Just a quick blog post to comment on how awesome the Magic Trackpad is to use! Ok, it uses the same multi-touch technology as the MacBook Pro however it is slighter bigger. And if like me you are used to having a mouse positioned to the right of you most days, then a Magic Trackpad is the ideal replacement!

With nearly 80% more surface area, it’s the largest Multi-Touch trackpad made by Apple, well worth the investment if you enjoy clicking, scrolling and swiping away the day!

A Magic Trackpad supports a full set of finger tip gestures including two-finger scrolling, pinching to zoom, rotating with your fingertips, three-finger swipes, switching between applications with four fingers… It is just so cool, ideal for people who need to work fast and efficiently.

Ok, rant over its time to get back to some web design and graphics work… Until next time, have a great week and enjoy the arrival of Spring 2011.

If I asked who are your main competitors in your local area then you could probably list a few company names off the top of your head… However, if I asked you who is currently top of Google, Yahoo and Bing for search terms relevant to your business, then would you be able to list these sites?

Competitor analysis allows you to assess certain areas within a business, assessing the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) for the key phase you wish to target will give you a better understanding of who and what you are up against! If the site top of Google is well established, has several thousand-quality backlinks, over 500 pages in its sitemap.xml, a news blog updated weekly, regular twitter, Facebook and social networking activity, a nice looking and modern website then you will know the task ahead is not going to be an easy one!

When working on past SEO campaigns I have sometimes called up the main competition and asked, “Whom does your SEO work? We are a company in a different sector looking for a quality marketing firm to represent us”… If the company has a monster-marketing budget then 9 times out of 10 you can expect to hear that they do this kind of work in-house… So if your budget for SEO is less than that of a full-time SEO guru, then targeting less competitive keywords maybe the better / more cost effective option for your business.

Whatever keywords or key phrases you decide to target you will always find another site (well ranking or not) competing for the all-important SERPs… Once you have the key phrase(s) confirmed then look online at your competition and emulate what they are doing right… Remember, quality competition is not always a bad thing, a decent site can offer you vital data and information to help you promote your own website and business. Sites are often found on page one for a good reason, if you can understand why then you are one step closer to pushing your site to page one also.

This month Tidy Design built / ordered the stunning new MacBook Pro released at the end of Feb 2011… One word to describe this portable, state-of-the-art, high-speed machine is AWESOME!

The new MacBook Pro offers us web / graphic design folk portable performance… The battery life is a massive 7 hours; it has built in Thunderbolt technology, the fastest, most versatile I/O ever in a notebook… In a nutshell this will allow you to connect to the next generation of computers and transfer data up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0!

The new MacBook Pro will also perform up to twice as fast as the previous generation; this is ideal for editing large files and working on those BIG projects! Ok, this machine may not be ideal for everyone, however if you are looking for a portable computer that simply works and can handle whatever you throw at it then the new MacBook Pro is worth considering! The investment may be a bigger one, however the boosted productivity, results and performance worth every penny!

Like most people I start the day with a strong coffee and quick run through the latest news in the World today… One article I came across looked at how websites / companies will face restrictions on how they watch what their visitors do! This is important news for any SEO or web marketing dudes; changes will take effect in late-May thanks to the European e-Privacy directive.

Don’t panic if you have a website with Google Analytics or a stats counter installed, it would seem the focus at the moment on behavioural advertising. Behavioural advertising is when a site creates you a unique profile that dictates the type of adverts you see, the advertiser is therefore able to treat each user as an individual, thus able to promote / offer more relevant ads… So, unless you are FaceBook or one of the multi billion pound big players in the world of online advertising I would not worry just yet!

That said these changes are likely to have an impact on the general use and future of cookies. If the conclusion is to better inform visitors that a site stores cookies then be prepared for the re-birth of popup windows and user prompts! I guess this cookie shake up will help boost awareness of how certain sites monitor us… Or maybe (like me sometimes) you will just scroll through a mountain of small print, tick a box and click continue!

If you have any thoughts or feedback on the cookie shake-up or behavioural advertising then please post them below.

Over the last couple of months Tidy Design has spoken to a few clients looking to delve into the world of DIY SEO and web marketing. Ok, we fully understand that most businesses will be looking to cut costs and save money during these tough economic times… But my only thought / concern has to be, do we offer the same free consultation service to those not paying for SEO? One or two questions asked every other month is not a concern for me, but regular emails / questions is a very different story! Should we therefore setup a monthly support / consultation package for those looking to start DIY web marketing?

