Carter Tech Blog

The NSW Office of Fair Trading has issued a warning to businesses about signing up for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) services without looking into the SEO provider first. Many of these services promise to get you on the first page of Google but often don't deliver - charging hundreds or even thousands of dollars for the service.

Many SEO providers still use archaic methods which worked a few years ago but have little effect today. The algorithms behind search engines have gotten smarter and the old methods simply don't achieve results now - metatags, automated random backlinks and rehashing content. Unfortunately many SEO providers still use these methods that haven't worked since Google's update in 2012.

Today, improving your search rank involves improving your content, ensuring keywords you want to be found under are in text not hidden in images, regularly updating your site and making use of blogs and social media to get your website out there. These are all activities which can be done for just a few hours a week without spending thousands on something which can't realistically guarantee results.

Every business wants their website to be towards the top of the search listings for the keywords relevant to their business. Being towards the top increases visibility and the chances that a potential customer will visit your website. There are a number of ways in which you can improve your search ranking, but the most effective is to make sure the content on your website is of good-quality and is unique.

Content which is copied from another website will just lower your search ranking as the search engines crawl your site and the site you copied it from will end up with a higher ranking (because someone else is using their content). Why give your competitors an advantage? While it is perfectly fine to look at someone else's website for ideas you should never copy content. You might get ideas on what topics to explore on your site, even rough ideas of layout but these should guide the creation of your own content.

Good quality, original content will not only improve your search ranking but also shows your potential customers that you know your business and know the market. Your website should reflect what your business does, how it does it and why a customer should use your business over someone else's. You want your visitors to come to your site and think "Gee, these guys really know their stuff." Doing so leaves a lasting impression which only helps to cement your business position.

The final advantage of original content is that it avoids legal problems. Material on the Internet is copyrighted and the copying of other's work infringes their copyright in that work. You could potentially end up paying thousands for copying someone else's material in both legal fees and damages. It's just not worth the risk!

I have said it literally thousands of times - these days technology is integral to the way we do business. We rely on technology to communicate, find information about products and services, do our bookwork and for our banking. When things fail it can cause significant disruption to your business, particularly if plans aren't in place for dealing with technical failure. This is why it is crucial for information technology to be viewed in light of your overall business strategy.

Many of our new clients come to us after using a computer technician to look after their business' technology. Common complaints new clients have about their former computer technician are that they didn't understand how they operate, they wanted to change how they did their job to suit the computer and they didn't appreciate how important their computer system is to the business.

While the advent of inexpensive external hard drives have made the chore of backing up faster and easier, it has also made some IT people complacent about having proper backup procedures in place.

It's amazing how many times I have walked into a new clients' server room and noticed a trusty external hard drive sitting on top of their server - entrusted with the backing up of their critical data. When asked "Do you have backups kept elsewhere?" I am often met with a blank look or asked why backups should be kept elsewhere.

Would your data be safe if a fire went through your business tomorrow? Are all your backups kept on-site? It's crucial for your backup strategy to include some form of off-site backup - whether it be on a disk someone takes home (no less than once per month) or using an online backup solution. While it is probably more common to have to restore a backup because of system failure or an accidental deletion it is still a possibility that some disaster could affect your business - destroying your premises and any data held there.

Having some form of off-site backup as part of your organisation's backup strategy is critical for every business should the unexpected occur.

Nearly every business these days relies upon email for both internal and external communication. Email is now commonly used at work, at home and on people's phones. Whether you use webmail, your ISPs email service or your own email system email is more complicated than you might realise.

You may have seen in your incoming email settings on your computer or phone the terms POP and IMAP. These are the protocol (or language) used to communicate with your email server.