In the video, Cutts reveals that there will be a rather significant change to the Google SERP’s (search engine results pages) in the coming months, with the most noticeable of those being the implementation of the “Penguin 2.0″ update. The original Penguin update was applied last year and affected around 3.1% of all English search queries – a number that may sound small but actually equates to millions of searches – and this one is expected to continue on the work of the original but go even further. This means that more than ever, sites that are carrying out black hat SEO techniques such as link farming, keyword stuffing and cloaking are at risk and are only a few days away from being hit with a significant Google penalty.

The penguin update will also apparently see Google become much more sophisticated when it comes to weeding out bad quality links from those that genuinely add to the web – so beware, irrelevant, low quality, “just for SEO” links will be punished. These moves go alongside the fact that paid links – which have never been good – are becoming punished even further, any paid link that passes value between two sites, and that doesn’t clearly state that it was paid for, will be hunted down by Google, and both parties will be looking at their sites dropping down the rankings.

These changes are sure to have a significant affect on many websites all across the world, but in truth, they simply reiterate what anyone who carries out sensible SEO already knows, and that is that everything in the industry is about quality, not quantity. Writing masses of text with a generic keyword repeated over and over in inappropriate places, or going out and getting hundreds of links from any site that you can find is simply not the way to run a sensible and sustainable SEO project anymore – write for your audience, and build strong links with relevant, useful websites, and you are putting yourself on a sure footing for the future.

For more information regarding these upcoming changes in the SEO world, or anything related to running a successful online marketing campaign, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with the friendly Dijitul team today, who will be happy to help you on your way to online success.

Contact us by any of the following ways:
Phone – 01623 650333
Twitter – @Dijitul or @DijitulSEO
Facebook – Dijitul

The post SEO – Whats Changing In The Next Few Months? appeared first on Dijitul.com.

Like with anything “tech” related – websites (especially web design agency websites!) are out of date the second they are launched – so despite our old site only being a year or so old, we had truly grown to hate it and felt it didn’t reflect us as a company at all!

We’d also cut a few corners and based it on a stock theme as we simply didn’t have the time to start from scratch. This time round we’ve made time – and we’re really pleased with the end result!

One thing we wanted to ensure with our new website was that it was different. We’re not corporate, we don’t use macs (heh sorry) – we are creative/nerdy/geeky/fun and our old site just didn’t show this off at all!

Our website design team treated this like a customer job, created design drafts for us and we sat and discussed them like we would with a customer. Once we decided which design we liked, instructed them to turn the design into a website – and we started to look at our content… which we realised over the years had gone a bit crazy!

There were probably 100+ pages on the site, all optimised for certain terms and stuff – but when we analysed the data we soon realised that these pages were simply there for fear of us not ranking for those terms – and the terms we were worrying about were both pointless and didn’t actually bring any positive traffic to your site (traffic, and positive traffic are two very different things – talk to our online marketing team!) so we have taken a chance and totally sacked them all off.

We now have six pages and some portfolio items (and a lot of redirects) and we are so much more confident and comfortable that every page and paragraph is correct!

We still have some tweaks to make and some more portfolio items to add – but so far so good!

Hit the comments button below and let us know what you think!

The post Welcome to dijitul.com v4.2 appeared first on Dijitul.com.

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The rise and fall of the high street…

The face of the British high street is undeniably changing at a rapid rate, and just recently we have seen one of the most high profile casualties to date – HMV, so if a retailer of highly popular modern products such as CD’s, Blu-rays, DVD’s and video games can go under, surely no one is safe?

Well, whilst the demise of HMV, Jessops and Comet may have brought much sadness, and many chills down the spines of business owners worldwide, there are certain ways that you can fine tune and modify your business to be able to ride economic storms and come out as strong as ever.

The very way that consumers shop has transformed, almost unbelievably over the past 20 years, and now rather than having to trawl through yellow pages or head out into the high street on a rainy winters day to get what they need, the average shopper can just head online and within a few clicks of a mouse – or even taps of a phone screen – anything from games consoles to toasters to beds and even the weekly groceries can be ordered and sent on their way to their homes, hassle free!

This is something that every business should be taking advantage of, but unfortunately many aren’t, and instead they’re stuck in outdated methods which – whilst they may have worked well enough in previous years – can no longer cut it in an increasingly tech savvy and internet orientated world, so if this sounds like you, listen up, because change is a must!

