As part of our 2008 expansion, we’re on the look out for Online Editors and Content Managers on a part time and contract basis to provide support on projects for some major UK publishers. if you’re interested in finding out more about these opportunities, check out the latest roles here.

The importance of having search on your site is one of the seven fundamentals for an effective web site which we covered in the last post

As pretty much everyone knows, the internet has always been synonymous with search. In the early days of the web, it was often said that Yahoo! was the internet because search, along with email, was the web’s killer app. These days, to ‘google’ something has become the common parlance, like doing the ‘hoovering’ as opposed to the vacuuming (we don’t all , as yet, do the ‘dysoning’) As the web has grown, so has Google, as our primary need online is to be able find the relevant information we want quickly and effectively. Google fulfills that need.

Search is so much of what people do online that in effect Google has just become the defacto navigation device. Where isn’t there a internet search box? They’re on web pages, built into browsers, toolbars, on mobile phones, on your Windows or Mac desktop. Everywhere. Why browse through a directory or menu when its so easy and effective to search?

So, how does this apply to your own website? Well, if your potential customers are used to navigating the web by searching, then it makes sense to let them navigate your site via search functionality as well.

At miggle.co.uk we take two approaches to providing site search. One is that we build it ourselves, the other is that we use a customisation of Google search. The first approach, the self-build, is useful for sites that have a database of information - classified sites like estate agents or recruitment agencies fall into this bracket. The second approach, the Google customisation, is useful if your site consists of a number of articles, particularly if articles you write on your site are published in two places, such as through your blogging tool and your content management system.

The Google customisation is what we currently use on the miggle.co.uk website. The installation we’ve used is free to use, the trade off being that our search results also display Google Adwords (which can be mapped to our Adsense account so we can earn money from it). However, we could pay Google to remove the Adwords all together. From a display stand point there’s quite a bit of flexibility too and we can also define to some extent how search results are displayed, as well as what we want indexed in our search engine. And like all great current web products, we can invite collaborators to add to our search customisation too. Find out more about Google Custom Search.

We’re currently focusing on our ‘Responsive Websites Solutions‘ approach - looking at building sites for small businesses or sole traders which puts them in control of their online presence. Providing site search to the solution is a key part of this, along with a raft of many other ‘must haves’ for web sites which are focused on ensuring that any online presence we build is always highly usable and highly relevant.

If you’ve got an up and coming web project and would like an informal chat, feel free to get in touch.

Today we are launching our ‘Responsive Websites Solutions‘ approach which focusses on getting the best for your business online. Aimed squarely at small businesses and sole traders, ‘Responsive Websites Solutions’ is all about putting businesses in control of their online presence, alongside support and advice from the miggle.co.uk team. Marketing agencies who are looking for online solutions to offer clients, as well as designers looking for a solution that helps them fulfil the technical parts of online briefs might also find this approach useful.

Responsive Website Solutions provide a number of benefits within a bespoke solution, but its based on the following seven premises:-

1. A functional website is just the starting point in running an effective business online. To run your business well you need to make decisions based on how people use your site and map these to your business objectives.
2. Your Frontpage is the window to your brand online. Its sales pitch and mission statement in one go. It needs to direct traffic to other areas in your site. And it needs to present reasons to want to make your audience return on a regular basis.
3. With a good search engine optimisation strategy, any page on your website could be a potential customers first experience with your brand. So brand and navigational consistency are key. A solid navigational structure will give the user a clear idea of what to do when they have finished with the first page on your site they encountered.
4. Keeping clutter-free is key. Site copy, design, hierarchy, content, promotions and advertising all need to be finely balanced, in line with your overall site and business objectives.
5. Integration with proven tools and networks will help drive relevance and therefore improve audience usage and your site’s ranking with search engines. Incorporating ‘Add to Google/Yahoo!/Live’, ‘Post to del.icio.us/Facebook/reddit’ etc., as well as syndicating your content on other networks with big audiences are all part of this.
6. Site search is fundamental. People use search to navigate the internet. Give them the opportunity to navigate your site like this as well.
7. Every user is different. From their own abilities, level of experience, how they access your site and their level of engagement with it. How your site manages different user needs will determine its success. Also, its important that you let your users know how you will use the data you derive from their visit, as well as what you expect from them. Having a good privacy policy and terms of service is key to this.

If you’ve got an up and coming web project and would like an informal chat, feel free to get in touch.