Share this is great but could anyone answer this?

In this WordPress blog I use the “Share This” plugin on. However I have noticed that if I put SEO in the blog title the Share This button doesn’t work, see;

http://designcredo.co.uk/sites/wordpress/2010/03/06/seo-test/ (SEO in the title),

and

http://designcredo.co.uk/sites/wordpress/2010/03/06/abs-test/ (Exactly the same post with ABS replacing SEO in the title)

Is there an innocent reason for this?

Exeter SEO company masscommunication company say;

Search engine optimisation will make your website work for you by improving your Google search page position and rank.

If you are in Exeter or Devon call us, we get great first page results.

We at Design Credo say, happy new logo…

‘Plasma cutting education’ or ‘Plasma cutter education’ is getting great Google results within a couple of weeks of their new website being uploaded by Design Credo. Subsitute school for education and the results will be similar, Techserv is tops on the UK Google search.

This plasma cutter is a great machine, an ideal way to deliver ICT Control education as well as being an ideal Technology department tool and is finding its way into many schools as well as FE and HE facilities.

Yorkshire based Techserv looked to Design Credo to update their website. As well as updating the site-design we have looked at the search-ability of the site in particular the way that keywords are employed throughout the site.

Further to this we have taken an overview of the existing online activities that Techserv are involved in and are looking at ways that this can be united and improved.

Techserv Twitter

Techserv are also using social networking on their website. This allows rapid updates and exchanges of information, within hours of the site being uploaded Techserv was being followed by people with CNC interests

As if that isn’t enough good news we are pleased to hear that they have received a quote request for a plasma cutting machine through the website form, within a week of the site being uploaded

But just as Google isn’t ready to rest on its laurels, its competitors aren’t ready to concede defeat.

Google’s search algorithm is a work in progress — constantly tweaked and refined to return higher-quality results. Here are some of the most significant additions and adaptations since the dawn of PageRank.

Google’s synonym system understood that a dog was similar to a puppy and that boiling water was hot. But it also concluded that a hot dog was the same as a boiling puppy. The problem was fixed in late 2002 by a breakthrough based on philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s theories about how words are defined by context.

Steven Levy wired.com

An interesting article offering insight into the changing face of search engines.

I recently shared the experience of the Brit Awards with a number of people on Twitter including Cheryl Kerl. Now, I would like to make it clear, I am not knocking the Brits, Zeberdizzie and Florence (all a bit Magic Roundabout?) were great etc… But, I am happy to share the funny side and am a little intrigued to be doing it with others who I have never met.

Some time ago whilst working in a Pupil Referral Unit I, along with the deputy head teacher, Googled ‘LOL’. Shameful but true, we were trying to decipher a bullying letter that was thrown in the bin. On the evening of the Brits I can genuinely say that I did LOL on a number of occasions. For me this is one level that Twitter works, just a bit of fun, Mr Brydon, just a bit of fun.

Hei an Ah wasn’t meimin eitha. It’s them new TVs that yiz have. They sort uv make the pickchaz jorky leike man pet an that. Cheryl Kerl

Ah’m ganna sack mei horstyleist t’neet! Coz wei didden Ah get a well mentil horsteel leike Ladee Gawgaw and Lily Allen’s got? Cheryl Kerl

The day after the dialogue continued on Facebook. A friend commented that she didn’t get the British love of the ’simeon one’. I at once knew that she was referring to ‘he who nods to camera with furled eyebrows’. My what a Facebook onslaught this opened up from offended fans.

Twitter adding value to your business

However if you choose Twitter can add value to your business. Recently attention has been drawn to the potential security risks of Twitter with the Please Rob Me site. I suspect caution rather than fear is the best response here but the simple point is that these micro blogs are searchable, and they can and do get searched.

Last week I attended a local networking group. I was invited to attend because one of the group’s active members had read my tweets and as a result looked at this blog. She messaged me directly through Twitter and commented how she thought that the down to earth approach was what the group were looking for. This has to be seen as a result even though initially the contact presented opportunities rather than confirmed business.

This weekend I uploaded a website for Techserv, a CNC Plasma company in Yorkshire. The site was uploaded on Saturday, I have included a twitter feed and within a day Techserv’s Twitter feed was being followed by CNCInformation. Again this has to be seen as an opportunity. Techserv trade globally, they have a machine suitable for the education market and CNCInformation are discussing amongst other topics, CNC in education.

I still get a bit knocked out by this technology. It genuinely excites me that within a matter of hours, someone has offered some sort of response to a new website and that the response came to the customer.

I realise though that for many this is all a bit difficult to buy into. However if one looks at it as a new ingredient that is part of the mix, adding too rather than replacing then it becomes easier to understand. In an ideal world we would open our metaphorical doors and wait for the customers to come to us. I believe that Social Networking can help guide people to your open doors.

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO brings Beyoncé to Exeter? Yep if you’ve been following so far, “Beyoncé to help in light household duties” now seems to rank in the top three of a Googlé search.

Update – “Beyoncé Exeter” now position 2
Update – Now position 1

Further to this I am eagerly expecting people to fulfil my desires for a Leica M9 and a Colnago Mexico due to similarly high rankings for search strings.

