Most of us mere mortals don’t have access to a sun bed at work. But given the alarmingly high rate of skin cancer cases in the UK, this is probably a good thing. In reality those of us seeking the artificial sun God are really living in the dark, ‘blister-fully’ ignorant of the harm that excessive sun bed use can cause.
In a bold effort to raise public awareness Nottingham based skin cancer charity SKcin has set up a new website. Computertan.com doesn’t rely on the usual finger-wagging-nanny route to enlightenment. Instead the site cleverly dupes the bronze brigade into believing that a sun-kissed exterior is only a mouse click away.
People are fooled into the belief that they can freely sun themselves 9 to 5, while sat in front of their PC. Computertan.com boasts software which can produce ultraviolet rays right out of your computer screen. However, when the gullible individual eagerly clicks download they are met with a stark warning about the perils of UV radiation.
At first sun bed bars appear glowing on the screen. So-far-so-good thinks the virtual beach dweller. But then suddenly the abrupt message “Don’t be fooled UV rays can kill” springs out. This is then followed by graphic illustrations of skin cancer to truly drive the shock home. Perhaps this process sounds overtly harsh, but we have to remember that skin cancer is the most common form of disease in young people today.
With one million hits in two months, Computertan.com has certainly spread SKcin’s message. So if you have an inventive or novel idea, don’t keep it to yourself. Setting up a website has never been cheaper or easier with 123-reg.
SKcin
Computertan
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A web browser is the piece of software you use to look at internet sites. You’re using one to read this.
There’s quite a choice of browsers out there. Most people use one of the most popular ones, like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari.
And then there’s a whole host of smaller browsers. For instance, check out Opera, Flock, SeaMonkey, Avant and K-meleon.
Different browsers display sites differently
Having a choice of web browsers is generally considered a good thing. It means you can decide which you like, and a bit of competition encourages the browsers to introduce new features.
But if you’ve ever decided to build your own site, you’ll know that multiple browsers can be a real headache. Because they all display websites in slightly different ways, it can take a lot of work to make sure your site looks good in all of them. Read the rest of this entry »
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You will have seen the term affiliate marketing being bandied around on the web, and you have probably worked out that it has something to do with making money. But what exactly does an affiliate have to do to make that money?
Affiliates essentially act as middle-men in the world of ecommerce. They earn commission from companies in return for recommending new customers to those companies. Anyone with a website can become an affiliate. Most web sites have a certain amount of ‘white space’ on their pages, and affiliates simply populate this unused space with advertising banners.
Of course some high traffic sites will charge advertisers for the privilege of posting banners on their pages. Although you don’t have to operate in the big league to be a successful affiliate. Even the most low-key sites get at least some visitors. If those visitors happen to be in the market for the product(s) that you’re advertising - you’re in business!
Read the rest of this entry »
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As Formula 1 followers will know, Honda have pulled out of the sport. Last week there was a management buy out of their former F1 team, now known as Brawn GP. We’re delighted to see that when setting up their new official website Brawn GP chose 123-reg.
It was only December when Honda announced they were quitting Formula 1, which didn’t leave much time for Ross Brawn — the strategy mastermind behind Michael Schumacher’s famous championships for Ferrari — to get his new team up and running.
And given it was costs, especially during the credit crunch, that forced Honda out, Brawn GP needed to get set up on the cheap; they even got Jenson Button for half price.
So it makes sense that they turned to 123-reg to register their domains, with our great value domain names and simple order process they could quickly buy the domains they needed while spending their money wisely.
Good luck to Ross and the team for their debut season! Not sure about the lime green though - perhaps it’ll look good under the lights of the Singapore night race …
PS: Before anybody worries that we’re divulging private information from our customer database: we’re not. Who a domain is registered with is one of the pieces of information available in public whois records, and that’s how we discovered who brawngp.com is registered with.
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We might be in the midst of a deep financial crisis, but clearly there are still a few companies out there with deep pockets.
The evidence? At the end of last week, Toys R Us triumphed in a furious bidding war for toys.com, eventually agreeing to pay an enormous $5.1m for the domain name.
(I don’t actually have much evidence that it was a furious bidding war, but given the amount of cash involved, I like to picture the final two bidders involved in a tense standoff, waiting to see who cracks first.)
Is it worth it?
Clearly, toys.com is a prime domain name for Toys R Us to own. It fits perfectly with their brand, and I’m sure they’ll receive a ton of visitors, both from people typing it straight into their browser, and from search engines. Read the rest of this entry »
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Last month we asked you two send us your questions about search engine optimisation. Here’s the second in our series of answers.
