Cookies are text files which sometimes get stored on your computer when you visit a website. They have a multitude of uses. One of the most frequent usages is so the website remembers who you are, next time you visit. If you need to learn more about cookies, visit this page from BBC Webwise – What are cookies? Commonly, static websites don’t often use cookies very often but database powered websites (including WordPress) frequently do.

I would urge website owners to watch the 2.5 minute video below which sums things up nicely:

This is a very odd piece of legislation and it’s going to be interesting to see how things develop. If the law is implemented fully, we could be see pop-ups on just about every website we visit, which could become extremely annoying. It wasn’t long ago that we declared war on pop-up advertising. Now we’re inviting pop-ups back again!

Personally, I think a browser setting initiative, combined with public education about cookies would be a much smarter solution. Technically, there’s lots of information which website owners should include in footers (e.g. company registration numbers and registered addresses) but many websites don’t. And I see little attempt to enforce this. Draw your own conclusions.

If Josh.biz manages your website for you and you would like to discuss implementing cookie warnings on your website, please get in touch with us.

Youngsters embrace it instantly and can’t imagine a world without it. Those of us in the middle have mixed opinions but largely embrace it. After all we were around when the ZX Spectrum arrived 30 years ago. And at the upper echelons of the age bracket, some love it as much as teenagers whilst others can’t see the attraction at all – ‘I don’t need Facebook. I live in the real world. What a load of nonsense’.

I’m not too bothered about any of this but I’m fascinated by those who claim to despise Facebook.

Yes, if you’re crazy for it, you can spend all day (every day) reading about your friends and family. But on the other hand, you can take it or leave it. Owning a Facebook account doesn’t condemn you to logging in continuously.

And if you dip in occasionally (in one of those bored moments) you could find it quite interesting to catch up with those hordes of people who have appeared in your life and met your approval of being a ‘friend’. Sometimes it’s great to just flick through their photos.

Just be very selective about who you add as a friend. And occasionally, have a cull on your Facebook friends (they don’t get notified). And when you receive a friend request, never feel obliged to automatically say yes – if they don’t fit your criteria, just ignore them.

There’s one thing for certain; if you want to maintain contact with those special people you’ve encountered in your life, Facebook offers the best chance of doing this. E-mail addresses, telephone numbers and postal addresses can change frequently and become lost, but being friends on Facebook can be forever.

And even the Facebook advertising isn’t so bad. I rarely click an advert on Google search pages but find the Facebook adverts much more alluring. Is the targeting such a bad thing? How else are we going to know about the wonderful products invented for us?

We’ve also launched several smaller projects, including Rosebud Photography and several more of our popular holiday cottage websites (see Driftwood and Half Hour House).

Driftwood demonstrates our ability to integrate with SuperControl, our chosen partner for holiday cottage availability and online booking. Holiday cottage owners are well-known to increase their bookings when online booking is offered. SuperControl offers a comprehensive and reliable solution.

At the same time, we’ve strengthened the infrastructure of our business in many key areas to ensure that our clients continue to receive the same reliable and responsive service as always.

But Windows 8 is firmly on it’s way, with a consumer preview recently available for download. And it’s raising many concerns…

Have Microsoft gone ‘tablet crazy’ with Windows 8?

Many are questioning why Microsoft are releasing a desktop and tablet version combined. After all, the interfaces are so different. And so is the usage. There’s a big difference between using a mouse and keyboard compared with just your fingers on a screen.

But then again, Apple seem to bringing the iOS (for mobile devices) and Apple OS (for desktops and laptops) closer together in terms of both looks and functionality.

Others, as usual, are singing the usual mantra of “don’t fear change”. But there are reasons for concern. Windows 7 is a fine operating system and it works…

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

For myself, Windows 7 represents the pinnacle of the quest for a perfect version of Windows. During the nineties we suffered the misery of continuous crashing and functionality omissions. Windows 2000 and XP gave us long awaited stability. Vista became the new ”Windows ME” (in other words, another unnecessary release). And finally, Windows 7 seemed to perfect things. I now own a computer which doesn’t crash, is relatively easy to maintain and is a pleasure to use and customise.

