Search Engine Optimisation

Well this is it my last post. No more will I be writing to unveil the secrets of the SEO world, no longer will I be giving free advice and tips, and no longer will I offer any SEO services
… at least in 2009.

Had you going there, you should have seen you face… sorry but sometimes I need to grab your attention for all its worth and if I may can I keep it for a few more moments.

This post has no real content or relevance to anything else on this site, this post is simply me needing to say a few things.

• Thank you to everyone who has helped make the last 7 months (and the start of my new life) possible. You are all amazing and without you I’d still be stuck in my little hole of a life not being the very happy person I am today.
• The last 7 months have been amazing and I owe a lot of it to Crystals Limited – they’ve grown me beyond even their own expectations and I think that we all deserve a congratulatory pint
• A special Thanks to all my clients old and new – who’ve pushed and pulled until we’ve both been happy with the end result. See some Design work.
• A huge huge huge thanks to you ( my readers ) and commentators over the past year, without you this site wouldn’t be what it is.

So with that all tied up, I wish you farewell for 2009 and I hope to see you back for 2010.

You know when you visit a site often enough and you notice subtle changes? or when you visit a site from time to time and when you return next time there is a totally revamped site? Well today I’m wanting to talk about a couple of them, well three really.

National Rail Enquiries

- Best Redesign of 2009 - National Rail Enquiries

New design released December 2009 (the most recent of the bunch) taking what was an old, hard to use website into a user friendly clearly web2.0 based website.

The site now places things where you want them – want to search for a train … its there … want to see if there could be any issues with your train journey … its there – and what makes this better this was all there in the old site just hidden away behind what was a boring almost tabular styling which made for hard reading at times.

The site has gone from having a huge navigation to a more simple 5 button navigation with what appears to be a custom search for Yahoo! (think this was there previously though), the “legals” – ie. links such as t&c contact us etc – are at the bottom of the pages and easy to find. This site has finally come of age offering the same services in a newly formatted way clearly works.

Right down to the details of the clock in the top right hand corner this is a superb redesign and many could learn from the idea of Simple is Best.

Manchester City FC

- Runners Up 2009 - Manchester City FC

Another totally stunning redesign of a website, Manchester City Football Club pulled all the stops out with this site. They moved from an antiquated few year old site to a 21st century stunner. www.mcfc.co.uk is truly what the web is about, interaction.

Users are drawn in by the almost “flash” nature of the site, buts its usable and friendly (for the user and search engines alike) javascript code. The layout flows through the pages and is very modular, but it’s not boring or over bearing like some sites (including the BBC).

All in all this site has gone from nothing to something amazing, this is a close runner up to NRE.

The White House

- Third Place Redesign 2009 - The White House

I can hear you muttering back there “he’s mad… nothing from the US gov’t or UK Gov’t has ever been good” … as true as this maybe I must tell you that who ever the US Gov’t employed for  redesign they have done terrifically well!

No more slow loading and hard to find information layout from the White House! instead the site is web2.0 in all its glory, with detail paid to typography and layout above all else. This redesign is for the masses, design to make life at least 90% easier if you visit the site.

Ok so there are a few CSS bugs in the system and it doesn’t validate but none of that really matters because it looks so stunning. (also very few of my sites validate! I don’t hide this) But the CSS bugs do draw back from the experience in some browsers (such as Chrome) so The White House comes a glorious third.

Other Great Redesigns of 2009:

Facebook - total revamp … not quite a prize winner
Google – slight tweeks to front page but total new search styling
AK Designs – total redesign
Twitter – small changes to interface = win
Crystals Merchant Services – redesign tweeks better typography and cleaner
Microsoft - total revamp including bing, awesome

What is your favourite website redesign of 2009? let us know below or tweet @andykinsey

Submitted by others:
Chasepharmajobs – via @colingilchrist

Over the past few months I’ve preached about breaking the rules of design. I’ve spoke of how “normal” is boring and how sometimes just sometimes breaking the rules makes for a perfect website. Well this post is pretty much summing up the web design do’s and dont’s in terms of SEO … again these rules are here to be broken but most designers and developers won’t (usually with good reason).

