The Village Websmith - Wednesday Website Workshops

Drive traffic to your site

Promoting your web site isn't just about Google, no matter how much Google says it is. The channels through which you can drive traffic to your site are many and varied. To get the best results, you need to address them all.

As well as the specific needs of search engines, the Wednesday Workshops take a holistic approach to promotion and can help you make the most of all opportunities.

It is really quite simple

SEO is not a black art, it is multiple simple tasks, each of which can contribute to search engine performance. In the workshop you will:

• Debunk the myth and mystery, break out the tasks in jargon-free English
• Discuss the importance of alternative versions of phrases
• Understand the value of placing key words and phrases in different places
• Discover more opportunities to make the search engines aware of your content
• Learn how to sort the wheat from the chaff when analysing results

Image of Header Sequence Understanding Clouds Zuzanna Ruttkay From the page Wednesday Website Workshops

OK, so your website is up and running, all you have to do now is sit back and wait for the calls, right? Well, not exactly. Like any form of advertising, your web site needs to be promoted and managed. The message needs to be fresh, topical, powerful and in the public eye.

This takes effort. It takes imagination. It takes forethought and consideration. Luckily, there is a lot you can do yourself, particularly with Webinthebox® that can help to keep the wheels turning without spending a fortune.

In order to help this process, you can now join in an online masterclass in 12 modules based on real questions asked by real customers over the 20 years of Websmithery here. Each module lasts an hour and delegates will be provided with course material to act as an aide memoire as well as a 'homework' assignment each week, with online assessment and advice.

Are you a morning person, or an evening person? With only five spaces per workshop available, you can choose a time of day that best suits your workload. There will be a slot in normal business hours, and a slot in the early evening after work, so you can choose which group to join according to the shape of your day.

Give us the tools and we will finish the job Every module includes a recommended list of resources and tools to help you. Most of these are available free online, and are the tools that we use ourselves in the Websmithy. You don't have to spend a fortune to get reliable, easy to use, fast software.

Modules based on real world needs Over the years here at the Websmithy, a strong pattern of what our customers want to know about managing their online presence has been established. By going back over the answers to questions and concerns, the following list of modules has been created to provide the most relevant and important information.

1. Understanding audiences - human and robot
2. SEO - What it really means and how to DIY
3. Layout and graphics - their importance in framing and showcasing your message
4. Photographs - choosing and assigning
5. Photographs - what's in a name?
6. Your message - how you say what you say
7. Your message - uploading and shaping
8. Your message - grammar and spelling do matter, here's why
9. Non-web promotion - customers are everywhere
10. Social media - use it to your advantage
11. Outgoing contact - fly fishing vs ledgering
12. CREAM - the virtuous spiral of ongoing improvement

Book early and save The price of registration for the full course is just £240, payable in advance, but for bookings before August 15^th you can claim an 'Early Bird Saver' rate of £180. Follow this link to the booking page to check availability and claim your place.

Put Your Message where People Look

Web site visitors have a notoriously short attention span. The accepted figure is that you have 7 seconds to give visitors a reason to stay when they land on your site. Our workshops will help you

• Put your content where it will be seen
• Use graphics and frames to draw the eye
• Avoid distracting animations
• Use lists to clearly show what is on offer
• Prioritise your points to best effect
• Make sure that all visitors can access your message

Planning, Updating and Evaluating

In web site terms, to stand still is to go backwards.

CREAM is a structured reminder to help make sure that your content is working for you. The acronym outlines the vital stages of maintaining web content:

• C - Change
• R - Read
• E - Edit
• A - Apply
• M - Monitor

Make your message stand out

Writing for the web is a particular skill. Unlike other advertising copy, you have to appeal to two audiences, human and robots. Both have conflicting needs so writing effectively for both is rather like dancing in a minefield.

There are tools and methods available to help, and the Wednesday Workshops are there to help you pick the techniques you need to make oustsanding use of your web space.

Colours Influence Decisions

The use of colour can make a big difference to the response your web site brings. The workshops cover:

• Colours and web fashion
• Tone of voice colours
• Colours that calm, colours that stimulate
• Selecting your pallette
• Consistency and uniformity
• Surprise colours for promotions

Opportunities to use other people's contacts to gain traffic

Every minute of every day is an opportunity to leverage the networks of those around us in spreading the word for our business. From the more structured arenas of face to face networking groups, through the plethora of social media platforms to a casual "And don't forget to tell all your friends" when leaving a customer, the openings are endless.

