December 8th, 2009
If you run a blog and get a lot of comments submitted to your blog that are spam or links to malicious software, don’t worry, your not alone. According to WebSense 95% of blog comments are spam.
There are steps you can take to limit the amount of spam you get but the methods to combat spam vary depending on the blogging software you use (e.g. Blogger, WordPress, etc).
You could also take the drastic measure of turning off comments completely so that nobody can submit comments but then this doesn’t encourage a community and might make regular blog readers who like to leave a comment stop reading your blog.
Contact us if you would like to learn more.
December 5th, 2009
I’m going to let you into the mindset of a web designer/developer. We cringe when clients ask us to put a Web Counter onto their website and we do everything we can to persuade a client against having one on their website.
Here are the two reasons why I get asked for a web counter along with my general response:
“We want to be able to see how many visitors we get to our website”
My response: “Instead of putting a Web Counter on your website I will integrate Google Analytics for you which will give you more feedback on visitors to your website that you will ever use”. I won’t go into the power of Google Analytics here but suffice to say it is a very powerful solution and is 100% FREE.
“We want other people to see how many visitors we get to our website”
My response: “Why would you want to give away key information about your business whilst risking the survival of your company at the same time?” Lets just say you have a website selling jam pot covers and you have only been operational for 6 months. Then, lets say your Web counter shows you have had 18,000 visits in 6 months. What you are telling people is that jam pot covers are highly sought after and therefore profitable. What’s to stop these people setting up a website in direct competition to you.
November 28th, 2009
I have just today made a new website that I have designed, developed, and hosted live. The website is for Traumatic Cleanup Ltd and you can see it at: www.traumatic-cleanup.co.uk. We also designed and created the logo.
November 28th, 2009
PanoConsulting had already designed and developed the Hideaway Beds website earlier this year and it had strong bold colours and was a bit more cutting-edge that your average healthcare website.
As the recession in Britain continued I was contacted by Hideaway Beds again to redesign the Hideaway Beds website. The website still has the same functionality but Hideaway Beds wanted the design to be changed to make it less flashly and more like a DIY website.
So… thats what we did and the feedback I have been given by Hideaway Beds is that it is working…
Take a look at the new-look website at: www.hideaway.co.uk
November 28th, 2009
Where does the time go? I have just realised that I haven’t updated my blog since the 4th of August and here we are just a couple of days away from Christmas. That is the reason why I say that I should practice what I preach as blogs can be a great method to drive traffic to your website and encourage repeat visits but the golden rule is that you MUST keep your blog up-to-date. At least I have already worked out my New Year’s resolution - to keep the PanoConsulting blog up-to-date!
August 4th, 2009
Here at PanoConsulting we have a diverse range of skills and are not limited to purely web design and web hosting for example. That is why when we were approached by a Startup company and asked if we could develop a branding package for them that included a colour scheme, logo, business cards, website, and web hosting we immediately informed them that they were in safe hands if they chose us to work alongside them to give their new business an identity.
A few weeks down the line and the end result is another happy client for PanoConsulting, Fast Lane Fitness, run by Nick Lane a recent University graduate. Have a look at there website for yourself at www.fastlane-fitness.co.uk.
How do we know that Fast Lane Fitness are a happy client? Simple… the level of service and skill we provide ensures that our clients are always happy.
Below is the testimonial that we have just received from the client:
I was given Nicks number after speaking to a friend who had recently had a website made by Nick. After the initial consultation I was pleased to know that Nick catered not only for websites, but business cards and logos as well.
Nick developed a great brand image, which reflects my business and style. Being a personal trainer, I had to have the website looking inviting and friendly, whilst getting across all my information. Nick picked a great format for the site, which is easy to navigate for potential clients, and a neat little blog for me to update whenever I need to.
The logo, business cards and website were done quickly and at a great price. Nick has a rare creative style and I would recommend him to anyone.
Nick Lane – Fast Lane Fitness
July 10th, 2009
I play in the 2nd violins section of the Tavistock Orchestra and we had our first concert tonight. It was just an informal gathering where we played three pieces. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to September when we will meet again after the summer break. The pieces we played were:
1. Pirate of the Carribean medley.
2. Pavane by Gabriel Faure.
3. Jamaican Rumba by Arthur Benjamin.
May 30th, 2009
According to The Times newspaper today 40% of UK households do not have broadband and, of the UK customers that do have broadband 44% of them do not know what broadband speed they receive.
The percentage of households without broadband should be taken into account when a website is designed. The reason being is that for the users without broadband it takes a lot longer for a web page to load on their computer than it does for a person with high-speed broadband. Therefore, If a website does not cater for the current 40% of households without broadband then this will have a negative impact on the website. For example, users simply may not wait for a website to load if it is taking a while and, they may be frustrated when it actually does load so the website is already facing an uphill struggle to gain that users trust and affection.
There are many factors to take into consideration to optimise a website for users with and without broadband but, the key word is optimisation:
- For example photos need to be optimised for the website and not used unnecessarily. Optimising a photo for a website (in a nutshell) is all about balancing an acceptable image quality with an acceptable file size. So, the higher the image quality the higher the file size will be which means the longer it will take to download.
- Also, a website that is hand-coded rather than created with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) software will reap dividends. Hand-coded websites is a way to separate the wheat from the chaff so-to-speak as WYSIWYG software adds a lot of “code” that is surplus to requirements and just inflates file sizes which inflates loading times.
One final word from me on broadband. Research conducted by the BBC found that roughly 3 million households in the UK have broadband speeds of less than 2 megabits per second (2Mbps). The Government has pledged that all UK citizens will have access to broadband speeds of at least 2Mbps by the year 2012.
May 24th, 2009
Below are some tips to help you choose a domain name:
1. Keep it short and simple
You need to do what you can to help people find your website so a memorable website address is imperative. Give some thought to the shortest name that your target market will associate with your website.
2. Register similar domain names
The most popular domain name extensions are “.co.uk”, “.com”, “.eu”, and “.net”. Ideally you should have all of these registered at least. By registering all of them you can help to prevent cyber squatters and losing traffic.
3. Consider common typos
Do you have a domain name that can be misspelt or has a few ways of spelling it? If so, consider registering those as well to stop your potential website traffic not being able to find your website or even going elsewhere.
4. Act NOW
Ensure you register your domain name as soon as possible. The longer you leave it the more you risk somebody else registering it before you. Contact us on 0800 756 9999 if you require assistance and we will be happy to help you.
May 23rd, 2009
http://www.panoconsulting.co.uk/demo/time-sensitive-websites/
When making a website it is important to keep visitors returning to your website. The best way to achieve this is through the content on your website. Make sure the website content is engaging and updated regularly. Basically keep the website fresh.
Another way to keep a website fresh is through its design. Now, obviously you don’t want to keep re-designing your website but the good news is, you don’t have to. There are subtle techniques that you can utilise to strike a chord with your website visitors.
One method is to code the website to work out the time of day it is and then display a relevant background image. So, you could have four settings that the website would recognise. Namely “sunrise”, “sunset”, “day”, and “night”. For each of these four states you would have a background image created. Then the website would work out which of the four settings the current time of day falls within and it would then display the relevant background image. So if a visitor visits a website at 22:00 then the website would display the “night” background image.
Website visitors like little nuances like this as it makes a site more original and engaging and it is worthwhile for a webmaster to do as it doesn’t take much time.
Allow us to show you a very simply example of how this can be achieved. We have produced a simple example for you over at the following link, take a look: http://www.panoconsulting.co.uk/demo/time-sensitive-websites/
We won’t bore you with the science behind how it is achieved but when utilised it effectively produces a time sensitive website.
