Aonach
Kilmurry Business Park
Kenmare
Co Kerry
Ireland.

Tel: +353 (0)64 48771

Before you delve into the bowels of the technical detail of Search Engine Optimisation it’s important to understand the commercial rationale of the search engines and develop a strategy to compliment the search engines rather than attempt to out smart them. Google is the de facto search engine of choice and although there are many other powerful players in the market such as Yahoo! and Microsoft, I am going to focus on Google for simplicity.

The Background
Google’s mission statement is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. What does this mean? Well in broad strokes it means that Google aims to catalog all the information in the world and make it available to users (through search) in a relevant and useful way. So when you search for something in Google they are working hard in the background to ensure that the websites that they list in the search results are relevant and useful to the user.

How does Google make money?
Google makes money through advertising. When you search for something on Google they display sponsored links around the search results and they charge the advertisers if you happen to click on the advert. This generates revenues in excess of £10Bn for Google.

What has this to do with my business and Search Engine Optimisation?
Well, it’s very simple…

If you make money for Google - Google will make money for you

Just stop and think about it for a moment. If you want your site to be found and ranked in Google, instead of trying to outwit Google (just think how ludicrous this is - they have some of the brightest people on the planet working for them!!!) you should work with them. It’s a simple principle of commerce - “one hand washes the other”. What do I mean? Well, Google has a huge audience, an inspired mechanism for delivering relevant advertising, an amazing (ever changing algorithm) to rank search results - so what do they need from me? CONTENT. They need useful relevant content to help them make money from advertising.

If person A searching for Product X uses Google today and finds useful results on the topic he’s much more likely to come back tomorrow and search for Product Z (rather than going to Yahoo! or MSN) thereby creating an ongoing opportunity for Google to advertise to him.

So if your website will work with Google to create genuinely useful and relevant content to help them make money, they will in turn rank you website and send you traffic (which if you have any clue should make you money!)

What is the catch?
Well you have to compete with other businesses online and convince Google that you are an authority on your chosen subject. How do you do that? Well that is the kernel of Search Engine Optimisation. A good starting point is the Google Webmaster Guidelines This is Google’s own guide on the what to do and what not to do - you’d be amazed at the number of websites that never bother to read or follow these simple rules! Google doesn’t want you to try to manipulate the search engine results. THEY want to decide which sites should be ranked. Break their rules at your peril!

The basics?

1. Have a webstandards compliant website that the spider can index

2. Design your sites architecture to reflect the content

3. Get other websites to link to you

4. Publish relevant content regularly

5. Have a site that is designed to help the user navigate easily to the content

6. Have clear goals to ensure you maximise the effort you’ve put in to steps 1-5 and convert a portion of the traffic you receive into something useful like sales or leads.

If you need help improving your search engine ranking we can help! We help companies drive sales from their websites. If you want more from your website contact us today.

Competition! 

In my experience they have generally been sold on the idea that there is an exciting opportunity to sell through another channel to a “global” market, the problem is that nobody bothered to tell them that the flip side is that they will often have to compete with large technically savvy competitors. Competitors who are established in the marketplace and are targeting your back yard as their “global marketplace”…

So you launch your e-commerce program, you talk to some techies who seem to speak another language, you design your site and finally you launch it… What happens? Quite often very little! Why? Well, generally online selling is a percentages game. You will sell to a percentage of the people who visit your site (assuming that you have a credible product and have got the pricing and logistic right). The problem is one of scale, as the conversion rates are typically very low you need a lot of traffic to your website. Incredibly most businesses still operate on a build it and “they” will come basis.

