Monthly Archives

August 2015

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Google Unleashes a ‘Slow Rollout’ of Panda 4.2

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In February 2011, Google introduced a brand new search filter entitled Google Panda with the aim to dramatically reduce the chances of sites containing poor quality content from reaching the top of the ranking system. Since its creation, Panda has updated Google’s algorithms on multiple occasions with one of the most significant updates occurring on September 23rd 2014, which included an algorithmic component.

The most recent Panda update sent shivers down the spines of SEO and content marketers who, following the impact of the September 23rd 2014 update, could actively notice how their sites had been affected by the vivid change. This update has been referred to by Google as the Panda 4.2 which commenced earlier this summer on the weekend of July 18th 2015. This update was barely noticeable upon its time of release and is expected to take up to several months to come into full swing, affecting around 2-3% of English search queries, according to Search Engine Journal.

The term Panda derived from Navneet Panda, one of the talented engineers from Google who developed the incredible technology that enabled Google to implement the Panda algorithm. This technology has allowed Google to focus more accurately on the quality of the content that appears high in their ranking system.

Studies have shown that 75% of search engine users never scroll past the first page of search results and because of this, it is crucial that the sites ranking high on the list do not include any irrelevant content or spam. Panda 4.2 eliminates these sites from appearing on Google’s index. Changes through the Panda algorithm affects the entire domain which means that they are site-wide.

But how can you tell if your website has been directly affected by Panda Updates? And if so, is there any way to improve or retrieve your original rankings?

Unfortunately, it is still too early in the Panda 4.2 updating process to actively notice much change to your sites ranking scores. However, some sites may begin to notice an increase or decrease in their ranking position over the next few months. If your domain has been negatively affected by Panda, it can be extremely difficult to recover from and it may take some time and effort to climb back up the ranking ladder.

Panda’s main purpose is to prevent low and poor quality websites from gaining more exposure and higher rankings than good quality sites. For this reason, it is important that your site focuses primarily on high quality content because whilst real life Panda’s may becoming gradually extinct, Google’s Panda has ditched the bamboo and set up a permanent camp within Google’s algorithm system.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfastsocial mediaSEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

 

 

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Search Engines: Helping your SEO Strategy Keep Up with Changing Algorithms

By | Blog, SEO | No Comments

Think of an algorithm as a data recipe. This recipe holds all of the essential ingredients that search engines require to provide people with the best possible search results.

But what does a search engines algorithm have to do with your website?

It’s simple.

If your website does not contain the necessary ingredients to meet the standards of a search engines algorithm, it will not rank highly on the results page because it will simply go unnoticed and undetected by the adjoining algorithm…this is where Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) steps in.

SEO is a term used to sum up all of the different tactics and procedures that are used to increase the ranking of websites on a search engines result page (SERP). According to Search Engine Journal, SEO leads have a close rate of 14.6% whilst outbound leads (such as print advertising) have a reduced close rate of 1.7%. SEO and online marketing have surpassed the effectiveness of outbound marketing which is largely due to the fact that E-Commerce is the fastest growing retail market of 2015.

Of course, in order for your e-commerce site to benefit from this movement in the market, it needs to incorporate the right methods of SEO for your site. There are several major aspects to a website that an algorithm will scan and use in order to determine how valuable your site is and where exactly in the rankings list it should be placed. These include the Words within your site (including keywords), Titles, Links (both inbound and outbound), Words within Links and the search engines overall Reputation.

Incorporating each of these relevant factors accurately and effectively into your SEO strategy will help to ensure that your website never falls under the radar of any search engine, leading your site towards a brighter future that is less vulnerable and no longer restricted by the ever-changing conducts of search engine algorithms.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfastsocial mediaSEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

 

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The Importance of Adopting a Mobile-Friendly E-Commerce Site

