Creating YOUR Effective Online Presence is an ongoing incremental process incorporating some or even all of the considerations we address in this article.

Each relevant issue that you address will have a cumulative influence on your business results, consolidating those all-important foundations on which you can confidently build layer upon layer consistently reaching further towards your business goals.

Where you decide to START establishing or enhancing your online presence depends entirely on YOUR business needs; your business growth planning; and your budgets – in a small business effective use of time is often as crucial as the amount of money available to invest.

But THE MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is to TAKE SOME ACTION NOW – you CAN eat a whole elephant one bite at a time, no matter which part you start with!!!

Internet Real Estate – Owning vs Renting – Who has Ultimate Control?

“Going On Line” is nothing new for small businesses. Many of you reading this are probably already active on Social Media and very possibly generating awareness and leads with a good degree of success. But how many of you have considered the following?:

Imagine you decide to rent your home from a private landlord. You find somewhere absolutely fantastic – good parking; all mod cons; lovely garden for BBQs; close to the very best schools – your very own Shangri-La. You like the place so much that (with your landlord’s permission) you start to spend good money on improvements like decking in the garden; a shed for your man-cave (or woman-cave); expensive shrubs and plants to enhance your home. Your rented property becomes a real home. Your life revolves around it.

BUT, because you have rented on a rolling shorthold tenancy, you only have security within the terms of that tenancy. So long as you pay the rent on time and look after the property your landlord cannot evict you during the term of the tenancy. But he CAN easily refuse to continue with the arrangement without having to give a reason – leaving you out of pocket; having to find a new home; and facing the loss of all you have invested in the property.

There is an almost exact parallel here with most Social Media Platforms. Because THEY own the sites THEY set the rules and THEY ALONE decide whether to allow you to stay on the platform or not.

There are some current absolute horror stories about businesses who have been on Facebook for years, spending thousands, even millions on advertising, but who have had their accounts completely shut down without notice – often on the whim of an Artificial Intelligence bot which has found content which it believes contravenes the ever-changing Terms of Service which all “tenants” are required to follow exactly and blindly!

Not only do affected businesses lose the ability to trade – they also lose all contact with their customer base since that data is typically controlled by the platform and the account holder has no direct access to it.

Now those risks do NOT mean that you should take Social Media out of your marketing mix. Far from it – the abilities to reach wide audiences; to target appropriate segments of those audiences; and to publish content on platforms that billions of people use every day are pretty well essential.

BIAS can advise on how best to utilise the power of Social Media whilst at the same time not putting all your eggs in the one basket. So when the unimaginable happens to YOU – you have a backup Plan B!

The Business Significance of Data Control

Imagine trying to contact some or all of your customers when you don’t actually know who or where they are? Strange as it may seem, that scenario is not uncommon when you use only Social Media to run your customer interactions.

For instance, you could say to Facebook – “I want to sell my product. I don’t have a website so I’d like to sell it through your platform.”

Facebook comes back with something like “OK. Tell me a bit about the demographics of the ideal customer for your product.”

YOU: “Well, it’s a bee-keeping widget, so they would have to be interested in bee-keeping. It’s good value but expensive so they’ll need sufficient disposable income. I don’t want to get involved in exporting, what with the post-Brexit situation, so they’ll need to be resident in UK. And its unlikely that anyone under 30 would be interested”.

FB: “Fantastic. Create an ad; submit it to us for approval, and if approved we’ll start showing it to people who fit your criteria. Oh, by the way, if your ad contravenes our everchanging and ever lengthening list of Terms and Conditions we may suspend or close your account instead.”

YOU: “Can’t you just give me the details of good prospects so I can contact them myself?”

FB: “Oh NO!!! That is not how it works at all. WE have gathered all the data. WE control it. Our business is using that data to sell you a service bringing your product to the attention of our data subjects but we will not give or sell you the data itself, even in jurisdictions where the law may permit it!!”

I’m sure you can see where this going. In order for you to take control of your customers’ data in order to grow your business, you NEED your OWN methods of collecting and storing it – and the best way (almost the only way in the digital world) to do this is get yourself your very own piece of Internet Real Estate – an asset which YOU own and control – in other words, your own Domain and Website.

