In a paper titled “Changing Consumer Priorities in Tough Times,” these two organizations argued, “Continuing the relationship with customers is a key strategy for service providers as they provide opportunities for the businesses to recoup revenues through up-selling at a later point in time.”

Social networks seem to provide the ideal way of maintaining contact, too, as the paper also stated, “Compared to a year ago, more [U.S. adults] are interacting with friends and family online through social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and LinkedIn. Specifically, 33 percent are doing this more, 14 percent are doing this less, and 53 percent are doing this the same; the only activity that is increasing at a faster pace is television watching.”

So companies that don’t feel like spending lots of money on TV commercials should consider that it’s possible to reach similar audiences online for free.

Then, when people are ready to start spending again (99 percent of the study’s participants agreed that the economy’s in either a recession or a depression at the moment), these savvy companies will already be a part of their daily lives.

Devon is the only county in England to have two separate coastlines; the South West Coast Path runs along the entire length of both, around 65% of which is named as Heritage Coast.

Inland, the Dartmoor National Park lies wholly in Devon, and the Exmoor National Park lies in both Devon and Somerset. Apart from these areas of high moorland the county has attractive rolling rural scenery, and villages with thatched cob cottages. All these features make Devon a popular holiday destination.

In South Devon the landscape consists of rolling hills dotted with small towns, such as Dartmouth, Ivybridge, Kingsbridge, Salcombe, and Totnes. The towns of Torquay and Paignton are the principal seaside resorts on the south coast. East Devon has the first seaside resort to be developed in the county, Exmouth and the more upmarket Georgian town of Sidmouth, headquarters of the East Devon District Council. Exmouth marks the western end of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

North Devon is very rural with few major towns except Barnstaple, Great Torrington, Bideford and Ilfracombe. Devon’s Exmoor coast has the highest cliffs in southern Britain, culminating in the Great Hangman, a 1043 ft (318 m) “hog-backed” hill with an 820 ft (250 m) cliff-face, located near Combe Martin Bay. Its sister cliff is the 716 ft (218 m) Little Hangman, which marks the edge of Exmoor. One of the features of the North Devon coast is that Bideford Bay and the Hartland Point peninsula are both west-facing, Atlantic facing coastlines; so that a combination of an off-shore (east) wind and an Atlantic swell produce excellent surfing conditions. The beaches of Bideford Bay (Woolacombe, Saunton, Westward Ho! and Croyde), along with parts of North Cornwall and South Wales, are the main centres of surfing in Britain.

Ecology
The variety of habitats means that there is a wide range of wildlife (see Dartmoor wildlife, for example). A popular challenge among birders is to find over 100 species in the county in a day. The county’s wildlife is protected by the Devon Wildlife Trust, a charity which looks after 40 nature reserves. Rising temperatures have led to Devon becoming the first

Here are a few ecommerce web site design tips that will help to quickly gain a visitor’s interest, and keep her browsing for more.

1. Capture the visitors attention immediately with an interesting headline or a thought provoking question. A first time visitor will spend no more than a few seconds in deciding to browse the web site further or to click away.

2. Ensure that the web site will load quickly into any browser by keeping large graphics, animations, and flash presentations to a minimum. Those features should be used only if they contribute to an overall message, and not for perceived entertainment value.

3. Avoid overbearing colour schemes or busy background patterns. What may look great on a living room wall could prove irritating to an online viewer. Background colours for text areas should be limited to white or pale shades, with dark or black common faced font (ie. arial or verdana) for maximum readability.

4. Compose your primary message to focus on the visitor’s interests, needs, and desires. Then demonstrate how the web site or product can help to fulfil those. Few visitors will be interested in the web site owner’s accomplishments or the business history. If that data is necessary, place it on a separate “about us” page.

5. Inject a conversational style into the text and the message conveyed. In most cases, it’s best to avoid dry corporate syntax or technical jargon, unless the web site will cater to visitors who speak those languages. A site that portrays a personality and a casual human element will be much more attractive to repeat visitors.

6. A majority of Internet users are intelligent and educated, so proofread text areas for spelling, punctuation, and grammar. This is an absolute must toward presenting a professional image.

7. An effective ecommerce web site design should be clean and free of clutter. Ample white space surrounding graphics and text areas will make for ease of readability. Paragraphs of text should be limited to five or six lines.

8. Ease of visitor navigation can be accomplished by placing a standardized menu on each page of the web site, containing links to all other pages on the web site. A visitor should be able to navigate among and between separate web pages with a single mouse click.

9. For a large site, break the content into sections and create separate pages accordingly. Most Internet users do not like to scroll down indeterminately on overly long pages. Manage your individual page length to three screens maximum.

10. Openly display the owner’s name or company name, a physical address, plus an email link and at least one other contact method (ie. fax, telephone) in any ecommerce web site design. This will serve to cultivate visitor trust and add credibility to the web site as well as the owner(s).

