How to stay out of trouble when using images online

Yes,you can get sued for using copyrighted images on your site.

On websites, a picture really is worth a thousand words. You don’t want your site to look like the yellow pages, just a list of information with a few paragraphs and headings, so you need a few pictures to lighten things up a bit. While some of you are lucky enough to have a ready-made stash of local photos lying around, many people don’t; and their first choice is usually to look on the internet for images. Given that the internet seems to contain 150% of everything that ever existed, it’s a safe bet that you’ll find what you need- but you can’t just save the image and use it on your site.

It is illegal to use any copyrighted images without a licence or the owner’s permission. This rule is enforced- not every time, but more often than you’d think. Sometimes the action is brought by large agencies or companies who have brought the rights to the images; other times a photographer may see their image online and ask for it to be taken down, or may sue for compensation; or they may do both. In a majority of cases, the amount of compensation awarded runs into the thousands of pounds- a lot of money for what could have been a £10 stock photo.

In these occasions, the website owners often claim that

1-      They didn't know the picture was copyrighted

2-      They haven’t made any money from the picture, or

3-      They thought they were covered because they wrote a disclaimer on the site, or mentioned the author’s name beneath the photo.

None of these make any difference. If you’re not sure if an image is copyrighted, it’s safest to assume that it is. You don’t need to be using the image or your site for financial purposes, and no disclaimer or copyright notice has any legal effect.

So what can you do? There are a few options.

1-      Don’t use photos. Leave your site a selection of text pages, charmingly reminiscent of a set of low-tech information posters. Maybe not the best option.

2-      Use only copyright-free images. You can find this on Google by searching entering your search term into Google images, selecting Search Tools, then Usage rights, and selecting ‘Labelled for reuse / with modification’. If you won’t be making any money from them, you can search ‘Labelled for non-commercial reuse’- that will include all the other categories too. See the picture below for more information.

1-      Get snapping! If you've got access to a decent camera (and a sunny day!), why not spend the day taking photos around the town? You can get the exact shots you want, without having to worry about copyright. If you don’t have the time- a common obstacle- see if you can enlist the help of a local photographer, amateur enthusiast, or helpful volunteer.

2-      If you want your website to look the best that it can, you’ll need professional, high quality images. Have a look for skilled photographers in your local community and see how much they charge. If it helps to portray your local area in a positive light, you may make some of the money back in tourism!

So go for it- get searching, snapping or shopping, and liven up your site with a bit of flair that won’t bring you a court warrant.

The Importance of Link Building for SEO

Having a fantastic website is one thing but to help build your SEO and please the big search engines, you need to be seen to be popular and to do this, you need to rank well. Links are a powerful signal that shows search engines how popular your site is and they use links as a key indicator in determining rankings. With a high-quality number of links pointing to your website you can significantly improve your position in the top search engines and be found easily by potential clients. 

What is Link Building?

Link building is the process of acquiring links from other websites to your own. Links are the most common way for users to navigate between pages on the internet and search engines use links to crawl the web and this is how they help to determine your website’s ranking and positioning in their results.

Link building is a process that many SEO professionals find the most complex and difficult and mastering the art of building high quality links is a real skill.

Why is Link Building important for SEO?

Once search engines have crawled a website they are able to extract content for that website and add it to their indexes for ranking. From the index they are able to decide whether a page is of high enough quality to be ranked for relevant keywords and the determiners for ranking are not just the content, though it is of high importance that the content you’re putting out is of high, engaging quality, they also look at the number of links pointing to a page from other sources and the quality of those sources linking to your page. The general rule of thumb with Google and the other search engines is that links from higher quality websites give you a better chance of ranking well in search results.

Strategies for Link Building

There are many strategies for link building which may have varying degrees of success dependent upon, as mentioned, the quality of the websites who link to you. Here are five different strategies you could consider.

Customer Links

If you have partners or businesses you work with on a regular basis or even loyal clients and customers who would be willing to champion your brand than capitalise on this. You could put together partnership badges which link back to your site, or brand ambassador badges for loyal clients. It is very similar to giving away a branded t-shirt or mug, you are getting links back to your site from people who really do want to promote your brand.