Having your own website gives you somewhere to send your anonymous visitors generated through your Social Media campaigns. Somewhere you can look after them, gather their relevant data for yourself, and put yourself in control of the data they give you (subject of course to the relevant legislation)!

Make them YOUR customers, not just someone that FB has sent.

BIAS can advise and/or help set up and manage social media accounts and advertising. We can also create new websites; update existing websites; provide essential website maintenance – and effectively Project Manage all such activities to ensure nothing gets overlooked. Additionally we provide our own top notch hosting facilities – both shared hosting and VPS (Virtual Private Servers) with full management if required.

What Is a Website and Why Do I Need One?

At it’s most basic, a website is simply a location on the web (hopefully containing meaningful content!) which can be accessed in a browser by navigating to it’s unique address called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). So a single web page is also a web site.

More typically we regard a website as being a collection of different pages characterised by having the same domain name.

So mydomain.tld/page1 and mydomain.tld/page2 are 2 web pages within the same website. Or they are separate websites. And mydomain.tld entered into your browser address bar will typically take you to mydomain.tld/home. Which is another separate website. Or part of the mydomain.tld website. Confused? Don’t worry!!! It will all come out in the wash!!

At the end of the day, the MAIN thing about YOUR website is that it is YOURS. Provided that you remain within the law, all information on your website, and all data collected by your website, either belongs to YOU or is under YOUR control.

Even if you are unfortunate enough to contravene the Terms of Service of your HOST (the entity owning the server(s) holding your website information) under most circumstances – providing no LAWS have been broken – they cannot prevent you accessing your data, even if only to download it to your own computer.

Data Privacy Issues

Practically, and specifically in the UK, it is virtually impossible to get away with a one page business website. Data Protection law mandates that if you are collecting any personally identifiable data (PID), you MUST have a Privacy Policy. Since the cookies that your website HAS to set in order for it to function are regarded as PID, it follows that ALL websites in the UK MUST HAVE a Privacy Policy – so minimum 2 pages straight away – unless your Privacy Policy is your ONLY page!!! But that will not generate you very much business on its own, will it?!!

Also from a practical perspective, if you ARE relying on Social Media for your leads, you will need to capture those leads somewhere. Your website is the obvious choice but, due to Data Protection Laws, Social Media platforms will not approve ads linking to a site that does not have a Privacy Policy.

Basic, Simple, Low Maintenance Websites

That does not mean you need a complicated site. If all you want is what is termed a “Brochure Site” – an online equivalent of the sort of leaflet you would pay to have stuffed through people’s letterboxes – then BIAS suggests that a simple 6 page site will suffice –

BIAS has a range of templates that allow you to simply “fill in the blanks” if you are just dipping your toe in the water. Ranging up to a full service website creation; content creation; and ongoing upkeep and maintenance service if that suits you better. And anywhere in between!! See that “Bespoke” element in our business name? Bespoke by Name, Bespoke by Nature. You ONLY have to ask!!

YOUR website is the HUB of your Digital Marketing activities. It is where all the other threads are woven together. You do not have to promote it if you don’t need to!

If Social Media is where you are finding your leads – fantastic! But you WILL then NEED your website to collate, co-ordinate and control those leads. And with your investment starting as low as less than £4 per month (+ VAT) with BIAS we think it’s got to be a no-brainer!!!

What is a Domain and Why Do I Need One?

Domain names are globally unique and so can be an important part of your overall branding. If we continue the Real Estate analogy used earlier in this article, then if your website is your home, your domain is the freehold land your home is built on.

It is perfectly possible and not unusual to use someone else’s domain to build your website on (usually on a subdomain of the main domain) – but again we come back to who has ultimate control, and what are the risks of having your feet kicked from under you?

Which do YOU think is more credible? Is it –	joebloggscarpets.btinternet.com
OR does this look more professional? –	joebloggscarpets.co.uk

BIAS offers Domain Name registration starting at under £6 (+VAT) per year so it becomes another business no-brainer to secure your own domain – NOW!!

Branding, Credibility and Security of Tenure

So having your own Domain Name is shown to be significantly important in maintaining your Brand’s integrity and allowing it to stand on its own two feet; improving your credibility with prospects and customers by removing the need to “piggyback” on a larger brand name; and providing security of tenure by putting YOU in control of how, what, where and why you operate your business.

