TBO Media Ltd

Hi all,

As you know, we recently posted details of the Web Design Hertfordshire Google Challenge, click the link for the full article. We decided to pick this keyword phrase to see how well we can really perform, on this highly competitive keyword phrase.

First up, we created a new page which related to our target phrase. You may have come across websites which have the keyword duplicated a dozen times in a single paragraph to get into Google. It simply doesn’t work like that. Not only does it look terrible, you are at risk of being booted out of the Google rankings permanently.

So you’ll notice our new page looks no different from the rest of the website, reads in plain English, and has been written for a human, not a machine. The page went live, and guess what happened?

Results from UK searches

A few days later and we get noticed, page 23, position 227. Wow. A long way off our final goal, but progress nonetheless. Remember, we didn’t rank at all for this term before we started this challenge. So we think 227 out of 668,000 is pretty good going for week one!

Content is vitally important for your website, and this test proves this to us. If you don’t have any content, your website will not work. Not just for search engines, but your customers want to read about you too. It’s that simple.

Here’s our quick list of do’s and don’ts to write effective website content:

Do..

• Make it unique
• Make it interesting, short and to the point
• Make it easy to understand

Don’t..

• Write more than 800 words per article
• Use all your industry jargon
• Copy someone else (no Copy and Paste!)
• Spam it with your keywords

In a nutshell, that’s how you write effective content. If you get stuck, we can always do it for you, just ask.

That’s all for now, stay tuned for the next update!

As you all know, tbomedia is a new and young site. At only a month old, its a real baby compared to the competition!

New sites are great, they look fresh and often packed with new ideas. The problem is, they lack the power and foothold in the Google rankings that older, more matured sites have. New sites take longer to be trusted by Google – Google doesn’t want to put any old rubbish in the rankings, it takes time to check the new guys out.

Sites which have been around longer have more content (normally), more links and higher rankings.. which means more visitors and more potential customers.

This is a problem many new sites face, having to wait up to 6months before appearing in Google can be frustrating, and even then only if your site has had any good optimisation done. TBO Media rely on the internet to generate business, so we need to showcase what we can and can’t do. That’s where the idea for the Web Design Hertfordshire Google Challenge was born.

At the moment, Google returns 669,000 results for the search term ‘Web Design Hertfordshire.’ And how well does our website rank for those terms? Very, very, very badly! Infact, we are not ranking at all for those search terms. That’s pretty normal for the age of the site, but we want to do better than ‘nowhere’.

So, we’ve given ourselves a target of 3months to improve and fast track our ranking. We’ll be tweaking the homepage, adding in some keywords, and building some links to get Google listening to us. We’ll give you an update over the next few weeks with our progress.

Wish us luck!

Hi all!

Just a quick blog post to cover a question I received yesterday evening; ‘What is LinkedIn?”

Put simply, LinkedIn is social networking for business. It is the largest network for professionals in the world, with over 40 million members. According to LinkedIn in; “one new user registers every second”. . impressive numbers!

LinkedIn profiles are a good way to connect with others, share your expertise and also find expertise. They are a great for getting your company listed in Google, due to the high authority of trust Google places on the LinkedIn website.  If you aren’t listed on LinkedIn, you are missing a quick and easy opportunity to promote your business online.

For an example, click here to check out TBO Media’s profile. See the video below for further detail..

What is it?

Open source software means the source code is available to the public. You are able to change, add and configure it as you wish, and use it for commercial and personal projects.

How much does it cost?

Its 100% free, no strings attached. No license costs, and available to all.

If its free, why does TBO Media charge for it?

We charge for our time in setting up and customising the software to suit your business. Having the cost of the source code at zero, we can pass these savings onto our customers. The Open Source Directory Project claims ‘savings of about $60 billion per year to consumers’ who have adopted open source solutions over the paid for versions.

What are the hidden costs?

There are no nasty ‘per user’ license costs hidden away here. To be honest, you only need to factor in updating and maintaining the software with the latest security patches, this is standard practice to keep at the leading edge and reduce risks of hacking and down time. These costs are minimal over the course of a year – average being 2-3 updates a year.

Is it only for budget websites?

