Issue 2July 2009 www.homebusinessnetwork.co.uk 17
PROFILE :: STOPGAP TECHNOLOGY
DIY fix is heading for the shelves
Improving your performance
Is your website performing to its potential, asks James
By Emily Hill “It was from a lady in
the north of England”,
Burfield? Here are five great ways to improve your search
engine ranking and help customers find you more easily.
Marcus Plummer is the he said. “The order was
If you aren’t using these techniques yet, give them a try -
inventor of stopgap, a only for £40, but it felt
they could bring new business your way.
flexible yet simple solution fantastic that someone
to stop cold air coming had gone on to our
Choose your titles wisely
through the floorboards of website and liked what
older properties. they’d seen enough to
Make sure your title tags include keywords that customers
Like many of the best open up their wallet and
will use to search for your business. If you’re providing
products, stopgap came buy the product.”
services locally, include the place name too. a good title
about as a result of a One customer soon
should look something like this:
problem that its inventor turned into many and
‘Landscape Gardener Bath, Gardening services Bath, somerset ‘
experienced first-hand. Marcus has reams of
Marcus and his wife had glowing testimonials on his
Get a better meta
bought a gorgeous period website. Here is just one
Google and other search engines still look at your meta
property in cardiff (built example: “The product
description tags when ranking your site. Make sure they
in 1908) and set about is great and I have this
include keywords that are relevant to your business, but
refurbishing it. They evening put in an order for
also to the content on the page. There is little point talking
discovered the original seven rolls. It is a simple
about car sales if you are running a cheese shop! Here’s
pine floorboards sitting and effective solution for
an example of a good meta description:
underneath the carpet, addressing a problem that
‘superior Landscapes - specialist Landscape Gardener
and lovingly restored them we deliberated over for
Bath, contemporary Gardens Bath, roof Gardens Bath,
... only to find their house some months.”
Garden Designer Bath, Landscaper Bath.’
becoming colder and colder With a limited budget for
as the winter months advertising, Marcus has Make the most of free web tools
approached. relied on Pr to promote
Web-based search engine optimisation tools such as
One day Marcus took his product. stopgap
Wordtracker and Google adwords’ Keyword Tool can give
out his tape measure and has featured in most of
you all sorts of information on what people are searching
set about working out how the home improvement
for, and can even suggest the best keywords for your site.
many gaps there were in the magazines, including
Incredibly, they’re also free, so what are you waiting for?
floorboards. He calculated Ideal Home, House and
the total area to be about Garden and The Guardian’s Make the most of free web advertising, too
the size of a window: “It weekend supplement.
was literally like having a
Marcus Plummer: A gap in the market
Building a strong web presence, including backlinks to your
The next step for
own website, is a vital part of search engine optimisation.
window open all day every stopgap is to start selling
a great way to start is by adding your business to as many
day – no wonder the house The stopgap website Wales Innovators’ Network, in stores because, says
web directories as you can. Google Maps, Touch Local,
was so cold!” he said. describes exactly how the which is headed up by a Marcus, “for every person
Thomson Local, BT Tradespace - all are free and easy to
several trips to cardiff’s product can be fitted but former patent examiner. who buys online there
register with. The more backlinks you can create to your
hardware stores proved to Marcus puts his product’s Having explored the are probably two or three
website, the better your Google page rank will be.
Marcus that no solution to popularity down to the fact licensing route (allowing people who look for the
the problem existed that that “anybody could fit it. a another company to make product in the shops”.
And finally. Content is king!
was both cost-effective child or an 80 year old lady.” and sell the product in In fact, Marcus regularly
and easy to implement. Marcus credits several exchange for a royalty) receives phone calls
so get your website’s text right. Each page should be
Therefore, Marcus set about government organisations Marcus eventually rejected from major hardware
between 250 and 300 words long, with a keyword ratio
inventing his own solution. for helping him get the this option in favour of stores saying they have
of around 4%. That means for every 100 words, you can
The eventual result was the business off the ground. He selling stopgap directly. He customers at the checkout
mention your keyword four times. It’s also a good idea
stopgap, a flexible strip of received advice about the set up a website in 2004, wanting to know where
to have one page dedicated to each of your main search
polypropolene that could be best materials to use for the and he says he will always they can buy a stopgap.
terms. By doing this, you’re letting Google know that each
cut to size and inserted into product from Design Wales, remember the “absolutely
page has a clear and distinct message - and pretty soon,
the gaps in a wooden floor to and he benefitted from brilliant feeling” of getting www.stopg-p.co.uk
your site will be climbing up the search listings.
prevent draughts. patenting guidance from the his first sale. www.jamesburfield.co.uk
PHOTO COMPETITION CLOSING 31 JULY :: SOME OF THE ENTRIES SO FAR... SEE P12 FOR DETAILS
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