We were asked by CIT to optimise their new website for the web by implementing a 3 month SEO Strategy.

We conducted a month long analysis of their current site which gave us an insight into how their site was currently performing.

The results in that period showed a total of 44 unique site visits 152 page views and a total of 37 unique site visitors.

We implemented our strategy which included:

• Better Coding of website
• Improved META tag descriptions
• Multi Lingual META tags

We continued to monitor how the site performed over the next 3 months and made tweaks where necessary.

By the end of the Month 3 we where able to produce some figures that surpassed our agreed percentage increase.

Total for Month 3

224 Unique Site Visits

764 Page Views

191 Unique Site Visitors

This was an increase of 409%

Is your business making the most of its website?

Get in touch with us here and lets discuss how we can improve your website and ultimately, your business.

Sam Evanson

Before we get start getting ideas for improving your social media presence, we must know that well thought out marketing is all about the ideas behind your product or service. These ideas need to be communicated on your website with a clear message and it must also be visually appealing, as well as through various channels. Social media is rapidly becoming a preferred channel for web users to communicate and share ideas, and should be a strong part of your web strategy. Here are some tips for improving your website’s presence as it relates to social media.

Content is Key

To establish a presence in Social media you must create content, and certain kinds of content at that will be of interest to your target market. Regardless of your industry, to create buzz you need to educate or entertain your target market. If you do this well people will want to share this and thus improve your general web presence.

Improving “Linkability” of your Content

Having “static” web pages, e.g. brochure-style pages, are definitely useful for product information. But to optimize a site for social media, we need to increase the frequency and linkability of the content. My favourite method is to add a personal blog that shows your personality and interests about a particular topic area. Other types of content, like white papers or aggregated selected links to related articles, are also quite useful for potential readers. Remember, the idea is to create something valuable beyond your core product offering to keep potential customers coming back.

Encourage Inbound Links

Inbound links from other blogs and websites are crucial to enhancing your search optimization and overall rankings. Listing trackbacks with each article or post will entice users to link to your site in the hopes that you will reciprocate a link. However, be aware of trackbacks from unrelated, spam filled blogs or sites that are merely republishing your content without permission. For these reasons, I like to approve trackbacks manually before allowing them to enter the comments.

Help Your Content Travel

Creating multiple channels of distribution for content can be a really effective way of gaining exposure and attracting links. Use Email newsletters, RSS subscribers, Facebook status updates, Twitter updates, video sync with YouTube, etc can all improve your social reach. With the number of possible channels on the web increasing, you need to make sure to stay current with popular services in the industry.

Make yourself be heard

Let’s say you have a decent social presence – your Facebook page has fans, your blog is receiving comments, people are contacting you through your site. Take the time to connect one-to-one with these active readers, they’re often your best customers!  Show your true passion for the topic at hand. You just might be connecting with a champion of your service.

Know Your Audience

As long as you understand your subject matter and that community’s interests, you’ll be able to set yourself for successful social media connections. Don’t stray too far from your niche, leverage the latest tools and industry trends, and try to stay focused on content that will drive interest in your expertise.

We all like something free right? well we are now pleased to offer ‘Free Website Analysis’ to everyone. All you need is a website that is registered to you or your company.

Many of you may already have websites but have no idea of how it is performing. Below are some of the questions we can answer for you:

“How many hits does it receive each week?”

“Whereabouts are my site visitors based?”

“Where does my site appear on Google?”

These are all important questions that cannot always be answered simply. If you would like to know more about your own website and how it is impacting your business then please get in touch here

My latest blog offering may seem an obvious one but nevertheless one that certainly remains true and will continue to do so. If you have a business and you want it to succeed, you need a website. Simple.

Does your current website work well for you? Do you even have a website? The vast majority of clients or customers I come across won’t even do business with a company unless they are able to research them first on the web. Listen, I’m not saying everyone needs an all singing and dancing 500 page website, that’s not the case here, but what I am saying is that even the most simple website adds instant credibility to your business. This (if done correctly) will lead to further sales of your service, which is ultimately what we all want, right?

We can break down the purpose of a website into 3 main sections:

• Provide easy to read info about your business and its product or service.
• Answer the various questions a client would need when wanting info on your business.
• Motivate the site visitors to buy or use your services.

When deciding you want a website there are some key points that you will need to include. I will run through the majority of these for you now.

Make sure you have a well designed company logo, the first impression of your business that a client has will come from your logo. Invest in a well designed logo rather than something scribbled on the back of a napkin on your lunch break.

Explain what it is you do. It is important to be clear what business you are in, be sure to include a good description of what service you offer etc.

Make the site visual! Having a plain white background with small text is not going to capture the eye of your potential client. Make sure you use good graphic elements such as photos, videos, balanced colours, even general stock photos from sites such as iStock offer good quality pictures.

Depending on your business you may need to inform site visitors of your working hours. Are you a 9-5 business? Do you work weekends? These may seem obvious but its surprising how many sites don’t include this vital information.

Another vital part of the website is the ‘About’ page. This is a page that offers background information of your business and the key people behind it. Many potential clients will want to know more about the people they are dealing with, an ‘About’ page is perfect for this.

The other absolutely essential part of any website is the ‘Contact’ page. it is imperative that you include a page that shows the potential client how they can get in touch with you. We use a online form that can be filled out as well as a phone number and direct email address. You may also wish so include a business address.

All of these are essential things to include on any successful website.

A few additional bits we recommend for a business is to include some Testimonials (if possible) from successful work you have carried out. Have you received any good press for your service? Won any awards? again this should be included.

Again, depending on the type of business you are in, it can be useful to include an ‘FAQ’ page. You can save yourself a lot of time by answering common questions here. We also find that many people can be reluctant to call or email with questions so this give those people more incentive to do business with you.

