Copyright © 2010 I-COM International 2010-02-09T13:18:11+0000 2010-02-09T13:18:11+0000 http://www.i-com.net/blog/ Leading Manchester SEO, SEM and web design agency blog. http://www.i-com.net/blog/ http://i-com.net/images/icom-net.gif http://www.i-com.net/blog/ Leading Manchester SEO, SEM and web design agency blog. I-COM International blogmaster at i-com dot net I-COM International I-COM International en SEO, SEM, Web Design, Web Development 1440 http://www.i-com.net/blog/the-slow-death-of-internet-explorer-311/ For many years and for many users the browser of choice has been Microsofts Internet Explorer (IE), as evidenced by the fact that it currently has 62.1% share of the browser market. Its popularity can be partly attributed to the fact that IE is packaged with Microsofts Windows operating system. In the last year, various issues relating to IE have become public, centred around various security flaws in the program, although most of the problems relate to older versions of IE still running on many older Windows-based computers. The extent and scale of these issues has even led some European governments to warn against using the browser. These highly publicised problems have resulted in Microsoft losing over 6% of their market share in the last year, with Googles Chrome browser gaining a 5% foothold in the same time period. Although the browser market is changing, the alternatives to Microsofts IE are still little known so I thought I would give a quick rundown on whats out there. Mozilla Firefox: Firefox is now in its 3rd generation and was one of the first browsers to offer tabbed web browsing. Firefox is popular among web developers and search marketers as its highly customisable, but the widgets and add-ons which make it so popular are not just limited to web designers and marketers. For example, there are many social media widgets such as Echofons Twitter add-on that allows you to manage multiple Twitter feeds at one time. Download Firefox if you want a personalised and customisable experience. Google Chrome: As mentioned earlier, Google Chrome has gained market share in the last year but not without good reason. Chrome attempts to do the same for internet browsers what Google.com did for search engines in that it offers users a stripped-down and simplified experience. Chrome is in essence Internet Explorer with unnecessary features stripped out to create a minimalist interface. For example, the address bar is combined with the search box in order to provide a cleaner look. If you looking for back-to-basics internet browsing, then Google Chrome could be the right browser for you.  Safari: Loved by many a Mac user, Apples Safari is similar to Google Chrome in many ways and in some ways offers a slicker feel than many other browsers. Safari is not wholly restricted to the Mac though and is available to download for Microsoft Windows users. Other Browser Options There are of course other options such as Opera and if youre still not looking for an alternative to Internet Explorer I suggest  version 8 which is the most secure. Internet 2010-02-09 09:26:12 http://www.i-com.net/blog/the-slow-death-of-internet-explorer-311/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/death-of-a-copywriter-the-rise-of-the-automated-content-spinners-310/ As automated content spinners become more and more advanced, an SEO copywriter could be forgiven for starting to worry about his or her future job prospects. I'm not going to disclose too much personal information here, but I'm sure you won't be surprised to discover that my annual wage is significantly larger than $47 a year. Just this morning, I've been shown a content spinner with a user-updatable database of synonyms. The software identifies all words in a document for which a synonym exists in its database, and allows users to choose an appropriate word from a list of suggestions. This is a far cry from the standard free spinners, which turn sentences like this: "With a particular focus on getting you good results in Google, our SEO consultants offer you the full complement of SEO services." Into sentences like this: "By means of a fastidious spotlight on understanding you first-rate marks in Google, our SEO consultants tender you the jam-packed balance of SEO armed forces."Can a Content Spinner Replace an SEO Copywriter? No. Absolutely not. I know what you're thinking, "you would say that," so I'll not only make this assertion, I'll jolly well prove it. Whilst I would never advocate such spammy tactics, I can see how online content spinners could be useful for SEO consultants interested in submitting 'unique' content to article sites for the purpose of securing links. However, when it comes to the bread and butter of an SEO copywriter's day, and by this I mean blogging, creating content for client's websites, press releases and so on, your average (even your above-average) spinner would be completely useless. As a client, you can't give a content spinner a brand brief; you can't make revisions to its work; you can't ask it to think again, because it didnt think in the first