Nixia

Ecommerce

2012-02-23T17:18:00.001Z

2012 is going to be a massive year for online sales.

With more people staying away from the high street they are turning to the Internet to buy daily shopping, gifts, holidays and much more. The question we have to ask is are we ready for them?

They don't all tend to expect cheaper prices, they want value for money, fast delivery and backup if something goes wrong. If you are a business that is motivated by customer satisfaction as well as making profit then moving online is a step that once taken will reap rewards.

Having an online shop that delivers the above, that is styled to attract and hold your customers and has the features that ensures customers are confident to buy from you then you will succeed in this growing market place.

We offer a range of ecommerce solutions to meet all kinds of budgets and requirements. From small shops that have 50 products through to stores that are simple to navigate with over 10,000 lines we can meet any requirement.

Some of our success stories speak for themselves however we now have a new shop system that is quick to deploy, bespoke to your business and have you up and running within days.

Packages start from just £1995 + VAT or you could spread the cost monthly from just £195 + VAT. Call us today on 01782 662444 or visit the website for more details.

The Power Of Strategic Partnerships

2011-12-06T14:01:00.002Z

At Nixia we believe that our newsletters are not justabout web related content but should be informative from a business perspectiveas well.

Therefore this article looks at how strategicpartnerships can be a powerful sales tool for your business.

We have built many relationships with other businessesboth within our industry and ones where you wouldn't have thought it possibleto build a link that can beneficially drive sales.

When looking at your business take note at what's setsyou apart from your competition. We don't really believe that your competitionshould be seen as an area where a mutual relationship cannot be built.

There will be areas that you exceed in and they don't orvice versa and as a result your competences can be aligned to form a powerfulrelationship.

Having other businesses trying to gain leads for you is acheaper solution than other forms of marketing such as telesales. As they willbe out there selling your wares on your behalf when a lead does come it willhave been warmed up and ready for you to walk in and close the deal.

Recommendation and referral driven sales are a greatmarketing tool that can really only be built if you plan for it and ensure youwork hard for others you have relationships with.

Don't just think about yourself, think about others andit will help you build strong relationships that you can nurture and build overthe months and years to come.

I would like to offer a few pointers to help your get themost out of this strategy:

1) when a referral arrives ensure you respond quickly asa late response could make your partner feel like your letting him/her down

2) ensure that you agree terms with your referrer andthat both of you are aware as to how the relationship will work

3) build time into your week to think about referralpartners and spend time looking at generating business for them

4) track where you leads and conversions come from. Thiswill help you monitor how well a relationship works

5) ask how things are going and support where possible toenhance the referral you have created for your strategic partner

All in all strategic partnerships are a great way athelping you boost sales in a time of recession as it keeps your marketing costsdown.

The way we look at it is that if we all help each othergreat relationships can be formed that will help all businesses drive sales up,assisting enhancing customer service and allow for a growth in cash flow.

The Biggest Online Christmas

2011-12-06T14:01:00.000Z

We’ve made it to December and it’s started to snow – it’sthe signal that people are starting to shop for Christmas.

It also seems that it could be the biggest Christmas foronline shopping in the UK. The Daily Mail has reported that CyberMonday has just seen over £19m per hour being spent which equates to anincredible £456m being spent in 24 hours in the UK on Christmas shopping. This indicates a massive shift from the high street in the run up to Christmaswhich has seen some shop owners worried about sales.

However those shops that are online should be sitting verycomfortably if they have followed our advice from earlier in the year. Wehave been trying to persuade out clients that this is the year for onlinesales. When austerity measures kick in and people’s wallets becometighter they look for bargains. The cheapest place for them seems to beonline.

However it’s not all about “cheap prices”. Many lookonline for something different and are happy to delve deep to buy gifts thatwill add that special sparkle at Christmas. Some of our clients heededour advice and opted to invest in building their brand this year which placesthem in a perfect position for the 2011 Christmas sales drive.

