Info, notes and updates

 A lot of the old fashioned ways of doing SEO (search engine optimisation) really have expired. So relying on meta tag keywords or link building, and the like could even work against you.

Google now looks for good high value content, more to the point, new content. Which is why I tell my clients to post stuff on a regular basis. To all intents, a blog. You can call it what you want, news, updates, tips and tricks, whatever you like. You can build the relevant keywords terms into the headings and body on the articles you create. Then link back to them from your social media accounts. Adding pictures or videos will also help enhance your presence.

This is just one of the easy to do way to organically improve your standing on search engines, and it has a major advantage, it will only cost you a little of your time. There are of course services out there that will do this for you, at a price. Some are quite good, others not so much. Ultimately it's worth remembering that you are the expert in your business.

Cavespider, where value is over cost

You are probably thinking that you never sign up to apps on your Facebook account. That's what I though once then I looked further. You would be horrified at how many apps appear to have access to your Facebook data and I hear you say, "But I never signed up to these".

So how do they get there?

Have you ever signed up to a website using the 'Sign up with Facebook' option?

Do you share stuff from websites you are signed into? For instance Strava. If you share you activities from there it will have installed an app into your Facebook account. I should add I believe that Strava's activities are completely innocent, many websites are not.

When setting up a new account on a website do you provide your Facebook address? In many cases this will lead to something being installed.

Quite frankly I have apps on my account that I'm still trying to work out how they got there.

You can manage this now, to a degree. If you go to settings in your Facebook account and select 'Apps and websites' you will see a listing of the active and expired apps. You can change the privacy settings a bit here. Personally I would suggest removing the app altogether if you're not sure. Check the expired apps too.

GDPR should sort some of this but I suspect it will take a while so best to watch you're opting for.

Cavespider, my interest is your interest

That is because so many of those that are currently calling themselves web developers rely on off the shelf templates. If the template won't do it then they can't make it happen.

There are still proper website developers out there if a little harder to find. So if you are a designer and you want the website to look and function like your design then you should talk to me, that is what I do and enjoy doing. It won't cost a fortune, I promise.

I have been working with designers for over twenty years. They generally want things pixel perfect and colours that look like what they had in the design. My attitude is 'yes', now lets work out how to do it.

If you want to talk to any of my designer clients I would be happy to put you in touch.

Cavespider, building what you design

Trust me, you're not alone in not knowing what to put in your website. You know you need one, you also know people need to be able to find you online and be impressed enough to want to deal with you.

I have been asked more often than I care to disclose 'Can you just do me a website?', quite literally. I do understand and as such I am prepared. Many of my clients do have a very specific idea of what they want but even they sometimes need a helping hand. So I have a couple of excellent content writers who will come and chat with you and work through what you need to say and how you want to present your business. This is what these guys do, they are the experts, so you don't need to be.

So if you don't have a clue what to say, we can definitley help you.

Cavespider, taking the block out of writers

A large part of what a software developer does is to keep your software secure. As hackers and mal-intents find new ways to get into our computers, networks and websites the developers are always going to be slightly behind the game. So it really is important to keep everything as up to date as possible, and not just for any new features.

Sometimes the updates aren't perfect and have been known to cause problems, generally minor, but annoying none the less. Some I know have a policy of delaying the update to see if any issues do arise on colleagues systems or appear in the press. I would suggest this is a bad idea. Now your hackers are looking for those that still have that vulnerability, and they'll be progressively fewer of those which means the chances of the attention being focused on you are increasing higher. I have seen the reality of this, so beware.

Websites are no exception. If you have a website based on Joomla, Wordpress and one of the other big platforms your are lucky. They have thousands of users. Many of those users are very experienced and feed back any security issues. There is a secure way of doing this. On a platform such as Joomla there are literally hundreds of developers who will immediatley get onto the matter and find a fix. That then gets published and the website owners notified.

But there are also all the widgets, templates, extensions and plugins that go to make your website function as it does. These are a bit more of an unknown but they most be kept up to date. These come from developers large and small so the amount of support they get is rather variable. This is where a support agreement with your webperson is so important as they will stay on top of this and try to ensure that all aspects of your website are kept as secure as the software available will allow.

Cavespider, right up to date