I was wondering today how to make a small symbol representing my website appear in the tab.  Apparently it is called a 'favicon' - a conglomerate of the words 'favourite' and 'icon' - you will notice that small symbols for well known websites such as Facebook appears against their name in your favourites list.

So I checked the Help and Support section of create.net and helpfully and supportively they explained that I could make one using a website such as www.favicon.co.uk and load it as a favicon.ico file for my website.   So I used favicon.co.uk to upload my logo and make a little 'F' symbol as a favicon.ico file, uploaded this to my create.net account and republished my website.  They say it will take a while to appear, but when it is I will publish this blog.

Another tip to get your brand noticed.

Do you have a new website? A good way to let everyone know about it (and drive traffic to it) is to link to it in every email that you send.  You don't have to remember to do this every time you send an email, you can set up a signature which displays in every new email you create.

In Google Mail the signature box is in Settings (top left of the screen) and half way down the General tab.

In Outlook create a new email message, press 'Insert' then 'Signature', then 'Signatures'

We suggest you write your name, business name, telephone numbers, website name and any strapline. Remember to highlight and link your website name to its website address so that people can click straight through and have a look.

It may take a few minutes to set up but it's easy from them on!

A few years ago that might have been a rude-sounding question, but now many people are on-line sharing their views on all sorts of topics.  Yesterday someone contacted me for homeopathic advice who had found me on the internet and who said 'and you blog' as a reason why he contacted me.

Blogging is a way of spreading your on-line presence into subjects that people are interested in, it's a way of showing where your expertise lies and it shows that you are still active in your field. No-one wants to waste time looking at a website only to find out that it is out of date, or worse, that the business doesn't exist any more.  It encourages potential clients to value your offering and get in touch.

Also, you will notice that I have linked to my homeopathic website and homeopathic blog in this blog and will therefore improve my search position as a result.

Create.net run a free and simple blog facility as part of all their website packages and I also recommend wordpress. If you want to find out if a blog would help you market your business and need help setting one up or writing copy for your articles, contact me.

January is a quiet month for some businesses. Why not give your website a healthcheck if you have a spare hour?  Take a critical look at your website as if you were visiting it for the first time:

• Does it still reflect what your business does and how it does it?
• Has your customer base changed and would the website appeal to them?
• Have your products and prices changed?
• Is the information on your website still relevant?
• Are all the links to other sites still working? Are there any you should be adding now?
• Are the colours and design dated?  The design template and colours can be changed easily on Create.net, just at the touch of a button.
  

And there may be some features you could add now:

• How about a blog to tell your customers about your expertise or knowledge in a particular product or service?
• Is it time to set up an on-line shop? Or a search facility?

Or does all of this involve too much staring at the computer? If you would like to chat to us about how your business has changed and whether any changes to your website are appropriate, we would be delighted to check it and write you a comprehensive report of suggested changes, hints and tips tailored to your needs.

Fee: £50 (refundable against any future work on your internet marketing).

Contact us.