Category: Website Design

by graphedia
Consumer insights for Google Search Phrases

 

See a list of top keyphrases that you may find interesting and apply to your own business.  Are you using any of the types of phrases below in your blogs, content and meta data?

What people are searching

Early gift shopping

YoY searches for “best christmas” have grown  30%
Ex: best christmas gifts 2021, best christmas movies, best christmas markets in europe, best christmas songs

WoW searches for “christmas gift ideas” have grown 30%
Ex: christmas gift ideas for her, christmas gift ideas for him, christmas gift ideas for kids

YoY searches for “christmas markets” have grown  300%
Ex: christmas markets 2021 uk, best christmas markets in europe, christmas markets

YoY searches for “gift shops near me” have grown  60%
Ex: best gift shops near me, customized gift shops near me, unique gift shops near me

Source: Year over Year – Google Data, Global English, Aug 31, 2021–Oct 29, 2021 vs Aug 31, 2020–Oct 29, 2020

Holiday shoppers plan to take full advantage of retailers’ omnichannel options, which is likely to boost ecommerce sales 13% over last year

On average, 63% of holiday shoppers surveyed across select countries would like to receive communication about the holidays from retailers and/or brands in November, up from 31% who like to receive holiday communication in October.

Source: Google-commissioned Ipsos COVID-19 tracker, AU, BR, CA, CN, DE, ES, FR, IN, IT, JP, MX, RU, KR, UK, US, ZA, “~n=300-830 online consumers 18+ per market who will shop for the holiday season,” Oct 21–24, 2021

Looking for the best SEO Advice? Connect with us right away

 

Holiday travel

YoY searches for “best place to stay” have grown  60%
Ex: best place to stay in goa, best place to stay in paris, best place to stay in hawaii, best place to stay in dubai

YoY searches for “best places to travel in” have grown 100%
Ex: best places to travel in december, best places to travel in november, best places to travel in january, best places to travel in february

YoY searches for “last minute hotel deals” have grown  70%
Ex: last minute hotel deals london, last minute hotel deals near me, secret last minute hotel deals

YoY searches for “travel rules” have grown 600%
Ex: travel rules, travel rules uk, new travel rules

On average, 62% of holiday shoppers surveyed across select countries say they will browse for gift ideas online – not in store.

On average, 57% of holiday shoppers surveyed across select countries say they will confirm online that an item is in stock before going to buy it.

Source: Year over Year – Google Data, Global English, Aug 31, 2021–Oct 29, 2021 vs Aug 31, 2020–Oct 29, 2020

Looking for the best SEO Advice? Connect with us right away

 

Niall Reck Digital Designer - Merry Christmas

Food for thought

Salesforce research found retailers that offered curbside, drive-thru and in-store pickup options saw their sales increase by 54% YoY in the five days leading up to Christmas 2020, compared with 34% for retailers that did not offer those options.

Source: CNBC, US, “Salesforce projects retailers will pay $223 billion extra for goods in the second half,” Jul 20, 2021

Salesforce predicts that online sales will continue to grow – up to 10% in the US and 7% around the globe. In other words, between November and December, online shoppers will spend $259B in the US and $1.2T globally.

Source: Salesforce, Global, “Extra holiday insight thanks to data from over 1 billion global shoppers,” Oct 1, 2021

Mobile commerce – the fastest-growing ecommerce channel – is expected to increase 18.8% to $97.15B during the holiday season, with most of that activity flowing through apps

Source: Google-commissioned Ipsos COVID-19 tracker, AU, BR, CA, CN, DE, ES, FR, IN, IT, JP, MX, RU, KR, UK, US, ZA, “~n=300-830 online consumers 18+ per market who will shop for the holiday season,” Oct 21–24, 2021

Looking for the best SEO Advice? Connect with us right away

We would be interested in your thoughts on above, contact us today

by graphedia
€9,000 Digitalisation Vouchers for companies of 10 employees & over

A new fund available through Enterprise Ireland to provide strategic intervention for any eligible company wishing to develop a digital adaption plan

Digitalisation Voucher

The new Digitalisation Voucher is a 100% funded grant which provides support to companies as they seek to access the expertise needed to develop a digital roadmap for their business. This expertise can take the form of independent technical or advisory services that relate to the current and future operations of the business, with respect to assessing their digital readiness and identifying opportunities for increased digitalisation across the business.

