Make Hay Ethical E-Media

I’d like to apologise to our readers for the recent silence on the Make Hay blog. The only reason for this is work, work and more work which means that we’re getting the opportunity to collaborate with more amazing, ethical businesses and individuals.

So, less about us and more about them. Here’s our latest client news round-up:

Introducing…

London Insight Meditation

One of our latest web design creations, launched just this week is the London Insight Meditation website. London Insight offers a programme of events based in the insight or vipassana meditation tradition. With a group of leading teachers, they explore the application of authentic Buddhist teachings in London city living.

They now have a brand new look website plus visitors are able to book online for their events, listen to talks and find useful resources. There is also a new blog to keep you up to date with all their news.

Check them out at www.londoninsightmeditation.org.uk

Susan Davies Life Coaching

Our latest Make Mail (e-mail marketing) client Susan Davies is an expert in personal development and life coaching. Her services include addiction recovery, emotional freedom technique, spiritual mentoring and personal, professional, couples and family coaching

Why not sign up to her newsletter to find out more? Also, see her testimonials page for an impressive read!

Visit: www.susanscoaching.co.uk

Greenmystyle.com

Now using our Green Hosting, powered by the wind, Greenmystyle.com is a place to find and share discoveries, reviews and tips about fashion, beauty and home style done the kinder way.

Now there’s no excuse not to keep up with the latest in eco style with Greenmystyle.com’s daily updates. Take a look at their directory too!

Check it out at www.greenmystyle.com

Leonora Speaking at Sustainable Event

Green Hosting and Make Hay web design client Leonora Oppenheim is playing a big part in a major event this autumn. Leonora works as a Sustainable Design Consultant and will be speaking at Grand Designs Live in Birmingham.

The Grand Designs LIVE event will feature several ‘Grand Seminars‘ focusing on environmentally friendly building and design. Running from 10th to 12th October these seminars will include talks on reducing the negative environmental impact on self-builds, the eco credentials of prefabricated houses and furnishing your home with eco interiors. Leonora will be speaking in the ‘Best Eco Footprint Forward’ debate.

Allthingseco Directory Helps Passion Debate Biofuels

Green Hosting client Allthingseco are working alongside radio station Passion for the Planet to encourage debate on biofuels. As there are so many views on the pros and cons of biofuels Passion will be bringing in experts to discuss the issues from different perspectives.

An online poll is available for you to give your opinion on the subject. Visit the Allthingseco website at: www.allthingseco.co.uk/econews-september08.php to find out more.

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.

Here’s the latest from a few of our Make Hay clients…

Eco Directory & Radio Station Aim to Reduce Landfill

Long term Green Hosting client and Make Hay friend Allthingseco has teamed up with the UK’s only green radio station Passion for the Planet, to help people all over the UK reduce, re-use and recycle and keep their waste out of landfill.

Together the two companies have developed a comprehensive directory of ways you can pass on your unwanted items, recycle computers, find a new home for your furniture, give paint to a group that needs it and much, much more.

You’ll find information on ink cartridge & mobile phone recycling schemes, local council recycling initiatives, business recycling details and resources to enable businesses to donate their unwanted stationery to local Scrapstores.

There are also details of Charity Shops across the country as well as swapping and auction sites. The directory also includes a list of places to buy recycled goods.

Visit the directory at: www.allthingseco.co.uk/directoryresults.php?category_id=15

The Big Blue ‘R’ Goes Green

Make Hay web design clients and chartered certified accountants DK Rumsby & Co Ltd have gone green! Actually, its nothing new to them they have been using ethical and environmentally friendly practices for years. The only difference now is with their new website, they can tell everybody about it.

DK Rumsby and Co Ltd practice 100% paper recycling in their offices, are building up their electronic systems to save even more paper, support international and local charities and campaigns and work with ethical and eco clients. They also have an ethical policy and are comitted to ensuring good quality work kept within the family business, not outsourcing to lower paid workers.

DK Rumsby & Co Ltd - www.rumsby.com

Keep up the great work guys!

Bloom Psychology Research

Green Hosting client Bloom Psychology is an innovative psychology consultancy specialising in career management, professional and personal development, and employee well-being.

They work with individuals and organisations to help them bloom and their work is underpinned by strong ethical principles.

Rob at Bloom Psychology is currently undertaking a piece of research on the concept of ‘meaning’ at work. He is examining what causes people to experience their work as meaningful, and what benefits this produces both for the individual themselves and their organisations. Bloom Psychology is then using the results to help people to create a more meaningful experience for themselves at work.

Why don’t you help Bloom Psychology with their reseach? Click here to take the survey and help Bloom Psychology with their research. The survey allows you to stay completely anonymous and no identifying questions are aked.

Bloom Psychology - www.bloompsychology.com

ScotsCare’s Willie Docherty Runs Loch Ness Marathon

Make Hay web design and Green Hosting clients ScotsCare are supporting their chief executive Willie Docherty in his Loch Ness Marathon run this October.

ScotsCare is a charity working with vulnerable Scots living in London and donations from Willie’s run will help them raise £100,000 towards grants for children whose families live on low income or income support.

Visit the ScotsCare website to find out more and to donate online. Keep an eye on Nessie’s chart to see how their fundraising is progressing!

ScotsCare - www.scotscare.com

Make Hay & Green Hosting clients: Get in touch and tell us your latest news. We’ll share it here on Make Hay, The Blog

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.