Company Blog

Your company blog is a powerful tool for link building and it is actually recommended by Google’s engineers. Blogs allow you to constantly put out fresh and engaging material and if you’re on the pulse then you’re going to be more engaging and you are naturally going to get more people linking to your website and content, as a means of sharing it or commenting upon it or simply highlighting it as a valuable source of information. A blog may also earn you a position on other websites blogrolls and directories, creating more links.

Inspire Viral Sharing for Natural Linking

This kind of content is very clever and takes some skill to put together. Known in the SEO world as linkbait, content which manages to bridge the gap between usefulness and humour or usefulness and truly informational can break the viral barrier. Users see this kind of content and want to share and technically minded users will do the same but through posting links on their own sites rather than simply directing people to your site. High quality, editorially earned links are highly lauded and Google and the other search engines respect them greatly as they help to build trust, authority and rankings potential in your website.

Keep it relevant

The more relevant, newsworthy and up to date content you can offer, the better. Earning the attention of the press, other bloggers and news media can spell real success and earn some high value links with ease. It could be as simple as offering a freebie, an exciting new product or speaking out controversially. The latter of these should be done with care as there can be repercussions and it should only be done in line with your core brand values.

Website visibility is key to ensuring you get the hits you need and then are able to convert these clicks and hits into customers.

For business website design check out: www.visionresponsive.co.uk

For local council website design check out: council.visionict.com

Websites for Parish Councils are No Longer Just an Option

Websites are now considered to be a cost effective and efficient vehicle to support councils communicating with your communities. One-way communication has now developed to require interaction and engagement with the community and just passing on information. 

 

Many of you are very active on social media seeing this as key strategy to your engagement with your community. However there are many who wish to have no link at all as it is seen as a very risky activity due the lack of control of content and responses.

 

The most important aspect of this is to ensure that sufficient time is given over to maintaining and responding to your Facebook page or Twitter accounts. If time is given over to this, positive news and information can be continually fed into social media and any negative content can  be immediately answered. Good links between social media and your council website will demonstrate your council is active and responsive and provides continual up to date information.

 

 

 "Social media is an important internet medium so ensure that your council looks at it with an open mind"

 

 

 

In the past the information you added to your website was very much your choice but the world is now moving forward. The Martha Lane Fox Report produced some years ago stressing the need for government and local councils to become ‘digital by default’ is now resulting in changes in legislation placing an increasing ‘legal’ obligation on what information you need to make available through your website. The Transparency Code, Local Council Award Scheme and the Local Government (Democracy) Bill in Wales are now placing clear obligations upon your council.

 

"Council websites are sometimes built by a member of the community or you may be part of a community website outside of your control"


This sometimes works well, with low cost implications. However the time it takes for information to be added and reliability through this route is frequently quoted as a problem. With the new legislation, the increasing amount of information that will need to be added within set time constraints may start to create problems for these councils.

 

The use of a District Council website is also an option recommended but with the new world fast approaching, now may be an appropriate time to consider moving to a professional company to work with you and support you in taking control into the future. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next month this article will be featured in 'Clerk Magazine' as published by  the Society of Local Council Clerks

 

 

 

 

Nigel Hillier

Director Vision ICT Ltd

Affordable website solutions for pubs and bars

Welcome to the Vision ICT Blog.


Every month (after this minor hiatus) we will have a topic or issue that we will discuss, either to do with the company, related business or technology issues that affect YOU.

This month’s topic: Websites for pubs and bars.

As a landlord, have you ever thought about creating a website for your pub?

Maybe you have in the past, but balked at the first expensive quote you received and never took it any further. Or perhaps one of your regulars put together a basic website for you, but it doesn't seem to have made much difference.

What if we told you that it’s possible to have a fantastic looking pub website that achieves everything you hoped it would, but which costs much less than you might think?

No, it’s not a myth. Affordable websites for pubs and bars do exist, and what’s more, you get to keep complete control over how they work for you.

Why should I have a website for my pub?

