Make Hay Ethical E-Media

One of the first questions many potential clients ask is “how to I get to number 1 in Google?”.

Well, this is a massive question. SEO is a detailed and complex subject in itself relating to technical aspects of web development, semantics and copywriting, not to mention keeping up with the changing ways that search engines track and index sites on the web.

Those of you who have worked with us before have probably, at some time or another, heard us say “content is king”. When it comes to potential clients finding you on search engines and then staying on your site when they get there your content is extremely important. This is where you have the most control of your SEO destiny.

Unless you are hiring a copywriter to do the job for you it is likely that you will write the text content for your own website. And why not? Who knows your business better than you? The skill is in taking this knowledge of your business, industry and market and creating clear, concise and relevant copy that both search engines and website visitors will like.

It sounds complicated but following certain rules will go a long way to helping you get to grips with writing in this way. Here are a few resources that you may find useful.

Rule No 1 - Don’t underestimate the importance of good content
See this Webcredible article:
“Website content - Getting it right for search engines“

Rule No 2 - Write for your audience as well as Google
See this Copyblogger article:
“Seven Copywriting Tips for a Well-Staffed Business Website“

Rule No 3 - Understand how linking affects your search engine position
See this Webcredible article:
“Advanced link building“

As I mentioned earlier there are many other things involved in having a search engine friendly website and much of that relies on the coding and way it is built. Please see our article ‘Standards Design Works!‘ for an example and do contact us if you would like to know more.

This month we have been extremely happy to to be involved in the Canvass Your MP campaign.

This campaign was masterminded by a group of green bloggers who decided that something needs to be done about climate change and fast.

In lightening speed the bloggers met, created the campaign concept and gave it a name. Then what they needed was a web team to design and build phase 1 of the website in just 72 hours! We couldn’t let this pass by without being involved and so Jez, here at Make Hay, stepped up and volunteered. After burning the midnight oil all weekend the www.canvassyourmp.com website was launched on Monday.

Canvass Your MP is all about engaging your local MP, meeting him or her face to face, discussing your concerns about climate change and encouraging them to support proposals for a stronger Climate Change Bill. Specifically to set a target of 80% cuts in CO2 emissions by 2050 rather than the current 60% which just isn’t enough.

Green bloggers involved include friends of Make Hay Leonora Oppenheim from Treehugger and Asi Sharabi from Green Guys Global.

Find out more about how you can get involved at the Canvass Your MP website - www.canvassyourmp.com

Recently we were in the fortunate position to see the true power of standards compliant design in action.

This story shows in real life how a standards compliant site can make all the difference to visitor traffic and search engine rankings.

Find out what happened when two websites went head to head in our full ‘Standards design works!‘ article…

For more information about standards compliant design and accessibility visit our website’s ‘Accessibility‘ and ‘Benefits of Accessibility‘ pages.

Last year the Companies Act was updated to include publishingh company details on your website.

Whether you run a new or existing company the Act says that there is specific information which must be displayed. This information includes:

1. your company’s name
2. place of registration
3. registration number
4. the address of the registered office

The Companies House website provides comprehensive and useful information about what is meant by the above terms. It also explains where else this information must be displayed.

For our clients: If you do not already display these details on your website then please get in touch with us. Whether we manage your website updates for you or you do it yourself then we can help you get your details published.

Unfortunately the rules around copyright and websites are not clear cut and if you want to know the finer details then we’d suggest you seek the advice of a legal professional. However there are some useful resources out there where you can find out the basics.

Whether you manage your own website or we do this for you you should still be aware of the general guides around copyright. The main two issues affecting you as a website owner are:

1. How do I protect my website and its contents?
2. How do I know when I can and can’t use someone else’s images, links, text etc?

One particularly clear document which has an extensive list of copyright FAQs (including answers relating to the above questions) is that of the Arts and Humanities Data Service. You can find that listed alongside other information at websitelaw.co.uk’s useful copyright resources.

With regard to the design and coding of your website you can be assured that we will not use another person’s HTML, code, images or text if we do not have permission to do so.