We've pleased to launch a new website for Bristol-based Charity, Chescombe Trust - www.chescombetrust.co.uk

They've been awarded the highest possible rating for Care Homes and are currently building a new premises as a part of their success.  We designed and built them a website to help keep people up to date.

Accessibility was on the top of the list for this sight.  We made sure that Chescombe Trust's new website is:

• In keeping with current accessibility guidelines - WCAG 2 AAA Compliant
  
• Designed using high-contrast colours making it easy to read
• Resizeable - it's easy to make the text larger and small using the buttons in the upper right corner
• Built to work well with screen readers.  Screen readers read a web page aloud to people that are visually impaired
  
• Hand-coded from scratch using valid HTML and CSS

We welcome any feedback that may improve our work - contact us using the form at the bottom of this page and let us know what you think!

No doubt that you've heard all about social networking and social media.  According to some stats on Facebook there are 400 million active users.  Twitter boasts an estimated 5 million users according to internet marketing giant, HubSpot.

The future of the web is social

Facebook and Twitter are essentially about the same thing - communication.  They both allow you to keep in touch with people.  They'll even allow you to keep in touch with people you've never met (some of them in sky-high places).

Want to say something to Bill Gates?  Go right ahead.  Fancy a twitter-chat with Steven Fry?  Be my guest.  These accounts have been verified by Twitter so you know that they're linked to the right people.  Essentially, it's a powerful way to get in touch.

Social interaction is becoming an expectation

Clients, consumers and even complete strangers are beginning to see communication as their right.  The news has long been open to public input with blog comments and invitations to 'text your views'.  Many businesses have twitter accounts where they publicly manage praise, problems and complaints for all the world to see.

Don?t worry, be social

It may seem scary to be 'gettable' in such a public way.  What if someone leaves a bad review?

Be prepared for good, bad and luke warm feedback.  Know that it will happen, and try not to worry about it.  The only way to get perfect feedback is to be perfect.  If you do your best work, people will usually understand that you're only human.

The truth is, feedback is the best part.  You can use it to become better at what you do.  We run a handful of blogs, twitter accounts and an online forum so we know how it works first hand.  The occasional constructive comments are dealt with quickly and with a level head.

Get started

Being social on the web is a great way to continue an open conversation with clients or consumers - get involved now and reap the rewards.

Recently a couple of our web design clients have asked us about link swapping.  They wanted to know if it's a bad idea (will it 'get them in trouble'?) and also if it's still a powerful way to get a better Google ranking.

What is link swapping?

Link swapping describes when two website owners include a link to each other's websites.

Getting inbound links from other websites is one of the most effective ways to improve your ranking on Google.  Link swapping is one way to get more inbound links for your site.

Is link swapping bad?

Not necessarily.  There is one word that Google always uses when describing best practices - relevance.  Are the links relevant and useful for the people browsing the website?  Keep focusing on your website visitors and what will benefit them.  You won't go far wrong.

Avoid the bad guys

Outgoing links to 'bad neighbourhoods' might hurt your ranking.  If spammy, inappropriate or irrelevant links are made from your site, Google will catch on and your ranking could suffer.

Too much of a good thing

Excessive link swapping can also be penalised because it's unnatural.  Inbound links to your site should appear steadily over time, not all at once.

Best practices

The best case scenario is that you create content on your website so interesting and compelling that people start linking to you naturally.  Your number one goal should always be to create interesting, original web content for you visitors.

Will it help my website's ranking?

Yes, if it's done right.  One of our favourite new SEO blogs, Coffee Kicks just wrote a great article a bout deep-linking.  Deep linking describes when other websites link to pages 'inside' your website (rather than the home page) - it's worth reading if you're looking at build up inbound links to your website.

You can also read what Google thinks about link schemes on the Google blog »

A website we designed and developed has just been recommended by the Good Web Guide.

They've reviewed www.MyKidsCan.co.uk and called it "an extremely useful resource for parents and their children" and "the UK's most comprehensive family directory."  Read the full review here »

The Good Web Guide are "the definitive guide to the best sites on the internet."  They asses websites and provide an unbiased reviews.

We're chuffed that the site is doing so well (and so are MyKidsCan)!  It's lovely news to get on a Friday afternoon.

Some clients have already noticed in January that we've been trialling a new support system which lets us help you faster and more efficiently.

It seems to be working a treat, so we're now launching it for all clients - if you have a support query (help using software, problems with hosting or email, etc) please now log on to the following address rather than sending an email:

support.siteclick.co.uk

Why the change?  You get a record showing all the solutions we've provided and we can measure how fast we're responding to queries, our target being to resolve issues within 1 hour.  If you're a customer of ours, please feel free to try and out and we'll get right back to you.

