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The ‘web design industry’ particularly in the SME sector is a superficial one. It is run rampant by amateur software operators who aim to churn out bog standard reskinned CMS solutions that are often short sighted, poorly done, achievable in about half the time hence were able to be competitive mostly on price. With little consideration on navigation sensibilities, designs principles, prioritization of information contents, architechture and failure to identify suitable target audiences. Unfortunately given they ‘appears’ to have ticked all functional boxes; to the uninformed clients, the cheapest solution often would seem a good buy without the awareness of long term consequences; including SEO constraints, maintenance and future expansion flexibilities which may prove to be more expensive in the long run, than building a solid foundation to begin with. Generally while clients appreciative of the creative and often innovative bespoke solutions (including CMS) that we came up that require design & development from scratch, we often find our self having to make compromises due to the budget constraints that ends up getting slashed while competing against with the cookie cutter types of web design companies who simply re-skin their CMS with the clients Logos and keeps the generic navigation as it is. So exactly what are the differences?

As a lover of good food, I suppose I can compare it to cooking.

Supposedly everyone can ‘cook’ as long as they have access to heat and ingredients. Just like every one can theoretically ‘design’ a website as long as they can use a computer.

So what makes the difference between a trained chef and a cook? Or what are the difference between Micheline star restaurants that serves well prepared cuisines and a canteen that serves microwave meals - when they all theoretically share the same ingredients?

Is it the carefully considered ritual of paying respect and attention to the customer? Understand their needs, taste preferences based on social profile and cultural environmental settings where the dish is intend to serve to? Appreciation of nutritional value based on awareness of a certain type of diet of the customers? Making informed decision about of complimentary ingredients and flavours in order to execute suitable cooking methods? Setting up a comfortable environment and provide appropriate cutleries to present and serve the dishes? Provide certain courses in sequences to maximize their dining pleasure? Being attentive and caring about the general wellbeing of the customers including their after dining experience, and ensures no artificial colouring and preservatives can cause indigestion and other unhealthy attributes?

Or do you simply take it out of the packet, stick it in the microwave and serve? There’s no right or wrong way, but just which would you prefer?

Another example which I often suggest to clients is comparing investing in a website liking to buying a car. There are cars that are £900 and there are cars that are £90,000. Theoretically they all have 4 wheels, have seats, run on petrol and have an engine. But what makes the difference? The ride, the desirability, the originality, bespoke interiors, the personality, craftsmanship, types of engine, accessories, performance, the make of the car etc. Some cars can provide pleasure of ownership and increase in value with good maintenance, and there are cars that simply runs out of steam and devaluates with time.

I suppose ultimately you have to ask yourself what do you hope to get out of your website, how your target audiences going to react, and what type of customer do you consider yourself to be.

If you are happy with the microwave meal and cheap car that may have to be scrapped in a few months, then that is perfectly fine. But as an 'investment' and not an 'expenditure', I would hope one would consider a long term view and choose wisely.
]]> Design, Technology & Trends http://amtiva.com/nblog/index.php?itemid=3 Wed, 27 Jun 2007 08:10:20 +0000 http://amtiva.com/nblog/index.php?itemid=2 SEO all the time for obvious reasons. I will attempt to write a Mini FAQ here to answer some of the most common questions and misconceptions and hopefully should provide a useful guide for anyone that is interested in SEO.

1) What is SEO?

It stands for Search Engine Optimization and it encompasses a broad range of services which may involve design, development, management, strategic planning and marketing, all of which aims to increase your website visibility while being accessed and seen by web search engines and the world wide web public. 2) Which SEO services do you recommend and which should I go for?

The most basic and common SEO service is search engine submission, which just means submit your domain address to search engines to get it ranked. This is highly affordable and is practiced by most people, but generally it would take a while before you see results. How you structured your site and your web site contents also impacts the success rate.

There are other SEO services which can see more immediate responses, such as Google Adwords, Pay per click, Banner Ads, Link building/exchanges with an aim to boost your visibility through networks which actively promote your website. However this is not usually the best way to go about for SMEs and Startups, as it can be a fairly costly process. Personally I would not advise such methods unless clients have a good size marketing budget or may be your product or services are time sensitive and brand related.

There are 2 general trends in this field, the ethical way and the sneaky way which is aim to trick the search engine based on the algorithms and what search engine bots/spiders (Search Crawlers) are looking for. We generally recommend the ethical approach. It does take longer than those mentioned above, but the results are better and last longer and ultimately provide better returns on investments (ROI). We have been in the industry for a few years and are aware of the many tricks out there. We can consult with you on the basis of your requirement; short term results or a long term goal.


