Winter 2013 in Kent

Captured on iPhone, retouched in Photoshop CS5.1, seen on dog walk

Assisted dying public discussion

Public Discussion: Assisted Dying – should the law be changed?All are welcome on Thurs 7 Feb, 8pm at Elham Village Hall

Introduced by Dr Jim Appleyard

Consultant paediatrician at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital from 1971 to 1999, who has among other things worked in Uganda, Grenada and New York, chaired Committees on medical ethics and been President of the World Medical Association.

Wine and other cold drinks from 7.30 pm

Canterbury Choral Society website breaks 80,000 hits per month

The Wordpress website we built and manage for Canterbury Choral Society received 83,417 hits in January 2013.

Website visits, unique visitors, pages and files have all also grown by around 100% since the website was launched 8 months ago.

The statistics are compelling but it is important not to focus solely on these. It's all very well driving traffic to a website but it is even more important that the user experience is as enjoyable, useful and smooth as possible once the visitor arrives.

Tips to improve website visibility and user experience:

1. Match page titles, descriptions, tags and content as closely as possible
2. Be completely truthful about the website in all search engine optimisation as relevant visitors who will benefit from your website are all that matter if your website has any higher purpose (which it must have) than just attracting hits. Also, users will ignore a search engine that sends them to the wrong place and the search engine will ignore your website for hurting its relationship with its users. Ignore quick fix, underhand tricks
3. As well as asking website visitors for feedback, look at search terms used to find the website for a clearer picture of your audience and what they are seeking
4. Once you have a picture of your audience and their interests, write content for them
5. There is no substitute for constant (daily if you can, if not weekly) updates to website content to increase visibility in search engines and deliver a better user experience to returning visitors. Website management must be scheduled into someone's working week or a third party like us must be contracted to keep the website fresh and lively
6. If a visitor makes a sensible request for new information, add it. It will bring loyalty and it is highly unlikely that they are the only person who has been searching for the information

Visit www.canterburychoral.co.uk