Web design studio DevnoxWeb design, website development, SEO

When the owners of a private Limosine Hire company approached DEVNOX for a solution, we were pleased to advise them.  Penyco, wanted a dynamic website where customers could hire a car online.

 

From the DEVNOX Web Design Studio, our development team designed and created a dynamic Web 2.0 website for them, incorporating an online reservation system, linked to the companies back office.  The control panel enables Penyco to keep their prices and other content up to date online at all times

DEVNOX completes a website for London based domestic cleaning services company, Pimi Cleaning.

DEVNOX created a dynamic website for Pimi Cleaning using PHP, MySQL and jQuery.  Pimi services have full editorial control of the website with use of their custom contol panel created by DEVNOX.

In building the site, DEVNOX has utilised Web 2.0 technologies to create a user-centred design.  The simple site navigation is designed so that Pimi Cleaning’s customers can navigate the site easily to retrieve the information that they require.

 

 

We all know that the higher on web searches our websites appear, then the more visitors our site will receive, but how do we improve our search page ranking?

Well this can be done in two ways:

1. Paying a search engine for a sponsored advertisement;

2. Optimising our Website for Search Engines. (SEO)

So what exactly is the Black Art of Search Engine Optimisation?

Well, there is no one simple answer to this question, and it is for this reason that it really does require some professional advice.  As the internet has developed Search Engines have become more sophisticated at making their search results more useful and relevant to users.  For this reason Web Developers have had to take more care when building sites to ensure that the Search Engines favour them.  Once upon a time Developers would hide key words on a web page in the same colour as the background to fool Search Engines into thinking that they are more relevant than they actually are.  This is a very dangerous strategy as Search Engines now penalise site found to be doing this and whilst it can work over a short time frame in the long run it is likely to see your website off the search listing altogether.

So when building a new website – think about SEO from the start!!!  Search Engine web crawlers use algorithms to place value to web pages.  Websites that are easily navigated and rationally categorised to be understood by a crawler will achieve higher rankings.  Even the file structure of your website can have an impact.  We would recommend keeping a flat structure to your website rather than a deep hierarchical one as the crawlers tend to place greater importance to pages that are closer to the sites root directory.  In addition, adding key words to tags (known as meta tags) giving your page a unique title and description and tagging these with meta tags will tend to make it easier for Search Engines to rank your site.

There is also a technique called “URL normalisation.”  If your site is Dynamic rather than Static, and we would recommend that it is (see article The Benefits of a Dynamic Website) then you will find that pages that are generated dynamically may have all kinds of “% & ?” etc which doesn’t present any useful information.  There are techniques which your webmaster can use to give dynamically generated pages “normal” unique resource locators which will make the page more visible to search engines.  This will not in itself give the page a high ranking, but being invisible will give it no ranking at all.

There is more, however, to SEO than building the most “optimised” site.  As well as looking at your website, the web crawlers will look at the wider web that your website sits within.  The search engines will consider the relationships between websites within an industry, looking at such things as inbound links to your website.  It is likely therefore that the greater number of inbound links that your website has, then the greater importance the Search Engines will place upon your site.  It is also useful to cross link pages within your own website providing more inbound links to your most important pages.

If the content of the website includes frequently searched keywords and phrases, this will tend to improve rankings.  Search Engines also like websites that update their content frequently, so regularly updated BLOGS within a website can increase visibility to Search Engines.

In order to avoid manipulation by webmasters of their search results, the key Search Engines keep their algorithms secret, however, some key points to consider include:

• Keep the structure of your website simple and the file structure flat.
• Use meta tags for images, headings and descriptions
• Maximise the number of inbound links to your website
• Normalise your unique resource locators
• Use frequently searched keywords and phrases within your page content

Internet Marketing is a complex issue. This article is intended to give an overview of some of the considerations and we will look at some specific strategies in more detail in future articles.

