In addition to our article in April's Axis Magazine, we take a more detailed look at 'search engine optimisation' (SEO). Search engine optimisation is the process of getting your site to rank as highly as possible for the searches which are relevant to you.

Download your copy of our article from Axis Magazine (1MB) >

In the article, we covered some of the basic principles on SEO and Google. But what about other search engines? What about Yahoo, AOL, Ask and MSN? Because Google processes 60% of the world’s searches, it is usually easier to just talk about how to rank on Google. Especially because many other search engines follow what Google does.

When search engines do their searching, they aren’t actually searching the live web. They are only searching an index of it. In the early days of the internet, search engines used human-edited directories. A popular example of this was Yahoo, which had hundreds of people updating the index of websites.

The problem was that this took a long time and niche areas of the web were poorly indexed. What Google did (and did well) was to create an algorithm which automatically trawled through the web, indexing what it found. By judging a page on the words it found, the links it had pointing to it and so on, Google created a huge and accurate index. They’ve been continually refining and shaping this technology and due to its success, other search engines (including Yahoo) now use the Google index in conjunction with their own.

There are hundreds of different things for SEO, each of which usually only makes a small difference to your ranking. However, an organised and comprehensive approach to web design will help you get the best from your website and how it ranks.

Other interesting things about Google:

Google’s unofficial motto is, “Don’t be evil” – meaning that they don’t seek to exploit people or the web for their own ends. Read more about Google’s motto >

The Google “I’m feeling lucky” button on their home page takes the user to whatever the top result is for that search. However, the existence of this button is reported to cost Google $110million a year. Read more about this button >

Google has often been criticised (and praised) for dominating the online market. With so much power and influence in the shape of the internet, Google are defining the web in the same way that Microsoft defined software. Read more about Google's competition >

Beaver Design has finished work rebuilding the Grassform website, incorporating current design methods and SEO.

Grassform wanted to keep the design and style of the website, but update the code used to build it to incorporate current design methods, W3C standards and search engine optimisation. The old Grassform site was built using old methods, which are not search engine friendly and not seen as keeping with the W3C standards of practice.

Beaver Design took the original site and exchanged old methods with newer ones. We were also able to include Grassform's new logo (designed by Beaver) to give their brand a unified look. The finished site essentially looks the same, but will now be easier for search engines to index and for future revisions in the website code.

For more information, take a look at the Grassform website >

Since the first Showcase Cinema de Lux site was completed in Derby last May, Beaver has continued providing content design and support services to this award winning project.*

Each week, new movie posters and promotions are created and published in the three Showcase Cinema de Lux venues. Using digital signage instead of traditional print allows the spillway signage to use subtle animations to draw peoples attention as they move around the cinema. Beaver provides these content creation services in-house, along with all the technical support.

For more detail on the content services provided by Beaver to Showcase Cinemas, take a look at the content article by Digital Signage Universe >

*For more information on the award winning Showcase Cinemas project as a whole, take a look at our case-study page >

Beaver Group is now on Twitter and we'll be posting some of our shorter updates on this as a form of 'mini-blog'. Watch this YouTube clip about Twitter in 'plain English'.

To view our 'Twittering' and see regular news as it happens, please go to: http://twitter.com/BeaverGroup

The March edition of Axis Magazine is out and available throughout the local Hertfordshire area and this month, Tom Bull takes a look at e-marketing in his Web Advice article.

When is the right time to market? What are the cost effective ways to promote your business? Should marketing and promotion be kept to a minimum in a time of recession?

Download your copy of the Web Advice: E-Marketing article (1.3MB) >