If your website is in need of some work, or maybe you need a website creating, then why not get in touch with us directly on :07766 11 53 58 or via our contact form here.

We look forward to hearing from you.

You have no doubt come across the term ‘Social Media’ a lot in the past year or so. If you have not yet the plunge into Social Media, whether that be Twitter or Facebook, perhaps LinkedIn is the choice for you.

LinkedIn is a network of over 80million business professionals. It can be used for a variety of purposes such as:

A good LinkedIn strategy and well managed account can boost your company’s credibility and on-line visibility. This can lead to better website traffic, which in turn can lead to more business sales for you.

Profile

This section will include a brief description of yourself and your business. It is important to include a good quality photo of yourself. Having a bad photo or even worse, no photo at all will jeopardise the success of your LinkedIn profile. It is important to include information of your job title, your education and qualifications and what the main purpose of your job or service is. Remember this is what will be viewed by your prospective customers, so feel free to sell yourself a bit here.

Connections

Once you have your profile created you can begin to make connections. You can get LinkedIn to invite people from your existing mail contact list or you can invite people individually. Once you start building connections you can really begin to get the most out of LinkedIn.

Recommendations

LinkedIn is a network remember. There are chances that you will already know people on LinkedIn, some of who you will of worked with in the past. You can request for any of your connections to ‘recommend’ you. You need to pick people who can honestly vouch for the work you have done for them, such as colleagues or past clients. Having well written recommendations on your page will only improve your chances of success on LinkedIn.

Links

You can include up to 3 different website links on your member profile. Make sure you chose the right sort of links. Nobody wants to your Flickr page with all your holiday photos nor do they want to see your personal Facebook page. make sure you include your company;s website address first and foremost. Then include things like a Blog if you have one, but only if its business related.

A well written and  professional looking LinkedIn member profile is a great way to market your business, and the best part of all? It’s Free!!

Click the link here to get started on your own LinkedIn profile

We were asked by local CCTV specialists ‘Espial Ltd’ to redesign their outdated website.

The brief was to bring their online presence up to date and to include a media gallery to display their work, whilst keeping with their existing brand and colour scheme. They also wanted to us to develop a SEO strategy for them that would improve their ‘Google Ranking’ on a local level.

The result was a brand new site and one that offered improved usability. The new site was also written in a format that was a lot more up to date and ‘Google’ friendly. They have already reported an improvement in online generated enquiries.

“When we approached Thinkpod Studio for a new website we were unsure as we had such bad luck with our previous web designers. However our fears were soon laid to rest due to the professional and creative approach carried out by Sam and his team. We would like to thank Thinkpod Studio for their hard work and quick turnaround on this project”

Jonny Measures

Managing Director – Espial Ltd

From time to time people need to work on their website to make various changes. Whether it be to update a shop with latest stock and special offers or just some general ‘Housekeeping’.

We developed a simple page for RJC Blinds that keeps their clients up to date with what’s happening rather than just a ‘Page Cannot Be Displayed’ error message.

“We needed a holding page creating for our website as a matter of urgency. We went straight to Thinkpod Studio where they were able to produce a professional looking page for us in less than a day. Great service, once again.”

Richard Cooney

Owner – RJC Blinds Ltd

Design magnate Steven Gilliatt said “A logo should look just as good in 15-foot letters on top of company headquarters as it does an inch tall on company stationery.”


Considering everywhere a logo goes, its design and use can be one of the most important decisions a company makes.
The logo isn’t just about what’s on the paper, it’s part of the deep impressions a company makes on a person, the kind that become part of pop culture: “I’m a Mac person.”

This kind of brand identity doesn’t come easily. Whilst we cannot guarantee your brand will be up there with likes of ‘Apple’ & ‘Nike’ we do believe we can improve your overall brand and most important the public perception of your business.

Marketing can be very expensive and often not very successful. We are different to large agencies as we only take on a few projects at any one time, this allows us to solely focus on you and your needs.

Here at Thinkpod Studio we offer full Branding & Identity services starting from as little as £250.00. (Depending on size of the project). We offer a full evaluation of the current brand and will help with improving the identity of the business with a strategy tailored to fit in with your needs.

We also offer continued support after the completion of the project to help monitor the success of the work and to help your business through the transition process.

Twitter is a social media phenomenon. It has quickly overtaken MySpace and has Facebook firmly within it’s sights!. The biggest complaint from those using Twitter is that it is a time waster. First it is addicting, but there is not an application that I know of that can do anything about that. The real problem is that it isn’t easy to keep up with so many people and reply and retweet right there on the Twitter site. As people have discovered this to be the case, applications have been created to help make it easier and more efficient to navigate and use Twitter.

Tweet Deck is an example of one of these useful Twitter tools that have popped up on the horizon, thankfully. Tweet Deck is a free program that can be quickly downloaded and put to use immediately. Once you have the program downloaded and installed, you will have to fill in your Twitter user name and password so that the program can log in to your Twitter account. Every time you open Tweet Deck, it will automatically load your information from Twitter into your Tweet Deck. Once you are logged in and it is loaded, you can update your status, read other tweets and reply or retweet right there within Tweet Deck.

Tweet Deck also solves the issue of mobile tweeting. I have been using the iphone app for a year now and it works a charm. I also believe the Blackberry equivalent is useful too. No longer will you be on that long train journey wondering what Stephen Fry had for breakfast or what Jonathan Ross is feeding his Pug.

We are delighted to have recently been given the opportunity to develop a website for St Anns Childrens Home

They do some some truly fantastic work for children and the community near Bangalore, India.

We are currently in the final process of  completing site, exciting stuff.

To keep up to date with the progress of the site then why not follow us on Twitter