1. Designs should be Clean and Simple – this does not mean it needs to be boring!
2. Avoid Splash Pages – these annoy people and can stop you being indexed by Search Engines.
3. Limit usage of Flash – it takes time to load and isn’t indexable.
4. Don’t (totally) re-invent the wheel of navigation – people need to know where things are.
5. Clever White Space – white space is your friend not your enemy, use it wisely.
6. Break it Up - break long pieces of text with images to elaborate your subject.
7. Use ALT tags – easy to use and amazing for SEO.
8. Layout and Design are a Constant – your layout shouldn’t change without good reason.
9. Clean the Code – ok not really design but clean code means faster loading.
10. Remove Distractions – anything flashing or distracting will draw the user away and search engines.

Pretty simple to follow I think, but then when you know how a lot of things are easy.

If you have any design rules to add to this list simply leave them below or tweet me @andykinsey and I will add them.

During the course of the year I’ve read more books than I have in the past 5 I think. And what makes this appear even sadder is that most of them have been about search engine optimisation and marketing! … ok, not so sad when you realise it’s my job and if I’m not reading a book then I am reading articles online or just looking for business trends to help myself and my clients stay ahead of the game.

Anyway since this year has been a bumper year for my reading offline I want to share my Top 5 SEO books with you.
These are all amazon links as I suggest you buy a few and Amazon is a little cheaper than other places!

1. The Art of SEO (O’Reilly) – This book has become one of my bible references over the past year, it has everything for beginners to advanced SEO’s … each time I pick it up something new clicks in place – something I doubt my fellow SEO engineers will admit. Written by Eric Enge of Stone Temple Consulting, well known on the circuit as he seems to appear at ever web conference there is. At just over twenty pounds this SEO bible is a must have. (£20.41)
2. The Truth About Search Engine Optimisation (QUE) – Rebecca Lieb is known (as with myself) for cutting through the bull, in this book she brings together over 50 great SEO tips, explaining each chapter by chapter. This book is a must have for SEO’s and even more so if you want to try SEO yourself. At a snip under a tenner this will never be money wasted.(£8.53)
3. SEO Warrior (O’Reilly) – With just over 450 pages you’d be forgiven for thinking will you ever get to the end of the book, well the answer is you will… and when you do you will be smiling as the money starts rolling in. This isn’t a get rich quick book though, this is a book taking you through the nuts and bolts of SEO from what you can do in the design stage to on going deployment experiments … this book has it all. Priced at just over £20 trust me when I say it’s brilliant.
4. Be No#1 on Google (McGraw-Hill) – This was a book I picked up by mistake when I was buying SEO Warrior (above) and it’s not a book i’d normally pick up … given it promises so much i’d expect it to be a nothing book as a lot like this are. However the author (Jon Smith) gets it just right, balancing facts with tips and tricks there is a little beating around this bush but thats ok because this book is aimed at beginners. At under £10 this is a must have for all newbies to the online marketing world.
5. Small Business Owner’s Handbook to SEO (Atlantic) – This book has one of the longest title’s I’ve ever seen … when you look at the cover its ok but Amazon screwed that title up (take a look, i cut it down!). This is a book of 15 essential seo methods to build you search rankings, pretty much a start-block book for anyone with a new baby website. At under £15 you’ve nothing to loose taking a look at this book.

So with 2009 drawing to a close I am taking time to look back over the year and how my life and career have progressed. Looking back is a pretty daunting task for me as so much has happened this year, from gaining a brilliant bunch of new clients and friends (when i moved) to growing up and doing my own tax return earlier in the year. This year has been so busy for me, yet it seems like only a few days ago I was on a ramble in a manchester pub to a few friends about 2008! … Well this year they have been saved from my ramblings, but you my friend have not!

However, you are being thanked for reading this, simply because I am going to keep much of my personal life out of this and focus on one key thing that has happened this year and that I MUST continue in a much bigger way next year.

A few weeks ago I wrote about design concepts, breaking the rules of conventions and how doing so can help or hinder your website/ clients website. During the months before this I feel I had become like most other designers… doing what they do… being stuck in a trend and style … that ok, was particular to myself … however it meant my designs became boring and rather predicatable.

Then came my first chance to break conventions of life, my site was hacked and although I managed to salvage my work (or at least most it). My first job was moving them out of the line of fire, over to SEOAndy and that was meant to be a case of copying my old files over to create a similar experience. However, I went against the grain spent 2 weeks developing a new wordpress theme (now available for download) breaking rules and conventions, there we’re no images but plenty of text, as little code as possible meant more content… it was an experiement for my SEO which has paid divdends.

