We have just launched a new promotional clothing ecommerce website for My Garment Factory based in Cardiff. The promotional clothing specialist provides a wide range of clothes for businesses, schools, universities, sports clubs etc. and wanted a full ecommerce website to be able to take orders online.

The My Garment Factory for Cardiff can be found here: My Garment Factory Cardiff

It has been well over 2 years since we updated our own website, so back in March we decided to get on with a new design, however we have struggled since then with our schedule to fit in completing the work, anyway now we are finally at a point where our new design can go live. We believe that the new website is more informative as well as being more attractive.

We have purposely designed our website to provide a more tailored and rewarding experience for our users, depending of course on what they are looking for. We acknowledge that no client will want to read the entire site instead they will likely be looking for a specific service relevant to their needs, so for example they might be looking for an ecommerce website designer, so they hit the ecommerce specific page which provides them with a little information followed by 5 case studies to assist in their decision process. Here's how it looks..

• Website Design -> Website Design Examples
• Website Development -> Website Development Examples
• Website Optimisation -> Website Optimisation Examples
• Ecommerce Websites -> Ecommerce Website Examples
• Content Managed Websites -> Content Managed Websites Examples
• Small Business Websites -> Small Business Websites Examples

We think the design looks great and the examples provide enough information, without going over the top, to assist potential clients with their decision to use us for their next website.

You may have also noticed that we have integrated our promotional products and promotional clothing ecommerce websites, take a look we are very proud of these sites.. Promotional Clothing

Of course being the website optimisation specialist we have optimised our own website to rank for keyword terms like websites designer, ecommerce websites, website optimisation and many many more. We obviously rank extremely well for local terms like website design cardiff or ecommerce websites Cardiff but now we need to improve our ranking on a national scale.

If you have any opinions we'd love to hear them, but please keep them constructive! Thanks for reading.

Importance of internal linking and site architecture for SEO

Meta tags are one of the first considerations in any website’s on-site SEO efforts. They are amongst the easiest on-site elements to change, and in the case of the meta-description, can influence what searchers see in search engine results. There are more meta tags than just those for the ‘keywords’ and ‘description’, and although there has been much debate over the value of such tags, skilfully written meta tags can greatly help with your website SEO efforts.

Which tags should be included in website design?

There are many types of meta tag, but those you should concern yourself with from an SEO point of view are:

Meta Content Type

This tag allows you to control how your site is rendered in a user’s browser. Failure to include this meta tag can result in an illegible page or faulty design. Web designers will normally use such a tag in the design process, but incorrect usage have a detriment effect on SEO as broken pages lead to high bounce rates.

Meta Description

The meta description tag is one of the most important, allowing you to describe your page to the search engines. More importantly however, many search engines use this description in their SERPs. This tag should therefore contain your targeted keywords and entice searchers to click onto your site; this is effectively your sales pitch.

Robots

The robots tag allows you to dictate whether a search engine follows links and indexes pages on your website. Although, this tag isn’t necessary for search engines to follow a link and index a page as they do so by default, even in the absence of a robots tag. You only need to concern yourself with this tag if you do not want a link followed or page indexed. It is also possible to use specific bot tags if you need a specific robot to perform an action.

Language

This tag can be used to dictate the primary language in which your site is written. This is rarely used in domestic settings but can be useful if you expand abroad or relocate to another country.

Source

This is a relatively new meta tag introduced by Google in a bid to identify the source of the news stories it ranks. Similar to social media where the authority of the author is considered as a ranking factor, we can expect source authority to become an important element of the search algorithm in the future.

Keywords

The keywords meta tag has long been discounted as a ranking factor mainly due to its abuse in the early days of website optimisation. This said, best practice dictates the keywords meta tag should still be included as you never know exactly which factors the search engines will deem important in the future.

Refresh

If your site is using this tag you should change it to a 301 redirect; this tag will have a negative effect on your website optimisation.

Used effectively, meta tags can reward your website with a real SEO boost. On the other hand, if you ignore the tags you can expect a negative effect on your website SEO.  A good website designer will optimise your met tags for you. Here at Designer-Websites.co.uk we can ensure your website optimisation works for, and not against, your website.

We released a garden decking website back last year and the site is doing incredibly well, we are happy to say. Having recently seen the quality of the decking once it is down I have to say how amazed I am at how good it looks! I have personally put timber decking down and it was hard work and needs staining every year, so this composite decking makes me cringe at how much time and effort we have wasted on timber decking, and continue to waste I might add!

If you are thinking about decking right now, whether it be for your garden or your roof top balcony, or even for a commercial premises I would urge you to first look at this composite decking from Timbertech, it is a little more expensive up front, but will be easy to maintain, will look better than other decking and will also be fitted easier!

Don't take my word for it - take a look at this composite decking site now.

When your website is all built and raring to go; that’s the first step. Now you’ve got to think about promoting your website so that it enjoys a fair share of the traffic in your market place.

Sooner or later, as long as your website is coded correctly, the web spiders will come crawling and shortly after, you will start appearing in the all important search results. Initially you will probably only show for very specific searches such as your company name; however, this is likely to only offer a very slight benefit to your business.

If this is the case, how do you ensure your website is noticed by people who are not already aware of your business?

1. Content... Content... Content!

You (hopefully) know a lot more about your industry than the average person. Use this position to your advantage. Be the expert. Spread the news – whatever it maybe; whether it’s interesting developments and innovations in the industry, or the launch of special offers, new products and free trials. Whatever it is, tell them about it, and put your own interesting slant or twist on the story to show exactly how it applies to your company.

You can also put up a question and answer session on your website. It may take a little bit of time to administer, but this will help you connect with your customers and again provide invaluable content to keep those web spiders well fed. You should also contribute to forums or submit articles to the numerous article directories – wherever you can share your knowledge and start to get your name and website known.

2. Write using keywords

When writing all of this content, the best way to ensure the promotion is a success is to use keywords. The content on web pages needs to be keyword rich, i.e. have the keywords in all the important locations and in the right quantity.

This is something we can advice on further if needed, though as a starting point you need to ensure that the phrases you are targeting appear in your page titles, your meta description, your main heading, subheadings and then throughout the page a number of times.

3. Build links

Think of your website in the same way as you think of businesses in the real world. Unless someone is willing to recommend a company to you then you often will not consider spending your money with them. The internet is similar, in that unless a website enjoys good link popularity then it will not be taken that seriously by the search engines. Link building is a huge topic and there are hundreds of different types of links and thousands of ways to get them, but the easy quick wins include persuading your partner businesses and suppliers to place a link from their site to yours. You should also look for general and industry-specific directories that will allow you to place a listing and a link to your site. Doing so will help the search engines find your site more often and consider it a more valuable resource.

Designer Websites is a lot more than your average website development team. We care about the success of your business so make sure that not only is your website search engine optimised, but you are aware of the best ways to build traffic and enjoy search engine success. If you want the help of a team of talented website designers who mix technical expertise with commercial know-how, then call Designer Websites on 0845 2726813 now.