Stellar Web Works » General

Want to know what people are searching for, when and where?

Aidan — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:38:05 +0000

Google Insights for Search is an interesting tool that is fun to play with and could give you some useful nuggets of information that you can use to your advantage. You can use it to see what search terms are most popular and to see how search terms trend over time. For example if you are selling a product on your website and are planning an online marketing campaign, you can see what times of year have the most search activity for keywords related to your product and then time your campaign to occur during a time of peak interest. Your results can be restricted to a specific country or region so for example you can look at the trends accross the entire world, or just in New Zealand or even just in Nelson – pretty cool eh?

Google Insights for Search has been around since 2008 but is still in ‘beta’ mode (test mode) – check it out here.

Yahoo & Microsoft Partner Up To Take On Google With Bing

Aidan — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:12:07 +0000

Yahoo and Microsoft announced a 10 year partnership on 29th July where Yahoo Search will be powered by Microsoft’s new Bing search engine. The agreement is currently in front of regulators and could take two years finalise. The move looks to be one solid step towards a merger after the failed attempt in 2008.

Google is still the King of search and this deal is not expected to de-throne it, but by combining their market share the Microsoft/Yahoo combo will make a more compelling platform for advertiser’s dollars.

Since it’s unveiling in May, Bing has been fairly well received. Personally however, I have no plans to switch. After trying it out a few times, it left me unimpressed with the quality of the search results. Take for example a search for “Nelson web design” (a term I check occasionally to see how sww.co.nz is ranking in local searches). Here are the top 10 search results that Bing returns right now (NZ only search):

No. 1 is a valid result, but nos 2 & 3, both from the same domain, are not at all relevant results. In fact they are just temporary development pages on the nelson.co.nz domain of our partner, Digital Promotions, and the real Digital Promotions website appears much further down at position 10. The nelson.co.nz domain crops up again in position 6, another irrelevant result, indicating an overly heavy emphasis on domain name over content. I count only 6 relevant results in the all-important top 10. Not a very smart result for an allegedly ’smart’ search engine (or ‘decision engine’ as Microsoft prefers to call it).

Here’s what Google returns for the same search:

Hey, that’s more like it – Stellar Web Works listed at a respectable 5th position (and even finds it’s way to no. 1 in the map results!). This time all ten results are relevant.

So, after this little test my faith in Bing is definitely a bit shaky. But with the recent Yahoo deal it looks like it is going to become part of the our web developer world and something we are going to have to work with from a SEO perspective. And if it gains traction, a bit of competition for the Google monster might not be a bad thing!

Nelson Web Design Companies

Aidan — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:58:49 +0000

Stellar Web Works is based in Nelson on the top of the South Island of New Zealand. I’ve compiled a list of all the other web design companies located in Nelson. If I’ve missed any let me know.

A list of web design companies in Nelson, New Zealand

Stellar Web Works: Your best choice for web site design and development in Nelson (yeah of course I’m biased;), but seriously, do give us a look if you’re after professional results at affordable prices)
Baby-e: One of our partners, Baby-e is the web design company of Leon Dalziel. Leon has a flair for design. We work together on many projects.
Digital Promotions: Another close partner of ours. Digital Promotions do a lot of accommodation web sites. We have worked together on a number of sites. They specialise in an Apple based content management system called Manila and provide hosting for it.
Bounce Marketing: Bounce Marketing, the company of Katrina Lambert is also a partner of ours. Although not exactly a web design company, it is a company that can help you promote your web site, drive traffic to it and get results from it.
Andy McCubbin: Freelance web designer/developer who I’ve collaborated on projects with.
Graphic Flavours: Web site design by Ayelet Fleming. I’ve worked with Ayelet on a number of projects.
DevelopMental: The company of Nelson based developer, Steve Bryant, specialising in website and windows application development.
SunRoom: The web team of Charlie & Melissa Evans along with Michaela Blackman. Friends of SWW. Specialising in sites and e-commerce solutions built on Wordpress and Magento.
Nimbus Advertising: Nelson based advertising agency headed by Dave Knight and Jo Williams and offering web design as one of their services. SWW has collaborated with Nimbus on one of their web projects.
Thadeus Creative: Web and graphic design by Steven Hussey. I’ve developed a site based on one of Steven’s designs.
Cactus Software: Web site design and development and custom software application development
Blueflowers web design: Web design company of Mariska Noordik & Mike Widdowson based in Rai Valley
Hothouse: A larger agency that do web design, marketing and branding
@ web one: Two web design businesses, Peter Lowish Internet and Internet Specialists, joined together to create this one.
Sprocket Web Design: Web design company of Duncan Heal
Avoca House Design: Web design company run by Brendyn Montgomery (who is also an award winning traditional Irish musician that you can catch playing on Wednesday nights in the Free House)
Site Productions: Web design company of Rick Coleman based in Mapua
Web Kiwi: Web design company of Adrienne Ford
Net Maestro: Web design company run by Gareth Lawes
Seafront Web Design: Web design company of Wendy Whitehead in Ruby Bay
Purple Oar Software: Web site design/development company of Paul Roper
Dry Crust Communications: A Richmond based publicity company that offers web design as one of their services
Fig Tree Design: Wendy Alessi’s web design company, Fig Tree, specialises in the design and development of gorgeous websites for small to medium sized businesses.

