Google’s new car and travel insurance tool!

You may or may not have noticed the new tool Google have released a car and travel insurance quote search. Yes you heard it, now I and many other people were surprised with this move by Google as it could have an effect on the current leading price comparison sites. After having a play around with this tool (not going to tell you the price of my quote by the way!) I have to admit it is very simple to use and less time consuming than other price comparison sites.

Well it makes sense really doesn’t it; Google has all the information stored which will therefore bring a more accurate result to the user whilst also making it as easy as possible at the same time. When I am looking for a quote the most time consuming process is finding out when the car was made and how much it is valued at, Google already knows this information and gives it you automatically! You only really have to put in your required cover, personal details and any car modifications and Google does the rest of the work for you.

Why Google Car Insurance quotes are more reliable than any other prices comparison sites;

Any price comparison site, Google already knows the ins and outs of. They can give the user a better choice of insurance companies as every insurance company website on the Internet will have been crawled by Google’s algorithm and therefore indexed and stored. So what better results can we really ask for?

As for the travel insurance search, if you type in “Travel Insurance” it doesn’t appear? Well this obviously tells us that the car insurance tool is more profitable to users. Would you agree?

Where does this leave price comparison websites?

I personally think that this new move by Google will have much of an effect on websites such as moneysupermarket.com or confused.com. It may cause some fluctuations in users but all in all I wouldn’t worry about it too much. The big question is, what are Google planning on doing with this? Is it to bring high quality results to users, which is what Google stress they are all about, or is it just to make a little bit of extra money (not that they need it)?

Answers on a postcard.

Interflora – Blossoming once more.

Last week I reported that Interflora’s SEO got them penalised by Google. It seems now that whatever it was that Interflora was doing or had done, they’ve stopped doing or removed.

It was alledged that Interflora were penalised for buying links, which is of course against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. They did this by “Rewarding” influential Bloggers in the floristry industry for including links to their website in their blog posts. It was reported by a few of these Bloggers on Twitter that Interflora contacted them requesting the link to their site on the blog post to be removed.

This seems to have done the trick. Interflora at first was not even showing for the search term “Interflora”. A sign of a heavy penalisation by Google, but also a manual penalisation.

Things like this are sometimes detected by Google’s algorithm, where Google’s spider will crawl your website, find something it doesn’t like and then lower your rankings in accordance with how much it didn’t like what you’ve done. Naughty naughty.

But in the more severe cases, Google will manually apply a penalisation against you. As in Interflora’s case where they were removed from appearing in Google, they fixed the offending issue, and were placed back into the Google listings just as before (albeit with a slight drop in rankings).

What does seem to be strange is that it took just 11 days after the initial drop for Interflora to regain it’s place in the SERPs. Google estimates a time period of weeks for a reconsideration request, so how did Interflora get placed back on Google in such quick time?

Are Google currently experiencing a dip in reconsideration requests? Did Interflora’s high profile shoot them ahead of others in the queue?

Or, was it actually something they’ve done onsite and the whole reward for links think was a distraction? Google’s crawler could have found something it didn’t like on the site, and issued and alert to Google’s webspam team who then applied the penalisation. Then, when crawling the site again after having the offending something removed, would Google’s crawler issue another alert to say that the offensive something had been removed?

What do you think?

What to avoid when Optimising a Website

I apologise now for any avid SEO fans out there as this will definitely be a case of me covering the basics.
But after speaking with various clients this week, it’s very much been a case of us teaching each other.

For instance, I wouldn’t know where to begin if I were to make a Wedding Cake, I can only just manage the microwave and the oven remains my Everest. The same thing applies to my knowledge of Counselling, a thump on the arm and a perky “Chin Up” is the best you’d get from me. However we have clients who excel in their field and rightly so after years of experience.

