New Website for West Cork Accommodation Provider: The Cottage Bar

Like the name says, The Cottage Bar & Restaurant is a bar and restaurant in Glengarriff, West Cork, which also offers bed & breakfast and self catering accommodation.

We stopped at The Cottage Bar for lunch on one of our first trips out to beautiful Glengarriff. I remember the friendly, homey atmosphere; so I was delighted when the Somers Family contacted me to do a website for them. They wanted to start out with a simple site that they could easily update themselves. The site is now live at cottagebar.ie and shows off all that the establishment has to offer from home style cooking and comfortable accommodation to a convenient location in one of West Cork's most scenic locations.

Many businesses in the tourism industry are having a really hard time now and those that relied heavily on passing trade and word of mouth referrals are finding that they need to step up their marketing efforts, especially online. Those that don't yet have a site are now getting one and those with basic sites are getting content management systems so they can update the sites themselves to change rates and add special offers as often as needed.

As the tourism & accommodation industries are so competitive on the internet it's important that these businesses make sure that their web developer is experienced in search engine optimisation or works with an SEO, like me, who specialises in tourism. A small website will have a hard time competing on a national basis for competitive search phrases as there are so many large directory sites that are strongly optimised; but a small site can compete for more local searches, especially if all SEO techniques are utilised; especially on-page optimisation with good relevant content and high quality incoming links. These days a good social media marketing campaign is a great way to get more exposure for your establishment.

Contact me if you would like to know more about online marketing for tourism related websites.

Wedding-Invitations-Ireland.com gets new look with WordPress

My first friends in Ireland, Tony and Therese Cantwell started out selling creative, personalised baby announcement cards about 10 years ago and in 2002 branched into similarly creative and personalised wedding invitations with the site http://www.wedding-invitations-ireland.com. The site has gone through a couple different designs and layouts over the years and I have managed the site for them throughout. We've considered different Content Management solutions for the site, but now that I've done a number of sites in WordPress, using StudioPress premium themes (affiliate link), we decided that now was the time for a bigger change to the site - facilitating more control for Tony and Therese to manage the site themselves.

I worked with Tony through setting up the WordPress installation and some coaching (while 6 of our 7 kids played in the background) and assistance in updating the content and images, as well as SEO and social media aspects of the site. I provide this service in my blogging workshops and one-to-one training on a regular basis, but as I had been working with Tony on his sites over the past 10 years, I knew he was able to take on a lot more than a beginning user, like making changes to the CSS stylesheet.

It's great working with Tony and Therese because they are very dedicated to providing a quality product to their clients -- along with a very high standard of service. They are great at helping the brides and grooms select just the right style and develop the appropriate wording for any situation.

The site has done well on search engines for a number of related phrases and it's been a great selling tool to back-up their attendence at wedding fairs and traditional advertising they've done through a printed brochure and some print ads. The new development should even add to the current success of the site with the ability to more easily add news and informative articles through blog posts and social media integration.

Tony has now added on his newest range of wedding stationery and information on his services and can update just about any aspect of the site himself now -- and he's started on the redevelopment of the baby announcement site!

We've planned a big celebration -- mainly of the fact that Tony & Therese don't have to wait for me to make any changes for them anymore :-)

Contact me for more information on web development using WordPress and/or Studio Press Premium Themes or to book a blogging workshop so that you can take control of your website like Tony and Therese.

New Website for Wireless Broadband & VoIP Provider in SW Ireland

I've recently completed http://www.corkkerrybroadband.com for VOIP and Internet Services LTD, a new wireless broadband provider who are currently offering services in West Cork, Kerry, North Cork & Tipperary and will be expanding to other areas.

The website provides information about the company and the services it provides, which includes VoIP Telephone Services that allow you to make calls through the internet without a landline. This should be a very popular add-on to most broadband packages as many people, including myself, are doing away with the home landline (and the monthly rental charge) and turning to VoIP.

It's great to see another broadband internet provider servicing this area, which is mainly made up of rural communities that have little or no broadband options at present. Hopefully some competition will bring better services and pricing. In fact the tagline on the site is "Connecting people in rural areas with the World".

The official launch of the business takes place this evening at Richy's Bistro in Clonakilty at 7.30pm, in the presence of the Mayor Cork County Cork, Councillor Jim Daly.

From Tuesday 6th July to Sunday 11th July, from 4pm to 9pm, VoIP and Internet Services will have a mobile demonstration unit at Harte's Eurospar, The Bypass, Clonakilty, Co. Cork for anyone interested in learning more about the service.

WordPress 3.0 Officially Released!

Just had to do a quick post to celebrate the official release of WordPress 3.0! See the post on the WordPress blog: http://wordpress.org/development/2010/06/thelonious/

It's a big leap from WP 2.9x:

- the end of Kubrick as default theme now replaced by the sexy new Twenty Ten theme

- easier customisation of menus and headers

- merging of WordPress & MU (which has been a pain in my bum lately, so really exciting for me)

- lots of other updates, including 1,217 bug fixes and feature enhancements!