It’s not too late for those who have neglected their websiteduring 2011 – there are things we can do (especially Search Engine Optimisation) to helpdrive your sales online that won’t break the bank and actually give you somegreat returns.

If you would like some help in generating sales in the backend of the year or in the run up to Christmas then please call. We arealways happy to offer advice and will action your requests for help as soon aspossible.

Call us now on 01782 472032 or enquire online and we’ll comeback to you ASAP!

Reduce your turnover of staff

2011-12-01T11:09:00.001Z

At anytime having the right team in your business isimportant but this is paramount in times of economic downturn.

At Nixia we have had our fair share of pooremployees. There are many factors thatcan be associated with what makes an employee bad, but a common reason is theirwork ethic and this has a direct impact on your turnover of staff.

Their CV may look perfect for what you need and they mayinterview exceptionally well, but what is their attitude to work? What abouttheir attention to detail? Are they focused on deadlines? Will they go aboveand beyond for you and your business?

These key factors in what makes an employee great cannotbe picked up at interview or gleamed from a CV. You will only learn what they are truly like once they have been in yourbusiness for a period of time.

So how do you find out this information before you employthem? We use a system called DISCprofiling. It is a simple set ofquestions that your prospective employee answers. It will only take them 20 minutes, but theinformation that comes from it is amazing!

You will learn about their attitude to work, how theywill operate on their own and as part of a team, what drives them , how theywill react to issues, how they will deal with others and much more.

There are many DISC profiling systems out there, but wewere luckily enough to have a client ask us to develop a web based version witha slight difference that targets recruitment companies. As a result we understand exactly how thisworks and trust it quite a bit.

Obviously you have to look at their CV as well as howthey do in their interview to get a complete overview. But what DISC profilingwill do for you is to give you that little bit more information to help youfind the right employee that will stay with you and work hard for you and withyou.

This has reduced our staff turnover and saved us money onrecruitment and ensured that we have a great team that works very hard for usand our clients.

Website template or bespoke design?

2011-12-01T11:06:00.001Z

As web designers we have mixed thoughts on thistopic. Having been supplying websitesfor over 8 years we have tended to stick to bespoke design due to the controlthat we have to meet each clients requirements.

There are pros and cons of each, but in essence thedecision should be based on what your customers want, ease of update and mostimportantly search engine ranking.

Website Templates

Templates will have been designed by a third party. Youwill have to buy the template and then customise it to suit your needs.

Pros

design is taken care of before you buy it
they are normally supported by a Content ManagementSystem (CMS) so are easy to update
quick deployment

Cons

you will have to customise the layout with your ownimages and content so therefore extra costs are applicable
other people will be using your template so your sitecould look similar to others
many CMS's lack real SEO control
you will be limited to the template structure if youwant to extend it at a later date

Overall, we would suggest a template to a client whosebudget is tight or where they want something they can control "out of thebox". For us SEO is the key to a site's success so the CMS and templatehas to be supported effectively and with ease.

Bespoke websites

With a bespoke website you have full control of thedesign and layout. They can match your brand easier and therefore options arelimitless.

Pros

full control over layout and design
you choose how it looks and feels
easily extendable as no limitations of design
a CMS can be added to your site to manage it
SEO can be easily maintained with algorithms change

Cons

development is normally slightly longer and thereforecan be more expensive
a CMS will have to be altered to suit your sitescontent

As you can see, the only issues with a bespoke site isthat it could cost slightly more to build and deploy. But that's really the only issue whencompared to a template.

Wordpress and Joomla are two template driven webpublishing systems that are popular for CMS management. They can be customisedheavily but the cost of performing that action can be expensive.

You need to discuss the options with your designer. Agood designer will look at the best option for you and your customers and notjust their invoice targets!

If you would like to discuss this with us call 01782472032 or click here to enquire online.

Mobile Websites

2011-12-01T11:02:00.001Z

We are all fully aware of the increase usage ofsmartphones but is your website ready for finding new customers who use them?

The answer is probably no!