11. Before publishing the web site to the Internet, validate and check the HTML code for errors.

12. After publishing, but prior to any promotions, test all web pages for proper resolution in several browsers. A web page that looks great in one browser may not work at all in another. As of this writing, the three most commonly used browsers are MS Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera.

In the initial stages of web site development, the tips presented here will help to lead any beginning webmaster to an effective and successful ecommerce web site design.

Of course, there is much more to be said about optimizing a web site for search engines, and about the actual mechanics of building the web site.

Bloomstar.co.uk a digital agency based in Exeter, Devon

At Bloomstar.co.uk we have comprised a quick list of 5 writing tips to help you improve on your website. Poorly written web writing misleads visitors and wastes millions of hours daily. For today’s more than one billion Internet users, that translates to frustration. For your web design clients, it means missed opportunities. Gain insight into highly effective web writing tactics that will help promote positive online experiences with every website you design and develop. Visitors will reward your clients with more leads and sales, and make you look good along the way.

1. Website Architecture Matters

Internet users are constantly bombarded and overwhelmed with endless layers of disjointed information on the Web. Don’t fuel the chaos. Instead, structure information and lay out task steps in an intuitive manner to help visitors find the information they need and complete tasks, so they can get on with their busy lives.

Arrange your client’s website navigation, information and links according to their target audience’s needs rather than their corporate structure. Your client’s website is not organizational chart, so don’t let it mimic one.

Case in point: a U.S.-based merger and acquisitions firm that approached Webcopyplus for help had a page dedicated to each of its departments (legal, accounting, sales, etc.). Visitors had to jump blindly to different sections of the website, guessing where they might find answers.

The solution: overhaul the website architecture and content to cater to each visitor’s specific needs: Sell a business; Buy a business; Additional services. While the nature of a business might be complicated, getting visitors to information relevant to their needs doesn’t have to be.

2. Make the Web Writing Scannable

Do your clients’ websites force visitors to dig through long-winded intros, self-absorbed messages or useless paragraphs?

Studies indicate Internet users generally scan web writing, so keep it lean and clean. As a general rule, web writing should be less than half the length of copy you would use in traditional print media, such as brochures.

Take a page from professional web writers and use:

• Relevant headlines
• Subheads (also known as kickers)
• Bullet points
• Short, one-topic paragraphs
• Descriptive links

Always strive to cut down your client’s web writing into digestible chunks. Kill unnecessary words, and keep those sentences and paragraphs tight!

3. Use Plain Talk

People are often surprised to learn web writers at Webcopyplus aim to deliver web content at a grade-eight level. Clients and students alike ask: “Won’t this offend your audience?”

Not at all. There’s a vast difference between communicating simply and communicating poorly. Simple website content promotes effective communication. It is easily processed, understood and connects with readers. Poor communication hinders the information gathering process.

Many people fail to realize that most reputable national newspapers are also written at this level. Even TIME magazine, which is by and large deemed sophisticated, is written at a grade-ten level.

Why use extra syllables when it’s not necessary? This is often the result of a web writer’s ego getting in the way. For instance, consider this snippet from a florist’s website: “Pinkly pulchritudinous and amazingly delightful, infinitely charming and sensationally fascinating.”

The website is selling pink roses, and it’s probably safe to say words like “pulchritudinous” alienate most of the audience. Beautiful or lovely would work just fine.

Web writing riddled with fancy abstract language and clichés might inflate a web writer’s pride or score a design agency an award or two, but it’ll do little for your clients’ businesses.

4. Keep Your Web Writing Consistent

Businesses often have several people adding content to websites at different times, which leads to inconsistencies.

Your client’s web writing should be reviewed from start to finish with a keen eye on:

• Spelling
• Format
• Style
• Narration
• Tense
• Flow

When targeting a specific market, our web writers frequently refer to style guides. For instance, when writing for the Canadian market, The Globe and Mail Style Book indicates you should use website. To address the US market, The New York Time Manual of Style and Usage suggests you use Web site.

At the end of the day, the key is to ensure your client’s web writing is consistent so it promotes a professional brand – one that builds trust and credibility.

5. Curb Your Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is wonderful, if it’s sincere. Faking it – on or off the Web – comes across loud and clear.

In decades past, sales teams started off each week with pep meetings to stir up excitement. The overly-inspired salesman then jumped from door to door, entertaining his prospects as he pushed his goods.

Under the influence of artificial enthusiasm, he was a fast talker and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Prospects eventually resented the high-pressure pitches.

Today, those tactics aren’t tolerated for even a second. And that’s about how long it takes for an online visitor to click the back button.

“We’re the best business in Exeter!!!!!” reeks of rubbish. You’re stating: “We’ve got nothing to say, so we’re going to compensate our shortcoming with hype!”