Immediate Benefits – Professional Branded Email

Did you know that even if you are not yet ready to build your website itself you can still use your new domain immediately for your emails?

With BIAS you get 2 email accounts hosted absolutely free of charge when you purchase a domain. When you go on to add hosting for your website, most BIAS business hosting packages come with an unlimited number of email accounts included!

Which of the following appears most professional? Which says more about the standing and integrity of your business? Which fits better with YOUR branding?

Is

joebloggscarpets@btinternet.com

giving the right impression of your business?

OR do these

joebloggs@joebloggscarpets.co.uk
sales@joebloggscarpets.co.uk
support@joebloggscarpets.co.uk

have a better “ring” to them?
Do they give YOUR business substantially more gravitas?
Does removing reference to another brand enhance the first impression of your own brand?

Business Website Legal Requirements

Over the years many businesses have created their own websites, or had websites built for them which were absolutely fine from a legal point of view back in the day – but which have never been updated to reflect the increasing legislation that has been introduced as the Internet and Online Business have flourished and dominated.

Data Protection Law and GDPR

One major area in which this could potentially cause major interruption to business is that of Data Privacy. The ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) has draconian powers to protect PID (Personally Identifiable Data) under Data Protection Law including GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations -EU).

It is important to recognise that although we in the UK have now left the EU, the provisions of the GDPR continue to be enshrined within British Law – it will NOT be going away!! Under this legislation, breaches are liable to the imposition of fines of up to 4% of global turnover – and many of the larger Internet players including Google and Facebook have already been stung for MILLIONS.

There is a school of thought that the ICO is too busy to bother with smaller players – we would strongly caution against falling into that trap!

Firstly, those millions in fines on large corporations can be used to increase the ICO resources enabling wider monitoring of smaller businesses.

Secondly, as ICO resources increase the requirement to perform is likely to tempt some of their personnel to go after quick results – to look for the low-hanging fruit – and small business websites with no Privacy Policy or Cookie Control could well become easy pickings!

A further practical reason to have a Privacy Policy raises it’s head when you want to start advertising online. All the social media and advertising platforms are extremely anxious to stay safe from Data Privacy related prosecutions so they insist that all websites receiving traffic from adverts MUST have an appropriate Privacy Policy in place before the advert can be approved and run.

BIAS makes it simple to put protection against such transgressions onto your website. We have a range of solutions available, including low-cost or no-cost Do-It-Yourself methods that you can use to create and publish your own Privacy Policy. A wide range of Cookie Control plugins are available for WordPress websites and BIAS can advise you the best one to install for yourself; incorporate an appropriate one for you in your new or updated website project; and optionally keep your Privacy Policy and Cookie Control up to date through one of our Website Care and Maintenance plans. Please read our Disclaimer below.

Website and Business Terms and Conditions

Whilst Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) are not necessarily a legal requirement, it makes sound business sense to attach appropriate documents to your site in addition to your Privacy Policy.

Website T&Cs set out how you expect visitors to behave, and how they are allowed to use your website. Remember that making your site available on the World Wide Web can be a two-edged sword. Basically your site can be interacted with by ANYBODY unless you have previously blocked their IP Address with security software.

So T&Cs are a sensible precaution in the event that a malefactor uses your site to post inappropriate, obscene or illegal content; or uses your site to distribute malware; or hacks your site and presents themselves to the world as YOU!!

PLEASE NOTE – having Website T&Cs will not of itself prevent such attacks, but they will give you a legal basis for pursuing action against culprits when (and if!) caught and will support your legal liability position in the event that the authorities or your host opt to disconnect your offending site from the Internet.

It also makes sound business sense to ensure that your prospects and customers have easy access to your relevant terms of business. If you are transacting through your website it is simple to provide appropriate links – including if desired the requirement for a customer to acknowledge and confirm that they have read and do agree with your terms at the point of placing an order.

BIAS makes it simple to put a wide range of T&C pages onto your website including low-cost or no-cost Do-It-Yourself methods that you can use to create and publish your own. BIAS can advise you the best one to install for yourself; incorporate an appropriate one in your new or updated website project; and optionally keep your various T&C pages up to date through one of our Website Care and Maintenance plans. Please read our Disclaimer below.