The Marketing Strategy for your website will depend upon the type of business and therefore the type of website that you have. For the purposes of Internet Marketing we can place the websites into three broad categories:

• E-commerce Website – a website where goods or services are sold directly to visitors of the site – sold via the sit
• An Advertising Website – essentially an online brochure where goods and services are advertised to visitors – who then purchase directly from the owner but not via the website
• A Income Generating Website – a website designed to attract many visitors with a view to deriving income via affiliate marketing or pay per click advertising

Different types of marketing include:

• Offline Advertising – taking out adverts in magazines and newspapers which will give a link directly to your website
• Online Advertising – taking out adverts in online advertising websites – usually a paid for online advert will also provide an inbound link – see below
• Search Engine advertising – paying one of the search engines to place your website at the top of its internet searches based on key words. This can take many forms but the most common are “pay per click” where you pay the search engine each a few pence each time someone clicks on your link or “pay per view” advertising where you pay the search engine each time your ad appears on a search.
• Search Engine Optimisation – This involves producing web pages that rank high in with the search engines such as Google, Yahoo & Bing. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is both an art form and a science. There are some basic rules, but we would recommend always using a professional web designer that understands the complexities of SEO. DEVNOX, like all professional web designers always consider SEO when building web pages. Optimising your website for search engines should be your first marketing spend if you want to achieve high levels of visitors to your site.
• Inbound Links – These are links on other websites which direct visitors to your website. This can be achieved with online advertising, reciprocal links, obtaining directory listings, and with an online presence on sites such as you tube, Facebook and twitter. Writing online Blogs and articles such as this one is also an effective way to achieve inbound links.
• Secret Squirrel Marketing – By adding comments and answering questions in online forums effectively, you can advertise your website and or products.

For all websites we highly recommend seeking professional advice about Search Engine Optimisation. It is always best to consider SEO at the design phase of your website, but DEVNOX has “retro fitted” SEO technologies to a number of existing websites.  Our designers are always happy to advise on the best approach for your site.  Please ask us any questions in the comments box at the bottom of this article or email us at services@devnox.com for a more personalised response.

Websites can be placed into two categories Dynamic Websites and Static Websites. Over the last decade many sites for smaller companies were static, but the advantages of having a dynamic website are now being realised by more website owners. Dynamic websites really can enhance the experience of your website for visitors both functionally and aesthetically. Let us explain:

Static Websites

A static website is usually written using HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). This language is relatively simple to learn and there are WYSISYG software editors such as Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver that will quickly enable the web developing virgin to create web pages offline and upload using an FTP client such as CuteFTP to upload to their web server. In addition to this software there are an increasing number of online editors which create web pages often offering a plethora of preformatted templates that clients can drop their content into.

A static website is essentially an online brochure and although the website can be updated it is a more onerous process even with the use of on- or off- line editors.

Dynamic Websites

A Dynamic Website can be either a web page with dynamic code or a web page with dynamic content. At DEVNOX we build Dynamic Websites primarily using the programming language PHP. The majority of our websites are built to enable the content of the site to be dynamic, for instance, an Estate Agents website with a search facility built in to search for properties based upon price or region. The programme behind the website automatically generates a web page based on the visitors selected criteria. The Dynamic Websites use programmes to manage the contents, and the owner can make changes frequently and easily using an administrator control panel.

In summary Dynamic Websites are:

1. Easy to maintain fresh content using Content Management System
2. End visitor focused dynamic content bringing people back to the site
3. Favoured by Search Engines due to more frequent updating of content
4. Dynamic content provides more interesting visitor experience

 

On 6 February 2012, Devnox Ltd. opened an Office in the UK near Bristol. Devnox aims to develop a UK customer base and provide the same level of customer service that is Bulgarian clients have enjoyed.

Lyudmil Lesichkov, managing director of DEVNOX Ltd. says “Since starting the company in 2009, we have worked closely with our customers developing bespoke websites using C M S (Content Management System) technology. CMS technology enables clients to change the content of their website from a admin control panel whenever they want, ensuring that their website is always up to date.”

DEVNOX Ltd. will continue to build its dynamic team of developers in Bulgaria and the UK team will focus on project management and customer services. This will enable DEVNOX Ltd. to provide UK clients with technologically advanced websites at truely competative prices.