Description of funding

  • the voucher covers the provision of technical or advisory services related to the operations of the business, from an approved service provider up to a value of €9,000
  • a maximum daily rate of €900 shall apply
  • the support will be provided over a relatively short period but it may be spread out over a maximum of 8 weeks

Eligible Projects must include one or more of the following activities:

  • internal process optimisation (Lean-Digital-Automation)
  • customer digital experience (Product, Service, Route to Market, Channels)
  • data-driven decision making

 

Improve your website and its presence Contact us today for more information

 

Eligible companies

Manufacturing or internationally traded services companies which:

  • employed 10 or more full time employees on their payroll on 29 February 2020; or
  • employed 10 full time employees at the time of application
  • as part of the application you will need to complete a digital assessment scorecard from Enterprise Ireland globalambition.ie/scorecard which will provide an overview of your current digital readiness

In order to be eligible for funding, companies must:

  • have experienced, or are projected to experience, a 15% or more reduction in actual or projected turnover or profit as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak; the reduction in turnover or profit of 15% or more relates to a comparable quarter in 2019 or 2020
  • or have had a significant increase in operational costs as a result of COVID-19
  • not have been Undertakings in Difficulty at 31 December 2019 and/or at the date of application, as provided for in State aid law. An exception to this is micro and small undertakings (that is, undertakings with fewer than 50 employees and less than €10m of annual turnover and/or balance sheet value) provided that at the moment of providing the support, they are not subject to collective insolvency procedure under national law

 

Improve your website and its presence Contact us today for more information

 

Announcing the new fund, the Tánaiste said:

“Now, as we cautiously emerge from these necessary public health restrictions and global markets begin to open up again, the government will continue to help businesses in their next phase of recovery and adaptation.”

Enterprise Ireland CEO Leo Clancy said:

“The new €51 million fund is intended to ensure that Irish businesses continue to be supported in recovery from the impact of COVID-19. To date, Enterprise Ireland has approved more than €181 million in COVID-19 financial supports under the Sustaining Enterprise Fund protecting more than 27,500 jobs.

“As economies reopen, ongoing investment in business-critical areas is vital to the long-term growth of companies.”

 

Improve your website and its presence Contact us today for more information

Full article here

 

 

by graphedia
Trading Online LEO vouchers, Make Sales While You sleep

 

To get 10,000 Irish businesses online for the first time and to get a further 2,000 Irish SMEs trading online over a period of two years, the Government have introduced a “trade-online” voucher scheme as part of the National Digital Strategy.

This allows businesses to secure funding for 90% of their projects spend, up to a maximum reclaim of €2,500.

We have hundreds of customers selling online throughout Ireland and we would look forward to working with you too.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Us.

Click here to view some of our recent Ecommerce work

What the vouchers can be used for:

  • Development or upgrade of an e-commerce website
  • Implementing Online payments or booking systems
  • Purchase of Internet related software
  • Purchase of online advertising
  • Developing an app (or multiplatform webpages ?)
  • Implementing a digital marketing strategy i.e. Social media marketing
  • Consultation with ICT experts for early stage adopters of online strategy
  • Training/ skills development specifically to establish and manage an on-line trading
  • Activity

What the vouchers cannot be used for:

  • Businesses that are not already trading
  • Development of brochure websites
  • Purchase of non-internet related software
  • Anything other than online trading related activity
The vouchers are targeted at businesses with the following profile:
  • No online presence or companies seeking to improve their online presence
  • < than 10 employees
  • < turnover of €2m per annum

Contact us today for a consultation

by graphedia
Speed Update from Google: Page Speed for Mobile Search Rankings

Starting in July 2018, Google will use mobile page speed as a ranking in their mobile search results.

People want to be able to find answers to their questions as fast as possible — studies show that people really care about the speed of a page. Although speed has been used in ranking for some time, that signal was focused on desktop searches. Recently Google announced that starting in July 2018, page speed will be a ranking factor for mobile searches.

The “Speed Update,” as they are calling it (a new ranking algorithm), will only affect pages that deliver the slowest experience to users and it will only impact a small percentage of queries. It applies the same standard to all pages, regardless of the technology used to build the page. The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal, so a slow page may still rank highly if it has great, relevant content.

Full article here

So what does this mean ??

So make sure your site loads fast for desktop but especially mobile, if your website is a year or 2 older now time to come in for tune up and get those websites running.  Although speed is one element of ranking as Google says it is all about relevant content.  Put time into your content, if you have great content this will get results, if it is great content with a flash fast page speed then you are a winner winner chicken dinner.

 

by graphedia

The Clanard Court Hotel in Athy, operators of Santas Magical Trail has scooped top ECommerce  award at the Kildare Business Awards  2017.

Santa’s Magical Trail – a fun filled and action-packed experience for children young and old!

Now in their 9th year Kildare’s Santa experience was recognised for its ECommerce excellence.

The awards took place in The K Club in November to a full house of over 300 local businesses.

The new ECommerce Website was designed and developed by Graphedia Kidlare, with a host of custom built features to help people book the event and hotel rooms online.  The success of the site meant that dates with hotel rooms were sold out within hours.