Web Hosting

Operating effective web hosting requires high speed, high bandwidth Internet connection and onerous server resources usually far beyond the budgets and abilities of most small businesses.

The idea is that an appropriately resourced Web Hosting business allows you to create YOUR website on THEIR server(s), thus making it available to visitors 24 hours a day (hopefully) via appropriate connection to the Internet. You normally have access to your site through FTP (File Transfer Protocols) or (as in the case of our preferred solution – WordPress) through a user-friendly “back-end”. This allows you to edit and update your site and content using your own Internet connection, with the live content then made available to your users using the host’s high capacity connections.

This arrangement allows the high costs of the hosting provider’s equipment and connections to be shared between all website owners using the service.

There are generally 4 distinct levels of website serving – 3 of them provided by Hosting Businesses and the 4th being the “in-house” option. We have graded the significance of various features (in our opinion) as follows:

Shared Hosting

As the name implies, shared hosting is where several different websites, probably with several different owners, share the resources of a single server. This is usually perfectly adequate for the small business starting out, but there can be issues arising as time goes on – and these can be far worse with some Hosting Service Providers than others.

BIAS provides shared web hosting through a reseller account with the UK based provider which, in our opinion and after more than 12 years of “shopping around” is hands down the best available and most suitable for small businesses – and not just in the UK.

With true auto-scaling technology; 100% SSD storage; over 70 one-click installation website software packages; a choice of Linux, Windows and Managed WordPress platforms; FREE SSL certificate for EVERY site; FREE in-house CDN (Content Delivery Network) ensuring truly global reach; unblemished reliability and some of the fastest loading speeds anywhere – you will not be surprised to read that we highly recommend the unbeatable combination of the 20i hosting platform and BIAS Bespoke Packaging and Pricing as THE BEST VALUE around!!

VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting

The logical step up from shared hosting is to have your OWN server, with its own resources (storage; RAM memory; processor(s) etc) and it’s own unique IP Address. In general terms, with your own server you can run any software you desire; you can have storage and processing capacity matched to your site’s requirements; and you remove the risk of having your internet reputation sullied by others’ activities!!

For many reasons not least Cost; Space and Human Resources it makes most sense for small businesses to go for the VPS option over either dedicated server option – the following points highlight many of the main considerations.

BIAS provides both Managed and Unmanaged VPS options using the highly reliable 20i platform which has built in redundancy and offers the same or better reach; reliability; resource scaleability; speeds and Effective Online Presence as achieved in the Shared Hosting products.

Dedicated Servers

A dedicated server is a standalone server with all it’s resources available only to the specific owner/user.

Such servers can be owned by an individual business; located on their own premises; and maintained and administered by their own staff or contractors.

Or they can be rented from hosting providers, usually with a maintenance contract appended, and administered either by their own staff or by the hosting provider under a separate contract.

BIAS specialises in working with small businesses which are unlikely to be suited to owning or using a dedicated server. We believe the resource scaling options offered by our VPS packages are the ideal solution for our customer profile.

Website Projects

Here at BIAS our default position is that for the most Effective Internet Presence all businesses NEED a website. It is important to realise that we are not necessarily suggesting that your website has to become your main marketing tool, or even that you need to spend too much time optimising and advertising it with the intention of trying to attract website traffic.

In BIAS philosophy, one of the PRIMARY uses of a website is to be a wholly-owned and controlled HUB, pulling together all other aspects of your marketing activity in a central, secure, location. Even if ALL your content is posted on social media, and ALL your leads come from social media activity, you still face the issues around Ultimate Control and Privacy Laws mentioned elsewhere on this page – issues most easily resolved using a website.

Many businesses save time and increase reach by using the blog section of their website to post new content once and then syndicate that content automatically to their various social media sites – the power of an integrated and effective online presence.

So you don’t even NEED your website to generate it’s own traffic unless you want to. Simply send your social media leads to complete their actions on your site as required.

Of course, even if you start out using your website in this manner, there is nothing to prevent you adding content and using SEO to create organic website traffic at a later stage in the development of your Effective Online Presence.

Creating A New Site

BIAS uses and recommends WordPress for all small business websites due to it’s simple user back end and the massive range of flexible functionality available through the use of appropriate themes plug ins.

