Posts Tagged ‘Digital Strategy’

Is your website bringing you business? Well it should be!

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

According to Netcraft in November 2008 the total number of websites on the internet exceeded 182 million; However 88% of websites have no discernable traffic and only 10% of sites actually feature on search engines. What a complete waste of time, money and effort that was creating all those sites for no one to look at!

Do you know how much traffic comes through your site? Do you even know that you can check? The opportunity that the a well focused, well designed website presents to your business is phenomenal!

The good news is that it doesn’t have to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds either.

Of course you can get a template website produced for a thousand pounds, but does it reflect the calibre of your staff and the quality of your product or service? Does it put you ahead of your competition? Does it attract the right type of client for you? We have all had clients that we don’t want or need! In the sea of web design companies how can you sift through to ensure your web company is working for you?

Well you need to be asking them what they are doing for your business. Are they considering how your site can generate you new business? Do they even know what you do? Are they keeping a watchful eye on your competition to ensure you are not left behind? Are they regularly assessing your keywords and ensuring that you have a good page rank in Google? Are they constantly looking for ways in which you can drive new traffic to your site? Are they making sense of all the social media marketing business sites that are often free marketing tools to bring you new business? Can they teach you how to blog? Are they working with you to ensure you have an effective marketing calendar and a rock solid sales strategy going forward?

Is your website working as an extension of your sales team or actually being detrimental to your business? Does your web company care about your business? Does your web company thrive on your success as a business because your success is there success?

If they can’t answer these questions then why not give us a call and take part in our business surgery? We can offer you real business solutions that deliver results. It can take time but we set real time objectives for bringing business through short, medium and long term strategies…. Softly, softly catch a monkey!

Can you really afford for your web company not to be on top of their game?

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Posted in Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, Web Design

Live in York? Check out the new Sweeney Dog Pet Services website

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Intune Media are pleased to announce the new Sweeney Dog Pet Services York website has just gone live, providing a great user experience and one stop shop for all pet care needs in the York area, making you and your pets lives a whole lot more enjoyable.

The Background
Sweeney Dog Pet Services successfully launched in Yorkshire in 2008. It’s not difficult to see why they have an increasingly large and satisfied customer base.

“It’s a great alternative to using boarding kennels and catteries - and it’s right here in York!”

“Sweeney Dog can walk your dogs when you are away. Your dogs will love it and it means you don’t have the expense of putting them into kennels!”

Bernard Flynn came to Intune Media for advice about the Sweeney Dog Pet Services website, as he realized customers are increasingly looking online for products, services and reviews.

The Challenge
To provide a search engine friendly, easy to use website that allowed existing and potential customers to make an informed decision about their pet needs, ultimately to drive online enquiries and bookings.

The Solution
As part of the initial design process, we created a user journey specification. We sat down with the client to define the various types of customers that could potentially visit the website and the different tasks they might wish to complete.

These included finding out about dog walking, pet grooming, pet taxi, dog care, cat care, key holding services, nutritional advice and food and micro chipping services.

The website design was created, ensuring that all expected customer needs were fulfilled. Defining the user journey at the beginning of the project allows the website to be evaluated at different points to ensure the goals are still being met. This then forms the basis for the end-user testing scenarios.

The website itself is based on a wordpress content management system (CMS) allowing updates to the website to be made quickly and easily, with the added benefit of a business blog for company news, tip of the day and product reviews.

One of the most important tasks is to drive users to the contact details. A call-to-action has been placed on all pages of the site so no matter what the customer entry point, they can find this information easily.

The Results
The website was launched on time and within budget. The result is a clean, easy to use site that allows customers to view all of the services offered, signup to follow Sweeney Dog Pet Services on various social profiles and all important customer service functions to be carried out easily and efficiently.

The website is undergoing constant optimisation to ensure maximum visibility in the highly competitive world of dog walking, pet grooming, pet taxi, and dog care, and continues to grow in popularity.

Question and Answer session with Bernard from Sweeney Dog:

