10 Free Websites in August 2010
5th August 2010

OK, so it sounds like a gimmick and in some ways it isn't. Read on.

As an agency that has built over 150 websites in the last five years, we remain staggered by just how many of these sites have withered and died as the clients have not promoted them.
No search engine optimisation, no Google adwords, no blogging, no promotion what so ever. It is therefore no surprise that these sites fail to deliver any positive commercial results and the clients end up feeling disillusioned and even 'ripped off'.

Frankly, it is time for everyone to get real. With some 200 million websites in the UK alone, how on earth does any client/site expect to stand out in such a crowded market place?

Without a strategic marketing approach, it is obviously impossible. It is also depressing from an agency perspective to spend so much time designing and building beautiful sites just to see them appear on Page 20-odd of Google!!!!

With this in mind, Impress will design and build up to 10 new (HTML) website commissioned in August for free providing the client signs up to an annual Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) package with a minimum monthly order value of £750.00. The one proviso is that the value of the actual website design and build does not exceed the combined cost of the SEO package.

The bottom line is this: your site will be optimised for a whole year; looked after, nurtured and managed to your exact specifications. This offer includes free consultancy throughout the term of the contract, free copywriting ad quarterly statistical reports.

For more information, please contact Andrew Pinnell directly via email – andrew@impress-media.co.uk
 

www.loveyoursite.com
13th July 2010

Having spent five years advising clients about their online strategies, it has been something of an amazing experience to embark on a new business venture ourselves.

Impress is in the process of launching www.loveyoursite.com as a dedicated digital marketing agency aimed at both our existing and new clients. Totally dedicated to promoting websites online, we have been going through the start-up process ourselves and it has been illuminating to say the least.

Firstly, we created a brand identity which was perhaps the toughest part, and then we embarked on the initial holding page. We also launched a Facebook and twitter account and began tweeting like a birdie. A photoshoot followed and we are now in the midst of designing the website and producing Love Your Site magazine.

The exercise has reminded me just how much work is involved setting up a new venture; we are following all the advice and online philosophies to the letter which is becoming our own case study. A video, PR campaign and launch event are next as is Google Adwords and SEO.

Even at this embryonic stage we are creating considerable interest in the new brand and we are all loving the experience.

Please do not hesitate to give us your opinion, good, bad or indifferent!!!!

www.loveyoursite.com
 

Digital Marketing by Andy Poulton
2nd July 2010

And Poulton is a digital marketing expert who works for Business Link South West. He is also a great friend of Impress and has helped countless local businesses benefit from his online expertise. Andy wrote the following article which I found via our Facebook connection and we are delighed that he ha given permission for it to be reproduced on the Insights section of our site.
 

This was also the belief of every wannabe Internet entrepreneur back in the day, as the Internet was taking its first toddler steps from minority to majority player. All you had to do, or so the thought went, was to come up with an idea, build a web site and you’d be an overnight millionaire, not only that but venture capitalists would run faster than a speeding Usain Bolt to throw their money at your fledgling idea.

Of course, the more savvy web pioneers knew this wasn’t true – success was built on a great idea and lots of marketing – only it wasn’t, and it still isn’t – success was built upon traffic – only it wasn’t, success IS built on conversions, converting visitors to customers.

Conversions come from ensuring the your web site is as good as it can be, that your pages deliver compelling content that weaves a web of interest and develops a desire that is so strong and compelling that visitors to your site can’t click those “buy now” buttons fast enough.

There is no point ramping up your marketing if your site is not making the most of every possible opportunity but once it is, then you need to get as many visitors as possible

Generating traffic comes from understanding that the whole marketing mix needs to be worked to maximise opportunity and understanding that this work is ALWAYS a “work in progress” and the more effort that is devoted to marketing, the more success your site will have.

Almost since the Internet was born businesses have relied on the major search engines to help clients find sites that match their search requests. Google has grown big and strong on the back of their success, Bing and Yahoo are chasing hard, so determined are they to grow their market share that they have combined forces, whilst Ask Jeeves is brings up the rear.

