Maps new scoring system and browser sizes – July

Google has introduced a new scoring system for the maps.
Its all part of the new push for more social ranking factors, the new maps is called +Local.
Google actually conducted a massive test including real people to review just what makes a good listing in the maps.
The new factors will slowly be introduced over time to keep an eye on your listing.
https://support.google.com/local/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1723748&p=zagat_score

Here is a list of ranking factors that might help:
http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/10-likely-elements-of-googles-local-search-algorithm/519/

Browser sizes – learn what your customers see

Google will be rolling out a new tool inside analytics for review what your average user sees.
Make sure you tick just search or adwords visitots – so it excludes yourself.
The new tool will provide some great insite into things like where to put calls to action, buy now buttons, carts and so on.

“As Google notes, thanks to the plethora of mobile devices with different screen sizes, the days where your visitors just used a few standard screen sizes are long over. Given the size of modern desktop screens, you can’t even draw any real conclusions from your users’ screen sizes anymore either because “for many people, the visible portion of the web page is much smaller than the screen resolution, because of excessive toolbars and other clutter.” Conversion rates, however, are greatly affected by what your visitors see on your pages without having to scroll.”

Questions and Answers

Q: How do I make sure my site works well for all my customers?

A: Fantastic question. What I always try to do after any major change is check the page in IE, Chrome, FireFox, Safari – probably in this order as well. Some tricky bits that I have come accross is images. IE tends to hate files with crazy names. So say I had a file called “website _ image – banner.jpg” I would click twice on the file name till I could edit it and I would remove all the gaps and symbols.

Sometimes images and banners will display a black box, its due to IE hating CMYK colour which is a print thing. So if you ever get an image from your printer or graphic designer and you have uploaded it to the site then just check IE. To fix it you will need some image software to change it from CMYK to RGB which is for the web.

Just for Fun

Star Wars vintage photos:

http://designtaxi.com/news/352766/Before-Star-Wars-Vintage-Photos-of-Darth-Vader-And-Co/

Here’s Who Runs The Show: Paul Wagstaff

A website developer and a business owner since 2004. Cultivate Digital is a boutique web design studio located in Melbourne, Australia and is now a top 5 rated web design agency in Google.

Paul has a lifelong passion for building things online and applies a high quality ethic to every project he takes on.

He is also an incredibly dedicated business partner who loves helping small businesses get online in record time with a minimum of fuss. He works with his clients personally and the reviews prove how much his clients appreciate his down to earth, honest and transparent approach.

When Paul isn’t working, you may find him exploring the moon through his 12 inch Telescope, reading a good book, or listening to Dr Karl and other science podcasts.