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Get more people looking at your website

Having a professionally designed website is the cornerstone of your online marketing but you need people looking at it.

If you would like to discuss what approach might be right for your business or just to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each method, then please call me.

Regards,

Mark

Recommend Activ and get a thank you bonus

Editing Images for your website

Jon

If you are uploading your own images to your website, whether for products in an online shop or possibly inclusion in a news/events article or gallery, then it is likely that they will require some editing.  The key areas to focus on will be:

Crop an image – allows you to quickly remove part of your photo and focus on the relevant area.  In the process, called ‘cropping’ you will reduce the size of the image.
Resize an image – the typical photo size for a web gallery picture is around 1000 pixels wide – this is large enough on most screens but not too large for the lower quality screens.
Reduce the file size (image quality) – you don’t need the highest quality images for a website and the size of the file will also be too big. The larger the file size, the slower your website page will load which might be an irritation to your users. Try and keep images less than 150kb.

Gallery Images

We recommend you are consistent in your sizing for galleries as this looks better when displayed.  For slideshows, a maximum height of 800px and maximum width of 1000px will ensure that your slideshow fits on most computer screens.

If you don’t have software available on your PC that you can use, you may want to try FreeSizer below as a simple tool to make these changes.

Regards,

Mark

FreeSizer

This program is probably the easiest to use and most basic.  It is FREE to download at http://www.freesizer.com/
It provides another easy way to resize your images ready for the web.

1. On the profile tab, drag and drop the files you want to resize from directory on your computer.
2. Click the Custom item under title ‘Select resizing profile’
3. Under settings tab, choose a directory where you want the new smaller files to go
4. Under custom profile settings put the MAX width and MAX height you want the photos to be.  I recommend 1000 width and 800 height as a good size for any image going in a gallery.

Now return to the Profile tab and click Start Resizing.Your resized images will be in the folder you selected above.

Website checks

Promoting your website

Don''t forget to share with family, friends and colleagues as getting early clicks on your site will help to get your site indexed.  Also, use the share buttons provided on the site to share pages on your own social media sites.

You should also make sure that any voicemail messages direct people to your website where they can get information and support or even buy online or directly book your services.

Don’t forget if you have any online advertising with Yell, Checkatrade or Thompson, then you will probably have a website link available.  Make sure you let them have your new website address and check they have updated your listing.

Printed Material

Don''t forget to get all your staionery and printed marketing material up to date.  Your ''offline'' marketing helps to direct potential clients at your website where the website can take over the sales process.

PDC Design and Print in Kingston have worked with a number of our clients and we are happy to recommend them. Call Robin on 07836 224321.

More Promotion Opportunities

If you are interested in discussing other promotional opportunities then please contact me or take a look at the website.

Activ Email Users

Hi Jon

Please see the following guidelines for the use of Activ email available online via Yandex Mail login.

If you would like to discuss in more detail then please don''t hesitate to call me.

Regards,

Mark

Activ Email Guidelines

Ensure you have secure webmail passwords.

When a website is set up by Activ all email passwords are set up to include a range of numbers and letters. You are advised NOT to change this password, however, if  you wish to change the password it must have a minimum of 9 characters of letters and numbers. If you change the password to something that is easy to identify, your emails are open to being hacked and may be used to create spam email for others.

Please DO NOT send more than 20 emails at a time through Outlook or equivalent mail program.

This means you should not CC or BCC a customer list of over 20 emails at anyone time.  It is likely that your email will not reach the target audience anyway and your email may be marked down as a spammer.  This means that other people may also not receive your emails as their software will block your emails.
Activ do provide an Email Marketing Service for those customers that wish to do more with their email marketing.

Issues with emails

If you experience issues with your emails, always first check the webmail facility to see if that is working first.  If it isn''t working then please contact us.

Getting on Google search results

Jon

Getting your site on search engines

In theory it can take weeks, even a couple of months, for search engines to visit your site and index it all.  Until this happens, your site won''t feature on the search engines if new and may not be re-indexed if an existing domain.

However, now your site is live, I have registered it with the main search engines.  We have found this to be the best way to get you indexed quickly. 

As a local business it is possible to achieve a good ranking on the likes of Google. It is worth reviewing the situation in a couple of months.  If you want to do more to raise your ranking then we can discuss then.

Regards,

Mark

Google My Business

Adding your business location to Google My Business is one of the easiest ways to get noticed online and it''s FREE.

If you ever wondered how you make sure you appear on those local maps when you search for local businesses, then Google My Business is the answer. If they search for your business as well, then you will be seen on the right side with your own profile too.

You will need a Google account or you can create one at the Google My Business site below. Check to see if your business is already registered by Google, if it is then claim it as the business owner. If not, then you will need to add it.

Make sure you complete the verification process or your business will not be listed.

Make sure you get noticied

Google displays its top 3 businesses in what we call the "3 pack" and the rest under a more link.  Getting in the top 3 requires wider promotion of your site on other websites too.  For more information on this, please see the link below

Google Analytics for website stats

You can get a full statistical report on the usage of your website using Google Analytics

We can install Google Analytics without charge for you. You will need a Google account and supply the code provided by Google to enable this.

What Next ?

As a result of reviewing your stats, you may want to take further action:

• Make slight ammendments to your site which can be done as part of your site maintenance e.g. adjust links, emphasise certain products or services etc.
• Develop some new content to promote particular aspects of your business or engage potential customers to retain their interest. If so, then please contact me to discuss and I can advise on the methods of doing this and what costs are involved.
• Generate more traffic to your site - Activ offer a Search Engine Optimisation package to improve traffic to your site, raise your ranking in search engines and increase your overall presence on the internet

Can I ask a favour

If you have a moment - could you add a review for me on Google - every little bit helps.

Many thanks,

Mark
 

PS you will need to log in to a gmail account of some kind as Google requires verifiable reviews.

Email Access

Jon

IF ACTIV are providing your emails - otherwise ignore this

You will already have been provided with details for your emails and this is just a reminder.

You can access your email through any internet connected device using the webmail facility at:

 https://passport.yandex.com

use the login userids and passwords for each email which we have already provided.

NB The first time you login to your email account you will need to add a few personal details (repeat for each email account if there is more than one)

You can also use the App available on iOS (Apple) or Android devices - search apps for Yandex Mail

Whilst Activ don’t directly support other email programs or mobile devices you may use them to access your email as well. Each email program and device are different but they all require similar information as below.

Setting up emails on other email programs

For information on using an email programs like outlook, Mail etc. 

see https://yandex.com/support/domain/access/client.html

Click on the link shown for Mail Program on the above page - you will need to enable your required email service either POP3 or IMAP on your account settings (also available within your email - Settings (Cog Symbol)  > Other > Email Clients)

Lastly, see help for setting up your preferred email program - Mail Clients

See example set up details for Outlook - other email programs will be similar but details are included in the help above.

Regards,

Mark

Domain Privacy

If we register your domain name then we do so with your contact details as the owner of the website. It is possible to update domain account details to hide your information (name, address, contact details) from a public look up. Depending on the domain registrar there are different yearly costs for this. If you would like information and costings for adding Domain Privacy to your domain name(s) please just get in touch for details.