Hats off to my boyfriend…

I’m a proud Leeds United Football Club fan and feel no shame whatsoever in my delight at our result at Old Trafford last weekend (03/01/2010), dumping Stretford United (Man Utd) out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round.  It had been 5 years since we last visited Old Trafford  and 29 years since we had visited and come away with a victory.  Man United had declared us as ‘Minnows’ on hearing that they would meet either Kettering Town or Leeds United, a reference to our fall from the Premiership, through the Championship and presently sitting at the top of the League One table.

My boyfriend is a Liverpool fan (well, someone has to be!).  He enjoys reminding me of my teams lowly status these days in the world of football.  I enjoy reminding him that his favoured Liverpool team struggled to beat us at Elland Road in September 2009 in the League Cup.  It’s a healthy rivalry that exists between us, honest!

At 1pm on the 3rd January 2010 we were united in our support of my team against a shared bitter rival, Manchester United!  OK, so in truth, I was allowed to watch my team on the TV with the company of his youngest son, whilst his eldest son elected to support Man United from the kitchen and my boyfriend decided to cook soup for the final whistle, probably in an attempt to ease my depression after a bad result.  Instead of the expected depression I was almost too giddy to eat the soup and joined my boys at the table a full 10 minutes after they had started to eat as I was busy jumping around in the garden shouting and cheering with my best friend, and fellow Leeds fan, at the result.

This weekend I was due back up in Leeds to collect some more of my belongings as I leave my beloved Home County of Yorkshire to be with my childhood sweetheart again.  My boyfriend was also making the trip north to lend me the boot of his car to fill for his journey south again, meet my cousin, and visit a client on the outskirts of Leeds.  It was an opportunity to good to be missed, so I got straight on to the Leeds United website and booked two seats for the home game against Wycombe Wanderers.  I was looking forward to welcoming the boys back to Elland Road with a loud cheer and a hearty rendition of ‘Marching on Together’ with the rest of the Leeds fans.

I took my boyfriend with me to the match at Elland Road to punish him for deciding to cook soup whilst Leeds scored their amazing victory at Old Trafford.  I knew that there was no escape from the terraces.  I booked seats directly behind the goal in the South Stand and just four rows back from the net.  We had a great view of the game!

Why the ‘Hats off’ to my boyfriend then?  Well, several reasons actually.  These are the main ones though:

  • Despite wearing a red and white coat that screamed Liverpool Football Club without actually saying it, he did wear a yellow and white hat to protect his head from the cold that allowed him to blend in as a Leeds fan.
  • He stood up in all the right places during the match, including ’stand up if you hate Man U’ and ’stand up and sing for Leeds’, and whenever the Leeds attack came to the South Stand.
  • He’s been to Elland Road twice now, yet never been to Anfield, so I’m sure it is only a matter of time before he adds the extra ‘U’ to make LFC read LUFC!
  • He stated that as long as Leeds aren’t playing Liverpool he will support Leeds as his second team! (This could be a problem more frequently in the next couple of years as we return to the higher echelons of English football!)
  • Despite it being -3 and snowing in Leeds he hardly complained at all.

In my mind,  that is love… and I love him for it!  Thanks babe xxx

January 10, 2010   Posted in: Everything Else...  One Comment

Launch of the Long Term Care Insurance website

I am pleased to have finally been able to launch the latest of my web design development today.  www.longtermcareinsurance.org.uk

The brief was simple really.  To make a heavily content-based website both user friendly and attractive to the end user.  Due to the nature of the clients business, the site also had to be fully compliant with the rules of the FSA and this final approval has been granted today.

The cost of the website design to the client, with the 50% new client discount, makes this a very cost effective website and should see a return on the initial investment very quickly.  A strong web presence is an absolute must for all businesses in this modern era of on-line searches and should be an integral part of any business marketing strategy and budget.

At function5 Web Design it is important that the client gets the website they want, and, that this site is also going to be a benefit to their overall business goals, whilst being easy for the end-user to navigate and enjoy looking at.  My client has expressed his delight with the site, I would love to know what you think too.

Di Winn

Web Design Consultant and business owner

January 7, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Web Design  No Comments

Dispelling some of the myths around Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Many people build a website and then think about its Search Engine Optimisation.  There are a number of company’s that offer SEO services to help out in just such a situation and you may well be tempted to employ their services to get your website up in the page rankings.  As a web design consultant managing a company that lives and breathes by its high levels of openness and honesty to its clients, I want to dispel some of the myths used by some of these company’s in their sales pitch to you.

Number 1: Guaranteed #1 ranking on Google.