By | Blog, E-Commerce, Responsive Design | No Comments

With over 100 billion global online searches carried out each month, it is no surprise that Google and other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo, have amended their algorithms to give better search results for consumers by prioritizing mobile-friendly sites. After all, the vast majority of internet users first begin their search engine explorations via their mobiles, with 80% of users choosing to access the internet using their smartphone rather than a desktop.
But what does this mean for your ecommerce site? Is it time for you to make the switch and develop an effective mobile marketing strategy?
The answer is YES.
Mobiles are an essential part of every-day life and if you cannot reach your audience via mobile, you give up those potential customers to your fierce competitors who ARE able to provide them with a pleasing mobile experience. To put it more accurately, there are currently seven billion people on this earth and 6.8 billion of them own or have access to a mobile phone.
There is vast market potential for businesses who have embraced mobile friendly sites that are both effective and responsive, but in order to take advantage of this mass potential your mobile ecommerce site must enable consumers to both engage and interact with your site.
Google ranks sites that use responsive design solutions higher than those who don’t because responsive designs provide consumers with quicker page loading times, shareable content and a single URL. To guarantee that your website performs optimally on any device, including mobile and tablet, you must implement a responsive web design solution which will drive traffic and provide the ultimate mobile-user experience.
Your mobile site must include the same usability, design, features and content that is available on the desktop version of your site. This is to ensure that both versions are parallel to each other. According to CMO Council, mobile devices will account for at least 87% of the total sales of Internet-enabled technology by 2017, which means that if you want your ecommerce site to succeed you must have it optimized for mobile to enable you to:
Keep up with your customers.
Keep up with your competitors.
Keep up with change.
Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfastsocial mediaSEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

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Advantages of Google for Small Businesses

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Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) helps to build a business’ online presence using effective, fast and user-friendly websites that automatically rank higher in search engines such as Google and Bing. The higher your website ranks within the long list of search results, the more likely it is that your website targets the right audience,leading to a steady increase in conversion rates and an amplified number of sales. With help from a professional Web Design company such as Ryco Marketing, small businesses can reap huge benefits from using SEO, enlarging their customer base and increasing traffic to their website.

Increase Traffic

As a race, we humans tend to be a little on the lazy side and this couldn’t be more evident than with our online search engagements. People rarely click onto the second or third page of Google and are far more likely to trust that Google has given them the most relevant findings on the first page which is why SEO is so important to small businesses especially. The main reason why businesses, small and large, choose to incorporate SEO into their online marketing strategy is to increase the sheer amount of traffic that visits their site on a daily basis.

It has been proven that a business that uses SEO will expand and grow twice as fast as a business who has not invested in SEO. If you own a small business or your company is fairly ‘new’ it is worth considering using SEO to help your business hit the ground running. Effective SEO will enhance your business’ rankings on search engines, resulting in more regular visitations to your site and subsequently, more customers.

Strive Ahead of your Competitors

Increase your brands credibility and awareness with a successful SEO strategy. Internet users tend to automatically trust that Google will deliver accurate, relevant results and that the most relevant of those results will be right there on the first page of the search. SEO can help your website to be continuously present on search engines whilst dramatically increasing the likelihood that it will reach top rankings. Chances are, your current competitors in your industry have already turned to SEO to deliver fast and effective results for their businesses. A small business will do much better for itself if it uses an optimised site whereas a business who has yet to jump on the SEO bandwagon will have less customers and less opportunities for advancement.

Provides Ultimate User Experience

Investing in SEO is a powerful way in which to deliver high quality user experience for your consumers. A user-friendly website will invite visitors to your site and by using a clear structure with interactive and visual stimulations such as pictures, quality content, blogs, videos and numerous engaging pages etc. customers will want to remain on your site for a longer period of time and be encouraged to take action because of the enthusiasm that your website has generated using effective SEO. Small businesses must adapt SEO into their marketing strategies if they want their business to succeed as an online ecommerce.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfastsocial mediaSEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

secure magento ecommerce web design services belfast northern ireland

How a Secure E-Commerce Solution can help you Reduce Scam Risk

By | Blog, E-Commerce | No Comments

Using a secure e-commerce will help to ensure that your site is never at risk of being hacked or invaded by members from a third-party. Valuable data must be protected from harm and intrusion and the only way to ensure constant protection from such scams is to use a safe e-commerce provider who will use their expertise on the matter to guarantee permanent safety and security. Here are some ways in which a secure e-commerce will reduce the risk of scam:

Providing a Secure E-Commerce Platform

Choosing a secure platform from which to host your e-commerce is the first step towards ensuring online safety. Ryco Marketing uses Magento as a secure E-Commerce Platform that is trusted by the world’s leading Brands. It is built to deliver high performance and is compliant with PCI (Payment Card Industry) and DSS (Data Security Standards) which helps to ensure that both your business and customer data is protected.

