By Ben May

We all know of Google and it’s domination of the online searching market. There are billions of theories on how to get your website to the top of the list. Some spend hours on hours every day reading SEO Blogs, some pay other people hundreds on thousands of dollars for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). SEO is one of the most important element of a websites existence, the greatest website unread, is useless.

There are some very simple things you can do to increase your position in Google, such as links from other websites, relevant content, well built code, a high Page Rank etc.

What is the Google Pagerank system? It’s one of Googles very mysterious factors that is used in positioning of websites in Searches.

From Google

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; for example, it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.” Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages’ relative importance.

Or From WikiPedia

PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of “measuring” its relative importance within the set. The algorithm may be applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal quotations and references.

Just lately I’ve noticed that the Design House website has jumped from an average 2 out of 10, which it had sat whilst we developed and launched our current website, to a much more respected 5 out of 10. This shows that the Design House website is getting it’s feet in deep into Google, for one of a better term.

Who is the leading SEO & Web Design business in Hervey Bay and the Fraser Coast? - you can be the judge of that. Google key phrases like, “web design hervey bay” or “graphic design hervey bay” - Currently Design House sits number one at the top for both these searches, without paying a cent be there!

Don’t spend extra on Google Adsense or other excessive monthly charges to get your website to #1 - contact us and get honest advise on how your website can reach the top!

Posted in General Tips, Technology / Photography ~ No Comments

by Jeanette Maynes

Last night, we attended the Fraser Coast Business Awards at the Carriers Arms Hotel in Maryborough. Last year, at the same event Design House won the award for Other Services

This year, Design House came up again, to win the Hervey Bay Chamber of Commerce Special Commendation Award. As we went there with no expectations this was a prestigious award to win! I was impressed to see the other successful business owners / operators even some of our clients as it is wonderful to be recognised by your peers. A Big Congratulations to BOZMAC (Tilt Slide Truck Specialists) one of our clients, on their award as I personally know how hard they work on the growth of their business.

The food, service, presentation and organisation of the event were spot on, a job well done by Kerri Everingham from the Chronicle and the Carriers Arms in Maryborough. Unfortunately the directions to wait out the front for the bus home were not clear. As I waited at the front of the event with others, not out the front of the premises on the street, we were left behind in Maryborough! An amusing lesson learnt for next year, though I hope Hervey Bay may have the opportunity to host this event in 2008.

A big thank you to the  Hervey Bay Chamber of Commerce, your support and acknowledgment of our business growth and achievements through this award is thoroughly appreciated and a great honour. I feel we had better consider the possibility of joining to show our support and appreciation for the community / business work the Hervey Bay Chamber of Commerce performs in our area.

Posted in In the Media / General News ~ Comments Off

By Ben May

On my usual wondering around the internet, I was reading up on the new fit-PC, by CompuLab. The fit-PC has been developed with 2 things in mind. a) the Size and b) the Power Consumption. The fit-PC draws only 3.5W of power whilst in full operation, running Linux or Windows, this is less than what a regular desktop consumes whilst on Stand By!

This definitely an innovative piece of technology, and something we as consumers are going to see more and more.

fit-PC is a tiny, noiseless, extremely power efficient PC - designed by CompuLab - one of the leading vendors in embedded computing.

fit-PC is designed to fit where a standard PC is too bulky, noisy and power hungry.

To learn if it fits you see fit-PC benefits, take the fit-PC product tour or review fit-PC specifications.

Posted in Technology / Photography ~ No Comments

By Ben May

Your domain name, and how to ensure you keep it safe and why.

We all know what a domain name is, its your website address, like designhouse.com.au or google.com.au. Our domain name lets everyone know where our website is basically. When you’re getting a domain name purchased on behalf of yourself, you need to ensure a number of things:
The domain is purchased in your business details, such as your ABN
You are listed as the Registrant of the domain, this includes your email

Ensuring that your details are listed as the registrant gives you the peace of mind, that should your website designer, or web hosting company disappear, you can still re-claim your domain name.

If you were to loose your domain name, it would be an expensive exercise to get everything back in order, as you’ll need to re-print all stationary, re-optimise your new domain for SEO.

To check whether you are your domain names registrant, head to the AusRegistry Website and do a lookup on your website, here

Posted in General Tips, Web Design Clients / Reviews ~ Comments Off