No! Open source software is a great way to save on costs, regardless of the size of your business. See the examples below for some global corporations who are using the software.

Can it be customised to reflect my company brand?

Yes. That’s part of what you pay us for!

So, who uses it?

Everyone from home users, small business and global corporations. The software is extremely flexible, making it appeal to all business models.

What are some examples?

• Vodafone (Iceland)
• Burger King (USA)
• Olympus (Australia)
• Cable and Wireless (USA)
• Avis (Nicaragua)
• Porsche (Brazil)
• Nikon (USA)

Is it safe/secure?

Yes. The nature of Open Source Software means it is always being tested for security holes, unlike many paid for versions which sit for years with security holes. The security patches are available to download for free, and will see you running the latest versions within 30minutes. TBO Media are able to update and install these patches as you wish, saving you the hassle.

Isn’t it buggy code built by teenagers?

No, this is a nothing more than a myth. Open Source Software is high level, well coded software with teams of developers, maintainers and editors working on the projects.

So that’s our top tips on Open Source Software, let us know what you think!

As of August 2009, TBO Media will begin phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.

We strongly recommend upgrading your browser to greatly improve your web browsing experience and security online. All of these browsers are free to download.

• Download Safari
• Download Firefox
• Download Internet Explorer 8

Why remove support for this browser?

Internet Explorer 6 is a last generation browser, and cannot provide the same experience as modern internet browsers. Supporting Internet Explorer 6 means slower progress in the development of website design and development. Continuing to support IE 6 will hold us back.

Thanks again, and if you have any problems upgrading your browser please let us know.

“Let me tell YOU how to become a millionaire in 3weeks with your blog on cats”

You’ve heard it all before, right?

It doesn’t really work like that. Since we have been building blogs for customers and personal projects, we have learnt a lot about what works, and what is a waste of time. With our soon to be published ebook, we can tell you how to make money with your blog, not millions, but enough to pay for the next bag of groceries… Maybe even more.

We’ll talk about the following in the soon to be published E-book:

• Setting up a blog
• Keyword Research
• Getting Links
• Writing content
• Monotonize a blog

Sound interesting? Register your interest on the form below to be notified when we release the E-book:

In case you hadn’t heard, TBO Media provide web design in Hertfordshire (UK) and also in Switzerland. TBO Media continue to develop internet solutions for a broad client base from our family run home office. Being based so close to London and Stansted Airport means we are well connected to offer services in the capital, aswell as putting us on europe’s doorstep.

We’ve been busy developing and testing the new website, so have look around and let us know what you think. Hopefully you’ll agree its a vast improvement over the old site, and really showcases our skills and services far better.

You can read all about TBO Media by using the navigation bar above, we have everything from our history and vision to services and our latest portfolio pieces. If you are interested or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

And if you haven’t already, why not check out our latest Google Challenge?

Cheers!

A content management system (CMS) allows you, the user, to take control of your website. A CMS is designed for users with little knowledge of ‘websites’ to create and manage online content.

Content you can mange includes;

• Text (New pages, news items, blogs etc)
• Photos
• Video
• Music

The best thing is, you can manage all this with no technical knowledge. You just log into a secure control panel and select what you want to manage. You can read more about Content Management here, in our services page.

All of these ‘buzzwords’ are trends, some more popular than others, which have their peaks  of popularity like any other topic. Most of them stem around Social Media, but what are they exactly? Here’s a breakdown of the top three.

1. Web 2.0

Web 2.0 best describes the next generation of internet technology born in late 2000. For example, services which fall under this category include;

• Blogging
• Social Networking
• Wikipedia
• Flickr, tagging

The list goes on. The idea with the Web 2.0 movement is using the internet as a platform to offer rich user experience and online services, and not packaged software.

2. Micro Blogging

A new trend, which is owed almost exclusively to Twitter. Microblogging allows you to keep updated (and update others) with small pieces of easily digestible information. For a business, this can include news snippets, product offers and promotions.

3. Mashups

A mashup combines different sources of web technology to produce a single end result. Common Mashups involve using the Google maps API.

So three of the hot topics covered, but what about the rest? Head over to the Social Media section under services to find out more.