Devices:

We see a lot of devices that our customers want to connect to email.  Some are easy, some we feel are a lot more difficult than they need to be, including one customer who took his Blackberry to his phone dealer who couldn’t figure it out.

For all round ease of use, we recommend the trust Apple iPhone or any Android device (they all work pretty much the same) and the network they are on, doesn’t really matter.  If you are considering a tablet, the iPad or any Android based tablet will be fine.

Email System:

POP3 is the traditional default system.  All the emails are held on the mail server where your website lives until you hit send/receive or at timed intervals.  At this point, all the emails are collected by your computer and often removed from the mail server in one fell swoop.  You can set your email program to leave a copy on the server for a few days, but in reality this isn’t often set.

Big advantages to the POP3 system is that once you have downloaded the emails, they are yours to deal with and there isn’t usually a copy hanging around that other people think everyone else is dealing with it.  The server only holds email temporarily so takes up little storage space.  Hosting companies like this, because they are not having to back it up either.

Disadvantages are that if your PC decides to fry a hard drive, your mail is more than likely lost unless you have a backup elsewhere.

IMAP is a system ideal for sharing your email across devices.  All your email is stored on the server,  your devices simply give you a view of what’s on the server.  This means that all your emails will be available across all the devices that you have.   When you reply from your computer, you can see that reply on your iPhone and table too, and vice versa.  Great system for todays business person.

The only disadvantage is that because all your emails are stores ‘in the cloud’ your hosting provider is having to back this up and pay for storage space, so you might have to pay for a little extra if you hoard emails like me!  IMAP loves users with good housekeeping practices.  Be wary of keeping big attachments or lots of photos in your inbox, much better to download them locally and take them off your allowance.

To change to IMAP from POP3 is a simple task.  The easiest way is just to add your account again but when you are asked to select which email type you want to use, select IMAP from the list.  All the different port numbers and settings should be configured for you, you just have to add your email address, password and server addresses.

As a guide, for a 2gb email box on IMAP you will pay around £10+vat per mailbox per year, with us, up to 400mb is provided within your current hosting arrangement. 400mb will be enough for about 4000 emails, but much less if you have large attachments.

If you need help with this, please get in touch!

Brave Lauren Foster was diagnosed with a rare type of childhood cancer just before Christmas last year and has since undergone nine gruelling sessions of chemotherapy and a course of radiotherapy. Her doctors at the specialist Birmingham Children’s Hospital told her family the best treatment for Lauren’s tumour caused by the Rhabdomyosarcoma was ‘proton therapy’ which was only available in Florida or Oklahoma. Family and friends raised hundreds of pounds to support Lauren and her family to travel to America and her family now want any money raised to help other youngsters on the oncology ward and ward 15 at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Gary Preston, 34, partner of Telford’s Annabel Church Lettings, is Lauren’s second cousin and said he immediately wanted to do something to help.

He will be joined by his friend Gregg Corbett, 33, from Dawley, in the Mission Impossible Crumball Rally next month which will see them travel between Reims, France and Prague in a Nissan Micra which cost them less than £200. Mr Preston said: “Lauren is only 10 and has gone through some pretty horrendous treatment at such a young age. But she is so brave and we hope this money can help other brave children being treated at the hospital.”

Andy Smith, from Runtime UK in Wellington, has backed their fundraising event by designing their fundraising website www.laurensjourney.co.uk.
“What Gary and Gregg are doing for this brave young girl is brilliant and they deserve to raise as much money as possible. When I heard their story at a networking event I offered to help in any way I could. The website means people can read Lauren’s brave story and also read the lad’s blog as they are on their journey which should be quite entertaining,” he said.

Mr Preston and Mr Corbett will be holding a special farewell fundraising event at Hadley Park House Hotel on July 19.
Anybody who would like to read their story or blog should visit www.laurensjourney.co.uk or to donate visit www.justgiving.com/laurensjourney.

At Runtime UK we have been testing different operating systems to see which is best, overall. Many have different advantages and many disadvantages.

Windows

         1. Advantages

Windows is standard for most new PCs. It is for all users, novice or otherwise.

Windows instructions and text are very clear and easily understood. Useful for novices.

If you are a gamer and use Flash Players and Java, Windows can quite easily run with Adobe and you can play games with ease.

There is automatic updating for most software on Windows.

2. Disadvantages

Depending on your internet we cannot provide the exact speed of the internet browsers but Windows has the slowest time overall to load pages.

Download speed is also depending on your connection to the internet but we tested it and Windows is rather slow.

Windows updates are regular. Once or twice a month a big package of updates appears at shutdown (XP). The speed differs from connection yet again but this is the slowest out of all current OS.