place. Crucially, to actually take advantage of the time-saving nature of a content spinner, you need the raw materials to spin in the first place. For instance, if your business employed no copywriter, but had a content spinner, and you needed to create a new page of content for a solicitor's homepage, first of all you would have to find a page of content online from a solicitor advertising exactly the same services as your client. You would then have to use the software to create a page of copy that matched the tone and quality your client had specified and submit it to them for approval. If they weren't happy with the results, you would have to make further revisions in light of their comments - by which time you may as well have written the content yourself. Any benefit of the content spinning software you have purchased would be completely lost.We Will Soldier On As is true of many situations in life, there's no substitute for a human being (if you've ever used a robot cashier in a supermarket, you'll know what I'm talking about). Unless content spinners become infinitely more advanced (we're talking A.I.), they're no substitute for a copywriter. Copywriting 2010-02-08 09:06:34 http://www.i-com.net/blog/death-of-a-copywriter-the-rise-of-the-automated-content-spinners-310/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/xml-sitemaps-for-seo-309/ We get asked frequently about the value of XML sitemaps for SEO. Apparently many SEO firms are saying, as part of their sales pitches, that where a current SEO company hasn't created an automated sitemap they are damaging a company's potential for ranking. I say this is total and complete rubbish.The sitemaps feature in Webmaster Tools was created as a way to help sites identify all their pages to search engines and let search engines know when they add or modify content. They also enable search engines to flag errors in reaching specific pages. They have nothing to do with ranking - they merely serve to help with indexing, if your site needs a little help.Where a website has been built correctly so that all its pages can be easily found and crawled by search engines, then an XML sitemap is not strictly necessary. In fact, any good SEO firm should be able to ensure through good coding and well-designed information architecture that no client's website actually NEEDS an XML sitemap in order to get its pages indexed.Why (and when) you should still use XML sitemapsJust because an XML sitemap should be unnecessary for your site does not mean that having one isn't best practice for SEO. First, creating one is easy - there's a lot of places that will  generate one if you don't have an XML feed setup, and you can quickly generate and upload a new one each time you update your site.  If you want to avoid having to do this regularly, however, setting up an automated XML feed that updates itself everytime you update a page then your SEO company should have the skillset to get this done for you (or, if you have a separate developer, your SEO company should be able to advise them on how to do it). Normally, if your site has been built correctly, it shouldn't really take all that long.Second, should something go wrong - should you find pages are not being indexed - having an XML sitemap may enable you to find out quickly which pages are the problem and why the problem exists by looking at Webmaster Tools. Third, it does flag up to search engines the URL of every page of your site. This is useful particularly for large sites that have pages 4, 5, 6 or more levels deep as it may speed up the process of your deep content getting found. This is not to say it will speed up the crawling and indexing - but it may help, so why not try it and see.Finally, if you update your site daily, or several times a day, then having an automated XML sitemap can help search engines understand that they need to visit your website more frequently in order to ensure they have the most up-to-date information.So, yes, your SEO company should recommend an XML sitemap for you - at some point. However, if it's a question of what work to do first, if your pages are being found and there are other things that will deliver results more quickly, then don't worry if they wait because not having one won't harm you - and if they're doing everything else right, having one shouldn't make a difference. Search Engine Optimisation 2010-02-05 09:03:00 http://www.i-com.net/blog/xml-sitemaps-for-seo-309/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/looking-for-the-perfect-gift-this-valentines-day-give-seo-308/ We all know how difficult it can be to find the perfect gift for your partner when Valentine's Day comes around - romance is well known for it's clichs, do you give flowers, teddy bears, chocolates, lingerie, blah, blah, blah? At I-COM, we've seen (and heard, touched, tasted and smelled) it all before, which is why we're recommending a fantastic new gift for Valentine's Day this year:Give SEO!SEO really is a wonderful gift for the special person in your life. Picture the scene - the morning of the fourteenth rolls around and you and