Web199.ie February Blog

Tuesday 07th, February

 

I saw a picture on another website - can I use it ?

 

This is a common question we get asked - and the simple answer is no.

All images that you provide on your website must be either owned / purchased by yourself or you have permission to use. Copyright laws are very strict throughout the world so we always recommend that you use your own images or purchase them through web sites such as www.istockphoto.com



Once you adhere to these rules you will never be liable if any third party ever questions you to where you sourced your images from. A licenced image that you use on your website that you use without permission could cost your comapny €3500 upwards ! Dont slip up.. an average image will only cost you less than an Euro.

If you are unsure, please feel free to contact us. 

 

Posted Friday 11th February 2011

 

 

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Internet Register Ireland Scam

 

Letters like the one below that we received are doing the rounds at present, please be aware if you regsiter your details with this "company" you are in for a bill of €968. Unfortunately some companies has fallen for this scam so please be carefull. If ever unsure go with your gut feeling -dump it.

 

 

POSTED - (Wednesday, 7th October 2010)

 

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Should You Hire A Search Engine Optimiser Who Cold Calls You?

 

We would recommend don't hire anyone who contacts you first through cold calling / email (SPAM). SEO is very much in high demand these days. The best and most trusted companies don't need to spam you with offers of free web site analyses or first page placements. Google don`t cold call at any stage - a lot of people / businesses have been misled to believe that Google has contacted them directly only to have spend a lot of money on false promises. If ever you are unsure trust your gut feeling and put the phone down / delete the email.

 

Here is a snippet from www.google.com regarding SEO "Experts":

 

While SEOs can provide clients with valuable services, some unethical SEOs have given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to manipulate search engine results in unfair ways. Practices that violate our guidelines may result in a negative adjustment of your site's presence in Google, or even the removal of your site from our index. Here are some things to consider:

 

* Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.

 

Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:

 

"Dear google.com,
I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories..."

Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for "burn fat at night" diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.

 

* No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.

 

* Be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do.

Ask for explanations if something is unclear. If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or "throwaway" domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google's index. Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire, so it's best to be sure you know exactly how they intend to "help" you. If an SEO has FTP access to your server, they should be willing to explain all the changes they are making to your site.

 

* You should never have to link to an SEO.

Avoid SEOs that talk about the power of "free-for-all" links, link popularity schemes, or submitting your site to thousands of search engines. These are typically useless exercises that don't affect your ranking in the results of the major search engines -- at least, not in a way you would likely consider to be positive.

 

* Choose wisely.

While you consider whether to go with an SEO, you may want to do some research on the industry. Google is one way to do that, of course. You might also seek out a few of the cautionary tales that have appeared in the press, including this article on one particularly aggressive SEO: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002002970_nwbizbriefs12.html. While Google doesn't comment on specific companies, we've encountered firms calling themselves SEOs who follow practices that are clearly beyond the pale of accepted business behavior. Be careful.

 

* Be sure to understand where the money goes.

While Google never sells better ranking in our search results, several other search engines combine pay-per-click or pay-for-inclusion results with their regular web search results. Some SEOs will promise to rank you highly in search engines, but place you in the advertising section rather than in the search results. A few SEOs will even change their bid prices in real time to create the illusion that they "control" other search engines and can place themselves in the slot of their choice. This scam doesn't work with Google because our advertising is clearly labeled and separated from our search results, but be sure to ask any SEO you're considering which fees go toward permanent inclusion and which apply toward temporary advertising.

 

* What are the most common abuses a website owner is likely to encounter?

One common scam is the creation of "shadow" domains that funnel users to a site by using deceptive redirects. These shadow domains often will be owned by the SEO who claims to be working on a client's behalf. However, if the relationship sours, the SEO may point the domain to a different site, or even to a competitor's domain. If that happens, the client has paid to develop a competing site owned entirely by the SEO.

 

Another illicit practice is to place "doorway" pages loaded with keywords on the client's site somewhere. The SEO promises this will make the page more relevant for more queries. This is inherently false since individual pages are rarely relevant for a wide range of keywords. More insidious, however, is that these doorway pages often contain hidden links to the SEO's other clients as well. Such doorway pages drain away the link popularity of a site and route it to the SEO and its other clients, which may include sites with unsavory or illegal content.

 

* What are some other things to look out for?

There are a few warning signs that you may be dealing with a rogue SEO. It's far from a comprehensive list, so if you have any doubts, you should trust your instincts. By all means, feel free to walk away if the SEO:

 

o owns shadow domains
o puts links to their other clients on doorway pages
o offers to sell keywords in the address bar
o doesn't distinguish between actual search results and ads that appear on search results pages
o guarantees ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases you would get anyway
o operates with multiple aliases or falsified WHOIS info
o gets traffic from "fake" search engines, spyware, or scumware
o has had domains removed from Google's index or is not itself listed in Google

 

We have helped numerous business with Search Engine Optimisation and can prove this through our clients. Over 90% of our work is referral basis, this alone is a testament by itself. Please feel free to contact us at any stage.

 

POSTED - (Wednesday, 7th September 2010)

 

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E-commerce sales in China surge

 

Internet sales in China, the world's biggest web market, soared 60% in the first half of 2010, as more consumers and businesses went shopping online, state media said today.

 

Transactions hit 2.25 trillion yuan ($331 billion) in the months from January to June, the China Daily said, citing a report by the China e-Business Research Centre. That compares with 3.6 trillion yuan for all of 2009.

 

The data covers business-to-business, business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer transactions. E-commerce has been expanding in China as more companies set up online stores to cut costs and improve efficiency.

 

Underlining the growing appeal of the country's Internet market, which now has around 420 million web users, sportswear giant Adidas said this week it had opened a flagship online store on China's largest auction site Taobao.

 

Web sales in China are likely to soar more than 35% a year on average in the next few years as more people shop online and more convenient ways of paying for transactions, such as using mobile phones, are made available.

 

There are currently about 130 million online shoppers in China, the report said. Analysts said the official forecast was conservative

 

POSTED - RTE BUSINESS NEWS (Wednesday, 18th August 2010)

 

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