It is quite common to find that people will use a particular company because of a recommendation. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising - we trust the advice of people we know.

Quite recently a couple of people told me they needed a job done, and both said that a particular company was recommended to them by a close friend. In the first case the company was hired, as the price was right; however, this company produced terrible work. In the second case a plumbing company was turned away as it charged far too...

Any company with a desire to succeed will take a look at competing companies. Before entering into a market, it's good business practice to know what one is up against, and to build up areas which are found lacking.

I remember a chap who went to great lengths in order to design a product. He wouldn't look at any competing products because he didn't want to copy anybody. While his attitude was commendable, upon completion he realised that he had wasted his time, as there were similar offerings already available which were far better.

There...

I'm sure that our company could get a number one position in Google. I have no doubt about it. If we were to use the keyphrase 'jolly nice websites' to optimise our site for the search engines we would almost be guaranteed first place.

Why? Because nobody else has optimised for this phrase. Why? Because nobody in their right mind would search for it! It might be a phrase one says, but certainly not something one would search for.

Many companies providing SEO are optimising for dreadful phrases, such as 'marvelous house...

Judging the success of your Website by the number of hits it receives is like judging the success of a shop by how many people visit it. It isn't the visit which is important, but whether the visitor makes a purchase, and whether they come back.

Attracting people to your Website

To attract people to your Website you can add a news page, a blog, or send out regular email newsletters. If your site is regularly updated with information you are likely to retain the interest of your visitors, and hopefully relate to them on a more personal...

Uptime does not equal 'available time'

Most Web hosting companies claim to provide 99.9% uptime. This is a good thing, and means that the server is only likely to be inactive (down) for roughly 9 hours per year. This statistic puts at ease the minds of countless thousands of people.

99.9% uptime does not guarantee that your Website will be available 99.9% of the time. Most Websites hosted via cheap packages suffer problems quite frequently, adding up to several days of inaccessibility per year, even though the servers remain up 99.9% of the time.

When people...