We were having an interesting chat yesterday when the topic of ‘How to…’ guides came about, how many times have you found yourself having trouble with your computer, or having difficulty loading a picture and troubleshooting just wont do the trick. I instantly type into Google something along the lines of ‘how to load a video on ping.fm? ’ Or ‘how can I find my facebook ID number?’ or for instance the other night I could not for the life of me open a tin of tuna with one of those old fashioned tin openers!

When I went to Google and typed in ‘how to open a tin of tuna with an old fashioned tin opener?’ a video from YouTube came up and I was surprised that of all things, this tin opening tutorial was on YouTube.  It made me think about taking a different approach to ‘how to’ guides.

For some it is easier to read what they are trying to figure out, but for some like me, auditory learners, I like to hear the instructions, I can understand easily when I watch something and hear it as suppose to reading it. I know it was only for opening a can of tuna, but it is something worth thinking about when you are including a guide page, or ‘how to…’ page on your site. It can be far more engaging to include a video tutorial for viewers, than for them to just open a 100 page guide book and fish around for what it is they need help with.

See what I did there...tuna...fish around!

You may think it too soon to be talking about Christmas already, but we all know how quickly it creeps up on us, I mean it’s already nearly September! At PH. Creative we’ve been working on Christmas Lights etc. For 10 years they have been decorating trees and lighting them along with extravagantly lighting our homes…and a few celeb homes too! Rumour has it Christmas Lights etc did The Osbournes house, which featured in OK Magazine, not to mention decorating some of the top Premier League footballers homes too.

There is no time like the present to get prepared for the party season and decking out the house, with an array of unique and beautiful trees, decorations and lights from Christmas Lights etc, you can’t go wrong.

How annoying is it when you unpack all the old decorations, and spend age’s untangling those lights, only to find that when plugged in, are in fact broken! Christmas Lights etc can solve that, they have these indestructible lights that will last for many crimbo’s to come, have a look at some of their very convincing videos and see for yourselves: www.christmaslightsetc.co.uk

We’ve been developing a site for them that is simple, clean and tidy to make your shopping experience as enjoyable as possible, be sure to check out the ‘one click does the trick’ link which is everything in one box to create the perfect tree, garland or wreath, its Christmas in a box!

Good Usability and Good SEO should go 'hand in hand’
 
This is something that sounds obvious, but very often is overlooked.  Web design companies are far too often focused primarily on design; without considering SEO and conversion rate performance, along with many other elements that are the key building blocks for your website and online strategy.
 
The mark of a good agency is blending great design and SEO.  Which are both a science and an art.
 
From the initial brief all success factors must be taken into account.  What are the goals of the site (what do you really want to achieve – I bet its more enquiries, more sales, more business!).  By understanding these factors, we then need to consider the core SEO principles and it shouldn’t surprise you that by building an SEO friendly website, your actually drive good usability.
 
Best practice SEO and usability working together:

Liverpool’s first Pride Parade took over the streets on August 7th and 8th, with over 20,000 people joining the party. The whole event was a real success with visitors being treated to stacks of amazing performances including Natasha Hamilton, the ever popular Robin S and one of the UK’s biggest all gay bands-Clubstars.  It was a glittering celebration as the city burst into colour at the Seen Magazine backed festival.

At Ph. Creative we are very pleased to be working on the Mersey Tigers new website that is being launched with aplomb!

We're currently building the Mersey Tigers a strong online presence with their new site which will be launched soon. It will include exciting and clear content, fixture and match listings and much more, along with interactive links to facebook and twitter.

The Mersey Tigers may have lost their association to Everton, but the rebrand has essentially opened up the club to a wider audience, like the red side of the city. In line with the new branding the club also welcomes their new captain Andrew Sullivan.

You can catch the Mersey Tigers get their season under way on September 19th when they challenge the Cheshire Jets in the BBL Trophy at the Echo Arena.

Be sure to keep checking our news for the latest on the Mersey Tigers and Ph. Creative...

At Ph.Creative, we apply various conversion techniques to our sites with the ultimate goal of capturing as many prospects through a website as possible. There are lots of clever tricks that we apply and over the next few weeks we’ll be giving away some of our pearls of wisdom absolutely free...

To get the ball rolling, our first tip to convert visitors into customers is the most important one, and quite often the one that people struggle with...

The Call to Action

In order to create a compelling call to action your landing page needs to be direct and to the point from the first glance. Don’t over complicate the message or simply assume that users know what they are supposed to do. All landing pages should be designed with an ability to influence - instructing what the user on what to do next every step of the way. This means clear, short calls to action with visual click cues to illustrate what they need to do.

Whilst this is key to engaging your visitors, it's also crucial not to overwhelm the page with too many calls to action. Ideally, a landing page should have one main call to action, supported one or two additional, less important offers. One primary visual cue will help move the visitor towards conversion.

Another good way to ensure users follow the call to action is to support it with a strong testimonial. Tests show that a testimonial specifically placed around the data capture button qualifies the call to action and enhances the potential for a user to use the form.

Rumour has it that an official announcement is imminent for Google's development of a social networking site to rival Facebook.

The Internet giant has had talks with online gaming companies including Playdom Inc and EA Games to include some of their games on the site.

Following the recent announcement of Facebook's 500 million user success, it's only natural that Kings of Search, Google Inc have decided to develop what could be the next social media phenomenon.

This may well work in their favour to once again dominate the web for all search queries. In recent years, social networking sites have become more intimate and trustworthy than search engines when making decisions, such as finding the best restaurants or choosing a city break.  Real reviews and recommendations via social networking sites have taken the lead - results almost seem as though they come from someone you know.

Users have now come to expect a more personal, descriptive answer to their online search query, as opposed to a simple list of sites, and there's a strong trend for preferred choice of options that come from within a users social circle. As Google would agree, social networking is certainly the way forward.