A great website’s no good unless it gets lots of visitors and keywords are a really important way to help people find your site. There’s a bit of an art to getting the perfect amount of keywords in just the right place – but let us help you get it right!

What are keywords anyway?

When customers are looking for a business, service or product using a search engine they enter a phrase describing what they are looking for, known as a ‘keyword’ or ‘query’, into a search engine, which then generates a list of websites containing that keyword.   The results are often referred to as ‘SERPS’ – search engine results pages.

Search engines send ‘spiders’ to visit websites, which crawl through the pages looking to see what keywords are contained in the text and HTML code.  This means that you want to make sure that your web pages contain the keywords that your target audience are searching for, so that the spider remembers and calls up your site if someone makes a relevant search.

The joy of keywords

Common keywords – like ‘shoes’ or ‘food’ – will generate literally billions of websites. The ideal situation is for your website to appear on the first page of results, since internet searchers are unlikely to look beyond the first couple of pages. For a small site, appearing on the first page of the search engine listings can be extremely difficult for competitive terms – but there are ways around this.

There are search terms which are less competitive, meaning that fewer websites are trying to appear for them – but they could help you attract exactly the kind of visitor your site was built for. For example, the website of a Dorset youth club’s football team might not appear at the top of the listings when someone searches for ‘football club’, but will appear if someone searches for ’Dorset youth football'.  As the internet searcher is probably under 18, in the Dorset area and keen to practice their footie skills, there is a very good chance they are going to want the service the club offers. 

How many keywords?

Search engine spiders check for something called ‘keyword density’ – how often a keyword appears on a webpage. They will get suspicious if, for example, every other word is ‘youth football’. You want to aim for a keyword to appear a few times on a page, but not too much. The perfect ratio is that your keyword makes up between three and 7% of the total text. Consider what your visitors will think – the website is primarily for them, not the engines, so focus chiefly on writing good and useful content, with the chance to get a cheeky keyword in an added bonus!

Position the keywords well

Search engine spiders  always read from the top of the web page, and so recognise the content in the header as important – so your keyword should also appear in the web page’s header text (this is the bar that goes across the top of your website), as well as any paragraph titles and image descriptions.

So, on our imaginary youth club’s home page, they should include the phrase ‘Dorset youth football’ in their header and page titles.

Keywords and Mr Site

With a Mr Site package, it’s easy to add your keywords not only into your text but into your headers and image tags, using our ‘META tag’ tool. But if you ever have any questions – just get in touch and we’d love to give you further advice!

Running a business can be hard enough without the added worry of rising utility costs. If your jaw has ever dropped at the price of your electricity bills, then you’re going to love these tips to get the best deal from your supplier. The advice comes courtesy of Make It Cheaper, who provide impartial advice to help businesses save on their bills.

“With energy prices on the rise again (when do they ever fall?), the hikes suffered by people who run businesses will be far worse than for homeowners.

So far this year, two of the Big 6 energy suppliers have already announced price rises of up to 19% for householders and it widely expected that the rest will follow suit. Prices for businesses, however, are not published in the same way so business owners are instead expected to anxiously wait for contract renewal letters from their suppliers to find out their proposed new (higher) prices.

Businesses pay fixed price tariffs for one, two or three years and recently some business bill payers have seen their prices doubling as they come up for renewal at the end of their contract. Dodie Stark, a ladies fashion boutique in Haywards Heath, for example, has just received a renewal letter with a quotation from their supplier which increases the electricity unit price from 8p to 16p per kilowatt – and that’s after just a year of being with them.

If you are concerned about what’s lurking round the corner for your small business electricity and gas bills…here’s what you can do:

1. Call your supplier to clarify the unit price you’re currently paying in kilowatts, whether it is negotiable, how long until they send you out a renewal letter and your contract end date.

2. A typical renewal window for a business energy contract will be between 120 and 130 days before the contract end date, and it is usually only during this period that a business can apply to switch or look to negotiate a better deal. Businesses who may have already missed their renewal letter can find out if their renewal window is still open by using the following tool.

