driveby, Author at Drive By Websites Ltd.

Mobile-First Indexing For Lincolnshire Business Websites

28th May 2019 by driveby

Mobile-first indexing is how Google crawls and indexes the web. Instead of indexing the desktop version of the page, Google looks at the mobile version of the page. Simply put, Google is indexing your web page based on how it renders on a mobile phone. Now over 50% of what Google indexes is indexed over mobile-first indexing. Any new websites that Google is crawling for the first time, will be indexed using mobile-first indexing by default. But older sites not yet migrated will continue to be indexed the old-fashion way until those sites are ready.

It’s now more important than ever to make sure your website goes live with a mobile ready design. Though we usually design the site with mobiles in mind, we do start by designing the desktop view first. Is this a sign that we may have to start working the other way in future?

At least for the time being that doesn’t seem to be necessary. Mainly because there is no demand for it. Clients rarely ever want to see their design on mobiles until it’s ready. Just as we urge our clients to be as critical as possible on their design and content, we now must start pushing them to consider their mobile design as a standalone from the desktop site.

You can read more about what this means for you and your websites by reading Google’s latest blog. You can continue to check for mobile-first indexing of your website by using the URL Inspection Tool in Search Console.

If you have any questions or want to transfer, redesign or create your Lincolnshire Business Websites with us, call 01775 761512. You can also contact us on our website.

Click to Call – The Single Best Feature for Mobile Viewers

23rd May 2019 by driveby

Remember, converting Smartphone visitors to a responsive website is very different from converting customers using desktop websites. Smartphone users are very unlikely to scroll down and read a whole load of content wording and then send you an email, more especially if there’s a lengthy form to complete. Because your mobile visitors are already holding their phone it will allow them to call you with one simple touch of the button. No more complicated copy-and-pasting or memorizing the phone number!

If you want to add some text to your button we can also do this, to help make it more obvious to viewers. However you would like it to look, a “click to call” button could make all the difference between getting a new client or losing them forever. We can even help demonstrate this by integrating the Click to Call button with Google Analytics in order to collect statistics on the button usage.

Mobile Vs Desktop in Spalding and Surrounding Areas

Spalding, Pinchbeck, Holbeach, Crowland, Long Sutton, Surfleet, Swineshead, Kirton, Donington and Boston

Drive By Websites’ choice of platform to use for mobile friendly websites is WordPress because:

ease of user – you can easily make updates.
sites can be managed from any computer or device
search engines love WordPress sites
there’s no HTML or FTP software required (for the end user)
websites are designed to be future-proofed and grow along with the development of the business.

Drive By Websites securely hosts and manages over 150 mobile friendly websites mainly around Spalding and South Lincolnshire but nationally too. Drive By Websites offer a fast turnaround, we are affordable and easy to get along with. Please feel free to get in touch by calling us on 01775 761512.

If this isn’t for you, there are plenty of other simple enhancements you can make to your website. Don’t miss out on these easy next steps for your business:

SSL Certificate

It is inevitable that with enough time your website ranking will suffer without an SSL Certificate. These addresses technically start with https:// instead of http://.
Read More: Safer Websites and Higher Rankings

Fresh Content

Don’t be one of the many people that uses too few words in their website pages or blog posts. You can maximise your SEO potential by exceeding the recommended minimum of 300 words.

Ecommerce – Moving Lincolnshire Magento 1 Sites to Magento 2

24th April 2019 by driveby

Switching to Magento 2

If you’re running an ecommerce website in Lincolnshire, it might be time to check with your hosts that you are future proof. We regularly have new clients in Spalding approach us with older ecommerce systems, unaware that their business and their customers are at risk. If they stay on an old system without receiving security patches, hackers will be more capable of gaining access to the hosting and website. The most prominent example we are seeing now is businesses running on Magento 1 systems. Now is the time to abandon Magento 1. The Magento 1 platform will reach ‘End of Life’ in June 2020. This means that all updates will cease, and your system will be considered expired. We advise you to invest effort in the migration to a newer platform, sooner rather than later.

