Free xmas tools for webmasters
Oct.31.2009 
Christmas is only 55 days away which means you should be well on your way to having your website ready to target those researching and hunting for Christmas gifts online. With more people than ever expected to do their Christmas shopping online this year, it is an opportunity not to be missed. However, if you haven’t started yet, or you are still thinking about what to do, below are links to some great Christmas related tools and resources to help save you time…
Don’t forget, from 99p. Eco Friendly, carbon neutral hosting from Instahost.co.uk
Christmas icons
1. http://www.clevericons.com/icon/christmas06/
2. http://www.webdesignerwall.com/general/free-christmas-icons-for-you/
3. http://www.iconarchive.com/category/christmas/christmas-icons-by-zeusbox.html
4. http://www.standard-icons.com/stock-icons/standard-christmas-icons.htm
5. http://dryicons.com/free-icons/preview/christmas-surprise-four-in-one/
Christmas photographic images (free)
6. http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=christmas&l=4
7. http://freedigitalphotos.net/images/search.php?search=christmas&match_type=any
8. http://morguefile.com/archive/browse/#/?qury=christmas&terms_all=christmas
9. http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=search&txt=christmas&w=1&x=8&y=9
Christmas WordPress themes
10. http://www.devlounge.net/extras/iceburgg
11. http://wpthemes.amazing-christmas-ideas.com/cg/
12. http://www.simplywp.net/2008/11/19/hello-snowman-christmas-theme-for-wordpress/
13. http://www.blogger-template.info/blue-christmas-theme
14. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/12/24/christmas-wordpress-theme/
Christmas CSS templates
15. http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page76/happy-holidays.php#bookmarks
16. http://www.templatemo.com/preview/templatemo_045_christmas
17. http://www.entheosweb.com/photoshop_templates/christmas.asp
18. http://www.dreamweaverresources.com/holiday-templates/index.htm
Let us know of any other you would like to share!!! by leaving a comment below
SEO – National Vs Local
Due to the exponential growth of the web, the process of gaining and maintaining high search engine listings – known as Search Engine Optimisation or SEO – is becoming incredibly challenging for everyone but for the smaller local business, SEO is turning into a one-sided war. Quite simply, there’s just not enough room on the first page of the search engine results pages for everyone and inevitably, the first to be frozen out are the small guys.
For small businesses, facing their industry’s big names in the search engines can be a no-win situation. Think Asda versus a corner shop, Tony and Guy versus a small hairdresser and Stagecoach versus a local drama school. By focusing on national SEO (thanks to much smaller resources) a local business is unlikely to ever appear alongside these business behemoths at all. And we all know that it is a rare person who bothers to click onto the second page of Google. Never mind pages 3, 4 and 5.
In 2006, iProspect, a search engine marketing firm based in Massachusetts, USA, stated in their White Paper Search Engine User Behavior Study, “The importance of appearing high in the search results has increased over time… more search engine users are clicking on the first page now (62% [2006]) than in 2004 (60%) than in 2002 (48%). Inversely, fewer search engine users are willing to click on results past the third page now (10% [2006]) than in 2004 (13%) than in 2002 (19%). Fast-forward to 2009 – and assuming that these trends have continued, a business’ appearance in the first pages front of the search engines results, is more crucial than ever.
More recently, AOL released figures on CTR (click through rates) for the different positions in their index. The data set was sufficiently high enough to be considered accurate and thus can be expected to reflect traffic levels across most search engines – Google included. According to AOL’s results, only 10% of all searches resulted in clicks beyond page 1 of the results.
Yet, many small businesses bring SEO failure upon themselves, by not distinguishing between local SEO and national SEO. Local SEO is similar to national SEO – but with one notable difference. The keywords and content (images and information) are geographically specific. While national SEO focuses on broad keywords, such as “Plumbers”, local SEO uses local modifiers: “Plumbers, St. Albans, Hertfordshire”. And while the traffic will be lower in local SEO campaigns, they will pull in more qualified prospects. After all, a plumber in Chester is of no use to an overflowing toilet in St. Albans. Optimising locally also helps to build local relationships. In his 2008 book “The Complete SEO Copywriting Guide for Search Engine Rankings and Sales Conversion – Content Rich”, Jon Wuebben estimates that every month a billion local searches are made, and that it’s growing at a rate of 20-30% every year.
Thanks to recent algorithmic changes by Google over the last 12 months or so,the likelihood of locals finding you when they type in “Your Trade, Your Town” is now much higher. Nobody really knows precisely what Google has done, or is currently doing for that matter – we only know what works and what does not through our own exhaustive testing. What we do know, however,, is that Google is increasingly placing much more emphasis on local and geographical searches. It has even been rumoured that soon, users will be able to search Google within their own geographic parameters. So by modifying their sites to target local keyword phrases, local businesses will undoubtedly see significant improvement in their search engine placement – especially as local or geographic keyword phrases have much less competition anyway. The modifications required to optimise locally, include placing the chosen geographic keyword in the following areas:
- Title Tag <title>
- Meta Description Tag <Meta description=”…”>
- Heading Tags <H1>, <H2> etc
- In the page content (bolding them for added weight, if possible)
- In an Alt tag or two
- In the footer of the home page
But remember NOT to keyword stuff- once or twice per tag type or content section should be sufficient.
