Tools used for Web development, marketing, and optimisation.

Channel Computing's service includes optimising your web site for increased traffic and sales. However a lot of these functions we can tech to to do yourself, and drive costs out of your business.

Here is a list of a few of the greatest and best tools at your disposal - we highly recommend and use these tools, most of which are free, so please go and have a look and tell us what you think.

Google Tools:

Analytics

This leading Analytics package not only tells you everything about the visitors to your site, and which pages work the best. It also integrates with Google search and Ad-words, allowing you to understand the complete flow of traffic and eventually sales through your site.

You can set up a free account at: http://www.google.com/analytics/en-GB/

There is also a blog with Analytics information and answers at: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.

WebMaster Sitemaps

The next important offering from Google allows you to add sitemaps to Google, and monitor the effectiveness of your site for various search terms. This tool is also great for checking crawl errors on your site - places where links may be broken and pages missing, which will harm your site's performance.

Webmaster Central is another free signup at: https://www.google.com/webmasters

Information about Sitemaps:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/12/new-content-analysis-and-sitemap.html

Google Adwords

Adwords PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising is possibly the easiest way of bringing traffic to your web site. YOu only pay when visitors come to your site, and you can choose which keywords you want your ads to appear for. Other great functions allow you to target only a certain geographical area, and to monitor and compare the effectiveness of different Advert texts and formats. There is a lot to learn to get the most out of Adwords, but all the information is here in the Adwords university. We can help you optimise your Adwords campaigns and make them as cost effective as possible. Set up an account here if you want to see how it works: https://adwords.google.com

Google Ad-sense

Ad-sense is the other half of Adwords - this is where the Adverts get displayed. The choice is either in Google search results or the Content Network - all the other sites who display Google Ads. Ad-sense is one of the easiest ways to make money from your web site, and for sites with significant user traffic can generate massive income. Link here to find out how to get paid for offering Google Ads on your site: https://www.google.com/adsense

iGoogle

This is your Google Home Page, and a useful place to aggregate your Google information together. You can also display and view RSS feeds on this page, which is a fantastic way of letting Google know about a new blog, for example. http://www.google.com/ig

Google Base

Google Base is a shopping site. Here you can buy products and compare prices, or also sell products from your own catalogue. The upload of these products can also be automated, meaning that all your product and price changes get reflected without you having to lift a finger. This can be a great tool for driving traffic and sales to your e-Commerce site. http://base.google.com

OK This looks rather like a Google advert doesn't it. We'll deal with some more useful Non-Google SEO and web site tools later!