Yes last week we had a lot of meetings.
We had Martin from World Sight Media in, Stephen from the Business & Enterprise Group in, Gary from Middlesbrough College in and Phil from our accountants M. Wasley Chapman in and when you chuck in a networking meeting all Wednesday morning and a day of hospital appointments for my failing eyesight on Thursday (it seems my Mum was right all those years ago!) then there wasn't much time for me to do any "work". It's increasingly the case now as we grow that I do more "business stuff" and less "geeky stuff". Enjoy it as well but still like to get my hands dirty with coding and databases. Luckily Peter and Steve do a grand job so all is working out well.
So what went on work-wise? A few updates on our own sites, some additional news items and pages for Seaton Spring who supply water coolers across the North East, following up some sales leads and a lot of work on new artwork for when we move - which is supposed to be 20th Feb but we have a few issues regarding the sample contract provided, so it may be a bit later. We're also continuing to tweak the Ouch, Personal Injury Solicitors mobile site and this will be an ongoing process.
Peter is enrolled in his college course with Middlesbrough College as a Social Digital Apprentice and already getting involved with our social media campaigns including blogging, Twitter and more. Peter will be playing a big part in Cleveland Hour, an hour each week on Twitter that we have set up to help local businesses connect with each other. The first Cleveland Hour is from 10:00-11:00 on Friday 25th Jan, use the hashtag #ClevelandHour and follow @ClevelandHour for more detaails.
Sunday, 20 January 2013
Sunday, 13 January 2013
Welcome to Peter, E-marketing Assistant
Monday saw Peter Calvert join us as a new E-marketing Assistant on a Social Digital Apprenticeship. A big part of the week was showing Peter how we would like things done which took up a fair bit of my time. Unfortunately Peter completed his first week's planned work by Wednesday, and did it very well, so I had to spend more time with him showing him some other stuff. It looks like Peter is a great addition to the team and clients will be getting some regular contact with Peter such as SEO reports, newsletters, offers and the like.
Other than a bit of networking, where Peter got a sales lead for a partner company we work with, and a few meetings it was mainly a week of SEO work with reports for clients, tweaking of content and updating content for clients to improve the performance of their websites.
There were a couple of tweaks to the OUCH! mobile site for our clients, who are personal injury claims lawyers, and we always expect our service to include minor tweaks to sites we have made in the first couple of months after deployment. We never expect a site to be perfect upon deployment (in fact we never think any website is perfect as there's always something you could add as technology improves) and feedback from our clients and their clients often leads to a couple of minor improvements in the first couple of months. This is a service that we do not charge extra for even when the project has been signed off and paid for (minor changes obviously, not complete redesigns or new major features!).
Look out for the OUCH! animation coming soon.
Well that's it - after a day of several beers and a rather poor (but cheap) Boro match with friends yesterday there's work to catch up on plus a Heineken Cup rugby match to watch. But before I go ...
... a quick plug for a local free publication, print and digital, coming soon from some fellow Redcar & Cleveland creatives (www.facebook.com/CreativeRedcar) - look out for it in Feb.
Other than a bit of networking, where Peter got a sales lead for a partner company we work with, and a few meetings it was mainly a week of SEO work with reports for clients, tweaking of content and updating content for clients to improve the performance of their websites.
There were a couple of tweaks to the OUCH! mobile site for our clients, who are personal injury claims lawyers, and we always expect our service to include minor tweaks to sites we have made in the first couple of months after deployment. We never expect a site to be perfect upon deployment (in fact we never think any website is perfect as there's always something you could add as technology improves) and feedback from our clients and their clients often leads to a couple of minor improvements in the first couple of months. This is a service that we do not charge extra for even when the project has been signed off and paid for (minor changes obviously, not complete redesigns or new major features!).
Look out for the OUCH! animation coming soon.
Well that's it - after a day of several beers and a rather poor (but cheap) Boro match with friends yesterday there's work to catch up on plus a Heineken Cup rugby match to watch. But before I go ...
... a quick plug for a local free publication, print and digital, coming soon from some fellow Redcar & Cleveland creatives (www.facebook.com/CreativeRedcar) - look out for it in Feb.