Smartphones are an entirely different platform to a desktopor laptop computer. Your website will most likely look completely different andtherefore the users experience will be diminished and as a result you willsuffer from a drop in sales as a result of the increase usage of smartphones.

One massive area that some neglect is the fact thatGoogle ranks your website differently if someone is searching from a mobiledevice. As a result websites that are optimised for a smartphone will actuallyappear higher up in the rankings than yours.

So what are your options?

At Nixia we have invested heavily in understanding whatyou have to do in order to get your website ready for the mobile market. Youdon't need to invest in large costs for "app development", you justneed to create a mobile version of your site.

Here is a quick run down on how we see it's affectingyou:

many of our clients need to get a brochure version oftheir site mobile ready
search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques will bedifferent to your main website
your mobile site should have important information onthere to help users get in touch
start with a simple site to reduce costs - if it'sworking for you then re-invest
costs should in the region of £400 to £500
turnaround should be within 1 week

So as you can see the costs aren't that high and yoursite will be optimised for Google to show in the right searches. You will also be perceived as progressivewhich your clients and prospects will appreciate.

We can help you with every aspect of gettingyour site ready for the mobile marketplace so why not get in touch? Call us today on 01782 472032 or visit ourmobile version of our website for more details from your smartphone!!

How long should tweets be?

2011-11-19T12:21:00.001Z

We all do it, we always want to say a lot in our tweets but there is never enough room!

We recommend that your tweets should be punchy as much as possible. Try and leave space at the end of the tweet so someone can comment or add to it.

This will help you get your tweet RT'd or Retweeted.

Having your tweets RT'd is the whole point if you are using Twitter as a search engine optimisation tactic. Without that there isn't much point in tweeting in the first place.

So here are some pointers you:

1) keep your tweets short
2) write something that will interest your followers
3) use hash tags to highlight a topic for example #CIN is the hash tag for Children In Need which was trending massively last night
4) follow people who interest you otherwise you'll soon get bored of following them

All in all Twitter is a great tool. Use it properly and you will have fun, gain more business and keep people interested in you and your business.

Good luck with it, but we are always happy to help if you have any questions.

Images are an important SEO tool

2011-11-18T13:53:00.003Z

Many search engines have "image search results" and is one factor that you should ignore at your peril!

Search engines cannot see what your image is portraying. All it can see is the filename and your ALT tag (alternative text tag).

Therefore you should ensure that your designer uses the correct name of your image and uses the ALT tag effectively inline with your keyword strategy for the page. Remember that your strategy should be unique for each page on your site and images are no different.

Your logo can have the same ALT tag and filename as it is consistent however images that portray a product or hero shot that describes what you do should be unique.

Select images carefully, give them the right filename and the appropriate ALT tag and you'll be on the way to holistic optimisation that the majority of websites ignore!

For more information call us anytime on 01782 472032 or email googleupdate@nixia.co.uk.

Is my domain old enough?

2011-11-18T13:53:00.001Z

One of the lower ranking factors is the age of your domain name.

If you domain name was purchased a few years ago it's got a bit of history. Search engines will use this to look at how your site has progressed since its birth and rank accordingly.

An older domain name will have content that is old, have been viewed a number times and also have been used to allow users to comment on it. Google will go and search out that content and see if it's still viable to bring back as a search result.

If your domain name is less than a year old you will have to get content developed quickly and in large volumes to get a similar result which will take you a while to achieve and with a lot of hard work. However it's not bad to have a new domain, the trick is to get good content in place and have users respond to it.

For more information call us anytime on 01782 472032

Use Google Analytics better

2011-11-18T13:52:00.002Z

Google Analytics is a great tool that allows you to track visitors to your site for free.

It is very simple to setup and tracking is now in real-time which allows us to see visitor trends instantly so we can track updates to your site and make changes quicker to see their success or failure.

The "success or failure" element is key to ensuring your site is honed to perfection. Alternations you make to your site sometimes won't be exactly what your visitors are looking for so you can use Analytics to see what is working and what isn't.

