Blog - Web Growth Consulting

The coldest March for 50 years kept many shoppers at home, but strong online sales boosted Next’s sales by nearly 9%, leaving overall group sales up 2.2% despite poor performing shops. Shop sales slumped by 1.9% in the 14 weeks to 4 May.

The company said: “It is apparent that the poor March figures were down to an abnormally cold spring. Equally, the good weeks since mid-April have been boosted by pent-up demand from the previous month. We believe that neither period is indicative of any significant change in the underlying economy.”

Next’s online business is going from strength to strength. At the full year results in January, the company revealed online sales jumped 9.5% to £1.19bn, compared with in-store sales of £2.19bn. In a sign of how profitable the online business is for Next, pretax profits for online were £302.1m, compared with £331m in stores.

Despite the increase in online sales, the company, which has more than 500 stores, remains cautious about the fragile UK economy. It said: “We anticipate that the continuing decline in real earnings will depress discretionary spending for at least the next 18 months, if not longer.”

This case illustrates the value of a having a strong e-commerce element to businesses of all sizes. Adding e-commerce to sell your products online needn’t be an expensive option and could boost your business long term.

See the original article here: Next saved from seasonal slump by online sales

On Tuesday 23 April a tweet from Associated Press (AP) told the world that the White House had been attacked and Obama had been injured. The tweet was of course a hoax as the Twitter account had been hacked but it caused some temporary chaos. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 144 points between 10.07am and 10.09am, for example. Crude oil prices also briefly tumbled and the price of US Treasury bonds and gold futures spiked. Within minutes, AP disclosed that the tweet was erroneous and things returned to normal, with the Dow eventually rising 152 points for the day to close at 14,719.

The havoc was due to automatic trading systems that check news agency output and sell or buy according to the latest news. The hacking was probably caused by something as mundane as a human employee clicking on a link in a ‘fishing email’ and inadvertently passing on the details for the AP Twitter account.

See this article for more information: Fragile systems let hoax tweets make twits of us all

There are serious issues regarding the fragility of financial systems being so automated that they can get spooked by what was clearly a false story. However the original hacking of the account was something that has been a problem since the early days of online banking. PayPal users have recently experienced a huge increase in fishing emails and we have provided some advice on avoiding getting caught out by fishing emails in an earlier blog post.

Here are 12 Internet firsts that helped shape history:

1. The first email was sent by Ray Tomlinson to himself in 1971. “The test messages were entirely forgettable. . . . Most likely the first message was QWERTYIOP or something similar,” he said.

2. The first domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com on March 15, 1985. Now it serves as a historic site.

3. The first website was dedicated to information about the World Wide Web and went live on August 6, 1991. Here’s the url: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html.

4. The first picture ever uploaded on the web was posted by Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web) on behalf of a comedy band called Les Horribles Cernettes.

First picture uploaded to the Internet,

5. The first AOL Instant Message was sent by Ted Leonsis to his wife on Jan. 6, 1993. It read, “Don’t be scared … it is me. Love you and miss you.”  His wife replied, “Wow … this is so cool!” Leonsis later became AOL’s Vice Chairman.

6. Joe McCambley ran the first banner ad ever online. It went live in October 1994 on HotWired.com and it promoted 7 art museums, sponsored by AT&T.

7. The first item sold on eBay (back then it was AuctionWeb) was a broken laser pointer for $14.83 in 1995. The man who bought it told founder Pierre Omidyar he collected broken laser pointers.

8. The first book purchased on Amazon was Douglas Hofstadter’s Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought in 1995.

9. The first sentence uttered on Skype was in Estonian in April 2003 by a member of the development team. It was ‘Tere, kas sa kuuled mind?’ or “Hello, can you hear me?” in English.

10. Mark Zuckerberg was the first person on Facebook with ID number 4 (the first three Facebook accounts were used for testing). The first non-founder to join Facebook was Arie Hasit (below), who is now in Israel studying to be a rabbi.

11. The first YouTube video posted was posted by co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. It was uploaded on April 23, 2005 and has been watched nearly 10 million times.

12. The first tweet was written by co-founder Jack Dorsey on March 21, 2006.

See the original article here: The First Ever Email, the First Tweet, and 10 Other Famous Internet Firsts

The use of smartphones and tablet PC’s has expanded rapidly in recent years. More and more people are using these devices to view websites so you need to have a plan of action on how to cater for this type of potential customer.

There are three options available:

#1: Do nothing

Most people using mobile devices could still view your website and however your website may not function correctly using a mobile device:

• Too much scrolling to the right required—The website does not fit correctly on a mobile device, so visitors have to scroll a lot over to the right to access information.
• You have to pinch all the time—If your content is too small to read, you end up pinching the content with your fingers to enlarge it. This then makes it easier to read but introduces more scrolling!
• Images and videos not optimised for a small screen—On your website, you have room to display larger images and video, but on a mobile site you can’t see the entire image or video on the screen without scrolling.
• Speed—On a mobile device you don’t always have the same speed connection you would with a desktop. You need to consider the download time of your pages. If you build a mobile website correctly, you can reduce the size of the image and you don’t sacrifice quality because the image is displayed on a much smaller screen.