Next I designed myself a new site, again wanting to not have an average site I designed myself a poster of what I thought I’d say to advertise myself… it was a complex message that I cut down to its bones leaving me with a simple effective statement about who I am and what I do. Looking at the site you would be forgiven (as many are) for thinking that the site only has a single page, but click the text or find the navigation at the bottom of the site and you will find an interactive haven which is growing week on week. Look out for next weeks change.

Then came what I believe is the first actual site I am proud of … Spirit Beauty Salon (Haddington) – I broke a lot of conventions as I stated in the previous post about daring to defy conventions. So I wont go on about it, but from a technical view point and from a design standing I believe that Spirit Beaty is the best website I’ve designed, once again thanks to Kirsty Burgoine for helping with development of the working engine behind the site – another innovative project for AK Designs and KBG designs.

From my weee ramblings I’m guessing you know what my resolution for the new year will be…

To break conventions when I need/want to – and – To do more work I am proud of.

I feel I should now explain why I’ve never really been proud of my websites, there has always been something that hasn’t sat right… looked right or felt right. Maybe it’s as simple as most of the projects have not been with me from conception to fruition and beyond… they are normally with me for design or development or deployment and not much else. But Spirit Beauty
E-commerce / CMS has been something of a huge project for me, and seeing it from birth to becoming a huge success has made me very very happy and awfully proud… pretty much a proud parent.

Other Personal Things I Resolve To Do:

• Continue to grow and develop my design and seo skills.
• Continue to enjoy life for all its worth and a little bit more.
• Continue to do what I enjoy doing most in life – designing
• Continue to write about SEO and help as many people as I can.
• Continue running to keep fit – and – run for charity again.
• Forget anything bad and forgive my past … I hold no grudges.
• and more but hey sometimes I like secrets.

Christmas is a time to relax and let go… forget your diet and eat everything you can…

Well it isn’t really but thats how it turns out for many millions, they aim to continue or start a diet at this time of year but slip up… its natural it’s christmas a time for enjoyment and stuffing your face a little more than normal.

Anyway I’ve been working with Kaloss Trimmers to increase sales on a new diet website of the same name. The site doesn’t have many products (just over 50!) but the few it does have are amazing and are all proven to help you on your diet – don’t be funny i’m not talking about nail files, scented candles or anything like that!

As I was talking with the team and a few of the clients they have I’ve managed to grab some little hints and tips that will help you out this festive season to keep the weight off.

5 Christmas Diet Tips

1. Quality Over Quantity – champagne and salmon NOT beer and kebabs!
2. Avoid a Real Stuffing – drink lots of water before your meals, it will fill you up so you can’t eat so much! (it’s free and zero calories)
3. Dance The Night Away – at a party? then dance, boogey on down to the beats because its exercise and burns off excess calories!
4. Don’t Give Something Up at New Year – unless its smoking, keep your treats just cut back and make them a well earned treat rather than a once or twice a day treat!
5. Shop After Eating – this stops impulse sweetie purchases and/or beer purchases …saving your money and helping you loose weight!

So with these tips this festive season should hopefully be a little easier, however if all else fails (and for a few it will) then why not get a head start with the help of Kaloss Trimmers Carbohydrate Blockers (Phase2 XTRA).

And if all else fails in the new year why not try one of the amazing vibrating plates from Kaloss Trimmers (at exclusive prices!)

This post was sponsored by Kaloss Trimmers – Sorry but sometimes even the best have to sell their souls.

Well it’s been a week and to be honest it is getting incredibly hard to not use Google for things. From search to checking ranks to finding links to a site and even using webmaster tools … it’s beginning to hurt.

A week in and I’m starting to find that going to bing.com means I have to wait a minute or so for that stupid image to load, optimised by backside! But thank fully life is made easier by the little search box in internet explorer! mercy!
Another huge issue has been image searching, something I do a lot of these days and bing means slow as it eats up my bandwidth (mobile internet) and sucks the life from everything else I am doing… I tried yahoo but results are rubbish compared to Google and Bing.

Other than this is it affecting me?

Yes, I can’t use my mobile browser and I can’t check my emails on the go! I think this is what hurts the most, knowing I am not upto date with all my emails and I have no idea what is happening with my clients when I am out and about! That Sucks.

I also have a sore back and shoulder …. apparently if you ask facebook this is withdrawal symptoms Google.

So its been almost a week since I broke up with Google. It’s been a week of withdrawal symptoms and failures as I attempt to perform tasks for clients I can no longer do for them (such as analytic’s) … further to that the biggest pain has been my forgetful being forgot to export my contact list … so with my memory somewhat … rubbish I suppose I’m stuck and not only that but I can’t deal with half the stuff I need too.