Ubuntu

         1. Advantages

Ubuntu is rather popular on the internet forums. Novices can use this OS without too many problems.

The internet browser is relatively fast compared with Windows.

Compatible alongside other OS, this means you are able to switch back to Windows, rather easily.

Downloadable Applets on a software database should help with searching for things like Plug-in.

The download speed is faster than Windows but read on for even better results.

2. Disadvantages

The install of Ubuntu is very large and takes up over 4GB to run on RAM. This maybe a problem for older computers.

The install and separation of reserved data takes a long time to perform. (You may have to find something else to do during this process.)

The flash players may not be so compatible. For some users Adobe works like a dream, however our attempt at this caused many different problems. Some we could not overcome.

Puppy Linux

         1. Advantages

Puppy Linux has many different versions such as Slacko Puppy, Wary Puppy etc. This means you can find the one that’s suited for you.

So far, this is definitely the fastest browser. Our evaluation was that we could access search engines within seconds of loading the computer up. This was very useful.

The install was of normal speed. It took us about 10 minutes to install.

Only takes up 100MB to install and uses under 200MB of RAM to run. This was much smaller than Windows and Ubuntu.

Downloadable ‘Pupplets’ are on a software database that is relatively easy to access.

Has a very fast download speed for most packages.

You can use your USB stick to boot Linux; however this can be slightly complicated for Novices. Ask the forums for assistance on the BIOS boot-up.

There are rather rare updates and it only takes a small amount of your time to download them.

2. Disadvantages

Quite Unclear and not all information is provided on the help window, so this software is not for Novices unless you just want to use it for browsing.

DSL

         1. Advantages

Damn Small Linux: A version of Linux that is apart from the initial website. As the name suggests it is really damn small.

Takes an insignificant 50MB to download and install and can also run off USB!

Very fast install and download speed.

Also has Applets from a small software database, however these are basic software.

2. Disadvantages

The Browser is of around Ubuntu’s speed and is a little more basic.

Flash is incompatible.

Information and help is unclear so this OS are for experts and computer software and programming.

These are all the OS we have tested so far. Our opinionated best is Puppy Linux (Slacko Puppy) because of its mega-fast loading power, browsing and download speed. However, Ubuntu is the OS we are now using because it is the best for the use of documentation, flash, andAjax. This is good for businesses that do a little browsing and document work.

Tests

The tests carried out are as followed:

Browser speed test: By timing how long a page takes to load on each OS, we can determine which is fastest and order them by speed. The page used for this test was http://www.wellingtonchamber.org/

The results of this test were: Windows – 7.2 seconds

Ubuntu – 4.1 seconds

Puppy Linux – 2.5 seconds

DSL – 5.9 seconds

Install speed test: According to Windows downloader’s, install times are as followed:

The results of this test were: Windows – 45 minutes 32 seconds

Ubuntu – 31 minutes 5 seconds

Puppy Linux – 10 minutes 55 seconds

DSL – 5 minutes 50 seconds

Clearness test: This was Opinion so it was not much of a test. However I based the results upon how clear the help was about changing OS on booting.

Ability test: This was the same process as above and merely by opinion. If you have your own views on this issue we persuade you to stick with it.

Ajax test: This was tested on Ajax Daddy website. Analysed the amount of fps (frames per second) and ordered the OS accordingly.

The results of this test were:

Windows – 20 fps
Ubuntu – 29 fps
Puppy Linux – 12 fps
DSL – 10 fps

Load up test: This was done by timing how long the OS took to load its main desktop.

The results of this test were: Windows – 1 minute 3 seconds

Ubuntu – 2 minutes 2 seconds

Puppy Linux – 32 seconds

DSL – 49 seconds

All test results may vary from computer to computer, but the order will most likely be the same.

If you are one of the zillion people signed up for Google+, you will have noticed that you can ‘share’ or ‘G+1′ a result in the list of web pages a Google search presents to you. I’ve been getting to grips with the effects that sharing pages in this way can have on sites Google ranking performance.

I would expect that site I ‘shared’ would move nearer toward the top of the rankings, but whats interesting is that Google promotes sites that those in my circles have shared via the +1 button too.  You can try this yourself:  Open up a browser window and do a search that you have done before.  Then, log in to Google Plus and do the same search.  Different results?

What does this mean for website owners?
Still early days for Google Plus, and if there is one thing I’ve learned over 10+ years of optimising for Google and online marketing, it’s no knee jerk reations and don’t panic!  It’s worth simply ‘sharing’ your link with your fellow plussers anyway, why not?