#2: Build a separate mobile version of your website

It’s actually quite straightforward to detect the type of device being used and divert visitors automatically to the appropriate mobile friendly or desktop version of your website. The problems arise in maintaining the two versions of your website and keeping them both up to date.

Other issues include the following:

• If you make changes specific to the mobile version, you also have to update your other site, and vice versa.
• There can be issues with redirection. For example, if you are on your mobile website and share a link from it, you will be sharing your mobile version of the link. If someone is on a desktop and clicks on this link, the mobile version of the site will be displayed instead of the desktop version.
• You now have a mobile version suitable for smartphones and one for a desktop. You don’t have a version that is suitable for tablets.
• If you do not follow Google’s recommendations, you can damage your potential for ranking in their search results.
• If you use a third-party service to develop a mobile version and you host it with them, this can damage the ranking of your site on Google.

#3: Build a Responsive Web Design

A responsive design means that your content automatically adjusts to the size of your device. You have one website and one set of content, but depending on what device you display it on, it is automatically laid out differently.

Imagine if you had three columns of information on a desktop device. On an iPad, you may only display it in two columns, or one column on an iPhone. Any information that cannot be displayed gets moved below, therefore eliminating any scrolling to the right. A native responsive design would also be simplified in the first place and there are definite benefits to making your website less cluttered in the first place.

There are several advantages to this approach:

• You can have different displays suitable to the particular device so you have a good viewing experience.
• You have one website to manage, as there is only one set of content. With mobile sites, you could have only one set of content if it’s just a blog. It gets more complicated if you end up changing content on your mobile site and not on your desktop or you start adding functionality such as new menus.
• With a responsive design, you can also have the image sizes adjusted so that you are not downloading large images on a mobile device.
• Google recommends that you use a responsive design.

For most this approach would mean a redesign of your website but this needn’t be expensive or time consuming.

Recommended By Google

With 67 percent search market share worldwide (over 90% in the UK), when Google speaks, website owners should listen. Google states that responsive web design is its recommended mobile configuration, and even goes so far as to refer to responsive web design as the industry best practice.

This is because responsive design sites have one URL and the same HTML, regardless of device, which makes it easier and more efficient for Google to crawl, index, and organize content. Contrast this with a separate mobile site which has a different URL and different HTML than its desktop counterpart, requiring Google to crawl and index multiple versions of the same site.

Additionally, Google prefers responsive web design because content that lives on one website and one URL is much easier for users to share, interact with, and link to than content that lives on a separate mobile site.

Take for example a mobile user who shares content from a mobile site with a friend on Facebook who then accesses that content using a desktop, which results in that user viewing a stripped down mobile site on their desktop. This creates an inferior user-experience, and because of the emphasis Google is now placing on user-experience as a ranking factor, this is essential to take into account with regards to SEO.

Conclusions

It’s likely that your returning visitors may use multiple devices to view your content. They may for example register on a PC but then use your site with a smartphone, tablet or PC. Responsive web design is recommended by Google and it allows one website to provide a great user-experience across many devices and screen sizes. For these reasons, responsive web design is the best option for your SEO strategy and promoting your business using the web. Contact Dinesh on 07941 686113 for more information or fill out our contact form.

Further reading:

How to Make Your Blog Mobile-Friendly

The Growth of Mobile Marketing and Tagging

3 Reasons Why Responsive Web Design is the Best Option For Your Mobile SEO Strategy

How to Go Mo by Google

Google Developers – Building Mobile-Optimized Websites

Check how your website displays for different devices:

http://quirktools.com/screenfly/

http://www.howtogomo.com/en-gb/m/test-your-site/getmo-meter/

In our humble opinion, our latest email newsletter is a bit of a cracker packed with useful information on helping your business grow: Web growth consulting newsletter March 2013.

Join our mailing here: Sign up to our email newsletters.

Criminals are using scam emails that purport to be from PayPal to steal money from unsuspecting victims. According to police reporting service Action Fraud, there has been a glut of scam PayPal emails since the 1st February 2013 which aim to lure people into passing over their details. One victim recently went public with her experience, explaining how an email that seemed to come from PayPal asked her to change her password. She then lost £1500 from her bank account, after filling in a form at the Criminal’s website, not PayPal.

Victim of new ‘phishing’ PayPal scam speaks out

PayPal says that their emails always address customers by their first and last names rather than “Hello” or “Dear PayPal Member”. Also if you do get an email from PayPal asking you to do something then go directly to the PayPal website and log in there.