your partner awake to the sound of birds twittering, bright February sunlight beaming through a crack in the curtains and a clear blue sky. The world just couldn't get any better. Or could it? You rush downstairs hand in hand. Your partner hands over their present, an ornately wrapped pair of M&S slippers, and you smile, safe in the knowledge that this year, your gift beats their's hands down. "So, what did you get me?" They ask, smiling sweetly. "You're never gonna believe this babe." You say, reaching for your PC's 'On' button. As the computer whirrs to life they begin to look bemused, in that kind of half-laughing way as if they're anticipating the denouement of some elaborate joke. You open a browser and type your specified keyword into Google and lo and behold, there it is. Your partner's website straddling page one like some all-conquering warrior king. They gasp in amazement as you lead them through their perfectly optimised, beautifully constructed website. Gloriously worded meta tags, fields of content rich, optimised sub-pages and bespoke URLs - oh, and what's this? A sitemap to die for. "Oh [insert name], you shouldn't have!" They squeal, throwing their arms around you. "I know babe, I know" you mutter sweetly into their ear.Give a fantastic gift this Valentine's Day. Give SEO. Search Engine Optimisation 2010-02-01 16:15:23 http://www.i-com.net/blog/looking-for-the-perfect-gift-this-valentines-day-give-seo-308/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/miss-boo-vs-boo-hoo-the-importance-of-employing-an-adwords-qualified-company-307/ From the moment a member of the Search team at I-COM highlighted the potential issue regarding the similarity between the newly introduced Miss Boo brand and then I-COM client Boo Hoo, I have watched the progress of the case with interest. Wasabi Frog Limited trade in fashionable women's clothing through the URL www.boohoo.com, and have done since 2006. In September 2009, Miss Boo launched their website at missboo.co.uk, selling similar fashion items and targeting the same demographic (females in the North of England aged between 17 and 25). At the time I-COM were handling the AdWords campaign for boohoo.com, and a member of the Search team suggested that the similarity of the brand name, website and product range of the two companies could lead to confusion on the part of the customer. This, in turn, could lead to a loss of revenue for I-COM's client Wasabi Frog Limited, as customers looking for their website may land on Miss Boo by mistake, not realising that it is in fact a different company. As evidence of this confusion, it was suggested that Wasabi Frog Limited purchase the AdWords term 'Miss Boo' and monitor the number of customers searching for this term, who went on to click through to boohoo.com. The rate was found to be almost 15%, and using this data their solicitor successfully argued that confusion existed in customers' minds as a direct result of the similarity of the two brands.The Result Earlier this month the court granted Wasabi Frog Limited, owners of the boohoo.com domain name, an interim injunction to avoid any potential confusion arising between the two brands. To my mind, this is a fantastic demonstration of the importance of employing an AdWords qualified company with the knowledge and experience to handle your campaign effectively, identifying potential risks to your brand as they arise. Were it not for I-COM, it is highly possible that this evidence may never have been uncovered. Search Engine Marketing 2010-01-29 17:52:15 http://www.i-com.net/blog/miss-boo-vs-boo-hoo-the-importance-of-employing-an-adwords-qualified-company-307/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/seo-still-doesnt-get-social-305/ I've been looking at the Twitter feed of a fairly comprehensive list of UK SEOs this morning and I noticed something. Of the most recent 140 tweets in the feed at the time I was looking (about 11:45am): 13 people plugged their own content 27 people plugged random sites such as newspapers, YouTube videos, funny pictures and other amusing "viral" content 25 recommended or retweeted content on the most popular SEO/Tech sites (e.g. SEO Moz, Techcrunch, Mashable, Sphinn, etc.) only 4 tweets recommended articles on their direct compeitors' blogs - 3 of those four were by the same Manchester SEO person (cheers, BTW, @Psychobel) Now call me crazy, but there's a huge difference between the way linking takes place within search compared to social, and a different purpose. This type of usage is understandable if people are using Twitter to market their services to customers via Twitter - but most SEO'ers I follow are using Twitter to network with other SEO'ers and industry folk. The value of using social is that you're getting something useful from the people you're following, the maxim I find myself repeating ad nauseum to clients about social is that "you have to contribute to get back" - so why is it that all we're getting off social from our SEO peers are links back to content we're probably already reading?I contend that SEO'ers still fundamentally