3. If the price they are offering you to renew your contract is over 10 pence per kilowatt for electricity (or 3p/kWh for gas) then you’d be wise to shop around. Competition between suppliers means the price range has widened – i.e. cheaper offers to attract new customers are counterbalanced by suppliers charging their existing customers more.

4. Make certain your supplier acknowledges your intention to switch by sending a termination letter by recorded delivery. This must contain the correct reference number for the meter/s in question or else it may be rejected. Termination letters can be created using this tool.

5. Whoever you decide to sign up with, be sure they tell you the length of your new contract, the contract end date and the notice period you need to give to leave at the end. Keep this information safe and, if using an intermediary rather than going direct, sign up for their renewal reminder service.

Finally, once you’ve got your price nailed down, provide your supplier with regular meter readings. Over-estimated readings mean you’ll be overpaying and building up unnecessary non-interest bearing credit, while underestimated readings mean you’ll eventually end up with a nasty shock as business bills can be backdated for up to six years.”

Jonathan Elliott, managing director of Make It Cheaper

If you’d like to find out more about how you can get a better deal for your business, why not speak directly to the Make It Cheaper team? Call them on 0800 970 0077 or click here!

A recent survey of social enterprises by phone company o2 has suggested that mastering social networking can result in significant monetary gains – on average adding an astonishing £212,000 to a company’s bottom line.

The survey also found that two-thirds of social enterprises (businesses that are driven by a social or environmental purpose) are using networking sites Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in the day-to-day running of their operations, and almost the same percentage of those questioned believe that doing so will boost their income by 15% in the next year and a half.

However, it is estimated that just 10% of traditional small businesses are using  Twitter or Facebook to boost their brand.

Something for nothing?

Considering that most social networking sites are free to join, easy to get the hang of and only take a few minutes each day to update, it’s definitely worth considering your social networking strategy to see if you are making the most of its potential.

If you’re feeling nervous, remember it’s just a matter of getting involved and learning what works best for your business, even if you make mistakes from time to time. Not every social network works for every business, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to explore the benefits.

Even celebrities don’t always get it right – rap-star P-Diddy is a prime example. Demonstrating what not to do when he used his Twitter account to promote his brand of vodka, Ciroc, he posted the following:

“If it aint Ciroc it’s Pee Pee!!!! Let it be known!!!! Don’t drink the pee pee! Drink the Best!“. 

It should be noted, however, that this ‘statement’ came from a man credited with boosting the brand’s sales by roughly 48% in 2010 through his wily marketing strategies. What is it they say about all PR being good PR?

Learn by example

These days, Twitter is not just a forum for Steven Fry to let us know when he’s having a cup of tea. It’s an opportunity for companies with a minimal advertising spend to promote their products, a chance for employees to build relationships with customers and a way for like-minded entrepreneurs to develop business links with each other.

Simon Devonshire, General Manager of Small and Medium Businesses at o2, said, “I’m keen to look at how other businesses can learn from their (social enterprises’) success…its becoming an indispensible part of such businesses’ growth plans, helping them promote products and services, build their brands, and develop ideas and innovations”.

So if you fancy giving social networking a go…why not check out our top tips for getting ahead on Twitter by clicking here.

Is it time to give your website a bit of a spring clean? Last month, we gave you some advice about updating your site with a brand new logo - so this month we’ve asked Mr Site’s Head of Communications, Nicola Kazemi, to give us some words of wisdom about how to write great online content.

How much should I write?
Try to write short sentences and short paragraphs – keep it nice and simple. Paragraphs should be just two or three sentences long and aim for an average sentence length of around 16 words. Separating paragraphs with a clean, clear line of empty space, or using bullet points and sub-headers, will help make your text more digestible.

Remember your keywords
When you’re writing for your website always keep your keywords in mind and try to integrate them as much as possible. To help boost your search engine rankings, you’ll need to make sure about ten percent of your overall content is keywords – that’s about six mentions a page. Click here for some more SEO tips.