Here are some tips for spotting fake emails:

10 ways to recognize fake (spoof) emails

1. Generic greetings. Many spoof emails begin with a general greeting, such as: “Dear PayPal member.” If you do not see your first and last name, be suspicious and do not click on any links or button.
2. A fake sender’s address. A spoof email may include a forged email address in the “From” field. This field is easily altered.
3. A false sense of urgency. Many spoof emails try to deceive you with the threat that your account is in jeopardy if you don’t update it ASAP. They may also state that an unauthorized transaction has recently occurred on your account, or claim PayPal is updating its accounts and needs information fast.
4. Fake links. Always check where a link is going before you click. Move your mouse over it and look at the URL in your browser or email status bar. A fraudulent link is dangerous. If you click on one, it could:
   • Direct you to a spoof website that tries to collect your personal data.
   • Install spyware on your system. Spyware is an application that can enable a hacker to monitor your actions and steal any passwords or credit card numbers you type online.
   • Cause you to download a virus that could disable your computer.
5. Emails that appear to be websites. Some emails will look like a website in order to get you to enter personal information. PayPal never asks for personal information in an email.
6. Deceptive URLs. Only enter your PayPal password on PayPal pages. These begin with https://www.paypal.com/
   • If you see an @ sign in the middle of a URL, there’s a good chance this is a spoof. Legitimate companies use a domain name (e.g. https://www.company.com).
   • Even if a URL contains the word “PayPal,” it may not be a PayPal site. Examples of deceptive URLs include: www.paypalsecure.com, www.paypa1.com, www.secure-paypal.com, and www.paypalnet.com.
   • Always log in to PayPal by opening a new web browser and typing in the following: https://www.paypal.com/
   • Never log in to PayPal from a link in an email message.
7. Misspellings and bad grammar. Spoof emails often contain misspellings, incorrect grammar, missing words, and gaps in logic. Mistakes also help fraudsters avoid spam filters.
8. Unsafe sites. The term “https” should always precede any website address where you enter personal information. The “s” stands for secure. If you don’t see “https,” you’re not in a secure web session, and you should not enter data.
9. Pop-up boxes. PayPal will never use a pop-up box in an email as pop-ups are not secure.
10. Attachments. Like fake links, attachments are frequently used in spoof emails and are dangerous. Never click on an attachment. It could cause you to download spyware or a virus. PayPal will never email you an attachment or a software update to install on your computer.

We have a domain name for sale that may be of interest to the right business: http://www.copperscrap.co.uk/

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions using our contact form.

We’ve been busy updating our portfolio with a selection of recent and updated web designs. Our own website has also been redesigned and is now responsive, which means it adapts to the device being used. The website is viewable and functional on PCs, Laptops, Tablet PCs, Smartphones and ‘Phablets’ (phones with larger screens, nearing small tablet pc sizes).

Visit our portfolio page now: web design portfolio.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer’s market share has now slipped behind Google Chrome after years of decline. For a long time, Internet Explorer (IE) has been beset by problems with security and compatibility leading to other faster, less bloated web browsers gaining ground. This is despite IE being bundled with all versions of Windows and users having to actively choose another default browser. Up until now, IE has always been the biggest single browser, however that is not the case any more as Google Chrome has finally taken that crown.

Trend in Internet Browser usage from Jan 2012 to Jan 2013

In effect IE has been the minority browser for years now, if you combine the market share of “the other three”, Chrome, FireFox and Apple’s Safari, and generally these are superior products combining greater speed with better security and compatibility with W3SC coding. As web developers, IE can cause issues with displaying websites, although the latest version 9 is an improvement on past versions.

So it’s for any website owner it’s important to check their website on all four browsers IE, Chrome, FireFox and Safari as there can be differences in how a website displays.

All business owners know the value of tracking where your customers first found you. Whether it’s Yellow Pages (or Hibu as it’s about to become), direct mail or display advertising, you need to know the cost of gaining a customer and what is generating the best ROI (return on investment).

This is no different when it comes to your website and one of the best tools around is Google Analytics, which also happens to be free.

While Google Analytics is a fully specified tool for professionals to crunch data about website performance (I’m about to start studying for a Google qualification in the subject!), business owners who are pushed for time can quickly get valuable information about who is visiting their website, how long they are staying, what pages they are visiting etc.

1) Check your browsers.

To access : Audience > Technology > Browser & OS

If you run a website, it’s imperative that you have Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari all installed. Whenever you make a change to your website, you need to check it loads correctly on all of these browsers. Even a website owner with perfect CSS will notice how certain aspects change in different browsers. By looking at your visitors and which browser they use, you can tweak your CSS to favour the main browser choice. You may also discover your site is popular with mobile users. If you find your mobile users increasing, would it be worth investing in a mobile version of your site?

2) Visitors Flow

Audience > Visitors Flow

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