Sunday, 6 January 2013
New Year, New Staff, New Clients
The office reopened on Wed 2nd Jan with 2 new bits of work plus 2 new enquiries to quote for and we got our 1st new enquiry of the year on New Year's Day!
Thursday saw Peter, our new E-marketing Assistant, pop in to sign contracts. Peter starts on Monday 7th Jan with the primary role of developing our e-marketing strategies plus some of our print design and I know he will be huge asset and make a big difference to the company. Also he's not an old fart like me and Steve (feel free to reply Steve) so will bring a much younger and brighter perspective to all we do. His services will also be available to clients, so we are expanding our e-marketing and print design services. Peter is starting via a Social Digital Apprenticeship in conjunction with Middlesbrough College (http://www.mbro.ac.uk) and the Digital Youth Academy (http://www.digitalyouthacademy.com/)
We spent part of the week tweaking the Call Ouch! mobile website. So in time honoured fashion ...
... had an accident at work? Call Ouch!
We also did a bit of template and css work for one of our neighbours at the Wilton Centre. We didn't make their site and it's a bit hacked together in places and it can be a bit chewy finding the relevant bits of code to edit but Google Chrome is a godsend for finding exact lines of code in both php and css files.
The shortened week allied to a couple of jobs to quote for means today (Sunday) has become a workday for quote, and blog, writing. Still I'm sure I'll find time to watch a bit of Premiership rugby plus a bit of American football with it being Redskins (my 2nd team) v Seahawks (Steve's team) in the NFC wild card match.
Still, a great and relaxed day yesterday. A short walk out in the morning with my lovely wife. A trip to the pub and then off to watch Boro beat the mighty Hastings Utd (who did themselves proud) in the FA Cup with Matt - a rare treat these days as he normally goes to the game with interesting people. I have to say that the beer, Mydilsburgh IPA, we drank in The Star brewed by Middlesbrough's very own brewery, Truefitt (http://www.truefittbrewing.co.uk/), was truly fantastic - give their beers a try whenever you get the chance (and no they aren't clients of ours but I do like to support great local businesses, especially if they produce great real ale).
Thursday saw Peter, our new E-marketing Assistant, pop in to sign contracts. Peter starts on Monday 7th Jan with the primary role of developing our e-marketing strategies plus some of our print design and I know he will be huge asset and make a big difference to the company. Also he's not an old fart like me and Steve (feel free to reply Steve) so will bring a much younger and brighter perspective to all we do. His services will also be available to clients, so we are expanding our e-marketing and print design services. Peter is starting via a Social Digital Apprenticeship in conjunction with Middlesbrough College (http://www.mbro.ac.uk) and the Digital Youth Academy (http://www.digitalyouthacademy.com/)
We spent part of the week tweaking the Call Ouch! mobile website. So in time honoured fashion ...
... had an accident at work? Call Ouch!
We also did a bit of template and css work for one of our neighbours at the Wilton Centre. We didn't make their site and it's a bit hacked together in places and it can be a bit chewy finding the relevant bits of code to edit but Google Chrome is a godsend for finding exact lines of code in both php and css files.
The shortened week allied to a couple of jobs to quote for means today (Sunday) has become a workday for quote, and blog, writing. Still I'm sure I'll find time to watch a bit of Premiership rugby plus a bit of American football with it being Redskins (my 2nd team) v Seahawks (Steve's team) in the NFC wild card match.
Still, a great and relaxed day yesterday. A short walk out in the morning with my lovely wife. A trip to the pub and then off to watch Boro beat the mighty Hastings Utd (who did themselves proud) in the FA Cup with Matt - a rare treat these days as he normally goes to the game with interesting people. I have to say that the beer, Mydilsburgh IPA, we drank in The Star brewed by Middlesbrough's very own brewery, Truefitt (http://www.truefittbrewing.co.uk/), was truly fantastic - give their beers a try whenever you get the chance (and no they aren't clients of ours but I do like to support great local businesses, especially if they produce great real ale).
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Business & Technology Predictions for 2013
I don't do New Year's resolutions as I've generally broken them by 2nd January. However, it is always interesting to take a look into the Crystal Meth Ball and see what I believe is going to happen in the worlds of technology and business (and then I'll look back in a year and see what rubbish I wrote).
