The rate is so called because of the likening to a rubber ball – it goes up and then down – in the website world this means the visitor comes, looks at the page they land on and then goes no further, basically closing their browser or going elsewhere. The most common mistake when trying to understand the bounce rate is to simply assume that if it goes up you are doing everything incorrectly or that your site is not good enough, but you have to take a much broader look at the data and then delve into another level to really understand.

So, what to do if you notice your bounce rate has risen and you are concerned:

Once you log into Google Analytics, on the right hand side click onto Traffic Sources. This now brings up a list of the most common referrers to your website, or where the person has come from to look at your website or page within your website. If you then click onto “all traffic sources” which appears under this menu, you will then be presented with a screen that offers a wealth of information, but you need to focus on the referrer and the bounce rate, both of which can be seen on this page.

If you see a very high bounce rate from a couple of the referrers, then you can begin to find out why the traffic from these places is not really sticking around on your site, or it could be that they have found what they needed to and gone else where, satisfied and fulfilled.

For example, you might have one of your articles linked to from another site, but the other site only offers an introduction or a teaser. The reader then has to click on the link to read more, ends up on your website, reads the article and then goes elsewhere, either with the knowledge they required or without. You could expect a high bounce rate from this link because it might be your article explains how to do something or offers a guide that the person only needs to read once.

There are lots of reasons why some referrers could lead to a high bounce rate and these include incorrect linking, misleading descriptions, and incorrect page linking and so on, so it’s important to find out from which referrers the bounce rate is highest and then tackle the reasons why. If the bounce rate is high from your Pay Per Click campaign, then you might need to look at your advert, keywords or linked to page to try and understand why the rate is quite high.

A high bounce rate is rarely a good thing, but it is vitally important that you take a deeper look at the main source or sources of the high bounce rate before you start to really worry about the quality of your site.

A CRM is perfect for any type of business. Whether it’s a small one man band to a company of 30 employees, a well designed and managed CRM system allows your company to make use of all the data that is currently flying around, reducing your reliance on spreadsheets and other offline databases.

There a lots of online CRM systems that you can choose from on the Internet today, with many varying in functions and pricing structures. These include:

• Salesforce
• Web Ex
• Zoho
• Web CRM

Many businesses operate on a low key scale in their early days, months and years, using spreadsheets and other types of databases to store their potential clients and other bits of information. As the company hopefully grows and employs more people, the access to this data becomes a nightmare, especially if each of the individuals needs to update the information.

This is where an online CRM can come into play.

With most of the paid online CRM systems you can have multiple users, meaning that the key people in your organisation have access to the data they need to and can update it without the worry of over writing or ruining the existing data. You can also plan the calendar side of things for multiple people, meaning that they can all see where the individual is at any time of the day and also book meetings and share documents should you need to, safely and securely.

As a supervisor, manager or company owner, using a CRM means you can see exactly what is going on within the company. It allows you to view information contacts, leads, your employees and potential clients and it brings everything together all under one roof. Most of the better CRM systems allow you to view the most important data as soon as you log in, meaning that you get instant access to the key information you need on one screen.

Using a CRM can bring much more efficiency to your business. No more swapping spreadsheets or corrupt databases, it is all secure and safe online, fully backed up and accessible from anywhere. Increased efficiency means increased productivity, success and sales, which is why a CRM can really work for any business, but you do have to put the initial time and effort

Traditionally, web traffic tends to drop off in the summer months, but many websites and web site owners are reporting higher than normal drop offs for the month of August this year, which indicates that either more people are taking time off in this month or businesses are still struggling for survival.

Of course, not all websites and companies see a drop in traffic for the summer months, especially if they are in the niche of:

• Holidays
• Accommodation
• Outdoor Activities
• Leisure Activities

But the majority of other types of business are seeing substantial drop off’s in traffic, especially search engine traffic.

It is important not to panic if your traffic suddenly drops in this month because if you are using analytics software it is quite easy to ask a couple of questions to make sure this is down to seasonable reasons and not penalty reasons. If your traffic has fallen, there are a few things you need to do to check that this is down to the time of the year and nothing more sinister like hacking or SERP drops.