Powering more than 40% of the Internet and with literally millions of designers and developers creating new functionality and providing expert help, support, design and development globally WordPress is the Industry Standard and makes it super-simple for website owners to add and edit content without any technical knowledge whatsoever. Indeed, with very little technical expertise it is perfectly possible to build your own effective website without even needing to employ designers or developers!!

Here at BIAS we recognise and advise that THE MOST IMPORTANT aspect of your new website is NOT how pretty it looks; it is NOT how many bells and whistles it has – THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF YOUR NEW WEBSITE IS HOW IT ADDRESSES THE NEEDS OF YOUR BUSINESS. Everything else is window-dressing!!

For this reason, when you request BIAS to quote for creating your new website (or converting or updating an existing one) we will always firstly request your relevant answers to our Pre-Proposal Questionnaire (without obligation and free of charge) – the more information we have at this stage, the better placed we will be to create the most relevant and effective Initial Proposal for a website addressing YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS.

Initial Proposals and follow-up Walk-throughs are also FREE of charge and with no obligation.

Updating An Existing Site

Considering the popularity and long history of the WordPress platform it is highly likely that your existing site is already a WordPress site.

Typical updating requirements may include adding, removing or editing content; adding or removing functionality including editing plug-in settings; or simply bringing core files; themes and plug-ins up to date (essential to for security and to reduce opportunities for hackers) on sites which have not been regularly maintained.

BIAS offers a range of updating services dependent on your needs. To simply bring your WordPress installation up to current specifications, check out our WordPress Website Maintenance Plans.

For updates incorporating additions or changes to content and functionality send us details using our Pre-Proposal Form to get the ball rolling and discover our recommendations.

Migrating An Existing Site

When you opt to take advantage of the industry leading speed, reliability and included features of the BIAS Hosting platform (powered by 20i) we will migrate your existing website to our servers free of charge as part of the service.

Converting An Existing Site to WordPress

The most common reasons for converting an existing website to a WordPress site are

1. To make use of the increased functionality available through specific WordPress core features and plugins
2. To improve accessibility for the website owner to add and edit their own content
3. To take advantage of the native blogging features of WordPress

Due to the complexity of some conversions and the desirability of access to tools unique to our hosting platform, BIAS will need to carry out conversions on our own platform – but if you wish to have your completed converted site hosted on your existing provider’s platform then we will include the migrations in and out within the project specification.

Once again, to allow us to produce an Initial Proposal free of charge and with no obligation please use the Pre-Proposal Questionnaire to specify your requirements.

Website Maintenance

Once your all-singing, all-dancing website is live that is only the start!! As with all fixed assets there is a continuing need for regular checks and repairs in order to keep the asset in the best condition to perform it’s various functions.

Your cars need servicing. Your buildings need renovations; decorations and electrical safety checks.

Your website needs (dependent on exact configuration) could include:

• Typical Daily Tasks
  • Uptime Monitoring
  • Security Monitoring
  • Website and Database Backups
• Typical Weekly Tasks
  • Plugin/Theme Updates
  • Malware Scans
  • Visual Inspection
• Typical Monthly Tasks
  • Monitor Traffic and Search Engine Rankings
  • Clean Database
  • Test Loading Time
  • Search for Broken Links
  • Check for Search Console Errors/Issues
• Typical Annual Tasks
  • Review WordPress Setup
  • Review Content for Updates
  • Renew Hosting and Domain Name Registration

Skills Areas which need addressing and possibly delegating include:

• Software Updates
• Server Maintenance
• Security
• Offsite Backups
• Technical Support
• Billing/Payables

Troubleshooting Events which commonly arise include:

• My software or plugins won’t update
• An element on my website just isn’t working like it used to
• My email is not sending and/or receiving
• My email is going to “Spam”
• I’m getting emails (or calls) telling me there is a problem with my website
• My website is not loading
• My website is loading very slowly
• My website has a security warning
• My website is re-directing to a different website
• Oops! I made a mistake. Can I undo my changes?

All in all, keeping your website up to scratch takes time, expertise and investment.

Time that, for most small businessmen, would be more effectively spent on core revenue generating activities.

Expertise that in and of itself takes time and desire to acquire.

Investment that made wisely will save potential future business disruption (and heartache) with the cure ending up costing far more than the prevention.