I'm also really pleased that Studio Press (affiliate link), whose themes I use most of the time, have been working hard getting the themes ready for 3.0.

The gang at WordPress have been at this night and day, passionate about making this a remarkable update. See the list acknowledging them all on the blog post linked to above.

Here's the WordPress 3.o Video Tour:

So ENJOY WordPress 3.0. Contact me if you need someone to do the upgrade for you or are looking to have a new site developed using WordPress.

It's a great time to redevelop your old static site using WordPress as a Content Management System -- one of my new specialties! The themes I use are very Search Engine and Social Media Friendly!

Do I Need a Blog for My Business?

This is another post aimed at those thinking of getting a blog. All you experienced bloggers are welcome to leave comments and links to their own posts that will be helpful to newbies.

In promoting my upcoming workshop Hands On: Your Own Blog (Set up your own blog in a morning!) I've been asked this question many times so thought a post was in order.

Why you need a blog:

1) If you don't have a website already. Setting up a blog with an easy to use blogging platform like WordPress, Blogger, Movable Type, etc. gives you an inexpensive site that you can update yourself. If you have a little experience with computers, are happy to use a free blogging platform and a free to use theme, the blog could cost nothing to set up. If you need to hire a professional designer to install the blog for you or to do a custom design, with your own domain and hosting; the blog could cost from a couple hundred euro on up. See more about choosing a blogging platform on the post Before You Start Your Blog.

2) If you do have a website your blog can be added as a separate section where you can include news and other current information that would be of interest to your visitors. If you are concerned about portraying a certain image on your site, you can use your blog to lighten up a little -- as people expect a blog to be a little more personal and conversational. Your blog is also a way to show off your expertise in your field with your insights on news and current trends.

3) Most of the popular blog platforms (as noted above) are developed to be EASY; easy to add posts, easy for your visitors to add comments (that are easy to delete if they are just rubbish) and register to find out when the blog is updated, easy add-ons with cool features (like lists of friends, calendars, videos, etc.)

4) Easy, also, for search engines to find and index so search engines love them and index mostly on a daily basis. There are easy to install Search Engine Optimization plug-ins that make your blog have even better results in search engines. Some search engines, like Google, have a separate blog index as well, so you may get double coverage.

5) RSS Feeds - RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it's true. The blogging platform generates a feed (which is really just a file in a specific format) that can then be picked up on other sites, wherever you or your subscribers want to see the feed - like a feed reader. This means that people don't have to remember to come back to your site to see if you've added something new. They can read your posts where and when they want to. RSS feeds can also be used in Widgets so your posts can be displayed on your main site or a social networking site (like MySpace, Facebook, etc.)

6) Media professionals use the Internet to research story ideas. These days you will see so many ideas started in bloggers or with references to blogs. With your blog you can be part of it.

7) The Irish Blogging community rocks! You may not be looking for a new group of friends, but a lot of bloggers in Ireland (and probably other regions) are very helpful to those starting out and you can build a network of blogs and bloggers in related fields that will help promote your own blog and business.

8) Blogs integrate well with your whole online marketing strategy - yes you should have one of these to make sure you are taking advantage of all the Internet has to promote your business! I have a friend that says email marketing is the glue between your online marketing efforts and I say that your blog can be the petrol that really gets it moving.

9) Your blog won't take over all your spare time - at least it shouldn't. If you are focused and organise your time you can have an interesting and current blog without spending more time than you can afford to give.

Who shouldn't have a blog?

If you absolutely:
- cannot stand the thought of putting your thoughts down for the world to see (many people are like this);
- will not find 2-3 hours at least once a week (as there's nothing worse than a blog that has a couple of posts from a year ago);
- do not have a target market that uses the Internet at all (but it's very hard to imagine any businesses with many customers like that).

If you still have questions, you can comment here and I will reply, or come along to Hands On: Your Own Blog workshop this Friday! If there is a demand we will be putting on additional workshops.

Before You Start Your Blog - What you need to decide.

This post is meant for beginning bloggers, particularly those that are attending my "Hands On: Your Own Blog" Workshop. If you are an experienced blogger, please feel free to comment and/or leave a link to your own blog post, or other recommended resources on basic blogging.

