Clarihon Web Services newsletter November 2008

Clarihon Newsletter

You're received this because we already have a business relationship or we've exchanged business cards somewhere. If you don't want to receive future editions, please use the opt-out facility at the bottom. In this issue Latest News Email Marketing (article) Client Profile - Total Energy Solutions Hints & Tips A Passing Thought (article) Our Services Useful Links The Lighter Side Latest News Since the last issue, we’ve a number of web sites under development and, amongst others, have completed projects for 2 newsletter templates and a web site. Crown Copiers asked us to create a template for a newsletter so that they could communicate more effectively with their clients and prospects. They needed it to reflect the company branding and be easy to use in-house. We created a template and trained one of their key staff to create newsletters. The first issue has already gone out. Total Energy Solutions are working with a SW tourism body to offer the benefits of lower energy costs to their members. We’ve created a newsletter template for each of their member clients and will be creating the first issue very soon. One2Three Commercial are a new company helping businesses and individuals with financial problems. One of the current projects we’ve undertaken is to provide a web site for The Ideal Home Centre in Liskeard. The company is owned by the same people who provide Heritage Cookers. Alun Mitchell, the Finance Director, very kindly gave us the following testimonial recently: "Having been let down by previous providers (both in content & service), we were hesitant about whom to approach, and invited a number of providers to discuss what they could offer. Nigel Day at Clarihon stood out a mile as someone who was interested in finding out our needs and then tailoring his proposal to meet our requirements, rather than trying to sell his preferences. Our subsequent dealings with him did not disappoint. His whole approach, manner and adaptability helped us to jointly develop a web site that left us well satisfied, and since then we have received numerous flattering comments from many customers and others. He has also achieved a surprisingly high rating for us with the search engines. In fact we are so pleased with the end result we've just engaged him to develop another site for us for a different aspect of our business. We're looking forward to it!" Article - Email Marketing Indications are, that businesses will be increasing their spend on email marketing as the economy slows down, and cutting down on more traditional advertising avenues. There are clear advantages to this form of marketing as it is low cost, can be clearly targeted and enables users to track and analyse their readership. There is, however, a downside as it is likely to lead to more emails and greater competition in people's inboxes. Success will depend on: • being creative - attracting readers to read through to the end rather than hitting the delete key • personalisation - making readers feel there is something in it for them. Including special offers in the newsletter may help • segmentation - be selective in who you send to, do not automatically send all your communications to all of your contacts, direct your messages accordingly • list management - be rigorous in maintaining your email lists and make sure anyone who has asked to be deleted is removed! If you are able to, add your newsletters to your website so that readers can revisit back issues and include a newsletter sign up on your site as well. We manage our newsletter through Constant Contact which enables us to customise the look and feel, manage new sign ups and people wishing to be removed, schedule newsletters in advance and track our readership and any e-mail addresses that are no longer valid. As mentioned in the Latest News, we can provide newsletter templates for clients. So, if you are considering producing a newsletter and would like some help to get started, or would like us to manage the design and distribution for you, please contact us on 01579 342360 or email enquiries@clarihon.co.uk. Client Profile - Total Energy Solutions Total Energy Solutions are commercial energy brokers who specialise in saving companies £000's on gas and electricity bills. They work with all the utility suppliers and get wholesale rates. This means they can look at client bills and see if there are savings to be made by changing supplier when their contracts come up for renewal; handling all the paperwork and taking away the hassle - and their customers don't pay them a penny. Being a green energy company they can also advise businesses on ways to reduce and manage energy consumption and how to use alternative energy sources. We recently provided them with an interactive client qualification process for their web site. They'll be rolling this out to some of their potential clients very soon and all potential clients later. For more information on how you could save money on your utility bills - business or domestic - contact them on 01579 370073 or visit their web site www.totalenergysolutions. co.uk.	Issue: 11 - November 2008 Dear Reader Welcome to our newsletter. The gloom is definitely gathering just about everywhere at the moment and all businesses will be looking long at hard at their marketing budget. Surveys indicate that more businesses will be increasing their spend on email marketing campaigns than cutting back, in the current financial climate. Two items in this issue expand on this theme - Hints & Tips provides a few pointers to topics for inclusion and one of the articles provides a few suggestions to help get your newsletters read! Hints & Tips If you produce your own newsletter and want some inspiration for content, here are a few suggestions: • current events - how current events are affecting your business, either specific to your business which will also impact on your customers, or general events as with the current economic downturn • product or service profile - your customers may not be aware of everything you offer so make a feature of one of the products or services you provide • employee profile - this personalises your newsletter and can be used to demonstrate the level of expertise within your company and the dedication they exhibit when helping customers • providing tips - a newsletter should not just be used as an extended form of advertising. Make sure you provide something of value that will get their attention and not consign it to the 'deleted items' as soon as it arrives For help getting started with your newsletter, contact us on 01579 342360 or via enquiries@clarihon.co.uk. Article - A Passing Thought Remember the tagline from the film ‘Alien’? “In space no one can hear you scream”. It’s the same with cyber space. A web site can be the best around but if no-one can find it in cyberspace it can scream its qualities forever but no-one will know it’s there. We understand this, so you can imagine our horror when one of our business friends (and now clients) told us of the response one of his clients received when they approached a Web Designer and asked about Search Engine Optimisation (‘getting found on Google’). Basically the Designer said “That would compromise the design. If you want some of that you’ll need to look elsewhere”. Firstly the guy (yes, it had to be a guy didn’t it?) obviously isn’t a real Web Designer or he’d appreciate the importance of writing/tuning a web site to be found by Google and the other major Search Engines. Secondly he’d know that, with a few minimalist exceptions, the visual design of a web page usually has very little impact on its appeal to Google et al. It’s the way the web site is coded and built that will have a large bearing on that – together with the text on the pages of course. If you ever come across a ‘Web Designer’ spouting nonsense like this, walk away fast and contact us on 01579-342360 or via enquiries@clarihon.co.uk. Our Services Web sites - clean, attractive, easy to use web sites that rank well with Search Engines. Search Engine Optimisation - getting existing web sites ranked better on Google etc. Web addresses/Domain names - Your own business or personal web address. E-mail - your own business or personal e-mail addresses. Web site hosting - lots of web space and plenty of features in our cheap web hosting packages. Newsletters - like this one, designed for you and sent to your clients and prospects. Logo and business stationery design - great designs but terrific value for money! To see how we can help you get more from the Internet, see our web site at www.clarihon.co.uk. Useful Links The Business League Actnow - Broadband for Cornwall Federation of Small Businesses Business link Devon & Cornwall Bizhelp24 for Small Businesses Businessballs Companies House HM Revenue & Customs UK Patent Office While visiting the United Kingdom, Winnie Mandela was invited to a cocktail party which was also to be attended by Margaret Thatcher. When Winnie saw the ex-prime minister on the other side of the room she elbowed her way to Maggie, stood brazenly in front of her and declared, "I hear they call you the iron lady!" "I have been referred to by that name, yes," replied Maggie, peering down her nose at this impudent upstart. "And whom, may I enquire, do I have the honour of addressing?" asked Maggie icily. "I am the iron lady of South Africa!" bragged Winnie, waving her fist in the air. "Oh, yes," replied Maggie dryly. "And for whom do you iron?" Sign up If you've enjoyed this newsletter but aren't signed up to receive it regularly, you can sign up via our web site.