Compelling quotes, and verified facts and figures will go a lot further to promote your client’s enthusiasm and cause. Leave the hype to the spammers.

How is mobile different?
- Mobile bots - Mobile algorithms are different
- simplified rendering
- smaller screen
- more sophisticated users
- changes the demographic
- more specific searches = mobile users aren’t browsing, they are generally searching with a specific intent

Why Now?

Real mobile web browsing - the iphone has set the bar and now carriers know that it’s not ok to have a crappy mobile browsing experience. 75% of mobile search is done on iphones. “In the next 2 years we’re going to have a mass entrance of people on mobile search” due to more companies having more browser friendly phones.

Flat rate data pricing - it’s cheaper. There isn’t the fear of data overages. Download speeds are going up. Processor speeds are increasing.

The mobile web is not a fad. It’s here to stay. There’s a need and an opportunity to master the medium before your competitors.

What is Being Looked For? In order of search frequency:
- Maps, directories
- Weather
- Local info
- News
- Entertainment
- Sports
- Finance

Apps
Major search applications in your niche (like urbanspoon) can be heavy drivers of traffic - in excess of search engines in some cases. Mobile search apps have to be looked at on an individual basis. Find out where they get their data and make sure you’re listed in their datasources.

Mobile SEO

Mobile SEO as an industry is still in its infancy. Many of the best practices for mobile are the same as traditional SEO though:

- There are different crawlers and bots
- The result pages are very different
- Slow download speeds and connectivity issues can be an issue if your site is slow to download and your bounce rates are very high as a result.

Creating sites and pages that are device independent is key, she says. Ideally, you want a page that loads and performs equally well in mobile as well as regular web browsing. With mobile SEO, the click thru is not always necessary. Often the information the user is looking for will show up right in the result (addresses phone numbers, hours of operation etc.).

Avoid these:
- embedded images
- flash
- scripts
- frames
- flash
- mouse over events
- objects
- pop up windows

Coding
Traditional browsers are more forgiving than mobile browsers. Clean code is far more important in mobile. She says to code in XHTML because it has rigid accessibility standards, which make it better for mobile. External CSS is ideal for mobile. It separates content from design, maximizes code, and decreases download time. To develop a handheld stylesheet as well as a screen stylesheet=1 set of content with 2 display variants. This way there are no duplicate content issues (screen.css and handheld css). Use ‘display none’ to selectively hide elements in either rendering.

Reasons not to use .mobi
- .mobi not preferred in mobile search
- not universally accepted
- cumbersome development standards
- no unique assets or features
- limited useful life
- bad for seo — duplicated content
- confusing for customers

the best option for most webmasters is probably the mobile/traditional hybrid pages (like the multi css example).

In terms of average hits per session, MySpace leads Facebook by nearly 46 percent, indicating that MySpace could become the preferred choice for mobile communications for a segment of the operator base and displace some popular email offerings.

In the mobile advertising marketplace AdMob servers nearly seven times more ads than its closest competitor, but it also has lower click through rate than rivals BuzzCity and Microsoft. AdMob’s lower click through rate could be because of generic ads that are not relevant to the subscriber.

The report also found that Craigslist ranked number 7 within the top 10 search terms on Google, indicating a trend towards mobile classifieds for jobs, housing, bargain items and services during the economic downturn.

Twitter has adjusted the title tags for member pages. Where they used to go “Twitter / username” they now go “User’s Real Name (username) on Twitter”

According to Robin Wauters at TechCrunch, Twitter just implemented this change this week. As he also points out, this could have an impact on how Twitter pages are ranked in search engines. He notes that his page ranks as the very first result on Google for a search of his name. For my name, it is not even on the first page. As a matter of fact, it’s not even the first result for a search for “Chris Crum, Twitter.”

Actually, for the query “Chris Crum” a Twitterholic page for me ranks higher than my Twitter page. After a fair amount of digging, I can finally find my Twitter page on the fifth SERP.

Still, if Twitter pages are ranking that high for a lot of people, it’s nothing to be ignored. Wauters makes an interesting point. “The implications are not to be underestimated. Being the top result for a name search means business, just ask all those venture-backed startups building people search engines who are vying for the sweet spots on the first page,” he says.

Perhaps I just don’t have enough followers (aka links to my Twitter page) to get my page ranked that high. If people weren’t already begging for followers, they certainly will be now.

Looks like Twitter might carry even more of an SEO incentive now. For more on where social networks like Twitter and Facebook fit into the SEO equation, read my discussion with Todd Malicoat, Joe Whyte, Joe Griffin, and Stephen Pitts.

Of course there is also the question of whether or not people want their Twitter pages ranked as the first result for their name. This might not be the best thing for online reputation management. If these pages are ranking well, people are really going to have to watch what they say even more. The whole “think before you Tweet” mentality will be that much more important.

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