Web Design Ireland, The Webbery Blog » Search Engine Optimisation & Marketing, Ireland http://blog.webbery.ie Tips on Search Engine Optimisation and News about Webbery & Little Ireland websites Tue, 24 May 2011 08:54:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Website Visitors & Adding Google Analytics to your website http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/website-visitors-adding-google-analytics-to-your-website/ http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/website-visitors-adding-google-analytics-to-your-website/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:58:24 +0000 admin http://blog.webbery.ie/?p=206 Google Analytics are a currently free service allowing you to analyse how many site visitors you are getting, which pages they visit and where your site visitors are coming from. To include Google analytics on your website you first need to sign up for the service on website address on www.google.com/analytics. You will need a [...]]]> Google Analytics are a currently free service allowing you to analyse how many site visitors you are getting, which pages they visit and where your site visitors are coming from. To include Google analytics on your website you first need to sign up for the service on website address on www.google.com/analytics. You will need a Google account for this. Google account registration and Analytics signup is currently free. If you don’t already have a Google account you can create one here

https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount

When you sign up Google will provide you with some code which they request you include on each page of your site.  Once you have placed the code on each page of your site then, after about a day, you will start getting information about your website  visitors appearing in your Google Analytics console, www.google.com/analytics, when you login.

If you have one of our Little Ireland Websites or Small Island websites you do not need to put the Google page manually on each page of your website. You need  only to extract the User Account Code i.e. look for the part like _uacct = “UA-1103444-1″ and the user account is the part between the quotation marks. At the end of the Description part of your ‘Edit Home’ page in the administration section of your website put .analyticsUA-1103444-1.endanalytics i.e. a ‘.’ followed by the word analytics then then your user account code and then a ‘.’ followed by ‘endanalytics’ ( where ‘UA-1103444-1′ should be replaced by your user account code). You only need to do this on your Home page as the  Content Management System (CMS) will then insert the required code on each page of your site.

]]> http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/website-visitors-adding-google-analytics-to-your-website/feed/ 0 Search Engine Optimisation http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/search-engine-optimisation/ http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/search-engine-optimisation/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:00:46 +0000 admin http://blog.webbery.ie/?p=190 The most important question when considering a website is how you are going to get your website on page one of Google or another way of putting this is how to get a high search engine result position (SERP).

 There are many hundreds of different factors which influence your position on search engines. We generally achieve [...]]]> The most important question when considering a website is how you are going to get your website on page one of Google or another way of putting this is how to get a high search engine result position (SERP).

 There are many hundreds of different factors which influence your position on search engines. We generally achieve first page results for our clients. So the short answer to this question is contact us and we will get you on to the first page of Google.

Here are some of the methods that we use to make sure that you get a good search engine position for your web pages.

  • We will undertake some keyword analysis to make sure that you are using the correct words on your pages to attract prospective clients
  • We use those keywords in your web page title, headings, body, images descriptions, web page file names and links to your pages.
  • We build your website without any errors and using the latest technology.
  • We build your web pages in a way that is search engine friendly. This means that each of your web pages can be found by a search engine robot spidering through the website starting at your home page.
  • We create quick to download web pages (which are favoured by Google) hosted on a thoroughly reliable server with a fast response time.
  • We give you a link from our Little Ireland website (or for British websites from our Small Island website).
  • We provide you with a content management system so that you can keep your web pages up-to-date.

 
These are just a few of the important factors. We undergo ongoing research and development to make sure that our system is fully optimised for the latest search engine requirements. We achieve excellent results for our clients which you are welcome to confirm by contacting them for their comments.

Call us today on 0749135533 to talk about your web design project and search engine optimisation requirements and find out how we can design you a great website and get great search engine exposure for your business or visit our website at Little Ireland Web Design

]]> http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/search-engine-optimisation/feed/ 0 Starters Guide to Sponsored advertising on Google – Google Adwords (Pay Per Click) http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/starters-guide-to-sponsored-advertising-on-google-adwords-pay-per-click/ http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/starters-guide-to-sponsored-advertising-on-google-adwords-pay-per-click/#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:13:09 +0000 admin http://blog.webbery.ie/?p=188 Any business can easily run their own sponsored advertising campaign (pay per click campaign) using Google Adwords. Before you start you need your own website. Contact Us if you need a website set up for you which we can do from €140+VAT a year.