I’m hypothesizing here while I carry out further research with colleagues, but could we be seeing the effect on rankings affected by the number of people in your circles?  If someone with thousands of plussers in their cirles shares a website, will that propel the site even further to the coveted top positions on page one?  Could it simple be the value of a link from Google+ is higher than links from other places?  We just don’t know yet.

What we do know, is that relying on Google to keep feed your website with visitors is not a great strategy.  It’s like opening a chipshop on a bus route.  If the bus operators choose to change the route, you’re stuffed.

Using a blend of methods to promote your website and your business is a much more reliable and less risky option, there are literally hundreds of ways to promote your website, why put all your eggs in one Google-sized basket?

Author Karen Lloyd, who lives in Ironbridge and has a day job in sales and marketing, wrote and launched the book last month with the help of Telford grahic design and print specialist, Runtime who also put the online ordering page up in record time.  It gives dogs and their owners a series of walks to explore the beautiful Ironbridge Gorge, historic Coalbrookdale and the various dog-friendly routes in between, with £1 from each book bought online (if mentioned when ordering) going directly to Dogs Trust.

Written from the viewpoint of her beloved Kelpie/Border Collie cross, Boomerang, Karen has made this book not only useful, with walks for every ability and whim, but charming to read.  The walks contained in the book range from 1 mile (or 45 minutes) to 7.5 miles (or half a day) and include stops for water, pork pies and even beer, keeping both dogs and their owners happy.  Other useful information includes suggestions of areas where dogs can run free, maps including suggestions for places to stop to eat and drink, find water to play in and for owners to sit down and take in the surroundings.

Karen says: “I have raised money for Dogs Trust in the past and really wanted to do it again.  However, an illness meant that I had to come up with a new idea which allowed me to combine my love of dogs with something I’d always wanted to do.  It’s been a long and challenging process to write and publish the book, but I’m over the moon with the result.”

“I researched the book by taking Boomerang on walks around the area every Sunday and writing up each one when I got home.  I then asked friends to try the walks and write testimonials to put in the book (and a photo to make their dogs famous!)”

Karen hopes to produce a further book for the Shrewsbury area next, which she hopes to release before the end of the year.

Walking with Boomerang is on sale at outlets in and around Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale, local Just for Pets stores as well as the Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre in Roden for £4.99.  For each copy bought from Roden, £1 goes to Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity.  Visit http://www.boomerangbookstore.co.uk  for stockists or to order online.

“All remarkable achievements for one still relatively young. This young man truly is one to watch, he has achieved great things in the short time he has been in the business,” said the judges. Richard Thomes, President of the IHA, had flown in from the USA especially to make the award.
 
“The whole experience was brilliant,” said Andrew who is a director of www.tools4thegarden.co.uk, a website which offers more than 3,000 hardware and gardening products. The young entrepreneur set the website up to run in conjunction with its parent company – Masseys, a South Derbyshire hardware business which is set to celebrate its 64th anniversary this year.

We’d like to think that we had a small part in the success of the websites, but the drive and enthusiasm from Andrew has been truly exceptional.  Well done from us all!

http://www.tools4thegarden.co.uk offers an array of products in order to best find the one to suit you. Our Lawn Mowers include Mountfield lawn mowers, Flymo lawn mowers and Bosch lawn mowers. Our Petrol chainsaws include Husqvarna chainsaws and Stihl chainsaws, and our Petrol strimmers include Stihl strimmers and Husqvarna strimmers.

As an established Telford Web Design company, we are often asked to run our eye over websites for businesses large and small when things aren’t working as expected or the enquiries are lower than anticipated.

This is a super checklist we use that covers a few of the main points we look at when building websites to make certain that your web site visitors turn into customers.

1) Hiding your main contact details
Customers often want to drop you a quick email, pick up the phone or even call in if you have a store or studio. Make certain that at least your phone number is displayed on every page, and it’s a good idea to put your address and email address or if you are feeling particularly adventurous, why not try a small contact form in the footer or a column on your site? How about a map or a link to Google Maps?

2) Dead contact forms
When was the last time you tried your own contact form to see what the visitor experience was like? Do you actually get the enquiry in a timely fashion? Do the visitors need to get a thank you email?

3) Asking too many questions
Busy people don’t have time to answer a multitude of questions. Ask fewer questions and you’ll get more answers. Conversely, if you have too many poor quality enquiries, you can help qualify your visitors by asking more questions so the time wasters get fed up and leave.

4) Give them all the answers so they don’t need to call.
If you give the visitors the benefit of fixing their printer, why should they call the printer repair man? If you offer a few small tips, tricks or checklists, make sure its just enough to show your expertise and you are not giving away your secrets to customers or competitors. Sanitise the information on your site to make certain they have to make that enquiry.