BIAS offers fully flexible bespoke Website Maintenance Packages covering any combination of the above issues (as well as many we haven’t listed here) all for an agreed, regular monthly fee. (And of course, we offer discounts for annual and multi-annual payments.)

To minimise OUR costs and to allow us to give YOU the best possible BIAS value we normally suggest that you use our in-house Managed WordPress or Linux platform for your hosting – but we can offer WordPress Maintenance Packages on other hosts if that is your choice. They will however potentially require higher investment dependent on which built in tools are available on your current platform.

You can use our Website Project Questionnaire to get your own Initial Bespoke Maintenance Proposal – FREE of charge and with no obligation.

Website and Social Media Content

Interesting, authoritative content is what truly drives visitor interaction with your website and your social media profile, pages and groups.

The design and structuring of your site including for instance easy navigation; appropriate linking both internal and external; and appropriate use of metadata are all essential in helping visitors find their way around. But if the content found does not attract and hold their interest – BOOM!!!! you have lost them – possibly for ever!

At it’s simplest your content needs to include excellent, relevant images (the human race is an inherently visually driven species); interesting and relevant textual content – both to explain the images and to satisfy the large minority of people who like or even prefer to read the written word; and – increasingly essential as more than 80% of Internet Content Consumption is now in this format – VIDEO!!

Other content shown to improve the user experience (UX) includes interactivity such as quizzes, surveys and even form filling!

And the third major area is allowing users to create their own content – making comments on blog posts for instance.

Content is SO important in determining the effectiveness and success of your website that here at BIAS we advocate and follow the CONTENT FIRST approach for ALL our Bespoke Website Projects.

This all-important content can already exist at the Project outset – or it’s production can be actively planned.
Content can be created by YOURSELVES; it can be created by BIAS for you; it can be created by 3rd parties engaged by yourselves; or it can be created by 3rd parties engaged by BIAS to work on your Project.
But wherever it is going to come from, a solid understanding of all content planned and required will form a large part of our “Deep Dive” process which follows your approval of our Initial Proposal and precedes any work going ahead on the website design and structure.

Written Content

Most written content is initially produced in draft form, before being edited in one way or another to suit it’s desired purpose. In most cases the creation of such draft content is your responsibility as the project and website owner. However, excellent and effective writing is an art and science requiring skill and experience so many website owners take the view that it may be best done by professionals, particularly when creating “cornerstone” or “pillar” content.

One popular regime is to have your important pages and articles professionally written or checked whilst using the far more informal medium of your blog section to create your own frequent, ongoing content in the form of posts about interesting issues, developments and news.

It goes without saying that all good written content should be engaging and relevant in and of itself, but often there is a deeper reason behind it’s creation, and 2 of the major reasons are (1) to edge the viewer towards taking an action – such as signing up to your email list; making a purchase; or clicking on a link; and (2) to make your content more interesting to the search engines than that of your competitors – thus increasing your organic traffic click-throughs from the Search Engine Results Pages.

Copywriting

The art of written persuasion is known as copywriting. Good copy engages the reader, using the power of the subconscious human mind to initially ATTRACT their attention; then to gain their INTEREST; followed by stimulating their DESIRE; before leading them down the path of taking ACTION – (AIDA).

Top copywriters can charge thousands of pounds per page due to the Return On Investment (ROI) they generate, and it takes time and talent to build the levels of skill that they have acquired. But if your promotional budgets don’t run to such large amounts it is not difficult to effectively enhance your own draft copy by applying the basic principles of copywriting.

BIAS can help with your copywriting in the following ways:

1. We have an ongoing policy of teaming up with other trusted professionals in order to be able to offer you complete solutions to your Project needs. If you need a copywriter and can’t find one to suit your requirements, the chances are that we can on your behalf!!
2. We also create the vast majority of our own copy in-house using the basics that we have picked up over the years, so we are more than happy to edit your drafts from a copywriting perspective; or even to create the copy for you at investment levels significantly lower than the best specialists!!
3. And last but not least we are developing our own trainings and linking to other existing training resources to enable you to do it in-house yourself if that is your preference.

Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of creating, editing and refining your site structure and content in order to get the most organic traffic out of the various popular search engines.

