“I don’t really want to know how to programme a website, I have a business to run” -we hear this a lot, and it is spot on! The majority of the companies on the eChampions programme are business with no real interest in web sites except they realise the importance of the web and want to utilise it as a marketing vehicle.

We didn’t make up the title, but we like their thinking! This article was recently featured on Webdesigners depot website, and you the read the whole article on their site http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/03/how-to-build-a-footer-that-doesn%e2%80%99t-stink/

Have you seen that there is a new Funding section on the Axis Centre web site about different funding option available for eBusiness training?

http://www.axiscentre.com/funding-training.php

• Optimising for video and Images
• When should (and shouldn't) you buy another domain name?
• SEO Check list, on-page, off-page and how to benchmark against the competition
• Introduction to social media for business

If you are interested in finding out more about optimising for other media we strongly recommend you watch the video from our February 2010 event with Susan Hallam. But here are some tips for optimising for Images and Video.

Buying new domain names have become a bit of an obsessive hobby for some and we frequently get asked about advice on when it is a good idea to buy another domain name.

 The overall point of your domain is that it reflects your business and has great content behind it! Here is a bit of a rough guide.  
 

We are told by the media every day what a big deal Social Media is, but we still hear lots and lots of reservation from business along the lines of “but can you really prove any ROI from it”, “Facebook really isn’t for my business” etc

We don’t suggest all business drop their core activities and spend most of their time on Facebook, but Social Media is really getting so big that all business needs to at least evaluate it’s potential.
It isn’t about using Social Media for the sake of using it, it is about using it for tasks your business do anyway.

 YouTube.com
We strongly encourage everyone to use video on their website! Either a video of the owner talking about the products and services, help/support videos, educational videos, funny videos… anything!
Hosting the videos on your own site takes up bandwith so YouTube is the obvious choice. Create you own account and optimise the videos for search in the process. View our other article about optimising for video.
We use YouTube for hosting all the videos from our events. It is very easy and makes it very easy to add video to your site.

SlideShare.com
You can see an example of SlideShare in use in our previous events section on here on the website where we post our PowerPoint slides.
If you do training, presentations or anything else in PowerPoint SlideShare is an excellent way to host them and show them. Very easy to use, great way to present content!

 ISSUU.com
This is a great tool for replacing your (old fashioned) pdf files. It will put them in a great format that displays well on your web site. Easy to create, easy to embed on your website.

 Twitter.com
Lots of people are twittering! Some sectors are quicker to take to this than others, but for some most there are opportunities here. Use it for displaying your latest tweets on your website, quick and easy way to show people your latest activities. Use it to spread the word about your knowledge, use it to engage in conversation with your clients. Twitter is as much about you replying as it is about you talking. Just another way for you to start a conversation with a new customer.
And yes, you can actually measure if you get any business from this channel!

 Facebook
Right, let’s just get this one out of the way. We don’t think this is for everyone! Some businesses benefit from having a fan page, but if you are very small and completely new to social media this is probably not where to start!
This can be quite time consuming and if your target group isn’t right it could be wasted efforts. That said, lots of big companies are using it successfully and it is also becoming enormously popular for politicians to use!

 Blogging
One of the things that all the “big important” internet people are saying is that all business should be blogging. Again you could perhaps use you blog instead of your news section, which are often tired and out of date anyway? Maybe you can use a blog for your case studies?
A blog is a good way to get great content out there and talk about your business, suggestions and beliefs. People can subscribe to it and leave comments, which give you the opportunity to interact with them and start a conversation.

 If you have any question about this article please do not hesitate to contact us or post questions on the forum!

It is easy to get too close to a web site and subsequently not be able to see the shortfalls. Particularly when it comes to SEO we think we have got it all covered, whilst actually we are missing some opportunities.

This is a check list for anyone doing a new site or for anyone reviewing a current site. It is also a helpful list to evaluate your site against your competition.

We are running a FREE programme, which is great, everyone loves FREE! But actually, the programme isn’t FREE at all; it is an expensive and valuable opportunity which is funded by ESF. Big difference! But is there a common perception that people think everything to do with their web sites should be FREE?

This is for businesses who are dedicated to reaching the full potential of their web sites. You get an individual eBusiness plan to follow with expert support on hand. In return you will attend the monthly events and engage with other members in the online community.

Benefits

• Invite to monthly events with topical speakers
• Specialist tutor support in creating individual action plans
• Be active in the online forum
• Support from subject specialist team
• Online business profile (and view other business profiles)
• Collaboration and networking opportunities
• Extra benchmarking & sharing opportunities
• Drop-in-sessions with expert support available

Your contribution

• You must be genuinely interested in growing and pushing your business online now
• You must be willing to meaningfully plan and when appropriate implement changes to your website and business function online.
• Be active and contribute to forums
• Attend the live events or watch them online
• Maintain your online profile
• Share your Google Analytics with us for benchmarking (and hence have Google Analytics installed on your site)

There are "only" 200 spaces available on this programme so to get/keep your space you really do need to actively participate and make an effort with your web site. We do reserve the right to change your member ship if you do not actively participate so the place can be fully utilised by another business.