Whether you’re working from a market town like Spalding or a city like Peterborough, Magento 2 is a costly build for lots of companies and this may be a big barrier to taking the next step. It’s not the only option. Magento is a very good platform but it’s often overkill. There are alternative platforms that offer security and stability long term. If you’re unsure where to look next then give us a call.

We use a variety of systems depending on their intended purpose. This includes using Magento on larger ecommerce sites or scalable sites with larger intentions. The countdown to 2020 can be an opportunity to explore the features, performance and security enhancements provided by the range of future proof platforms, including Magento 2.

For more information on how to get moving, contact us on 01775 761512 or email [email protected]

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SEO News: Record Daily Searches On Privacy Search Engine

23rd October 2018 by driveby

DuckDuckGo – the privacy-enhanced search engine – reaches record daily searches

DuckDuckGo has been on our radar for a few years as we believe internet users deserve privacy. Companies are making money off of you, your search data and your private information online, without your consent.

Since the recent Facebook data scandal, we are not surprised that a browser like DuckDuckGo is making growth. What you search for should be your own business. Getting the privacy you deserve online should be as simple as closing the blinds.

The privacy driven search engine recently posted that it has reached a new high, at 30 million searches per day on average. The company said: “It took seven years to reach 10 million searches in one day. To get to 20 million searches, it took another two years. Now, less than a year later, it is now at 30 million searches per day.”

What does this mean for SEO?

DuckDuckGo is an important competitor to Google, Bing and other search engines that actively collect user data for advertising.

Compared Google’s billions of daily searches, DuckDuckGo doesn’t need to be a priority for website ranking. However, with the Facebook data Scandal and the new General Data Protection Regulation, privacy-centric services could be appropriate for the right business. Businesses dealing with security, adult services/products and legal services could all benefit from considering the value of a privacy enhanced search engine.

We’ll be keeping our eye on this developing search engine territory. If our would like to know how to enhance your browsing privacy or prioritising your website ranking in this search engine then contact us.

Maximise Website Marketing with Google Analytics in Lincolnshire

9th August 2018 by driveby

Businesses in Lincolnshire generally opt for marketing stratagies including:

Local Press
Print Materials
Facebook/Instagram/Social Medai Campaigns
Google AdWords
Mailshots

Analysing your Marketing Stratagies

One of these five will generate the best results for your business. Once correlated to the cost of the marketing, knowing which is most effective is invaluable. Most companies spend years wasting money on bad advertising. Sometimes this is in the interest of saving money but other times it is simply that they don’t know what forms of advertising work best for them.

The ultimate solution to this recurring problem is ‘Google Analytics’. Once integrated into your website, Google provide high level analytics detailing audience acquisition, audience behaviour and audience conversions. The detail is unparalleled in the industry and provides invaluable marketing and progress data. Google Analytics can be found in 57% of the 10,000 most popular websites, and that percentage is even higher for smaller websites! We find that businesses in Lincolnshire have been slower to adopt systems like Google Analytics but that does offer our customers a competitive edge against other companies in the same industry. Let them waste their money on ineffective marketing while you maximise you continually improve your marketing potentail.

We’d love to list all of the features of the analytics reporting available in this system but it’s genuinely too big! Put it this way, it’s everything you’ll need and more.

Cookie Compliance with Google Analytics in Lincolnshire

You will need to notify your visitors to comply with GDPR/EU Cookie Law. An analytics code is not as intrusive as other software available that track users over multiple sites, but you still need consent. Website owners do have to seek consent for the use of cookies that acquire Google Analytics data.

For more information or to get Google Analytics added to your website, give us a call on 01775 761512.

Cowley Park Donington Site Plan Design – Ashwood Homes

2nd August 20182nd August 2018 by driveby

With the recent launch of Ashwood Homes‘ Cowley Park, Donington development, we are pleased to reveal the site plan we’ve produced for them. Using the technical drawings from Ashwood’s architectural team, we built an accurate, aesthetically pleasing, colour-coded map for their customers to use with ease in the form of a printed handout and a large-format wall chart.