Google’s Keyword Tool is a great tool with which to find effective keyword phrases: https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal. Here, a business is able to generate keyword ideas in two ways – by getting Google to scan the contents of their own website, or by inserting descriptive keywords (for example, “clothes shop Bath”). Once one of these methods is selected, they insert either the URL of their website, or a few keyword phrases into the search box. The results page will reveal, not only related search terms, but also the average search volume per month.
A free Google Maps Listing will go nicely with these newly modified search terms. It’s a highly effective way for local businesses to build up an online presence. In fact, it’s a must. To make use of this powerful tool, a local business must first create an account at https://www.google.com/accounts/ With this account, the business will be able to sign into Google’s Local Business Centre http://www.google.com/local/add?hl=en-gb&gl=gb. And it is here that they can create their free listing – including their contact details, opening hours and even product images and YouTube video. Once a business has been verified and included in Google Maps, it can edit the contents at any time.
As well as making it even easier for local customers to find local companies, using this tool gives local businesses a second bite at the cherry to appear on that coveted first page. This is because, in the majority of cases, Google will stick up to 10 of these listings ABOVE the normal organic results, when a geographic keyword is used. Go try it – search Google for plumbers + your town or city and see what happens!
Yahoo Local is another excellent local SEO resource. It offers a similar service to Google’s Maps Listing. It’s not free however – the price varies according to the business location and the keyword phrase utilised. But as all BT Internet users have Yahoo as their default search engine, it comes with a huge advantage. Think of all those potential customers!
Other tips…
A further advantage of local SEO over national SEO, is that the popularity of famous landmarks or buildings in any given town, can be leveraged. Let’s say you have a clothes shop in Brighton. By simply embedding a picture of The Royal Pavilion on your site, for example (assuming it has been tagged appropriately), you’re likely to pull in a heap of local traffic.
Allowing customers to leave reviews on your website is another great promotional tool. As your customers are likely to know you personally, they’ll be more likely to leave favourable reviews. And as the readers of these reviews are likely to be other locals, the reviews will hold more credibility than those that appear on more corporate and national websites. In this way, local trust and credibility is built.
If you are a business that gets most of its custom from the local market, yet are still relying on national SEO techniques to get you high up in the search engines, then you are risking your website disappearing into the depths of the internet altogether.
Use Twitter Positively – Dont be a twit!!!
So, with the turmoil in Iran and the passing of Micheal Jackson, we have really seen the power of twitter! But how can you harness that power? Its not a place for endlessly plugging your Brand or trying to be sneaky! Using the name @HabitatUk, Habitat “tweeted” updates about new products on twitter. But they also added “hashtags” – keywords that help Twitter users locate posts on specific themes – such as #Iran. This meant that people searching for information about the deadly violence and mass protests in Tehran following the country’s disputed election came up with posts advertising Habitat’s goods. The inevitable outcry has caused this to already become one of the most prominent examples of attempts to engage with social media backfiring.
OK So, assuming you do not want to commit the same type of error, here are our best tips on getting the most out of Twitter.
1. Sign up at Twitter.com
That’s step one, of course!
2. Download a twitter client such as Tweetdeck find others through google, we use DABr for our Mobiles.
It does make tweeting much easier!
3. Try to keep negativity off Twitter
You will lose followers – if you moan too much!
4. Follow people who are in your niche.
Click on “find people.” Type in names of people who write blogs in your niche, who have similar products and who are influencers. Remeber, more than anything, this is a social network tool.
Click the “follow” link under their photo. This will let you see their tweets with other people.
5. Make friends
No hard sell here……Make friends. Be a sociable person.
6. Learn the art of the RT
RT stands for “retweet”. There’s a little icon that says RT.
When you retweet someone’s messsage, you’re passing it on so the people on your list can see it.
This is the ultimate form of sharing. You give before you get.
Even if you only have 5 people on your list, use the RT.
But watch how others do it first. be careful!
7. Observe
Spend a week or so just watching others and learning what happens on Twitter before you jump in.
8. Anything and I do mean anything you say, can and may be retweeted.
So be aware that anything you say can be spread. So be very cautious about saying anything negative about anyone. Once you have said it – its out there!! Be aware that tweets are sometime picked up by Search Engines too!
9. Be positive
Remember Positive energy attracts other positive people.
10. If someone really annoys you, you can go to twitter.com, find their name and on the right side is link where you can block them. Remeber, they can do the same!
11. When you run across a cool web site or resource tweet it to your list.
12 . Remeber the @ symbol.
You want to send most of your messages to individuals using the @ symbol.
13. When you find a good blog post on someone’s blog, pass it along to your Twitter list.
This endears you to the blog owner. Even if they aren’t on your Twitter list, there’s a decent chance word will spread back to ‘em.
This IS the age of instant communication.
14. Learn to Twitter on your iPhone or Mobile.
15. Understand that in the big picture your goal is to find people who have lists and can promote your products then make friends with ‘em.
