Website Effectiveness

>> Written on January 4th, 2010 by Leon

Well done on having a website for your business but is it doing what it should, ie generating hits and sales leads? Here’s a few things you should really be doing to measure and improve your website’s effectiveness if you feel its not doing anything for you: Read the full article »

>> Posted in How to Guides, Internet Tips, Website Optimization Tips | 2 Comments »

Ticket Scams and Google Accountability

>> Written on December 16th, 2009 by Leon

Lots of talk today about fans of Miley Cyrus (or their parents!) getting ripped off by fake ticket sites as they desperately try to secure seats for their kids. The usual rules apply when buying anything online:

• Only buy from secure “https” URL’s.
• Only buy from well known sites.
• Don’t buy tickets from an untrusted or unknown source no matter how pro it looks.
• Ticketmaster.ie is the only place you should really be buying tickets from for major gigs in Ireland.
• Visit the Ticketmaster.ie site only by typing it in your browser as opposed to clicking a link in an email or search result.

However, there is another issue here and one that I was reading about only yesterday – SEO is dead, long live SEO in which the author talks about Google turning a blind eye to cynical and possibly illegal practices whereby companies buy links and use dirty tricks to get themselves up the search engine results at the expense of more honest companies who use traditional SEO methods.

What happens in our problem above is that people Google “Miley Cyrus Tickets” or whatever and as well as the legitimate sites coming up in results, you also see a number of fake or “phishing” sites that may only just have been put up a few weeks ago or may even be using Google AdWords to get to the top of the pile.

The question is, should the search engines be doing more to vet or block out these kinds of sites and by doing so wrestle control of the web and safe browsing back from these criminals?

I think so..

Leon.

>> Posted in Internet Tips | No Comments »

Social Media Marketing Comedy

>> Written on November 6th, 2009 by Leon

Are there any people out there who might be considered knowledgeable in matters of SEO, Internet Marketing or Social Media/Social Networking and often find themselves getting laughed at when they try to explain Facebook, Linkedin, Blogging and especially Twitter to others!? I am one such person and I’ve witnessed others on the receiving end of this too.

I can maybe understand people laughing at Twitter with all it’s funny acronyms – Tweet, Twitterer, Twits, etc..but I’ve been trying to figure out why people’s eyes glaze over when you start talking about this stuff in general and why they think you’re joking when you say this is probably the most important thing you can do to promote your Website/Business at the minute.

My best guess is that the amount of information you often need to convey about how to use each service/site and exactly what it all means and what it can do for people is just overwhelming to the listener and they can’t fathom where to begin or where they’ll find the time to do it all.

So they laugh out loud in frustration!

If you are one such person who doesn’t get it and who laughs at us poor nerds thinking we know it all, then please don’t and here’s a simple definition of what we’re all talking about  when we mention “Social Media Marketing”:

Social Media Marketing means making friends online through various different websites with the ultimate aim of letting as many people as possible know about your product or service.

Nothing funny about that!?

>> Posted in Internet Tips | 2 Comments »

Track Your Visitors

>> Written on September 25th, 2009 by Leon

I’ve come across a few websites recently for one reason or another and couldn’t find any trace of a stat tracker code (some people might be relying on their host’s stat package). I would have thought most web designers if not their clients would include something like Google Analytics by default in every site they build. Especially considering its quick and free!?

I make a point of installing this code in all my sites at no cost and I’ve well over 100 clients sites added to my personal analytics account now. I have setup automated monthly emails to clients with a PDF attachment showing a quick breakdown of their visitor statistics. I have added some clients as users of my own account so they can login and view more detailed stats.

I believe for me its a valuable add on service and one that more and more clients are asking for and impressed by when you bother to do it.

>> Posted in Internet Tips | 3 Comments »

Import your RSS Feed or Blog to Facebook Linkedin etc..

>> Written on August 17th, 2009 by Leon

I’ve recently mentored a few clients in how best to use Social Networking sites to promote their own business or website and I couldn’t help feeling by the end of each session that the client felt a little overwhelmed by either the amount of sites that needed to be updated or the perceived level of technical expertise and amount of time required to get things moving on each site. I’d like to try simplify things here.

Read the full article »

>> Posted in How to Guides, Internet Tips | No Comments »

New Flock Browser Review

>> Written on May 28th, 2009 by Leon

Review of Flock Browser

I just recently heard about a new internet browser, alternative to Internet Explorer, Firefox etc.. called Flock which I’ve been playing with for the last few days. Here’s my opinion of it. Read the full article »

Rated 4/5 on May 28 2009

Vote on Leon’s reviews at LouderVoice

>> Posted in General, Internet Tips | 9 Comments »

Advertising on Facebook

>> Written on May 20th, 2009 by Leon

You might be familiar with Google AdWords, the service that lets you buy or bid on certain search words and terms and have your add and a link to your site appear in the sponsored results section of a Google search results page. I’d like to suggest an alternative and perhaps better way of doing this. Read the full article »

>> Posted in Internet Tips | 6 Comments »

Paying for Online Social Networking Services

>> Written on March 24th, 2009 by Leon

Online Social Networking via the likes of Twitter, Linkedin, Blogging, etc.. is fast becoming a proven and effective method of promoting your company and brand and as more and more people realise its benefits I’m sure more and more companies offering to “network” for you will spring up. However I’d like to pose a few questions before you confirm that you don’t have the time yourself and prefer to splash out what’s sure to be thousands of euros on the services of some internet marketing company. Read the full article »

>> Posted in General, Internet Tips | No Comments »

Simple Definition of Online Social Networking

>> Written on March 5th, 2009 by Leon

Social Networking for Business is a term thats bandied about a lot lately and even though I live and breath the internet and have actually BEEN Social Networking online for a few years now, I still wasn’t sure what it really was and what its benefits were until very recently when the penny dropped! Read the full article »

>> Posted in General, Internet Tips | No Comments »

Twitter iPhone Apps

>> Written on February 16th, 2009 by Leon

Just a quick word on some iPhone software you can use to send/receive Tweets. The following are some I’ve used recently with varying degrees of success: Read the full article »

>> Posted in Internet Tips | No Comments »