Commentry, news and articles from inside the web agency. http://kb.arclid.com Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:39:11 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://kb.arclid.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://kb.arclid.com Commentry, news and articles from inside the web agency. http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-marketing/stop-google-analytics-tracking-your-visits.html If you are concerned that your visits are skewing your web stats in Google Analytics there is a very easy fix to this. For Internet Explorer do the following:Go to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC on your hardrive using windows explorerOpen the 'HOSTS' file with NotepadEnter these 2 lines127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.comAnd thats it. Google will no longer track your movements. Articles - Website Marketing Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:14:42 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/latest/myboxofdelights.co.uk-web-user-magazine-gives-4-stars-and-feature-in-best-new-websites.html Web User Magazine have featured My Box of Delights (http://www.myboxofdelights.co.uk) in their latest issue. The review gave the website a 4 star rating! News - Latest Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:21:17 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/latest/fantastic-day-with-the-bmmc.html On Saturday we were invited to join the marshals at Oulton Park Race Circuit in Cheshire to experience marshaling first hand. News - Latest Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:44:39 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/latest/new-search-engine-cuil.html Check out http://www.cuil.com (http://www.cuil.com) the new search engine with a vision to be bigger and better than Google.The team who are behind the new search engine is made up of ex employees of Google, Altavista and IBM Search. So they have the pedigree to make big waves. News - Latest Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:29:33 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-marketing/2-simple-steps-to-top-ranking.html Top Google in Record Time in 2 Simple Steps!By Michael Small (c) 2008I got into search engine optimization back in 1998. It surehas changed a lot since then. Back in the day you could useinvisible text, load keywords to the point of overflowingand fill META tags with anything even close to what you hadon your page. And you could do well on Google, Yahoo, AltaVista; all the biggies. Not anymore.Today SEO is about a 75% / 25% split between links andcontent, with inbound links being the most important thing.Especially on Google. When all is said and done, you canget to the top of Google in just two simple steps.Seriously. I've done it hundreds of times and it's easierthan you'd imagine. Articles - Website Marketing Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:11:15 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/break-time/microsoft-silverlight.html Articles - Break Time Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:40:53 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-marketing/it-s-better-to-be-last-than-first.html Have you heard the phrase it's always in the last place you look , well nothing is truer on the web. When you find a trustworthy website that has the product at the right price, you will buy. You will not continue to search. Having the website that is the last place prospects look is obviously the ideal position to be in.Trust is the key, beyond the price and even beyond getting the exact product. Without trust the price and product just doesn't matter. When someone is looking at your website lots of things are contributing to whether they trust you or not. Some of these things are:LayoutGraphic designSecurity policiesCredibility of claims made in your copyLegibility of your copyFreshnessNow you could have the #1 position on Google or Yahoo! and be first, but no one will buy or call unless you can persuade the visitor to trust you. So be last and make them trust you. Articles - Website Marketing Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:34:04 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-marketing/happy-new-year-a-couple-of-tips-to-make-your-website-better-this-year.html Its a New Year, what better time to make some positive changes to your website. After all it is probably the biggest marketing tool your business has.Some tips for getting the best out of your website in the New Year.Define website objectives for 2008Write down everything you would like your website to be doing by the end of 2008. For example Reduce telephone support calls or Increase leads by 20% on last year .Have a website idea jotterYou probably go through your working day having lots of ideas for content on your website. Perhap ideas for entries onto your FAQ page or information on a particular product or service you now offer. Jot down these ideas as you have them, then set time a side each month to decide which ideas should be sent on to your website designer to action.Make seasonal changesKeep your website current with the seasons, a small change to reflect a season can really pay off. It shows that you are up to date and current. Articles - Website Marketing Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:16:07 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/latest/business-hours-for-christmas-&-new-year.html Priority Maintenance Contracts Are Unaffected Date Hours 24/12/07Christmas Eve09:00 - 13:00 25/12/07Christmas DayClosed 26/12/07Boxing DayClosed 27/12/07 9:00-17:00 28/12/07 9:00-17:00 01/01/08New Years DayClosed 02/01/08 Normal HoursWe hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. News - Latest Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:04:36 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/running-a-website/stop-forum-phpbb-spam.html If you run a forum you will know how bad forum spam is. Hundreds of spam users signing up and posting with very unsavoury content. This often leaves forums unmanageable unless you can spend all day on it.I have just found the phpBB AntiSpam Project that gives a good list of usernames and ip addresses to ban from you forum, hopefully reducing your spam.Theire website is