Trust
Money will remain tight for many consumers and businesses but that doesn't mean there is no money to spend. Those with purchasing power will be careful in spending their cash and will look to spend it with companies who have a reputation of quality and customer service.
Localism
More small companies will try to source suppliers in their own region as they see that building relationships with those companies generates leads for each other and helps boost the local economy.
Getting Finance
It will be difficult for business to gain finance for new ideas and businesses will need to be creative and in many cases eschew traditional financing models and look for other sources such as crowd funding.
The Mobile Web
The growth in the use of mobile devices is huge and continuing. There will be a move to app-like mobile websites that will work on a range of devices rather than vendor-specific apps. By the end of 2103 there will have been an increase in the number of websites designed specifically for mobile devices with alternative designs for bigger screens as an extra, rather than designing for PC/laptop with a mobile design as an extra.
As more people get 4G, greater use of multimedia content for mobile web becomes possible and animators and videographers will see their output much more widely used on mobile websites.
Mobile Payments
I expect the growth of mobile payment options via smartphones using near field communication to continue but not to overtake other payment methods. I also expect there to be a few security setbacks in the year as hackers move into this growing field.
Mobile Malware
As mobile use for a wide range of services that are not from the traditional telephony package grows we will see mobile viruses and other malware increase. A trend that could have a negative impact on the mobile payments market.
E-commerce Growth
Buying on-line continues to grow and not just for the big players like Amazon. Sales in the UK over the Xmas period had a much bigger growth on-line than in the high street and as we all lead busy lives this trend will continue. The result will be more companies needing to sell on-line to compete and a growth in website integration with other, more general, on-line marketplaces.
Smartphone Wars
Not a prediction of who will become dominant but a continuation of the battle for supremacy in this market place. I do predict that Apple's market share will fall a little and RIM/Blackberry will continue with its decline. The launch of flexible screen phones will see these become more common and become standard when the price drops.
Touch-screen Interfaces
Touch-screens will become more prevalent on laptops and PCs with the growth in the number of people using Windows 8 as the operating system.
Social Media
The use of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for business will continue as will careful use of other social media such as Pinterest. Google+ will grow in the UK and become a major player in the social media market. Businesses who do not get involved in this "trivial fad" (as a business owner friend of mine calls it) will get left even further behind their competition. Businesses will become more creative and entertaining in their use of social media and we'll see more animation and video used.
3-D Printing
The price is dropping and making it viable for a small business or enthusiastic amateur to purchase a machine. Xmas next year will be full of 3-D printed decorations and nick-nacks as a result.
Trust
Money will remain tight for many consumers and businesses but that doesn't mean there is no money to spend. Those with purchasing power will be careful in spending their cash and will look to spend it with companies who have a reputation of quality and customer service.
Localism
More small companies will try to source suppliers in their own region as they see that building relationships with those companies generates leads for each other and helps boost the local economy.
Getting Finance
It will be difficult for business to gain finance for new ideas and businesses will need to be creative and in many cases eschew traditional financing models and look for other sources such as crowd funding.
The Mobile Web
The growth in the use of mobile devices is huge and continuing. There will be a move to app-like mobile websites that will work on a range of devices rather than vendor-specific apps. By the end of 2103 there will have been an increase in the number of websites designed specifically for mobile devices with alternative designs for bigger screens as an extra, rather than designing for PC/laptop with a mobile design as an extra.
As more people get 4G, greater use of multimedia content for mobile web becomes possible and animators and videographers will see their output much more widely used on mobile websites.
Mobile Payments
I expect the growth of mobile payment options via smartphones using near field communication to continue but not to overtake other payment methods. I also expect there to be a few security setbacks in the year as hackers move into this growing field.
Mobile Malware
As mobile use for a wide range of services that are not from the traditional telephony package grows we will see mobile viruses and other malware increase. A trend that could have a negative impact on the mobile payments market.
E-commerce Growth
Buying on-line continues to grow and not just for the big players like Amazon. Sales in the UK over the Xmas period had a much bigger growth on-line than in the high street and as we all lead busy lives this trend will continue. The result will be more companies needing to sell on-line to compete and a growth in website integration with other, more general, on-line marketplaces.