Should I use a free, hosted blogging application (like Blogger or WordPress.com) or should I register my own domain name and set the blog up on my own web hosting package (at a cost of approx €120/year)?
1) If you are setting up a personal blog or have a VERY limited budget, you may be happy using a free hosted application, where you will have an address for your blog like http://yourname.blogspot.com or www.yourname.wordpress.com.
- The benefit is that it is absolutely free and if you aren't sure about what you want to do with your blog you can leave it and start another.
- The downsides are that it doesn't appear as professional as having your own domain and you don't have control over your files so you are at the mercy of the blog provider if they choose to remove your blog or have technical problems. You need to back up regularly.
- You can choose in the future to move your blog into your own domain/hosting. You just need to be sure that it's done in a way to maintain any links to your blog and value you've gained toward search engine placement.
2) With your own domain name/hosting package you register the domain name that suits your business (if it is available). You then install the blog application onto the domain so that it goes directly in as www.yourname.com or www.yourname.com/blog.
- If you already have a website this is your obvious choice, unless there are technical reasons why you cannot install the blogging application on your hosting package (like me).
- The benefit is that you have a more professional appearance to your blog and it is a mini-website for your business.
- The downside is the ongoing cost of approx. €120/year, which is really not that much as far as web services go, particularly seeing how much benefit your business will get from your blog.
- Free hosted blogging platforms often offer less facilities for customisation and plugins to enhance your blog.
3) You could take a third option and register a domain name (for approx €10-20/year) and have it forward to your free hosted blog.

What blogging application should I use?
There are a number of blogging applications that are very good and widely used. Your choice of application will depend on the features available and what applications you currently use. For our blogging workshops we are offering you the choice of two platforms:

Blogger is one of the earliest blogging tools and is now owned by Google.
1) If you currently use a lot of Google applications you may prefer to use Blogger as it is on the control panel for your Google account.
2) There are a few templates to choose from and you can customise the look of the template from the control panel if you are familiar with HTML/CSS.
3) I haven't seen any benefit in search engine results based on the fact that Google owns it, but this may be developed more in the future. I've been told by employees there via Twitter that they are coming up with more aids for this, but for now you have to manually change the templates to get best results on search engines.
4) There is a wide selection of widgets that you can use to add content to your site, but to easily use this you need to use a standard template.
5) There are a number of tools you can use to more easily add/edit posts from "Blog This!" buttons on your web browser to a Blogger gadget on your iGoogle page.
6) Even if you host your own blog, the control panel for your blog is still on the Blogger site and the files are "published" to your own site after you make a change.
7) Added 29 June 2009 You can only publish posts in a Blogger blog. You cannot create information only pages like "About Us" or "Shipping Info".


Word Press has two applications WordPress.com is the hosted version and WordPress.org is where you can download the application to install on your own server and it seems to be the web developers blogging choice by far.
1) Using the application takes a little more getting used to, but is still very user friendly.
2) There are a large number of templates (themes) available, including very professional looking themes that you can purchase for a more unique look to your blog. The templates are customisable if you have knowledge of HTML/CSS
3) There are a number of plugins to for WordPress blogs, including those for statistics, calendars, best search engine placement, spam reduction, etc.
4) There is a large community of WordPress users that you can look to for support via their own blogs and forums.
5) You have the choice of the hosted version or hosting your own blog.
6) WordPress.com does not allow you to add many widgets like GoogleAds, if you'd like to make some money from your site.
7) Added 29 June 2009 You can create information only pages like "About Us" or "Shipping Info" to make the blog appear more like a 'regular' website and not just a blog.


More Resources:

• Blogger.com Features
• WordPress Features
  
• Problogger.com - Choosing a Blog Platform
• Blogger vs. WordPress Comparison Chart 2009
• Niche Blog Hosting: WordPress vs. Blogger
• Blogging Wars – WordPress Vs Blogger
• Blogging Basics 101 - Choosing a Blogging Platform

Set Up Your Own Blog in a Morning in our New Workshop

You've probably heard that a blog is a great way to promote your business, whether you already have your own website or not, but perhaps you aren't sure about how to set up your own blog. On Friday, 3rd July, I'm holding a half day workshop entitled "Hands On: Your Own Blog" where I will take you step by step through:

• setting up your blog (whether as part of your own domain or with a free blogging service)
• customising the look of the blog
• adding plugins and features
• adding content to your blog (including organising your time to do it)
• promoting your blog (coming up in search engines, getting links, etc.

The workshop takes place in our offices in Clonakilty. I can only take 3 to 5 people, so that I can give personal instruction. You need to bring your own laptop so that you can set it all up during the workshop. (Sorry if you don't have a laptop. In future we may be able to accommodate you -- or talk to us about one-to-one coaching in your own office/home.)

The cost is €200 (additional for domain registration and hosting if required), which is very good considering you are going away with your own blog and lots of expert advice -- and 30 days support to get you off and running. Click here for full details.

This is the first in a series of Hands On Online Marketing Workshops which will enable you to set up and maintain your own online marketing campaigns. The full schedule:

• 3rd July, Your Own Blog
  
• 7th August, Your Site PR Campaign (which includes link building, social networking, offline marketing, etc.)
• 4th September, Your Email Marketing Campaign
• 2nd October, Your Pay Per Click Advertising Campaign

If any of the workshops fill up, we will schedule additional dates, as there are no other workshops of this kind, especially in West Cork.

Click here to read more about our Online Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation Training and Workshops.