I’m a bit of a Luddite when it comes to mobile phones and the web. But that’s all changing now, as I am experiencing what really looks and feels like the web, on a real working mobile phone.

My daughter has a new Sidekick, a mobile phone with unlimited Internet browsing on a monthly contract. It looks like this:

And it overcomes most of the objections I had to the old mobile web:

• it let’s you look at the whole real Internet, not just some motley collection of WAP pages
• it actually looks like real web pages
• it has a screen my 40-something year old eyes can read
• it has a real (if tiny) keyboard

The first thing I did was look at my own web page, and I was pleased to see it looked pretty good on the Lilliputian screen. Why? Because all along we’ve been beating the valid code and accessibility drum, and that makes it work.

And having avoided the mobile marketplace for so long, there is lots to discover. Its been a real eye opener catching up with the rest of the mobile world, and here some reading I’ve been doing in anticipation of developing a new workshop:

• What are people searching using their mobiles? Cinemas, supermarkets, pizza, hotels, and… Halfords. You go figure. Take a look at m-spatial’s local search brands.
• Work we all need to do regarding Google’s mobile sitemaps
• The rollout of mobile search servies, like Yahoo’s OneSearch or MSN’s Live Search for Mobile

Anyway, keep your eyes open for more announcements coming from the Hallam camp in terms of mobile marketing.

Inbound links worry my customers. I hear the same questions over and over again:

I need links. What is a quality inbound link? And how do I get them? And why is it so hard to do?.

And my answer to you is: If it were easy, I would be a rich woman by now.

Getting high quality links is hard work, and that’s why Google values quality links so highly.

My advice to you always is to get a few perfectly formed links, which are infinitely more valuable than a bunch of rubbish links.

Here’s my Top 10 Tips for good quality links:

1. Is the website in your topical community, that is to say, is it related to what you do?
2. Is it an authoritative or trusted site on your subject matter?
3. What other pages does this site link to? Is it linking to other high quality sites?
4. Is it clear that the sites they are linking out to are vetted and evaluated, not just machine generated?
5. Are the links mixed in with other “real” text and copy? Or is it just a list of random links?
6. Who links into the site? Does it have a zillion spammy links coming into it, which might artificially inflate its Page Rank?
7. How old is the site? Older is better, trust me.
8. Who owns the site? Does this person have lots of other sites, probably all developed for the purpose of playing the links game? Bad news, that.
9. Are they requiring reciprocal links? Stay away, unless it is a powerful site.
10. Beware buying links. A few high quality strategic purchases will kick start your linking, but penalties may arise if you buy too many.

And of course, do your research, check out your competitors’ links and keep your eyes open for linking opportunities.

A domain name isn’t for life, you just rent it, probably for a year a two. And there’s a posse of entrepreneurs waiting to scoop up your name if you fail to renew your name in time.

Domain name sniping is the practice of pouncing the instant a domain name registration lapses, buying the domain name up for one reason or another.

The purpose of this posting is not to educate snipers, but to help business owners understand the risks sniping raises for your business.

A legitimate reason to snipe is that you want a new domain name for your new business, or for your blog, or you want a keyword rich name for a site you’re creating.

A less salubrious reason to snipe is to monetise the domain name, which means that ugly practice of automatically filling a web page with keyword advertising. (nb: I refuse to link to any of those services.) Another alternative is to speculate on reselling the name at a profit, perhaps with a view to selling back to the unwitting previous owner, of course at a highly inflated price.

Typically there are 40,000 or more domain names expiring every day, and we’re talking big business.

How do snipers work? There are a number of websites which will provide you with a list of domain names due to expire, and enable you to place a back order for the names you want. The moment the name expires, the service automatically places the order, and just seconds later Bob’s your uncle, you’ve got a domain name.

There are mixed reviews of the websites offering a sniping service, such as Pool and SnapNames. It appears sometimes these services work successfully, sometimes they don’t.

To snipe a domain name costs about US$60. If more than one person is sniping for a name, then a 3 day auction ensues, with high bidder winning.

Once a domain name has been purchased, it can’t be resold for 60 days.

So be warned: don’t let your domain name expire, or it may get snapped up by a sniper!

I have a new client that has come to me with a website that is under performing. Where should she put her scarce resources – into search engine optimisation (SEO), or pay per click advertising (PPC)?

Her objective: she needs clients now. But she also wants to grow her business over the medium term.