Smartphone Wars
Not a prediction of who will become dominant but a continuation of the battle for supremacy in this market place. I do predict that Apple's market share will fall a little and RIM/Blackberry will continue with its decline. The launch of flexible screen phones will see these become more common and become standard when the price drops.
Touch-screen Interfaces
Touch-screens will become more prevalent on laptops and PCs with the growth in the number of people using Windows 8 as the operating system.
Social Media
The use of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for business will continue as will careful use of other social media such as Pinterest. Google+ will grow in the UK and become a major player in the social media market. Businesses who do not get involved in this "trivial fad" (as a business owner friend of mine calls it) will get left even further behind their competition. Businesses will become more creative and entertaining in their use of social media and we'll see more animation and video used.
3-D Printing
The price is dropping and making it viable for a small business or enthusiastic amateur to purchase a machine. Xmas next year will be full of 3-D printed decorations and nick-nacks as a result.
Monday, 31 December 2012
2012 - A Year of Establishing Ourselves
Tad Web Solutions Ltd started trading on 1st November 2011 so as we hit New Year's Day in 2012 we had only been going for 2 months and very few people had heard of us. Starting up a company in a very competitive market was either brave or foolish but we're still here so maybe I'm a lucky brave fool! The aim for 2012 has been to establish the business whilst making sufficient money to pay the bills. The key to this has been providing what our customers want with a big dollop of good old-fashioned customer service. I think many in our industry forget that whilst we are teccy businesses we are also a service industry and being technically great, which we are, is only half the battle.
January was a little strange with the year starting with an attack on one of servers which took a day or so to sort out but meant the year got of to a dreadful start. But all was fixed and that problem did not rear its ugly head again that year though there were a couple of days when the data centre in Manchester that houses our server had problems meaning a couple of half days off. This year we're looking at options for relocating our servers to the North East with another company looking after the physical management.
February saw us having the services of two French students from the University of Teesside with both working on separate side projects of ours with mixed results. One of our students did a good job, worked hard and was great, even if the side project is not progressing. The other was a bit of a waste of time and resources but we'll put that down to experience.
March saw the start of a more concerted effort to get involved in networking events to get the business known started with the Middlesbrough Breakfast Exchange at La Pharmacie which has developed a few contacts for us over the year. On a personal note the month also saw my son captain Middlesbrough RUFC under-16s in a Yorkshire Cup semi-final victory in a fantastic game of rugby against Otley on a bog of a pitch - the very pitch where the North of England beat the All Blacks. Proud rugby dad recollection number 1.
April saw a very brief return to lecturing as a (paid) favour to a friend who was stuck for someone to deliver some thermodynamics lectures (yes in a previous incarnation I was an engineering lecturer and I have an honours B.Sc. in Physics). Proud rugby dad recollection number 2. The month started with Matty captaining Middlesbrough U-16s in their 4th Yorkshire Cup final in 4 seasons. Unfortunately with 2 England players unavailable they lost to a great York side in a thrilling game but in 4 years of junior rugby, 3 Yorkshire Cups and one runners-up is a great return. Strangely this was my proudest moment as a rugby dad as the way Matty and the whole team conducted themselves after a heartbreaking defeat was exemplary and shows what a great game ruby is off the field as well as on it. A good post match was had with the brilliant folks from York RUFC who were deserved and gracious winners - and we had a fantastic post match party in Picton which was really the end of an era as the team has broken up for a variety of reasons including a big number of players going onto bigger and better things. Some of them really could be stars of the future and I will always look out for them at a much higher level.
May saw us creating a few Wordpress sites as we switched to using this as a CMS for new sites where there was nothing "unusual" required. The beauty of Wordpress is that it is open source, easy to use and so many web agencies know how it works so it has portability unlike a bespoke CMS. Sometimes clients need more than an off-the-shelf package and it is enjoyable creating something from scratch. May also saw the end of my briefly resurrected teaching career as the academic year came to an end. I was offered a permanent contract but that would have made it rather difficult to run the business.