It helps if you pass along cool resources and on occasion say things that are profound or retweetable.
Do NOT end up twittering away time you really should be using to create products or do other promotions.
Use Twitter. Don’t let it use you.
“must have” extensions for FireFox
As you can imagine, I find myself using my web browser almost all the time. One of the great things about Firefox is the number of free add-ons available that enhance the browsing experience. All the addons for Firefox can be found at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/ – but here are a few of our favourites.
DownThemAll!
http://www.downthemall.net/
If you’re downloading a large file (for example a website backup) it can be very irritating if you get disconnected or your computer crashes. Typically this always seems to happen within the last 10%!
DownThemAll! is a download manager integrated into Firefox which is able to pause and resume downloads. The neat thing about it is that its completely integrated – when you start a download you get an option to download with DownThemAll!.
Xmarks (previously Foxmarks)
http://download.xmarks.com/download/all
Thanks to the recent fashion of “small cheap computers”, it seems everybody has at least 2 computers nowadays. With my home PC, laptop and work computer I can’t live without Xmarks – it’s a bookmark synchroniser which keeps your bookmarks identical across computers. It has some nifty features such as bookmark profiles (so you can vary your bookmark toolbar at work for example), and if you’re on a computer where you can’t install the add-on, you can still see your bookmarks from a web page.
It’s compatible with Firefox on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux – as well as Internet Explorer and Safari.
TwitterFox
http://twitterfox.net/
If you’re a Twitter fanatic like some of my colleagues, you’ll find this simple add-on a blessing. It adds an icon on the status bar which will notify you when someone you’re following tweets on Twitter. You can also quickly tweet or reply to a tweet directly from your browser without loading up Twitter.
Firebug
http://getfirebug.com/
This is one for the web developers out there. Firebug lets you inspect and alter the current webpage – allowing you to explore the document tree and CSS styles of a specific element and tweak them instantly in-place. It’s also got a powerful JavaScript debugger/profiler that helps you track down those annoying errors.
VertTabbar
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8045
When one of my colleagues mentioned this add-on to me, I was sceptical. But I find myself becoming more and more attached to it. The add-on simply moves the tab bar to a vertical position on the left-right of your browser. This means you can have more tabs open and still see their titles. It works perfectly on a widescreen monitor where horizontal space isn’t at a premium.
Speed Dial
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4810
Speed Dial adds a “quick launch” page to Firefox, where you can put your most used websites with thumbnails for each of them. This feature will be familiar to Opera and Chrome users. It can be configured to appear every time a new tab is opened, making it a good “jumping page”. It’s just a shame it can’t be synchronised with Xmarks!
What are your favourite add-ons? Let us know here and we can all share!!!
Or have you jumped ship to Chrome or IE8? Let us know!
Dot Com = Dot Gone?
Move over .com, .uk and .net – and welcome .whateveryoulike. From next year, the geography of the internet is set to expand significantly.
Changes promise to give edge to businesses sharp enough to embrace them
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the international body that oversees the structure of the internet, will liberalise the market for domain name extensions – the .com or .uk part of a web address.
This means that anyone, in theory, can apply to operate an extension.
Historically, companies have considered their domain to be a critical part of their brand identity.
Some domains have been sold for millions of dollars, such as sex.com which was reportedly sold for $14m.
Multinational companies often register up to 20,000 different variations of their brand in order to try and stop opportunists exploiting it.
However, the vast majority of businesses are unprepared for imminent changes to the internet.
This was surprising given that there are significant possibilities which were instantly recognised by companies once we explained what market liberalisation will mean.
A massive 81% said liberalisation will be innovative, three-quarters stated it will be advantageous, and two-thirds said it will be exciting when launching a campaign online.
Toyota, for example, could register europe.toyota and usa.toyota as well as set up sites for individual brands (highlander.toyota) and use targeted domains for different markets such as customers and suppliers (suppliers.toyota, dealers.toyota, buying.toyota).
Indicators suggest that consumers will embrace this change.
As part of the same research, we interviewed 1,000 consumers and one in five (19%) said an extension such as .nike or .microsoft would be memorable.
Considering only 24% think .com is memorable, this shows the future potential for branded top-level domains.
But before businesses can reap any rewards, the internet industry must address many concerns.
There is real fear that cybersquatters will cash in on liberalisation by registering all the best domain names to drive visitors to advertising sites.
Criminals could also use domain names that resemble trademarks in order to launch phishing attacks or to lure users to illicit sites.
For us, this is an exciting change. But if liberalisation is to bring the benefits it promises, it needs to be handled carefully.
As soon as the billboards, squatters and criminals move in, all the prime properties and interested web visitors will move out.
All stakeholders need to embrace a mature and multi-stakeholder approach to governance of new domain extensions.
This includes registrars and registries whose commercial interests sometimes conflict with the goal of keeping the domain space from being polluted.
ICANN is expected to start taking applications for new top-level domains between January and March 2010 and anticipates between 300-500.
A number of groups have already announced interest for city top-level domains such as .berlin, .paris, .london and .nyc.
Industry or activity-specific names are also expected to get attention, for example for .music, .sport or .movie.