If you are an existing client of Tidy Design and you ever call up with an SEO related question then we never reply with “that is top secret information” or “we can not disclose that kind of data”… I would like to think we are very open with our pricing structure (both for web design and online marketing) and the services we offer. At the end of the day we want all our clients to grow as this is beneficial for us! If a client would rather invest thousands into Yell or invest his/her own time in DIY SEO then hats off to them, the important thing here is not to stand still and market your business the best way YOU see fit! The real crime is not marketing your business and expecting results!

Earlier today I did some research on the subject of ‘DIY SEO’ and ‘DIY Web Marketing’, it was very interesting to see a lot of SEO / web marketing companies asking similar questions to the ones I am asking today. Some of these ‘DIY SEO and ‘DIY Web Marketing’ questions being:

Based on past experience and our most successful SEO campaigns the less time spent answering questions and more time spent on backlink building and adding quality content to a site the better overall SEO results. Yes people want to know how their money is being spent each month, how we have allocated our time to the SEO campaign etc… This emailed in a bite size monthly report to all our SEO clients.

One article I read today on BlogStorm.com broke down SEO and web marketing budgets into the following camps:

This report later went on to say “The biggest thing that prevents people from succeeding at SEO is procrastinating and not putting in the hard work, especially people new to the industry.” – I totally agree with this one, you will need discipline!

So the most important question in regards to ‘DIY SEO’ and ‘DIY Web Marketing’ is what is your marketing budget? And also, can the SEO freelancer or SEO agency deliver within that budget? If you’re competitor employs a marketing team to work 5 day weeks, 9 to 5, then will your £350 monthly marketing budget deliver the desired results, I doubt this very much!

I personally think the SEO industry is swamped with black-hat SEO companies, rival business models such as Yellow Pages selling their own versions of SEO due to the Jurassic and almost extinct phonebook model, and cold calling spammers who CLAIM to be part of Google offering overnight success to a select lucky few! Come on, do you really believe Google is calling you for business? People go to Google not the other way round!

As for Tidy Design supporting a ‘DIY SEO’ model I am still not sure about it… I think if you have the desire to learn then hats off and good luck to you… Finding a creditable SEO provider is difficult for any business, we have heard many horror stories from companies that moved over to us after wasting both time and money on bad SEO! Our main focus has to be our existing SEO clients and supporting them to the best of our ability, delivering the desired results time and time again!

Please stay tuned to our SEO page on Tidy Design to see if / when we proceed with a consultation package for DIY web marketing. Until then please feel free to post your comments / questions below, fire over a quick email or give us a call about SEO.

Please Note: We do not outsource SEO services or backlink building to third parties

Earlier today my wife and I AKA Tidy Design took a rare morning / afternoon off to stretch our legs and inhale some sea air! To be honest we have been mega busy with work, 2011 kicked off with a bang and our feet are yet to touch the ground! Being in business I feel it is important to find time to think… We can all get lost in our to-do lists and not allocate enough time to relax, reflect or plan our next moves.

Anyway, as per usual I took my camera along and snapped away! A few photos taken on Southsea beach I later edited and added above… Trust me, it looks warmer than it actually was!

Living and working in Southsea is awesome, however it is easy to forget what great surroundings we have just a short walk away! Southsea offers a theatre, endless coastal walks, a common, selection of restaurants, bars, hotels, regular events, shops and more!

Tidy Design is lucky to be working with lots of these local businesses; recommendations have played a big part in the growth of our web design company and we now work with some big businesses in Southsea ranging from Clarence Pier, The Queens Hotel, The Fitted Bedroom Centre, Back Care Beds, WH Hotel, Portsmouth Language College and many more! Working with businesses on our door step has allowed us to build awesome relationships and solid friendships with companies I first noticed when studying at Portsmouth University! How times have changed!

If you are a business based in Southsea then we would love to hear from you, please feel free to post your thoughts on the area… Maybe like us you occasionally escape to the sea front to blow away those cobwebs, re-boot the mind and re-charge for business? For such a small town Southsea truly has lots to offer all who live here and visit!