June started with a trip to Strasbourg, pleasure not work, including the 3rd and deciding cricket match in a 10 year series between our old ICI cricket team and the Strasbourg Strollers. With one eye not really working and not having played for a number of years, I opened the batting with little hope. Unfortunately we lost and modesty prevents me from saying who top scored in the match (ahem!) but a great game and fantastic hospitality by our hosts saw us finishing the game fielding in the rain rather drunk whilst being filmed by local French TV. June also saw the departure of our French interns.
July saw us meeting with people from Redcar & Cleveland Council to begin discussions about moving to the Palace Hub when it is completed. We also had Cameron from Macmillan College in for a week's work experience and he was great, we will be happy to have other school students in next year on the same basis. The month also saw our first contact with Russ and Craig from BNI which has led us to join as part of the core group for Redcar and East Cleveland and we believe this will play a big role in the growth of the business.
August would normally include a holiday but as my wife had recently changed jobs she didn't have any holidays due, so a couple of cheeky days off were had to match her days off and we did a few walks on the North Yorks Moors and Upper Teesdale. The month also sadly saw the loss of a great bloke, Keith, who I had got to know through my son's rugby and he is still sadly missed by all.
In September we verbally agreed terms for a move to the Palace Hub with a December moving in date. We also got involved with Redcar Council's scheme for 'critical friend' support between creative industries in the area where we got paid to help another creative look at their business. It was also the first Bounce event at the Riverside Stadium where regional businesses got together to share the good news about how well the North East economy is doing, to build networks and to help each other. I'm looking forward to the next one. Proud rugby dad recollection number 3. Matt started playing in the front row for Middlesbrough RUFC Colts (U-19s) when his age group should have been U-17s. Some great moments, particularly when a very young Boro front row tipped their much older and massively bigger opponents over the top of the back row to take a scrum against the head and set up a try. Matt also made the North Yorkshire U-17 squad.
October saw Steve joining us as Web Developer and making a great contribution to the company. The month also saw us pitching at a large law firm for a mobile web contract. The pitch went pretty well but we didn't get the contract, losing out to another company with what was in our opinion a very misleading quote on time-scales. Still we'll stick to our guns of being honest with potential clients even if we lose the occasional contract as a result...
... and honesty pays as we got a contract for a mobile site for the same value anyway.
The penultimate month of the year saw a lot of mobile work as we developed OUCH! and also a mobile version of Future Roofs. This is a growing area of the business and a key area for other businesses to have a mobile web presence. We also did some work for one of our neighbours down the corridor in Wilton Centre, now that does make it easy when you need to have a meeting with your client! November also saw our BNI core group starting to grow and we are expecting a launch around Easter.
And so to December. We attended the Tees Valley Skills event in the concourse of the Riverside in sub-zero temperatures all day, not an enjoyable day. We also delivered a day at a school in Shildon as part of the Get Creative project which was hard work but a good day. We launched our new website and the OUCH site. We got a loan from UK Steel Enterprise - for furniture and equipment when we move, which has been postponed to February as the building is not finished.
Obviously throughout the year we did a lot of work on new and existing websites, graphic design, e-marketing, networking and more. We survived, took on new staff (and another one coming in January) and established ourselves. We made a lot of new friends along the way and continued to work with a lot of long-time friends - to all of you thank you for making it an interesting and enjoyable year.
After a few days off over the festive season I've recharged the batteries, which has been great but now I'm raring to go and feel the need to be working again, so off we go. Tomorrow I'll post on what I thinks will be the key issues in the New Year but in the meantime I hope you all have a great New Year's Eve.
January was a little strange with the year starting with an attack on one of servers which took a day or so to sort out but meant the year got of to a dreadful start. But all was fixed and that problem did not rear its ugly head again that year though there were a couple of days when the data centre in Manchester that houses our server had problems meaning a couple of half days off. This year we're looking at options for relocating our servers to the North East with another company looking after the physical management.
February saw us having the services of two French students from the University of Teesside with both working on separate side projects of ours with mixed results. One of our students did a good job, worked hard and was great, even if the side project is not progressing. The other was a bit of a waste of time and resources but we'll put that down to experience.