5) Big pages
With more and more people using mobile devices, keep huge photos tucked away because no-one likes downloading a 1MB web page on an iPhone. Especially true if you are offering a local service like a restaurant or a garage. People on the move want quick access to your essential information.

6) Not asking for the order
Do you actually tell people to make the enquiry or place the order? Make it obvious, underline links and make buttons big and bold. Google ‘call to action’. If you have long pages, you might need to have multiple ‘add to basket’ or ‘make an enquiry’ buttons or links.

7) Untraceable address
Using a PO Box or no address at all can kill confidence in your website and ultimately in you. What are you hiding? If you are taking money or credit card details, this is essential. If you really don’t want to have your home address published on your website, then look out for a bona fide business address that can hold mail for you.

8 ) Old website content, not updated
Site last changed in 2005? Are you even still in business? Adding a news section to your web site always seems like a good idea at the time, but is often forgotten once the gloss of a new website has faded. If you have no news, take the news off and remove all the dates.

What are your next steps to improve your web site going to be ?  You might want to ask us to take a look at your site – 01952 457392

1) This is the search box.  I’m sure you knew this already but I’d thought I’d better start at the top.  What you may have missed is the number of pages that are matched to the phrase you have typed in.  As a general rule, the lower the number, the easier it is to get listed on page 1 for that phrase.  Anything below 250,000 is low!

2) These are paid for adverts, using the Google Adwords system.  There are normally two panels for these ads to appear.  One above the main listings, and the other on the right hand column.  If there are not enough ads to display, Google may only show the ones in the right column.  Google adwords can be a great way to get your web site to the top of the search engines quickly and consistently.  It can also be a great way to burn cash.  Google adwords provided 97% of Googles revenue in 2009.  If you are worried about your Google Ad Spend, call us for a free review 01952 457392.

3) These are the ‘organic’ results.  Usually set to 10 per page, this is where Googles algorithmn determines which pages best match the phrase typed in.

Depending on your search phrase you might also see video results appearing (try searching ‘make a cake’) local results (try ‘telford van hire’),  shopping results (try ‘flymo lawnmower’) and occasionally, news results (try ‘Toyota Recall’).  These are all useful opportunities to get your site into the Google Search Engine.

Runtime Uk Ltd, based in Telford are Web Design and Online Marketing specialists.  For a free review of your online marketing call 01952 457392, or to receive SEO tips by email – click here.

Measure 1:  Visitors
How are you going to measure this? Only one way – Google Analytics.  This one is dead easy implement and simple to understand.  Don’t confuse visitors with hits, unique visitors are the only visitor numbers you need.

Measure 2:  Orders
How many orders are you getting?  Simple (I’d hope!) just count ‘em up.  From this you can work out the next measure

Measure 3: Conversion Rate
This is how many orders you are getting as a percentage.  Divide the number of visitors by the number of orders.  When you push your sales buttons, and pull your delivery levers, this will help you decide if it worked or not.

Measure 4:  Total Sales in £
I’ d hope this is easy to get hold of.  How much have you sold this month?

Measure 5:  Average Basket Value
Perhaps not the ABV you first think of, but this measure is a key one if you are looking to grow your sales online.

If you are a client of ours, we stick these figures into a spreadsheet for you and then work out ways to: increase your visitors, (One client of ours is seeing a 9 fold increase in visitors compared to the same time last year), increase your Conversion Rate by getting more people who visit to buy, and increasing your ABV so that the people who do buy, buy more from your online shop.

I have a passion for search engine marketing, converting visitors to buyers and increasing web sales. If want to be notified of my research in this area to help you sell more, click here.  You can unsubscribe at any time. 

If you can’t wait to get your website working harder, talk to me, Andy on 01952 457392 and ask about our premier website marketing service,

1) Use your own data.  If you are buying in data, especially email addresses, you need to be really careful.  Our own research shows that email addresses date very quickly, and you get the best results if people have freely given you permission to use their email address

2) Use date related content. In the majority of cases, if the recipient doesn’t do something when they first see the the email, they won’t touch it again unless its very special.  For best results, have offers that have some sense of urgency about them.

3) Measure results.  What excites your clients?  What do they like to hear about?  By including 3 or 4 subjects in an email an seeing which ones are the most (and least) popular, you can get an idea about what to include and leave out next time.

4) Do it.  Don’t keep thinking its a great idea and never quite get round to it. You can get a free trial of the system here: http://constantcontact.runtimeuk.com