This is perhaps the most important myth to dispel, and that is why it is my Number 1 pet hate, as well as number 1 on my myths to dispel.  I’ll even use Google’s exact words:  No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Many SEO companies will try to convince you they have a special relationship with Google, or have a priority submit facility.  This is simply not true.  The only way to submit your site to Google is to use their Add URL tool, or by submitting a sitemap.

Number 2: We are a subsidiary/affiliate of Google!

The latest scam I’ve heard about on this ‘we are affiliated or a subsidiary of Google’ nonsense has come via a fellow web designer.  One of their clients received a call offering a deal to get to the top of the Google search rankings by paying the small amount of £125 per month (small to some of the larger businesses, and potentially money well spent if the claim were true).  The company suggested it was a subsidiary of Google called Chrome (now let me think, isn’t that the name of Google’s new web browser!!).  Using the latest name for a latest product from Google gave them a certain level of authenticity; most regular internet user’s would have heard of the word Chrome in relation to Google and may have had an instant reaction to trust their very word.  Thankfully, this particular client was quite SEO/internet savvy and requested details to view whilst considering the offer being made.  The company then stated that they couldn’t send out details and that the offer was a ‘one-off’ over the phone kind of deal.  I’ll repeat Google’s own words once more at this point, and to counter any other company that rings or e-mails you to make similar claims:

No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google!

Number 3: Unsolicited e-mails regarding your position on the search pages!

It may be a surprise to you, but I get these e-mails too!  As well as there being a host of search engine robots that index your websites and offer them up in various search result pages, there are also robots that harvest e-mail addresses from websites and sell these lists to companies looking for e-mail addresses to send their mail shots too.  In many cases these e-mails suggest they have done a search and not found your website in any of the results.  They must have more hours in a day than I have!  It may also be that they have done a search, but used keyword phrases that are of little or no use to your company.  My advice is to treat such e-mails with caution.

Number 4: It’s all about the keywords!

I can’t honestly believe that some companies are still touting for business to manage your keywords, but based on the feedback of some of my clients, they clearly are.  Important fact: For some time now Google has not taken any notice of the keywords listed in your sites Meta tags.  Google is more interested in good and relevant site content than keywords.  If your content is well written and includes key search phrases, your site is much more likely to show up in the organic search results on Google.   Having more pages of well written content can also help as it gives Google much more from your site to index.  Keywords are still useful to attract some of the lesser search engines, so don’t completely disregard them, just don’t get stung by a ‘we’ll manage your keywords’ sales pitch.

Number 5:  It’s all about your PageRank number!

OK… so this one is interesting.  There are differing opinions on PageRank within the industry, but I can only offer you my take on this.  In days of old a high PageRank number would have affected your position on Google’s search listings pages.  These days it is possible to have a PageRank of 8/10, yet not show up on the search listings until page 60 or 70.  It is also possible to have a PageRank of 3/10 and show up on the first page of the search results.  Therefore, I wouldn’t get too carried away when it comes to PageRank numbers, the more important ranking is where you feature on the search listings, not what an icon on a toolbar suggests your pages score is.  The most important thing to remember is what Google themselves says about Search Engine Optimisation, and because it is so important, I am going to put it in again.

No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

Some of the less scrupulous SEO companies will use unfair practices to raise your websites ranking within the search pages, which may initially see your website get somewhere near the top of the listings, but ultimately, is more likely to see your sites submission removed from Google.  This is not a result that you want to be paying good money for.

My advice on SEO is to always check out a company if you are thinking of engaging their services to promote your website.  Ask to see testimonials and success stories!  My web clients benefit from having SEO as a standard service within their build and design package.  In my opinion, it is not an after thought or add-on to the service.  My clients also benefit from ongoing optimisation as an integral part of their hosting package when they elect to host their website with me.

The best time to engage the services of a SEO company is as a site is redesigned or first being built, then it can be built effectively from the ground up.  Good SEO companies can help sites that are already built, but beware and ask lots of questions to see testimonials and success stories for your self.  Otherwise you could be paying good money for nothing more than hot air.

October 17, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Search Engine Optimisation  No Comments

The possible pitfalls of domain name registration…

Sorry in advance… this might turn into a bit of a rant, but it is important and reading it could well save you money and help you avoid a similar issue as you seek to create your own web presence.

I have a new web client that has purchased his chosen web domains prior to engaging a web designer to build and host his websites.  This is not the basis of my rant.  The issue comes from where you elect to purchase and register your domains.  There are many companies out there that offer such services and each one is different in what it offers the customer.  Some are better value than others.

