• Nobody can just make your site just rank high on Google, it has to be “rank high on Google for ” You ideally need to know your own market and work out your own search terms. A web developer or seo specialist can do this for you but will really only be teasing the information out of you yourself in most cases.
• Non specific search terms are by definition more competitive and therefore will cost much more and in some cases be impossible to rank for anyway.
• You may need to consider multiple pages for multiple search terms.
• As a business owner you would greatly benefit from some basic research into SEO

Consider the scenario, you have a company domain name, like yourcompany.com and you’ve got your email address(es) on this eg you@yourcompany.com etc. To get your emails you either use a client ( Microsoft office, Euroda, Thunderbird, etc ) or use webmail. The main problem with using a client is that your mail must be on one and only one computer, (except in the case of relativly expensive exchange servers where your mail is usually limited to computers within your business) …… so if you want to get your mail in an internet cafe, or share mail between the desktop that you use at home and the netbook that you use when travelling, things can get slightly complicated. The obvious answer is to switch to using webmail, but there are problems here as well, the biggest of which is that you are limited to the space available on your web server, which is usually only set up to hold mails for long enough for you to use outlook to take them off the server and put them on your local machine. Google Apps (standard edition) to the rescue ! The idea is, you set up a google apps account and then configure (you might need to get a web designer to to do this) your domain name to send it’s email to Google Apps so you can get it there instead …. of course Google give you a whopping 7 Gigabytes of mail space and you can use the popular Gmail interface to get your mails while still retaining your company addresses. As a byproduct your Google apps setup will also include online usable versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint ( for free ) and has many other extension possibilities available.

The importance of keywords in search engine optimisation has therefore naturally diminished; however it was unconfirmed exactly just how little emphasis the search engines now place on meta keywords. Recently Google guru Matt Cutts was asked whether Google uses the keywords metatag at all anymore. Check out his answer in this short video.

•  Maybe a different ending may work. If you were looking for the dot com then maybe the dot ie may work for you or visa versa. Also remember that there are many different extensions available other than dot.com or dot.ie [ dot.net dot.org dot.info dot.tv .... lots ]
• You could try a slightly different version of your name. Eg use tomwalsheauto.com instead of tomwalsheautoparts.com or try twalsh.com, tom-walshe-auto.com etc The domain name doesnt have to be the exact same as the business name
• You may be able to purchase the domain from the current owner. Do a search using a “whois” tool and write to the admin contact. Agree a price via email/phone and use an eschrow service such as the external eschrow service from sedo.com to carry out the deal. If you are doing this you would need to do some research about domain pricing – many change hands for small fees however they have been known to reach into the millions and domains are sold for several thousand dollars every day on sedo.com
• If the renewal date is soon then it may be worth waiting to see whether or not the owner renews the domain – sometimes people register domains and then dont bother with them again the next year.
• Alternative idea. If the domain you want is more of a catchphrase idea than it is the title of your business then you might want to check what’s available for sale on sedo.com or some of the other domain sale websites – you may find something even better than your original idea.

If you have a choice between the two then it really comes down to branding. You are saying you have a uniquely Irish product. It also adds a little extra class to your site and reassures people that you are Irish.

In point of fact this is not necessarily the case ( several companies have dot ie and other country domains that are not specifically based in the country) but suffice to say a company who bothered to get a dot ie domain is at the very least making an effort to market into Ireland even if they are not entirely based here…..or at least that’s the public perception anyway.

Dot ie names are quite a bit different to acquire also. For a dot.com it simply means buying the domain as dot com’s are given out on a first come first served basis; however for a dot.ie you need to prove that you have a legitimate claim to the name and you will need to provide proof of this – usually in the form of a CRO number but it can get more complicated, expecially if the name you wish to register is not the exact same as the name of your company, and even moreso if it is a place name that other people may have a legitimate claim to. The process sounds worse than it is in most cases however.

If you do decide on a dot ie then it’s worth being aware of the fact that you can also register the dot com of the same name ( if it’s available ) and point the two names to the one hosting space.

With a traditional website, all changes need to be made by someone who knows web design. Even simple things like prices are effectively “in code”. A content management system (C.M.S.) on the other hand has a section called a backend. This is a web page where the owner logs in to make changes to what the public sees. The backend allows changes to the content, layout, menus and certain other elements.

There are many different C.M.S. and a suitable one should be chosen. The top systems can cost thousands, however there are actually many free ‘open source’ systems that are regularly used for business websites. “Joomla!” and “WordPress” are two examples of currently popular systems. Also a C.M.S. website needs to start with the C.M.S. – it cannot be just ‘bolted’ onto an existing website.

Depending on the way the system is designed and how much training and practice you have, various things can be changed. Changing text and photos is pretty easy. Adding pages and menus is usually not much more difficult. Certain systems also allow extra functionality (e.g. an event list or Photo gallery) to be added using extensions.

