you really want to have to pay for yours twice?

How easy is it to use?

If you are good with computers then you may not be too concerned about how complicated your CMS system is. For most people though, simple is best. If you are going to be updating your site content regularly, which you should be, then you need to ask how user-friendly it is to add links, content, images and new pages. Even how easy it is to navigate around the administration section when you are updating content will make a big difference to how easy a CMS is.

If using your CMS is complicated it becomes a time consuming chore, and then you won’t do it as often as you should because it will end up in your ‘too hard’ basket.

What sort of ongoing support do they offer – do you get to speak to a real person?

No matter how good your CMS website is or how technology savvy you are, sometime, somewhere, somehow something is going to go wrong and you will need to contact your provider for help. It’s important, therefore, to know in advance if the customer support provided is simply a Frequently Asked Questions page or whether you get to speak to a real person about the problem. If your homepage layout goes pear-shaped, being referred to a menu of instructional videos is not going to help you sort out the problem anytime soon. You need to be able to discuss what it is you did wrong and how to undo it. Or, if the problem has come from the system administrator, you don’t want to start working your way down a list of possible errors and changing things unnecessarily.

Do you get good training?

To get the most from having a content management system, you need to be trained properly, not on how to use the system but also how to use it to your advantage to rank higher in the search engines. A good website developer offering CMS websites should include some rudimentary search engine optimisation in their training package.

Can you create your own forms?

Your website is not only a place online for people to find and view your products or services, it is an active platform for lead generation and lead nurturing. You need to have the ability to create online forms for visitors to fill out when they go to your contact us page. This is a valuable tool in growing your database and gathering the right information from enquiries that is specific to your business.

How easy is it to resize images?

A good content management system will automatically resize images so that they don’t get distorted if you alter a dimension. Incorrectly resized images or images that remain as larger files and are merely forced into a smaller space each time the page is displayed can seriously impede the loading speed.

Can I change the metadata between pages?

Part of good search engine optimisation is using good metadata on every page. You need to ask whether your content management system allows you to edit the page title, meta-descriptions and key words for each page or if it is set to appear the same for each page.

Does the system create good code?

The coding of your website is important as this will enable the all browsers read your website. Good coding can also help the search engines read or index your website. You need to ask if the CMS you are interested in adheres to W3C world standards.

If you are planning on having a CMS website you can check out the CMS offers we have available at Web Tonic.

Website Nurturing Leads

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:36:01 +1300

One of the keys to generating more business through your website is lead nurturing.
Lead nurturing is about building relationships with qualified prospects regardless of their timing to buy, with the goal of earning their business when they are ready.
Recent studies indicate that as much as 95% of visitors to your website are simply researching and are not ready to talk to a sales person. However, up to 70% of visitors will eventually become a customer – just not necessarily yours.
With more research and comparison of price and services carried out online, buyers are not engaging with the businesses they are browsing until much later in the decision making process. Any leads you generate through Search Engine Optimisation or other online marketing, will therefore need to be nurtured to increase your conversion rate.
Here are two important steps to successful lead nurturing:

Score all incoming leads with Google Analytics
Using Google Analytics and other information, you can learn how better to determine when a prospect is likely to be sales-ready. This information also enables you to build a strong set of buyer profiles for your lead nurturing programme. Areas to look at include:
- Has the prospect visited “high-value” pages such as the pricing or contact information pages?
- How often has he/she visited your website? Which search terms did the prospect use?
- Which of the above factors change for visitors before and after registering on your site?
- Have other prospects from the same IP address visited your Website?
- Has the prospect responded to your email campaigns or offers?
- What interactions have you/ your sales team had with the prospect and when?
Create a stay in touch campaign
Stay in touch campaigns form the backbone of lead nurturing by “dripping” out relevant content to prospects over time. A well-executed stay in touch campaign will help keep your brand top of mind so that the prospect will contact you when they are ready to move to the next step. Content should be designed to help to inform, educate and build trust and credibility for your company, and will vary depending on your different buyer profiles.
Types of stay in touch campaigns include:
- E-newsletters
- Email auto-responders (used when clients first join, download or purchase a product or service)
- Blogs
- Social networking

Web Tonic can help you develop a stay in touch campaign for your target market, as well creating effective opt-in methods to grow your database of contacts.

You can learn more about getting better results from your website here .

Or contact us to discuss how to improve your website’s lead nurturing capabilities.