Bringing all these together just takes a little thought, will power and a structured approach. Opening doors and keeping them open is the thrust of this workshop topic.

Image of Header Sequence Searching Manifying Glass Marten Newhall From the page Wednesday Website Workshops

OK, so your website is up and running, all you have to do now is sit back and wait for the calls, right? Well, not exactly. Like any form of advertising, your web site needs to be promoted and managed. The message needs to be fresh, topical, powerful and in the public eye.

This takes effort. It takes imagination. It takes forethought and consideration. Luckily, there is a lot you can do yourself, particularly with Webinthebox® that can help to keep the wheels turning without spending a fortune.

In order to help this process, you can now join in an online masterclass in 12 modules based on real questions asked by real customers over the 20 years of Websmithery here. Each module lasts an hour and delegates will be provided with course material to act as an aide memoire as well as a 'homework' assignment each week, with online assessment and advice.

Are you a morning person, or an evening person? With only five spaces per workshop available, you can choose a time of day that best suits your workload. There will be a slot in normal business hours, and a slot in the early evening after work, so you can choose which group to join according to the shape of your day.

Give us the tools and we will finish the job Every module includes a recommended list of resources and tools to help you. Most of these are available free online, and are the tools that we use ourselves in the Websmithy. You don't have to spend a fortune to get reliable, easy to use, fast software.

Modules based on real world needs Over the years here at the Websmithy, a strong pattern of what our customers want to know about managing their online presence has been established. By going back over the answers to questions and concerns, the following list of modules has been created to provide the most relevant and important information.

1. Understanding audiences - human and robot
2. SEO - What it really means and how to DIY
3. Layout and graphics - their importance in framing and showcasing your message
4. Photographs - choosing and assigning
5. Photographs - what's in a name?
6. Your message - how you say what you say
7. Your message - uploading and shaping
8. Your message - grammar and spelling do matter, here's why
9. Non-web promotion - customers are everywhere
10. Social media - use it to your advantage
11. Outgoing contact - fly fishing vs ledgering
12. CREAM - the virtuous spiral of ongoing improvement

Book early and save The price of registration for the full course is just £240, payable in advance, but for bookings before August 15^th you can claim an 'Early Bird Saver' rate of £180. Follow this link to the booking page to check availability and claim your place.

Target your message with pinpoint accuracy

It's no good sitting and waiting for customers to come to your web site for the latest news. By building and using a mailing list, you can make sure your news reaches people first. The workshop covers:

• Writing great newsletter copy
• Maximising response by selecting your audience
• Keeping it relevant - choosing who sees what
• Growing your list and seeking referrals
• Keeping it legal - dancing in the data protection minefield

Image of Header Sequence Searching Desert Sand Katerina Kerdi From the page Wednesday Website Workshops

OK, so your website is up and running, all you have to do now is sit back and wait for the calls, right? Well, not exactly. Like any form of advertising, your web site needs to be promoted and managed. The message needs to be fresh, topical, powerful and in the public eye.

This takes effort. It takes imagination. It takes forethought and consideration. Luckily, there is a lot you can do yourself, particularly with Webinthebox® that can help to keep the wheels turning without spending a fortune.

In order to help this process, you can now join in an online masterclass in 12 modules based on real questions asked by real customers over the 20 years of Websmithery here. Each module lasts an hour and delegates will be provided with course material to act as an aide memoire as well as a 'homework' assignment each week, with online assessment and advice.

Are you a morning person, or an evening person? With only five spaces per workshop available, you can choose a time of day that best suits your workload. There will be a slot in normal business hours, and a slot in the early evening after work, so you can choose which group to join according to the shape of your day.

Give us the tools and we will finish the job Every module includes a recommended list of resources and tools to help you. Most of these are available free online, and are the tools that we use ourselves in the Websmithy. You don't have to spend a fortune to get reliable, easy to use, fast software.

Modules based on real world needs Over the years here at the Websmithy, a strong pattern of what our customers want to know about managing their online presence has been established. By going back over the answers to questions and concerns, the following list of modules has been created to provide the most relevant and important information.

