Yesterday I tried to alleviate concerns people have about click fraud in the Google Adsense Content Network, but is it worth while using it, or are you just filling website owners' pockets?
Well, you only need to read the Adwords blog to know that many website owners are less than happy with their earnings. Not everyone - but there are many comments about struggling to earn anything and the low earnings per click. So advertisers can't be filling pockets!
But does it do much good? I've advertised Compare Mortgage Rates on the content network when it's being pushed this way, and both Spanish Catfishing and Ebro Catfishing are curently advertised on the content network.
Not that I've not had problems. I did see that ClickRentStay had received hits from an advert placed on it's own home page - Google had placed our own advert in the Adsense blocks, and someone had clicked on it!
I do think that this story shows that the quality of clicks from the content network isn't quite as good as that from the search network. People clicking on adverts might be more prone to just general browsing of sites. But this can be offset by reducing the bid price on the content network.
But there are times when the content network excels. Say I've invented a new car widget. It costs £3 and saves £20 per month in petrol. How do I advertise it?
No-one is searching for Keith's Widget - they don't know it exists. But if I created an advert and maybe chose which car websites to display it on, I'd be getting the advert seen by millions of people.
As always, with a bit of caution I think that the content network can be a great tool. It just depends on what you are selling and how much you are prepared to pay. Keep an eye on your campaign and watch what happens.
Monday 31 March 2008
Sunday 30 March 2008
The Adsense Content Network - Is Click Fraud An Issue?
Most of my talk about adsense has in actual fact referred to the Adsnse Search Network - the adverts served at the side of Google search results. But what about the Adsense Content Network - can it be trusted?
The Adsense Content Network is where website owners sign up to display Google Adsense adverts on their websites - as you can see in blocks around these pages. Some people use them as great income earners and I myself have had a lot of success with Compare Mortgage Rates. But which sites do best and how to increase revenue is not really for this post. Maybe an aside one day soon...
Many people worry that by using the Adsense Content Network site owners will be clicking on their adverts to earn extra income. I've no doubt that it happens - it's very tempting. But I know from reports from my customers when they have clicked on their own Google adverts that in these cases no revenue is earned. Google has invested large sums of money to detect this so called 'click fraud' within its Adsense Content Network - to protect the network and the advertisers.
And Google doesn't just have methods of spotting owners clicking on their own ads (which is very eay to do - just watch what IP address you last signed on from and leave a cookie on the machine...), they also watch for other people doing this for the site owner. Google are watching click patterns - monitoring whether click patterns across a site are usual and across a machine. If there's a sudden increase in activity from a particular machine or on a website, Google's analysts will study the click logs and decide whether it looks genuine. If suddenly the click through rate increases on an account, that's looked at. If the click through rate exceeds an expected threshold, they investigate.
So, personally, I don't consider click fraud to be a great issue. Keep a tight reign on your budget and if you are the victim of such targetted attacks then your adverts might stop for the day, which prevents the fraud getting too high. Google should also detect what's been going on and refund you, in some cases it's almost instantly that the refunds take place.
The Adsense Content Network is where website owners sign up to display Google Adsense adverts on their websites - as you can see in blocks around these pages. Some people use them as great income earners and I myself have had a lot of success with Compare Mortgage Rates. But which sites do best and how to increase revenue is not really for this post. Maybe an aside one day soon...
Many people worry that by using the Adsense Content Network site owners will be clicking on their adverts to earn extra income. I've no doubt that it happens - it's very tempting. But I know from reports from my customers when they have clicked on their own Google adverts that in these cases no revenue is earned. Google has invested large sums of money to detect this so called 'click fraud' within its Adsense Content Network - to protect the network and the advertisers.
And Google doesn't just have methods of spotting owners clicking on their own ads (which is very eay to do - just watch what IP address you last signed on from and leave a cookie on the machine...), they also watch for other people doing this for the site owner. Google are watching click patterns - monitoring whether click patterns across a site are usual and across a machine. If there's a sudden increase in activity from a particular machine or on a website, Google's analysts will study the click logs and decide whether it looks genuine. If suddenly the click through rate increases on an account, that's looked at. If the click through rate exceeds an expected threshold, they investigate.
So, personally, I don't consider click fraud to be a great issue. Keep a tight reign on your budget and if you are the victim of such targetted attacks then your adverts might stop for the day, which prevents the fraud getting too high. Google should also detect what's been going on and refund you, in some cases it's almost instantly that the refunds take place.
Saturday 29 March 2008
Writing Best Adsense Adverts
So how do make those adsense adverts appealing, but only to the right people? I mentioned yesterday about a couple of my customers, John and Mo and Tom Harper, who are friends of each other. I run adsense campaigns for both of them for their similar Spanish Catfishing holidays.
For a start, write them in good English. If the advert is full of spelling mistakes and poor grammar, it won't look good. In actual fact Google will spot it and stop the advert. But there's only so far their checks can go. If in doubt, get someone else to review the text.
On the first line, grab the attention. For example, if you have searched on "River Ebro" and are interested in holidays, then "Ebro Catfishing Holidays" says it all. Notice also that there are benefits of capitalising the first letter of every word - title case.
For the next 2 lines I don't know if there's been any research into title case or sentence case. I suppose it's what looks best for your advert. Don't try to market your advert here, spell out it's unique features. For example, I've used "Bed and Breakfast with Tom & Vikki" on the first line of one advert. Instantly I've got the message across that it's B&B and friendly.
And that's the other thing to notice. If I'm bidding on general keyords, e.g. "River Ebro", then by refering to the holiday services I'm excluding readers who are maybe trying to find places to buy there etc.
You only have a limited space to get the message across. Write it well, write it concisely and don't go for marketing speak - just spell out what you offer.
For a start, write them in good English. If the advert is full of spelling mistakes and poor grammar, it won't look good. In actual fact Google will spot it and stop the advert. But there's only so far their checks can go. If in doubt, get someone else to review the text.
