Nice idea from the Hallam Internet blog the other day, in a post called One Great Tip to Improve Your Conversions. Your vision takes in the structure and highlights of a web page before you get a chance to read any of the actual text on it, so it's important to see what the shapes and colours are actually saying. Here's how to do it.

Susan Hallam has had a right old go at BT's "Web Clicks" service, and her controlled demolition is well worth a read. She reports that there seems to be "a carpet bombing telemarketing campaign" on this one, so you'd be well advised to know your facts when they call.

It seems that despite all the sources BT claims it will get you "contacts" from, it's likely that most will come from good old pay-per-click advertising. Funnily enough, the fixed-cost approach to managing PPC advertising (e.g Google AdWords) is one which many of our clients are finding interesting, but I wouldn't have the nerve to ask for the rates BT is asking for, nor do we lock people into 12-month contracts or charge setup fees. Nice work if you can get it though.

Thanks to the Hallam Communications blog for pointing out a small but interesting development for AdWords advertisers, in last Friday's posting AdWords Displaying Favicons in Search Results. It would appear that Google has been testing putting little logos from the advertiser next to AdWords ads, and you can bet that this will become standard if it results in more clicks on the adverts, which I suspect it will. The logos are what are known as "favicons" and it gives me the excuse to tell you what these are and why you need one.

If you're using a modern browser with "tabs" (multiple websites open at any one time), you'll see that most tabs have little logos next to the page title. On most browsers, you may also see the logo in the address bar (the field with the "http…" details in at the top), and if you pull down your Favourites or Bookmarks list, you should see the logos there too. These logos are called favicons, because they were originally designed to be shown only in the Favourites list.

If a site doesn't have one, you'll see a boring generic document icon. Still not sure what I'm talking about? Here are some screenshots of favicons.

Now we're clear on that, does your site show a favicon when you look at one of your pages? Our site does, as you can see here. If yours doesn't (or if it's a bit dull), it's time to get on to your website designer and get this situation sorted (they should have given you a decent one in the first place, it's a pretty basic element to a website). If you need someone to do it quickly and cheaply, email me and I can point you in the right direction. As the development in Google AdWords shows, an increasing amount of use is being made of "favicons" and you need to make sure you have one.

Not sure about all this "social media" stuff when it comes to your business? Are things like Facebook and Twitter really relevant to selling blue widgets to serious-minded industrial buyers? Don't worry, I'm as sceptical as the next person, although every time I see someone doing something clever with this stuff, I get just that little bit more open-minded about it. I did recommend LinkedIn to you all a couple of weeks ago, after all.

So, can we use Facebook to our advantage? The Hallam Internet blog suggests it's easy enough to give it a go that it might be worth a try. In Facebook Page for your Business there's a concise guide to setting up a page for your business, although you may shudder at the thought of having "fans". I do. However, don't forget that you will have customers who like and use Facebook a lot, and whatever you think of it, they'll approve. Also, the idea of using the Facebook group to offer exclusive promotions is a great one.

Right, never accuse me of not tasting my own cooking: here's the "An Article A Day" Facebook Page. If you're on Facebook, you're just two clicks away from becoming a fan. You know you want to.