Google is the great gatekeeper of traffic. What do I mean? Well, Google is the dominant search engine and most users will use search to help them find a credible site selling whatever it is they are looking for. Hence the issue of “FINDABILITY”. If your site is not findable in Google you are just wasting your time (unless you have huge budgets for advertising online). So you have to be findable for the search terms that people are likely to use when they go to Google. Normally it pretty easy to be findable for your name - but this is not really going to help you get new business it’s only going to help those who already know you find you again (important but not a huge revenue driver - unless you already are a huge offline brand). So, for example if your company sells widgets you will probably want to be found for:

“widgets”
“widgets & colours you sell”
“widgets & countries you ship to”
“widgets & materials you use”
“widgets & brandnames of widgets”
“things widgets are used for”
“variations of widget type”

etc etc

The first issue is how do you prioritise these search terms. Rather than just guessing we generally we use an Google AdWord Performance Trial, in association with a robust measurement tool, to establish the search terms that are going to perform for you. Once you’ve done that you will need to establish your domain as a credible source of information with Google. How do you do that? Well this is probably beyond the scope of an article of this length but in summary:

1. Design a web standards compliant website
2. Get other sites to link to your site
3. Write relevant content regularly
4. Read the Google Webmaster Guidelines

Most importantly you need to understand that a website is a business in it’s own right. It requires the resources you would allocate to any other revenue generating division. Many companies approach their website much the same way as they approach the annual brochure - somebody is dispatched to pull some marketing collateral together, some photos, hire a designer to lay it out and get a web developer to lash it out. It seems reasonable (and it is if your website serves no real commercial function in your organisation, beyond “yes we have a website” ). Developing and running a successful website is more akin to opening a branch of your business in Reykjavik! You probably don’t know the culture of the internet, the language, you will need a strategy, someone to interpret the cultural landscape, someone to find you the right property (domain & hosting), customer service reps who understand the locals etc etc - It’s not rocket science but it is business and you need to have a plan and a budget if you want to succeed.

If you need help improving your website’s findability we can help! We help companies drive sales from their websites. If you want more from your website contact us today.

One of the key factors in any business is your sales conversion rate - the proportion of leads you can convert to sales. It’s no different online, your sales conversion rate (or simply conversion rate) is fundamental to success.

Why? Well, it’s really very simple…

On the internet there is a cost associated with the generation of qualified leads:
The cost of designing, developing and maintaining your website, the cost of search engine optimization and the cost of marketing (both online and off-line). These costs when divided by the number of visitors to your site gives you the cost of acquiring a lead.

So lets assume that the cost of acquiring a visitor to you website is €1 and the margin a sale is €100 then to break even you need to have a conversion rate of 1%:

100 visitors X 1% = One Sale at €100 margin - Result Breakeven

However if you could improve your conversion rate to 1.2% then you would improve your proposition dramatically:

100 visitors X 1.2% = 1.2 Sales at €100 margin - Result €20 profit ie 20% profit
As the costs of acquiring the traffic remain the same the improved conversion rate fundamentally changes the profitability of your operation.

What are the factors that effect conversion rates in online business?
This is a complex area, however in our experience some of the key the factors that effect online sales conversion include:

1. Price (competitiveness)

2. Brand and website credibility

3. Usability
The profitability (and therefore viability) of your online business can pivot on this simple conversion rate. So it’s really important to understand the key factors that affect your conversion rate and also to understand the full costs of acquiring visitors to you website.

As with any part of your internet strategy, Metrics are key - measure, measure, measure. The are may tools to help you understand your online performance, Google Analytics is probably one of the more powerful tools available.

If you need help improving your website conversion rates we can help! We help companies drive sales from their websites. If you want more from your website contact us today.

This post is a little late as I have been snowed under, but I wanted to finish out the saga for once and for all!

I was beyond my 14 day money back guarantee, but as I posted previously, I was lucky enough to deal with someone in Three who gives a damn. It’s pretty hard to find someone like that in Three from what I can tell, but I found this person to be extemely helpful, accommodating and willing to engage.

Unfortunately, it seems to me at least, this person is not getting the kind of quality information they would need to do their job properly from the Three technical division or team, if indeed such a thing exists.