On the first line, grab the attention. For example, if you have searched on "River Ebro" and are interested in holidays, then "Ebro Catfishing Holidays" says it all. Notice also that there are benefits of capitalising the first letter of every word - title case.
For the next 2 lines I don't know if there's been any research into title case or sentence case. I suppose it's what looks best for your advert. Don't try to market your advert here, spell out it's unique features. For example, I've used "Bed and Breakfast with Tom & Vikki" on the first line of one advert. Instantly I've got the message across that it's B&B and friendly.
And that's the other thing to notice. If I'm bidding on general keyords, e.g. "River Ebro", then by refering to the holiday services I'm excluding readers who are maybe trying to find places to buy there etc.
You only have a limited space to get the message across. Write it well, write it concisely and don't go for marketing speak - just spell out what you offer.
Friday 28 March 2008
What Makes Adsense Special?
What is it that makes adsense and other PPC providers so special?
Quite simply, it is one of the few forms of truely targeted advertising, where you know exactly what your customers are interested in at the moment they read your advert. What's more, if they click on your advert, they aer showing that they are interested in it's content.
So, not only do you make sure you pick good keywords for the advert, but you also make sure that the advert appeals to the right people. It should be worded in such a way that it is attractive to those you want to visit you, but also if there's any ambiguity in the keywords, those people that aren't going to be interested in your services see that straight away and don't click - saving your budget for your target audience.
So how do you do that? Well, there's quite a few little tricks to be used there and I'll talk in detail next time about what I'm doing for a couple of my customers, John and Mo and Tom Harper, who are both actually friends, advertising their similar Spanish Catfishing holidays.
Quite simply, it is one of the few forms of truely targeted advertising, where you know exactly what your customers are interested in at the moment they read your advert. What's more, if they click on your advert, they aer showing that they are interested in it's content.
So, not only do you make sure you pick good keywords for the advert, but you also make sure that the advert appeals to the right people. It should be worded in such a way that it is attractive to those you want to visit you, but also if there's any ambiguity in the keywords, those people that aren't going to be interested in your services see that straight away and don't click - saving your budget for your target audience.
So how do you do that? Well, there's quite a few little tricks to be used there and I'll talk in detail next time about what I'm doing for a couple of my customers, John and Mo and Tom Harper, who are both actually friends, advertising their similar Spanish Catfishing holidays.
Thursday 27 March 2008
Targeting Keywords For Adsense Campaigns
So, what are the problems with the likes of adsense?
Well, I learnt with my first campaign on CompareMortgageRates that you have to be very careful with targeting keywords.
When you look through the list of keywords and the expected traffic on adsense it's very easy to choose all of the high performing keywords. For example, 'Mortgages', 'Remortgages'. But these get loads of search traffic and therefore every man, woman and child with a mortgage site is competing on these keywords. They are therefore expensive - some charging £10 or more per click. Great if you know you can convert those visitors.
A customer of mine started running his own adsense campaign in the summer. He went for the general, high volume keywords. Yet his shop was very specialist and most of the visitors weren't finding what they were looking for. Hence, only about 1% of the visitors arriving through PPC were buying.
I convinced him to remove some of the high volume keywords (I did want him to remove them all) and replace them with specific product related keywords. The traffic into his site dropped by a half, but the conversions increased to 3%. They were also cheaper keywords to buy.
So for less than half the original cost he had trebbled his sales. Now, if only he'd remove all of the general keywords from his list...
Well, I learnt with my first campaign on CompareMortgageRates that you have to be very careful with targeting keywords.
When you look through the list of keywords and the expected traffic on adsense it's very easy to choose all of the high performing keywords. For example, 'Mortgages', 'Remortgages'. But these get loads of search traffic and therefore every man, woman and child with a mortgage site is competing on these keywords. They are therefore expensive - some charging £10 or more per click. Great if you know you can convert those visitors.
A customer of mine started running his own adsense campaign in the summer. He went for the general, high volume keywords. Yet his shop was very specialist and most of the visitors weren't finding what they were looking for. Hence, only about 1% of the visitors arriving through PPC were buying.
I convinced him to remove some of the high volume keywords (I did want him to remove them all) and replace them with specific product related keywords. The traffic into his site dropped by a half, but the conversions increased to 3%. They were also cheaper keywords to buy.
So for less than half the original cost he had trebbled his sales. Now, if only he'd remove all of the general keywords from his list...
Wednesday 26 March 2008
Pay Per Click
So how do we go about marketing a website? If today I decided I needed to get more visitors to my site Compare Mortgage Rates, what would my very first port of call be?
Well, if you want visitors direct to your website and you want them fast and you would like to know how many people are seeing the advert and how many visiting your site, then Google Adwords and other Pay Per Click (PPC) schemes are an excellent starting point.
Why? Well let's look at the search network today.
Potential visitors are searching on relevant keywords, in my case maybe 'mortgage tools', 'mortgage rates', 'mortgage help', etc. I can pick a number of terms that I think would be useful. To help me in this, the Google Adwords system examines the website and shows suggestions, making it much easier than it sounds.
So when Joe Blogs searches on 'Mortgage Help', my advert is displayed. If I'm paying enough, it's displayed high and gets his attention, so he clicks on it.
Now in some cases it is believed that people are more likely to click on adverts than natural results, trusting the adverts over the results because they are paying to be there. That's just an intersting point to note!
So Joe Bloggs visits my site. I know he's searching on relevant information and using the Adwords system I can even send him to a specific page. What's more, of there are irrelevant keywords in use, I can exclude them so he doesn't see the advert.
Google provides loads of reporting information, which seems to grow by the month! From the number of times the advert is displayed to how many clicked on it. You can place a snippet of code into your checkout routine and they will then track how many people actually buy from you.
There are, of course, some problems with the Adsense system. More about that tomorrow.
Well, if you want visitors direct to your website and you want them fast and you would like to know how many people are seeing the advert and how many visiting your site, then Google Adwords and other Pay Per Click (PPC) schemes are an excellent starting point.
Why? Well let's look at the search network today.