There are many reasons why pubs and bars should have a presence on the web;here’re just a few of the ways that we’ve seen landlords and bar owners use their websites to great effect:

Increase your footfall and revenue

In your business, one of your main concerns is getting people through the door and putting their hard-earned behind your bar.
An attractive website loaded with great content and images that show your pub in a great light can be a powerful tool for not only bringing in new customers, but luring old ones back to their local, too.

Potential customers can take a look around your venue before they visit, and imagine themselves being there, having a great time and taking advantage of the special pub offers you’ve promoted on your site.

Got an event coming up such as an evening of entertainment or a big sporting fixture? Get it on your website. When people start searching for what’s going on in their area, they’re likely to find you and pay a visit.

And the result? More people through the door and increased revenues.

Community engagement

In many areas, the local pub is the heart of the community, and yours is probably no different. That’s why you like to provide added value to your regular customers and go the extra mile for your community.

Your website can help you do all this and then some, acting as a central meeting point and place for news and information long after last orders has been called.

Your pub news page can keep your customers up-to-date not just with your own special offers and events, but with other special occasions taking place in your community.

Why not consider adding photo galleries featuring your customers enjoying a night at your bar? You only have to look at the popularity of Facebook to see how much people like looking at pictures of themselves and their friends.

Speaking of Facebook, by combining your Facebook page with your website, you’ve got a great tool for engaging your customers directly. This can be really useful for talking to regulars and occasional visitors alike, and finding out how you can improve your business to better serve them. Again, it also works as a particularly effective method of keeping members of your community in touch with one another.

Menus and more

If you serve food at your pub, you can publish your menus online, enticing people in with your choice of delicious-sounding meals and promotional offers.

If your pub has its own sports teams, your website could include its own section to provide all the latest news, fixtures and results from your local leagues.

You name it, if there’s a way you can think of to add value to your customers’ experience, and help draw in new customers from around the area, you can do it with a website that puts you in complete control.

Affordable pub websites from Vision ICT

At Vision ICT, we create effective, attractive and affordable websites for pubs and bars, all powered by an easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS). What this means for you is that even if you have no prior web experience, you can update your website whenever and however you like, saving you both the time and expense of hiring a professional to do it for you.

To find out more about developing a website for your pub, or for a free, no-obligation quote, contact Vision ICT today on 01392 669497, or get in touch online.

Is Social Media an appropriate tool for Local Councils?

Vision ICT Blog 10/13

Welcome to the Vision ICT Blog.

Every month we will have a topic or issue that we will discuss, either to do with the company, related business or technology issues that affect YOU.

This month’s topic: Is Social Media an appropriate tool for Local Councils? written by Technical Director Daniel.

 

 Social Media is a powerful tool, there is no question, however, wherever there is power, there is also danger. As much as social media platforms can be used for good, they can instantly turn bad as well, which is why councils tend to be more hesitant towards embracing them.

 

The trouble is, there is no right or wrong decision, and there is no right or wrong way to use social media, the underlining rule is; there must be the resource behind it, if you choose to use it. If you decide to embrace social media, whether you are a council or a small private company, there is no point having it if you don’t respond and interact with it.

 

If councils do decide to use social media it is important to ensure there is time built in to go behind it to keep it ‘active’, then there are a few things they need to look out for.

 

Many councils are worried about losing levels of integrity and authority by joining platforms such as Twitter and Facebook due to the fun loving and joking nature behind them. However you could spin this problem it on it’s head and show more integrity by showing support of the younger generations and promoting it as a platform that they can come to and communicate their thoughts and ideas.

 

As beneficial as engaging with a younger audience can be, this is also where councils need to be most on the ball. With engagement and interaction, there is bound to be hostility, you must be prepared to accept the good with the bad. If you ignore the bad and only communicate with the good, the bad will only get worse, and this goes back to our first point about having the resource to manage the platforms. Your team need to be briefed on what is expected of them and how to manage angry or abusive comments, which unfortunately are quite inevitable.

 

Social media can be used to ask questions and gauge opinion. Surveys and questionnaires are quickly and easily filled out online, and by advertising them via social media could help increase levels of completion and therefore improve the validity of any studies that are conducted. Council team meetings can also be filmed and uploaded to these platforms to help generate a true sense of transparency and help your local residents feel more involved with the decisions you are making.