Choosing a web design/development company to build your website

Aidan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:43:21 +0000

If you are looking for a web designer to build a website for your business, you will find no shortage of options to choose from. So what do you base your decision on when choosing a web designer? A small business with a tight budget might simply request quotations from a number of web companies and go with the one that supplies the lowest quote. This is hardly a wise strategy, you would probably not purchase any other product or service using this strategy. If you wanted to buy a car, would you just pick the one with the lowest price and buy it? Of course not, you would want to know exactly what you are buying, you would do some investigation, ask some key questions, determine if the car matches your needs and requirements. The same should apply when you choose a web designer to create a website for your business. You should do some investigation, ask some key questions and determine which web designer or design firm can create the web site that best matches your needs and requirements.

However, if you do not have any experience with getting a website set up and/or little or no technical knowledge of the workings of the internet, you’ll probably struggle with how to evaluate a web designer. The purpose of this article is to give you some ideas of what to look for in a web designer and to get you thinking about matching up a web designer with your own particular needs and requirements.

Questions to ask a web designer

What technologies do you use to build websites? e.g. static HTML, HTML templating system such as Dreamweaver, Content Management System, server side scripting languages
Will I be able to make updates to the website myself without any special technical knowledge?
What is your process for designing and building a website?
What is your approach to search engine optimisation (SEO)?
Do you provide training for managing the new website?

Questions to ask yourself about a web designer

Does the designer design sites that are intuitive and easy to use?
Does the designer do a good job of visually showing visitors how to take action?
Do they explain issues in a way I can understand?
Does the designer have the range of skills needed to build the website that I require?
What credentials and experience does the web designer have?

Comparing pricing from different designers

Does the price represent good value for my money? Keep in mind that a well designed website for your business is an investment that will pay for itself many times over in sales, while a poorly crafted site will drive away potential customers. A cheaply put together website may seem like a bargain at first but in the long run it may damage your business.

Price and quality often (but not always) have a direct relationship, i.e. you get what you pay for. Designers who are overly inexpensive often lack experience, don’t understand much about online marketing, or don’t truly have a grasp of good web design techniques. A website from such a designer may cost your business dearly in the long run.

When comparing quotations from different design firms, be sure to look carefully at what each designer is offering for the quoted price. Examine their portfolio to see what type of work they produce and ask to speak to some of their clients.

Consider too what happens after the website is built, who will maintain the site and keep it up to date and fresh? What type of analysis will be available for evaluating the performance of the site?

A poorly designed website can cost you money, drive away customers, and hurt your reputation.

Oh, and by the way, if you are looking for a creative, technically savvy, and cost-effective designer, check out Stellar Web Works!

Why you should choose a small business to work on your website

Aidan — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:32:11 +0000

Scanning through an industry newsletter that arrived in my inbox this morning I came accross an article that made me feel great about running my own small business. It got me thinking about the huge advantage a client has in choosing a small business like mine instead of going with a big web company. The big advantage? Easy. Small business cares. I care about my clients. I can’t afford not to care. If I don’t care, I don’t get paid, it’s that simple!

Big business doesn’t have to care; the guy on the end of the phone still gets his pay check no matter what happens with your web site. It’s all about accountability. To a big business with lots of clients, you are just one more drop in the bucket. It’s not such a big deal to them if they loose you. But to a small business you are their bread and butter. A small business cannot afford to loose a client and needs to make each client happy in order gain new clients and have any chance of success.

A small business is far more likely to have a finger on the pulse of your web operations and react quickly to your needs, because its service is more personalized. A small business will know what’s happening, who it’s happening to, and what to do to fix it.