Here’s a fact that never ceases to be amazing, published this week by the Guardian:

All human language used since the dawn of time would take up about 5,000 petabytes if stored in digital form, which is less than 1% of the digital content created since someone first switched on a computer.

While we’re still getting used to the term ‘petabyte’, a new word has been coined to cater for the vast quantities of data that are being stored online daily – the zettabyte. And even that’s not expected to be adequate for long.

Those of us who already find the Internet a vast, unnavigable place may emit a sigh at this point. For you, as a small business owner, there are three golden rules in the face of all this data:

1. Make your website findable. At this moment in history, that means optimising for search engines. As the web proliferates, more and more it will be true that those who are not on the first page of search engine results will simply not be found.

2. Make it worthwhile. With so much content online, users will not give the time of day to anything that fails to live up to the highest standards. Well, when there are so many alternatives, why would they?

3. Make it memorable. From your URL to your content, ensure that you provide content that will stick in the mind, because it will be the memorable sites that get customers returning time and again.

It’s not so hard, but these three rules will make all the difference in the age of the zettabyte. And we can help you with all of them: just drop us a line or give us a call.

An alert popped up on my screen today that looked interesting. Wait, I understate: it looked, well, world-changing, at least within in the environs of the SEO community. Google were to enter the SEO business, charging a cool US $25,000 per month to optimise websites.

The woman who wrote the piece was concerned – very concerned. So were her commenters. And me? Well, I just couldn’t understand why news like this wouldn’t have been on the front page of every news site across the net.

A bit of searching brought the answer. 27 days previously – April 1st, to be precise – an SEO company posted a story that turned out to be just that little bit too believable. Thankfully for all of us (for small SEO companies like us, and for the clients who don’t want to pay hefty amounts for their SEO) it really was just an April Fool’s joke that someone took a little bit too seriously.

What can we learn from this? Well, first, the oft-repeated lesson that you shouldn’t believe everything you read online. Second, that humour has to be very broadly signposted online, or it will be missed. And third, we should all be grateful that small agencies such as ourselves exist, and will charge you much, much less than 25K for your SEO needs.

Traditional web design has it that the most important information and action buttons should appear “above the fold” – ie on the area of the screen that the user sees without having to scroll down the page – although we have seen research that appears to contradict this thinking. Nonetheless, it makes good sense to present as much as possible to the user without requiring them to make any effort. It’s also good practice to keep your text short and snappy.

Now Google is offering advertisers the chance to ensure your Adword adverts appear above the fold.

As they say, With a host of different web browsers, monitor sizes, and screen resolutions, it’s hard to predict where an ad will land, since the same placement may appear differently on each user’s screen. Filtering out below the fold impressions gives you greater control over where your ads appear..

If that sort of detail sounds like a step too far for you, it’s perhaps just one more reason why you might want to outsource your Search Engine Optimisation and Google Adwords to us. We are happy to tweak away at options like this until you get the very best possible results.

As a small business owner, it makes sense to outsource certain work. If you need a new shop frontage, you call a sign-maker; if your electrics are on the blink, you find an electrician. The chances are that you also paid out for a website.

If your website provider was like most, this was a one-off transaction. You paid a set amount; they built your site and that was the end of it. For many businesses, this seems fine. You have an online presence; customers can find your contact details and that is enough.

Stop to consider for a while, though, and it doesn’t take much to realise that your website could be doing so much more for you. With a little expertise, you could be optimising it for the search engines, ensuring that it comes out near the top in the searches most likely to bring you solid customers.

You could be finding new customers and engaging with existing ones on social media like Facebook and Twitter. And, if your business merits it, you could be updating your website regularly to keep customers returning for special promotions, or goods tied in to festive occasions.

These things all take time and expertise – and that’s why many small businesses will simply put up with a small, static website that does nothing more than sit there. The good news is, it’s relatively easy to get ahead of your competitors, even if you don’t have that time or the required knowledge. The trick is to outsource.

Take a look at our managed internet services for small businesses page and you will see that an active internet profile can be yours at a very reasonable price. We believe it will pay for itself.

BIA/Kelsey, a US advisory service, recently commissioned research into the usage of the Internet for local shopping – and the results were interesting.