Recently however we have had a raft of new clients and enquiries where many of them have previously fallen foul of Google and their stringent Webmaster Guidelines. So rather than focus on what to do, here’s what NOT to do:

 

Content

Everyone has heard the phrase “Content is King”. Bandied about for years now this is as true now as it was the first day it was coined. Especially now that Content Marketing  is so important. So here’s some pitfalls to avoid when it comes to content:

  • Duplicate Content – It’s so easy to copy and paste these days, especially if you’re in a rush and need new content for your site. Copying another companies content is not only bad for SEO, but it’s bad for your company as a whole. It’s Plagiarism and definitely against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Thankfully there are tools out there to check for duplicate content.
  • Low Quality Content – Quickly hashing together 100 words and repeating keywords for the sake of it is a very bad idea. Google’s Penguin update was designed with this sort of content in mind. Affecting one in ten websites in the US low quality content will only lead to low quality rankings.
  • Illegible or Spun Content – Spun content is the act of writing out some content and then hitting it really hard with a thesaurus (or using synonyms of words). For Example: “Search Engine Optimisation is harder than it looks” if spun could read “Look Machine Streamline is unyielding than it searches”. As the words are generated individually, you can end up with some highly incomprehensible content, not good for users = not good for Google.

Link Building 

Back in the day Link Building was easy. £50 for 200 links and you’re King of Google. These days however Link Building is fraught with difficulties and what is one day a good practice, can soon turn into a bad practice and bite your site in it’s proverbial back end. So here’s what to avoid when embarking on a Link Building Campaign:

  • £50 for 200 PR6 links – Remember the phrase “if it’s too good to be true it usually is”? Definitely true in this case. Google does not allow paid links that pass PR (Page Rank) and will penalise your site if it believes you’ve paid for links. It’s not just the little guys in this either Interflora were recently penalised for doing just that, allegedly of course.
  • Link Velocity – Or the rate at which you gain links. Even if you don’t pay for links and decide to do your link building for the month in a day, then this looks too unnatural to Google who won’t hesitate to let you know their thoughts on unnatural Link Building (they hate it).
  • Unbalanced Link Profile – Your link profile consists of the type of link (Social Media, Directory, Blog Comment) as well as the anchor text (i.e. click here, visit site, even a keyword will do). So say you’re a Chauffeur Service and 95% of your link profile consists of links from blog comments with the anchor text “Chauffeur Service”, do you think that’s natural? Neither does Google.

 

What you have to think when “Look Machine Streamlining” your website is “Does this look natural?”. Google wants to give it’s users the best results it can so remember, you’re writing for the user, not for Google.

Google Pulling no Punches – Interflora UK Seemingly Penalised by Google.

Reading around the SEO blogs today there seems to be one topic that continues to sprout up. This is the case of Interflora.

Interflora are quite a large brand in the UK and manage the delivery of flowers nationwide. At the height of their powers they were ranking for a range of high traffic keywords including [flowers] and [flower delivery] along with, naturally, their company name. Their off site presence is huge too as I’ve personally seen their logo in a few florists around my local area and have worked with Interflora resellers in the past.

Now, they don’t even rank for their own brand name and have had to invest in what I can only assume is a costly Adwords campaign.

There is widespread speculation on the matter and nothing has been confirmed at all. Interflora have refused to comment with Google stating they generally don’t comment on individual webspam rulings. However one continuous theme seems to be that Interflora were “Rewarding” active and popular bloggers that included a link to their site in a few blog posts.

If this is the case then it looks like Google saw this, not as Interflora rewarding bloggers for good work, but as Interflora actively Paying for links from these bloggers. As we all know Paid links are BAD for SEO. It’s against Google’s terms and conditions and can lead to penalisation.

But before we announce ourselves Judge and Jury making conclusions and accusations, we have to bear in mind that this is all speculation and we actually have no idea why Interflora have been penalised.

We have noticed that active bloggers on Twitter at the minute are reporting that Interflora themselves have requested the links to be removed from the relevant blogs.

A sound strategy you would think, but is this just Interflora introducing this strategy to cover up the real reason why they were penalised by Google? Is there something more sinister at work by the Flower Giants? Odds on we’re never going to know, but it does make for an interesting case, especially for this SEO Company.

Mission Christmas

Mission Christmas - Thank You.In the lead up to Christmas we took part in an appeal to help raise money and provide toys to children who were at risk of receiving no Christmas presents at all. Can you imagine your children waking up on Christmas day to nothing?

We didn’t like the idea of that either so we offered our help to Key103’s Cash For Kids appeal, opening up our office as a drop off point for people making donations. We all got together, dug deep and made a sizeable donation ourselves.

Being located in the thriving City Centre of Manchester we managed to receive quite a few more donations from people who were around and decided to use us as their drop off point of choice.

But the picture is bigger than that of our efforts. All over Manchester businesses were opening their pockets and their doors making and receiving donations every day to help put a toy in a child’s stocking who, otherwise, would have gone without.