My guess is that Windows 8 will prove very popular on tablets and provide Apple with some much needed competition. But where desktops are concerned (i.e. for the millions of us who use a computer for work), Windows 7 will become the new Windows XP and we’ll be using it for a long, long time to come – giving them time to get Windows 9 right?

Here’s a shot from more simple days long ago. Remember Program Manager before the days of the Start button?

The ‘new iPad’ is certainly a jump forward although not as ground breaking as it might have been. The new screen resolution is certainly amazing as I saw for myself over the weekend when comparing my iPad2 with the new version. Read a quick comparison of the two models here at IT Pro.

Pads are good

Whilst pads are certainly no replacement for a standard computer, they do 90% of what most people want ever do sitting at home in their armchairs. The fact that pads make no noise whatsoever is a major benefit. I recently used my laptop at home and my wife was quick to moan about the incessant whirring of the fan (kicking in every 10 minutes).

Android inadequacies

I’m still not convinced that Android alternatives are enticing enough. Every Android device seems to look and feel slightly different from another. This isn’t helped by the persistent ’skinning’ of the operating system by the manufacturers. This itself suggests that they don’t believe Android does a good enough job.

The ability to update the operating system seems fraught. There are heightened security concerns, with apps (software) having little quality checking (in contrast to the fairly strict Apple vetting of apps).

All of these things combine to cause natural apprehension and subsequently the onslaught of pads isn’t happening as fast.

But the arrival of Windows 8 (heralding the arrival of the Windows tablet) could change all of that. If nothing else, it will put the focus firmly back on tablets yet again (just in time for Christmas no doubt).

How?

Click www.sayyestobroadband.co.uk and click on the relevant buttons to ‘Say Yes’ to better broadband in Norfolk.

There will be no obligation to subscribe to the services when launched, but in registering your interest you will be helping Norfolk get better broadband.

And… spread the word. A poster is available for download from: http://www.sayyestobroadband.co.uk/shares/sitepdf_6.pdf

Tattersett Farm is a family run business which has been growing, harvesting, processing and packaging high quality vegetable produce, including parsnips and carrots, for over 25 years – Three generations of the Hammond family have worked the land and invested in new technology.

One of my main purchases was to be an Apple iPod Touch for our eldest daughter. Initially concerned when she asked for one for Christmas, I’ve realised that she always pinching my iPhone for watching TV, playing games and listening to music. So I have little doubt she’ll make very good use of it. Plus, the parental control settings should avoid any potential problems in that department. But, at £160, she won’t be getting too many others presents!

You can buy them from the Apple Store in Chapelfield (or their website) for £169 but I noticed from a TV advert that Currys are selling them £10 cheaper, with a free speaker dock thrown in.

So, first of all we marched into Currys on Gentlemans Walk, confident in being able to pick one up with minimal fuss. After all, it was a done deal.

But, it was hopeless. After finding the iPod (with no ticket underneath to show the price), we waited ages for an assistant to help us, only to be told that it was such a good offer, it had sold out. He checked and found that there were 8 units available at their Riverside store, down by the train station.

Off my daughter and I trotted down to Riverside, quite a distance from the centre of Norwich. Having traipsed around the city for most of the day already, it was an effort…

But then once we arrived at their Riverside store, my heart sank. The store was in disarray. There were customers wandering about all over the shop desperate to be served. There was a huge queue of customers trying to pay for goods. All in all, it was pretty rubbish…

Finally, an assistant was available to help us. We explained how we hoped they hadn’t sold the 8 units yet. And guess what? They never even had them! She explained that because it was such a great offer they’d sold out long ago. She couldn’t explain why we had been told there was stock down in their store…

If we wanted to we could ring in on a Tuesday (delivery day) and they could reserve us one for collection. What a bore…

Instead, back at home we ended up buying it on the Currys website. Within 10 minutes I found the item on their website, set up an account and ordered it online. Shipping was free but i paid £1.99 to choose the delivery day.