The key to retail success has always been to draw in as many customers as possible, and to make it as easy as possible for those customers to purchase from you, and the internet makes that more doable than every before, if you just get yourself online! With a good quality, well optimised website, you are opening your business up to a potential customer base of millions from all around the world – but just because you’re there doesn’t mean they’re going to pick you over your competitors, you need to stand out!

If you’re selling a product or service then eCommerce is a must for this, make it so that whatever you’re selling can easily be purchased within just a few clicks as soon as any user enters your website, make things to convoluted or long winded, and people will be quick to leave and turn to someone else, so make sure all of your useful information and important links are immediately easy to find – preferably all above “the fold” of the page (what you can see on the screen without scrolling down).

Along with making it easy for a customer to order from your website, it is also worth thinking about what you offer and if it can be modified in any way? People are increasingly impatient and if your delivery times are to long, many people will just turn their backs on you, so think, can what you’re providing be provided even quicker? Perhaps downloaded rather than physically delivered, or if its a service you’re offering, maybe give a downloadable file or some information on the process – anything that will keep people happy and “tide them over” until the day of action.

Also, do not make the mistake of ignoring social media, networks such as Twitter and Facebook are such a massive part of the internet today, and whilst if used incorrectly they can become your enemy, if you have the right strategy then they will become one of your very best friends! Be sure to keep a friendly relationship with all of your customers, answer tweets, keep an active social media presence, offer special deals to followers, get people sharing your content, and their own experiences with you, they may be behind a keyboard, but online customers should get the same level of customer service as any person stood in your shop at the till, so don’t ignore them!

It’s incredible that to this very day many people still see the internet as a scary place, and perhaps even more incredible that some people still see it as a group of misfits sat at computer screens, when it truth it’s a multi billion pound global economy, the most vibrant place you could possibly visit, and it may just turn your small business into the next big success story!

For more information regarding getting your business online, how to improve your online marketing strategy or starting turning heads on social networks, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Dijitul.com web development and SEO team today on 01623 650333.

The post What Can You Learn From The Fall Of High Street Giants? appeared first on Dijitul.com.

Here at Dijitul.com – our 2013 was kicked off with a couple of infected customer websites, and us being saved by our fantastic website warranty package.

One of our customer sites is built using cubecart, and we inherited it from another website design company. We’ve improved, streamlined and generally fixed the whole website, and its currently back with the client for populating. Since its been passed back, it seem an exploit has been found with some part of one of the websites hosted on their domain, and a load of files had an iFrame injected into the source code. This caused other websites (infected ones) to load when our client site was loaded, and then the problem generally got worse each time.

http://xxx.tomurcukozel.com/ecws.html

This URL (www changed to xxx so it doesn’t link) was what the iframe was loading (well, trying to) DO NOT VISIT THIS URL

Thanks to our early defence warning systems, we were informed of the changed files – kicked off a server scan that cleaned all the files when dodgy code was located and then notified blacklists ensuring that any blocks were removed and no customers were deterred. If we didn’t have our Website Warranty software running, we wouldn’t have know about the infection until google had blocked the site, and by that time you have lost customers and the virus has spread past the point of easy disinfection!

We are now plugging holes in the cleansed website files, and hope to have the issue fully resolved by close of play today.

Another customer has had a few problems since the start of 2013, but this time with a hack that modifies the .htaccess files and forces the users onto dodgy shopping sites and pornography, but only if viewing the website through certain browsers/devices. Its clever as it makes it so the webmaster doesn’t notice the issue, but anyone browsing on a mobile (for example) would be redirected.

We are still finishing off the disinfection ill post more about that once we’re done.

The post Happy New [Virus Free] Year! appeared first on Dijitul.com.

Free WiFI for Mansfield Notts

Mansfield town centre is to be thrust to the forefront of the technological revolution as the “next generation” of retail technology is on its way after the town managed to secure funding for one of the largest free public WiFi hotspots in all of the UK.

A £37,000 cash pot raised through numerous outlets will not only see wide ranging free WiFi, but also interactive advertising displays, card payment facilities on market stalls and high tech “virtual mirrors” around clothing shops which will use state of the art technology to allow shoppers to see what they look like in certain items of clothing, and even buy them when the store itself is closed!

Local business owners and councillors alike are hoping that these exciting new installations will increase tourism and the number of shoppers coming to the area, and it looks like they could well provide a fantastic economic boost to any businesses who are ready and prepared for all of the benefits a WiFi connected shopping area can bring.