Potential visitors are searching on relevant keywords, in my case maybe 'mortgage tools', 'mortgage rates', 'mortgage help', etc. I can pick a number of terms that I think would be useful. To help me in this, the Google Adwords system examines the website and shows suggestions, making it much easier than it sounds.
So when Joe Blogs searches on 'Mortgage Help', my advert is displayed. If I'm paying enough, it's displayed high and gets his attention, so he clicks on it.
Now in some cases it is believed that people are more likely to click on adverts than natural results, trusting the adverts over the results because they are paying to be there. That's just an intersting point to note!
So Joe Bloggs visits my site. I know he's searching on relevant information and using the Adwords system I can even send him to a specific page. What's more, of there are irrelevant keywords in use, I can exclude them so he doesn't see the advert.
Google provides loads of reporting information, which seems to grow by the month! From the number of times the advert is displayed to how many clicked on it. You can place a snippet of code into your checkout routine and they will then track how many people actually buy from you.
There are, of course, some problems with the Adsense system. More about that tomorrow.
Tuesday 25 March 2008
Marketing your site
Right, I've harped on enough about how you should not just get a website and expect it to have visitors, instead you need to market it. But what can you do to market a site?
Well there are loads of things! Maybe a quick list here and then in future days I'll return to look at each one in more detail. But I've had customers using forums, magazines, word of mouth, shop adverts, suppliers and more to get visitors to their site.
On top of these, for myself, for likes of CompareMortgageRates and Cottage-Holidays I've used fliers, link building, articles, directory submission, email signatures, PPC, Pop Unders, Expired Domain traffic, paid directories, adverts on other sites, word of mouth, affiliates and probably a whole host of other ideas that I'll remember as time goes by.
So, which of these are best? Well usually the cheaper the are the better - but not necessarily always. One might be a lot cheaper than another, or even free, but if it doesn't bring in traffic, then it's of no use.
If I was starting to market a site now, which would I use? Probably a good mixture. It would depend on how quickly I want to grab visitors and earn an income from the site. A lot also depends on the nich of the site. It's no good having a brilliant new widget and depending on PPC or search engine visitors to supply the sales - if it's a new idea, people won't be looking for it.
Conversely, if everyone is already selling a similar service then it might be hard to get positioned in search results and PPC because of tight competition. And just because something didn't work when you tried it 6 months ago doesn't mean it won't work today.
Have a look through the list, remind me of what I've missed and let me know which ideas, old or new, are working for you.
Well there are loads of things! Maybe a quick list here and then in future days I'll return to look at each one in more detail. But I've had customers using forums, magazines, word of mouth, shop adverts, suppliers and more to get visitors to their site.
On top of these, for myself, for likes of CompareMortgageRates and Cottage-Holidays I've used fliers, link building, articles, directory submission, email signatures, PPC, Pop Unders, Expired Domain traffic, paid directories, adverts on other sites, word of mouth, affiliates and probably a whole host of other ideas that I'll remember as time goes by.
So, which of these are best? Well usually the cheaper the are the better - but not necessarily always. One might be a lot cheaper than another, or even free, but if it doesn't bring in traffic, then it's of no use.
If I was starting to market a site now, which would I use? Probably a good mixture. It would depend on how quickly I want to grab visitors and earn an income from the site. A lot also depends on the nich of the site. It's no good having a brilliant new widget and depending on PPC or search engine visitors to supply the sales - if it's a new idea, people won't be looking for it.
Conversely, if everyone is already selling a similar service then it might be hard to get positioned in search results and PPC because of tight competition. And just because something didn't work when you tried it 6 months ago doesn't mean it won't work today.
Have a look through the list, remind me of what I've missed and let me know which ideas, old or new, are working for you.
Monday 24 March 2008
Affiliate Marketing - Trusting Cookies
I was interested to notice as I logged onto Affiliate Future that they are no longer relying on cookies for their tracking. They instead talk about their new tracking system, that stores non-personal details in the visitor's browser instead.
It doesn't really say what they do different or how they are doing it. It just sounds like cookies, without any personal details
They claim in it's response to an increasing number of people disabling cookies; virus / anti-spyware disabling cookies etc. And probably, they are right. But their system sounds like they are possibly just storing the affiliate details in hidden fields or something similar. Which begs the question, how easy is it to forget to code this on one page and how, if it's not cookies and it's using the browser, do you track returning visitors
Intrigued, I decided to take a look at one of my own links through them. But it didn't work, nor did any of their links I tried! It looks like they have implemented something so clever that it doesn't work on older machines / operating systems
I wonder how many potential sales could be lost through their system by not supporting older browsers?
I was about to update my comparemortgagerates site as part of the follow up to my main provider deserting me, to include one of their merchants through loads of pages - I couldn't test so I'm looking elsewhere.
It doesn't really say what they do different or how they are doing it. It just sounds like cookies, without any personal details
They claim in it's response to an increasing number of people disabling cookies; virus / anti-spyware disabling cookies etc. And probably, they are right. But their system sounds like they are possibly just storing the affiliate details in hidden fields or something similar. Which begs the question, how easy is it to forget to code this on one page and how, if it's not cookies and it's using the browser, do you track returning visitors
Intrigued, I decided to take a look at one of my own links through them. But it didn't work, nor did any of their links I tried! It looks like they have implemented something so clever that it doesn't work on older machines / operating systems
I wonder how many potential sales could be lost through their system by not supporting older browsers?
I was about to update my comparemortgagerates site as part of the follow up to my main provider deserting me, to include one of their merchants through loads of pages - I couldn't test so I'm looking elsewhere.
Sunday 23 March 2008
And Then They Were Gone
I noticed that the mortgage charts on my mortgage site weren't showing properly. I thought maybe after a day or so they would be fixed by the provider, then a week or two later they were still faulty.
These are provided by a third party provider, who passes all leads they generate onto a mortgage broker who then pays me for any successful applications, although he never seems to generate much revenue for me.
So I contacted the guy to ask him what was going on. 'Oh, it's probably because we don't use them any more.' I replied to him, asking him how leads should be sent 'Just email me'.
