The Lakes at Last

Due to Jane starting a new job we didn't get a summer hol so I missed out out on an annual walking trip to the Lake District and had not been there since 2011 - and it is my favourite place on Earth. So when Jane suggested that on her day off on Thursday we should go to the Keswick, dump the car, bus up to Honister and walk back to Keswick there was only one thing to do! Schedule rearranged, up early and off we went. We arrived in glorious sunshine and, although it got colder and duller around lunchtiime, we had a great day of walking, there's even talk of a repeat event on Tuesday taking in Haystacks, weather permitting. Now Steve has joined us it makes this possible as the office is covered - day off midweek and catch up at the weekend.

The other highlight of the week was lunch with David Laud of i2i Business Solutions at Capaldis in Middlesbrough. Always great to meet up with David who played in big part in giving me the confidence to set up Tad Web Solutions and planning how we would grow. Capaldis is a great venue and there was a real free lunch (thanks David) and hopefully we will be able to work together on some ideas in the near future.

I did some "proper work" as well - including a new news blog for Henrietta Hire who provide classic wedding cars and chauffeurs in South Wales and some extra pages and SEO work for Aileen Coupe, a counsellor in Loughborough.

I also had a trip out with Matt for his MRI scan on his knee, all done with no fuss - unfortunately we still have no idea when he gets to see the consultant to find out the results. He'll be to old to play rugby again by the time we find out he's fit enough to play.

Lost Contracts and New Opportunities

Well last week we were informed we didn't get a key contract we pitched for which is a real disappointment as we were quite hopeful and looking forward to working with the company. I hope their chosen supplier does a great job for them and they've kindly provided some feedback which will help us with future pitches.

Still as one door closes others open and the experience is leading to a bit of a rethink on our marketing plans over the next year. We've had some business support from Jenny from Rainbow's End fully funded by Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council's Creative Industries project which has helped greatly in distilling out what we do really well, what distinguishes us from our competition, the messages we need to get out to potential clients and areas to focus on over the coming months.

This coming Tuesday sees David Laud of i2i Business Solutions kindly giving up his lunchtime for a business meeting with me. David has a lot to answer for as he is the person who I engaged to look at developing my part-time web design business into something better - leading me to set up a limited company in a recession and work longer hours and earn less than I did as an employee of others before! I love every minute of it and David's advice was excellent, hopefully he can help me take things further forward as we continue to grow our influence and staff.

On Friday I met up with Martin of World Insight Media of Saltburn. Whilst we have an overlap in the services we provide, we also have some separate skills that we could provide for each other as an enhanced service to our customers. Martin struck me as very likeable and ethical guy and we are exploring how we can help each other.

Last week saw us adding cookie compliance code for a client and adding an opening times management system to the website of The Pottery Loft, an arts & crafts centre and cafe in Billingham (and a great place to take the kids for a fun session).

We also completed our Small Business Solutions website - we are aiming to simplify working your way around our services and the Small Business Solutions site has a series of packaged options for purchase to provide the ideal solution for a new or micro business launching on the web, including e-commerce and e-marketing packages. We're also open to tweaking these to the needs of any new business so contact me if you don't see what you want - we're only too happy to help or pass you on to someone who can if we don't provide the service you require.

We also had another meeting to set up a business referrals network in Redcar and East Cleveland which was the biggest yet (even had to move to a bigger room) and had a couple of businesses keen to be involved more long term which is great - things are really moving forward with some great people and dynamic businesses. We also seem to have sorted out all the issues re funding a new apprentice and have interviews on Tuesday morning for a new Social Digital Apprentice via Middlesbrough College's partnership with the Digital Youth Academy.

The rest of the week saw a morning of sitting around in James Cook Uni Hospital for people to poke around with Matty's knee - we're not really any the wiser but at least he's walking around now and we're booked in for an MRI scan (or a sit in a hospital for hours) on Wednesday evening. My back and neck is still knackered so painkillers and no booze for over a week now :(

The Walking Wounded

With Matty having knackered knee ligaments and on crutches and me having something wrong with neck shoulder and arm (suspected trapped nerve), we're like a doctor's waiting room - so any GPs who are after a website for their practise should get in touch.

In between moaning like an old aching man, I had 5 visits to potential customers last week plus a couple of telephone enquiries to follow up. There hasn't been a single "no" yet but there are still 2 answers to come in and both of these are projects we'd very much like to be involved in. So fingers crossed for both of those and we may have the result by the end of next week. Still plenty of work in the pipeline to be cracking on with.

Last week saw a few website updates, a few Adwords accounts researched and set up, some SEO work, adding Google +1s for clients, a new microsite for Anglia Landscaping concentrating on Cambridge Landscaping, and a chunk of networking along with writing quotes.

We also had a meeting with Carl from Middlesbrough College to progress us employing a Social Digital Apprentice. Middlesbrough College is the only college in the area who provide this kind of apprentice in conjunction with the Digital Youth Academy. We've got a few issues with funding mainly due to a cock-up by Redcar Council's Routes to Employment people earlier in the year but there may be alternatives we are exploring this week. It will be a great opportunity for some young person as our plans are to make this post long term and also good to have a new person help drive us forward.

Next week involves the excitement of spending hours at the trauma clinic with Matt on Wednesday morning - better take some reading material.

Not the weekend I expected

Well today's plan was watching Matt play rugby for North Yorkshire v South Yorkshire in York but due to a ligament injury at training on Thursday he's hardly walking never mind smashing into people. Real pity and hope he's walking and playing again soon. So got out for a walk on The North Yorks Moors this morning instead.

The week has seen a lot of SEO analysis for a group of clients we manage with ideas for boosting visitors and conversions to sales. As part of this we have added some jquery animation and action buttons to a range of websites we have for Henrietta Hire, a wedding car company in South Wales.

The week has seen a couple of new clients come on board for new websites plus a good number of new sales leads including a very prestigious potential client we hope to be helping - we'll know more on that next week. Tuesday sees our new Web Developer, Steve, starting with us and we're glad to have him on board as things are getting busy.

We're also looking to start a Social Digital Apprentice, ideally from the Redcar & Cleveland area, and have a meeting with Middlesbrough College to explore this further. The role will involve e-marketing along with some face-to-face and telephone follow up calls. So if you are interested, or know someone who is, contact us via our website.

Last Wednesday we had a great networking meeting, with a lot of help from Russ Sawdon and Craig Moore of BNI, as we try to get a referrals networking group going in Redcar & East Cleveland. A few referrals are already passing round at this early stage and we had a few visitors along, some of whom seem interested in getting more involved.

The weeks "big event" was taking part in a photo shoot for Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council's press release for the Palace Hub, the new creative industries centre that we will be moving into when it opens in December. So look out for details in the local press with a photo of me along with Dee from Purple Tree Creative Productions (radio advertising) and some councillors - ever the self publicist!