  • How much does it cost for a walk?
    The minimum 30 minute walk costs from just £6.50.
  • How long is the walk?
    Walks are tailor-made to suit you and your dog.
  • Where are you based?
    We are based in Haxby and Skelton.
  • Where do you walk my dog?
    Dogs are walked in a suitable location around the York area.
  • How do you collect the dog?
    We offer a FREE first meeting where we come to your house and meet you and your dog. We will collect a copy of your key at this point. Please use this visit to let us know about any specific services.
  • What areas do Sweeney Dog cover?
    We cover the all areas in and around York Please call for further information for outside the York area eg Sheriff Hutton Easingwold Rufforth etc.
  • What is Pet Feeding?
    Sweeney Dog Pet Feeding provides dedicated visits to your home, to look after your pet while you are away from home.
  • What is Pet Taxi?
    Our vehicles comply with UK standards for animal welfare and we are fully licenced to transport animals in safety to vets, relatives or airports. Please ask about our pet passport service.
  • What are your terms and conditions?
    Please click here for our terms and conditions before booking our services.
  • Are you police-checked?
    Yes! All dog walkers are police-checked if they are to visit your home.
  • What do you do with my key?
    Either Sweeney Dog can retain your house keys on file or you can have them returned, simply arrange with us when you arrive home. We take your security seriously. Keys are held in a secure locked box and are coded. Addresses and phone numbers are never attached to keys and the codes are kept separately. If you choose to leave your keys on file with us, we can be just a telephone call away in emergency situations, if you lose your keys, have them stolen or lock yourself out. If you are delayed getting home with heavy traffic or be unexpectedly called away on business, we can help you out by walking your dog.
  • How much is a house visit?
    A house visit to check on your pets while you are away is from £6.50.

Intune Media are experienced in providing websites that drive profit to business’. If you want more of the right kind of business, contact us and we’ll be happy to provide you with a free consultation on your website’s  design, development, optimisation and online business development opportunities.

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Posted in Web Design, Web Development

1-2-1 Intune Search Engine Marketing Training for your Ecommerce Website

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

I’ve recently been discussing the subject of online business optimisation to improve profits with a good friend Brian Allmey. Brian helps businesses, aspiring entrepreneurs and ambitious managers to develop their business and themselves. On the subject of ecommerce, Brian suggested business owners ask themselves the following questions:

Is your webstore empty, or are people queueing to get in?

Do you have a market stall, or a heaving high street store?

Does everyone cheer when you make a sale, or are your ears drowned by ringing tills all day?

We both know what the correct answer should be to ensure your long term profitability. In the current economic climate your website should be a huge supportive arm to your long term business goals, reaching out, grabbing people’s attention and encouraging the measurable growth of your business.

Understanding the basics of search engine marketing can benefit every small business owner. When done correctly, search engine optimisation can be the most cost effective and most time efficient way to drive traffic and customers to your website; encouraging visitor interaction, contact and ultimately sales.

When you know the ways to get onto the front page of Google, you’ll be amazed at the difference it can make to your business. There are things that you can do straight away to help Google find you and index your content.

What you will learn with Intune Search Engine Marketing Training:

1. What Google is looking for
2. How you can optimise your own website
3. Terminology and acronyms
4. Truth and fiction
5. How you can drive traffic to your website
6. How you can get and retain Google’s attention
7. Tools you can start using immediately
8. Measuring your website’s results

Why you should take Intune Search Engine Marketing Training:

1. If your website is not on the first page of Google you have very little chance of being found
2. SEO is the cheapest way to market your business
3. SEO is within your ability
4. You can start getting results straight away
5. You will know what to write for your website
6. You will get a taste of how to use social media to your advantage

Intune Media are advocates of transferable skills, a registered learning provider and offer a 1-2-1 introductory training courses to help you understand what you can and can’t do yourself, where you should be focusing your attention to get the best results for your business and how to get your website noticed now and in the future. 90% of people in the UK use Google to find what they are looking for; enquire about our training to make sure that they can find your business. Increase your knowledge, increase your exposure and increase your profits. Contact jessica@intune-media.co.uk for a no-obligation online business health check.

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Posted in Ecommerce, Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation

it’s not what you’ve got, it’s how you use it…some recent observations on digital marketing

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

How agile is your marketing? How fast can you respond to online trends and drive your business forward whilst sustaining your market share, developing new revenue streams and improving your long term profit? Yes, there’s a bar up there and the serious strategists amongst us are setting it wayyyyy up high, but there’s a good reason. There’s a lot at stake here.
In the current climate and an increasingly competitive online environment, there is little time for weighty approval processes and the sign off of every piece of external communication before it goes live. Competitors are dangerously agile and it’s a no brainer that the web rewards people who are nimble and adaptable.
Technology is changing consumer behaviours and the perception of value. Whilst this is the main driving force behind creating new technology and opportunities (which we’re all for by the way), we are witnessing products and services increasingly lacking tangible value, whereby they are a commodity that simply competes on price alone. When a business model is commoditized, it is forced to sell on quantity to scale the business. We’ve never been fearful of competition, but while competitiveness is good for most industries, excessive competition or lack of competition is resulting in business’ having to change their model at short notice.
A good web proposition doesn’t stay under wraps for long and there are opportunities, short lived as they are, for business owners to interact with potential clients with compelling communications if they can only realise, partner with the right people (hint hint) and act.