 

Overall, social media can be an effective tool for local councils, but you must be prepared for the good, the bad and the ugly. People are more confident to share controversial opinions and ideas behind a computer screen than they are face to face, however if you actively show an interest in such opinions and try and respond to these people, you may in the long term, develop a greater sense of respect and understanding from your local residents. This is not textbook matter; sometimes you need to go with your instinct when it comes to what you share, but whatever your instinct is, you must believe in it, as you can’t go back on yourself once it’s been shared with the world wide web!

 

We hope you enjoyed this special edition of the Vision ICT blog.

Until next time, stay well!

Next month – Browsers and Issues



Search Engine Optimisation

Vision ICT Blog 06/13

Welcome to the Vision ICT Blog. 

Every month we will have a topic or issue that we will discuss, either to do with the company, related business or technology issues that affect YOU.

This month’s topic: Search Engine Optimisation

Carrying on from last month’s topic, Standing Out from the Crowd, we will be taking a look at Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) including a special guest post.

What is SEO? SEO is the development of a website to increase its ranking on search engines.

What is a Search Engine and how does it work? Search engines work by finding pages a user asks for, based on the “best results” available. The “best” is defined by SEO techniques – The most popular, the most relevant and the longest active.

SEO varies depending on what you want to achieve. To this end, you should treat SEO differently if you are doing it for a council body or for a business.

SEO for business:

Businesses need to promote themselves and push themselves above the competition. Search rankings are a constant battle between companies to reach the lucrative top spots. Not only does a company need to have strong Search Engine Optimisation, your competition needs to have weaker Optimisation. Rankings are constantly changing so sometimes it can be a struggle to remain at the top. Alternatively you can pay google to have a fixed spot, although many people will tend to ignore these in favour of the ‘natural’ links.

Some SEO companies offer some ‘solutions’ that exploit the search system. However, if caught this can result in a website being banned completely from search engines. If someone offers you a 100% guaranteed top ranking, don’t trust them! You could end up losing any search engine good-will you already have.

For the best results, we recommend using our trusted SEO company, Skyline.

SEO for councils:

When it comes to council websites, many will put a lot of faith in website rankings. The truth is, unlike for a business whilst a page ranking is useful, it usually isn’t as vital. To begin, most councils will have an easy to find address (such as [councilname].co.uk), and if most people are looking for the council, they will find it. 

Secondly, most people search for the council will type “[Council Name] Parish/Town/Community Council” into a search engine, and as such the council site will very likely be on the first page, usually amongst the top 2 or 3 links. This is purely because a specific search like that will yield few other results than the one they want. Just searching the “Place Name” without the “Council” might return different results, but rarely will this be because the person is looking for/wants to see the council site.

Thirdly, if your council’s rating is a little low for some reason and you do want to boost it (also perhaps for easy access), we recommend contacting other large government bodies (such as Unitary Authorities and District Councils) and getting them to post a link to your site. This will help boost your ranking. We also can also post a link to your council site on Wikipedia under the page about the region. 

And now, a special guest post from Skyline SEO Experts – 

Seeing as search engines are the main way in which internet users browse the web, an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) campaign will give your website the best chance of being found on results pages by searchers. Companies that have invested in SEO now enjoy profitable places on Google results pages, and as up to 80% of internet users don’t look past the first page of results, these top ten spots receive thousands more visitors than websites found later on. Traffic increases, custom flows and with this, Google’s algorithm recognises the positive reputation of the site, thus sustaining its high page position. 

Rather than using Google’s more expensive service, Adwords AKA Pay-Per-Click (PPC), the organic list statistically gives a better return on investment (ROI). 70% of internet users only use the organic listing.

Ideally, your online-goal should be to rank on page 1 for all your products or services. How do you get there? Today, just think relevance. Is your website as relevant as it can be?

A hugely important part of any SEO campaign is building strong links from other sites to your own. 

Every page has a page ranking, from to 0 to 10 and building links from a page with a ranking higher than yours will have an extremely positive effect on your position on Google. The fewer number of links on a page to other pages, the more authority these links will carry with google and a result will have a greater effect than a page with many links.