The "bounce rate" is very important in this regard. Don't just look at the overall bounce rate for the site, but also look at the bounce rate for each page. You could have one or two pages that have a high bounce rate due to the content not meeting the needs of the visitor - this is very common.

Use the "internal bounce rate" to see what pages need altering, make the changes and then monitor the results. You'll be surprised at how quickly your overall bounce rate comes down and your enquiries or sales go up!

For more information call us anytime on 01782 472032

Converting visitors to enquiries or sales

2011-11-18T13:52:00.000Z

It may seem obvious, but you should ask your visitors to get in touch!

Many websites don't have a "call to action" that asks their visitors to get in touch or make a sale. It can be a phone number, email address or link to an enquiry form but it is so important to have one.

You should tie your visitor a reason to get in touch with you as if they are on your site they are interested in what you are offering. So this basic rule is just about asking them a question and giving them a reason to make an enquiry

For more information call us anytime on 01782 472032

What does FTP mean?

2011-11-18T13:51:00.000Z

FTP stands for File Transport Protocol. It is basically a method you or your designer will use to get your web site files on to your web server.

There are various programs available for free to help you upload your files which includes "FileZilla".

For more information call us anytime on 01782 472032

Are you spending too much on your AdWords Campaigns? Well here are few tips to reduce your daily spend:

2011-11-18T13:50:00.000Z

Use AdWords for niche campaigns rather than throwing your net wide
Look at your statistics on your site. Visitors will come at certain times of the day so limit your campaign to those times where your visitors will be online
Remove phrases that get zero traffics, this will compact your budget rather than spread it over pointless campaigns
Use the keyword tool religiously - this will show what alternative phrases to use that could be cheaper but drive the same traffic volumes
Analyse your campaign every few hours, it will help you stay on top of your budget

For more information call us anytime on 01782 472032

Google – where has my site gone?!

2011-11-18T09:54:00.000Z

On the 8th November 2011 Google updated its algorithm once again and may websites have now disappeared off the first page of search results.

The update is an attempt to cleanse its database of sites that are not relevant to its users results. This has been called the PR Update or PageRank Update.

Google uses numerous checks to ascertain what your site’s PageRank will be. Although Google itself has a PageRank of 10, which is the highest any website can achieve, many have a PageRank of just 1 or 2.

So how do you get a higher PageRank?

FaceBook also has a PageRank of 10 and this is due to the fact that their users are continually updating their profiles with information that is new and current. As we are always searching for new content, news and information FaceBook is deemed as being relevant to what we are looking for and therefore gets a high PageRank.

So the answer is actual simple, if you want a higher PageRank create new content that is current!

However, it is unlikely that you can create that much content to get a PageRank of 10. So what is realistic?

As an agency we work with clients from the infancy of their site through to promoting it online. Therefore we have experience in what is achievable, rather than false promises. Therefore we would never suggest to a client that we can create site with a PageRank of 10. More likely we would be working extremely hard and very happy to get a site with a PageRank of just 4!

The reason for the “average” score is that we our clients do not have millions of users creating the content for them. We can only rely on what their users can create or the client can create themselves. However a PageRank of 4 is a really great score when compared to millions of sites out there.

Here are a few pointers for you to bear in mind when trying to get a higher PageRank:

Create a simple strategy that you can use and react to that will get you noticed
Create content on a daily basis
Add this to your blog
Get users to comment on the content via Social Media
Use Linked In, Facebook and Twitter to start a topic and then link to your blog
Comment of similar topics and get the links to your article/blog in there
Create “information” based articles with a soft sell in them
Get your users to interact with you on Twitter and in your comments
It is extremely important to see what others are doing, so research first and then comment – link back to your site and ask others to do so as well!

One of the biggest factors to get a good position in Google is to get others to talk about you. If you can do this and then traffic will start to increase to your site and a higher position in search results will become easier to get and maintain.