The Graphic Style

A purely functional document, the site plan had to be above all else clear and easy to use. We decided to stick with a style we’ve used in one of the previous site plans we created them, as we felt we’d struck a good balance between style and substance; fun, graphic imagery with slightly exaggerated colours paired with simple quasi-3D effects that make the houses themselves stand out. They are afterall, the stars of the show.

The Functionality

This is a really handy document for Ashwood Homes and their customers to utilize. It communicates the location of the site and how it can be accessed by road, the location and housetype of each plot, the relative plot size, and other features such as fences, trees, parking and garages and displays them in a really concise, clear and above all user-friendly way. It’s a great way way of ensuring that their customers really know what they’re buying before they even step foot onto the site itself.

It’s one of the many ways Ashwood Homes sets themselves apart from their competitors, who often use the architectural designs which are over-complicated and cumbersome, or very basic site plan graphics which might do the job in terms of functionality. Showing that you’ve put care and attention to detail in your customer-facing documents reinforces the idea that you’ll put the same care into your product, service, or in this case, property. That’s the basis for a very strong and positive brand identity.

If you have a similar project or would like to talk to us about your branding or graphic design needs, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Call us on 01775761512, send an email to [email protected], or drop in to our Pinchbeck office for a chat about how we can help.

Making Progress with Website Content – Refreshing a Site

28th July 2018 by driveby

SEO is about asking the right questions

It’s tough to stay inspired when it comes to updating your website but a few basic questions might help get you started. Maybe rethinking the content you want on the site is enough to inspire whole pages of valuable new content to be ranked in Google. This is search engine gold.

Our clients (primarily in Spalding, Peterborough, Boston, Bourne and Holbeach) often forget that they have assumed their main keywords are taking priority in their content. Unless deliberately added, this is often the case. You can avoid this by asking, ‘What keywords are used the most?’. If you then follow this up by adding or reinforcing the true priority keywords in your content, this will dramatically improve your google ranking.

Another area that clients assume is certain service based information that they provide on a daily basis, but new customers won’t be familiar with. Issues like this can be highlighted by asking, ‘What information is missing/assumed?’. I have seen some clients miss hundreds and hundreds of valuable words on their first draft by assuming their customer will fill in the blanks.

Finally, the toughest question to tackle is, ‘What keywords are actually ranking in google?’. You can find this by using google search results and analysing your ranking. A more accurate overview could be acquired on Google Analytics. You can rate the quality of those keywords against each other (or other potential keyword additions) by using the Google Trends analysis. I’ve created a demonstration by comparing ‘Keyword’ and ‘Search Term’ (two keywords for this post). Visit Google Trends Demo

Mastering tools like this will allow you to prioritise the right keywords for your audience. For any of the above e are obviously happy to help. We regularly advise our clients on how they can improve their content in ways like this. Ultimately, your customers don’t need to think you’re and up and coming author, but you should be able to make some regular improvements with your website content by asking questions like this.

Here are some other website content questions:

Is the content localised adequately? (so search engines can place you at those locations)

Could you criticise this content on a competitor website?

Have you highlighted your strengths in comparison to your competitors?

Writing new original content

If you’re looking for information on how to write brand new original content for your site we also have some information to help. For more information and content writing tips, visit our recent blog: Check out our content writing tips

Cowley Park Donington Branding – Ashwood Homes

20th July 201819th July 2018 by driveby

Regular clients of ours, Ashwood Homes are on the brink of launching their latest development site; Cowley Park, Donington. We were pleased to take care of the Cowley Park branding, from name and concept right through to designing the signage, promotional print work and public-facing documentation.

Ashwood Homes is a unique brand in itself; they merge the modern with the traditional in their commitment to developing homes which have all the modern conveniences, while respecting the Lincolnshire countryside which surrounds their developments. The Cowley Park brand is designed to mirror these values.