Higher rankings Guaranteed

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:57:18 +1300

Web Tonic is so confident that we will achieve higher rankings for your business on the search engines we are giving 100% money back guarantee to all clients that sigh up for a 12 month term.
We have broken this down into 3 simple steps;
1.   Indentify the correct key phrases your customers search for on the internet
2.   We re-write your home page based on the above key phrases
3.   Market your website for 12 months (packages from under $100.00 per month)
And Web Tonic will guarantee your website will rank higher on the targeting key phrases at the end of the 12 month terms than it does at the beginning or we will refund your entire investment!
You can learn more about these Internet Marketing packages here

Or contact us to order your internet marketing package here

Escorted European River cruise

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:39:18 +1300

River cruising is a truly relaxing way to enjoy some of the world’s most fascinating destinations. Travelling along uncongested waterways onboard a 5 star luxury vessel offers you unique insight of the regional and cultural life of the different towns, villages and countryside without the hassle of hotels, hire cars and map reading or the limitations of a package tour.

Stuart Lea and Harvey World Travel Mid-City Nelson have scoured the globe to find the ultimate Central European River Cruise, journeying upriver from Amsterdam to Budapest on the MS Panorama for its maiden voyage.

Travel from your home airport via Auckland with Air New Zealand with a 2 night stopover in Hong Kong. Your European experience then begins with 2 nights in Amsterdam before we join our brand new, all suite, luxury river cruise ship MS Panorama. There is a 3 night stay in London to complete your tour before embarking on the return journey to New Zealand.

We provide guided sightseeing in each city we stop in, with inside visits of Würzburg'sResidenz, the Benedictine Abbey in Melk, and Fishermen's Bastion in Budapest.

Both experienced and first-time travelers are discovering the joys of river cruising—and you can too!From the scenic canals of Amsterdam to the legendary Rock of the Lorelei in the Rhine Gorge, you will be wowed by the beauty and diversity that you wouldn’t discover any other way than by waterway.

There is only 1 cabin left for this amazing experience so you need to be fast.
24 Days – New Zealand – Amsterdam – Budapest – New Zealand • Departing 14 May 2011
Our fully escorted tour with experienced river cruise traveller Stuart Lea is priced at $14,498 pp* for a Panorama Suite – Category A

12 nights aboard Avalon Waterways new 5 Star plus luxury all-suite vessel, the MS Panorama for its maiden voyage.
2 nights stay in Amsterdam and 3 nights in London.
2-night stopover in Hong Kong
Airfares and taxes all included
Click here to request a Full itinerary and Terms and Conditions

Google Instant Previews

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:05:47 +1300

When looking at the search results on Google you may have noticed that Google is now giving searchers the opportunity to have a preview of your web page by clicking on a small magnifying glass next to your results prior to clicking through and visiting your site.
See the image to the right of the page below.

If you have Flash on your page it does not show at all and I would recommend you be looking at how this can be brought into your site in other ways. See below.

This new service does not aeffect the ranking of your website, but what it does do is make the visual appearance of your website even more important;, if the searchers, your potential customers or clients, do not like what they see they simply won’t click through.
Take time to view how your site preview stacks up with your competitors.
While it is too early to show how popular this feature will be it does re-in force that having a professional looking webpage has always been part of the process in getting more enquires from your website with Google.

Google Places

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 07:05:01 +1300

Google Places - now even more important for your Search Engine results
It is now even more important that you have your business listed on Google places and that you have a photo with your listing.

Google is now including the top 7 results from Google places in the search engine results. See the results below from searching for Bed and Breakfast, Nelson, New Zealand.

By looking at these results you can see that Google is now placing a map on the right hand side of the results page and listing these results A-G.
In the results on the left-hand column Google is now also bringing through the priority image from your places listing.
So, how do you get a Google place listing? Simple. Go online to places.google.com and list your business, or contact us and we can arrange this for you.

Customer referral

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 08:32:33 +1300

We have been thinking about how we can rewardour customers for referring work to us, as
we greatly appreciate your support. So, we would like to offer you a 10%
credit based on the dollar value of the design work you refer to us.

So how is this going to work?
You refer customer Bob Builder to me and Bob Builder would like a Customised
Content Management website priced at $2500.00. This means you would receive
a credit for $250.00 to be credited against your account (ie. as opposed to
a cash pay-out) after Bob Builder’s website is live.

What information do you have to supply us?
The most valuable referral is what is called a ‘genuine lead’. This is
someone who you know is going to have a website built (ie. not just thinking
about it).
To refer a customer to us, please ring or email us, or fill in the customer
referral form.

How do I qualify?
To qualify, please provide your referral’s name and phone number and ask
their permission for us to ring them. This means they won’t be surprised
when we call them.
If you have any questions regarding this customer referral system, please do
not hesitate to contact us.

What does a website cost these days?
A Web Tonic static website is priced from $600.00 and a content management
website from $1500.00.

Can I refer myself and get a discount?
This is a one –off referral for new customers only, so sorry you can not
refer yourself and get the discount, unless you are starting a new business.

Reciprocal Links

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:43:06 +1200

If you are in a competitive online market, then you should be aiming to be ranked at least half way up page 1 of the Google search results page for the most highly searched keyword phrases that relate to your products or services. By doing so, you’ll get more traffic, meaning more enquiries and sales.