This is very useful. For at least a few weeks the forms had been down, although I didn't know it. And in that time he's been asking me how's my website traffic and any chance of generating more leads for him.
The main reason I used him was for his mortgage charts. I can't create them myself, so now I've got loads of pages on that website to remove the forms and put something else up - no idea what yet. A quick fix first, I think.
But in the absence of these charts, all of the static pages referring to them are going to have to change as well. I can't proudly boast that the site displays 'every UK mortgage', when in actual fact the removal of the charts means that none are displayed. Maybe, as I've thought for a while, it's time to move that side of the business on to the travel industry instead.
These are provided by a third party provider, who passes all leads they generate onto a mortgage broker who then pays me for any successful applications, although he never seems to generate much revenue for me.
So I contacted the guy to ask him what was going on. 'Oh, it's probably because we don't use them any more.' I replied to him, asking him how leads should be sent 'Just email me'.
This is very useful. For at least a few weeks the forms had been down, although I didn't know it. And in that time he's been asking me how's my website traffic and any chance of generating more leads for him.
The main reason I used him was for his mortgage charts. I can't create them myself, so now I've got loads of pages on that website to remove the forms and put something else up - no idea what yet. A quick fix first, I think.
But in the absence of these charts, all of the static pages referring to them are going to have to change as well. I can't proudly boast that the site displays 'every UK mortgage', when in actual fact the removal of the charts means that none are displayed. Maybe, as I've thought for a while, it's time to move that side of the business on to the travel industry instead.
Saturday 22 March 2008
Building Templates
I was sent an email whilst I was on holiday from a company wantint me to build website templates for them. I've not yet got back to them to checkout their offer, but the worry always is in this sort of case that they will continually reject templates and those that they do accept get paid a pittance for.
The problem is that most templates sell for very little. Yet, it's getting the look and feel of the website that takes time. I've started building a holiday letting website. It will be 4 or 5 pages when it's finished. It took about 6 hours to get the style right and it will probably take another 1 or 2 hours to get the content onto the pages.
I'm always happy to help people, but there's always that nagging doubt in the back of your mind when an approach like this is made as to whether they are just mass mailing every web designer they can find and then offering £10 for several hours' work.
I'll let you know next week, once I've contacted them.
The problem is that most templates sell for very little. Yet, it's getting the look and feel of the website that takes time. I've started building a holiday letting website. It will be 4 or 5 pages when it's finished. It took about 6 hours to get the style right and it will probably take another 1 or 2 hours to get the content onto the pages.
I'm always happy to help people, but there's always that nagging doubt in the back of your mind when an approach like this is made as to whether they are just mass mailing every web designer they can find and then offering £10 for several hours' work.
I'll let you know next week, once I've contacted them.
Thursday 20 March 2008
Fancy Features Don't Always Work...
A customer insisted that I use drop down menus for his site. He wanted the title that is always displayed to not be a link and there to be no other 'redundant' links on the page.
Sounds harsh, but that's basically what he insisted on for his desired style and when I tried putting copies of the links at the bottom of the pages, he wasn't happy. The drop down menus use pure CSS, with a slight hack for Internet Explorer (thanks for not being fully CSS compliant...).
I've tested the site across Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape and Opera, but apparantly he's found an obscure browser, that I've never heard of before, that they don't work in.
Well, here's the warning. Fancy features are great, but the cleverer the feature, the less likely it is to work across every browser. And if you don't have the redundant links on the page, then some people can't access your site.
Sounds harsh, but that's basically what he insisted on for his desired style and when I tried putting copies of the links at the bottom of the pages, he wasn't happy. The drop down menus use pure CSS, with a slight hack for Internet Explorer (thanks for not being fully CSS compliant...).
I've tested the site across Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape and Opera, but apparantly he's found an obscure browser, that I've never heard of before, that they don't work in.
Well, here's the warning. Fancy features are great, but the cleverer the feature, the less likely it is to work across every browser. And if you don't have the redundant links on the page, then some people can't access your site.
Tuesday 18 March 2008
Not Top On Google...
"Why's my site not top of Google?"
Why does every customer expect to be top of Google in 4 weeks? Why do they think their 1 page site with about 200 word, mostly taken from other sites (yes, it's them again...), will amazingly appear top of every search engine?
It rarely works like that. A cheap, 1 page site, is not going to rank very highly. That's the truth. You need quality content and plenty of links in.
So why do customers keep asking me the same question? One customer, 2 cheap sites and no, not top in Google.
Why does every customer expect to be top of Google in 4 weeks? Why do they think their 1 page site with about 200 word, mostly taken from other sites (yes, it's them again...), will amazingly appear top of every search engine?
It rarely works like that. A cheap, 1 page site, is not going to rank very highly. That's the truth. You need quality content and plenty of links in.
So why do customers keep asking me the same question? One customer, 2 cheap sites and no, not top in Google.
Saturday 15 March 2008
I need stock control, for Monday
This one has really annoyed me - big time. The customer has asked about it a few times, but I've pointed out the problems of having to control online and offline stock.
On Thursday, he decided to buy separate stock and that it would be nice for a full stock control system to be implemented, including switching off sizes for items (not even done by item, done by size) that run out of stock.
I was told 5pm on Thursday and said it would take a couple of days to write and test the system and all of the reports. 'But I need it live for Monday' was the reply. That's not he needs the system live for Monday, 08:00, but he needs his stock figures uploaded for then. No way I told him, but we can get the rest of the changes in. Don't forget, he's not the only customer with important changes.
So 8:15 Friday evening I get a half hour winge off my sales guy trying to force my arm to work every hour of the weekend to get it done. Eventually I thought of an easier way to integrate it into his system and was up until 2am getting the start of the code in.
You can imagine my surprise when 20 minutes ago, not 6 hours after I gave up and went to bed, the sales guy is winging that the system isn't good enough. A rather strongly worded email went back to him telling him maybe his comments should wait until I've shown him the changes (no idea what he's looking at - he doesn't know where the changes are) and that any more emails with that tone and the changes don't go live!