As before, I spoke to one of the SEO experts behind InstantTraffic, our SEO service, to get a comprehensive answer.
What is Google PageRank all about?
Ian Ripper from Wheatland Farm sent us a message asking about Google PageRank:
Something I don’t understand about Google PageRank. Am I ranked in relation to my keywords? Obviously my site is of some relevance (and hence ranking) relating to what I do (self catering holidays) but it if no relevance for widget making. Is my PR of 3 related to keywords I optimise for?
Our answer
Your Google PageRank bears no relation to your keywords at all. PageRank is simply a measure of the ‘link juice’ of each of your web pages.
Your PageRank gets boosted when other websites link to you. That’s because Google regards a link to your site as a vote for your site.
The influence each individual link has on your overall PageRank depends how Google views the website linking to you. Highly ranked, big hitting websites will likely have more of an affect on your PageRank than unknown sites which have a low PageRank themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
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A couple of weeks back I asked you to submit your questions on search engine optimisation. There was a decent response and I’ve now picked a few which we’ll answer individually over the next few days.
To make sure we’re giving out the best information we can, I spoke to one of the SEO experts behind our SEO service, InstantTraffic. They offered some great advice which I’ve included too.
We tried to pick what we thought were the most interesting questions we received, so sorry if yours didn’t make the cut this time.
Much of my content is for registered users only. How do I optimise it?
One of our readers, Claire, left a comment asking how Google deals with sites that require you to register before you can see all the content:
“How can I use SEO effectively, when the site requires registration and purchase of credits before you can view the material? For instance, there may be interesting content about the Titanic that customers can’t get to until they’ve registered and purchased.“
Our answer
It’s tricky to optimise sites which require visitors to register before they can view content, because Google can’t see anything which is contained in a members only area. Read the rest of this entry »
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At the UK Supreme Court some are apparently unhappy with its designated domain name. Apologies for being slightly behind with this story — but then the Sunday Telegraph society gossip page isn’t our usual source for domain-related news.
A reader points out that the judiciary are separate from the government and parliament, and as a law-degree drop-out I can recall just enough of Prof Walker’s lectures to agree that the separation of powers is a critical part of the UK constitution, and it’s misleading to consider a court as being part of the government.
But perhaps Lord Hope’s suggestion of supremecourt.uk isn’t ideal either. This led thinking about the organization of .uk domains in general — which groups should have their own second-level domain?
Read the rest of this entry »
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Two domain extensions dominate the UK market. These are .co.uk and .com. And you probably know why: it’s because those two domain extensions are the ones people in the UK type in first when they’re looking for something.
However, there are loads of other domain extensions available too. And with ICANN’s forthcoming liberalisation of the domain market, we can expect to see a whole load more appearing in the next couple of years.
If you’ve never thought about registering other domain extensions before, it’s worth investigating. Sure, you might conclude that your website doesn’t need them. But equally, you might be able to use them to capture more traffic, or target specific markets.
So here are a few reasons you should consider other domain names:
It shows international customers that you’re serious
If you’re running an online shop which allows international customers to purchase from you, consider registering local versions of your domain name. For instance, if you expect the products you sell to be popular in Italy, you could consider registering yourdomain.it.
If you don’t want to register loads of country-specific domains, but do plan to offer your goods internationally, you could consider a .eu extension instead. This extension for the European Union could help identify your business as one which is happy to do business across Europe. Read the rest of this entry »
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I don’t think Ajaz Ahmed would mind me saying that he isn’t a household name. But perhaps he should be. After all, you could argue that he did more to bring the internet to the general British public than almost anyone else.
That’s because he came up with the idea of Freeserve, the first free internet service provider (ISP) in the UK.
The pay as you go internet
The idea for Freeserve came to Ajaz after struggling to find an ISP who could help him get online. Back in 1998, internet service providers were geared towards technical people. “Nobody could tell me how to get on the internet,” explains Ajaz, who eventually managed to get online using a CD from a PC magazine cover.
Once connected, he started to understand the huge potential of the web. That was when what he describes it as his “famous eureka moment” happened. He was a Dixons store manager at the time. “If I was having trouble getting online,” he says, “then so were our customers”.
Ajaz also realised that the perfect time to offer people an internet connection is when they’re buying a computer. As one of the biggest computer retailers at the time, Dixons (plus sister chains Currys and PC World) had the ability to reach a huge number of potential customers, without spending anything extra on advertising.
In retrospect, it seems obvious, but when Ajaz first approached the PC World management, they just weren’t interested. It took a pitch to the group’s CEO, who eventually agreed to give it a go. Read the rest of this entry »
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