Apart from that it’s quite easy….

or not! – I am used to checking emails on the go, checking facebook from time to time, nipping to a website or two for business and then doing a little note taking or maybe even recording a few sounds … but I can’t … thats part of android not the phone system. I’m back to 1999 and just text and calling people – to be sure my communication has upped this week.

Further than this Chrome has been my primary browser for a while now (since it launched in BETA) and to be honest I want it back … firefox is sluggish (at best), safari seems to crash every minute or two, and IE8 … well I like using it I won’t deny (i’m a pc) but it can’t cope with 25 tabs at once without an issue … at least not on my machine.

One last thing… most browsers appear to default to google for any address bar search regardless of what you set it as… deja vu appear to be IE’s frav method of using google … I want to use Bing c’mon IE it’s your search engine promote it!

Ok maybe this is the last thing, Bing can be painfully slow to load (on every page) … especially if your using mobile internet! Bing Bongs too much and fails to understand local business like Google can.

—
So now let the No Google for 30 Days continue on…. 2nd of Jan I will open Google with Pride.

Firstly, I feel I must point out that I am a follower of most “Web Conventions” … this is to say I will knowingly chuck them out of the window to make the best site around, but where standards and “normal” sites are concerned I will follow web conventions.

Secondly, I have never really gone out to break conventions of the web, I’ve just designed the best I can … and sometimes this leads to the breaking of said conventions… and sometimes clients force you to break them.

When you access a website you do so with certain preconceived thoughts of how it may look and feel, you expect things to be in certain places … layout is a convention most websites conform too. From having your navigation on the left or at the top to having a search bar in the top right … not forgetting the logo in the top left!

Sometimes your thoughts are correct, at others they aren’t … either because a convention has been ignored or because the site just isn’t what you wanted it to be. And lets be honest it should be what you want it to be you are the user! However, just because things aren’t in the right place doesn’t mean it’s wrong or broken.

spirit-retail.co.uk

Take for example the recently launched Spirit Beauty website. Although we’ve played the rules with certain conventions such as the logo and search, we moved the main navigation to the top right, above the search. Next we looked at colours of the site, all other “salon sites” are dull and boring apparently, so we gave the site a fresh clean look with bright but almost muted colours. Moving into the pages you find the content on the left with a right-hand side bar… fairly normal, until you realise these aren’t adverts they are a 3rd layer of navigation, your shopping cart or a link to another part of the site such as the Spirit Training Academy. Finally, we move to the footer, again against convention we have our logo to the right and the main navigation just right of this … no underlines on any of our main navigation… just a slight change in colour and a change of cursor. (Visit the site and let me know what you think!)

So now your wondering why I am telling you about breaking conventions and why I feel that ignoring conventions can lead to a successful site*. Well it’s simple, I want to make clear that following in conventions can be good for a site, but blindly following them can kill a website and make you look like every other site on the internet. Dare to Defy and Win.

*not all sites will see a success, it depends on your target market.

Want to see a further example of breaking convention? Hop over to my other site andykinsey.co.uk

Finally, just before I sign off this post I want to let you all know it’s christmas … and i’m very excited!
However, this isn’t my point… I want to let you all know that I’ve put together 73 Tips, a good number of which are already released to the public via @xmasseo on twitter … however I want to urge you to visit the website Christmas SEO and take a look at how your site could improve in the run up to Christmas with the help of XMASSEO.

Well today has been a realisation of just how much I truly rely on Google.

From simple searches, to image searches and of course to the most annoying part…. getting to my contacts.

I’ve still not established how I forgot to move my contacts. However this is a huge issue for me and there isn’t much I can do… they are stuck in GMail and that’s me stumped until someone can find me a way to get them out.

It took me a few minutes to change settings on my computers … all 5 of them (personal and work). Then I realised I hadn’t quite done everything …default browsers and email clients had been changed, desktop turned off and homepages changed. But I forgot something important direct search from the address bar! … as soon as the page appeared I almost cried before realising it was only day one and mistakes are made… so i changed it and went off to Bing and/or Yahoo! for the rest of the day.

My phone hasn’t been too much of an issue as I’ve hidden my icons for the internet and mail clients. E-mails have been set to forward so there is no issue here… my few issues are in I miss the speed and reliability of Google Chrome… and I feel like I’ve lost a limb… oh wait there is one more thing.

I miss my contacts!