The long standing questions – What is Flash?  Should we use it and if we do what are the implications?   For years we advised people to steer clear of flash because the search engines just could not get to grips with it but now its quite popular to add a small element of flash to enhance the look and feel of a website.  We do still advise on the best use of flash becuase it can cause problems for users especially if they do not have flash player downloaded onto their computer. So to answer the questions:

What is Flash?  a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages.

Should we use Flash?  What are the Implications? Yes, why not as long as it enhances the sales message and does not take from it.  There are different ways to integrate flash into a website and here are out thoughts:

Flash introductions – pure vanity? You know the scene – floating images combining to form a one image over a few seconds, and you search frantically for the ‘skip’ button. Bad news when research confirms you have only seconds to grab the attention of your visitor.   As well as being almost universally disliked by web users, this combination of Flash and ‘splash page’ can also block search engine crawlers.

Flash built websites -  This was a short lived fad in the late 1990s.  Building your whole website in flash means high costs, poor usability and visibility on search engines.  Some agencies used bad practice to ensure that flash sites were visible to search engines and lets just say, they did not like it much.

Flash navigation - just don’t do it. Bad for usability, accessibility and search engine performance.

Flash banners or embedded flash objects - This option is very popular and does not really affect search engine performance unless it is very heavy, you will need alternative content to remain accessibility compliant. Ensure it does not distract from the most important thing, the sales message. Good if you are selling a moving part that you need to demonstrate.

Google changed their algorithm in late 2009 making it more difficult for some websites to get that all important page one / no. 1 listing . Google states that “We use more than 200 signals, including our patented PageRank™ algorithm, to examine the entire link structure of the web and determine which pages are most important.”  So what should you focus on, here is what works for us:

• keywords in page content but not just in the page content, include then in links and h1 headings. When linking to a page, think about the key phrase for the page you are being take to not necessarily the page you are on
• well written and optimised meta data – dont over load your meta data with lots of key phrases. Focus on 2 keyphraes for each page.
• age of site – are you being seen as an authority in your area
• weight of page  – does your server respond well and does your website download quickly
• unique content – are you saying the same old thing as all your competitors and are you updating your website regularly?
• amount, age and stability of links coming in from external websites
• your overall online profile, are you using social networking and business networking websites to drive traffic to your website.  Have you listings and links on high profile websites?

The key is to make your website as user-friendly as possible, Google wants to ensure that when someone searches that the most relevant searches are returned.  If you put all of the above in place its not going to happen overnight so ensure that you are continually working on your website content, keeping it up to date and improving your online profile at all times.  The time you put into it will pay off in the longrun.

My colleague was speaking with one of our clients earlier today, Organic Cotton Shop, she had just bought Sophie the Giraffe.  So what’s Sophie the Giraffe I hear you ask?  In short its a Natural Latex Pacifier and Teether for babies and toddlers.

Now I hear you ask, what has this got to do with forums.  Well to make a long story short, someone bought one, mentioned it in Roller Coaster’s forum and since then their sales have increases 10 fold for this particular product and the footfall through the shop has also increases. 

This is a great case study to show how user generated content in forums can help increase your brand/product awareness.  

Be aware that you cannot use forums to promote your self as you will get a slap on the wrists but it is certainly a good idea to keep an eye on whats being said and getting involved in threads that are relevant to your business. Dont forget to read their policies and T&C carefully but most don’t mind you putting your business name and website address in your signature (and don’t forget keyphrases in your post if you want it to help your website optimisation).

I have been amazed recently at the amount of people still using Internet Explorer version 6. Late last year I was delivering training programmes and out of 3 training locations, 2 were still using IE6 on some computers. This is madness, it went out with the ark, well not really but it is several years old and does not work properly. So why upgrade?

1. Web designers and developers do not support this version anymore
2. Some websites don’t displayed properly
3. There are security issues which can put your computer, your data and your privacy at risk. The latest versions are safer, easier to use and include a host of new features
4. Its OLD and OUTDATED – would you use a cassette player when you could easily upgrade to an iPod?

It’s FREE so upgrade to IE8 now, just visit http://www.microsoft.com/ireland/ie8ireland/ and download.

Many of the technologies and techniques used in cloud computing are not new. Virtualization which has been around for some years is an integral part of all cloud solutions. Many have argued that there is nothing more to cloud computing than a re-packaging of existing technologies.

There is no doubt that there is a great deal of hype surrounding the term. However there are a few crucial aspects associated with cloud computing that could mean the technology represents a paradigm shift in how we use computational resources.

First among these is scalability. In particular the ‘elastic’ nature of cloud scalability – the ability to effectively scale up infinitely but also to scale down as demand decreases.

Elastic scalability is closely linked to another important aspect of cloud computing – the payment model. In contrast to existing models the cloud provider charges based on resource use rather than any flat fee or contract.
Users pay only for what they use – so they pay more when demand is high but also pay less when demand is low. This payment model bears a close resemblance to that used by utility companies – for example, electricity customers pay only for the amount of electricity used.

It is reasonable to suggest that cloud computing may signal the beginning of a move towards ‘computation as a utility’.

The advantages of cloud computing are obvious and manifold. Firstly initial outlay for computation costs is minimal.

For example, a new website which traditionally would be forced to invest heavily in infrastructure in preparation for a ‘hoped for’ audience of users could instead use a cloud provider and pay nothing until (and unless) the ‘hoped for’ audience materializes.

