Web Design and SEO Blog - from tillwilly

I’ve read lots of peoples opinions over the last few months on various forums / blogs etc. that the meta keyword tag is no longer important. To be honest, I would of agreed with them, until I accidentally find out that yahoo still values it.

Even though I previously thought meta keywords were insignificant, when optimising a site, I still included them as I’ve always thought it is good practice. Last month, when doing some ranking checks for one of our clients - Danne Montague King - I noticed that in Yahoo, the site was ranking first for acne specialists, but no where at all for acne specialist!

It was one of those situations where you just think, eh?

The page was more optimised for acne specialists, than acne specialist but one would assume that one letter would not make much difference, after all it didn’t in the google rankings.

When checking through the code on the page I noticed straight away that I had not included acne specialist as a phrase in the meta keywords section. So I added it to the keywords, uploaded the page then what do you know, less than a week later the page had been re-cached and the site was second in Yahoo for acne specialist.

I was quite surprised that Yahoo relied on meta keywords so much. Perhaps I’m looking too much into it, maybe it was just a coincidence, but I personally feel there is some yardage in still using meta keywords, so I would advise all my fellow search engine optimisationers to do the same.

When I get chance, I’ll do some more testing on my theory, then update with the results!

Andrew
Search Engine Marketer

Twitter is the “next big thing” in the world of web apps, and now you can follow tillwilly on twitter! All followers are welcome!

Twitter is getting a lot of buzz, and they are letting everyone know! These excerpts were even on the registration email they sent us, it is pretty cool though:

The New York Times calls Twitter “one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the Internet.” TIME Magazine says, “Twitter is on its way to becoming the next killer app,” and Newsweek noted that “Suddenly, it seems as though all the world’s a-twitter.”

Jonathan
Developer

Every year, when it gets to December, you’ll notice lots of sites add a Christmas theme to their website. Sometimes, this looks great, other times it doesn’t! One of our clients, Face the Future, required a Christmas theme for their latest offers to be featured on every page. We did this for them, and it doesn’t look out of place, even on a website for a skin clinic.

I’ve been on loads of sites this December doing all my Christmas shopping online, so I thought I would share with you my personal favourite Christmas Design Themes:

Onlinegolf.co.uk

This is my favourite Christmas design I’ve seen this year. Some might think it’s tacky, but I think it is brilliant. The attention to detail is fantastic, and it doesn’t take anything away from the products they are selling. A lot of work has gone into this Christmas theme.

Firebox.com

This is a pretty subtle theme, with snowflakes behind the logo, but firebox have also done a really slick Christmas email marketing campaing, which is why it’s on my favourites list.

Next.co.uk

Next have used a Christmas style black background, which looks really classy, and done some festive style flash under the navigation. The site design doesn’t have to change, but it still has a Christmas feel to it. I like it!

Game.co.uk

One of my favourite website for purchasing xbox 360 and nintendo wii games (got to love the points card!). I really like this theme, it’s nothing ground breaking, it just works. The character illustrations add a nice feel to the site too.

Facethefuture.co.uk

Finally, it’s the Christmas theme designed by yours truly…

There are websites that can go over the top at Christmas, but the ones above implement the Christmas theme well!

Mark
Web Designer

I’ve come across a lot of web designers in my time, who know nothing about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). By nothing I mean nada, zilch! This is a problem I see more and more, where people learn to how to design websites and that’s all they think they need to do, and the people having the site built believe this too.

For a small /medium business looking to drive business through their website, having a website that doesn’t search for your main keywords is like having a car with no petrol in, it’s pointless.

Now google is throwing a bone to SEO beginners by releasing a starter guide. It covers all the basics you should take into account when building your site to be search engine friendly.

You can view it / download it here.

Andrew
Search Engine Marketer

Here at tillwilly, we have just completed the new website for one of our clients, Sasi Designer Kitchens.

Sasi Designer Kitchens & Designer Bathrooms are a West Yorkshire based company specialising in Kitchens & Bathrooms with the ‘WOW’ factor, at the very best prices. Sasi are available to fit kitchens & bathrooms throughout West Yorkshire. Sasi have kitchen fitters with over 25 years experience, and are the perfect choice for your dream kitchen or bathroom!

Sasi had a previous design done by tillwilly, which they were pleased with, but the company has big plans for 2009 and wanted a new, slick design to go with that plan. The site also has a custom built Content Management System (CMS) to allow Sasi to edit the site when they need to.

The site is valid to all the W3 Standards and has been featured on a number of css galleries.

Along with the new design, after conquering the more local search terms, tillwilly are working on getting Sasi ranked for more general kitchen search terms, such as ‘Designer Kitchens‘ to give them even more web presence.

Please visit SasiKitchens.co.uk to take a look.

Mark
Web Designer

I have never met a designer, who can just go from a blank canvas to a design a masterpiece without any inspiration! Sometimes you may get an idea just off the top of your head, and when you run with it, it turns out great, but other times you’ve got creative block and you need a little bit of inspiration to set you off in the right direction.

If I’m in need of some inspiration or ideas, there’s 4 websites that are the top of my list, to give me a design boost. You may have come across these before, but if not, definitely bookmark these sites:

• CSS Mania
• Design Meltdown
• Smashing Magazine
• For Web Designers

Hope these give you as much inspiration as they give me, and remember don’t just copy someones design, because that’s just wrong!

Mark
Web Designer

Welcome to the new blog from tillwilly.com

We’ve got a whole memory bank of knowledge, tips, resources and articles that we want to share with you!

tillwilly.com
UK Web Design Studio