Brand Concept

The Cowley Park brand was inspired by the rural placement of the development site. The name is a reference to Thomas Cowley; a prominent local figure, while the tree graphic pays homage to the surrounding countryside. Instead of sticking rigidly to a static logo design, we decided to take a more fluid and fashionable approach. By taking the elements of the logo and deconstructing it to create different design elements, the result is a fully fleshed out brand with elements that can be picked and chosen to suit their context perfectly.

Logo and Graphic Design

Using the logo as the root of the brand, we tailored it to describe each housetype, thereby retaining the branding, but in a more useful, informative and space-saving manner.

Similarly, we created a repeating pattern using the tree graphic to mimic a wallpaper print (perfect for a housing development company) where only a subtle injection of the brand identity is needed.

Do you need any branding or graphic deign services? Call us on 01775761512, or get in contact via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to get the ball rolling.

Writing Content For Your Website – Blogging Tips

9th July 2018 by driveby

It’s not easy coming up with content for your website. While we cannot help make that much easier, we can tell you how to make the most of what you do write. Here are some ways you can improve your content quality:

Localised Content

Over the course of a year your can ready spread your reach far and wide if every website page or blog post is specific to a different location. In some areas you may not have the ability to crush the competition in one website page or blog post but in others there may not even be any competition and you’ll effortlessly make it to the top. Worst case scenario, even in the toughest areas to crack you can still be a few pages back in the search results for those more scrupulous searchers. The point is, unless you localise your pages and posts Google doesn’t see you as being everywhere, it sees you as being nowhere. For our business we usually specify clients work as being in towns and cities such as Spalding, Holbeach, Bourne, Boston, Grantham, Long Sutton, Lincoln, Peterborough.

Content is King

Don’t be one of the many people that uses too few words in their website pages or blog posts. You can maximise your SEO potential by exceeding the recommended minimum of 300 words. Although time is a big factor, I would still suggest putting aside at least an hour to write each new update instead of trying to cram in into a spare 5 minutes. It’s vital that content updates are done properly because there’s a very high chance that one of those updates will become somebody’s first impression of your business.

Blog early and Blog often

Did you know that companies that published 16+ blog posts per month had roughly 3.5 times more traffic than companies publishing from 0 to 4 posts monthly? It’s important to note that it’s the content that takes priority, but there is a balance to be struck. Why not pad out two quality, lengthy blog posts into four over the same period of time. Provided you aren’t cutting to close to the recommended minimum of 300 words, you’re probably substantially improving your visitor numbers. Some of the websites we host update their content on a daily basis.

Newsletter: We’re Here to Help – Hosting & Support

6th July 2018 by driveby

We’re sending out this latest mailshot as a reminder that we’re here to help all year round. Our hosting and support will cover most of your website update requirements but if it doesn’t we’ll never surprise you with unexpected costs. The last thing we want is for our clients to leave their websites idol while their business is active.

Website Update Ideas

Expand on an existing page or write a new page. Just a couple of hundred words can go a very long way to optomising your website for search engines like Google.
Update your website photos. This doesn’t make a lot of difference in Google but it does help convert your website visitors into customers. Out of date photos make a big difference to the impression your website gives.
Rebranding is a great way to reignite momentum in a business. Design trends change contantly and the best brands keep up to date with them. Your website can do exactly the same without needing a whole new website every time.
GDPR updates have become very common since the new regulations came in. This could mean adding a cookies notice, privacy policy or even adding an SSL certificate.
Re-engage with your social media followers. We recently decided to re-engage our social media followers and gained over 30 extra facebook followers in one week with very little effort. We also recently launched an instagram page and managed to attract over 100 followers in one week.
Direct customers reviews to your Google listing to demonstrate your service quality.
Expand into new technologies. We recently announced we were beginning to work with cryptocurrencies on our clients websites. We also made some predictions about what’s next for website technology for anyone that wants to get ahead of the curve.

So remember, we’re here to help. These are just some ideas to get the ball rolling. If you want anything updating on your website, contact us on 01775 761512.

View the full newsletter here.