Maybe it's time for a new sales person. His attitude is really getting to me.
On Thursday, he decided to buy separate stock and that it would be nice for a full stock control system to be implemented, including switching off sizes for items (not even done by item, done by size) that run out of stock.
I was told 5pm on Thursday and said it would take a couple of days to write and test the system and all of the reports. 'But I need it live for Monday' was the reply. That's not he needs the system live for Monday, 08:00, but he needs his stock figures uploaded for then. No way I told him, but we can get the rest of the changes in. Don't forget, he's not the only customer with important changes.
So 8:15 Friday evening I get a half hour winge off my sales guy trying to force my arm to work every hour of the weekend to get it done. Eventually I thought of an easier way to integrate it into his system and was up until 2am getting the start of the code in.
You can imagine my surprise when 20 minutes ago, not 6 hours after I gave up and went to bed, the sales guy is winging that the system isn't good enough. A rather strongly worded email went back to him telling him maybe his comments should wait until I've shown him the changes (no idea what he's looking at - he doesn't know where the changes are) and that any more emails with that tone and the changes don't go live!
Maybe it's time for a new sales person. His attitude is really getting to me.
Friday 14 March 2008
Make It Bigger!
"Make it bigger - make it twice as big" was the request. "I've counted and I need it at least 1,000 characters long."
The customer was talking about the description field in his content management system for his shop. After a few months, he'd finally "been very busy" starting loading products and the fields weren't big enough.
Now, apart from the fact that this is the sort of change that should happen in early testing, when I looked at the database I noticed that he had a massive 2 products loaded to his shop. Not even one per category! Then I noticed the field in question was actually 2,000 characters long anyway.
So not only was the system already coping, he wasn't even using it. He'd just decided to ask for more space "in case", I suppose. Which made be more work. Thanks for that.
The customer was talking about the description field in his content management system for his shop. After a few months, he'd finally "been very busy" starting loading products and the fields weren't big enough.
Now, apart from the fact that this is the sort of change that should happen in early testing, when I looked at the database I noticed that he had a massive 2 products loaded to his shop. Not even one per category! Then I noticed the field in question was actually 2,000 characters long anyway.
So not only was the system already coping, he wasn't even using it. He'd just decided to ask for more space "in case", I suppose. Which made be more work. Thanks for that.
Thursday 13 March 2008
Paid Directory Submission
Reviewing a recent blog entry, I noticed a Google advert on the site claiming to help increase search engine ranking within 5 minutes. Skeptical, but interested in what they had to say (I'm still struggling to get CompareMortgageRates back to PR5) I decided to take a look at their site.
Now, before anyone shouts, I didn't click the Google advert! Right click the advert and show code allows you to see the full destination URL - so no need to worry that I've been clicking on my own adverts - even if it was one that was of genuine interest.
I went onto the site and for a "fantastic offer" of "only $29" (previously $39), they offered to submit my site to 100 PR4 directories. "Guaranteed to raise your link popularity in days".
Yes, OK. Do such directories still really help?
I happened to notice they were showing testimonials from a couple of sites - along with the site names. "I noticed the difference within 3 days" said one. So I searched Google for his links - 4 came back in total. Tried the same on the other site that was a testimonial and none came back. Looks like these 100 sites aren't actually that good.
Somehow, I think that as far as Google is concerned, that's $29 you might just have flushed down the drain.
Now, before anyone shouts, I didn't click the Google advert! Right click the advert and show code allows you to see the full destination URL - so no need to worry that I've been clicking on my own adverts - even if it was one that was of genuine interest.
I went onto the site and for a "fantastic offer" of "only $29" (previously $39), they offered to submit my site to 100 PR4 directories. "Guaranteed to raise your link popularity in days".
Yes, OK. Do such directories still really help?
I happened to notice they were showing testimonials from a couple of sites - along with the site names. "I noticed the difference within 3 days" said one. So I searched Google for his links - 4 came back in total. Tried the same on the other site that was a testimonial and none came back. Looks like these 100 sites aren't actually that good.
Somehow, I think that as far as Google is concerned, that's $29 you might just have flushed down the drain.
Wednesday 12 March 2008
But Why Can't You Build The Site Now?
Some customers are very surprised that I can't build their sites instantly. They expect that once they have said they want a site, that it will be done. Some don't even give me any clues as to the content!
Gone are the days when I could nearly always turn a site around the day that I got the work. OK, if it's a small site for an easy going customer and I'm in the right mood then yes, but on the whole now you have to wait a week to get a draft back, wait another week to get that finalised and then a week or two to get more out of me.
Am I slow? No, just I'm very busy. I'm no longer sitting here waiting for the next piece of work - I've got it coming out of my ears and I pick and choose which one to get on with next.
Many people know decorators, plumbers etc who can't be booked in for at least a couple of weeks. In the case of one local decorator it's about 8 months. This adds to his reputation - he's that good you need to book him 8 months in advance.
Well, it's the same with webdesign. When you get popular, you have a backlog of work and it's hard to keep on top of it. See it as a sign of a good investment.
Gone are the days when I could nearly always turn a site around the day that I got the work. OK, if it's a small site for an easy going customer and I'm in the right mood then yes, but on the whole now you have to wait a week to get a draft back, wait another week to get that finalised and then a week or two to get more out of me.
Am I slow? No, just I'm very busy. I'm no longer sitting here waiting for the next piece of work - I've got it coming out of my ears and I pick and choose which one to get on with next.
Many people know decorators, plumbers etc who can't be booked in for at least a couple of weeks. In the case of one local decorator it's about 8 months. This adds to his reputation - he's that good you need to book him 8 months in advance.
Well, it's the same with webdesign. When you get popular, you have a backlog of work and it's hard to keep on top of it. See it as a sign of a good investment.
Tuesday 11 March 2008
This Google Thing Doesn't Work...
This one isn't so much an upset, more it sends waves of panic and fear through me.
It's happened many times. I set up the customer's website and to help them get a bit more income from their information site, I suggest we put on Google adsense. When they understand that they don't need to pay for this service, they agree.