3) What are the best SEO methods?

In general, Amtiva practice Organic Search Methods , which are content and keyword dependant and is about getting your website ranked without paying extra advertising costs. The organic search results are ranked on the search results of search engines, and not the ad words or banners on websites.

Amtiva deliver organic search by structure unique strategies based on client profile. In simplistic term, one client's requirement can vary a great deal to the next, and are also dependant on the amount of budget you have. It can impact the way how you managing your site including how the website is structured, developed and updated. As a design and build company, Amtiva is very hands on and can provide a more comprehensive service than a Pure SEO company, who consider design and development a conflict of interests with their goals. (Personally I think it is about liability and profitability issue, incase they can not deliver the result, then it would be blamed on the way site is designed and structured. By that it would also means taking longer before getting paid and result is delivered.)

Organic Search is more of a time consuming processes, but as an ethical standard it is very Google friendly. The goal is long term and the clients would see better returns on investments (ROI) rather than risking being penalized or having to pay excessive amount of advertising cost for short term gains.

Basically, every client's SEO requirement is unique and subject to various factors which we will determine at the beginning of each project.


4) Can you guarantee top 10 results on google like I have read else where?

The simple answer is YES but we wouldn't!

This should be the honest and ethical answer by any decent SEO practitioner; unfortunately this is a rule that is often conveniently ignored by those SEO cowboys! There are certainly many tricks to get you in the top 10, but most likely to be short sighted and will get you banned or black marked by Google from future listings. This is instant death in SEO. Also bear in mind, the reason you probably will get ranked would be so specifically keyword dependant, that no other web sites would use it so of course you will get ranked.

For example.

If you are a Italian restaurant called La Cucina that is famous for Seafood Mushroom Risotto and you are based in Convent Garden London. The guaranteed top 10 result I can provide you in 4 weeks or possibly less time would be:

"La Cucina seafood mushroom risotto Italian restaurant convent garden London".

It is a key phrase you can definitely get ranked top 10 but surely no reasonable visitor would key in such specific key search phrases unless is the SEO person who originally made that promise. Is that what you want? Ha!

If you are however, after something more reasonable and likely to be searched, such as

"Good Italian restaurant London westend", or "famous italian risotto restaurant central london"

as suitable keyword/phrases, then we can certainly work towards that.


5) Can you proof you can do it?

Yes we can. On most common search engines such as Google.com Google.co.uk Yahoo.com Yahoo.co.uk Excite.com .co.uk Ask.com amongst them, you should able to find us amongst the top 20, and often at the top 5 (The ranking shifts on minute by minute basis) for the following targeted key phrases. Please feel free to play around with a few variations of your own and try.


best quotation for website London (Google, 2nd)

quotation for digital design london (Google, 1st)

web design e14 (Google, 1st)

web design e14 (Excite, 1st, 6th, 12th)

web design canary wharf (Google, 1st)

web design docklands (Google, 2nd)

web design docklands (Ask, 1st)

quotation for web design docklands (Google,1st, 2nd)

web design e14 (Yahoo, 2nd)

web designer e14 (Google 1st)

and so forth...

Depend on your locations and localised settings, you might get slightly different results. Generally the results also slightly different from IE, Firefox, Netscape and Opera browsers.

[Time checked: 5.15pm 11th June 2007]

Okay that is all for now, until next time...
]]> Design, Technology & Trends http://amtiva.com/nblog/index.php?itemid=2 Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:29:23 +0000 http://amtiva.com/nblog/index.php?itemid=1
I meant to set up a blog a long time ago but as they say, something seems always get in the way. My aim is to write this for myself, my customers, my designers and developers, as well as to attract potential clients.

To me, to truly take advantage of the web and the wireless digital landscape, the medium would be treated like a social and cultural information system. To truly be productive, the communication should be more than a one way process, and certainly not just about making a web presence for yourself to please the marketing department.

I have set up this blog to readily accept comments from general visitors and guests. I also intend to invite guest bloggers to contribute from time to time, and if you think you have something to add, please feel free to email me.

Generally this blog is an informal record keeping for semi professional purposes; to sharing insights and invite opinions to build a mutually beneficial knowledge pool about everything digital, innovative and hopefully interesting.

]]> General http://amtiva.com/nblog/index.php?itemid=1 Sat, 9 Jun 2007 17:33:00 +0000