About USdigital

Apprentice fever has hit our TV screens again and is likely to dominate office chat in the weeks to come. In this series candidates are competing for an investment in their own business rather than a 6 figure salary as Lord Sugar aims to show that despite the current economic situation there is still the opportunity to make money.

A strong online presence is key to any new or young business. USdigital have recognised this with their new start-up business website and online advertising packages. Ranging from small brochure websites to spread the reach and awareness of a business to e-commerce websites showcasing a range of products, USdigital can create the bespoke solution for all requirements.

It doesn’t just stop at websites. Here at USdigital we understand the importance of being on the first page of search engine listings for phrases key to the success of the website as well as utilising pay per click advertising opportunities.

For no obligation advice on how USdigital can help you please contact one of our team who are always happy to use their enthusiasm for all things digital to help you.

It has been a busy few weeks here at USdigital! There are several new websites on the way all of which have been bespoke designed, built to the latest standards and tested for cross browser compatibility. With online competition more aggressive than ever, we have seen an increase in clients taking advantage of their websites being formatted for search engine optimisation. Many are using the special offer on our monthly SEO package to push their website into the top search engine listings for the key phrases that mean the most to them. 

Content management systems (CMS) are also growing in popularity. These allow copy and imagery on websites to be edited easily in house, keeping websites up to date whilst preventing the need for extra costs for updates.

Holly is settling in well and is proving to be a valuable addition to the team. The team and clients alike have been very impressed with her modern designs and knowledge of all areas of the web.

Keep a look out for the launch of the new websites soon!

Football Ground Equipment has launched it’s new website with the help of USdigital’s web design team. The new content managed website found at www.footballgroundequipment.co.uk showcases the large range of ground equipment the company offers including football goals, football nets, football scoreboards and football pitch accessories. The website was designed by USdigital, and will be supported by a Pay Per Click advertising campaign and a large SEO campaign.  The website targets football clubs, schools and leisure centres throughout the UK.

USdigital’s sister company Unsworth Sugden will also provide printed marketing literature support for Football Ground Equipment, and complete branding for the company.

For more information about USdigital’s services please contact Ryder Sugden

The internet is by far one of the largest marketing tools open to companies of all types and sizes. The expectancy of companies and organisations to have a website is so great that it’s a shock if they don’t have one.

This large volume means that for some time it has no longer been good enough to simply have a website. With the majority of users preferring search engines to find what they want, failure to manage your online presence such as where it appears in their rankings results in losses to competitors.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click advertising (PPC) create opportunities to stand out in crowded market places and direct traffic to your website. An effective combination of SEO and PPC creates and/or improves online brand awareness with this also being reflected on the high street and in commercial centres.

SEO is considered the more common tool for improving search engine listings but PPC allows keyword effectiveness to be analysed so the most effective combination of SEO and PPC can be selected.

Controlling your site’s online presence isn’t just about climbing the rankings to the top listings. Already a reputable leader in your market place? Social networking allows a huge scope for freedom of speech. If a site isn’t optimised there is a risk of other people’s views on your company being more visible than how you portray yourself.

Is your site doing all it can for you?  

Some solid SEO tips…

Be bold. Use the <b> </b> tags around some of your keywords on each page. Do NOT use them everywhere the keyword appears. Once or twice is plenty.

Deep linking. Make sure you have links coming in to as many pages as possible. What does it tell a search engine when other web sites are linking to different pages on your site? That you obviously have lots of worthwhile content. What does it tell a search engine that all your links are coming in to the home page? That you have a shallow site of little value, or that your links were generated by automation rather than by the value of your site. 

Newsletters. Offer articles to ezine publishers that archive their ezines. The links stay live often for many years in their archives.

First come, first served. If you must have image links in your navigation bar, include also text links. However, make sure the text links show up first in the source code, because search engine robots will follow the first link they find to any particular page. They won’t follow additional links to the same page.

Multiple domains. If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might warrant two. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way.

