Web design and SEO from Andover IT
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The Zeberpupin post from Monday is now #1 on Google – even beating Dilbert.com and Zeberpupin.com.
Potentially a great move by a Canadian company in buying the domain name – they’ve put up a very basic page with a link to their main site.
So what’s the point? Traffic. People read Dilbert cartoons and will usually search for things – something possible now with the Internet and search engines. Plus it’s a challenge and handy when you can show a potential SEO client 
If you’ve heard of “Zeberpupin” chances are you’ve a Dilbert cartoon reader.
“Invented” by Wally, it appear to be a made-up computer system so that he doesn’t get fired – as he says, the word is “indispensable”.
So why are these cartoons about Zeberpupin relevant to business?
Does your company run a computer system or process that is reliant on a single person? What if they left? What if they suffered from a long term illness?
The situation is not good for the business or for the employee. The business is too reliant on one person and, whilst it might help secure the job future for the employee, it adds extra stress to them as any issues puts them as the focal point. If the business is 24×7 this can mean being on almost permanent call-out duty.
Now is the time to get that skill documented, even if it’s just the processes that you’d need to complete in the event of an emergency. And stop being a Wally!
Dung for Brains! Dilbert’s company, Path-E-Tech Management use some Black Hat SEO in the shape of fake links to boost their rankings. However Google find out and they can then only be found for a certain search…”Dung for Brains”.
Okay so it’s not quite true but start trying to mess Google around and they may just punish you – so no white text on white backgrounds please!
Maybe it also shows that SEO and link building are finally being seen as an industry by the media and not just people messing about on Google.
If your website comes up under any weird searches, let us know and we’ll publish them. But please, no spammy links – or you’ll not even be coming up for “Dung for Brains”
Alternatively, if you need to come up high on Google without them punishing you, feel free to get in touch.
Update: 3 1/2 hours later and this little blog post seems to be doing quite well…
Andover IT have been doing some SEO work for Builders Broker recently for the HS38 unit that they sell from the site.
Some research showed that the unit is sold under two different names – a Hydropath HS38 and a Hydroflow HS38. The same unit but understandably they wanted to get picked up on both searches.
After some work on both landing pages they are now 3rd and 4th for Hydropath HS38 only being beaten by the manufacturer themselves whilst the Hydroflow HS38 is on the 1st page with sites like Money Saving Expert to try and beat!
Anyone using Hootsuite, Reddit or Foursquare today…well actually they wouldn’t be using it as Amazon’s EC2 Cloud computing system was down.
Cloud computing is a great for keeping costs down – a virtual ‘pay-as-you-go’ server system where you can scale up or down depening on the volume of business you are doing. By sharing servers and services with other companies, you don’t have to pay for hardware or staff.
The negative side is that if it goes down (which thankfully is very rarely) you are possibly left with nothing and in someone else’s hands. Potentially even worse would be the company goes under and with them goes all your work.
One way to look at it would be comparing it with email – Webmail v PC based such as MS Outlook. With a webmail version everything is done online so you can get to it from pretty much anywhere. The problem is that if it goes down, potentially you have nothing.
With a PC based system, whilst you may not be able to send or receive emails, you can at least access the ones already sent / received.
Costs do come into it – Cloud computing allows you to pay per month instead of a potentially large initial outlay on hardware and they will do backups for you. However, it is worth setting aside some of the cost and setup a system to cover for a worse case scenario. Just in case.
If you watched The Hotel Inspector last night (Monday 18th April) you will have seen the first episode in the new series with the First In Last Out at Winchester.
Owner Jon Sweeney was having various problems with the bed & breakfast in Winchester but the main one seemed to be the level of cleanliness. Hotel Inspector Alex Polizzi arranged for a deep clean of the place so that Jon’s cleaning staff could then keep up the work.
At this point Moore’s Cleaning were called in, and whilst you only caught a glimpse of the team, the level of cleaning they did was excellent with both Alex and Jon very impressed with the job they’d done.
Well done to Moore’s Cleaning and best wishes to Jon and the FILO Winchester!
“How to complete a business review in Google?” or “How do I add a Google Business review?” – questions we’ve been asked a few times by our clients, so we thought we’d put some instructions together.
Adding a Google Business Review
Google likes business reviews and having them can help your business – or your client’s. The problem is that whilst they are fairly easy to complete, they may not be obvious to someone that’s never completed one before.
The instructions will be updated as and when required so bookmark the page and be sure of the latest Google Business Review instructions.
Most “business” programmes on TV follow a similar format – expert goes in and turns business around, usually with a struggle. They can be good entertainment but also allow you to pick up some tips on running a business.
How many times have we seen a team go off and do what they felt needed to be done – only to find they lost the task. You can pick up some valuable tips from the show such as make sure you listen and not make assumptions. It also shows that if you over egg your skills you will probably get found out…eh Stuart
You need a plan. A solid plan. And some sales flair, although that’s not everything. Go into the Den without having done your business plan and researched your market and you are pretty much history. Yes sometimes the Dragon’s get it wrong, but they – like many business owners – are using their own money so can be forgiven for saying they’re out.
Mary Portas, Queen of the High Street and the person who turned Harvey Nichols around, visits a series of shops and boutiques that are close to closing. In addition to the basics she also attempts to inject some glamour into each place she visits – but always pushes the value of customer service.
In each episode hotelier Alex Polizzi (originally Ruth Watson) visits a struggling hotel and tries to turn their fortunes by giving advice and suggestions to the owner. Alex may not have the style of Mary Portas but she has the industry knowledge – she knows what works.
Along the lines of the other shows, Australian hairstylist and salon owner Tabatha Coffey goes into an ailing hair salon and attempts to turn them around in a week. The difference I feel with these has been that she often gave some great marketing advice such as setting up joint ventures – teaming up with beauty salons.
So, what do you think? Are there any I’ve missed off that you feel are better? If so, feel free to leave a comment below.
I’ve seen various comments in the media over the past 48 hours over the relationship between PM David Cameron and Deputy PM Nick Clegg, with many on the left deriding it and insinuating they should be almost enemies.
Why?
Surely in a working environment it is better if the boss and staff get on with each other?
Yes there have to be limits but an open and honest work environment must be better for a business than one where staff are scared to point out issues and the boss never listens.
If what was reported is true, the relationship between Blair and Brown was very poor with them often not talking to each other for days on end. Is this a good way for an MD and an FD to operate? Coupled with Brown’s alleged reputation for bullying, you have to wonder how much opportunity for UK plc was wasted.
Whilst the coalition is not perfect and has made mistakes, I prefer the departments / parties working together for the company (UK plc) as a whole. Compromises have to be made, but then don’t we all have to make them every day?
Today sees the launch of the iPad2 – Apple’s new money generator tablet computer with, according to The Guardian, 25% of iPad1 owners planning on upgrading. This is ahead of an army of tablets from other manufacturers releasing their versions – 2011 looks like being The Year of the Tablet.
The format is a good one – easy to carry around (well, easy’ish), long battery life and a touch screen have expanded the amount of people now using computers. And a lot of these are being used to access the internet.
This is a good thing for clients as it should mean more people finding and using their services.
For any web designers though, this may cause a bit of a headache. Gone are the days when you could design a website for a 15″ monitor, test it on Internet Explorer and be fairly sure that 95% of people would see it as you did.
We now have 15″ flat screens to 22″ widescreens on desktops, 42″ plasmas to 3″ smartphones with 7″ and 10″ tablets and netbooks in between.
More work and thought but more exposure for clients – and that’s got to be a good thing.