The site is implemented, the adds are running nicely, then the email comes back from the customer:
"This Google thing you've put on my site doesn't work."
What do you mean, I ask. "Well, I've been clicking on my adds all day, but Google is showing me as not earning anything..."
It sends shudders down my spine. Their account might be about to be blocked and in the days of referals, it could be associated with mine. Would that count against me??? I always emphasise not to click on own adds on the few occasions I've installed Google Adsense, but some customers just don't get the message.
Please, don't click on the adverts. Google uses cookies and IP address checks and other mathematical checks to make sure you aren't doing it. A couple will lead to unpaid clicks. Too many and you account will be suspended.
It's happened many times. I set up the customer's website and to help them get a bit more income from their information site, I suggest we put on Google adsense. When they understand that they don't need to pay for this service, they agree.
The site is implemented, the adds are running nicely, then the email comes back from the customer:
"This Google thing you've put on my site doesn't work."
What do you mean, I ask. "Well, I've been clicking on my adds all day, but Google is showing me as not earning anything..."
It sends shudders down my spine. Their account might be about to be blocked and in the days of referals, it could be associated with mine. Would that count against me??? I always emphasise not to click on own adds on the few occasions I've installed Google Adsense, but some customers just don't get the message.
Please, don't click on the adverts. Google uses cookies and IP address checks and other mathematical checks to make sure you aren't doing it. A couple will lead to unpaid clicks. Too many and you account will be suspended.
Monday 10 March 2008
Prawn Cocktail
Picture the scene, sitting in a restaurant, out of hours, talking to the owner about the new proposed website. Finally, money is mentioned and you know the reaction: "But my nephew can do it for £50!"
You ask yourself why then is he inviting a web designer to quote for the work - is he expecting significantly less than £50. But a glance down the menu comes to the rescue:
"A bag of prawns for £1.99 and a jar or sauce of 60p from the supermarket. I could make a dozen prawn cocktails for a little of 20p each." A quick look at the £6.95 on the menu for the same dish and a little understanding is built.
Yes, family might well be able to produce it and call it the same for a lot less, but will the finishing touches be there? Will the support be there when the site needs changing?
We charge more than your nephew to build the site, but unlike him, but like your business, we're in the game of selling our time to make a profit and put food on our own table.
You ask yourself why then is he inviting a web designer to quote for the work - is he expecting significantly less than £50. But a glance down the menu comes to the rescue:
"A bag of prawns for £1.99 and a jar or sauce of 60p from the supermarket. I could make a dozen prawn cocktails for a little of 20p each." A quick look at the £6.95 on the menu for the same dish and a little understanding is built.
Yes, family might well be able to produce it and call it the same for a lot less, but will the finishing touches be there? Will the support be there when the site needs changing?
We charge more than your nephew to build the site, but unlike him, but like your business, we're in the game of selling our time to make a profit and put food on our own table.
Saturday 8 March 2008
I Want Every Page A Different Colour...
This one is bound to get under the skin, especially on a larger site and especially when the changes started with "Can you do me a favour - it will only be quick. I've got a one page site and just need some help adding 5 more pages. Should only take you an hour or so to add a few buttons..."
And many, many hours of coding later, the colour scheme is still not decided upon. A nice calming cream colour for the home page, with contrasting purple 'glass effect' buttons.
Another page in Lilac (or will it be purple???). A yellow page, although it might be dark green by the time we're finished. One is in a nice shade of blue, which really hurts the eyes against the purple buttons and the next in bright red.
The best has to be the page with a blue band on the left, yellow in the middle and green on the right, plus those purple buttons and a rainbow coloured banner!
I'm sorry, but this site is never going onto my portfolio! The customer even wants to be able to change the colours daily!!!
Why, well it's great for a fun site, but it's a health site - supposed to give a professional, calming feel. There's no uniformity across the site - I've tried, but that's not what the customer wants.
As designers we're not infallible, but if we suggest a colour scheme isn't the best option, we're probably right. Maybe I'll confess to it one day over on my other webdesign blog!
And many, many hours of coding later, the colour scheme is still not decided upon. A nice calming cream colour for the home page, with contrasting purple 'glass effect' buttons.
Another page in Lilac (or will it be purple???). A yellow page, although it might be dark green by the time we're finished. One is in a nice shade of blue, which really hurts the eyes against the purple buttons and the next in bright red.
The best has to be the page with a blue band on the left, yellow in the middle and green on the right, plus those purple buttons and a rainbow coloured banner!
I'm sorry, but this site is never going onto my portfolio! The customer even wants to be able to change the colours daily!!!
Why, well it's great for a fun site, but it's a health site - supposed to give a professional, calming feel. There's no uniformity across the site - I've tried, but that's not what the customer wants.
As designers we're not infallible, but if we suggest a colour scheme isn't the best option, we're probably right. Maybe I'll confess to it one day over on my other webdesign blog!
Friday 7 March 2008
Can We Make The Font Size Bigger?
Just about to implement a new site a while back and the owner asked the question: "Can we make the font size bigger - at least twice the current size?"
Not sure if he was on a very high resolution monitor with tiny writing, but the font size was already Arial 10pt in the body of the site. Going to Arial 20pt is really massive...
What difference does it make doubling the text size during implementation? Well, for a start, arial 20pt font isn't what you would get on a normal site for the body of the text (maybe if it was visually impaired etc, this wasn't). But by asking for the change all of the proportions are suddenly thrown out.
The nicely linked in images that position relative to the text are suddenly spaced incorrectly. Titles, with bigger font sizes, need you to sit back to read. Links in the margin are suddenly flowing over the edge of the margin - requiring the entire graphics on the site to be rebuilt.
And it looks 'unusual'. Maybe a lot of his customers are visually impaired - I don't know. It certainly looks as though that's who he is aiming at.
Not sure if he was on a very high resolution monitor with tiny writing, but the font size was already Arial 10pt in the body of the site. Going to Arial 20pt is really massive...