Here is a short guide to getting started with Adwords.

Create a Google [...]]]> Any business can easily run their own sponsored advertising campaign (pay per click campaign) using Google Adwords. Before you start you need your own website. Contact Us if you need a website set up for you which we can do from €140+VAT a year.

Here is a short guide to getting started with Adwords.

  1. Create a Google account (if you don’t already have one) at https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount
  2. Login to adwords at www.Google.ie/AdWords
  3. Go to the Campaign tab and then click ‘New campaign’
  4. Under Locations, Languages and Demographics select ‘Ireland’ (more specific county based targeting does not work at present in Ireland). If you are trading throughout the island of Ireland or you are in the North you would want to include at least the Northern Ireland region of the UK. Click on ‘Select one or more other locations’ to add this region or, if you are exporting business, to add other countries.
  5. Under Bidding and budget specify a maximum daily spend e.g. €2 a day.
  6. Click ‘Save and continue’
  7. You should now be on the ‘Create ad group’ page.  Under ‘Create an ad’ choose ‘Text ad’ and put in your required ad wording e.g “Gas Boilers Serviced in the Dublin and Leinster area”
  8. Under ‘Display URL’ put your website address e.g. www.mycompanyswebaddress.ie
  9. Under ‘Destination URL’ put the same thing so that the advert will link to http://www.mycompanyswebaddress.ie
  10. Under ‘Keywords’ Fill in your keywords e.g. ‘Boiler Service’ and any others on separate lines and click ‘Estimate Search Traffic’
  11. Under ‘Ad group default bids (Max. CPC)’ fill in the maximum amount per click that you are willing to pay (e.g. €0.20)
  12. Press ‘Save Ad Group’. Your ad will then shortly go live on Google. You can make sure it is working by going to the Google home page www.google.ie (or www.google.co.uk for Britain & Northern Ireland) and searching for e.g. ‘Boiler Service’ and checking that your ad appears in the sponsored listings.
  13. You can change any of the settings above at any time by logging into Google Adwords at any time and going to the Campaigns tab. You can also check how your Adwords campaign is going and how much it has cost you so far.

There is a lot of help, information and training videos about Adwords campaign management a http://adwords.google.com/support/ but there is much more information available in the training centre than you need to get started. To start off with, just follow the guidelines above and you can make refinements to your Adwords campaign as you learn through experience.

]]> http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/starters-guide-to-sponsored-advertising-on-google-adwords-pay-per-click/feed/ 0 Sponsored Advertising http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/sponsored-advertising/ http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/sponsored-advertising/#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:06:02 +0000 admin http://blog.webbery.ie/?p=185 All search engines and many websites offer sponsored advertising but the most successful sponsored advertising  company is Google. Google sponsored advertising facility is called Google Adwords. The most frequently used type of sponsored advertising offered by Google is Pay Per Click (PPC) although Google also offers payment methods based on the number of impressions (i.e. [...]]]> All search engines and many websites offer sponsored advertising but the most successful sponsored advertising  company is Google. Google sponsored advertising facility is called Google Adwords. The most frequently used type of sponsored advertising offered by Google is Pay Per Click (PPC) although Google also offers payment methods based on the number of impressions (i.e. you pay for each thousand impressions that your ad receives) and also a cost-per-acquisition (CPA) bid which is based on paying for a conversion, such as a sale or sign-up.

If your website is advertised in this way, using Google Adwords, then a link to your website would appear in the sponsored links section of the Google search results. There are usually on the right-hand-side of the main body of the results although on some occasions one or two of the sponsored links appear at the top of the Google search results page.

There are two ways that you can get your company advertised using Google Adwords. One is by creating your own Google adwords campaign the other is by using a search engine marketing company to create the Google adwords campaign for you.