With free public WiFi available, more and more shoppers are going to be searching, status updating and tweeting on their journeys around the town centre, so if you don’t have a website and a presence on the right social media platforms, then you could be missing out big time!

Imagine being able to tweet out special offers to customers who could be walking just yards from your shop, or coming up top of Google when someone walking around the town is searching for a shop that sells the exact product you specialise in, if you’re switched on and ready, then your Mansfield based business could benefit hugely from a wireless town centre.

So, business owners of Mansfield and even further afield, ensure that your business is ready and waiting to take full advantage of a more high tech high street in the very near future! For more information regarding taking your business online or making the most of your online marketing campaign, then be sure to get in touch with the Dijitul.com Web Development & SEO teams today on 01623 650333.

The post Wifi Technology Coming To Mansfield Town Centre appeared first on Dijitul.com.

One of the common reasons malicious third parties may hack a website is so that they can use it as leverage to alter search engine results in their favour, which is often done through injecting links. This is more often than not done through the hackers taking control of your website, and putting hidden links to their websites, so that the web master may not see anything different about their website, but when a search engine comes along to crawl your site, they will pick up on these links, which could then work to the hackers websites advantage, and your websites detriment!

Another often seen reason behind hacking is for, instead of directing links to their website, the hackers will simply redirect the traffic of your website to their own, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this will not only lose you traffic, and potentially sales, but it will also make users suspicious of ever returning to your site again, and we certainly don’t want that!

Luckily though there are ways of recovering your website from potential hacker damage, and a lot of that comes down to the search engine Google. If your website is registered with their web master tools service, if they come across something untoward on your website, they will flag this up with you, giving you an alert that your website has been compromised, so that you know action needs taking straight away.

The two best and most simple ways to cure the problems noted above are, for the former, using the “Fetch as Google” tool which will show you exactly how Google see’s your website, so that you can remove any secretive hidden links. The latter, redirecting users issue may take a little bit more technical work as it may include work modifying server files or scanning through the code of your website, but once the malicious files or code have been removed, your site will be clean once more. Once this is done you can simply send a “Reconsideration Request” to Google, who will scan your website, and if it is clean, they will stop marking it as compromised and go back to viewing you as a nice, healthy contribution to the world wide web!

Here at Dijitul we understand how worrying a hacking incident on your website can be, but we also recognise that some people may not feel confident in trying to remove malicious content from their website, which is why we are always striving to help those effected.

Therefore, if you have worries that your website may have been compromised, or you wish to find out more about hacking and protecting your website from any future incidents, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Dijitul.com Web Development team today on 01623 650333, or find out more from the official Google post on hacking.

The post How To Recover Your Website From Hackers appeared first on Dijitul.com.

Well to put things at their simplest possible level, its looking like “more of the same” in terms of, more development and more focus on IT as the economy becomes more and more reliant on the computer and the world wide web to drive it forward through what has been a tough few years, but whilst the high street continues to falter and stumble, expect more and more businesses to turn to IT to try and grow themselves, whether it be through eCommerce, or simply turning to IT systems to improve efficiency, any business that still focuses on high street trading and hand written documents are putting themselves at a serious disadvantage!

Not only will 2013 see more and more businesses turning to IT, but also those who are already, or have for a few years had some form of online presence, taking it to the next level, for example, via the wonders of social media and cloud computing. Firstly, the social media side of things, which has been growing for years now, continues to expand at a phenomenal rate, Facebook and Twitter alone are massive marketing tools these days, and its becoming a more and more rare sight when you find a company website which does not have links to some sort of social media profile that the business owns, as they try and stay more switched on and more connected to customers than ever before.

Cloud computing on the other hand is one of those buzz words that you will have probably been hearing a lot about recently, but not really had much hands on experience with, however you should expect that to change in 2013 as workplaces try to optimise and streamline the IT side of their business, which is where the cloud comes in. Put simply, cloud computing is using IT related services, delivered over a large network and saved “online” on a remote server, basically meaning that you can access your work from a wide array of devices, and easily share it with others in your department or other workplaces, rather than having different resources and documents spread across several, individual, traditional “desktops” – therefore making it available to all and making the process much more simple.

Now, think what you will of the above points, I’m sure some of you will have strong feelings about how much you feel they may or may not apply to your business, but my final point underlines the importance of all of the above, and that is that in 2013, customers – or potential customers – will be expecting much more of your IT services. The general public, your potential customers, are much more switched on than ever before, a company with an online presence is a minimum these days, even if you’ve spent years trading from the high street, if you don’t have a good quality website, with an active social media presence, then you’re going to lose valuable ground to competitors, and in turn, end up losing money, which no one can afford to do in the current economic climate!