Google are naughty from time to time and just when you think you have secured a good position and traffic is coming to your site they change their requirements! The only way to stay on top of it is to keep reacting to what Google does and how your competition will react.

At Nixia we know that Search Engine Optimisation and online marketing can seem daunting, but if you have worked with us before you will know that you get an extreme level of “value added” extras for free! So if you have any questions on what this recent update will mean to you then get in touch. We will offer as much help as we can and if you want us to help you get a better PageRank then we can help there as well.

For more information call us anytime on 01782 472032

Does your website work on a tablet?

2011-11-04T10:20:00.000Z

Tablet computers have taken the market by storm and put fear into the manufacturers of laptops. Apple started this move towards a more mobile device with the iPad and others have quickly followed suit and are mostly deploying them with the Android operating system.

There are some great benefits of owning a tablet. We use the Apple iPad 2 and have found it an invaluable resource for work as well as for pleasure whilst at home or on holiday. The main reason we have the iPad 2 is down to its ease of use and quick start up times. We use them for:

Presentations to clients
Search Engine Optimisation whilst out and about
Doing emails quickly
Browsing the web when performing research
Taking notes in meetings that can easily be emailed to the relevant people
Mocking up website layouts
And much more

However for the home user they are a great tool to allow them to quickly browse the web. We have seen an increase in the number of people using these kinds of devices for searching the Internet and client statistics are proving this to be a growing factor. Not only are the costs of owning a tablet less than a laptop they are also quick to use and therefore are being adopted by many business owners and individuals extremely quickly.

This does however lead us onto the topic of this article and that is “does your website work on one?” firstly, the iPad does not support Flash and therefore is your site contains any it will effect how the user will interact with it. Also, the browsers that they contain are smaller versions of the main ones. Skyfire is a popular Android browser and Apple’s own Safari is also a slimmed down version of their desktop application.

This does tend to alter how the user will see pages on your website and it should be something that is addressed quickly if you want to convert visitors that arrive on your website into an enquiry.

If you don’t own a tablet and want to find out about how your website works on one then we are more than happy to review your site for you free of charge. We will give you advice and also an estimate of the cost to update it so it will work as you intended when first built.

Don’t be mad with your designer if it doesn’t work on a tablet as this is new technology that they wouldn’t have catered for 18 months ago and so is expected in around 50-60% of the websites out there.

For more information and advice on choosing the right tablet, how your website works on one and how to make your site work better why not give us a call? We are happy to discuss your website with no obligations to use our services thereafter. It just another of our value added service here at Nixia.

For more information call us anytime on 01782 472032

The importance of selecting the right hosting company

2011-11-04T10:17:00.000Z

Many business owners never really think about their web hosting provider or where their site is hosted. It is a real shame if we are honest as this is an exceptionally important part of your online marketing activity.

Choosing the right web hosting company will give you many benefits and it’s always about “biggest is best”!

Companies like us offer great web hosting packages that can suit all manner of business no matter what their size. The reason we can do this is that we understand how your web site works and operates and then we find the best package to suit it.

You don’t have to be paying £150 per month for a dedicated server if your website only has 200 visitors a month, but what it should have is exceptional uptime and fast delivery of your pages. Here is a quick overview of what we see important when looking at a web hosting provider:

They should guarantee 99.9% uptime of your website
They should ask you how your website was built and then choose an operating system that will suit it
They should be available to speak to on the phone
They should offer you support when you need it
Look for “value added services” such as Hosted Exchange email support

Luckily for us we offer all of the above and much more. We can provide the services of a larger web hosting provider and have the backup to support you every step of the way. So bear in mind that when you are looking for a hosting solution don’t just pick the first one you see, talk to a professional first…….of course we would prefer you to talk to us, so why don’t you?!

For more information call us anytime on 01782 472032

Blackberry vs. Exchange

2011-11-04T10:15:00.000Z

You will have had to been in the outer reaches of Mongolia just recently to have not heard about the issues Blackberry have suffered from with their outages…….saying that I think they were effected in Mongolia as well!