So what’s this all about?

It started as a bit of a joke, I noticed that cigar smoking football players seemed to rank highly as search strings for The Design Credo Wordpress blog (this is not a group that I have previously had an interest in). So checking it out, this was in fact true (by accident) as explained in my earlier post.
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Just in case this seems like a load of tosh, as predicted from my last post ‘youtube cigar smoking football players’ now occupies position two in the Google rankings (using the cleared cache and history, not logged on Firefox not Safari search…). This is an overnight increase of four positions.

Good News!

“Man-willing-to-look-after-aston-martin” Is now (overnight) occupying top Google ranking. No replies yet but fingers crossed. Top news though pop-pickers.

Andrew Butler, Design, Photographer, Topsham, Exeter, Devon …

4 Feb 2010 … Andrew Butler a Designer & photographer based in Topsham Exeter Devon. Design Credo, design, photography and SEO for websites, …
designcredo.co.uk/…/man willing to look after aston martin/ – 12 hours ago -

I suspect further lame postings referencing the need for Beyoncé to help in light household duties will not go down well at homé.

Further to my last post about collecting the data, I have just noticed that a particular search string that has led people to this site is ‘youtube cigar smoking football players’. Imagine my surprise?

Sure enough if I throw this string back into Google I find my own site listed at number six.

Andrew Butler, Design, Photography, Topsham, Devon | Design Credo …

Posts Tagged ‘YouTube’ … men and children (v. young) stood in the street trading football cards, cigar smoking men trading post cards. … WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better. …

So there you go, sometimes you don’t get what you expect but clearly I will now have improved the ranking of this search string by referencing it again.

With that in mind then,

Man willing to look after Aston Martin

Man would treasure a Leica M9

Man needs a Colnago Mexico

Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated.

In my last post we looked at some basic issues to do with improving Search Engine Rankings or SEO. I suggested that there was scope for to make marked improvements in their rankings. So lets look at an example a simple startup site.

Serendipity Ilfracombe

Holiday accommodation is a deeply competitive market, particularly here in the South-West. Resorts have their ups and downs, Ilfracombe would appear to be on the up. However there are an awful number of competitors in this market.

People are far from rational in their everyday behaviour. Some have neat tidy minds but for many of us it is a bit of a sprawl. Memory is optional and to be honest getting the shopping done will probably knock that important phone number out of the ‘things to remember’ file. Anyhow we no longer remember phone numbers do we? I can remember the phone number of the house I lived in when I was a teenager (Waddington 688) but I don’t know the land-line that I pay for now, I don’t really use it. People may remember a name, a place, they may know what to look for and although they may not know the full ins and outs of Boolean searches. The way that many people use search engines borders on the bizarre, often people have found a way that works and have never ventured towards improvement.

So, Serendipity, Ilfracombe. If you Google those two words as I just have you see my customer’s site at the top of the page. This is a start. The website has been up for a relatively short period of time (a couple of months), it is early days yet. Of course, unlike Starbucks people won’t necessarily know that Serendipity exists, this isn’t enough. However some might, or they may tell others about the accommodation and its name. It is easy to remember this one bit of info and to access the website from this simple search

“Tariff, Holiday, Ilfracombe” results in a position two result with “Booking, Holiday, Ilfracombe” giving a still respectable position 11. “Well, Priced, Holiday, Accommodation, Ilfracombe” gives a P2. Interestingly (for me at least) “well, priced, holiday, devon” gives a similarly high ranking (P2) as indeed does “well, priced, holiday, south-west”.

We are now getting into the realm of useful results. We can see that the Google results will work for those with a brand awareness and those who have never even heard of the resort.

Although a small starter site it was designed with search engines in mind. Headings, titles and text all serve a purpose. It is still early days but, we seem off to a good start.

You can download a PDF brochure for Serendipity here.

I have a number of domains and have recently started using Twitter. In addition I have a Facebook presence and network through Linkedin. With Linkedin I am part of a group as part of my membership of the Chartered Society of Designers. All of this would of course totally fail the Grandpa Test, to be honest my son thinks it is a load of tosh. However I have recently been Skyped by my father so he may be more receptive. The simple truth is that many people think it is all twaddle and quite simply don’t get it at all.

Last Friday I sat trying to explain Twitter to a customer who’s website we are currently developing and to be fair it is a hard thing to explain. The irony is that it was she who had first suggested Twitter for her website and I only joined the community to learn more.

Yesterday I Googled my name (I Google therefore I am?), my Twitter details came up third in the rankings. I am a convert.

Further searches brought my Linkedin status, references to my Twitter activity and this blog in the top six. I have only recently re-visted Linkedin and this self-hosted blog has been up for less than a month. Not bad, not bad at all.

About six months ago I couldn’t find myself through a reverse search on Google at all, I just didn’t appear either through my own name or as Design Credo. Of course there was a simple reason to this, my Design Credo website was set up quite some time ago and things change. Around the time we developed the site I took a break from design and moved into education, the site wasn’t attended to although it has remained hosted throughout. When we set the site up we didn’t really attend to making the site search engine friendly and anyway conditions were very different then.

So, any ideas what started here in 1998?

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