We hope you find it helpful!

ps - you can find out more about our support on the support page of our website.

On 27th January, 2010 Google started rolling out Social Search on Google.com (in beta).  Social search will return relevant content created by your online contacts (for example, their blog posts or tweets) when you do an online search.  These results may be more relevant to you because they're from sources you know and trust.

For example - say you did a search for 'web design Bristol'.  Google would show you a list of web design companies based in Bristol.  However, you may also begin to see content from your online contacts appear in the search.  These results will be labeled 'Results from your social circle'.

So if one of your online contacts blogged about how amazing their Bristol-based web designer is - you would see this blog appear in your search.  Or if one of your contacts tweeted about a new web design company that they're working with - this tweet would appear in your search results.

These results may be more relevant to you because you know and trust these people - so you're more likely to believe what they say.

On the flip-side, the content you create may also appear in your contacts' searches.

Although Google Social Search is brand-new and only just getting started, it's a sign that businesses and  individuals need to be creating regularly published, interesting and relevant content.

If you'd like access to Google Social Search, you'll need to set up a free Google profile and link it to your online profiles (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc.).  You'll also need to use Google.com, it hasn't yet been launched for Google.co.uk.  More information can be found on Google's blog.

If you're a business owner in Bristol, then this event is for you.  The Best of Bristol Exhibition offers open networking, business seminars and over 100 exhibitors.  Last year the event sold out quickly and caused quite a buzz.

Free-to-attend business seminars are being led by Bristolian experts including a representative from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  Full details of the seminars can be found on the Business Extra website »

Delegates pay 10.00 to attend and receive a buffet lunch, free tea and coffee, access to all of the business seminars and open networking included in the price.

We'll be exhibiting on the day and offering free web design help and advice for Bristol businesses.  Stop by, say hello, and pick up some of the freebies that we'll have on offer.

The Best of Bristol show takes place on 2nd March at the Mercure Holland House Hotel and Spa in the centre of Bristol from 10:30am to 3:30am.  Details on how to book can be found on the Best of Bristol website »

Last night we spent the night sipping beverages and touring Colston Hall in Bristol.   GWE Business West regularly plan evening events for its members - sometimes the venues are pretty stunning.  For example, we've networked at the Roman Baths in Bath, and the S.S. Great Britain and Colston Hall in Bristol.

I learned about Colston Hall's education programme for young people.  It turns out that they have amazing facilities for young people in Bristol that want to get involved with music.  We cheekily asked for a tour of the educational music facilities (it wasn't 'on the menu', but they seemed happy to show us around).  I was impressed by what I saw.  Rehearsal space, recording space, and equipment to help young people learn how to mix, master, and produce their own music.

They also host learning workshops and invite working musicians in to talk about their working lives.

I encourage people to keep these facilities in mind, and spread the word.  These facilities are free to use for 15-18 year olds - pretty amazing when you think of it.  There's more info on the Education section of the Colston Hall website.

_{(photo used courtesy of Colston Hall)}

This week both Germany and France issued country-wide warnings against using Internet Explorer.  The web browser contains security flaws that could leave your computer open to malicious attacks.

Earlier this month 'highly sophisticated and targeted attacks' were made on top internet/tech companies including Google and Adobe.  The companies were attacked partially due to a security problem in Internet Explorer.  Microsoft have admitted being partially at fault and are taking steps to improve their browser.

Internet Explorer 6 is considered the most vulnerable.  Anyone using this version of IE should upgrade to a newer version immediately.  To find out what browser you're using, visit this website - http://www.thismachine.info/

Better yet, use a different, safer browser.  We recommend using Firefox for browsing the internet.  It's free to download, quick to install and transfers your old info from your previous browser.  The best part is that it's about 8 times faster than Internet Explorer - you'll be able to browse the internet more quickly.

Download a new, safer browser:

• Download Mozilla Firefox (recommended) »
• Download Google Chrome »

More Information about this issue:

• France warns against Internet Explorer use (Telegraph)
• German government warns against using MS Explorer (BBC)
• Behind the attacks on Google (CNET)

The new Yorkshire Lavender website is online and can be seen at www.yorkshirelavender.com.

We helped Yorkshire Lavender launch their new site last week with a new e-commerce feature that lets visitors buy lavender products online.  In only one week Yorkshire Lavender sold enough from their online shop to cover the ongoing costs of running their website which is fantastic news!

We're looking forward to helping with Yorkshire Lavender's ongoing success on 2010.

If you have any feedback about the new website, we'd love to hear from you - use the contact form at the bottom of this page to get in touch with us and let us know.  All feedback is welcome and we might even put a quote from you on our website, with a link back to you (only with your permission, of course).

And how could I forget?  Happy New Year!  :)