Fruitbowl Media Blog

When we launch a new site at Fruitbowl, we have a few different peer review and quality control checks. The simplest of which, is a set of checklists.

Why? Well, because no one is perfect, and occasionally after 10,000 lines of code, a programmer can make a typo. Or a junior designer working on one of his first sites can leave an extra character where it shouldn’t be. Either way, a quick 10 minute check over can catch any silly mistakes that could otherwise cost us a lot of headache, and a lot of unhappy customers!

We’ve decided to share some of the lists we use, so here is the simplest one we have.

Our website launch checklist for small websites (or brochure websites).

Print one out for each website, and get someone else to check it. It should take no more than 15 minutes for an average (<25 pages) website.

Download The PDF Here

Before we begin let me just explain to those that don’t know what I mean when I use the term “Black Hat SEO”.

The comparison of White Hat vs Black Hat originates from old Western films where the good guys would wear white hats and the bad guys black. And how does this apply to the world of SEO?

White Hat SEO agencies (like us here at Fruitbowl Media) are the good guys, improving your website’s ranking in the search engines by using every option available, but without breaking the rules. Black Hat SEO on the other hand uses techniques which break the rules.

And the rules are set by Google. And Google is kind. Here’s 5 early warning signs that you may be dealing with a black hat SEO agency.

Read more

So you have set up a Social Media strategy. You have hired staff or a 3rd party to tweet and Facebook for you. But are you checking up them? And are they engaging with users. Are they really working, or just sending rubbish out. Have they got a respectable ROI. Here are 5 examples of when things can go wrong, if you do not keep on top of your social media strategy.

Read more

I’ve been dabbling in the world of SEO for just over a year now but since joining Fruitbowl Media I’ve been submerged in a number of SEO books. One of my main roles as an Account Executive will be to produce reports, monitor and improve SEO for a number of our client’s websites and in order to achieve this I need to make sure I understand every little detail related to SEO.

This means knowing which techniques are useful and will actually improve a websites ranking and which techniques are just myths and may even hinder me in ranking well. Hence the reason for this blog post as I wanted to create a list of what I think are the top 5 myths when it comes to SEO and to hear your feedback on those myths, whether what I think is true or not.

Read more

eCommerce stores have been around for almost 15 years, and yet to this day, many companies are still failing to ensure that every customer completes their transaction. And why? Because of the lack of attention to detail which they put into their online stores.

High Street Stores and Supermarkets spend tens, if not hundreds millions of pounds every year ensuring that their stores are kept ‘fresh’, expanding product range, investing in more shops, ensuring their branding is uniformed across all their outlets, and on staff training. Yet when it comes to their online shops, many stores are still lacking the attention to detail they spend on their high street stores. Yet consumers spent over £10 billion online in January and February and Office for National Statistics published last month showed internet sales in the UK running at £527m per week. Below are the top 5 reasons as to why consumers are leaving online stores and how to prevent them.

Read more

I’ve recently started working with the team at Fruitbowl Media and as part of my initial training I was asked to take the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) exam (which I’m about to take any day now!). I’m all for adding to my CV and it will also show our clients that I actually know what I’m doing when it comes to Google Analytics and SEO!

In a previous job I had used Google Analytics to produce a number SEO reports for clients so I thought I was fairly up-to-speed with how Google Analytics worked and how I should be using it. However over the last few weeks I’ve been working through the Google Analytics IQ lessons to help prepare me for the exam and I now realise I had actually just been a member of the group HITS… How Idiots Track Success (I didn’t come up with that acronym)!

Read more

I’ve been working on the pricing structure to formalize our social media management at Fruitbowl Media, and while researching the market place I was literally astounded at how some people sell/buy Twitter management.

For a start, getting me “1000 new followers a week!” is not only useless, it’s dangerous. And in case you’re already thinking “You get what you pay for, I don’t use those types of offshore agencies…” this wasn’t from those wonderfully designed, “Engrish” type websites either – these were respectable agencies based around London.

Getting annoyed by this research was enough to finally get the Fruitbowl Media blog setup, and here’s my inaugural blog post: 5 reasons your company’s Twitter follower count is meaningless
Read more