To get any value from a C.M.S. it is essential to spend time learning how to use it and practising with it. A good designer should provide basic training but the more understanding in the company as to the role and operation of the C.M.S., the more value the company can get from it’s website overall.

A marketing executive at Pepsi apparently remarked once that half of the money spent on advertising at Pepsi was wasted … “the only problem was they could never work out which half !”

And that is exactly the problem. Unless you run an online shop or own a B&B that takes online reservations, you really can only estimate the value of a website to your business.

First a quick overview of the costs ….. don’t worry, the benefits follow !

Recommendation: Read this article on website cost.

To be realistic, you should try to think of the cost of a site as spread out over the years of it’s activity – so as to arrive at a cost per year; but remember to add in domain, hosting, redesign and update costs into the mix too.

When you have a cost per year estimate for the site then look at these nine ideas of what a website might be able to offer a small to medium sized company and you should have a better idea whether it’s worth it to you or not. Even a very basic site would be able to offer the vast majority of these, and while every section may not apply to each and every business; if even two or three sections ring a bell then it may be worth investing.

• Brochure: This can be very helpful for manufacturing companies, brick and mortar shops and tourist/activity businesses. Your can give your URL to anyone over the phone or in a letter or email etc. You don’t have to post out a brochure. Potential customers with broadband can be looking at what you are talking about while you have them on the phone. This could be an item of clothing, a flat for rent, a piece of manufacturing plant etc. etc
• Profile/Credibility: A Website increases your profile. This is more true of some businesses than others. Most hotels for instance have a website, thus the ones without can be somewhat in the shadows, especially if the clientele is in the under 40 bracket. There are other areas however where there is not the same expectation from the potential customers. Many brick and mortar shop owners for instance may believe this. However in much the same way that a nice sign can raise your profile, a website can have an effect also, provided you a) Have a pleasant and useable website and b) publicise the URL { in advertising, sinage, business cards, stationary etc. }
• Advertising: Most companies spend money on advertising, and whether this is on newspaper, magazine, radio or TV, space is always a premium. A URL is very small, so you can include it in all your marketing: Advertising, Vehicles, Signage, Business cards, etc. It is easy for anyone interested who sees it to visit your site, which puts them one step closer to making a purchase. You should pay particular attention to magazine articles and radio plugs, if you have been lucky enough to get some media attention then having a memorable URL available means that all your contact data and whatever else is on your site is effectively attached to the article or radio/T.V. piece. People tend to buy things that are more visible, and if your article is displayed next to another similar product, then the article with the URL at the end is the one that many people will end up remembering.
• 365-24-7 Assuming that you’ve got a good hosting company then your site should be always online, unlike your business which probably has hours of opening. This means that customers may look at your site and find something they like at literally any hour of the day or night, any day of the year. Also, provided that you have a contact form on your site, they can contact you as well.
• F.A.Q. This can save a lot of time. Having a frequently asked questions section, or an information page etc. on your site means that anyone who looks at your site can find answers to simple questions without phoning. This is particularly true of businesses that provide a service – home service companies like furniture installation or alarm companies for example may have a large FAQ section.
• Map/Contact Details. Related to the last section. Most good websites of bricks and mortar businesses have a map of the area. For obvious reasons this can be helpful, and recently GPS co-ordinates have become popular with rural based business because of the rise in popularity of satnav. Your website is also, for many people, the first place to look for your postal address and/or phone number.
• Internet propagation. Almost every subject under the sun has a ‘fan base’ of some kind on the Internet. Many of these people hang out in forums. If you don’t know what a forum is then you should type in your business area followed by “forum” into Google {for example gardening forum} and join one or two of them. Lets say there is a forum on gardening, and you sell a product to aerate lawns. People may want to tell other people on the forum about your product so if you have a website up then they can just share the URL. Depending on the forum rules you may even be able to do this yourself, but most forums have strict rules about advertising to protect against abuse, so read their charter first to find out. Blogs are another example of this – many blog owners are on the look out for something to write about – if you look for long enough {technorati is a good spot to start} then you should be able to find some blogs that would be interested in either mentioning or featuring you business or product, expecially if it is in any way unique or worth mentioning. Obviously a nice resturant or pub may warrant a review; but even very unlikely businesses can often attract attention on blogs or forums.
• After sales Service. If for instance you sell a physical product then you can provide after sales service for free on your site Simply upload things like product manuals, spec sheets, safety information, service information, etc etc etc onto your site and it might save you some lengthy telephone conversations. You can have diagrams, a knowledge base, etc etc. You could even run your own Forum or Wiki – most software companies currently do this but it could also work for any product, especially technical type products.
• Community Building. This could work for many businesses, but especially businesses that have people come to them, for instance activity centres, pubs, restaurants, bowling alleys etc. If people have something on the site that relates to them, for instance a photo of their group out bowling, or the results from the snooker tournament in the local pub etc. then there’s more of a chance they’ll visit the site, and that builds community. Now if people are on your site then they are effectively looking at an advertisement for your company, and that has got to be valuable.