http://www.sumbit.com/phpbb_spam.htm (http://www.sumbit.com/phpbb_spam.htm) Articles - Running a Website Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:52:59 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-marketing/web-copy-writing-tip-#2-don-t-be-generic.html Alot of clients tell us they are going to just rewrite their competitors copy and send that to us. Some don't even rewrite it, obviously we don't allow that - another topic. If you want to engage your visitors and persuade them to contact you rather than a competitor you must be different. Otherwise based on copy you aren't giving youself any more than a 50:50 chance. So as you are writing your copy consider things that your competitors can't say about themselves. Write about what is unique to you and your business. What value can you possibly add to a visitor's experience by simply repeating everything they have read elsewhere? Your visitors will respond. Articles - Website Marketing Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:50:43 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-marketing/let-your-visitors-take-something-away.html It is important to stay in the mix once a potential customer has left your website. When I am looking for a product or service online I often just collect information before I make my decision. The easiest companies to do this with are those who send a brochure direct to my e-mail's inbox. No saving, no hassle, it is there when I pick up my e-mail.We have added to our website this feature and the response to this has been brilliant.We keep it short and to the point with just the necessary information. Potential clients can still be thinking about us once they have long left our website. Articles - Website Marketing Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:00:22 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-design/website-design-inspiration.html A few directories of inspirational website design. Add more when you find them. Articles - Website Design Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:24:44 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/running-a-website/email-550-error-zen.spamhaus.org.html If you are receiving an error similar to ERROR 550 Rejected at zen.spamhaus.org when sending e-mail, this is an issue with your ISP (BT, Demon, Orange, etc.). Our mail servers check IP addresses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address) that are attempting to send email against a database of known email spammers.Don't worry this doesn't mean you are accused of spamming, your current IP address, used many times by other customers of you ISP, may have been in the past used for sending unsolicited email.Two SolutionsDisconnect your modem or broadband router and reconnect you will probably receive a different IP address that isn't listed.Visit http://www.spamhaus.org/lookup.lasso (http://www.spamhaus.org/lookup.lasso) and enter you IP address and email address. You can see your IP address here http://www.whatsmyip.org/ (http://www.whatsmyip.org/) Articles - Running a Website Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:54:29 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-marketing/web-copy-writing-planning.html A good place to start your copy writing is by creating a list of everything you want to communicate on your web page. These list items will become the subjects of your web page's paragraphs. Now lets make another list of everything your website's visitors will want to know. Some of these will be duplicates of the previous list.Now combine both lists, the items on your visitors list should take priority over items on your list and therefore should be at the top of the list.For each item add sub items of the main points your paragraph will cover.Taking the list flesh out each of the points into sentences. This is now the basis of your web page's copy.From this process you will ensure that you have properly thought out what your visitor wants to know and it is in a stuctured form. Remember the most important points should always be at the top of the page. Articles - Website Marketing Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:19:07 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/break-time/the-french-ecole.html I'm just taking some time out of my usual work to let you know of this incredible resource on the web which I'm currently finding indispensable. It's the French Ecole(www.thefrenchecole.com (http://www.thefrenchecole.com/)) website.... Articles - Break Time Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:47:25 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-design/coming-up-with-that-killer-idea.html This is essentially an article about coming up with ideas and is primarily aimed at the visualisers and graphic designers working in web design. Articles - Website Design Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:03:03 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-marketing/lessons-from-amazon.co.uk-this-christmas.html As one of the first and probably the most successful e-commerce websites, Amazon.com knows just how to maximise sales when Christmas comes around. Lets see what they are doing this year on their UK website. Articles - Website Marketing Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:08:46 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-design/where-functionality-and-aesthetics-meet.html Here I take a look at the web design trend known as "Web 2.0". Although Web 2.0 design is really about content distribution and generation, there is a certain look and feel that has come along with it. Articles - Website Design Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:11:53 +0100 http://kb.arclid.com/index.php/website-marketing/xml-seo-experiment.html It is thought that Google factors in to its algorithm the ratio between content and code. This makes me wonder if this is true will an XML page out perform an xhtml page. With the latest browsers it is now possible to transform an ordinary xml file into a web design. This means that purely XML websites are possible. If search engines do appear to prefer XML to xhtml then there is a case for moving development of new websites into XML. Articles - Website Marketing Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:21:28 +0100