Posts

It really is tough! But having all that passion and drive which anyone needs to run a business can't easily be switched off.

Blimey, imagine not being able to switch it back on 

Great article from Search Engine Land and something I hadn't considered before.

Split testing (or A/B testing) is a long proven and superb way of optimising your website conversion pages. Send your visitors down 2 slightly different routes or to slightly different landing pages and see which one performs the best.

It allows you to react to your customer feedback and make controlled changes, comparing results with your original page, but using live traffic. Sometimes just moving an image on a page or making a call to action clearer can give you a spike in conversions.

But can this activity hurt you SEO wise?

ie creating duplicate content, getting the wrong page ranked by Google, or links missing?

But there is a solution, it just needs a little thought. Canonical Tags and 301 Redirects. If you don't understand what they are, talk to your webdesigner, but certainly worth giving it some thought if you decide to start split testing.

Avoiding SEO Pitfalls During Split Testing - Search Engine Land

We just recently finished some and it can certainly open your eyes into how users interact on your site. Does anyone else do any or had any experience of split testing?

Outstanding! 

I thought you were still busy Mr Jan sir, so left you alone

For those fellow cat owners amongst us, the Beeb has done some interesting research on how cats see, hunt, move, hear and smell.

I've never been a natural cat fan, and only warmed to them after inheriting one. But watching them hunt, then torment things like mice, they really do have quite a sinister mean side!

Our cat will bring us a gift, then after a quick play or maybe wounding the poor mouse, get bored and leave for us to track down!

After why eat a mouse when it's got some lovely cat food in gravy

Some interesting videos though on the beeb site:

Cat Watch 2014: What’s it like being a cat?

The USA's biggest bank JP Morgan has been hit with a cyber attack according to the BBC, affecting:

"76 million private and seven million business customers in the US.

The raid gathered account holders names and addresses but the bank said it did not involve critical information such as account and social security numbers."

It does little to inspire cynics when it comes to online security, but I bet there are few of us now who don't bank online.

I wonder if there is any truth to the perception that online security is reactive rather than proactive, ie the crooks always seem to be in the driving seat

An oldie, but recognise any behaviour?

Source en.miui.com

I don't know whether to laugh or cry! You wonder what goes on in the minds of some of these people. My kids love Tom and Jerry, but I doubt it's shaping any racial stereotypes, or encouraging domestic violence by getting whacked with a frying pan. It's a cartoon about a cat and a mouse!

Whats next, big warnings on Military History books, "the following pages contain references to a naughty dictator."

Maybe I'll do a video about a one legged black lesbian blind Muslim heroin addict called Heather and her half Irish half Welsh dwarf step daughter, Gertrude. If nothing else it would be worth it to see what warning it got, and how many sensitive souls from the PC police keel over with heart failure.

I keep threatening to write a book, we even save some of the funnier emails just in case 

A few of my favourites over the years:

How much is the free listing? Nothing...

How long does a lifetime listing last for? As long as we're still here...

If it's a one off payment, how much do I pay next year? As much as you'd like to give us.

Is that the tax office? No.

Why can't I see my listing when I search for builders? Because your not in the builders category 

Who authorised you to display my business details? You did 8 months ago 

Where's my parcel and why is Royal Mail so incompetent? No idea, go and ask them 

How do I edit my Touch Local listing? We're not Touch Local 

Is that the My Local Job Centre? No.

A day in the life...

There was a young man from Brum,

Who set up a business forum.

From plumbers to cleaners and a few basket weavers,

We all had a chat and some fun! 

Another Google Panda update is rolling out, targeting low quality web content and the SEO community is in it's usual hysteria state with prophecies of doom and Armageddon. 

But to show SEO bods do have a sense of humour, I saw a Panda Video clip from Joshua Berg and have just found the You Tub video.

Never say no to a Panda! (maybe this could be the new face of Google?)