don't understand social MediaAs SEO consultants our instinct is to get links and more links to our own site(s). We want everyone to see our content and we certainly don't want to pass linkjuice back to our competitors - if a link is a vote, you should always vote for yourself!However, on social sites, a link doesn't necessarily equal a vote. For starters, the links don't pass PR - so although you may get 2 seconds in a real time SERP, you're not going to boost your listings that way. You may get some trust from Google, if they see social media mentions to back up your other linkbuilding, however. What you want on social, is to build up networks of friends and contacts who not only like your content, but are willing to recommend it - to retweet, bookmark and plug your blog posts and articles.  How do you get this? You have to be willing to give back as much as you get.Yes, you will be boosting your competitors' blog posts - but if you get in there and make great comments on those blog posts, you get a tasty plug back for yourself in return. You also get gratitude. And when your followers aren't SEO'ers hogging the link love for themselves, they may start passing your content around a bit more - because they like how "social" you're being.Links (of the non-PageRank variety) are what blogging is all about In my experience, the best way to get links to a blog is to link out to other bloggers, comment on their posts both on their sites and on your own and generally be generous with link love.  Blogs are designed to be link-friendly by making a Blogroll* of other recommended blogs a standard thing and by offering commenters the option to link back to their own websites. Some of my favourite blogs are the ones that engage with other blogs in their niches, and there is a lot to be said for following one conversation through several sites at once that engage with and respond to each other. It's social. Blogging is social. Social is about conversations, community and other people. Read: it's not about you. Wouldn't you be completely turned off by someone who constantly turned every conversation back to himself if you were sat in the pub? Well, how are conversations online any different?This is the second thing that SEO'ers don't get about social. They consistently don't want to link out - possibly because they don't want to give their competitors a leg up in the SERPs - although this could be solved with use of rel="nofollow" on those links - but more likely they don't link out because they're scared of bleeding PageRank.Can I just say though, guys, if you're really scared of bleeding PageRank so much that you won't link out from your blog - a format designed for outbound links, a format where if you don't use outbound links it looks wrong - then you need to go back to 2005 and do SEO there because your ideas are well out-of-date.PageRank is only one small part of the algorithm these days and by linking out a couple of times on a page - out of what, the 50, or 100 you'll have on your pages, a link out, you really aren't reducing the internal juice you can pass back to yourself by much, now are you? Having those links makes you look more legitimate and trustworthy. Not having them is just tight - and reduces your chances of anybody linking back in to you as well.Stop thinking like an SEO, start thinking like a personWhat we as SEO consultants need to remember is that social isn't the same as search and we need to start thinking differently. Sure, using social media wisely can bolster an SEO campaign - however, the way to reap the highest rewards isn't by using social media like an SEO trawling for links by any means necessary, but by using it like a person. Think about what social is for, and how people approach social - and how you would like people to approach you using social media, and maybe you'll start learning to love instead of just link.*I never said I practice what I preach - I am a (Manchester) SEO consultant after all... Search Engine Optimisation 2010-01-26 14:25:09 http://www.i-com.net/blog/seo-still-doesnt-get-social-305/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/seo-information-architecture-usability-303/ What is the relationship between Information Architecture (IA) and SEO?The Information Architecture definition, in terms of a website, can be defined as the organisation & structure of a web page. This is of paramount importance in SEO, as it allows for both a user of the website and a search engine robot to find information clearly, and in a set structure. Like puzzles? Then you'll love IA.The relationship between IA and SEO grows all the time, and the desire for clean, well-structured code and semantically optimised web pages is never going to be a negative for any webmaster or user of a website.  