From small local businesses to the likes of John Lewis and O2, the Christmas Spirit was in plentiful supply with companies clubbing together in this great mission, to make a happy Christmas for all children, a success.

And success was achieved. With over £820,000 worth of toys distributed to children living in poverty. This was a great effort by all involved and as a token of this collaboration we received a special thank you message from Key103.

Mission Christmas - Thank you 2.

 

How to Get to the Top of Google

Google is easily the most popular search engine around. The phrase ‘I’ll Google it’ is an everyday one, and it is on the majority of smart phones. A recent study by the Kelsey Group in 2010 showed that 97% of consumers with access to the Internet now research products, services and future purchases online, and that 90.94% of these searches are carried out on Google last August. This easily exceeds all of the other search engines including Yahoo and Bing.

The Internet is now a practically an essential piece of advertising equipment, and digital marketing is fast becoming the main form of marketing that people use, for several reasons. It is faster and easier to update, quick to distribute and very flexible. There are a number of Internet tools you can use include search engines, websites and social media and by combining all of these outlets you can reach a high number of people, especially with smart phones making the Internet accessible on the go. With search engines being such a well used tool to find products and services, the majority of businesses aim to be listed on there, and most importantly, as high as possible. Many people will only look at the first few businesses listed, possibly seeing them as the most credible and used. This credibility is essential to establish yourself online, which is why a lot of businesses spend money on Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, to ensure they are listed as high as possible. There are a number of techniques that SEO companies and professionals such as Net66 use to achieve this, and these are the main three:

Firstly, businesses use key words and phrases within their website and online marketing to ensure they are likely to be seen as ‘relevant’ to searches made by people looking for their particular service or product. A plumber in London may include the phrases ‘plumber London’ and ‘plumber in London’, but they might also use phrases like ‘burst pipe London’ or ‘blocked drains London’, as these are phrases a person needing a plumber might use. These keywords can also also be used in ‘content marketing’ such as blogs and articles.

Creating links to your website. This can include listing yourself on online directories, asking your customers to link their site to yours, or writing content for other sites that link to your site. The more credible, relevant and popular the site, the better the effect on your SEO.

Using social media. Social networks such as Facebook or Twitter have company pages which you can link to your website. Not only are these relevant and popular sites to be linked to, but whenever people mention you or ‘like’ you on a social network, it creates social signals which search engines take into account when ranking you.

How do I get my website to the first page of Google?

Google is undisputedly one of the biggest brands in the world, and easily the largest search engine, with it’s nearest competitor ‘Bing’ only getting 14% of the market share. This is what makes Google one of the best marketing sources you can use, and getting your website on the first page of Google gives your site a clear and visible online presence.

One way is to ‘buy’ adverts, called Pay Per Click adverts. As the name suggests, you pay a set amount for every time someone clicks on your advert to go through to your site. This method of advertising can be costly and subject to abuse if someone repeatedly clicks your advert and runs up your marketing bill. PPC also only accounts for a small amount of traffic to sites, with many people preferring organic search results.

Organic search results, as in not sponsored, are listed in order of relevance according to Google. Google programs called ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’ scan your website for keywords and phrases relevant to a particular search. For example, if someone searches ‘website design Leicester’, you site would be more likely to appear high on the listings if your site contained a lot of phrases like ‘website design,’ ‘web design’ and of cause ‘Leicester.’ Google also looks at the number of links your site has to other reputable and relevant sites, as well as your use of social media such as Twitter.

It is possible to make your website more appealing to search engines using a technique called Search Engine Optimisation. SEO is the process of ensuring your website contains the best keywords to attract the right customers, updating your site regularly and building links to other sites. Net66 are one of the most popular companies for SEO Leicester wide, so call them for a competitive quote and to ask their expert advice on the best SEO for your business.

How do I get my website on Google?

Once you have your business website built, the next step is to get people to it. Some business owners are very naive and expect people to go to their site just by them putting their website out there and on their business cards. The problem is that potential customers are a lot like sheep. You can gently guide them somewhere but it might take a while; sometimes they just need a big push. (We are not recommending anyone reading this should push sheep, by the way.)

There are many ways to get people to your site; email advertising, social media like Facebook, even good old fashioned newspaper adverts, but one of the best sources of traffic is search engines. Google is, and will be for the foreseeable future, the biggest search engine, which is why getting your website onto Google is one the best ways to drive traffic to your site.