March saw the start of a more concerted effort to get involved in networking events to get the business known started with the Middlesbrough Breakfast Exchange at La Pharmacie which has developed a few contacts for us over the year. On a personal note the month also saw my son captain Middlesbrough RUFC under-16s in a Yorkshire Cup semi-final victory in a fantastic game of rugby against Otley on a bog of a pitch - the very pitch where the North of England beat the All Blacks. Proud rugby dad recollection number 1.
April saw a very brief return to lecturing as a (paid) favour to a friend who was stuck for someone to deliver some thermodynamics lectures (yes in a previous incarnation I was an engineering lecturer and I have an honours B.Sc. in Physics). Proud rugby dad recollection number 2. The month started with Matty captaining Middlesbrough U-16s in their 4th Yorkshire Cup final in 4 seasons. Unfortunately with 2 England players unavailable they lost to a great York side in a thrilling game but in 4 years of junior rugby, 3 Yorkshire Cups and one runners-up is a great return. Strangely this was my proudest moment as a rugby dad as the way Matty and the whole team conducted themselves after a heartbreaking defeat was exemplary and shows what a great game ruby is off the field as well as on it. A good post match was had with the brilliant folks from York RUFC who were deserved and gracious winners - and we had a fantastic post match party in Picton which was really the end of an era as the team has broken up for a variety of reasons including a big number of players going onto bigger and better things. Some of them really could be stars of the future and I will always look out for them at a much higher level.
May saw us creating a few Wordpress sites as we switched to using this as a CMS for new sites where there was nothing "unusual" required. The beauty of Wordpress is that it is open source, easy to use and so many web agencies know how it works so it has portability unlike a bespoke CMS. Sometimes clients need more than an off-the-shelf package and it is enjoyable creating something from scratch. May also saw the end of my briefly resurrected teaching career as the academic year came to an end. I was offered a permanent contract but that would have made it rather difficult to run the business.
June started with a trip to Strasbourg, pleasure not work, including the 3rd and deciding cricket match in a 10 year series between our old ICI cricket team and the Strasbourg Strollers. With one eye not really working and not having played for a number of years, I opened the batting with little hope. Unfortunately we lost and modesty prevents me from saying who top scored in the match (ahem!) but a great game and fantastic hospitality by our hosts saw us finishing the game fielding in the rain rather drunk whilst being filmed by local French TV. June also saw the departure of our French interns.
July saw us meeting with people from Redcar & Cleveland Council to begin discussions about moving to the Palace Hub when it is completed. We also had Cameron from Macmillan College in for a week's work experience and he was great, we will be happy to have other school students in next year on the same basis. The month also saw our first contact with Russ and Craig from BNI which has led us to join as part of the core group for Redcar and East Cleveland and we believe this will play a big role in the growth of the business.
August would normally include a holiday but as my wife had recently changed jobs she didn't have any holidays due, so a couple of cheeky days off were had to match her days off and we did a few walks on the North Yorks Moors and Upper Teesdale. The month also sadly saw the loss of a great bloke, Keith, who I had got to know through my son's rugby and he is still sadly missed by all.
In September we verbally agreed terms for a move to the Palace Hub with a December moving in date. We also got involved with Redcar Council's scheme for 'critical friend' support between creative industries in the area where we got paid to help another creative look at their business. It was also the first Bounce event at the Riverside Stadium where regional businesses got together to share the good news about how well the North East economy is doing, to build networks and to help each other. I'm looking forward to the next one. Proud rugby dad recollection number 3. Matt started playing in the front row for Middlesbrough RUFC Colts (U-19s) when his age group should have been U-17s. Some great moments, particularly when a very young Boro front row tipped their much older and massively bigger opponents over the top of the back row to take a scrum against the head and set up a try. Matt also made the North Yorkshire U-17 squad.
October saw Steve joining us as Web Developer and making a great contribution to the company. The month also saw us pitching at a large law firm for a mobile web contract. The pitch went pretty well but we didn't get the contract, losing out to another company with what was in our opinion a very misleading quote on time-scales. Still we'll stick to our guns of being honest with potential clients even if we lose the occasional contract as a result...
... and honesty pays as we got a contract for a mobile site for the same value anyway.
