Praeparo thinks this is a good idea as we all should be creating a good user experience. Page load time is critical in a user experience as if we can’t convince the user the site is good in a few seconds they will just bounce.

The only area of concern is that some sites to create a good user experience are rich in content that slows the page down. This is acknowledged and accepted by the users BUT how will Google handle this? In this case we should just accept that these pages will not rank so high and thus create other more focused landing pages that then direct to the slower pages for more information.

Very important for all website owners to evaluate page speed and create an action plan to rectify any pain points. This does not have to be expensive, we suggest find the quick wins and make any changes as part of your usual maintenance or content refresh processes.

But remember DON’T PANIC as content is still the leading factor. Page speed is only a very small element of the overall ranking algorithms.

If you have concerns please get in touch with Praeparo and we can quickly help you find out if you have a problem or not.

This technically works but loses you points in the search engine optimisation game. Thus, it is much better to have a human understandable URL, for example www.mydomain.com/menswear/jumpers

However, this can create problems where the same end page can be reached through multiple navigation paths. This can result in what the search engine sees as duplicate content. A search engine flags duplicate content when it sees the same content at more than one URL.

You need to have a careful naming strategy to ensure this does not happen. For example in an ecommerce web site:

Categories: www.mydomain.com/category

Subcategories: www.mydomain.com/category/subcategory

Products: www.mydomain.com/products

The key element of the above strategy is that the products are not listed under categories. This means that if multiple categories have the same product they will point at the ONE product page, helping with much valued internal links.

The example above refers to an ecommerce site like oscommerce or OSCMax but the problem can also occur in blogging software like WordPress or web site builder packages.

Praeparo can work with you and help you understand the correct strategies for your web site and also help with an implementation plan that will have limited risk on your current search engine rankings.

By optimised we are not talking about a technical web developer just adding some keywords into the address bar URL or some relevant keyword titles, descriptions based on the page content. We are talking about applying marketing principles to each page.

Praeparo believes SEO is about actually attaining marketing goals. These goals are not just about traffic but more linked to conversions.

So how do we get a marketing optimised website? Website optimisation needs to take the marketing goals and link these to a specific website page(s). Once this is done we have a goal to achieve and the page needs to be worked to meet this goal. Items to consider are:

• Keyword Research: We need to understand the keywords that Search Engine users type that we want to get our website page in front of.
• Sales Pitch: Treat the Search Engine Results (SERPs) as a sales advert. We need to convince the viewer in around 160 characters that our page is relevant – we need to sell our landing page.
• Relevant Page: The landing page needs to clearly match the sales pitch in our SERPs advert, if not the visitor will just leave [bounce].
• Call to Action: The page needs to get the visitor to convert, i.e. achieve the marketing goal.
• Secondary Action: We need to handle a secondary option for the visitor just in case the page is OK but not quite what they were looking for. This is about keeping them interested and on the site by going to a secondary page.

The web site design and development process needs to be tightly integrated into the marketing plan so that as new content is delivered it has a clear objective.

In conclusion, website optimisation is about meeting marketing goals and optimising for those goals. Thus, you can’t optimise a website without having first developed a Digital Marketing strategy or plan.

1. you can pay 50% deposit and 50% balance when your project is finished

2. split that balance across 12 easy monthly payments.

You can purchase more items by adding to your monthly payments. It’s a great way to help your business grow!

An example is our small business starter pack at £425 (+vat). This would work out at £35.42/month which gets you a domain name, website, emails and hosting for the year.

What you get for an all inclusive £425 is:

• A domain name of your choice, e.g. www.yourname.com or www.yourname.co.uk.
• Website hosting for one year.
• Starter website of up to 5 pages designed by our design team.
• Google analytics implemented so you know what happens.
• Hosting Technical support.
• Search Engine optimisation plan.

The whole idea is that we take the hassle and risk out of getting you going.

Give us a call today on 01296 320005 or contact us using our contact us form.

As it is very costly many organisations take short cuts. This means important information is held on someone’s PC hard drive, often people work from different copies of important reference data. Rather than save money these short cuts can be very costly.