With social media topping the most popular digital marketing tactics of 2009, there are many challenges and opportunities for business owners. As well as understanding the tools themselves, one of the largest challenges and opportunities is the idea of being agile, a quality that defines brands and individuals who have leveraged the web to become industry leaders.

Intune Media utilise agile web development and marketing techniques. Let us guide you, inform you, teach you, to harness your strengths online so you’re not pipped past the post by the competition. Contact Jessica@intune-media.co.uk for a free no obligation consultation.

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Posted in Digital Strategy, Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation

launch of a ‘revolutionary’ social media analysis tool

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

The web is a wash with articles about social media; what is it, where it is and how it can be leveraged as a business tool. With all and sunndry jumping on the band wagon, I get the impression it’s all getting abit confusing for general business owners….here’s something worth reading - a rather telling post from B2B Marketing news which hints at what will come to pass with social marketing. To Gandalf for you? well here’s the whole no nonsense article for your contemplation. When you’ve read it, give us a call and we’ll explain what it means for you and your business:

Autonomy Corporation has announced the launch of a ‘revolutionary’ social media analysis tool which will allow companies to listen to the most important online conversations.

The web content management firm claim the new software ‘Autonomy Interwoven’ uses an Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) to automatically listen to social media content and analyse the dialogue.

Its creators claim it will be the first such tool to understand human sentiment, enabling marketers to act instantly.

An Autonomy spokesperson explained how the system “provides proven clustering, pattern matching techniques, and probabilistic modelling that treats words as symbols of meaning rather than simple data points, yielding a more contextual set of data for marketers to act upon.”

“The Web Content Management solution also provides powerful capabilities for engaging customers in a dialogue and enables marketers to instantly act upon the meaning and insights gathered by IDOL, to deliver compelling, targeted offers.”

Autonomy suggest that traditional keyword spotting solutions fail to truly understand specific meanings in user-generated content, as language is often more conversational and rife with slang and emotional undertones.

The company has used the same meaning based computing technology that is used by the world’s largest corporations and government institutions to create the system.

“In the past few years marketers have struggled to keep pace with the radical shifts taking place in the buyer landscape,” says Anthony Bettencourt, CEO of Autonomy Interwoven. “Social networks which by nature are dynamic, unstructured forms of information do not fit neatly into traditional, database driven analytics systems.” [Cited from B2B Marketing]

What does this mean for you? regardless of whether you are a techy, a marketeer or a business owner, information like this is gold dust in understanding where the next opportunities are to be had for differentiating yourself within an increasingly complex and competitive online market. One of our many strengths at Intune is in understanding the web from a business solutions standpoint and in helping our clients understand and capitalise on new and emerging relevant technologies and ideas. Contact jessica@intune-media.co.uk for a no-obligatory business consultation.

Intune Media. The intelligent, business focused, dedicated and forward thinking web partner for your business needs now and in the future.

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Posted in Digital Strategy, Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation

do you have a cost-effective strategy to increase your business profits?

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Doing business in the UK is expensive. Organisations of every size are feeling the squeeze on profitability.

Making sure you don’t waste money by paying more than you need to for your essential business overheads is the quickest and most direct way to mitigate this and put profit back onto your bottom line. However, unless you have in-house specialists, a strategy and systems, how can you achieve this without diverting existing resources away from your core business and adding to the overall cost of your overheads?

The answer is to work with an Intune Media strategic partner to bring independent advice, unparalleled market knowledge and specialist expertise into your organisation as an additional management resource. Should you require systems implementation or development, the Intune team are at hand to take down your requirements and meet your long term goals.

Contact Intune for systems and advice to keep track and improve your long term business profitability.

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Posted in Digital Strategy

Intune Media put new FD Training website live, for all your safety and diving needs

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Intune Media have helped another Yorkshire company online with their new website.

Freedom Divers have been teaching people to dive in Yorkshire and beyond since 1997. Our experience is unrivalled as is the warmth of the welcome our clients receive. We teach courses from complete beginner to Instructor, take party’s of divers diving in some of the worlds most enchanting dive destinations.

Our years of experience and dedication to the highest standards of training ensure our clients receive the very best in PADI Diving Courses and experience programmes. Our training locations in both Leeds and Harrogate allow our divers in both North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to enjoy, relaxed, flexible training to suit their busy lifestyles. Our varied training programmes and trips will allow even the busiest diver to fit their diving around the other important parts of their lives.

The new FD training website, your one stop shop for all your diving, first aid, media, equipment and dive trip needs.

Intune Media offer professional dedicated support and services that span the full life-cycle of your web project. We will guide you through the different stages of your website from scope definition to go live, search engine marketing and online business development. Contact us for all your online needs.

