A Hat Trick of New Sites Launched

October 6th, 2011  

3 new client sites that I have been involved in have recently all launched within a few days of each other. All are for quite different clients with their own objectives but each driven by great content, effective SEO and relevance to the target audience.

 

Niche Legal Practice

APP Wine Law is a small law firm that specialises in legal services to the wine trade and in that is quite unique in the UK. This site was a revamp of an existing site and the main objective was to position the firm as a niche specialist, reinforcing its expertise, experience and unparalleled knowledge of the wine industry. In addition, Principal Andrew Park wanted to provide valuable content to visitors via a range of resources that can be accessed through the Knowledge Bank. The site includes a membership only area and a client survey which can only be accessed by invitation.

Boyd Butler, a leading legal marketing expert has already praised the site:

“Let me congratulate you on your website – a brilliant example of a niche website with great content.”

As well as writing the page copy I also conducted client interviews to create case studies and testimonials.

 

Protecting Businesses Offering Credit Terms

EC Credit Control creates bespoke Terms & Conditions and offers debt recovery services. While an international organisation, the UK division wanted a site that was specific to the needs of clients in this country. The brief was to create something that stayed within the specifications of the international brand while having a distinct UK feel in the way it communicated. As the only UK credit management company that also offers bespoke T&Cs the site also needed to reinforce this key selling point.

One of the driving factors was to create a blog that would allow us to post added value content – tips, advice, comment etc – to use as a basis for a new monthly e-mail newsletter which we will shortly start to distribute.

 

Inspiring Interior Design

The Design Team is a small interior design practice based in North Yorkshire. The brief for this site was to create a site that was largely visual due to the nature of their work but that offered enough content to demonstrate their expertise and inspire the target audiences as well as be optimised for search engines. Again, we incorporated a blog that the designers can use to express their love of design and reinforce their creativity.

 

The Role of the Marketer

My involvement in all of these sites was to set direction, create the right structure, write compelling, optimised content and, in the case of The Design Team, project manage the design and build of the site. All 3 sites were developed by different web designers.

Involving a marketing expert in the process of developing a website can have substantial advantages over working directly with a web designer. A marketer will set objectives and develop a structure and brief to meet those objectives. They will then develop the content, taking the burden of copy writing away from the client, and work closely with the web developer; driving the project through to completion which can reduce the need for the client’s involvement significantly. Many projects of this kind fail to get off the ground because the client has neither the time nor the skills to give the designer what they need. To get your web project moving just get in touch.

Sarah Ainslie Shortlisted for Business Award

September 6th, 2011  

I’m delighted to have made the shortlist for the Forward Ladies Women in Business Awards in the category of Best Home Based Business! The awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of business women across the Yorkshire region. 3 women have been shortlisted for each of 9 categories and announced in the Yorkshire Post today; the winners will be announced at an awards lunch in Leeds on 14th October (a new frock is in order surely?!).

Having built my business up over the last 4 years, and particularly worked on growing and developing it since returning from maternity leave in 2010, it is incredibly rewarding to gain the recognition that just making the shortlist represents. To stand shoulder to shoulder with respected business women from around the region shows that businesses run from home are every bit as professional and valid as the largest corporations.

Watch this space!

Midnight Walk Update

August 1st, 2011  

Further to my “2 campaign” where I tried to persuade as many people as possible to sponsor me £2 for the Wakefield Hospice Midnight Walk and of course completing the course on 16th July, I am delighted to report that I raised £325.00 for Wakefield Hospice! That fantastic figure was a combination of lots of £2 donations as well as some very generous larger ones which came in the form of online donations, text donations and even old fashioned cash ones!

Thank you so much to everyone who supported me – I even stood by my word and upgraded to the 10 mile course rather than the 6 mile one I entered because of all the sponsorship I received so I want you to know that if you did sponsor me I blame you for the aching limbs and joints!

 

Are You Up For It 2?…

June 27th, 2011  

Sarah Ainslie is Walker #2 in the Wakefield Hospice Midnight Walk!

In homage to my walker number (which only indicates when I registered and not my anticipated finishing position!) I am asking as many people as possible to pledge just £2 for me to complete the 6 mile course on 16th July 2011. This time it’s all about volume and not value! If I can get lots and lots of people to donate £2 we’ll still make a great donation to the Hospice plus I will look really popular on my sponsorship page (always a bonus)!

Go to www.justgiving.com/Sarah-Ainslie to chuck your 2 quid into the pot. I have already promised to ‘upgrade’ my walk to the 10 mile course if I reach £100 so at the time of writing I only need 15 £2 donations to get there!

What’s £2? A sandwich, half a lager in a posh bar, a pint in a working men’s club?! You won’t even miss it.

(Bet you’re glad I didn’t get walker number 100!)

Sarah to Speak at Mum’s The Boss Event!

April 5th, 2011  

“Marketing Mummy” to deliver workshop at the northern business mum conference

I am very pleased to announce that I will be speaking at the first ever Mum’s The Boss conference in June. The event, entitled The BIG Day Out, will take place in Leeds on 4th June and is expected to attract ‘mumpreneurs’ from across the north of England.

Together with Sarah Chapman from Seven Twelve PR, I will be running the workshop ‘The Golden Rules of Self Promotion: A 20 Point Checklist to Maximise Your PR and Marketing’. It will look at some of the principles of marketing and PR, providing a simple checklist that you can apply to any marketing or PR activity to gain maximum effect and get the most out of your budget.

I am extremely honoured to have been invited to take part and I’m sure the event will be a fantastic day for women in business. Tickets go on sale today, see the agenda for a full line up of the day.

4 Years in Business: Special Offer!

April 4th, 2011  

I am four-tunate enough on the 4th of the 4th to be celebrating my 4th anniversary in business (OK, technically it was the 1st April but that doesn’t work as well creatively!). My services have developed and changed over that time but the principle still remains the same: to offer businesses of all sizes a flexible, professional marketing resource that they can access whenever they need it.

Special Offer

To celebrate my ‘birthday’ and the launch of my new blogging service packages I am offering a special discount to any business that signs up to one of the packages before the end of April 2011. Not only will you receive 10% off the set up fee but you will also slash the monthly fee by 10% for the first 3 months - that could save you up to £300!

For full package details and prices see my Blogging Services page and get in touch before 30th April to secure your discount!