the village websmith - web design & services in & around Abenhall

Once part of the Westbury Hundred (which was known as Dene at the time of the 1086 Doomsday book) Abenhall is on the Flaxley to Mitcheldean Road. Originally a mining and iron making centre, it is notable for its 14th century Church of St Michael, which is built of local red sandstone and has excellent contemporary carvings relating to the Forest of Dean's industries. These include a shield bearing the arms of the Freeminers on the west wall and the fabulous mid -15th century octagonal font, that has tools of miners and metalworkers incised on its St Michaels at Abenhall sides.

St. Michael's Church - originally built as a chapel of ease, the church was expanded in the 14th century to include nave, south aisle and tower. The arms of the Freeminers can be seen on the south side of the tower and on the 18th century font. St. Michael's Church - Abenhall is 1.5 km south of Mitcheldean and is set in beautiful surroundings on the edge of the Forest. Old Parish baptism, marriage and burial registers, from 1596, are stored at the Gloucestershire Record Office. For more information, please call us on the number shown, or click in the header of any page to email Abenhall-forest-of-dean@villagewebsmith.co.uk.

Photo from Featured Project near Abenhall
Welcome to Terrific Tuesday

Named from the Germanic god, Tiw, and associated with Mars. Mars is known as the 'Red Planet' so make it a red letter day for your business.

If a thing is worth saying, it is worth repeating. I said that if a thing is worth saying, it is worth saying more than once. This is even more true when you are considering the content of your website. The key is to say the same thing in different ways.

Why should we do this? Quite simply because not everyone who is looking for what you do is going to search for exactly the same thing online. The search engines are very sophisticated now and index site content looking for the required phrases in context. Thus words used in sentences, headers, image file names, alternate and title text are all evaluated in relation to other items and content.

For example, if you manufacture widgets, phrases like 'widget maker', 'manufacturer of widgets', 'widget manufacturer', 'widget producer', 'widget production' and 'widget factory' all have a value. Take a look through your website today and see where you have opportunities to vary the description of what you do to take in more possible variations that potential customers may search for.

Naturally, this should not detract from the sense that your site content makes. It is a very fine balance to strike when trying to please both the search engines and the human visitors to your site. You can probably call to mind many examples of websites that you have seen where the meaning has been entirely lost through trying to cram too much search engine friendly material into the content. Skilfully written web content can make an impact on the machines and the humans, so if you have any questions, we would be pleased to talk over your content with you.

Over the years, hundreds of small businesses have entrusted the Village Websmith to get their message across succinctly and attractively. To find out more, call us on 0203 239 0350 or click in the header of any page to send an email.