1. Understanding audiences - human and robot
2. SEO - What it really means and how to DIY
3. Layout and graphics - their importance in framing and showcasing your message
4. Photographs - choosing and assigning
5. Photographs - what's in a name?
6. Your message - how you say what you say
7. Your message - uploading and shaping
8. Your message - grammar and spelling do matter, here's why
9. Non-web promotion - customers are everywhere
10. Social media - use it to your advantage
11. Outgoing contact - fly fishing vs ledgering
12. CREAM - the virtuous spiral of ongoing improvement

Book early and save The price of registration for the full course is just £240, payable in advance, but for bookings before August 15^th you can claim an 'Early Bird Saver' rate of £180. Follow this link to the booking page to check availability and claim your place.

Image of Header Sequence Understanding Sebastian Bill From the page Wednesday Website Workshops

OK, so your website is up and running, all you have to do now is sit back and wait for the calls, right? Well, not exactly. Like any form of advertising, your web site needs to be promoted and managed. The message needs to be fresh, topical, powerful and in the public eye.

This takes effort. It takes imagination. It takes forethought and consideration. Luckily, there is a lot you can do yourself, particularly with Webinthebox® that can help to keep the wheels turning without spending a fortune.

In order to help this process, you can now join in an online masterclass in 12 modules based on real questions asked by real customers over the 20 years of Websmithery here. Each module lasts an hour and delegates will be provided with course material to act as an aide memoire as well as a 'homework' assignment each week, with online assessment and advice.

Are you a morning person, or an evening person? With only five spaces per workshop available, you can choose a time of day that best suits your workload. There will be a slot in normal business hours, and a slot in the early evening after work, so you can choose which group to join according to the shape of your day.

Give us the tools and we will finish the job Every module includes a recommended list of resources and tools to help you. Most of these are available free online, and are the tools that we use ourselves in the Websmithy. You don't have to spend a fortune to get reliable, easy to use, fast software.

Modules based on real world needs Over the years here at the Websmithy, a strong pattern of what our customers want to know about managing their online presence has been established. By going back over the answers to questions and concerns, the following list of modules has been created to provide the most relevant and important information.

1. Understanding audiences - human and robot
2. SEO - What it really means and how to DIY
3. Layout and graphics - their importance in framing and showcasing your message
4. Photographs - choosing and assigning
5. Photographs - what's in a name?
6. Your message - how you say what you say
7. Your message - uploading and shaping
8. Your message - grammar and spelling do matter, here's why
9. Non-web promotion - customers are everywhere
10. Social media - use it to your advantage
11. Outgoing contact - fly fishing vs ledgering
12. CREAM - the virtuous spiral of ongoing improvement

Book early and save The price of registration for the full course is just £240, payable in advance, but for bookings before August 15^th you can claim an 'Early Bird Saver' rate of £180. Follow this link to the booking page to check availability and claim your place.

Don't dream of keeping your website up to date, plan for it

Don't just dream of keeping your website working at peak performance all the time, plan for it. The workshop covers:

• Structuring your approach to updates - setting aside time
• Looking for opportunities to promote your work
• Storing images until ready for use
• Measuring performance
• Monitoring your market, anticipating change

Virtuous Spiral of Updates

In web site terms, to stand still is to go backwards.

CREAM is a structured reminder to help make sure that your content is working for you. The acronym outlines the vital stages of maintaining web content:

• C - Change
• R - Read
• E - Edit
• A - Apply
• M - Monitor

Your message is important, so is how you frame it.

Web site visitors have a notoriously short attention span. The accepted figure is that you have 7 seconds to give visitors a reason to stay when they land on your site. Our workshops will help you

• Put your content where it will be seen
• Use graphics and frames to draw the eye
• Avoid distracting animations
• Use lists to clearly show what is on offer
• Prioritise your points to best effect
• Make sure that all visitors can access your message

Even household names still have to advertise

Every minute of every day is an opportunity to leverage the networks of those around us in spreading the word for our business. From the more structured arenas of face to face networking groups, through the plethora of social media platforms to a casual "And don't forget to tell all your friends" when leaving a customer, the openings are endless.

Bringing all these together just takes a little thought, will power and a structured approach. Opening doors and keeping them open is the thrust of this workshop topic.

