Your carefully crafted website might look stunning on a regular computer screen, but put it on a mobile device and it could easily be less than perfect. It’ll be cramped, cluttered and difficult to navigate, and if you’ve incorporated Flash it won’t even show up—most tablets and other mobile devices aren’t Flash-compatible so all that hard work will have gone to waste, and if your customers can’t make sense of your site they could easily go elsewhere. This, in a nutshell, is why it’s so important to spend time on mobile web design.

Customers expect a flawless online experience no matter how they choose to view your site, and in many cases their level of satisfaction with your business will entirely depend on their success (or failure) in navigating your website. It’s essential that you’re able to meet their expectations and with so many people using mobile devices to browse you need to give them the service they want, with ease of use and an effective design being key to the whole thing.

In some cases a few simple tweaks could be all it takes, but if you’ve got a predominately Flash-based site or have relied too much on drop-down menus you’ll need a complete rethink. It’s important to remember that less is more, and when it comes to mobile web design a simple one page layout could be all you need to get your message across. But, whatever your design ideals you’re going to need a bit of help to achieve the desired result, and that’s why you need to get in touch.

Here at WebHot we know the importance of mobile design which is why we’ll build your site with this aspect in mind, ensuring we can meet your needs as well as those of your customers. Effective mobile web design really does matter and it can make all the difference to the success of your website, so if you want to see for yourself just get in touch on 0800 2118 234 and see what we can do.

For more information about tablet and mobile design

Well, blogging has quickly become the most predominant form of online publishing and as such can have a huge impact on SEO. The whole point of having a blog is to regularly provide fresh content and it’s this freshness that search engines rely on—websites that have been updated recently will be ranked higher than those which haven’t been, because like us, search engines don’t want to read information that’s blatantly out of date. By regularly updating your blog you’ll attract search engines far more readily, and if you remember to include a careful smattering of keywords you’ll have even more SEO success.

Incoming links also play a part here. If you regularly publish engaging content then other websites are more likely to link back to yours, increasing your page rank through association, and then you simply need to consider the social networking potential of blogging. Social media has transformed the way the online world operates and search engines have taken notice of that fact, because a website that’s been repeatedly recommended will always be ranked higher than one that hasn’t been. People will share content they find interesting, perhaps through clicking the “Like” button or tweeting it, and if your blog post gets shared around it’ll instantly boost your profile.

Content really is king. Being able to regularly provide your readers with fresh, engaging information can make all the difference to your SEO endeavours, and with blogging being the most effective way to get regular content out to the masses you’d be wise to give it a go. By providing usable information you’re also encouraging readers to come back for more to only add to the benefits, so never underestimate the importance of blogging for SEO and you could soon see your page rank soar.

What are backlinks anyway?

Backlinks are incoming links that point to your site from another webpage, and can be thought of as a stamp of popularity—if another website points back to yours you’ve got their approval and, hopefully, some of their traffic. In the eyes of search engines the more backlinks you have the more popular you are and the higher up in their search results you should be, and if you’re getting these backlinks from already popular sites you can go even further. Quality is just as important as quantity, and if you’re getting backlinks from high-profile sites you’ll be able to increase your own profile through association, ultimately helping to improve visibility and get you a good page rank.

How can I get these must-have backlinks?

There are several routes you might want to go down, with link swapping and forum posting being good places to start. If you cultivate good relationships with other webmasters they’ll be more than willing to form a mutually beneficial arrangement—much like the Blogroll system on WordPress—offering benefits for both parties. Forum posting can also be a great way to get your site out there and engaging in social media can be just as beneficial, and if you’re really stuck there are plenty of services that let you pay for backlinks for instant gratification.

If you use link building to your advantage you’ll soon be able to increase your page rank, and with enough backlinks dotted around the web you can’t go wrong. The only problem is that it can be difficult to do well, and if you want to increase your chance of success you need to get in touch with the experts—us. We’ll be able to devise a strategy of link building to help get the results you want, so give us a call on 0800 2118 345 or 07941 513683 to see what we can do.

There are a number of different areas you’ll need to address, the first being in regards to Flash. iPads, and indeed all Apple devices, don’t allow this type of functionality so if your site is based on Flash you’ll have to devise a substitute to make it suitable, because with iPads dominating the market it’s vital to be compatible with them. You’ll also need to check your navigation menus still work, ideally avoiding drop-down menus for increased ease of use, and make sure to design your site for touch interaction—people will be using fingertips rather than a mouse, so make sure that any buttons and navigational items are large enough (and spaced far enough apart) to be user-friendly. You’ll need to check layout and text size too to make sure everything’s suitable, and remember one thing above all others—simplicity is key.

The tablet market is booming and it’s set to continue for a long time to come, so it’s vital your website is tablet-friendly to accommodate this growing trend. Whether you need a few tweaks or a complete redesign depends entirely on your current website, but if you need a helping hand make sure to get in touch. We can ensure your site is fully-functional on every level to offer a pleasant user experience no matter how your customers choose to operate, so contact us on 0800 2118 345 or 07941 513683 to make sure you’re ready for anything.

For more information about tablet and mobile design

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is all about optimising your website so search engines will find it and list it in their results. It’s used to increase visibility so when people search for your services they’re more likely to come across your site, because otherwise they’d have no way of finding it. The aim is to get a good page rank to ensure maximum exposure, ultimately making sure you’ll be listed near the top, a vital consideration when many people are short on time and attention spans—when performing a search people will often only look at the first few results or at the most the first page or two, and if you’re languishing hundreds of pages back they simply won’t look that far to find you.

Effective SEO is therefore key to the whole thing. It’ll make sure that both search engines and readers know you’re there, increasing your traffic and potential business leads, and it can transform the way your business operates. Of course, there are several different aspects of SEO you’ll need to address if you want to see results, with focusing on content (including relevant keywords and meta tags) and backlinks (the more links point to your site the more popular you’re deemed to be and, therefore, the higher you’ll be placed in search results) being two of the biggest determiners of success. But, knowing how to achieve this level of success can often be easier said than done which is why you need to get in touch with the experts, so never underestimate the importance of SEO and contact us on 0800 2118 345 or 07941 513 83 and see how we can help.