The answer is Software as a Service (SaaS) and more specifically Google Apps.

Google Apps are a set of services provide to manage contacts, emails, calendars, documents and web sites securely.

• Gmail for business 25GB storage, less spam, and a 99.9% uptime SLA, and enhanced email security.
• Google Calendar Agenda management, scheduling, shared online calendars and mobile calendar sync.
• Google Docs Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Work online without attachments.
• Google Groups User-created groups providing mailing lists, easy content sharing, searchable archives.
• Google Sites Secure, coding-free web pages for intranets and team managed sites.
• Google Video Private, secure, hosted video sharing.

Don’t wait for a disaster! Don’t continue to spend on un-needed and expensive infrastructure! Don’t continue to spend on expensive software licenses! Don’t continue to keep expensive support staff internal!

Start saving and reducing risk by trying Google Apps with its FREE trial.

Get in touch with Praeparo and we can help you get past all the jargon, plan and run an evaluation or prototype.

This allows people to join the Coast Radar Community without the need to register by adopting a single-sign on using the facebook id. This allows community members to add beach details, activities and reviews and also push comments up to own facebook walls.

This is the first step in a tight integration to facebook by www.coastradar.com and the use of Coast Radar facebook Page.

Often this is because any new visitor will want to gain confidence that the organisation behind the website is real and not too risky to do business with. In the offline world you automatically evaluate a company based on physical details like premises, staff politeness, packaging etc. Website visitors need to do the same but they don’t have the physical aspects at hand. Some of the items they look for and thus you need to plan into your website design are:

• High quality website design.
• Website always available (good hosting).
• Postal address clearly displayed (not a PO Box).
• Real phone number (not just a mobile).
• Secure website (SSL – https) when entering any personal details.
• Privacy policy.
• Terms and conditions.
• Guarantees/refund policies.
• Customer list or portfolio.
• Trade body memberships.
• Fresh content.
• External recommendations or reviews.

If a website is not managed correctly with respect to the above list it can damage a brand that has been heavily invested in offline or traditional marketing. In all cases a brand must be protected at all costs.

Take a step back and have a look at your website and measure against your competitors. Ask the question – would I do business with these people?

Praeparo have long been designing and marketing websites and can provide a free evaluation of your current website – click here!

The first step is consider what type of online presence you want, these fall roughly into 5 categories although a number of websites do offer more than one.

1. e-commerce:
   provision of products available to purchase online.
2. information:
   typically help to generate offline sales of services by providing information.
3. brand:
   focus is to support your brand.
4. portal:
   provision of news and information around a range of topics.
5. social networks or community:
   enables community interactions between different consumers.

All these categories influence in slightly different ways when it comes to website design, development, website launch, operational ongoing costs and marketing. For example, a brand building site needs less monthly work than an e-commerce or portal site which depend on fresh updated information.

The thinking is that if any task takes more than 3 clicks to complete, a visitor will not complete the task. It is one of the oldest pillars of website usability design.

So is it over emphasised?

Although the 3-click rule can make you think about your page hierarchy we believe it is only one of the items you need to consider. Yes if you have a step of tasks then you should be limiting the number of clicks but the major rule is design to what the user wants and expects.

You must consider and provide:

• Detailed search to enable people to jump to what they are looking for.
• Common menu system on every page so that they always know how to get somewhere.
• Keep the pages simple. Visitors will not detail read they will first scan the page looking for key items like headings, links, bold text etc.  Only if it is interesting will they then go through back in more detail.
• Get a balance of pictures/images and text. Too many of one or the other will put people off. Images should be used to enhance content and not replace as now people too often associate images with banner advertising of which more and more people ignore.
• Search engine optimisation. You need to design for the visitor with search engines in mind and not the other way around. A high bounce rate in Google Analytics indicates the wrong balance in that people are finding you but the content is not relevant.

In Summary

Yes the 3-Click rule is relevant but not in isolation. You must consider all elements of website design and find the correct balance between them.