Target your message with pinpoint accuracy

It's no good sitting and waiting for customers to come to your web site for the latest news. By building and using a mailing list, you can make sure your news reaches people first. The workshop covers:

• Writing great newsletter copy
• Maximising response by selecting your audience
• Keeping it relevant - choosing who sees what
• Growing your list and seeking referrals
• Keeping it legal - dancing in the data protection minefield

Put your message where customers look

Every minute of every day is an opportunity to leverage the networks of those around us in spreading the word for our business. From the more structured arenas of face to face networking groups, through the plethora of social media platforms to a casual "And don't forget to tell all your friends", the openings are endless.

Bringing all these together just takes a little thought, will power and a structured approach. Opening doors and keeping them open is the thrust of this workshop topic.

Questions are our friends

While these mailboxes are very pretty, the image does raise a few questions:

• Why are 28 and 26 in reverse numerical order?
• What happened to numbers 22 and 24?
• What if someone goes on to build numbers 30 and 32?

Grammar is Important - Yes, Really!

There are still people who believe that grammar and spelling are important and who would pass by a business with poor English in its message.

• Nobody's ever navigated to a web site BECAUSE it has poor grammar
• If one person is put off, you have lost a potential sale
• People are 11 times as likely to talk of a negative experience as they are a positive one
• This is not everyone's strong point, but there are tools available to help

Direct, Detailed, Descriptive

Any image file name should be such that no search engine robot or user of a text to speech browser can be left in any doubt whatsoever about its content.  The words should also complement the content of the page on which the image is displayed.  This added dimension really helps the search engines to confidently present your page as an authoritative source of information on that subject.

Adopt Virtuous Spiral Approach

In web site terms, to stand still is to go backwards.

CREAM is a structured reminder to help make sure that your content is working for you. The acronym outlines the vital stages of maintaining web content:

• C - Change
• R - Read
• E - Edit
• A - Apply
• M - Monitor

Opportunities to use other people's contacts to gain traffic

Every minute of every day is an opportunity to leverage the networks of those around us in spreading the word for our business. From the more structured arenas of face to face networking groups, through the plethora of social media platforms to a casual "And don't forget to tell all your friends" when leaving a customer, the openings are endless.

Bringing all these together just takes a little thought, will power and a structured approach. Opening doors and keeping them open is the thrust of this workshop topic.

Quite a lot really…

Image of Header Sequence Whats In A Name Paper Cups Ainur Iman From the page Wednesday Website Workshops

OK, so your website is up and running, all you have to do now is sit back and wait for the calls, right? Well, not exactly. Like any form of advertising, your web site needs to be promoted and managed. The message needs to be fresh, topical, powerful and in the public eye.

This takes effort. It takes imagination. It takes forethought and consideration. Luckily, there is a lot you can do yourself, particularly with Webinthebox® that can help to keep the wheels turning without spending a fortune.

In order to help this process, you can now join in an online masterclass in 12 modules based on real questions asked by real customers over the 20 years of Websmithery here. Each module lasts an hour and delegates will be provided with course material to act as an aide memoire as well as a 'homework' assignment each week, with online assessment and advice.

Are you a morning person, or an evening person? With only five spaces per workshop available, you can choose a time of day that best suits your workload. There will be a slot in normal business hours, and a slot in the early evening after work, so you can choose which group to join according to the shape of your day.

Give us the tools and we will finish the job Every module includes a recommended list of resources and tools to help you. Most of these are available free online, and are the tools that we use ourselves in the Websmithy. You don't have to spend a fortune to get reliable, easy to use, fast software.

Modules based on real world needs Over the years here at the Websmithy, a strong pattern of what our customers want to know about managing their online presence has been established. By going back over the answers to questions and concerns, the following list of modules has been created to provide the most relevant and important information.

1. Understanding audiences - human and robot
2. SEO - What it really means and how to DIY
3. Layout and graphics - their importance in framing and showcasing your message
4. Photographs - choosing and assigning
5. Photographs - what's in a name?
6. Your message - how you say what you say
7. Your message - uploading and shaping
8. Your message - grammar and spelling do matter, here's why
9. Non-web promotion - customers are everywhere
10. Social media - use it to your advantage
11. Outgoing contact - fly fishing vs ledgering
12. CREAM - the virtuous spiral of ongoing improvement

Book early and save The price of registration for the full course is just £240, payable in advance, but for bookings before August 15^th you can claim an 'Early Bird Saver' rate of £180. Follow this link to the booking page to check availability and claim your place.