So, think to yourself, is your company ready for the IT evolutions set to take place in 2013? Do you have a good quality website design? Is your online marketing campaign suitable and strong enough, and do you have the right quality IT support to ensure that you don’t suffer the technical problems that can ultimately lose you valuable customers?

For more information regarding the IT world in 2013, and how you can prepare your company for the present and future, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the friendly Dijitul.com team today on 01623 650333 and see how we can help you on your way.

The post The IT World – What To Expect in 2013 appeared first on Dijitul.com.

So what’s this mythical element of your website than you need to have to convert all those visitors to customers?

The “Call To Action”

This one element on your site, if used correctly can make or break website and take it from online poster of what you do to a vital weapon in your marketing arsenal.

Calls To Action can be many things. From a simply link to a about page on your website, to a contact form, to link to signing up for a free trial or newsletter. They can be anything you want your visitor to do that will turn them in to a customers.

An Example:

The Email Newsletter Service MailChimp is a great example of how to use Calls to Action properly. For those of you who don’t know about MailChimp, it’s a online service for running mailing lists and email newsletters; very cool and it’s got a Chimp as part of the website what’s not to like.

The aim of the homepage is to get people to sign up for a free account from where customer can then move to a premium account. There’s a lot of information on the homepage but most importantly, around that content, 2 Call to Action buttons which in the case of MailChimp is for signing up for a free trail.

So they have 2 really well placed Calls to Action. One above the fold (the imaginary line on a website caused by the computer’s browser cuts off the webpage to fit it on screen) and the other after they’ve peaked the users interest with all the features, benefits and social proof of their product.

Many of you are probably now saying..

Well we have a “Call To Action” on our homepage but we still don’t convert users to customers!

Well ok but where is this infamous Call to Action? Is it placed somewhere the user of your site will logically go to? Or is it placed off away from all the relevant content?

Visitors to your website will view your homepage in a logical way just as they would reading any other media material. If you’ve put your Call to Action right up there under your logo above all your features and benefits you’ll never convert because its not logical for any customer to go back up the page to sign up, find out more or contact you.

As they say in the West End and Broadway “give them the old Razzle Dazzle“. Sell them the idea of your product or service first then follow the next logical step and encourage them to get in touch, sign up or buy now. Don’t just randomly place a Call to Action on your site to fill space. Think about it.

Be good to your Call to Action and your Call to Action will be good to you.

The post Does your site have a Call to Action? appeared first on Dijitul.com.

This closing has come as quite a shock to many as the Comet Group has been around since 1933 and spent its 79 years providing everything from white goods to telecommunications, IT supplies and home entertainment devices to the public, but was it quite possible the ultimate technological invention, the internet, that was responsible for this long standing institutions downfall?

There was once a day when small businesses in a sector, in this instance, electronics could happily get on with their business, but then when a large industry dominating competitor decided to enter their town, they practically stood no chance and would end up shutting up shop within months, yet now we have a huge company going under and smaller, or different providers thriving, and this could fall down to the expansion of the internet.

With eCommerce such huge business nowadays, more and more people are simply going online for their shopping needs, and this is possibly a case of what has brought down Comet, people will head into their stores to get a first hand look at products, choose the one which they want, but then head home, price compare and pick the same product for cheaper from an alternative source, with the money comet would have ordinarily got going a small, or large competitor.

It is an incredible shame that so many people will lose their livelihoods with the closing of comet, but this also highlights exactly what sort of role the internet has to play in modern day businesses, Comet clearly did not get the maximum they could out of their internet marketing campaigns and therefore they will go under whilst others will continue, turning more and more of their efforts to the online world in a hope to get a bigger slice of the pie.

Any business which is not using the internet to the full extent is, at best missing out on potentially thousands of pounds, and at worst putting their business in danger of falling behind others and potentially failing altogether, but luckily here at Dijitul.com our expert team can help.

Through a mixture of top quality web design work, and organic, tried and tested SEO and online marketing methods, our experienced and friendly team can help you take your business into the 21st century and help you build a strong, impressive online presence.

For more information, or to take the first steps toward getting your business online, please get in touch with our team today either on 01623 650333 or via email on our contact page!

The post Comet Heading Into Administration, Is The Internet The Reason? appeared first on Dijitul.com.