Here is the bulk of the final email i sent to Three having organised to return my modem despite being beyond my 14 day money back guarantee:

Thank you for passing on my details and organising for the return of my modem. I am going to go ahead with the return tomorrow morning.

I appreciate all your help, and I do not envy you your job at the moment. I imagine you are being bombarded with information which would not normally be within your remit, and it would seem as though Three do not have a firm grasp of the issues, which results in your being expected to dish out information you have been handed which is often contradictory and shows the lack of Technical focus in the Three organisation.

Every call to customer support and technical support results in customers being given different, and more often than not innaccurate, information and claims.

The call centres seem to be in way over their heads, and revert to repetition of formulaic scripts which mean absolutely nothing - which is extremely frustrating.

Here is a full list of the reasons I have decided to return the modem:

* Modem is still not behaving itself for all users. I, and others, experience frequent usb mounting/dismounting and ‘data modem invalid’ errors which require restarts. Proposed solutions do not work.

* Speed has certainly improved for downloading, although upload seems apped at 60kbsp - upload speeds still a major issue. The Three website doesn’t mention upload speeds anywhere, but technical support people working for Three have told me they would expect speeds of about a third of the download speed.

* Sending email is a problem - it seems the issue is that because Three use NAT, the result is that single public IP address is blacklisted. To get around this Three would have to have a working SMTP server in place themselves, which they do not appear to have.

* FTP is not working. Connection can sometimes be established but times out before anything can be uploaded or downloaded. (I realise this is due to be fixed this week.)

* Browsing is not consistently smooth - some believe there is a fundamental issue with browser posting events. Sometimes links must be clicked several times, or pages refreshed halfway through loading.

* There are reports of overcharging due to proxy issues.

Many thanks for all your help, and I sincerely wish you the best of luck! It seems to me like Three are in dire need of someone seriously technical to focus on the issues and offer a meaningful, coherent and honest technical release to it’s consumers. For me it’s too late, but there are many out there who might stay on board given some meaningful feedback.

Best,
Frank

So that’s it, I am done with Three for several weeks now, and am much happier for it. The experience was frustrating and time consuming, and their wireless modem caused me more stress than I can tell you. I am so glad to be rid of it.

If you are still having problems, I suggest you do everything you can to get a refund.

That’s me done on the Three issue!

My other posts on this issue:

• First of all there were set-up issues, and ongoing instability issues.
• Then there was the disappointing radio slot on Last Word about the 3 Wireless data modem.
• Then there was the email to, and from, Rachel Channing Head of PR & Communications for Three Ireland.
• Followed recently by a call from technical support which provided some more information, though no solutions.
• Then I posted an update of the outstanding issues
• And finally this post, after I gave up and got my money back.

• Modem is still not behaving itself for all users. I, and others, experience frequent usb mounting/dismounting and ‘data modem invalid’ errors which require restarts. Proposed solutions do not work.
• Speed has certainly improved for downloading, although upload seems capped at 60kbsp - upload speeds still a major issue. The Three website doesn’t mention upload speeds anywhere, but technical support people working for Three have told me they would expect speeds of about a third of the download speed.
• Sending email is a problem - it seems the issue is that because Three use NAT, the result is that single public IP address is blacklisted. To get around this Three would have to have a working SMTP server in place themselves, which they do not appear to have.
• FTP is not working. Connection can sometimes be established but times out before anything can be uploaded or downloaded.
• Browsing is not consistently smooth - some believe there is a fundamental issue with browser posting events. Sometimes links must be clicked several times, or pages refreshed halfway through loading.
• There are reports of overcharging due to proxy issues.

These are the issues I myself am experiencing, except for the last one which I am worried about experiencing in the future! Anyone else having other issues? Anyone got any insight into any of the above and their possible resolutions? After all it seems Three need all the help they can get!

I’ve been posting about this a lot lately!

Firstly, they explained to me that the USB modem creates a virtual CD drive when it’s plugged into the computer, and any software that interacts with the CD drive nomrally can cause conflicts. Seems crazy to me, but there you go.

