Welcome to the Escape Blog

(whether you like it or not)

E-Consultancy have produced a report on Search. Makes interesting reading and frustrating (on my part).

I still think that people are trying to optimise websites that are limited and expecting the search engines to make sense of the non-sense. Also, although becoming very mainstream, search has moved on from pure SEO.

The search engines are doing us a massive favour introducing us to new audiences cheaper than ever (in fact free). The least we could do is give them content to make our websites a. readable and b. content-specific.

If everyone put the effort in to make better web pages,  they may get better results!

Adobe have launched a new video product based around Flash. With flash being used so much more for video, due to it’s flexibility, it makes sense that they enter the arena to challenge Windows Media Player, Quicktime and Real Player.

Meanwhile,
Microsoft announces Silverlight, their Flash competitor.

Let’s just hope we don’t get compatibility issues!

Google checkout is now available in the UK.

The Checkout service will compete with card processing services used by many online merchants and sites like Paypal and is a massive threat to those businesses but offers a massive opportunity for you, if you are selling online.

What’s more, they won;t charge you during 2007.

Read more from Google Checkouts.

So, I heard the term Wilfing the other day (first time) and already it rears it’s head again.

Apparently, 25% of people in companies waste a working day every two weeks aimlessly browsing the internet, according to research by YouGov. (Ref.).

It doesn’t surprise me. It is so easy to start one thing and then drift from page to page and forget what you were doing. Problem is, it’s not very productive.

I’m all for exploratory web browsing but a line needs to be drawn somewhere otherwise you’ll wake up after a year having wasted 26 days!

A good reason to prove to your customers how secure your website is:

…research shows 56 percent of respondents believe the risk of having
their identity stolen or an online crime committed against them is
enough to prevent people from purchasing via the internet. (Retail Bulletin).

The more trustworthy your e-commerce website, the more likely someone will make that first purchase. If they trust you after that, you not only have a potential repeat customer, but also a potential sales person who will tell their friends or colleagues about the positive experience.

• Display the logo and number of your Secure Certificate
• If you have a real shop, add a photo somewhere to legitimise your business.
• Your address (not a P.O. Box) and real names also add weight to your authenticity
• Real telephone numbers (that get answered) with relevant opening times, etc. give people optional routes to purchase.
• Testimonials can add weight to your site - even better a user-generated comments board if you’ve got the balls!

The harder you work to make yourself real, the more trust you will establish.  It’s the same online as it is on the high street - it’s about brand recognition and reputation.

RoboBraille is a new website that automates the translation of text documents into Braille and speech. It’s available free of charge for non-commercial users.

With RoboBraille, you can

• Translate documents into contracted Braille
• Translate documents into speech
• Translate text into visual Braille
• Convert text documents between different character sets
• Convert Braille documents to specific Braille character sets
• Partition documents into smaller parts

Great idea! I am wondering why the website doesn’t validate though?

Yes, a nice and easy way of collaborating your single site map into all the major search engines.

I don’t subscribe to all the blogs but Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are all in agreement and it’s all a case of creating one little line in your robots file:

Sitemap: http://www.mysite.com/sitemap.xml

More information about creating a sitemap can be found at sitemap.org.

To create a sitemap, I use ROR. More details on how to create sitemaps for search engines can be found on the website and includes a video.

Perhaps you need to educate yourself in search engine optimisation… according to this E-Consultancy Article.

I’d have to agree. I have seen many companies get into Adwords on Google because it is easy at entry level. Unfortunately, they tend to fail because they;

• Chase the big fish going after the basic keywords without optimisation. Many people still don’t understand how to best utilise keywords in an optimised way. Get Specific.
• Use Generic Adverts - They use the same advert cross product/service. If someone types in a phrase into Google they tend to expect to see it in the advert. You must have different adverts for different offerings for your business.
• Use Generic Landing Pages - Usually the home page, they get their advert to link to their home page. After you have your offering specific advert, point it to the relevant page on your website. It takes the hassle away from the user and more (see below).
• Don’t research and measure. Many companies will happily pay Google their money each month measuring their campaign to be successful and a level not specific enough to really measure what works and what doesn’t work. The google Adwords tools allow you to measure each and every advert. You can refine and refine becoming more and more relevant to a specific search.

Cohesive Google Adword Campaigns

Nothing about Google Adwords (used effectively) works in isolation. The keywords you choose and the way you select them tie in with the words in your adverts, which tie in with the link that you have selected, which ties in with the words on the landing page (the page your advert points to).

Try it. Select one product or service and create a VERY specific advert. You may not get much traffic but the traffic you will get (bearing in mind you are paying for every click through) will be more specific.

Have you ever started browing on the internet and then ten minutes later ended up on a completely different website?

Before you get excited, ‘Wilf’ is a web term - yes another one - "What Was I Looking For?"

This article over at E-Consultancy highlights a study commissioned by Moneysupermarket.com, that found that UK internet users
spend an average of two days a month browsing the web without any real
purpose.

"Not
allowing ourselves to ‘Wilf’ takes a mixture of planning and willpower
- these days there are all manner of websites gunning for our
attention. Set yourself a specific surfing goal and time limit to keep on
track." commented Pete Cohen, TV motivator and life coach.

My oh my, what ever next?

Reference to a survey over on E-Consultancy about the way we use search, the highlight of which for me is…

"79% of consumers said they would be more likely to make an immediate
purchase if the search link takes them directly to the page of the
product they are searching for, which reinforces the need for optimised
product landing pages."

Another key point raised is the level of awareness of users is rising.
We may take it for granted that we know the way search engines work, but do our customers? There is (more than ever) a need to consolidate on this awareness. Sorry, more effort required all round but once again… it works.

So, thinking about optimised landing pages, it was handy that this post on Copyblogger popped up: 10 Tips for Writing the Ultimate Landing Page