By doing this, you are helping Google's (or any search engine for that matter) spiders be able to crawl your web pages quickly and understand what each page is about with clear understanding of the meta data, h1 tag and content. Usability and Information ArchitectureGood architecture is responsible for making it easy to find information. You can do this most effectively by getting people to test how they use your website. Testing is important; in terms of SEO, you can't test how good your search engine rankings will be before they go live. Unless you sat a Google robot down and asked him how easy finding his/her way around the page was, then bought him a drink to encourage good rankings. However, usability is important in every aspect for a user of a website, and SEO has to consider the user as well. How Does Information Architecture relate to SEO?Web Page Code:The web is evolving at a very fast rate, becoming more competitive and diverse all the time. As a result, mistakes can be a frequent occurrence. Broken markup is an all too common problem for search engines; Google could feel that this is an area to focus on for marking a website down in the search engine.Therefore, always focus on clean code that can be easily crawled and understood.As content is the most important part of the SEO game then it is also worth keeping in mind that the content should be situated high in the source code for the page. Finally, remember that every image should contain an alt attribute that contains a keyword that describes the image (unless it's a placeholder image, in which case, use alt="")! For other media, like videos, the titles should contain keywords as well.Structure/Accessibility:This should be easily laid out in the back end and front end of a page for easy crawling by a search engine and, in turn, indexing of pages in the index. It is important to think about the user in this area: What do they expect when they come to the website? Have the pathways for them to get to this page been easily accessible? How easy is the information to access now? All questions that need answering and should be in the front of the architect's mind when creating the page. It is important to remain consistent in your navigation and structure; it can be difficult when you are trying to break norms of conventional navigation, but what must remain consistent is the structure of a web page for SEO.ContentSimply put, keep it engaging and simple! The content should remain high in the source code, like I said before, but the important thing to remember is that search engines give you a slap over the head and 1000 lines for every second word being a keyword. It also will be useless to people reading it. On-page links (Internal)Internal links are a great way to help a user navigate their way through the website, however, don't overdo it, and make sure that the link to a page has relevant anchor text. SummaryThink about the user and think about the crawler. IA has a place for every aspect of building a web site, from design to SEO so the relationship with it has never been closer when considering how competitive 'getting online' is. Fixing a code-heavy website is similar to a spring clean - get rid of the unnecessary, move what you can into include files and keep only the minimal amount of code with descriptive keywords throughout the content. The structure of the site and of each and every page should be clear so that it helps engage the user and makes it easy for them to navigate from page to page.Creating a well-coded website forms the basis of SEO, so you can then add all the right content to acquire all the right links. Search Engine Optimisation 2010-01-26 09:14:17 http://www.i-com.net/blog/seo-information-architecture-usability-303/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/4networking-business-breakfast-tuesday-260110-premier-inn-trafford-centre-west-304/ I'll be sharing my online marketing secrets with attendees to the 4Networking Business Breakfast on Tuesday 26th January, at Premier Inn, Trafford Centre West. The event will run between 08.00 and 10.00am. Here at I-COM we believe that having a great looking website is useless if no-one ever sees it, which is why we offer all our clients comprehensive SEO strategies, designed to get them into the most relevant SERPs to their business. I'll be sharing my inside knowledge on the ins and outs of search engine marketing, including tips on how you can make the most out of your online presence, turning those casual visitors into paying customers. Attendance to the event costs just 10. Book your place today. If you only attend one business breakfast this year, make it this one. I guarantee you'll be enthused, amazed and inspired! I-COM News 2010-01-25 13:50:39 http://www.i-com.net/blog/4networking-business-breakfast-tuesday-260110-premier-inn-trafford-centre-west-304/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/christmas-online-shopping-stats-a-round-up-301/ Christmas may seem like a distant memory now, with the only reminder of the festive period being that solitary mince pie left in the cupboard (they just dont taste the same when its not Christmas); but from an online perspective, there are some interesting results that are worthy of comment. A plethora of stats for online shopping in the UK in the run-up to Christmas have been released over the past couple of weeks. Those of particular interest include:  Cyber Monday (7th December) remained the biggest shopping day of the year, with the peak being 3 million being spent online in the UK in one hour between 13:00 and 14:00 The average order placed online was up by 94% this Christmas, compared to the same period in 2008 The number of goods that are purchased per transaction has also increased significantly, from 2.7 items in 2007 to 3.7 per order in 2009 132 million worth of purchases were made on Christmas Day, an increase of 29% on the previous year (eDigitalResearch) All of the indications from these stats are that peoples shopping habits are changing.  