]]> http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/sponsored-advertising/feed/ 0 Organic search engine results http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/organic-search-engine-results/ http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/organic-search-engine-results/#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:03:08 +0000 admin http://blog.webbery.ie/?p=182 These are the listings in the main body of the Google search results pages. These are free listings and the position that you obtain in this listing depends on how relevant Google considers your page to be in relation to this particular keyword search. The process of improving the relevance of your pages for search [...]]]> These are the listings in the main body of the Google search results pages. These are free listings and the position that you obtain in this listing depends on how relevant Google considers your page to be in relation to this particular keyword search. The process of improving the relevance of your pages for search engine results is called search engine optimisation (SEO). The Webbery includes search engine optimisation as a standard part of our web design costs and will also give advice to our clients at any time on improving results as part of our ongoing support services. See    Search Engine Optimisation for more information on our SEO services.

]]> http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/organic-search-engine-results/feed/ 0 Search Engine Marketing http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/search-engine-marketing/ http://blog.webbery.ie/2009/11/search-engine-marketing/#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:54:14 +0000 admin http://blog.webbery.ie/?p=178 There are a number of companies cold calling businesses in Ireland and trying to get them to sign up for search engine marketing services.  One of these is Matchmaker Marketing whose sales people often imply that they are ringing on behalf of Google.

 Google does not make direct marketing calls so you can be sure that [...]]]> There are a number of companies cold calling businesses in Ireland and trying to get them to sign up for search engine marketing services.  One of these is Matchmaker Marketing whose sales people often imply that they are ringing on behalf of Google.

 Google does not make direct marketing calls so you can be sure that you are not being rung by Google. You can read more about this scam in the Sunday Business Post article on Matchmaker Marketing. http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2009/05/24/story41952.asp

 If you do get a call from any company making claims as to search engine services that they can offer and if you are inclined to consider their offer do the following:

  1. Check exactly who the company is – at a minimum go to their website
  2. Get an email or letter from them detailing exactly the services they are offering and all the costs involved (including any ongoing costs)
  3. Ask for examples of other client companies who are using their search engine services and check that the other client companies are happy with them
  4. Check that the company has at least one Google Advertising Professional and preferably it should be a Google Adwords Qualified Company (see below).
  5. Carefully check the terms of their contract to find out how long you might be tied in to it.

You can check the  Professional Status of a company or individual  by clicking on the ‘AdWords Qualified Individual’ or ‘Adword Qualified Company’ logo that should be displayed on their website. If it is not displayed on their website ask them to supply the link to the Google page which confirms their professional status.  Check the following details to be sure that their professional status is authentic:

  • The name of the company or individual on the page is the same name as the company or individual that is contacting you
  • The page address starts with  ‘http://adwords.google.com/select/ProfessionalStatus.’ (you should see this in the address bar of your browser (at the top of the browser) when looking at the page.

Do not give your credit card details over just because you are pressurised by a salesperson to do so.

Search engine marketing companies selling Google related services will be usually be offering to set up a Google Adwords (Pay per Click) service at a fixed price per month. Our clients have told us that prices offered range from €20 (for a limited period) to €200 per month depending on the company.

If your website is advertised in this way, using Google adwords, then a link to your website would appear in the sponsored links section of the Google search results. There are usually on the right-hand-side of the main body of the results although on some occasions one or two of the sponsored links appear at the top of the Google search results page.

 If you have decided that the search engine marketing company you are considering is offering a legitimate service then consider first the following two questions:

  1. Could you improve your website optimisation and get better organic search engine results? Once you have performed search engine optimisation you may find that you do not need to pay for sponsored advertising as you are receiving sufficient enquiries from organic searches.
  2. Could you run your own adwords campaign directly with Google and save yourself a large proportion of the costs involved in employing a search engine marketing company?

Legitimate search engine marketing companies will not try to make excessive profits by taking advantage of companies who are not aware of how Google sponsored advertising works. However more unscrupulous companies may be making excessive profits by praying on a company’s ignorance in this respect. For instance one small business was paying a search engine marketing company €50 for one search term using Google Adwords, per month. For that search term, if they had advertised directly with Google the adwords would have cost them approximately 6 cents per click with around 3 clicks per day and therefore approximately €5.40 for the month.

Look at our other posts on search engine marketing and search engine optimisation so that you can better decide whether you want to go ahead with an offer from a search engine marketing company.

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