Here are some of their findings, and our thoughts:

• 90 percent of users use search engines … and the other 10% are liars? Seriously, though, this is no surprise. We know that almost all web usage will start with a search. It’s just one more compelling reason why your site needs optimisation to compete.
• 48 percent use Internet Yellow Pages – indicating that while the Internet is becoming more and more of a handy tool, many users still prefer to find information online, and then call or make a visit. Or do they? It’s also possible that many businesses do not have that crucial online presence that would allow for the convenience of dropping you an email. That would also allow you to respond at a time that’s convenient to you, unlike a phone call. Take a look at your website. Does it allow for online interaction? Would your customers need to resort to the Yellow Pages?
• 42 percent use comparison shopping sites – so it’s worth ensuring that you are included in these increasingly-used online directories. Not sure how? Give us a ring; we can help.
• 58 percent of respondents report using an online coupon when shopping for products or services in their local area in the past year – Now there’s something to think about. Typically, online shoppers are looking for a bargain – and your overheads are less than when advertising in print or broadcast media, so why not share some of those savings with your customers?
• 19 percent of respondents report making an appointment online in the past six months (e.g., business appointment, health-care appointment, auto service or personal service such as a beauty shop) – again, worth thinking about. If you don’t have this functionality on your website, the chances are your customers would welcome it – and it’s also something we can build for you, so drop us an email!

This month, Google.com announced a new feature in the ‘Shopping’ section of its search: in stock nearby. Currently available only in the US (though sure to follow in other countries if it proves popular), the tweak will allow search results to display whether the searched-for item is available in a shop near you. It will also note if stock is low (providing that information is also on the store’s website, of course).

A lot of smart people work at Google, and this is just one more sign of the emerging importance of shopping local on the global web.

In a recent article from the Independent, Google attempts to emphasise its non-partisan status by pointing out that it isn’t the first result when you search for ‘Search Engines’. Does that make you feel a little better about your own positioning for crucial keywords in your business?

Perhaps not – and, if that’s the case, you need to come and have a word with us. Meanwhile, something else I found interesting about this article was the quote:

Google makes one or two changes to its algorithm every day, on average.

That adds up to a lot of changes every year. Indeed, this Financial Times article further clarifies:

Google’s algorithm draws on 200 factors and is tweaked 400 times a year by an army of engineers.

To me, it’s just one more compelling reason why it makes sense to outsource SEO: if you’ve got time to keep up with that level of change, then who’s running your business?!

Now, some of us have only just got used to the whole concept of internet via mobile phones – now we also have to get to grips with the increasing access through internet-enabled TVs and games consoles, such as the Wii, which can turn your TV screen into a monitor.

This week, Yahoo! announced a further rolling out of its TV widget, plus a developer kit to allow enterprising developers and publishers to work it into their own applications. Many TVs across the world will now come to the consumer with the internet as a feature, and with Yahoo!’s widget pre-installed.

Thus far, we haven’t seen many adapting their websites to appear better on a TV screen, as they do for the smaller mobile screen. Although resolution is lower, the large screen means that few changes are vital. At this point, the developing use of internet via the TV is simply proof, if it were still needed, that the web is becoming ever more pervasive. If you don’t have a website, or you have a substandard one, your business really is going to be left behind.

Google really is constantly refining its search results, on a never-ending quest to make them perfect. That’s great news for end-users, and slightly more perturbing for small-business owners who may feel that they just don’t have the time to make the refinements to their websites that will take advantage of the new algorithms.

Just this week, for example, Google announced three new features. First, add ‘hours’ or ‘menu’ to a search for say, a restaurant or museum, and where available, Google will display them right in the results.

Second, “rich snippets”: add these brief summaries to upcoming events pages or reviews, and Google will show them. The example it gives is concerts in San Jose, which currently displays three upcoming events right below the map.

And thirdly, “answer highlighting”. A large proportion of search queries are questions, or based on the desire to find out a fact. Now, queries such as ‘author War and Peace’ will return results where the answer is highlighted in the snippet of text below the title.

All small tweaks which ought to enhance our search experience while we hardly notice it – but is your business website primed to take advantage of them? Having hours and menus appear in the search results could be a massive boon to your business, saving your customers the hassle of clicking around your site. Others will see the potential of the rich snippets feature.

If you’re not sure how to ensure your site will benefit from these – and the countless changes that Google makes every single month – there is a good case for coming to us. After all, it is our business to keep up with the latest search engine innovation, and we can pass that on to you.

One of the things I love best about the Internet and its many innovations is how it makes you feel as if the future has arrived now – and that’s a feeling that seems to occur every week or so. Just when we’ve become complacent about all the little things that make our life easier – search engines, cloud computing, wifi, and online shopping to name but a few – something new comes along and reawakens our sense of wonder.

Google’s Goggles is a prime example. At first, it seems like a novelty. Then, you start to understand its potential. At the same time, you wonder if, as with so many Internet phenomena, the full power of the application may not be understood until it’s been around for some time.

The idea is simple: take a picture of almost anything with your phone, and use the Goggles app to identify it. If it’s a well-known landmark, it will deliver tourist information; a book and it will tell you its publication details; an address (say on a letterhead) and it’ll invite you to add it to your phone’s contacts. Amazing – and, maybe, the future of how we will search?