Article exchanges. You’ve heard of link exchanges, useless as they generally are. Article exchanges are like link exchanges, only much more useful. You publish someone else’s article on the history of pudding pops with a link back to their site. They publish your article on the top ten pudding pop flavors in Viet Nam, with a link back to your site. You both have content. You both get high quality links. (More on high quality links in other tips.)

Titles for links. Links can get titles, too. Not only does this help visually impaired surfers know where you are sending them, but some search engines figure this into their relevancy for a page.

Not anchor text. Don’t overdo the anchor text. You don’t want all your inbound links looking the same, because that looks like automation - something Google frowns upon. Use your URL sometimes, your company name othertimes.

Site map. A big site needs a site map, which should be linked to from every page on the site. This will help the search engine robots find every page with just two clicks. A small site needs a site map, too. It’s called the navigation bar.

There is a lot more to search engine optimization, and there are always more details when looking at an individual site. But these tips should help any website significantly improve its rankings!!!

The popular Regency Hotel and Restaurant situated on London Road just south of Leicester city centre has chosen USdigital to launch an SEO campaign. The Leicester hotel wants to drive more search engine traffic to its website through Google with targeted keywords.

USdigital has launched a new website for UK cricket ground equipment manufacturer, Durant Cricket, who design and supply cricket nets, cricket covers, cricket scoreboards and other cricket equipment.  The new content managed website can be seen at Durant Cricket .  USdigital is also helping Durant Cricket with a online campaign including pay per click advertising, monthly email marketing campaigns, and search engine optimisation.

It is always a topic of conversation in any website meeting: ”where are we in Google?  We need to be top of the first page.  We need to be above our competitors!”  Companies are becoming obsessed with search engine optimisation and being top on the first page of Google.  And quite rightly so, with Google accounting for over 50% of Internet searches, it is a powerful marketing tool.

However, Microsoft is now bidding to overthrow Google’s search engine supremacy with the launch of Bing, a new search engine it says will give more useful results and end its rival’s dominance.

The search engine will allow users to target their searches more accurately and do away with the millions of irrelevant results that many searches retrieve on Google. Microsoft calls it a “decision engine” because, it claims, it refines your search more carefully and offers a list of topics of related interest — something Google doesn’t do.

Bing went live in the US on the 2nd June, and is currently under development at Microsoft’s headquarters in London.  Ashley Highfield from Microsoft says, We have what we think are a series of Google-beating features.” ”We are trying to move from a world where people are generally frustrated with their search, to one where people are genuinely pleased with their answers.

“For example, if you enter Nikon D80, Bing will know you are looking for a camera. From that moment on, a lot of things happen differently. With Google you get 500,000 search results in decreasing relevance. With us, because we know it’s a camera, we immediately open up categories on the left hand side. It starts with where to buy Nikon D80s, the next one is instruction manuals, or how to use Nikon D80s. Anything you put in it will recognise and start to categorise.”

Bing is an exciting new bit of kit, but it surely faces an up hill struggle to surpass Google.   But one day we could just be adopting the phrase ’Bing it’ in preference to ’Google it”

Only a couple of years ago SEO seemed to be a mysterious form of ‘black magic’.  It was believed, somewhere out there, existed powers which would help to position your website within Google and other search engines.  People realised SEO existed, but paid little attention to it. 

Now things have changed!  SEO is the new marketing meeting buzz word.  We can no longer go to a client marketing meeting without mentioning Search Engine Optimisation.  Everyone wants to know more about SEO. 

Why is my website not on the first page of Google? 
My competitor’s website is on the first page? 
How do I get my site onto the first Page of Google?
Question: Why are people now paying more attention to SEO?
Answer:  Because they can’t afford not too?

With over 38 million people in the UK using the internet (over 60% of the UK population), and with 80% percent of these people using search engines to find the service or product they need, companies can no longer ignore SEO.  A company’s website must feature highly in the Search Engine’s - especially Google. 

Company directors and marketing managers are now spending less time worrying about web design and more time worrying whether their website is being built in a search engine friendly manner.

Statistics taken from Hitwise and Nielsen/Net Ratings