Keep it fresh
Search engines LOVE regularly updated content on websites – it not only helps push you up the rankings, but will also show your customers how committed you are to your endeavour. It’s easy to do…why not try adding a Mr Site blog to you website using ‘Extras’?

If you have a shop…make it lively, make it memorable
How would you sell an egg? How about ‘a cracking good idea’ or ‘six of the best every week’? People will remember your message if you use colourful, memorable language. Use as many of the senses as you can – for example, ‘silky to the touch,’ ‘the wine has a velvety taste combined with a musky bouquet,’ ‘rediscover brilliant colours and glorious sunlight’. Make an impression. It’ll help you make the sale.

How can I bring attention to key phrases or important actions?
It sounds obvious but adding special formatting such as, underlining, boldface, italics, larger fonts or different coloured text can help highlight the most important phrases. Just don’t get overboard!

Avoid writing exactly how you speak
It’s very easy to run away with yourself and start writing exactly how you speak. When you do this, you’ll find yourself with too many words in a sentence and it’s likely they won’t make much sense. However, depending on your intended audience, it’s OK to use sentence fragments and colloquialisms if you find it flows better.

Talking of fragments…
Traditionally, we are told never to use the dreaded fragment – the short sentences that pop up as ‘incorrect’ in Microsoft Word. However, when they are used thoughtfully; short fragments create great pauses that bracket your ideas for greater emphasis. If you vary between short and long sentences, it will give your writing great rhythm.

Repetition can be your friend…but beware
Its fine to repeat a message during the course of copy. What’s not fine is to repeat the same words over and over again…especially when they are close together. Try and find alternatives to common words using a thesaurus or play around with your sentence structure. You should also remember that the choice you make between two words can make quite a difference, for example:

A big increase in revenues
A significant increase in revenues

The word ‘big’ is very simple, one syllable and communicates meaning very quickly and clearly. Close your eyes and think about ‘big’ – it’s unambiguous. Unlike significant, which is open to interpretation and could quite possibly be perceived as vague.

Check, check and check again
It’s easy to make small mistakes and if you’re reading something from a computer screen; it’s even easier to miss them. The best thing to do is print out your work, read it carefully and use your red pen wisely. Always ask someone else to read through your copy too – if you’ve been writing for a while, a fresh pair of eyes is more likely to spot any mistakes.

Do you have a large number of different items to sell on your website ?
And you want to display them in pages rather than all in one shop page ?

You can easily do this by following the process below :

1) From the main options go to 'Extras' from the Main Options, followed by 'Add features', then 'Add/edit a shop'
2) Insert your Paypal email address
3) Insert the number of unique items you want to display on the first shop page
4) Select the shop page from the list of pages below; this will represent the first shoppping page
5) Insert the items information and save
6) Follow steps 1-5 for additional pages
7) Go under change content
8) Select the shop page
9) Rename the page under the box 'Type the title of your web page in this box' e.g. 'Shop Page 1 of 4'
10) Repeat steps 7-10 for every shop page

The above steps will create different shop pages that will display as separate links to your menu.

Now to make them dispaly as sub-pages under the main shop page follow these steps :

1) Create a main shop page which will act as the root page; to do so go to 'How many pages' from the Main Options andselect 'Add 1' and save changes
2) Now to attach the subpages go to 'Extras' from the Main Options, followed by 'Add features', then 'Submenu'
3) Select the subpage from the first box, e.g. 'Shop page 1 of 4'
4) Select the main shop page from the second box; normally named 'Shop page' by default, and save
5) Repeat steps 1-4 for all subpages

What also helps and many of our customers do is use the main Shop Page to create a layout of what these pages contain. For example if you go under change content and select the main Shop Page, you can create links representing these subpages eg 4 different thumbnails for items sold alphabetically on link 1 are letters starting from A to G, on link 2 are letters from G to K and so on.