If your traffic has dropped, follow these procedures:

Open up your analytics and look at the keywords you were ranking highly for last month, pop these into Google or a keyword tracker and see if you are still ranking.

If you are still ranking for all of these keywords then really is nothing to worry about and you can rest assured that the drop is due to seasonal issues rather than being dropped from the engines or losing SERPs.

You should also look through all of the hits you have had from other sites and make sure that they are around the same level that you would of seen a couple of months ago, which again will maybe indicate if there has been a dropped link or some of your previous referrers are no longer sending as much traffic.

August sees many people go away on holiday and all you need to do is go down to your local town or usually busy place to see this. This is the same for the Internet. For example, say the Managing Director of a company goes on holiday, the rest of his staff will not only need to cover his work load but they will also usually not really have the authority to make the decisions they could normally pass by him.

This will mean that if they were planning a marking campaign, new website or anything else along these lines, there would not be much point in sorting anything out until the MD’s return from holiday, as nothing will get approved anyway.

It is important not to panic if your traffic falls during the month of August, but do follow the advice we have given and do some basic checks to make sure it is just down to seasonal reasons and nothing else.

Below, we look at the things to avoid when running and setting up a cost per click campaign and the most common mistakes people make when doing so.

Prepay Not Postpay – When you originally set up your campaign, make sure that you set the billing to PREPAY, because this means you can only be charged for the money that is actually in your account. If you go for Postpay and forget to set a low daily budget and do not check the campaign for while, you might be greeted with a bill that is bigger than you expected!

Incorrect Linking – Make sure that your advert links to the most relevant page on the site that your advert is selling. For example, if you were a kitchen domestic appliance company and the advert was for fridges, make sure that advert links directly into the fridge section of your website, as this has been proven to increase the conversion rate and the success of the advert.

Misleading Title – Your title is the same as a headline on a newspaper, it is what makes people want to read further, or in this case, click through to your website. If your title is misleading or not related, you are going to end up with a load of clicks that you really do not want, costing you a lot of money and therefore making your advertising campaign a waste of time. Make sure your descriptions are accurate, advertise exactly what the person will see when they land on your website or that page and make them catchy if possible.

Budget Restrictions – The old saying – you need to spend money to make money – is as true on the internet as it is for another type of advertising. If you go in with a tiny budget then you are not going to get the rewards you deserve. You need to set a realistic monthly and daily budget, you can always start quite high and then drop down or vice versa, but do try to spend more than just a couple of pounds a day, especially if your industry is quite competitive.

To Many Keywords / Adverts – One of the most common mistakes is to set such a low budget and then add loads of adverts and keywords. You must remember that the more adverts and keywords that share the same budget, the less they are likely to be displayed as the system has to try and spread them out to display across your time frame. Try to limit each advert to around 20 keywords maximum and if you need more try upping your budget for a couple of days to get more joy.

Wrong Keywords – Too many keywords is bad, the wrong keywords is really bad, as once again you will just be losing money. If the keywords you choose to bid on are incorrect or irrelevant, you will just end up with lots of click throughs and no success, so always make sure you spend time looking at your chosen keywords and making sure they are the best they can be.

Below, we look at our top five pieces of offline marketing material you really should be doing well.

Business Cards – Since business began people have always needed a way of sharing their contact details and information with each other, hence the introduction of the business card. The card normally is the size of a credit card and contains your name, company name, address, phone details and email address, but you can pretty much have whatever you like on these efficient little calling cards. If you do a lot of exhibitions or trade shows, business cards are key to making sure people who you speak to remember you when they look through their collection after the event.

Brochures – Printed brochures can be a fantastic way of not only attracting more business but also advertising extra services to existing clients. Nothing beats a nicely printed brochure for someone to read through on the train, in their office or when they have a few spare minutes and do not have access to their PC to read a PDF etc. If you spend a bit of money on getting them binded and covered, you can really sell your business by the quality of these brochure packs when the customer picks them up. And remember, people never tend to through things away that look like they have had some money spent on them.

Leaflets / Flyers – Go to any trading estate or industrial park in the country and you will see load of businesses that are just waiting for your high quality leaflet to be dropped through their letter box! Although it is fair to say that leaflets drops are probably not as effective as in times gone by, if you spend some money on a catchy, nice looking A5 leaflet, you will be sure that they will at least be read and for the price of them, it only takes a couple of calls to cover your costs.