They said also that as well as Napster and some of the other common software that can cause conflicts, the Dell Support service can cause issues, and something called Cyberlink (which I don’t seem to have) can cause issues. Disabling Dell Support on start up by disabling DSAgnt in the system configuration utility should help they said. I haven’t tried it yet, as I am online right now and loathe to have to restart and take my chances again… update - tried this today to no avail. Started with DSAgnt disabled and got ‘modem invalid’ and lots of unstable mounting/dismounting. A restart after enabling DSAgnt again and I got up and running.

They said FTP should be working fine, and they tested it at their location and said it was… I still can’t FTP though. Has anyone in ireland been able to FTP?

There is a known issue with Three’s SMTP server, which is interesting because I was told on previous calls that there was no SMTP server. It’s smtp.3ireland.ie apparently - however it’s not working right now, so that’s useless information really.

They also told me that an IP conflict issue which was stopping access to sites like Gmail should now be resolved.

Other information gleaned is that there seems to be just one IP address. Is that normal? They seemed to think that’s how all mobile broadband operators work, the guy I spoke to was in the UK, roaming with an Irish 3 Wireless Broadband Data Modem and he had the same IP address as I have. This would seem problematic to me. Anyone have any input on that?

Here are the problems I outlined:

1. Speed issues themselves are not fixed - I frequently nose dive to a fraction of the advertised speed and I NEVER get above 1MBPS.
2. I frequently need to restart my computer to try to get the modem recognised. Others have reported this issue too. The modem almost never works on the first startup of my machine.
3. I cannot FTP.
4. As my ISP I would expect Three to provide SMTP servers. They do not.
5. I cannot email using other SMTP servers as it would appear that due to the configuration of you handling of IP addresses my IP is ALWAYS black listed.
6. Gmail and other sites simply don’t work.
7. Forms on websites frequently don’t work. particularly those that involve an upload of any kind.

Rachel responded promptly and offered to personally take responsibility to ensure I could return the modem in the next few weeks if the issues are not sorted out. She explained that every effort is being made to sort out the issues.

I am impressed at her offer and her prompt reply, so now we will have to wait and see how the next few weeks pan out!

Small bit disappointed with the discussion on the Three Data Modem on The Last Word on Today FM. it seems Boards.ie have got a HUGE number of hits on their thread for issues with Three’s Data Modem.

Declan Maguire did a great job of describing the problems with the service, and they had a Three Representative to defend the service, but she basically spouted the official line that it’s because too many people are availing of their fantastic service.

Unfortunately the conversation focussed on the speeds of the broadband offering, which allowed her to spout on about the amount of people signing up and how they were ramping up and everything would be rosy very soon. Matt Cooper was having none of it, but I wish that ALL the problems had been put in front of her, not just the speed. Declan tried to bring up that he can’t access Microsoft Updates or Gmail but she just said she’d put him in touch with customer service!

What about the issues I and others are having with the software/hardware? What about the fact they don’t provide any mail servers? The problems with FTP? And there are more issues that are not to do with any unforseen popularity of the service!

Maybe Matt Cooper had to be careful due to the fact that it’s The Last Word in association with O2… perhaps he didn’t want to be accused of anything underhand from that perspective, as the section was very short. He did say they would come back to it in a few days and see were there improvements from Three’s end.

See here for the problem I’m having, see here from more from Tom R and of course the boards thread!

3’s USB mobile broadband modem software seems to have conflicts with many fairly standard applications, be aware that getting up and running with it may not be as simple as it should be…

Update: 3 Data Modem still not working reliably unless I repeat the process of disabling services and start up apps as outline below…

Update II: It now appears to me that disabling any service at random and restarting my machine will get the modem to work… I have tried several restarts without disabling any service and that doesn’t seem to work. Right now, I’m online with the modem after restarting with the Google updater service disabled, yesterday to get it to work I turned off a completely different service, but on starting up today with that service still disabled it wouldn’t work. Nor would it work when I enabled the service again and restarted. nor would it work after three restarts. Disabling the Google updater service (decided upon at random) and restarting worked. More exploration needed!