However, the new kids are in town, the rowdy upstarts have arrived and they’re making a lot of noise. Social media is now the No.1 online activity and the leader of the pack, the “Big Daddy” of social networking, is Facebook. Launched in 2004 Facebook added 200m new members in 2009 and now has over 400m subscribers, is adding 1/2m new users every day and has more than 23m in the UK.

With the average web user already spending 10% of their online time using social networking the time has come for you to take your business in to this space. After all, your customers are already there, your competitors may very well be there and if you don’t join them, you WILL miss out.

Online networking is not only social – LinkedIn has 65m million members – every last one of them a professional, Twitter has over 110m subscribers just communicating with one another [and looking to have 1bn by 2012] whilst YouTube is the second most searched site on the web, shows 2bn videos every day and receives 24 hours of new video every minute.

And then there’s blogging, email marketing, article marketing, viral marketing, affiliate marketing, pay per click………and on and on.

can’t afford to be left behind so you need to start pulling your strategy together. Don’t mess around, jump in, have a look around, search for products or services like yours and see what comes back to you, see what the competition are doing, look, learn and give it a go.

Play [if you don’t like the “play” word then carry out some “research”] but don’t forget – although the majority of these opportunities don’t require a financial investment, you HAVE to invest time. Just like the early days of the internet – "if you build it they will only come" only works if you tell them about it,  if you climb on your roof and start shouting to the internet neighbourhood to draw attention to yourself but, you can rest assured - get this right and come they will.

www.andypoulton.com

Clerkenwell Design Week London - May 2010
3rd June 2010

Organised to celebrate the diversity and creativity of the UK office design and furniture sectors, Clerkenwell Design Week was held over three days at the end of May and proved to be a roaring success. Visitors were treated to a varied programme of seminars, demonstrations, product launches and social events which captured the very essence of this wonderful industry.

The bright pink event branding adorned the glittering showrooms of major furniture suppliers such as Haworth, Vitra and Fritz Hansen and a tangible sense of 'carnival' emanated from the streets.
Clerkenwell is a captivating part of the city; shimmering bars and restaurants sit alongside the illuminated shop windows of global furniture brands that are at the forefront of the designer revolution which is slowly but surely permeating all our lives. Having said this, there remains something distinctly 'shabby-chic' about the labyrinth of side streets and alleyways that hark back to a different London, a city before the corporates' took over, a place with its own distinctive culture and rhythm of life. These elements still remain in Clerkenwell and only add to the areas charm.

This is perhaps most apparent within the Victorian magnificence of the Farmiloe Building (built circa 1868) which hosted the actual exhibition at the heart of the event. Lurking behind the attractive Italianate palazzo-style frontage hides a myriad of studio spaces that were crammed with an incredible range of exhibitors. What struck me most was the sheer diversity of the products on display; sofas in Paul Smith stripes, furniture made of cardboard, futuristic fibreglass pods designed to provide a solitary, but interactive ‘digital’ environment, an amazing array of lighting ideas and every conceivable type of chair.

The juxtaposition created by the contemporary nature of the products displayed against a backdrop of crumbling red brick was particularly stark and one got a true sense of a city in transition; of an industry that is pushing the boundaries of style and innovation fuelled by our insatiable appetite for something new. Journalists from The Guardian and Wallpaper magazine flitted from one floor to another eager to identify the trends of tomorrow; architects could be seen deep in conversation with designers and a constant stream of wide-eyed visitors imagined how these products might look in their loft apartments; frankly, I was no different.

This review only scratches the surface of a fantastic event that brought this exceptional industry to the attention of a wider audience. Subsequent media coverage has been refreshingly positive and highlights our increasing enthusiasm for design excellence in both our domestic and professional lives. We are compromising less and becoming increasingly intolerant of anything that is ugly – Clerkenwell Design Week was an inspirational event that celebrated the beauty of design, style and innovation....

I loved it.....