You can start this by submitting your website to Google, essentially inviting their programs which are called ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’ to read your site. Then their spiders will read your site, and determine based on a number of criteria, how highly they rate your site, and they will put your site on their listings based on their findings.

Google closely guard how they rate websites, but as with everything, there are ways. Net66, the highest ranking SEO company Manchester wide, have years of experience, and know that it’s a combination of the right content, the right links to other sites and using social media to the best of your ability. If you’re starting a business, you can’t afford not to use a professional search engine optimising company, and with Net66 being well known for SEO Sheffield, Leicester and Manchester wide, they are a good SEO company with a great proven track record.

Internet Marketing your Business

Nearly all businesses benefit from some sort of Internet presence, and incorporating online marketing as part of your marketing plan is an excellent way of making sure that you are reaching all of your potential customers.

Creating a website these days is not expensive, and there are some very affordable website packages out there. There are a selection of companies providing website design, so you can ring around for some quotes, and better yet, check out their websites to see theirs.

Once you have a website you need to promote it. This includes putting your website address on all of your correspondence and offline marketing, but the best way to get your business noticed is by making sure that your website appears high up on popular search engines such as Google and Bing. It is possible to place a paid advert, and you do this on a Pay Per Click basis, where you pay every time someone clicks on your advert. You can also do this through SEO, Search Engine Optimisation. SEO is the practice of using relevant keywords and phrases, links and social media to show search engines that your site is the best quality site, and the most relevant to a particular search, for example website design Manchester would bring up all of the websites for companies providing website design in Manchester.

Many website design and SEO companies in manchester also provide Internet Marketing, and it is well worth getting your website made with SEO in mind so that your site has a head start. Adding relevant content regularly in the form of a blog can be done either by them or yourselves as well as linking your website to any social media you have such as Facebook or Twitter.

90% of people look for a service or product they need online, so your business needs a professional and well designed website to keep up with your competitors and make your business work.

Why SEO is important for businesses

Recent studies show that 90% of people searching for a product or service use a search engine such as Google or Bing to find what they are looking for. It is for this reason that Search Engine Optimisation, otherwise known as SEO, is important for any business. SEO is the process of getting a website as high a ranking as possible on search engines, and isn’t as easy as it sounds.

So many businesses have websites these days that every business is competing against similar businesses in their area for the top spot. A business needs a solid SEO strategy to compete, and many people chose to use professionals to get the best possible result. Net66, as one of the best companies for SEO in Manchester, prove themselves by always being at the top of Google when someone searches ‘SEO Manchester.’ In a city full of SEO companies, this is no mean feat.

There are many ways that SEO professionals get your website to the top of the pile. Methods they use include;
adding new website content, articles and blogs to a business website. New content on a website causes search engines to visit your site regularly and re-evaluate its ranking. If the new content contains enough keywords and quality content, the website’s ranking will improve every time.
Linking your website, articles and blogs to social media, encouraging people to comment on your posts. This creates ‘social signals’ which search engines take into account when ranking your business website.
Creating links between your site and other high ranking sites, giving your website credibility.

If you have a business website, then SEO is the only way to go to maximise it’s efficiency.

Beautiful Website Design

At Net66 we know we provide some of the best website design Manchester wide, and pride ourselves on tailoring the websites we create to the business we create it for. We always bear in mind the type of customer that each business is trying to attract and what industry they are in. A business website should reflect a business as much as a shop, office or premises would, and we have no problem taking the time to talk you through what you’d like, and changing it until it’s just right.

We have a varied portfolio, and we don’t just do website design in Manchester, we do it all across the UK and beyond. One of the industries we cover a lot is wedding services. Weddings are big business these days and extremely competitive, with customers shopping around to save money wherever they can. We designed a website for a wedding photographer, where we were pleased to help her showcase her amazing and unique wedding style. We also created a site for a cake stand supplier, which is a more specialised area of the wedding industry. For both sites we enjoyed creating an elegant feel where couples could appreciate what these services could do for their big day.

We don’t stop at weddings though. Our portfolio covers home improvement and property maintenance, where we focused on the services they offered and the finish they can achieve in people’s home. We also supply sites for the health industry including opticians, mechanics and car repair, and even dog crèches and supplies! We think by being flexible and catering to any company’s needs, we can show that we can turn our hand to any kind of website design toy might need for your business.

New Website is now live!