A similar attraction is presented to existing businesses. If said business expects a large increase in demand for it’s services at a particular time each year (the holiday season perhaps) then traditionally the only option would have been to purchase more infrastructure to cope with the expected spike in demand.

It would be impractical to scale back this infrastructure after demand had decreased. With cloud hosting this would happen automatically. Indeed the cloud would be capable of handling any potential load. Businesses no longer need to plan infrastructure changes based on what “might” happen.

The nature of cloud computing means that cloud providers will necessarily be large companies. The scale of infrastructure will require a huge amount of investment. It is likely that many smaller companies will resell services hosted on cloud infrastructure provided by these large providers. There are obvious privacy concerns with a future dominated by a few large companies.

The idea that a handful of companies will dominate the worlds computation and by extension information is indeed a troubling one. The analogy with other utility providers falls down when the value of information is considered.

It is likely that cloud providers will insist their systems are data agnostic but the theoretical possibility of intercepting data will likely worry many potential customers.

In conclusion it seems that cloud computing is more that just a marketing term. It may indeed signal the next evolution in computer systems.

Even a cursory examination of the Amazon AWS products (for example) provides an insight into the enormous potential and power of the cloud. The prospect of effectively infinite computer power and scalability with remarkable ease of use and a pay-as-you-go payment model is certainly an attractive one.

One obvious caveat is the necessity for a fast and reliable internet connection. Assuming such a connection exists it would almost seem irrational if in future computation was not handed over to the cloud.

Visit Amazons AWS site for lots of info on their services

I received a call yesterday from a lady who said she was calling from Google. As I am an agent I did not think this was strange so I took the call and listened to what she had to say. It was along the lines of “how would you like to have a top listing in Google and not have to pay the costs of pay per click”. I though great, tell me more but then it clicked. She was not calling from Google at all. I had just received one of those calls; yes you probably have all received one by now. A company (normally from the UK) promising the all elusive no. 1 listing for little cost.

So my next move was to ask her if she actually worked for Google, she then changed to say that she was calling on behalf of Google but in reality she was probably calling from a call centre, had been given a list of companies to call and we were unfortunate enough to be on that list.

I found it strange that they had not done any research on our company, if she had she would have seen that we provide search engine optimisation services so I would know that you cannot promise a no. 1 listing to anyone unless you are going to go down the route of pay per click. Too many factors play a part in getting you a top listing from the density of key phrases in the page copy, meta data to links and the list goes on. When I said this to her, I think she got a fright and stumbled a bit. Needless to say the call ended.

The moral of this story is to ignore calls from people claiming to be from Google, Google are probably the only company making money in the recession – they don’t need to make cold calls.

If you need search engine optimisation services talk to our expert 046 9730147.

“Why bother” “cannot see the point” “takes too much time” just a few quotes I have had from clients recently when I mention using Twitter to help promote their business products and services. So is Twitter loosing the social networking war? The jury is still out on that one but there do appear to be a few jumping ship.

On the other hand there are also a lot of companies using it and quite successfully. The great thing about Twitter is that it is many things to many people. It allows you to keep up with friends and family. Follow local events. Interact with companies and stores where you are already a customer and get questions answered. And even better you don’t have to turn on the lap top every time you want to look at or publish a new tweet. Just set it up on your phone and off you go. So are you using it and how successfully.

Ever wondered where spammers get your email address so they can send in those wonderful emails about enlarging parts of you body that you dont have or trying to flog pills or watches, well chances are they took it off your own website.  Using a programme, spammers can scrape email addresses off websites, hence you get lots of spam.  A few years ago I landed into work with 1279 emails awaiting me, tankfully not all work but I did have to delete all the spam, 1272 of them, which took some time. 

Do you want to ensure your email address cannot be scraped?  Use this Email Address Encoder tool http://www.wbwip.com/wbw/emailencoder.html. Its easy and best of all its free.

Thanks to all those who sent get well wishes over the past few weeks – I am returning to the blog temporarily to update, having just been ‘released’ temporarily from St James’ Hospital where my leukaemia treatment seems to be going well. In  my absence the team is doing brilliantly and has been strengthened by Julianne Hand who joins us to cover for Caitriona’s maternity leave from August as well as covering some of my work. More treatment to come and a bone marrow transpant if one is found so it will be late autumn before I return to work.

Lots of people have asked how they can help and there are two key things that can help people in my situation big time.

Firstly you can register to donate bone marrow

Secondly please give blood.  I need platelets daily to keep me alive right now so stocks need replacing!

You may have noticed when searching in Google recently, that listings with Google maps are appearing more and more, they are Google’s business listings which are a great way to get yourself into Google quickly. I have been listing tourism businesses and within 24hours they are getting a page one listing, normally in the top 5 listings.

I hear you ask how do you do this, its actually very simple.  Go to www.google.com/maps, click the link “Put your business on Google Maps”.   Follow the steps. Its really simple.  To ensure you are a legit business they will need to give you a pin number to confirm your listing, this can be given 3 ways – phone, text or postcard.  I would recommend the phone option as its the quickest - just make sure that you are available straight away to answer the phone (this would be the number you added to your business listing) to take down the 5 digit pin number.  One tip would be to try include a keyword in the business name e.g. SitesToGo would become SitesToGo website design

Happy listing.