For example, a link to your website from the BBC (page rank 9) in regards to an article they have written about your council will have a huge impact on your google ranking. This is in contrast to a link from a website under six months old or with few visitors, which is like to be page ranked 0.

If you need any help, please do not hesitate to contact either Rob or Joe at Skyline Marketing - We specialise in SEO and PPC. www.skyline-marketing.co.uk

We hope you enjoyed this special edition of the Vision ICT blog.

Until next time, stay well!

Next month – Uses of Social Media

Standing Out From The Crowd

Vision ICT Blog 05/13

Welcome to the Vision ICT Blog.

Every month we will have a topic or issue that we will discuss, either to do with the company, related business or technology issues that affect YOU.

Good news! Vision ICT will now be aiming to release 2 blog posts a month! We will do our best to keep up the high quality of content within our post. We hope you enjoy them.

This month’s topic: Standing out from the crowd

Whether you are a business or a council, or even a charitable organisation, everyone wants their cause to be visible. However, making sure your message can be heard above the others competing for the people’s attention can be a difficult task. So what can you do to increase your visibility in the rapidly evolving world of technology?

Web presence is a problem unto itself. Not only do you have to promote yourself, you physically have to compete with every other website on the internet. Page rankings play a major part on being found online, however I will be going into web page rankings and search engines in a later topic. 

For now, let’s assuming that the search engine angle is taken care of. Your site can be easily found online, and you can draw in visitors who are looking for what you provide. The question now is, how do you make people revisit your site or prioritize your product over others. 

The first thing that anyone will see when they visit your site is the front page. How does you front page look? Is it easy to handle and navigate? Is it clearly laid out and well presented, with a small number of same palette colours?

Colours are an important aspect of a website and ensuring you have colours relevant to your goal should be considered. Having bright blue and red text together might look nice, but it may be hard to read especially for the visually impaired. Usually you will want a single colour for the majority of text, maybe another for any links on the page and possible one more for major headings (although that isn’t always necessary as bolding and size increases can produce an equal if not better effect).

Presentation is key in any aspect of self-promotion and a website is no different. Ask a few trusted colleagues and ask them “Is this the best view of my site that I can put across?” Having an outside opinion can be very valuable. Everyone has their own view point but getting a couple of different ideas from different people will show up any glaringly obvious problems.

Are all your documents up to date and well organised? Every page and any information on your website should be carefully and clearly laid out. Visitors should be able to get exactly what they want without having to dig around for it. Quite often councils will forget to upload minutes and agendas and the site will slowly slip out of date. Having a reminder to constantly keep the site updated is a good idea. Perhaps write a note on your calendar at the end of each month. This also keeps people a reason to revisit the site, as they may well have an interest in minutes/agendas/newsletters or such.

Giving people a reason to return another day ensures regular traffic. A council can also do a regular news update about the local area for residents. On the business side, having a personal front that is friendly can make a big difference. Updating about big jobs or changes within the company can be very positive. If most of your business is local, making reference to local news and events can also show you are in touch with the community.

Another good way to get people’s attention is to have unique features. Having something on your site like a photo gallery or a question an answer facility gives a site visitor something interesting to do and look at. Engaging in public opinion helps make people feel that their concerns are being listened to. Photos relevant to your product or company can help give people a better feel for the quality of service you provide, or photos of the local area show how close you are to the community.

Audio/visual elements can be very striking and memorable. Most businesses and councils won’t consider this angle, as up until recently the support for sound/video on websites has usually been rather shoddy at best. However, interactive technology is on the rise and as a having a good quality video presentation as part of your website could be beneficial. A voice and a face are far more memorable than a simple block of text.

Vision ICT itself has recently started using cartoons to punctuate its blog posts. Just even the littlest of things can help give your web presence a fresh look and get people interested in what you have to offer. Even if a visitor doesn’t specifically buy a product, they’ll likely remember you when talking to friends and colleagues.

If you are interested in adding some fun new facilities to your Vision Website such as a Vision Questionnaire, Vision Video Presenter or Other Addons, give us a call and we will talk through your options.

Until next time, stay well!

Next month – Search Engine Optimisation