But is this shift a natural process, or are retailers being more savvy in their marketing and actively influencing shoppers behaviour in the direction of online? I certainly noticed that the larger retailers were much more on the ball this time around. For the six weeks leading up to Christmas, I came to expect at least five email messages in my personal email inbox every day from retailers promoting online Christmas offers and products.  (I would suspect that the free delivery over X offers as promoted in such emails had an influence in raising the average order value.  I was sucked into this on at least three occasions in the run up to Christmas!!)I have blogged previously about Marks and Spencers and how their online marketing efforts and social media campaigns are setting the standards for other leading retailers. In the run up to Xmas, there was a further noticeable step up by Marks and Spencers and their contemporaries in terms of their social media usage using Twitter and Facebook to keep customers informed about everything from their deals of the day, to last delivery dates and even updates on delivery delays due to snowy conditions. And with the likes of @chiconomise and @fashionpixies aggregating all offers from UK retailers and directing traffic to online sales, we are being spoon fed all the info we need to make Christmas shopping online easy peasy.There is little doubt that as the number of mainstream stores offering online shopping has grown, people in the UK are becoming more used to researching and completing online purchases. The fear factor has diminished significantly and the demographic of people making online purchases has undoubtedly broadened; and so long as retailers continue to do the right things and target their customers effectively via a variety of channels, all indications are that the online shopping bug will only continue to take a further hold.And what with all the snow and ice, freezing cold temperatures, and queues snaking around the aisles, there is certainly a lot to be said for Christmas shopping from your sofa <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:950285101; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1404189612 134807553 134807555 134807557 134807553 134807555 134807557 134807553 134807555 134807557;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-18.0pt; font-family:Symbol;} ol {margin-bottom:0cm;} ul {margin-bottom:0cm;} --> Internet Marketing 2010-01-25 09:27:00 http://www.i-com.net/blog/christmas-online-shopping-stats-a-round-up-301/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/word-of-mouse-302/ Just last week I was asked again by a client, How can I use social media to promote my business? My answer was, It depends on who you want to attract, what image you want to portray, and what kind of publicity you want to generate.We hear people talking about the latest celebrity tweets; we receive emails from past colleagues requesting to join their network - so how should we use what seems to be a spontaneous minefield?If you are a new business just starting up or an established business nervous of how your brand values will reflect in the social arenas, you should approach each relevant site in the same way as you would with any other new advertising medium: test, monitor and report. Define your target audience. Create a personal profile on a couple of social media sites and monitor them for a while. Dont use your company name and dont post anything that will draw attention to yourself until you understand the community and feel the fit of the network is right for your business. Look at your direct competition in order to learn about what networks they use and how they communicate with their audience. Schedule time to regularly maintain and update your online presence. Remember that the post, tweet or comment may only take a few seconds to type but that you should give careful consideration to what you write and the message it sends. Planning and timing is key - consider all your other marketing activities and create targets and incentives. Monitor the feedback and posts to your profile because recording this information will provide invaluable insight into how your product or company is perceived. Most importantly - think before you upload. Social media gives your mouse voice. It can strengthen relationships and create opportunities to attract and engage your target audience. Social Media Marketing 2010-01-22 12:17:37 http://www.i-com.net/blog/word-of-mouse-302/