Have you ever wondered how or why your competitor’s websites are ranked higher than yours in the search engines? It is because their websites have been better optimised than yours. It certainly helps to have the right keywords on your website, but they will only enable you to rank so high. The difference between your site and your top ranking competitors is most likely “links”.

What is a link and why do I need them?

A link is a clickable word or phrase that links from one website to another. Links are on almost every web page online - blogs, product reviews, press releases and directories.

Search engines such as Google rank your website based largely on the number of links coming into your site. Each link you’ve got coming into your site is basically a ‘vote’ that tells Google that your site is a trusted source for whatever your website content is about.

Not only is a link massively important from a rankings perspective, but they can also bring in direct traffic to your site. By having lots of links out there, you stand a good chance of someone clicking on one and being directed to your site.

What sort of links should I be getting?

When Google runs a computerised search on your website (also known as a crawl), they look for anything that’s new that could influence your rankings and links are one of these factors.

However, how much Google increases your rankings will depend on the quality of your links. For example, if you have an accommodation website and have a link from a children’s toy website, then this will offer little, if any, effect on your rankings. Having 30 high quality links will have more of a positive impact on your search rankings than 1000 poor quality links.

Reciprocal links (also known as link exchanges)

When you arrive at work in the morning and check your inbox, from time-to-time there will be an email with someone asking for a link exchange. These are called reciprocal links. Most people simply delete them because they either think they’re spam, are not interested or don’t understand what the requests are all about.

Should I do link exchanges and how can I tell if they’re good or bad?

The majority of link exchange requests you’ll receive are a waste of time. In the email you’ll find a link to the URL where they intend to place your link. Before you click on it, check the name of the URL and any other information on the email. If it appears to be very off-topic then you should just ignore the request. However, if it’s a .co.nz website then it will certainly be worth looking into, because Google likes to see links coming from sites that have an IP address in the same country.

Once you open their URL, there are a few things you’ll need to check to see if it’s a good or bad link.

Good links (also known as White Hat)

NZ websites (these are best if you are targeting the NZ online market)
From websites that appear quality and trustworthy
From a web page that has less than 100 mostly topic-related links on it
From a website that is topic-related
Links are to mostly NZ websites

Bad links (also known as Black Hat)

Include spam
From websites that have pop-ups
Paid links (except for top directories like Yahoo, Joe Ant, BOTW)
Websites that contain bad content (ie. gambling, porn)
Link farms (see below)

A link farm is a group of websites that all link to every other website in that group. Although some link farms can be created by hand, the majority of them are created through automated programs. These are seen by search engines as an illegitimate technique and spamming of the search engine index process. In many cases, link farms will be banned from the search engines for spamming.

You can often recognise a link farm by the page that your link is intended to appear on. These pages are generally just a list of links that are all unrelated. A good way to know for sure is to click on one of the links on that page. If that page is also linking to the same websites, then you’ll know it’s a farm.

If you are unsure of which link exchanges are worth getting or best to avoid, it’s recommended that you talk to us first. We are more than happy to help.

Analytics

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:34:39 +1200

In some ways, a website is similar to an employee. If you pay your employee and you’re not actually sure what they do from day-to-day, how will you know if they’re bringing success to the business? The same goes for a website - if you can’t keep tabs on its daily activity, how will you know if it’s performing well or not?

Unlike an employee, it’s very easy to measure and monitor a website through Google Analytics, which is accurate, free, and easy-to-use. Every website gets a certain amount of traffic and much like myself I’m sure you’d like to know exactly where it’s coming from.

Regardless of whether your website is in a competitive online market or is simply a reference point, if you are serious about how your website is performing, your web designer can set up a Google Analytics account for you, or you can easily create an account for yourself. My suggestion is that you jump on here http://www.google.com/analytics and sign up. If you’ve got a Gmail account, the process will be even quicker for you. With your account created, now it’s time to find out just where your traffic is coming from, and here’s how:

Login into your account
Click on your account name
Click on “view report”
Click on “traffic sources”

Traffic sources are split into 3 categories - direct traffic, search engines and referring sites. The latter of these makes for more interesting reading than search engine traffic because they can bring better quality visitors. If an online user is on a content-related site and clicks on a link to your website, there’s a better chance your visitor will find what they’re looking for.

Referring sites reports also tell you how much traffic you’re getting from sources such as directories. If you’re paying $500 per year for a listing then I’m sure you’d like to know if it’s actually sending anyone your way.

If you are making blog comments or have a few blog posts out there, then it also helpful, and it will tell you how much traffic you’re getting from the likes of Facebook and other social media sites.

There’s a heap of ways you can tweak your account to make it more customized to your needs as well. Google has been kind enough to make it really easy for you – very caring of them.

Seriously, there’s no point in imagining what’s going on with your site. Sign up with Google Analytics. It takes 5 minutes. It’ll improve your website’s return on investment, increase conversions, and make more money for you on the web.