The problem they had was related to a piece of hardware in one of their server centres in the UK. Although this is a very strange occurrence it does highlight potential issues when you have all of our communications through one provider.

At Nixia we use and sell to our clients a service called Hosted Exchange. In essence this is Microsoft Exchange but held in the cloud. It doesn’t exist on your computer or phone, it is just there and available 24/7. One of the main benefits is that you can access it via a web browser and from any computer which is great if you lose your laptop or phone!

The reason we adopted Hosted Exchange is purely down to a few very simple reasons:

Its continually backed up
We can access email from almost any device
If I read my email on my phone and reply, my Outlook is updated with that information instantly
If I lose my phone or laptop I can still access my email
I have increased spam protection
I also have increased anti-virus protection before the email arrives on my device
It costs only £100 per year compared to a traditional Exchange installation at about £3500 plus maintenance!

These are not technical reasons for adopting this service, they are business ones. You see, our email is so very important to us in today’s fast moving business environment and we have to stay on top of them as much as we can. When Blackberry lost its services for those few days in October it effected thousands of users and thousands of businesses. There are even law suits being brought against Blackberry in the States as a result – this would have never happened if those users were on a Hosted Exchange service and used other forms of messaging in conjuction!

We have never liked being tied to one provider and so Blackberry’s were never for us and we try and move our clients onto Hosted Exchange so that they can use iPhones, Android Phones and their tablet devices to access their email on the move, from any location.

For more information call us anytime on 01782 472032

The importance of a domain name

2011-11-04T10:11:00.000Z

One Search Engine Optimisation strategy that we are using with some success is the use of domain names that are applicable to search phrases.

To illustrate this fact let's have a look at our domain name. www.nixia.co.uk has no relevancy to website design, development or search engine optimisation in the phrase itself. Therefore we have to work hard to get search engines to see a link between those phrases and our domain name.

However if we were able to get www.websitedesign.co.uk all of a sudden we would easily appear in search results as this is a very common phrase that users type into search engines when looking for a designer.

Obviously this example is a little extreme as that domain name would have been taken some time ago. However if we were going to perform this kind of strategy for a client we would look at alternative search phrases and then perform an analysis on what potential volumes could be expected.

Even the use of hyphenated domain names would still add relevancy to the domain name being seen as an important in search engine rankings. One important aspect to remember when deploying this strategy is that the website that will sit on the domain name has to have unique and relevant content. Just having a single page website will not be enough - 10 or more pages is required to make any real impact.

In order to get this strategy right why not talk to us about our free website critique service. We will analyse your site, potential keywords and domain name options and then assist you if required in moving this forward.

Call the team today on 01782 472032 to arrange your free review.

Are Keywords important?

2011-11-04T09:35:00.000Z

Many search engines including Google have shifted away from using keywords as part of their search algorithm. Many business owners are not aware of this and it does have an impact on how you web site should be built.

However, we are not suggesting that designers should stop using them. Other search engines such as Active Search Results do still use them. However it would seem their importance has dropped and therefore your site should use other tools to inform search engines as to what your content is about.

Headings are now very important and your designer should use H1 and H2 tags to determine what is important on each page. Using distinct headings on your site will tell search engines what you deem as important and therefore use this tool to rank your site for search engine rankings more effectively.

The content that is used in headings should be also used in the description and keywords tag of your site. This will add overall relevancy to the page and make it become more important for those phrases.

Although Google has stopped using the keywords META tag we feel that by still adopting it as an approach to condensing your content to make it relevant will still have a positive impact if used in injunction with heading tags.

If you have used Nixia to develop your website within the past 18 months we will have deployed this by default into your content. Previously keywords were deemed as important so therefore we would have concentrated on that particular Search Engine Optimisation strategy. Therefore if your site is older than 18 months we recommend that you get in contact with us so we can assist you with a transition to make your content applicable to this new search requirement.

For more information call the team on 01782 472032.