The IT and Web Design Industries in Telford

Telford - it's the silicon valley of the UK, a hub for technology companies and a base for the current and next generation of web designers and coders. But how did a town that's named after a famous civil engineer, become famous itself for something so completely different?

Well, it all happened in the 80's and 90's when a string of government incentives and a reputable UK workforce attracted a number of high-tech and IT industry companies. These companies set up their massive factories and Head Offices in Telford and over the next 25 years gave the town a reputation for being a centre of computing excellence. Of course, this has had a massive knock on effect for Telford which now has multiple IT training facilities and plentiful qualified IT experts to feed both the large companies and increased consumer demand for web expertise.

This environment for learning produces many well-trained specialists every year and students have a great many courses to choose from. One can study UML Systems Modelling, C++ or web design in Telford's plentiful colleges and many local children go on to train and work in the locale as part of the IT industry.

So it's clear why Telford is well positioned to offer IT and web design services but why, specifically, does the town provide such talented individuals? This is because of the highly focused number of companies based in the area that are IT related. As a result of this focus, web designers and SEO specialists have the support they need in the form of local expertise and as such can provide a strong service. These companies also have a large catchment area for business, stretching down to Gloucester and South Wales and across the Black Country, which helps create a very stable area for success. As a result, customers who are looking for an expert in IT or web design in Telford have a great many successful companies and trained individuals to choose from.

Ultimately then, if you need IT support or want to get a web-based idea off of the ground - Telford has all the web design and hands-on specialists you could ever need and you should never need to look outside of the town for the computing services you require.

Anthony Rome

Web Design Telford

Redesigning Your Website? Redirects Are Your Best Friend

A friend (to remain unnamed) recently relaunched his website. It looks cool, but they instantly lost years of deep search engine links and ranking, killed in-bound links from other websites, and generally blew away a lot of tasty, wholesome search engine goodness.

How did they do that?

They neglected one of the key elements of a redesign project - something called "redirects."

The good news for you is that it is very easy to prevent this ranking loss, but it needs to be managed BEFORE you relaunch, then implemented simultaneously with the relaunch. All you need to do is talk with your web designer/developer about "redirects" before you start your redesign project. The designer should know what to do after that.

So, what is a "redirect" and why is it important for website relaunches?

A redirect simply tells your browser to go from an old page URL to a new page URL. This is important for website relaunches because your old website's URLs (like /clients.html) might either not exist or change (to something like /clients) with new the website design or content management system. The difference between "/clients.html" and "/clients" might not look like much to you or me, but to a search engine or a web browser, it is as different as night and day.

Redirects are important because:

1. The search engines could take weeks or months to re-index your new pages so they appear in the search results. And, if you have important keywords in the old page's content, it could be a long, long time before your organic ranking returns for those keywords.

2. If another website linked to your old URL, any visitor who clicks on the link will get an error code on your website rather than a page with your content. So, you made someone who was kind enough to link to your website, or yourself, look incompetent (visitors will assume either the website with the link or your website has a problem).

3. If you are a high-tech company, could be a big bummer for your street-cred, dude.

Technical aspects

Technically, a redirect is often called a "server-side 301 redirect." We don't need to go into the specifics because this is pretty basic stuff for good web developers - you just need to be sure your web designer/developer understands and commits to implementing redirects for you.

Also, Google has all kinds of info on this. Just search "301 redirect" and you'll find all kinds of great information.

Practical aspects

The first thing you have to do is create a list of all your existing pages/URLs. Then, decide what new pages/URLs they should redirect to. Some people will use Google Webmaster Tools to see which pages are indexed and/or have inbound links and only redirect for those pages/URLs, particularly if they have a lot of pages. Then, rather than show a 404 error code when someone visits any other obsolete URL, show your sitemap or another page on your new website. Also, your developer might have a simple technique for managing redirects.

In any event, it is critical that you discuss redirects with your web designer (1) before you hire them (so you're sure they understand it), and (2) during the redesign process so you're sure your existing URLs are all cataloged and the redirects can be properly implemented.

Conclusion

If you are relaunching your website, it is critical to your SEO and online friends that you utilize redirects:

- They're easy to do.

- Good web developers and designers can handle the whole process for you.

Eric Weidner, President & CEO, Workbox, Inc.

A seasoned web design and development executive, Eric Weidner co-founded Workbox in 1997. Eric's expertise lies in helping clients translate their business goals into something highly usable on the Web.

Company website: http://www.workbox.com
Blog: http://blog.workbox.com