It is important for a business to constantly evolve to keep up with an ever changing world, especially in a fast paced industry such as internet marketing. This is one of the reasons that here at Net66 we have now released our brand new website.

When we design websites for our clients, we design one that will last the test of time. However, as one of the leaders in website design Manchester wide, we want to showcase our design skills. We know that sites need to be easier to read and navigate to be effective, but we also believe that the way a website looks is just as important. It is essentially your shop window, and can draw people in or push them away.

We are also one of the most established companies for SEO in Manchester. Our website has gone to the top of Google in record time. SEO is a competitive market in Manchester, and if we can get ourselves to the first page of Google within a matter of days, we are more then confident we can do the same for our customers.

We know that our new website projects how we see ourselves. Modern, forward thinking and state of the art. We are linked to all of the social networks in the way we would for our customers, using the skills of our sister company The Social Media People. Our website will continue to develop, as will we, to keep up with the exciting, fast paced world of online marketing.

Website Design Experts

 Throughout the recession most businesses have struggled and even the most successful blue chip companies have had to tighten their belt to weather the storm. A few of the fripperies should have to be cut out, but your online presence should 100% not be one of them.

As you’re trying to save money, so are your customers. Instead of wandering the shops they will be shrewdly calculating how they can afford the products and services they want and/or need, and looking online is one way they will do this. If you think you cannot afford a website at this time, I’m telling you you can’t afford not to have a website.

Web design companies are offering more and more competitive packages. Net66 provides some of the leading services for website design Manchester wide, and have seen the benefit of companies using the internet for advertising. For example, if you have a company that sells bespoke kitchens in Manchester, you need to be the most prominent, most professional kitchen supplying company on the web Manchester wide. You can only do this with a well designed website, show casing your work and inspiring people to buy from you instead of the guy down the road.

These days, a website is more likely to be what introduces a potential customer to your business then either your shop front of your staff. First impressions are everything, and you need to stand out. Your website should be professional, work well with search engines, project your brand image and reflect your business. You only get this from a professional website design company, and a professional designed website is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.

SEO in Manchester

There are many companies claiming to offer the best services for SEO in Manchester, but few follow up by providing the results to back up this claim. The aim of Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is to achieve as high a ranking on the major search engines as possible. Here at Net66 we are number one if you search ‘SEO Manchester‘. If we can do that for a competitive industry such as ours in an area where this service is widely provided, think what we can do for you.

 Over 97% of people with access to the Internet use it to find products and services they need, instead of using methods such as telephone directories, local papers or notice boards. The majority of people would look at the top three first, and would very rarely go past the first page if they found what they needed. Getting yourself in the position where you are at the top of these search engines is in no way simple or easy. Search engines such as Google or Bing are always changing how they chose to rank you on their listings, and using a company that keeps it’s finger on the pulse of search engine’s criteria for indexing websites, such as ourselves, is invaluable.

 A visible online presence is not just an asset these days, it’s practically a necessity. Creating a website and promoting it to the extent that you are the first people potential customers see is an investment well worth making. Redirecting your funds from antiquated forms of advertising such as direct mail, radio, newspapers and even television, is a sensible step for any business wanting to flourish in this new digital age.

What to do when you have a fantastic business website

You think you have the best designed website in your industry; it’s visually pleasing, easy to navigate, holds all the information you need, there’s pictures and impressive graphics and you love it. Now what? You could sit and admire it, working on the theory that if you build it they will come, or you can use your website to do what it was intended to do, generate some business. To do that, you need to think about getting traffic to your website.

The majority of your traffic will come from search engines such as Google or Bing from people searching for your products or services. You need to be as prominent as possible on those search engines. The best way to do that is by Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO. SEO is the process of getting your website to rank highly on search engines by using keywords, links and regularly updating your website. It can be a complicated process and many companies choose to use a specialist SEO company.

Using the right SEO company is important, but how do you chose? Net66 is one of the leading companies for SEO in Manchester wide, and believe that the proof is in the pudding. You know they do a good job because when you search ‘SEO Manchester‘, they are right at the top. If an SEO company can do that for themselves, they can do that for you. Whether you are looking to be at the top for something as competitive as ‘hair dresser London’, or a niche market such as ‘tropical fish Skegness,’ it is important that if someone searches for a product or service that you supply in their area, they find you first.