What difference does it make doubling the text size during implementation? Well, for a start, arial 20pt font isn't what you would get on a normal site for the body of the text (maybe if it was visually impaired etc, this wasn't). But by asking for the change all of the proportions are suddenly thrown out.
The nicely linked in images that position relative to the text are suddenly spaced incorrectly. Titles, with bigger font sizes, need you to sit back to read. Links in the margin are suddenly flowing over the edge of the margin - requiring the entire graphics on the site to be rebuilt.
And it looks 'unusual'. Maybe a lot of his customers are visually impaired - I don't know. It certainly looks as though that's who he is aiming at.
Thursday 6 March 2008
The Cheque's In The Post
"The cheque's in the post, whilst you are waiting for it, can you also do these changes ASAP...."
If I've been waiting for a payment for almost 4 months for a new site, do you think I'm going to drop other work to get your 'important' changes done? Hmm, think not.
I don't know what it was, but 4 sites that went live 4 months ago - all in the same week - have proved almost impossible to get the owners to pay up. 2 eventually paid after 3 months and a third gave a first payment of just under 10% (was going to be 50%, but he spent the rest on the way over...).
And I don't know what it is, but the post around here seems very slow, for some people. There's one or two customers who's cheques take weeks to not arrive, whilst at the same time other cheques arrive next day.
And it's always the slowest to pay that expect the most changes and the quickest response. Those that transfer the money the moment the invoice arrives are usually very polite and apologise for the disruption if they need the slightest of changes.
If I've been waiting for a payment for almost 4 months for a new site, do you think I'm going to drop other work to get your 'important' changes done? Hmm, think not.
I don't know what it was, but 4 sites that went live 4 months ago - all in the same week - have proved almost impossible to get the owners to pay up. 2 eventually paid after 3 months and a third gave a first payment of just under 10% (was going to be 50%, but he spent the rest on the way over...).
And I don't know what it is, but the post around here seems very slow, for some people. There's one or two customers who's cheques take weeks to not arrive, whilst at the same time other cheques arrive next day.
And it's always the slowest to pay that expect the most changes and the quickest response. Those that transfer the money the moment the invoice arrives are usually very polite and apologise for the disruption if they need the slightest of changes.
Wednesday 5 March 2008
Complain When I Correct Your Spellings???
Following on from the customers that send text littered with spelling mistakes, there are times when the spellings are so bad that I notice when I'm cutting and pasting, so I do something about it.
Usually this goes unnoticed, but recently I had a new customer who complained about me amending his text and getting the spellings wrong. I had to explain that in fact the spelling were correct and maybe he should look in a dictionary before he complained about how bad my spelling is (is is pretty poor, but spell checkers are fantastic...).
Worst still, and I couldn't get through this series without spouting off on this one, is the old, ever so humble, apostophe.
Where do you put it? When do you use it? Is the rule - if in doubt, use it? Well the site I mentioned on Monday obviously went for the 'if in doubt rule' - and in a most obvious place - the main site navigation.
Apostophes are used to indicate possession or a missing letter - e.g. don't, "the [one] boy's toys". Bikinis as a label doesn't have one (but "bikini's pattern" would), nor do any other words that are purely plural (unless they are plural & show possession - "the [many] boys' toys").
Sorry, but this is one of those simple rules that I see broken all over the place. "Path's cleaned" is on the side of a local van, but he's also got "driveways cleaned" (correct!!!). Well do it different ways and one must be right!
I'll happily correct spellings & grammer, especially for people who tell me they aren't confident - can I check it. But if I do, please leave me alone when I correct it!
Usually this goes unnoticed, but recently I had a new customer who complained about me amending his text and getting the spellings wrong. I had to explain that in fact the spelling were correct and maybe he should look in a dictionary before he complained about how bad my spelling is (is is pretty poor, but spell checkers are fantastic...).
Worst still, and I couldn't get through this series without spouting off on this one, is the old, ever so humble, apostophe.
Where do you put it? When do you use it? Is the rule - if in doubt, use it? Well the site I mentioned on Monday obviously went for the 'if in doubt rule' - and in a most obvious place - the main site navigation.
Apostophes are used to indicate possession or a missing letter - e.g. don't, "the [one] boy's toys". Bikinis as a label doesn't have one (but "bikini's pattern" would), nor do any other words that are purely plural (unless they are plural & show possession - "the [many] boys' toys").
Sorry, but this is one of those simple rules that I see broken all over the place. "Path's cleaned" is on the side of a local van, but he's also got "driveways cleaned" (correct!!!). Well do it different ways and one must be right!
I'll happily correct spellings & grammer, especially for people who tell me they aren't confident - can I check it. But if I do, please leave me alone when I correct it!
Tuesday 4 March 2008
Blame Me For Your Spellings
I mentioned yesterday that Word can be useful for designing websites. How?
Well I certainly don't propose we all start using Word to create the layout and then save as HTML - tried it once, didn't like the result...
But Word has it's place. Have you ever received text from a customer that is just littered with gramatical and spelling mistakes? Quite often the text is sent in plain text and I just drop it into the relevant pages. Then the customers complain that I've made spelling mistakes putting up the pages! I'm the one that gets the blame for their own errors!
I'm not expecting everyone to be able to spell, or even type, perfectly. But please, if you are going to get ratty when 20 pages of text are published in your budget website with your spelling mistakes included, please use the word tools to check them for spelling mistakes first. If you are expecting me to compete with the £50 your nephew was going to charge you on a 20 page site, then please don't expect me to spell and grammer check all 10 different drafts of the 20 pages of text you send through to me!
Well I certainly don't propose we all start using Word to create the layout and then save as HTML - tried it once, didn't like the result...
But Word has it's place. Have you ever received text from a customer that is just littered with gramatical and spelling mistakes? Quite often the text is sent in plain text and I just drop it into the relevant pages. Then the customers complain that I've made spelling mistakes putting up the pages! I'm the one that gets the blame for their own errors!