The penultimate month of the year saw a lot of mobile work as we developed OUCH! and also a mobile version of Future Roofs. This is a growing area of the business and a key area for other businesses to have a mobile web presence. We also did some work for one of our neighbours down the corridor in Wilton Centre, now that does make it easy when you need to have a meeting with your client! November also saw our BNI core group starting to grow and we are expecting a launch around Easter.
And so to December. We attended the Tees Valley Skills event in the concourse of the Riverside in sub-zero temperatures all day, not an enjoyable day. We also delivered a day at a school in Shildon as part of the Get Creative project which was hard work but a good day. We launched our new website and the OUCH site. We got a loan from UK Steel Enterprise - for furniture and equipment when we move, which has been postponed to February as the building is not finished.
Obviously throughout the year we did a lot of work on new and existing websites, graphic design, e-marketing, networking and more. We survived, took on new staff (and another one coming in January) and established ourselves. We made a lot of new friends along the way and continued to work with a lot of long-time friends - to all of you thank you for making it an interesting and enjoyable year.
After a few days off over the festive season I've recharged the batteries, which has been great but now I'm raring to go and feel the need to be working again, so off we go. Tomorrow I'll post on what I thinks will be the key issues in the New Year but in the meantime I hope you all have a great New Year's Eve.
Monday, 24 December 2012
It's Christmas
Yes it is, to quote the words of the great philosopher Noddy Holder.
Had a busy week which has been a little disrupted by socialising but much busier than usual for this time of year - which is a great thing. A large part of the week has been getting the Ouch! website up and running. This is primarily made for smartphones on m.callouch.co.uk with the main domain as a back up.
I'm not totally happy with the design of a few of the mobile pages and we'll redesign those at the start of Jan.
The week also saw a few meetings to sort out funding and training for Peter who should be starting with us as a Social Digital Apprentice and will be working on our social media and e-marketing strategies and who, we believe, will make a big positive impact on our business.
We also had a photographer in from our local newspaper, The Evening Gazette, as we are shortlisted in their Business Accelerator competition which is part of a national competition - so look out for me and Steve gurning into a camera if you live in the Tees Valley.
Last night I was out for a curry with a bunch of ex-colleagues, and good friends, from my days at Longlands College which used to be THE engineering college in the region. Great night with great people and something we don't do often enough.
I'm off now to do my husbandly duties and visit the in-laws, lucky me.
Have a great Xmas dear readers and I may even find time to do a tedious "review of the year" in my next post.
Had a busy week which has been a little disrupted by socialising but much busier than usual for this time of year - which is a great thing. A large part of the week has been getting the Ouch! website up and running. This is primarily made for smartphones on m.callouch.co.uk with the main domain as a back up.
I'm not totally happy with the design of a few of the mobile pages and we'll redesign those at the start of Jan.
The week also saw a few meetings to sort out funding and training for Peter who should be starting with us as a Social Digital Apprentice and will be working on our social media and e-marketing strategies and who, we believe, will make a big positive impact on our business.
We also had a photographer in from our local newspaper, The Evening Gazette, as we are shortlisted in their Business Accelerator competition which is part of a national competition - so look out for me and Steve gurning into a camera if you live in the Tees Valley.
Last night I was out for a curry with a bunch of ex-colleagues, and good friends, from my days at Longlands College which used to be THE engineering college in the region. Great night with great people and something we don't do often enough.
I'm off now to do my husbandly duties and visit the in-laws, lucky me.
Have a great Xmas dear readers and I may even find time to do a tedious "review of the year" in my next post.
Sunday, 16 December 2012
Really Busy, Really Short Post, Nearly Xmas
Very busy week so a really short post.
Lots of work done, weekend working again, great day with some fantastic young people at Sunnydale Community College in Shildon on Thursday and a great day of corporate hospitality from the Agile Group watching a Boro victory at the Riverside on Saturday.
Another busy week coming up, want to get all the key jobs finished for a few days off over Xmas.
Off now, back next weekend.
Lots of work done, weekend working again, great day with some fantastic young people at Sunnydale Community College in Shildon on Thursday and a great day of corporate hospitality from the Agile Group watching a Boro victory at the Riverside on Saturday.
Another busy week coming up, want to get all the key jobs finished for a few days off over Xmas.
Off now, back next weekend.
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