Update III: As I said in the comments, I have heard tell of at least one person who is very happy with his 3 Data Modem, however, he’s on a Mac… any happy PC users out there?

Update IV: I am not alone. Thanks to TomR for opening a discussion on his site too. it seems Today FM will be discussing this at 6pm this evening - 15th August 2007.

update V: Today the modem was coming up ‘invalid’ again, but I did a simple restart and it’s working again… so it’s just plain flaky. I still have a few days on my no quibble returns time, so I think I may have ot take it back.

Update VI: Check out my latest post on this - head of PR and Communications got back to me…

I got myself one of those 3 mobile broadband yokes. I was told in Carphone Warehouse that it should be active after about 2 to 3 hours. So I waited and after 3 hours I connected it to my machine. Nothing.

After checking everything I could check, which was very little, I concluded I was not doing anything wrong and rang 3 customer support. The paltry instructions that came with the USB modem explained that the software would self install when the modem was connected. However Rahuhl explained to me I had to wait a minimum of 8 hours before the sim would be active. This was annoying enough, having been told it would be 2 - 3 hours in the shop, but I had a fair idea that the software should install regardless of whether the sim was active. Rahuhl insisted it should not and point blank refused to put me through to technical support until I had waited 8 hours.

So I waited a further five hours and called customer support again. This time I spoke to a more reasonable lad who admitted the software should indeed install itself regardless of whether the sim was active or not, but he also said I might have to wait 24 to 48 hours for the sim to be activated.

He also explained that tech support were now gone home, and they would call me the following day.

The following day, rather than wait for a call, I called again and got put through to tech support, where I spoke to a guy called John who has been extremely helpful since. When John heard I had a Dell computer he explained that most Dell computers come preinstalled with software that conflicts with the 3 modem’s installers. Now, with Dell being as popular as they are, don’t you think the modem would come with a note about this issue?

So we stopped various services and start up programs on my machine in order to install the software, and sure enough we got it installed and working. This despite the fact that my machine is running McAfee - a program known to cause connection problems, and also an application many machines come preinstalled with.

Once I was up and running I was getting download speeds of 118 kbps (thanks Irish ISP test!) - not great, and many pages seemed to hang, so I wasn’t thrilled, but it was better than nothing. 3 claim that demand was higher than they expected (according to customer support it’s because none of the houses in ireland have broadband) and so they don’t currently have enough broadband to go around - but rest assured upgrades are under way and next week will be better…

To be fair, this morning speeds are looking much better, and the browsing experience is quite lovely - early this morning I got a download speed of 1209 kbps which was quite zippy. I would have been quite happy - except that my modem kept dropping off my machine for no apprent reason, every few minutes I would get the familar noise of a usb device disconnecting and the connection, obviously, dropped.

So back to tech support I went. It seems Napster and Roxio both cause these kinds of issues. Napster and Roxio - two more very popular applications. Because of my need for connection I agreed to uninstall Roxio. I also updated the software which controls the modem. For at least an hour myself and John went through endless uninstalls and installs, driver uninstalls, plug in the modem, plug out the modem, disable this, enable that… finally after a restart with various services and start up programs disabled we were connected.

Unfortunately we were unable to figure out what action had got us up and running… I enabled all the services and start up programs and restarted and have been browsing fine since.

All in all, so far the modem has been a nightmare. I am sure there are people for whom it works painlessly out of the box, but I wonder what percentage of users that is? Particularly since if you have a Dell machine, or if you use Napster, Roxio or McAfee it seems you can expect issues from this little fellow. As an aside, my girlfriends machine is not a Dell and the software didn’t install on her machine either.

Please leave comments with your experiences - am I in the minority of people for whom this has been a royal pain in the ass?