I'm not expecting everyone to be able to spell, or even type, perfectly. But please, if you are going to get ratty when 20 pages of text are published in your budget website with your spelling mistakes included, please use the word tools to check them for spelling mistakes first. If you are expecting me to compete with the £50 your nephew was going to charge you on a 20 page site, then please don't expect me to spell and grammer check all 10 different drafts of the 20 pages of text you send through to me!
Monday 3 March 2008
Don't Update Your News
Continuing this look at our trials as web designers, maybe at the end of it we'll learn something!
This time, how about asking for features and not using them. On the whole, this is to be expected. There's always features that sound good, sound use, maybe even appear to be essential, but in the real world they don't work so well. They are fine.
But when the feature is splattered all over the home page, in full view of their customers... Things like 'recent news'. Add a test news item when the site goes live, then 9 months later that very first item is still on the home page, nicely dated so that visiting customers know the site isn't updated.
Just 2 minutes ago I was reviewing a site that I was considering joining the affiliate scheme. Right in prime position on the home page was their news feature - last updated July last year, almost 8 months ago.
If you are going to ask for a news feature, then use it or get your designer to remove it. It makes the site look out of date and not cared for.
Tomorrow, why word could be the web designers best friend...
This time, how about asking for features and not using them. On the whole, this is to be expected. There's always features that sound good, sound use, maybe even appear to be essential, but in the real world they don't work so well. They are fine.
But when the feature is splattered all over the home page, in full view of their customers... Things like 'recent news'. Add a test news item when the site goes live, then 9 months later that very first item is still on the home page, nicely dated so that visiting customers know the site isn't updated.
Just 2 minutes ago I was reviewing a site that I was considering joining the affiliate scheme. Right in prime position on the home page was their news feature - last updated July last year, almost 8 months ago.
If you are going to ask for a news feature, then use it or get your designer to remove it. It makes the site look out of date and not cared for.
Tomorrow, why word could be the web designers best friend...
Saturday 1 March 2008
SEO Experiment - February Page Rank Update
Same review as after the last update:
Site 1: (16 pages on Google)
All pages now grey barred.
Site 2: (26 pages on Google)
PR 0:
February - y-rentals-give-you-widest-choice-of.html
February - low-cost-airlines.html
February - north-yorkshire-moors-steam-railway.html
February - life-in-beijing.html
February - enchanting-edinburgh.html
January - reinvent-your-sports-spirit-with.html
January - best-santa-cruz-attractions.html
January Archive
PR 2:
November - orlando-holiday-home-why-arent-you.html
November - multi-leg-flights-explained.html (pr0)
October - diving-mallorca.html
October - eating-in-paris-gastronomical-guide.html (pr2)
October - things-to-do-in-boulder-colorado.html (pr0)
October - costa-rica-beaches-most-beautiful.html (pr0)
October - saving-money-by-getting-hotel-package.html
October - hello-from-austria-going-back-to-my.html (pr0)
Previously ranked, now grey barred:
Home page (pr3)
November Archive (pr2)
December Archive (pr0)
December - self-catering-cottages-for-families.html (pr0)
October - advanced-diver-in-lanzarote.html (pr0)
October - diving-in-playa-blanca.html (pr0)
Site 3: (25 pages on Google)
PR0:
January - disney-all-star-music-resort-music-to.html
PR2:
December Archive
December - ways-to-mark-your-luggage-for-easy.html (pr0)
November - travelling-in-spain.html
October - playa-blanca-beach-diving.html (pr2)
October - traveling-with-children-in-ireland.html (pr2)
October - hello-from-austria-hiking-through.html (pr2)
Previously ranked, now grey barred:
Home (pr0)
October - family-vacation-ideas-in-washington-dc.html (pr2)
October - car-hire-malaga-tips-to-hire-car-in.html (pr0)
Interesting point of note is that all sites have lost home page PR and almost without fail, the archives have lost page rank as well. A good number of the previously ranked posts are still ranked. Site 2 continues to perform much better, as I mentioned last week - maybe proving my theory???
As for which of the sites with the duplicate article is listed - again, it's site 2, although on the January archive page, not a content page.
Site 1: (16 pages on Google)
All pages now grey barred.
Site 2: (26 pages on Google)
PR 0:
February - y-rentals-give-you-widest-choice-of.html
February - low-cost-airlines.html
February - north-yorkshire-moors-steam-railway.html
February - life-in-beijing.html
February - enchanting-edinburgh.html
January - reinvent-your-sports-spirit-with.html
January - best-santa-cruz-attractions.html
January Archive
PR 2:
November - orlando-holiday-home-why-arent-you.html
November - multi-leg-flights-explained.html (pr0)
October - diving-mallorca.html
October - eating-in-paris-gastronomical-guide.html (pr2)
October - things-to-do-in-boulder-colorado.html (pr0)
October - costa-rica-beaches-most-beautiful.html (pr0)
October - saving-money-by-getting-hotel-package.html
October - hello-from-austria-going-back-to-my.html (pr0)
Previously ranked, now grey barred:
Home page (pr3)
November Archive (pr2)
December Archive (pr0)
December - self-catering-cottages-for-families.html (pr0)
October - advanced-diver-in-lanzarote.html (pr0)
October - diving-in-playa-blanca.html (pr0)
Site 3: (25 pages on Google)
PR0:
January - disney-all-star-music-resort-music-to.html
PR2:
December Archive
December - ways-to-mark-your-luggage-for-easy.html (pr0)
November - travelling-in-spain.html
October - playa-blanca-beach-diving.html (pr2)
October - traveling-with-children-in-ireland.html (pr2)
October - hello-from-austria-hiking-through.html (pr2)
Previously ranked, now grey barred:
Home (pr0)
October - family-vacation-ideas-in-washington-dc.html (pr2)
October - car-hire-malaga-tips-to-hire-car-in.html (pr0)
Interesting point of note is that all sites have lost home page PR and almost without fail, the archives have lost page rank as well. A good number of the previously ranked posts are still ranked. Site 2 continues to perform much better, as I mentioned last week - maybe proving my theory???
As for which of the sites with the duplicate article is listed - again, it's site 2, although on the January archive page, not a content page.
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