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Posted in Digital Strategy, Web Design, Web Development

new luxury ethical cashmere ecommerce website launched

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Intune Media are pleased to showcase our latest website www.cocoonu.com

We recommend a visit to this unique website for purchase of the finest ethical cashmere from outer mongolia for your loved ones. CocoonU source from nomadic herders who inhabit the Steppes of Outer Mongolia - a far cry from mass produced items from China. The love affair starts with the first touch.

Special

Like all luxury goods, public and industry perceptions often assume that all is equal and that the best is the best. Cashmere is cashmere surely? Well only in the same way that wine is wine!

To ensure that your cashmere items are the absolute finest, there can only be one source - Outer Mongolia and CocoonU in particular.

CocoonU combines classic design with only the best raw materials and an ethical trading model. All of our products are made from 100% pure cashmere from Outer Mongolia. The severe winters in Outer Mongolia results in Cashmere fibres that are thinner and longer than that from other sources with fewer indents along the length of the fibre - this makes for super soft yet resilient yarns and the unmistakable ‘soapy’ feel. Cheaper cashmere often feels very soft due to the numerous machanical processes it has been through but it will not have the lifespan of finest cashmere such as ours.

The Cashmere goats which supply the raw material for CocoonU products are raised organically using centuries old nomadic herding methods and are combed rather than shorn. We don’t mix inferior hair and yarn with our cashmere and refuse to compromise on quality.

Story

“Having spent most of my life working abroad and travelling I experienced a wealth of cultures, beliefs and personalities. My experiences made me realise that to buy the best product once and gain a lifetime of use was an ethical and valuable approach to life.

The source of these products gives us all something to think about - the self-reliant and family oriented way of life of nomadic herders leaves a light footprint on the planet whilst supplying outstanding raw materials for your cashmere.

Our human resources policies are exceptional and rival the HR systems used in Western Europe. Our staff are paid more than the minimum wage, have the right to join a union, go on strike, and enjoy freedoms unheard of across the border in China - where most cashmere is currently sourced. Even cashmere ‘Made in Scotland’ is often manufactured using yarn from China.

In bringing this luxurious yet eco-friendly range to you I hope that in the coming years you will find that you can’t go wrong with a CocoonU purchase.” Vanessa Streeton, CocoonU Founder

Bespoke

Not only do CocoonU produce our own range of finest quality cashmere, but we can produce bespoke items for fashion labels, corporate clients and even individuals.

We can incorporate subtle design cues from your existing products and brands, even including basic images within the pattern. We use knits with high quality yarn in any colour and combinations of gauges for products ranging from scarves, shawls, socks, gloves, pullovers, travel sets, cardigans, jackets and blankets.

Whatever products you wish to give as a corportate gift, CocoonU can make them from an eco-friendly and ethically sourced exceptional material. To date we have been working closely with global luxury brands in sectors as diverse as yachting, fashion, professional sport, interiors, motoring and executive aviation.

For more information contact vanessa - enquiries@cocoonu.com or visit www.cocoonu.com to shop online

Powered by Intune Commerce

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Posted in Digital Strategy, Ecommerce, Graphic Design, Web Design, Web Development

looking for a web design company in Harrogate, Yorkshire?

Friday, October 10th, 2008

The Internet has profoundly transformed the way people learn about and shop for products. Ten years ago, companies reached their customers through trade shows, print advertising, and other traditional marketing methods. Today, buyers start their purchasing experience by looking on the Internet, in search engines, the blogosphere and social media sites. In order to remain competitive, businesses’ websites need to be found online by the people already searching for the products and services that you sell.

http://www.hubspot.com

Intune media strive to deliver a comprehensive and exceptional service – one based on senior management contact with clients, attention to detail, commitment, imagination, flair and dedication.

We have a depth of expertise and a breadth of experience few can match, providing the type of specialist advice and guidance only a smaller, niche organisation like us can offer.

We pride ourselves on being able to work with others and consider ourselves as a specialist extension of a wider professional team.

Intune media are eager and willing to provide you with a detailed website specification and very competitive cost estimate for any website design and development projects you may have.

If you need help and advice with raising your company’s presence online, please feel free to contact us - why not send us (in full confidence) your needs and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.

We’ll try our very best to give you the most competitive quote based on your requirements, which we can even help you formulate.

Rest assured our cost estimates are complete, professional, transparent and accurate - and then we’ll deliver the service we promise - contact us at jessica@intune-media.co.uk or check out www.intune-media.co.uk for further details.

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Posted in Digital Strategy, Ecommerce, Emarketing, Graphic Design, Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, Web Design