Protects your E-Commerce from Invasion

Avoid loss of important and essential data by using a secure e-commerce that allows you to constantly check the condition of your website for viruses that may have seeped into the site. A secure e-commerce site will reduce the chances of this occurring in the first place which means your site remains protected from threats. Ryco Marketing for instance, uses professional software packages that carry out regular vulnerability assessments to determine how exposed your site is to potential hackers, thus allowing for immediate action to take place in order to stop un-welcomed third-parties from entering the site.

Highest Possible Security Measures

Having a secure e-commerce in place ensures that only the highest quality of security measures are in place. Regular software updates are carried out to confirm that the site is continuously updated with the latest and best forms of security software. The use of high tech encryption software secures all types of data, most importantly financial information and confidential data. Putting up firewalls is perhaps the most basic mode of security and any e-commerce site worth its name should be expected to have a powerful firewall in place to stop attackers dead in their tracks before they have a chance to breach your network and get their hands on essential information.

Employ Additional Security Systems

Using various levels of security is something that a good e-commerce will do to provide you with the highest possible mode of online security. They employ a security alert system that will instantly alert you to any suspicious or strange behaviour on your site (such as multiple transactions coming from the exact same IP address). Installing a card and address verification system will also give your e-commerce that extra layer of security to reduce the chances of having any deceitful charges.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfastsocial mediaSEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.

 

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E-Commerce: Necessity for Businesses on the Web

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E-commerce is an essential requirement for businesses who wish to broaden their brand via the web in order to increase sales and expand their reach to a wider audience of potential consumers. E-Commerce, otherwise known as electronic commerce, is the term given to an online system that allows businesses to trade through the internet selling their services, goods or information to online customers. Today’s business world is extremely competitive which is why many businesses are benefiting from having an online presence which enables them to reach masses of potential customers from around the globe.

Encourage a ‘Take Action’ Approach

Having an e-commerce site for your company allows you to better connect with your target audience. Your website will showcase your business in the best light, allowing potential customers to understand why they not only want but need your service or product. When a customer decides to buy something, the first step that they usually take is to find it online, hence they end up viewing your website to determine whether or not they want to make a purchase. Having an e-commerce solution will influence customers to take action which will result in an increase of sales.

Expand your Business Brand

One of the most advantageous aspects of having an e-commerce site is being able to extend your reach to not only your target audience, but beyond that. Choosing Rycoweb to design your website will ensure that your brand reaches top Google rankings so that when a potential customer seeks to purchase a specific product or service via the web, your e-commerce site will be one of the first options that they will see. Developing an effective ‘social media strategy’ will also help your brand to grow. By updating your social media accounts with good content, special offer notifications and competitions, it not only raises the company’s profile but encourages traffic to your e-commerce site, resulting in an increase of sales and an expanding consumer base.

Convenient and Less Time Consuming

In today’s busy world, people no longer have the time or the patience to head out shopping after a long day in the office which is why so many customers appreciate the convenience of online shopping. Rycoweb enables businesses to better connect with their consumers because when your business has its own e-commerce website, customers are able to make a purchase with a few simple clicks.This is an extremely efficient solution because payment and sales are completed quickly whilst ensuring customers that their payment information is kept safe and secure.

Cost Effective Solution

In comparison to traditional methods of trade, e-commerce provides the ultimate cost effective solution to all of your business and sales needs. E-commerce marketing has proven to be able to achieve a higher customer to cost ratio because the cost of advertising online is evidently less expensive than marketing via a TV commercial, for example. The long-term advantages of having an e-commerce website for your business is irrefutable, sales will continue to grow as your brand expands to reach a wider audience. E-commerce is the more cost effective solution to allow for online movement between business and customer, permitting the ability to buy and sell goods and services without having to set one foot outside the door.

Our multi-award digital agency Belfast and winning marketeers/developers are also waiting to help with any digital marketing, adwords, web design belfastsocial mediaSEO Belfast or Magento ecommerce web design questions you may have. We also provide training for third party SEO software tools such as MOZ to ensure you can clearly monitor progress and ensure your campaign is of the highest quality.