Let me explain the position that my client now finds himself in:

Having purchased his domain names from a company based in the UK and having engaged my company to design, build, and host and manage his websites; he is using a registration/hosting company that charges for everything as hidden extras.  In order to host his sites on my server, he will potentially face annual charges from his chosen company just to let me manage his DNS settings (being able to alter these allows you to point the domain name to another hosting location).  The additional charge is £16.99 per domain that you want hosted elsewhere.

These are some of their other additional charges:

  • ÂŁ9.99 per annum per site to show you the website statistics (these are essential viewing to be able to do effective search engine optimisation).
  • Web diversion to point at another domain name is ÂŁ11.99 per annum per site.
  • Spam-filtering on your POP3 e-mail account is ÂŁ7.99 per annum per e-mail address.

It is true to say that having a website designed, developed and hosted is not necessarily cheap.  But choosing the wrong company from the start can make it much more expensive in the long term than it truly needs to be.  My advice is to fully research the options available before making your purchase.  My client has, unfortunately, made a poor choice.  I have a remedy for him that will cost him some more money initially, but ironically, will actually end up saving him quite a sum of money in the longer term than if he were to stay with the company he is with now.

If you are looking to purchase and register a web domain, I would highly recommend consulting a web design company, who should also help by making suggestions for domain names that will give you a stronger web presence.  If you still want to go it alone and just buy domain names I would recommend using http://www.123-reg.co.uk/ .  They include the essentials as standard and are relatively cheap for the annual and two yearly registration fees.  What is more, they don’t try to hide extra costs that could potentially jump up and bite you as you start to progress your domain name to an actual website.

Those are my thoughts, and as the director of a company that values honesty and openness with its clients, I want to share these thoughts with as many people as possible to protect them from some of the more unscrupulous companies out there.

October 15, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Web Design  No Comments

When is a 25p text not a 25p text… Elland Road and me!

Well, something amazing happened this morning.  I was working at the old laptop when my mobile suddenly burst into life at just 8.15am.  Ok, so that’s not the amazing bit, sometimes my phone rings as early as 6am!  The amazing bit was who was at the end of the phone…

I’d answered my phone in my normal manner “Di Winn”.  The reply left me wondering what the call was going to be about.  “Hi, is that Diane Winn?”  My first thought was, Oh NO, I’m in trouble.  I’m only ever called Diane Winn when I’m in serious bother or Sunday’s.  It was Monday morning, so I knew it had to be trouble. Reluctantly I answered “Yes, that’s right”

The response is still sending me giddy with excitement 6 hours later.  “Hi Di, this is Richard from Yorkshire Radio” 

WOAH… had I phoned in whilst asleep?  I’m a big Leeds United fan and I listen to the match coverage via Yorkshire Radio on my DAB radio, bought specifically for just such a purpose.  I wasn’t best pleased with the draw at home against Charlton on Saturday (03/10/09), but I wasn’t aware that I’d been letting it bug me.  After all, we are still 3 points clear at the top.

He carried on… “You may remember you entered a competition recently…”  OMG… I did.  “Yes, that’s right”  “Well, I’m just ringing to tell you you’re a winner”

The best I could come up with was “No way”, to which he replied “Yes, way!”

Whilst listening to the match coverage of the Leeds United v Carlisle United 1-1 draw on Tuesday 29th September, the radio presenter had announced a competition.  Even now I can’t remember the exact details given, but I thought for the price of a text it’s got to be worth a punt, so I dutifully followed the instructions and thought nothing else about it.

Until this morning… my 25p or £1 text message has won me, my boyfriend and his youngest son, tickets to watch the Four Nations Grand Final at Elland Road on Saturday 14th November 2009.  And, that’s not all.  My stepson gets to be a player’s mascot and walk out on to the pitch to the rapturous applause of anything up to 40,000 over-excited rugby fans, including me and his Dad.

Now… whether you are a fan of rugby league or not, that is good value for a text message that won’t have cost any more than a £1 at the very most.

We are hoping for an England v New Zealand final.  My boyfriend is half Kiwi and half English, so I know that his day would be a win, win situation.  My stepson will just enjoy the thrill of being a mascot and watching his first live rugby match, and it has to be said that a Four Nations Grand Final is not a bad first to have. 

Me?  I’ll be at my beloved Elland Road with my beautiful man and youngest stepson, watching my second favourite beautiful game.

So, what’s my advice to you!  Next time you hear a competition that sounds up your street, send the text or make the call.  As they say on the National Lottery “You’ve got to be in it to win it”, and just every so often, the gamble pays off!

October 5, 2009   Posted in: Everything Else...  No Comments