Our thoughts, rants and inside knowlege of web design & development!
Chris
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Homepage: http://www.areatrade.co.uk
Posts by Chris
Google Commerce Search
Nov 6th
Google has released a new product to help online retailers improve product search, increase sales conversions and reduce bounce rates. The product is named Google Commerce and with Christmas arriving seems they have launched it at the right time. Google says “This tool brings the power, speed and flexibility of Googles search technology to your online store to increase sales and usability”.
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Google Commerce Search Snapshot
“Search quality is a big factor in changing visitors to buyers online, and in making customers happy too,” Google says. “Visitors spend an average of just eight seconds before deciding whether or not to remain on a website, so having a good search tool is important for turning visitors into buyers. Google Commerce Search is hosted by and uses Google search technology to make online retail searching both fast and customizable — visitors to your online store can sort by category, price, brand or any other attribute.”
“E-store administrators can highlight special products or connect related ones so searching is easier for their customers,” the More >
Latest Ecommerce Web Design
Nov 2nd
This is one of our Ecommerce Web Design. We are very excited about this project which mixes website design, website development and Ecommerce Web Design into one. Will let you know when it is live..
Please let us know your comments….
Does Page Rank Count Anymore?
Oct 29th
Google have recently revealed that page rank will no longer feature in webmaster tools.
“We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on Page Rank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true,” states Google. “We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it.“
Does this mean we should all stop looking at our page rank? I’d say no. Whatever Google wants to happen or wants us to ignore page rank it still helps your online business. Having a PR6, 7 or 8 will generate more respect for your website. If you compare a PR1 and a PR8 site – what in your eyes looks more impressive, who looks the bigger company? Who would you be likely to use?
It seems this is a move to try and stop link selling. If your website has a PR or 4 or more you probably will have been approached by webmasters or individuals offering incentives or plain hard cash for links. We have always More >
How Tweets Are Ranked In Bing
Oct 26th
Twitters search results displays tweets in chronological order and offers no relevancy factors. Bing has introduced a “Best Match” options which attempts to rank the tweets providing more relevant search results. This “Best Match” option compares the number of followers to establish authority on a particular keyword search. There is also a “Most Recent” option which will display real-time results.
“If someone has a lot of followers, their Tweet may get ranked higher,” says Bing. “If a tweet is exactly the same as other Tweets, it will get ranked lower.” As I’m sure you can see there are flaws in this early version of the algorithm which I guess Bing will iron out as updates are realised. If someone chirps out a tweet that is of high relevance, but is a newbie to Twitter, their follow count will be low and therefore in this first roll out be ranked lower.This shows social networking is a key element of your search engine promotion for your website. We are not saying that stuffing keywords in Tweets is the way to go, instead, having a campaign strategy is a must. You need to keep to the basic rule…. keep providing good relevant engaging content and your follower More >
Social Media Now Even Better For SEO
Oct 23rd
Google and Microsoft (Bing) have both struck a deal with social media giant Twitter to integrate tweets into their search results. Microsoft have also teamed up with Facebook to include updates directly into Bing.
Google says “We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.”
Regardless if Google follows Microsofts lead in teaming up with Facebook, this shows the importance of social networking. Recently the main seo benefit generated by social networking was to create as many in-bound links to your website which in turn improved your search engine position results.
This is still the case with the added benefit that your tweets and Facebook updates will also get you found. So when your tweeting and updating your facebook it is much more important to have a seo campaign strategy in More >
#HIX restaurant in soho
Oct 21st
Got a lift to London from our favourite cab driver sal from www.linkairports.co.uk . Started the evening in a pub on Broadwick Street, Soho that sold organic beer. Tasted great. Cost £7.58 for 3 pints…. Say no more. Then moved on to Hix restaurant in brewer street, very cool. Drink downstairs very retro. Great food upstairs. 10/10. Then onto Chelsea to watch champions league game. Looking to carry on afterward somewhere else……
Stephen Covey – Event Summary
Oct 16th
Areatrade attended a night with Dr Stephen Covey
Just like to say what a fantastic night I had in the presence (albeit it 20 rows back) Dr Stephen Covey, world renowned author of, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and the 8th Habit. Having recently read the E-Myth by Michael Gerber and The Sticking Point by Jay Abraham I would highly recommend this to any business owner regardless if your new to business or been around the block a few times. In-fact the longer you have been in business the more mistakes you probably have made and are making day to day. When I read the E-Myth it was as if Mr Gerber had placed a camera on our walls and based the whole book on us!!! The changes we have put in place in our business have made an immense difference to both the quality of our product, the delivery of our service, profitability and more importantly happier staff and clients.
Dr Coveys opening statement rang very true to me, I have implemented this theory through our company and I know it works. “If you want to make minor improvements, work on behavior and attitude.If you want to make huge improvements work on your business map.”
The map he refers to is the map that us business owners created More >