Put your message where customers look

Every minute of every day is an opportunity to leverage the networks of those around us in spreading the word for our business. From the more structured arenas of face to face networking groups, through the plethora of social media platforms to a casual "And don't forget to tell all your friends", the openings are endless.

Bringing all these together just takes a little thought, will power and a structured approach. Opening doors and keeping them open is the thrust of this workshop topic.

Make an appointment with yourself

The greatest gift you can give your web site is your time. Being busy right now is great, but if you want to make sure that level of business endures, then investing some time now to promote for the future is a great investment.

The workshops focus on treating yourelf like a customer and setting aside time as an 'appointment' to update and promote your web site. Start making that investment by joining us on Wednesdays.

Target your message with pinpoint accuracy

It's no good sitting and waiting for customers to come to your web site for the latest news. By building and using a mailing list, you can make sure your news reaches people first. The workshop covers:

• Writing great newsletter copy
• Maximising response by selecting your audience
• Keeping it relevant - choosing who sees what
• Growing your list and seeking referrals
• Keeping it legal - dancing in the data protection minefield

Target your message with pinpoint accuracy

It's no good sitting and waiting for customers to come to your web site for the latest news. By building and using a mailing list, you can make sure your news reaches people first. The workshop covers:

• Writing great newsletter copy
• Maximising response by selecting your audience
• Keeping it relevant - choosing who sees what
• Growing your list and seeking referrals
• Keeping it legal - dancing in the data protection minefield

And we will finish the job

Every job is easier when you use the right tools. Managing web sites isn't rocket science but itcan be made difficult by using inappropriate applications like word processors or DTP to make copy, or using images directly from camera.

There is a wealth of great, free tools that take care of not only the writing of copy and the manipulation of images, but also working in batches, re-sizing and re-naming miultiple files to save time.

At the workshops we will share the fruits of dozens of years trial and error to come up with the ultimate toolkit.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Possibly more with a little help…

Good quality photographs can make a web site really stand out. Join our workshop to get the low-down on

• Choosing for relevance
• Naming files for results
• Links to more information
• How to get great image quality and fast loading
• Captions, details, alt and title texts
• Achieve optimum keyword density
• Apply a range of phrases to suit all users

Image of Header Sequence Whats In A Name Chinatown Food Street Jeyakumaran Mayooresan From the page Wednesday Website Workshops

OK, so your website is up and running, all you have to do now is sit back and wait for the calls, right? Well, not exactly. Like any form of advertising, your web site needs to be promoted and managed. The message needs to be fresh, topical, powerful and in the public eye.

This takes effort. It takes imagination. It takes forethought and consideration. Luckily, there is a lot you can do yourself, particularly with Webinthebox® that can help to keep the wheels turning without spending a fortune.

In order to help this process, you can now join in an online masterclass in 12 modules based on real questions asked by real customers over the 20 years of Websmithery here. Each module lasts an hour and delegates will be provided with course material to act as an aide memoire as well as a 'homework' assignment each week, with online assessment and advice.

Are you a morning person, or an evening person? With only five spaces per workshop available, you can choose a time of day that best suits your workload. There will be a slot in normal business hours, and a slot in the early evening after work, so you can choose which group to join according to the shape of your day.

Give us the tools and we will finish the job Every module includes a recommended list of resources and tools to help you. Most of these are available free online, and are the tools that we use ourselves in the Websmithy. You don't have to spend a fortune to get reliable, easy to use, fast software.

Modules based on real world needs Over the years here at the Websmithy, a strong pattern of what our customers want to know about managing their online presence has been established. By going back over the answers to questions and concerns, the following list of modules has been created to provide the most relevant and important information.

1. Understanding audiences - human and robot
2. SEO - What it really means and how to DIY
3. Layout and graphics - their importance in framing and showcasing your message
4. Photographs - choosing and assigning
5. Photographs - what's in a name?
6. Your message - how you say what you say
7. Your message - uploading and shaping
8. Your message - grammar and spelling do matter, here's why
9. Non-web promotion - customers are everywhere
10. Social media - use it to your advantage
11. Outgoing contact - fly fishing vs ledgering
12. CREAM - the virtuous spiral of ongoing improvement

Book early and save The price of registration for the full course is just £240, payable in advance, but for bookings before August 15^th you can claim an 'Early Bird Saver' rate of £180. Follow this link to the booking page to check availability and claim your place.