Print Adverts – Even if the majority of your business comes from online search engines searches, you should not discount the fact you might be missing out on people who still browse through your local newspapers or trade magazines. Any business should still do some offline print advertising, as you never know where you might pick business up from, not everyone uses the Internet religiously!

Signage – Signage is still extremely important when it comes to getting your company’s name about in your local area or town. You can your company car or van to display your logo and key information and you can also purchase banners that you can display outside of your office. If you have an office or premises, make sure you invest in some high quality signs to display the fact your company is there and operating, as the amount of business that can come through people just driving or walking by can often be amazing when you look back at where the business has come from.

Below, we look at some tips to keep you motivated when it comes to taking on the challenge of writing high quality content.

Write About Something You Enjoy – One of the biggest suggestions we always tell our clients is to write about something they enjoy. This is not always possible if you have to write about multiple subjects, but writing about things that you have a wealth of experience in and know about means writing that article becomes much easier and takes the doom and gloom away from having to research the subject in great depth.

Set Rewards – Even if you are being paid for these articles that you are writing, try to set yourself mini rewards for finishing an article, things like a cup of coffee or a quick browse on Facebook. If you can look forward to something at the end of it, like anything in life, you will work that little bit harder just to get the job completed so that you can enjoy the reward, no matter how small it might be.

Do Your Research – Writing about a subject that you have researched and actually know a lot about will mean your article will flow freely and will become far less of a strain than writing it with you guessing pieces of information all the way through. For example, if you had to go and write about the history of trains, go and write down ten bullet points which cover the length of time or the subject you are writing about by researching them first. This will then mean you have some foundation to base your article on as you will be using the researched bullet points as content starters.

Take Breaks – Whether you are writing on a pen and paper or are using a computer, make sure you take regular breaks. For example, if it normally takes you half an hour to write an article, after fifteen minutes have a quick break away from what you are doing, even if it’s something simple like going to the window and taking some fresh air. It is important for your health to take regular breaks from content writing and it will also help you to make the content better, because you are spreading your workload a little and not getting drained writing.

Spread The Writing – Sitting there for three hours having to write loads of content will lead to three things, you hating life, your wrists and eyes aching with pain and the articles towards the end of your three hour marathon will be of much less quality than the ones at the start. If you know you need three articles for a certain date, try to spread them out so that you vary your time and do not have to do them all at once, else they really will suffer in terms of quality and readability, if you’re not enjoying writing this will come across in the finished article.

Barnet, Enfield, Islington, Hackney and Camden.

By doing this you will also feature for local searches, so if someone searches for your trade in Islington, that webpage will appear.

Your location pages should be named within the URL, an example of this would be www.yourcompany.co.uk/islington .html this also means that the individual page title can include your services and the location. This will really help with finding you on the search engines.

Do not make your location page just generic text either, write a little something about the area and the services you can provide there. This can also include a map. The reason why this area needs to be good content wise is because it will be a localised landing page for some and so you need to sell your services very much like the homepage does, also the better the content the more reward you will get from the search engines.

Having a website is a great way of marketing your business, but only when done correctly and by having location pages it can be found by users for more search terms which is exactly what any website wants.

Many people believe that by having a website you are opening yourself up to the world, this is true if you want to do that but if you want your website to be a locally found thing then by using the correct page names and page titles you can narrow the search down for your website.

Below, we look at some top tips when it comes to staying safe online.

Always Use A Credit Card – When using your credit card, you are protected against fraud and theft, so, if your credit card details were stolen or misused online, you would be protected and the credit card issuer does have obligations to sort the problem out. Credit cards offer far more protection when buying anything, offline or online, so it makes sense to always try to purchase your items with a credit card.

Never Use A Debit Card – Debit cards offer you little or no protection when shopping online, you must really try to avoid using your debit card online if you are planning a shopping “trip”. The trouble with debit cards is that they take the money pretty much straight away, meaning by the time you know there is a problem, it is too late and your bank is unlikely to refund your money.