The typical search engine will send bots out roaming the Internet to find your site; to crawl and index your content; to assess it’s readability, relevance, and usefulness using state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI); and will then use the data gathered to rank your content against the competition.

SEO is often broadly split into two types – On Page SEO and Off Page SEO. In simple terms On Page SEO can be regarded as that which is in the control of the website content creators and content editors. On Page SEO is the most relevant to our discussions here about Content Creation.

For many years SEO was a black art, with many of the popular techniques being little more than ways of tricking the search engines into preferring your site over others. We’ve given a couple of examples under the Keywords and the Linking headings below.

Nowadays, with the increasing prevalence of AI driven search engines, the emphasis is far more on how a human reader would rate the content in terms of it’s readability; the usefulness of the information given; and it’s relevance to the search term used. This means that to an ever increasing degree, it is the Quality of your content that drives your search engine ranking. This means that even a non-SEO-savvy writer has a great chance of gaining high ranking when the perceived quality of the output is better than that of the competition.

BIAS can help with On Page optimisation of your written content by:

1. Editing your draft content to make the most of the opportunities offered by clear and eye-catching layout.
2. Incorporating keywords and search terms to enhance SERP rankings.
3. Setting internal and external links to enhance user experience and to give the search engines clear pathways to follow.
4. Arranging 3rd Party expert professionals where required for advanced SEO.
5. Providing information and training for you to follow if you prefer to do it in-house.

Keywords

Keywords remain an important factor since they are the basis for the search engines to include your page(s) in the listings generated by a user search. The trend today is towards long tail keywords -you have a better chance of ranking highly with “marketing consultant in Sheffield” than you would with just “marketing”.

In the good old, bad old days search engines typically included the number of times a Keyword appeared on a page as a major ranking factor. So SEO experts would literally fill the page with as many instances of the keyword as possible. This often made for nonsensical and unreadable copy, but hey-ho, at least your page was top of the SERPS results. Even though anyone navigating to the page from the search result would probably immediately navigate away!!

Some exponents took the idiocy even further. Rather than have hundreds of keyword instances visible and fouling up the readability, they would fill the empty space on the page with their keyword using a font colour the same as the page background. So the search engine could still see all the keyword instances but the reader couldn’t!!!

In today’s AI-driven environment context and relevance are the most important factors, and your site can actually be penalised for using irrelevant keywords, or for repeating them too often or out of context with the content.

Keyword research – discovering the keyword combinations which are most likely to work for you – can be highly complex, and usually involves much extended testing of different words or phrases to pin down the most effective ones in achieving your page goals.

As you may by now expect, BIAS has your back here with a range of services to help you in researching, evaluating and optimising the keywords for your site. As with our other website related services, we also offer BESPOKE alternatives including INFORMATION and training preparing you to go it alone if preferred; ADVICE on available 3rd party services which you may wish to consider; right through to SOLUTIONS from our own in-house resources.

Metadata

Metadata is in essence extra on-page information to tell the search engines more specifics about aspects of your site structure, and about non-textual content. For instance, a search engine crawler bot can not “see” images – not yet anyway! So metadata (which is hidden from the user) is used to give the bots a written description of an image’s content and purpose. Information given can include relevant keywords; technical details about the image; and captioning information for access-enhancing tools designed to help the partially sighted user.

Without metadata, certain site content and functionality is just an empty wasted space to the search bots and can seriously damage your rankings.

When you use BIAS to create or edit your content, appropriate metadata creation and/or checks are part of the process. When you use BIAS to proofread your content, we will include metadata checks and notify you accordingly.

Linking

Linking – short for hyperlinking – is one of the main reasons for and the foundation block of the World Wide Web. Good links enable users to easily navigate through properly structured sites, and to check out relevant information and content on other sites.

At one time the total number of links (particularly incoming links from other sites) was of itself a major ranking factor. Much as is now the case with keywords, Quality and Relevance are now the watchwords and too many spammy links to or from sites with poor quality or irrelevant content will also damage your ratings.

For effective use of linking, you must pay attention to the relevance of links, link text and anchor text; the structure of your page and of your site; the quality and reputation of external sites linked to or from; the total number of links on a page (most search engines cap the number that they will crawl in a session); and what happens if a link gets broken, as happens if the content linked to gets deleted or moved.

When you use BIAS to create or edit your content we will always optimise internal links to the same page. If we are creating or editing within the context of your entire site, then we can also optimise links to other relevant content (including on other sites if appropriate), and to maintain or enhance the integrity of the site structure information that the search engines find useful.

Creating or accepting incoming links from external sites is an important separate issue, and BIAS can advise and/or implement strategies and/or safeguards as part of our broader SEO services.

Proofreading and Editing

Before publication you should always carefully check through the final draft for spelling and grammatical errors. Even more important though, for effective website content, is that the content is effective and enjoyable for the reader, so strict grammar is not always totally necessary and colloquialisms appropriate to your intended audience are also “allowable”.

Thoughtful layout including use of headings, short paragraphs and white space are also important. Accuracy, authority and relevance are extremely important but readability is the KEY factor for success.

When you use BIAS to proofread your content we will always advise on any SEO issues (as discussed above) found – and of course can provide the full editing service as well if you prefer us to finalise your draft content before publication.

Images

Effective images attract and retain user interest, as well as often telling a complete story on one screen that could otherwise require users to scroll through several screens to read the story in text format.

BIAS strongly recommends that wherever possible you use original relevant images unique to your business when illustrating your content. However, we can also advise on suitable sources of stock imagery; or we can find stock images for you; or we can engage and liaise with a professional photographer on your behalf.

An important factor in using images to significantly enhance your effective online presence is the inclusion of relevant metadata. BIAS can help in creating metadata right through the spectrum from INFORMATION – eg. what options are available to you? – through ADVICE – eg. which of those options will give you the best ROI (Return On Investment = Bang for Your Bucks)? – to SOLUTIONS – full service including creation of image metadata and addition to your website.

Video

Images are GOOD. Video = Images + Movement = EVEN BETTER!!

The overwhelming media format avidly consumed by today’s typical Internet user is VIDEO. And the metrics show that consumption of video across all platforms and devices continues to grow daily.

So – if your business is not yet using video, you ARE LOSING POTENTIAL USERS and INTERACTIONS. In short, for an Effective Online Presence you have no real choice. You HAVE to consider video as part of your media mix.

As well as being the most effective medium for disseminating information, video is also the most innately attractive; attention grabbing; and interest retaining medium due to it’s introduction of MOVEMENT.

In your business, the use of video can cover the spectrum from short clips (such as animated logos; or intros/outros for longer video presentations) to advertising content for social media; whiteboard/explainer videos for awareness or for client orientation/training; video versions of blog posts or articles – in short, if it suits your business needs, the applications for video are ENDLESS.

There is a common misconception that video production can be expensive.

UNTRUE – it depends entirely on the content required. Obviously a full-blown video production with scripts, actors, cameramen and all the paraphernalia DOES require significant investment.

But for the more mundane requirements – the needs that EVERY business has somewhere in its wish list – the sheer volume of potential business has led to the development of simple, cost effective, online video creation solutions bringing the ability to produce video content to enhance your own effective online presence well within the budgets of any financially viable small business.

Thus, BIAS can offer incredible value on video creation services covering all the basic needs of your business looking to go online for the first time, or to enhance the effectiveness of your existing online presence.

OR, if you prefer, we can show you how to gain your own access to these services, and take on your own video production responsibilities.

BESPOKE by name, BESPOKE by nature. Whichever solution suits YOUR business needs, our mission is to help and support wherever we are able.

BIAS Ltd Legal Pages Services – Disclaimer
The BIAS Legal Pages Service is intended to provide a convenient and user friendly way of generating informational pages which you can optionally use to base your own Website Legal Documents on, thus saving drafting time and potentially reducing professional fees.
The templates for these pages have been drafted by third party legally qualified and experienced professionals but no Director nor Employee of Bespoke Information, Advice & Solutions Ltd holds any qualification in UK Law and we cannot guarantee that the pages created using our services or using plugins recommended by us are fit for your business purposes or are legally binding.
Bespoke Information, Advice & Solutions Ltd specifically advises all users of such pages to have their own legal advisers check the content of the pages before publication.
Bespoke Information, Advice & Solutions Ltd does not accept any liability in respect of issues arising out of the use of such pages without having first taken appropriate legal advice.