The Social Media People Complaints

Social media networks are a huge part of people’s everyday lives these days. 85% are on Facebook and nearly 50% are on Twitter. There are now two relatively new networks called Linked In and Google+ as well. Internet advertising companies such as The Social Media People have been quick to spot the marketing potential. The main advantage of advertising on social media networks is that you are able to target specific demographics including age, gender, location, occupations and hobbies. With Facebook, we can also target potential customers based on what they include in their status updates. An excellent example is for a crèche, who might want to look for ‘good baby sitter’ or ‘ find child care’ as key phrases. If an individual is struggling to find quality and affordable child care and has complained about it in their status, chances are an advert for a local child minder or playgroup will appear on their page shortly. Anyone that has seen the adverts on their Facebook page and thought how spooky it is that it relates to something happening in their lives, it’s all by design.

The Social Media People is a company that specialises in internet advertising, specifically social media advertising. We worked with Facebook and Twitter initially, these being the most established. Wh then moved on to Linked In and Google+. Linked In is a social network based around people’s work that they use to meet people in their industry and approach potential employers. Google+ has been dubbed the ‘new Facebook.’ It has a lot of the same features as Facebook and Twitter but a few new features that the more technically minded might enjoy such as web chats with groups of people. The Social Media People are experts in all of these networks and believes that they all have their place within a marketing campaign.

We work with a wide variety of customers within a range of industries. We work hard to keep up with an industry that moves fast enough to change from week to week. With packages starting from on £99 a month, we believe we give good value for money as well as excellent service. It genuinely matters to us what our customers think about us. Let’s just say you won’t see many The Social Media People complaints. We hope to continue to develop within social media advertising and look forward to the advances that come with working in such a fast moving field. If you have any online advertising needs, consider The Social Media People as your first port of call.

5 SEO Tips for your blog

1) Don’t use overly cleaver, or deliberately confusing headlines. They rarely work and can irritate people. Remember, this will be the first thing that people see when they click on to the post, and may even deter people from opening the post at all. Keep it simple yet informative.

2) Remember to share your blog posts on your social media profiles. Our partners over at The Social Media People recommend sharing your post 2-3 times. Remember, you don’t want to appear to be spamming the site, but you want to get people to click the post.

3) Once you have a reader on your site, you want to keep them there! A great way to do this is to link to older posts on related topics. Make sure that you make the anchor text click worthy!

4) Remember to add a page title and meta description. If you are operating in WordPress you can simply download a plugin like ‘All in One SEO’ which will add a little box at the bottom of the page to add these details in. Remember to use your keywords in both of these!

5) Speaking of keywords, if you are looking to target a specific term for each blog post then remember to use that term in the blog post itself. You don’t want to add it too many times, about 4 or 5 usages of the exact terms should suffice on an article of 300 – 500 words.
Net66 Web Services Manchester

Importance of Mobile Websites | Net66

The growth of mobile browsing has been phenomenal. An astounding 77% of the world’s population now own a mobile phone, and over half a billion of these users regularly access the web via their hand-held device. Thus, ignoring this market is a huge error and can severely limit both your traffic and business success.

Unfortunately, mobile browsing can be somewhat difficult for both web developers and designers to accommodate. While some mobile devices can handle websites designed for laptop or desktop users, many cannot. One of the primary reasons for this is that many websites are designed in a way that ignores the emerging platform. The use of table and copy rich websites often result in tightly crammed webpages that simply cannot adapt to the smaller, touch screens.

Generally, there are two options; firstly, you could design a dedicated mobile site for handheld devices. Secondly, and more practically, you could design your initial site with multiple browsing platforms in mind. Nevertheless, here at Net66, we believe that a combination of both methods presents the best return. Therefore, your website ought to be designed in the knowledge that your website will be accessed across multiple platforms and you could provide an alternative site should your initial site fail on the platform. For instance, a click-able redirect to the mobile site at the top of the page would allow users that cannot fully explore your website to go to a compatible site with minimal fuss.

Some important considerations:

  • Websites that over-use tables for the main layout will often not look right on mobile phones
  • Your website must use CSS to ensure maximum cross-platform browsing
  • It is preferable to code your website in HTML
  • Design your website with users in mind. For instance, put the most important information at the top of the page.
  • It can often be more difficult to enter text on a mobile website. Keep this in mind a fully utilise other methods.
  • If your website has images, it is preferable to use JPEG or GIF files.
  • Be aware that the maximum page size for many mobile devices is 20 kb.