SEO and PPC have their relative strengths, and as always this is a case of weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

I’d recommend she kicks off with PPC:

• it’s immediate: she’ll instantly start ranking well in the search engine results
• it’s a great learning tool: she’ll have evidence of specific phrases that are working well for her business, and she can use these phrases to guide her SEO strategy
• it’s measurable: she can track which clicks have converted to enquiries
• it’s flexible: she can tweak her ads, turn them on, turn them off, test and learn
• it’s dynamic: she can test phrases that she doesn’t have time to incorporate into her website

But of course, there are drawbacks to PPC:

• it’s expensive: she’ll need relatively deep pockets to compete in her market space
• it’s ephemeral: turn off the ads, then her rankings disappear in a puff of smoke
• it’s advertising: how many of you actually click on the little ads on the right in Google?
• it’s subject to click fraud: (ed: allegedly subject to click fraud)

And we are working on her SEO campaign in tandem with her PPC, and I’m confident it will all workout well.

The benefits of SEO:

• After initial investment, the dividends in improved rankings are virtually free
• Searchers trust the organic results more than the paid-for ones
• Creating SEO friendly content delivers the additional benefit of human-friendly content, indeed also should be more accessible content

And the drawbacks of SEO:

• It’s a lot of work. And I mean a whole lotta work
• If you have an existing site, it may mean a significant rebuild which costs time and money
• There are no such thing as a guarantee. All your work may lead to disappointing results if you operate in a highly competitive market.

It’s all a matter of balance to meet her business objectives.

Congratulations to a few teams developing shiny new websites in the region:

Milestone Seminars, providers of management and executive training, have designed their own website, and it’s looking great. John is walking the fine line of balancing his search engine optimisation efforts with compelling visuals. It’s a great design, and he’s implementing some important basic SEO hygiene.

Abacus Lighting are a world leader in exterior lighting. Paul and the team have just launched their new website. I’m hoping to provide a “before and after” case study documenting their rapid progress.

Well done to you both!

Search Engine Optimisation:  Nottingham NG1 2AS UK

Hallam’s SEO services can help your company to stay competitive in the fast paced and growing online market.  Our targeted advice will help your company to reach your potential customers.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a technique for making your website more visible in search engines.

With more and more businesses going online it is more important than ever to ensure that your website ranks well in search engines.  More customers finding your website more easily will, for most cases, have a real impact on your sales figures.

We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to SEO.  We will work with you to develop an SEO strategy to suit your company’s needs and targets.  Your strategy will use a mix of tried and tested SEO techniques.

Initial Website Review

Before we can develop an effective SEO strategy for you we first need to analyse your website.  We look at the factors that may be affecting your current performance in the rankings and based on this we will describe the best way forward for you.

We can also help you to identify the words that your customers are using to find companies like yours (known as keywords).  We can then help you to optimise your website for the keywords that will deliver practical results.

At this stage we will also analyse your competitors’ websites to discover their successful SEO secrets.  This information will inform your SEO strategy and will give your company the competitive edge.

On-page SEO and Copywriting

To improve your website’s rankings for the keywords that matter to your customers we can:

• Edit existing content to make your site more search engine friendly
• Write new pages for your website that your customers will want to read
• Help you to create a blog or other social media campaign

Link Building for SEO Success

There are many different elements to a successful SEO campaign.  While well-written and keyword-rich pages are important, you also need to build links with other reputable websites for SEO to work.

We can find the most appropriate websites for you to link to and from.  We will suggest and create high quality links that will boost your rankings in the search engines.

We may submit your website to topical directories, or produce engaging articles for submission to reputable websites including links to your pages.

PPC and Organic SEO

So far we have described organic SEO methods that will increase your search engine visibility without advertising.  Yet Pay Per Click campaigns can be a highly effective way to reach your customers.

We will advise you on whether a PPC campaign will help you get the results you need.  If you decide to include paid-for advertising in your SEO strategy we can manage the campaign on your behalf.

Search Engine Optimisation Training

We want to give you the skills that you need to manage an SEO campaign on your own.  So we run a series of highly-regarding SEO training courses in Nottingham, London, Manchester, Dublin and Belfast.

You will leave all of our training events with a practical plan of action detailing the specific steps you need to take to optimise your website.

You will also be provided with a comprehensive set of course notes, articles and reference guides. And following the course, you will have access to Hallam’s password protected online library of SEO support resources.

If our public courses do not suit your needs we can also offer bespoke training programmes.  We would work with you to identify the SEO skills that your staff need, then deliver quality one-on-one or group training.

All of our SEO services are delivered from our offices in Nottingham City Centre.  Get in touch if you have any questions or would like to sign up for our SEO services.

I’ve been trying out SEO Book’s updated Keyword Research Tool, and as they say, it’s a cracker.

Try it out right here, right now: