January 2012
2 posts
7 Social Media & SEO Tactics Businesses Will Adopt...
What will happen in the year ahead? I’m no fan of making predictions, but there are some major social media tactics that we can expect to affect businesses in 2012. Some of these tactics already have been adopted by select companies, but this year we’ll see mass adoption of these tactics by businesses of all sizes. 1. Social Listening for Marketing Intelligence Last year we saw a...
7 Social Media & SEO Tactics Businesses Will Adopt...
What will happen in the year ahead? I’m no fan of making predictions, but there are some major social media tactics that we can expect to affect businesses in 2012. Some of these tactics already have been adopted by select companies, but this year we’ll see mass adoption of these tactics by businesses of all sizes. 1. Social Listening for Marketing Intelligence Last year we saw a...
October 2011
2 posts
Exhibiting at the Wycombe Business Expo 2011
Good news everyone! We will be exhibiting (as BeSeen Marketing) at the 2011 Wycombe Business Expo on Fri 28th Oct. Visit http://www.wycombebusinessexpo.com for more information. Look forward to seeing you there! Posted via email from High Wycombe Internet Marketing | Comment »
1 tag
BeSeen Marketing, Telephone Change, New Support...
Hello all! Hope everyone’s keeping well. I’m writing this just before I jump on a plane for a week’s holiday. Looking forward to it immensely! I’m back in the office on the 12th of October but my colleague Hayley will be pleased to help out with any queries or problems that arise while I am away. You can contact Hayley or any of my other colleagues on the office...
August 2011
2 posts
3 tags
How Google makes improvements to its search...
Google makes 500+ tweaks and improvements to its search engine algorithm every year. Based on scientific analysis, and real user feedback, these improvements drive Google’s search features and underlying algorithms. Enjoy the video! Posted via email from High Wycombe Internet Marketing | Comment »
8 tags
Android Mobile App Development with Phonegap &...
The importance of mobile apps and the mobile web is clearly indicated by the pervasive nature of mobiles and smartphones in today’s world. When developing websites or apps for mobiles, there are two main approaches: Mobile Web Applications - effectively a website, or web application, optimised for use on mobiles Native Mobile Apps - apps that are downloaded onto your mobile device and...
June 2011
1 post
2 tags
Social Media and your Digital Footprint
Article contributed by Pauleen Craknell To quote @markshaw, “Twitter is about real people, talking about real stuff, in real time”This means we all talk about things we feel at that moment, so if we are in good spirits this shines through our stream and if we are in bad form we tend to express it too. What about when a client has irritated us, or we have had a bad day, or feeling blue and...
May 2011
2 posts
3 tags
How not to run a Business Twitter Account
Article contributed by Andrew Percival (aka. Laz) of LMT Social Media Consultancy By now most businesses with a customer facing role will have stumbled upon the idea of a having a Twitter account. It is a great way to talk to your customers and garner feedback in a friendly and casual manner. But not everyone has quite the hang of such a powerful tool for enhancing their brand. Case in point; ...
1 tag
The Top Four Annoying Social Media Personalities
Article contributed by @IamSilverFox (http://flavors.me/silverfox) Recently I read an article about social media ‘breaking points’. The author was discussing issues they had had with certain social media habits. They listed issues like excessive swearing and the use of certain derogatory terms as their ‘breaking points’ i.e. the point at which they would unfollow someone on Twitter/Facebook....
February 2011
4 posts
6 tags
Recent Work: SEO and Social Media strategy...
2011 is turning out to be an exciting year! Plenty of new work in the pipeline and new opportunities presenting themselves. I wanted to take the time out to let you know about one of the projects we’ve been working on recently though (among many others!) The Client MPW Window Cleaners is a local window cleaning company that has been established since 1984! They specialise in both...
4 tags
Social Media Marketing: Part 4 - So Why Bother...
Is Social Media a fad? Could be; it depends on your definition of the word “fad”. Was email a fad? How about the Internet as a whole? Or computers? More importantly, it is worth focussing on the fact that new products & services come along at a tremendous rate on the Internet these days. If they prove useful though, they tend to stick around. How can Social Media Work for You? ...
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Social Media Marketing: Part 3 - Twitter... Engage...
Our previous article focussed on LinkedIn and how to setup your profile. This article moves away from LinkedIn and onto Twitter. So how can you use Twitter to benefit your business? Here is a high level step by step guide to getting setup and then making use of Twitter as an on-going Internet Marketing tool. Getting Started with Twitter First of all, you need to register for an account on the...
4 tags
Social Media Marketing: Part 2 - Your LinkedIn...
In our previous article in this series on Social Media Marketing, we gave an overview of Social Media and the important part it plays in being found ahead of your competitors. We particularly looked at LinkedIn as a platform for growing a network and building a sustainable pot of contacts which can generate leads. This article aims to run through some important features of your LinkedIn profile...
January 2011
4 posts
6 tags
Social Media Marketing: Part 1 - LinkedIn & the...
Why is Search Important? It is now a well established fact that most B2B buyers use “search” to find suppliers. Before we race ahead of ourselves though, “search” does not just mean Google! Google are incredibly important when it comes to online searches, but other platforms play a key role as well. Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, or business...
4 tags
SEO Strategy: Let’s Stamp out Mindless Link...
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is NOT a brute-force technique that results in success based on quantitative results. Quality is key.Unfortunately there are too many “SEO companies” out there touting their link building services promising big numbers of links. They even claim to deliver high quality links, which sounds great. But… first rule, if it sounds too good to be true… then...
4 tags
SEO Strategy: Let’s Stamp out Mindless Link...
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is NOT a brute-force technique that results in success based on quantitative results. Quality is key.Unfortunately there are too many “SEO companies” out there touting their link building services promising big numbers of links. They even claim to deliver high quality links, which sounds great. But… first rule, if it sounds too good to be true… then...
3 tags
New Thames Valley Internet Marketing Group on...
Just wanted to share with everyone the new LinkedIn group that has been created with Internet Marketing professionals in the Thames Valley in mind. Say hello on the Thames Valley Internet Marketing Group here: http://linkd.in/InternetMarketingUK Posted via email from Web Design High Wycombe, SEO & Marketing | Comment »
December 2010
3 posts
3 tags
Local SEO Strategy & Usability: Text Telephone...
Including a local telephone number on your business website is typically a “no brainer”. Including it as text (instead of an image) means that the search engines will pick up on the number in their indexing. Now… this *may* have positive effects on your search engine rankings in local searches. Having a number with a local area code may be noticed by Google etc… as an “on-page trust...
5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. we have lift off!!
Yep that’s right folks… the day has finally come!! Almost a year in the making (ouch!), we have finally launched our brand spanking new website: www.acuras.co.uk We feel it is a real step in the right direction for Acuras and will push us forward in 2011. We have distilled our main offerings down into a more concise (and hopefully clearer) list of services: Website Design &...
2 tags
Multi-language Drupal Website Builds
Over the last couple of months we have been working on a large multi-language Drupal CMS website build with a partner internet marketing company for their client. Drupal is an open source Content Management System (CMS) which is ideal for building flexible and robust websites. From the Drupal website: Drupal is free, flexible, robust and constantly being improved by hundreds of thousands of...
November 2010
7 posts
2 tags
Getting your feet wet with Social Media
Making the business case for Social Media is an important discussion to be had, but we will leave the details of that to another post! Assuming you are on board with the Social Media business concept, how do you get your feet wet? Well, a good starting point is to get your accounts set up across the main social networking and social media sites. You definitely need to think carefully about your...
4 tags
Social Media Strategy: Introduction to Measuring...
An important part of any marketing campaign is measuring the results, also known as “Return On Investment” (ROI). The same is true of Social Media. Depending on who you are or who you represent, Social Media can work for you in different ways.However you use Social Media, it is wise to plan ahead so that you can gauge the ROI. Let’s take the example of using Social Media to increase ...
2 tags
Facebook to launch new "Fmail" email service
Developed under the code-name Project Titan, the introduction of “Fmail” looks likely to intensify Facebook’s war with Google. Facebook’s email service could become a major email player, because it has more than 500 million active users. Not a bad starting point! More information available here:...
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Social Media: Different Applications in Business
Here’s a brain dump of a few ways that Social Media can be applied in business (large and small): Managing customer relations, dealing with complaints and ensuring customer satisfaction - more applicable to the larger companies with a large customer base Strengthening brand loyalty, making special offers available to users who engage with the company through social media Increasing...
2 tags
New Google Adsense Interface has arrived...
It’s come to our attention that Google Adsense have launched their new interface. Currently it’s still in beta. More information can be found here: https://www.google.com/adsense/www/en_US/adsense3/ Feel free to give us a shout if you’d like to learn more about Google Adsense… or anything else web related for that matter. We won’t bite! Posted via email ...
Radio Station Website Launch: Time 106.6 Radio
We are happy to announce the launch of the new radio station website for Time 106.6 Radio which Acuras built from the ground up using the same website design used by a sister radio station of Time 106.6. Features of the website include: Multi-level CMS for full content management for the site Twitter integration (so that news items and updates can be posted to Twitter) XML integration with...
4 tags
Social Media: Making Twitter URLs trackable in...
Many Twitter users make use of desktop & mobile apps so if they visit a link from within an app, this will count as a “direct” visit in the analytics software being used, which isn’t very helpful!That’s why we need to generate “trackable” URLs. To do so, you can use the URL Builder tool available from Google: http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55578...
October 2010
7 posts
6 tags
Close Encounters of the... Lackadaisical Kind
You’ll have to excuse me, I’ve become hooked on random Blog post titles! “Lackadaisical” is a marvellous work don’t ya think? Something deliciously whimsical about it. Anywho, I digress. Looking at the definition of “Lackadaisical”, it means “Lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy.” Sounds like me in the morning! But seriously, not a great quality to have in people who you...
5 tags
Recently Bookmarked Links: Social Media, Facebook...
What we’ve been bookmarking over the last few weeks… Enjoy! How to avoid killing your clients « Web Hosting Blog | Heart Internet Official Blog Leveraging Social Media to the Max! Do Something Awful, then Fix it! Silicon Valley Lacks Vision? Facebook Begs to Differ | Epicenter | Wired.com 3 Ways to Leverage Social Interactions in Your SEO Campaigns Facebook Gets Hip to Data...
5 tags
Magento E-Commerce? All sounds a bit... Pink?
Excuse the random title of this blog post. I asked the Mrs what came to her mind when hearing the word “Magento” and she said “Pink!”. Nothing like a bit of random word association! For us in the web dev industry though, most of us know Magento as being an open-source e-commerce platform (and a bit of a beast!). It has plenty of great features though, and allows us developers to build great...
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Magento E-Commerce? All sounds a bit... Pink?
Excuse the random title of this blog post. I asked the Mrs what came to her mind when hearing the word “Magento” and she said “Pink!”. Nothing like a bit of random word association! For us in the web dev industry though, most of us know Magento as being an open-source e-commerce platform (and a bit of a beast!). It has plenty of great features though, and allows us developers to build great...
5 tags
Blog Template Customisation for (non) Geeks
We like Blogging. We particularly like Blogging with Posterous. “What’s Posterous?!” I hear you ask… In a nutshell, Posterous is a free blogging platform. Posterous is great for hassle free, instant blogging. If you’ve got a Posterous blog, I’m guessing you probably like it as much as we do! If not, try it out and see what you think. Having a blog up and running in a flash is all well...
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Leveraging Social Media to the Max! Do Something...
The recent fun and games we’ve seen surrounding the Gap logo has brought some interesting Social Media concepts into the limelight. When Gap launched their new (awful) logo, it started a tidal wave of feedback (typically abuse) across the social networks. Within a week or two, the old logo was re-instated, and Gap were back where they started, right? Wrong! It’s pretty clear that this...
New Website Launch - Yeo & Co Copywriting Services
We are pleased to announce the launch of the new website for Yeo & Co Copywriting Services at www.yeoco.co.uk. This website was a joint effort between local graphic designer Sue Giles who developed the visual designs for the site, and Acuras who built the site from Sue’s designs. On a related note, if you are a graphic designer or illustrator and would like to work with a team of...
September 2010
6 posts
The Importance of Local Business in your Online...
The Importance of Local Business in your Online Marketing Strategy… We think keeping business local is important. It can lead to a stronger local economy, allowing small businesses to thrive and grow. It can also be good for the environment, reducing pollution & travel costs. As you likely already know, we’re an online marketing company based in High Wycombe and we’ve always...
5 tags
SEO Strategy - Quick Wins vs. Diminishing Returns
Quick wins vs. diminishing returns… At the start of an SEO strategy, there are often a lot of “easy targets” that can be knocked down to give noticeably effective results just after a few weeks. These would be classed as “Quick Wins”. For example, if the client’s website hasn’t even been indexed by the Search Engines yet, it is a fairly straightforward task for an SEO consultant to make...
Google Instant Search - What's all the fuss about?
«…» Well there has certainly been a lot of buzz about the brand new Google Instant Search which was launched this week. Just check out Twitter for people tweeting about Google Instant Search: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23googleinstant So what’s all the fuss about? Well, it’s always interesting to see what Google comes up with next as they are such a huge and...
Contact us on our local Landline number 01494 259...
Just wanted to take the opportunity to remind you that we can be contacted on our local Landline number 01494 259 141 as well as our 0871 288 7565 number. Keep in touch! Posted via email from Web Design High Wycombe, SEO & Marketing | Comment »
New logo now live on our website
Well we’ve finally decided to let our new logo squeeze onto our website www.acuras.co.uk. Our new look logo had already made an appearance across our social media accounts and our Blog (http://blog.acuras.co.uk) but we have finally put it onto our website. As you may know, our website will be re-launched soon with a complete new look as well as up-to-date content & cases studies, so...
Outsource your XHTML/CSS website template coding
Here at Acuras, we pride ourselves on our high quality HTML/CSS coding work. If you run a web or graphic design company, we’d like to offer you the chance of experiencing our high quality coding services – no more worrying about the technical issues involved with building a reliable, scalable, standards compliant website. Here’s why our current clients are fully satisfied with our...
August 2010
1 post
Client Spotlight: Local Commercial and Residential...
We’re happy to announce that we are assisting ABK Decorations Ltd with their website search engine optimisation and maintenance. ABK Decorations Ltd are one of the largest and most respected decorating and painting contractors, serving High Wycombe, Slough, Oxford and the surrounding areas of Buckinghamshire & Berkshire with painter and decorator services. They are also well-known throughout...
July 2010
9 posts
We're Moving Offices
Hello all! Just a note to say that we’re moving offices at the end of July. We’ll be keeping the same registered company address (courtesy of our lovely landlord) but we’ll be moving into new offices to beaver away in! The new address is: Acuras Ltd 131 Lane End Road High Wycombe Buckinghamshire HP12 4HF Bye for now… Posted via email from Web Design High Wycombe, SEO &...
Social Media - How to get a custom Facebook URL?
As we’ve mentioned before, we like to share bits of info we’ve found out in our web travels! You may have wondered.. like we did.. how do I get a custom Facebook URL? Like http://www.facebook.com/acurasltd for example! The answer is simple. Just visit http://www.facebook.com/username/ while logged in to Facebook and you can set it here. Be careful though, as you can’t change it once...
W3C Standards Compliant Coding - Why Bother...
The W3C site itself provides a nice run-down of why Standards Compliant Coding is beneficial: http://validator.w3.org/docs/why.html I’ve endeavoured to distil the main reasons below for easy reading: 1. Standards compliant coding makes bug fixing easier. If you know the code validates, you’ve made life a lot easier for yourself (as a developer) 2. An easy “future-proof...
Social Media - Our new video advert for web...
Check out our new video advert for our web design, hosting and SEO services for Yell.com See it here: We’d also like to take this opportunity to remind you of our Facebook and Twitter pages in case you’d like to connect with us! Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/acurasltd Twitter: http://twitter.com/acuras_web Look forward to speaking with you! Posted via email from Web...
SlideShowPro not compatible with Heart Internet...
We like to share our experiences for the good of the community and hopefully this post will help someone out in the future… and save some stress while we’re at it. Our problem was this.. a new web hosting client wanted to move their SlideShowPro site over to our hosting platform. We use Heart Internet, (among others) to host some of our clients’ sites so we thought we’d do the same for this new...
SEO Basics - the Importance of Meta Tags
Meta tags are an important part of HTML documents which inform both search engines and visitors about the topic of the page being visited. The two most important Meta tags are the <title> tag and the description meta tag. The Title tag Your website will benefit most from having unique titles for each page. The <title> tag must be placed within the <head> of the document....
Magento E-commerce Server Move - shared hosting...
Magento - shared hosting often not good enough! Last weekend we had to move a client’s Magento e-commerce shop from a shared hosting package to a better VPS hosting solution as the shared server simply wasn’t coping. Often there would be “Internal Server Error” messages when trying to login to the Magento admin area and the server was struggling to perform acceptably. This is made even...
Free Search Engine Rankings Reports - Special...
We are offering all readers of our Web Design Blog a free Search Engine Rankings Report. Just give us up to 20 keywords or keyphrases and the URL of your current website and we’ll run a Search Engine Rankings Report for you absolutely free. Our report is an automated report which connects to the top search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo) and checks the current SERPs (Search Engine Results...
Our Recently Bookmarked Links (June 2010)
Some of our recent bookmarks on SEO, Google, Email and more… Misconceptions About Search Engine Optimization Client Spotlight: Manchester Based Fish and Chips Shop What’s needed for a successful SEO / SEM campaign? - Web Design High Wycombe, SEO & Marketing SEO Tips | How Abbreviations Affect SEO and SEO Tips On How To Optimise Towards Abbreviations Official Google Webmaster Central...