Use Virus Protection – We recommend McAfee all the way, but there are other brands of virus protection on the market, just make sure you have one of them installed, especially if you can also afford protection with a firewall built in as well. A good virus protection suite will be one of your first lines of defence when stopping the viruses and Trojans entering your PC which can get your credit card details and phish for your details, so it is well worth spending the money on a really good bit of kit.

Keep Windows Updated – Windows updates, although seen by many as a nuisance, are vital to keep your system protected from hacking and intrusions, especially the crucial updates you will get from time to time. Make sure you keep windows updated and that you always accept the updates when requested, because the one update you miss may leave you with a very vulnerable exploit which anybody can get through and take your details.

Keep All Software Updated – Many computer users do not realise that if you leave any form of software not updated, you are at risk of exploitation and unauthorised access to your machine. Things like Adobe Reader and other types of software you use regularly are specific targets for many viruses and Trojans, so always make sure you accept updates when required, or even check for updates on your most commonly used software.

Check For The Padlock – If you use Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or most other types of browser, you should see a little padlock when you are on a secure site. Before you order anything online, check for the padlock on your browser as this helps to make sure that the site you are using is as secure as can be, another line in the defence against phishing for your details.

Only Use Reputable Sites – If you are unsure about the site, the first thing to do is find a phone number or company details to make sure everything is legitimate. If you can not find any of these details and you are unsure about the site, it is better to pay slightly more but use a site you are totally confident with, as it is just not worth the risk if you have any doubts at all.

In today’s highly competitive e-commerce environment you need to give your website a high ranking presence on the major search engines for a particular search word or phrase. Normally 85/90% of visitor traffic comes from search engines, so a high ranking is vital for success.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can give your online business this high profile and has a record of producing quantifiable benefits. Pound for pound SEO offers a higher return on investment (ROI) than any other form of marketing.

Whatever your business SEO provides more effective online marketing and promotion plus strong international brand visibility for your product(s).

Properly designed and optimised, a website will remain long term high in the rankings making it more cost effective than pay per click (PPC) where costs and outlay are ongoing and unpredictable.

And in a world where we are bombarded with choice SEO is able to make your website stand out so that visitors are actively searching for your site or product.

For a comparatively low outlay SEO also maintains your marketing presence 24/7, ensuring you climb Google and staying ahead of your competitors.

Sounds great, but what of the additional cost to the marketing budget? That’s where good training can come in.

Why pay others when you can train your own staff to ensure that every page on your site is SEO optimised for maximum benefit?

That way not only can you save money on SEO services but also integrate it into your overall marketing mix.

Courses are readily available that can be done either in-house, on a 1-to-1 or group basis, or at a training centre near you.

All of this can be done in several ways but if you want to manage your own content and images the best way is WordPress.

WordPress was originally conceived as a bloggng platform but now with the coding skills of PHP and knowledge of MYSQL databases any design can be custom built onto the WordPress system which is free to download as it is an open source software package.

The beauty of having a design on the wordpress system is that it gives you the flexability of a content management system. This will allow you to add and change your content in the form of text and images. There are also a whole host of pluggins available to help with things such as booking forms, flash imagery, photo galleries and search engine optimsation packages. You can also have plugins that automatically tweet on Twitter your latest blog so everything is done at once and from one place. It really is a simple way of managing a website and with thousands on developers constantly adding new plugins there is no end to what can be achieved.

This now brings us onto how important WordPress is from an SEO (search engine optimisation) perspective. With the plugins available you can make sure your meta tags (page titles, description and keywords) are all releveant to your industry and target audience simply with the click of a button. The important bit is that because you have the option of adding content in the form of pages and blogs easily the search engines will find your website more interesting with unique content to read and so your importance to them goes up and so does your ranking.

Content really is king for good rankings on the modern internet and what WordPress does is allow you to simply add pages and intergrated blogs as and when you like which in turn improves your website from the view of a search engine and user.

A WordPress website will also save you money in the long run, ok, it maybe more expensive to build compared to a static design but because you will be able to control everything that goes on you wont have to pay a web designer for updates which over the course of a year can be a good saving.
So if you are looking to have your website re-designed or built, ask the web developer/ designer about WordPress, it will be the best thing you can do for your website and your business.