Event booking engine features

  • Allows the client to load multiple places by date and time
  • Allows the client to create multiple products or events
  • Coupon code and private booking features
  • Extendable reporting module
  • Realex payments integration
  • PDF ticketing with QR codes
  • REST API to allow external integrations

Hotel booking engine features

  • Allows the client to load bedrooms by type
  • The system automatically assigns rooms based on occupancy
  • Timer on checkout like Ticketmaster to ensure tickets are sold fairly.
  • Newsletter integration
  • Financial reports and stats
  • Full room and occupation report

You can visit the website here

https://www.santasmagicaltrail.ie/

 

by graphedia

 

Continuing from our success at being awarded Google AdWords Partners for AdWords Search Ads last year, Graphedia have been certified AdWords Mobile specialists under the Google Partner Programme showing

Our new specialization recognizes that Graphedia has demonstrated expertise and sustained client performance in mobile advertising.

The Google AdWords certification is a professional accreditation that Google offers to individuals who demonstrate proficiency in basic and advanced aspects of AdWords. An AdWords certification allows Google to recognize Graphedia as an expert in online advertising.

 

Achieving Partner status means that we have demonstrated AdWords skill and expertise, met AdWords spend requirements and delivered agency and client revenue growth.

Our profile can be viewed https://www.google.com/partners/#a_profile;idtf=8464777227;

We now are credited with having the partner badge on our website showing that Google recognizes our agency as an AdWords certified partner.

So if you need help with your AdWord Campaign don’t hesitate to contact us

by graphedia

 

All of us here at Graphedia are conscious of security when it comes to using the Internet. They say that practice makes perfect, and we completely agree. That is why we are constantly improving on our techniques to practices to be bets at what we do. That’s how we can spot a dodgy site from a mile away. Yet, we understand that some of our customers and even our customer’s customers may not have the time to keep up with all the security changes that are going on.

We are not the only company who think this way, Google are also very proactive in protecting their customers from threats on the Internet. One of their latest protection ideas revolve around their web browser – Google Chrome. Beginning January 31st, they are making some subtle changes to the way Chrome recognises websites and how secure they are.

 

What Is An SSL?

SSL stands for “secure sockets layer” and is a form of security for sites that handle sensitive information such as customer names, phone numbers, addresses and credit card numbers. It creates a secure connection between a customer’s web browser and the server of the company they’re interacting with. Here’s an example. Let’s say you need to talk to your friend about some personal conflicts going on within your life. Would you rather talk to them in public where you run the risk of people overhearing you or would you rather have your conversation in private? An SSL gives the company and the customer the ability to communication and share information, in private.

 

What Changes Are Going To Be Made To Chrome?

On current versions of Chrome, when you visit a website without an SSL certificate you will see a very discrete exclamation mark beside the website address (picture below).

Current version of Chrome

This is not overly obvious to the end user, but changes being rolled out in version 56 are a little more obvious. As you can see from the below picture, the basic exclamation mark has morphed into a more obvious “Not Secure” message.

Proposed Version 56 of Chrome

Google are not stopping there, in future versions, they plan on making more changes to Chrome. One of those changes will see the new “Non Secure” message being made even more prominent by making it a bright red font to grab your attention.

Full warning in red font is planned for future upgrades

Will This Have Any Implications For My Website?

Yes, I’m afraid so – it will have implications for all websites that do not have an SSL certificate (only when users are using Google Chrome 56+). While your sites will continue to function normally, your users will see these security notices in their browser. Some users may choose to ignore them, but the fact of the matter is, everyone is concerned about security. This means that as time goes by, users will start to get uneasy when visiting your site and eventually avoid your site altogether.

 

Are There Any Major Benefits To Having An SSL Certificate?

Loads – absolutely loads.

  • End to End encryption
  • Prevents eavesdropping on user data (ISP’s, Not Nice Governments etc.)
  • Prevents man in the middle attacks and phishing attacks.
  • Should always be used when accepting credit cards.
  • Improves your SEO rankings in Google.
  • Improves customer trust.

 

Is There Anything I Can Do?

There sure is, but it will involve the obvious – purchasing an SSL certificate for your website.

Contact Niall here in Graphedia and he will fill you in on how to go about getting one for your website.

 

Source: Google Security Blog

Other Links of Interest

by graphedia

 

Graphedia have been awarded Partner status with google on their expertise with Google Adwords.  The Google AdWords certification is a professional accreditation that Google offers to individuals who demonstrate proficiency in basic and advanced aspects of AdWords. An AdWords certification allows Google to recognize Graphedia as an expert in online advertising.

Achieving Partner status means that we have demonstrated AdWords skill and expertise, met AdWords spend requirements and delivered agency and client revenue growth.

Our profile can be viewed https://www.google.com/partners/#a_profile;idtf=8464777227;

Niall is clearly happy with partnership :)We now are credited with having the partner badge on our website showing that Google recognizes our agency as an AdWords certified partner.

Niall Reck the owner of Graphedia says “It is great for our company, we are absolutely thrilled with the partner status, we strive to moving forward and giving our customers the best and latest service, it shows the hard work we here at graphedia put into achieving results for our customers.”

 

So if you need help with your AdWord Campaign don’t hesitate to contact us