So as I said before, thank goodness for online shopping. If you live up here in the wilds of north Norfolk, it’s a blessing!

I think I’ll do most of my Christmas Shopping online from now on. It’s cheaper, easier and there isn’t the risk of being tempted to buy everything else in the shop! It’s still nice to have the experience of the city at Christmas but from now on, the bulk of my buying will be online and I’ll reserve my Norwich visits for more sociable activities with the family.

• Should I have a Links page and start a reciprocal links/link exchange campaign?
• I have been asked if I would like to exchange links with my website. Should I do this?

First of all, it’s important to understand that there are almost endless techniques which can be employed to assist your website to achieve higher positions on search engines.

Start with a strong foundation

This process begins by ensuring that your website is constructed professionally, taking advantage of the suggestions given by Google in their Webmaster Guidelines and other recommended industry techniques. For example, it’s always important that pages are given well composed titles and descriptions (read our previous post on this subject).

Page content (words) should be your focus

Of primary concern is page content. Put simply, if a website is packed full of quality content, other websites will naturally (organically) link to your pages. This is one of the reasons why blogging is such an effective tool. It provides website owners with the opportunity to add lots of good quality content on an ongoing basis. By sharing ideas, tips and opinions, this information can act as link bait.

What’s the big deal with back links?

So, let’s return to answering the 2 questions in hand. It’s widely known that Google measures the quantity and quality of incoming links to your website. It uses this information as an indicator of the importance of your pages. And, as a result, it can make a very big difference to your positioning on search engines.

Google will favour a website with lots of good quality incoming links as these effectively count as votes for the information offered on your website. Since this is the case, website owners therefore seek lots of good quality incoming links.

Where do these links come from?

Well, again, it’s really about having lots of exceptional content (combined with exposure and promotion). If a website can offer this, the incoming links should come naturally.

However, some website owners seek to exchange links with other websites in order to artificially benefit from incoming links (back links). It’s not unusual to receive cold call link exchange requests regularly. Some will be genuine, but many of them will be spam attempts.

Links/Resources pages

Websites often exchange links with other website owners. In some cases, three way exchanges take place (website A links to website B, website B links to website C, and website C links to website A). These are known as triangular or 3 way links.

Preferably, the links should be with good quality websites, with relevant content. There are various techniques for acquiring links and there are recommendations for their format on the page. The selection of anchor text (the words that form the link) is very important.

But be warned!

Google is quite clear that it frowns upon link pages which are set up with the sole purpose of exchanging links to achieve better search engine positioning. If there’s any doubt, read their page about Link Schemes.

If such a page is used as a genuine resource page, this is acceptable. However, if Google decides that it’s guidelines are being abused, the penalties can be very severe. Websites can even be delisted from appearing at all.

In conclusion

A genuine resources page, with links to good quality websites relating to your content (for the benefit of human visitors) is acceptable. Consult with your web designer about how to go about achieving this. And if you do decide to set up a links/resources page, your web designer should be able to assist you with the format required.

Alternatively there are dedicated specialists who can assist with link building campaigns, content development and social media opportunities. Reciprocal linking is beneficial if actioned using relevant, quality sites but a “links” page solely for the purpose of swapping links – whether good links or bad links – can send too many negative signals to Google (again, see Link Schemes).

Related links

Here’s an excellent video from SEOMoz, discussing Sitewide, Reciprocal, and Directory Links. Part of their ‘Whiteboard Friday’ sessions which are often valuable and easy to digest. The part on Reciprocal Linking is relevant to this post (from 3 mins 20 seconds in, onwards).