As part of the 350 EARTH planetary art show, Chichester Design’s managing director Ben Davis, along with around 2,000 others gathered on the Brighton-Hove seafront, and formed an image of King Canute, who futilely attempted to control the oceans according to legend. The image was designed by Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and long time resident artist Stanley Donward who generously donated their time, energy, and art to make the event a success.

350 EARTH takes place on the eve of the next United Nations climate meetings in Cancun, Mexico where delegates will work to create an international climate treaty.

350 EARTH’ aim is to communicate, in new and exciting ways, how climate change is impacting our planet and what creative solutions will get us to 350ppm. (350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere).

See more photos from 350 EARTH Brighton on Flickr.

Photo: Malcolm Land / Sealand Aerial Photography Ltd.

“How do I get my website to the top of Google?”

“How can I get more traffic to my website?”

“Is it worth me starting up a business for this, that or the other?”

And we thought as a special treat we would give you a few hot tips that will get you well on your way to a prosperous 2010 and stop Ben sounding like a monotonous old broken record all at the same time.

“How do I get my website to the top of Google?”

This is the age old query (well, digital age anyway) to which there is no one simple answer I’m afraid. But there are several things that everyone can do to improve their Search Engine Optimisation and therefore improve their rankings in the search results, here’s just a few of Ben’s favourites:

Search Engine Optimised webcopy – The first place to start with regard to Search Engine Optimisation is top-notch content. You need content on your website that is relevant, interesting, informative, easy to read, easy to navigate and fresh.

One of the most important elements of webcopy is that it contains the keywords that people will be searching for in relation to your product or service. For example, with the Chichester Design website we make sure that words like “Chichester”, “web design”, “web development”, “copywriting” etc are prominent (and of course choosing a nifty company name such as ours tends to help a little). But be careful not to just use keywords for the sake of it, they should fit naturally into the flow of your copy so that people actually gain something from the content, and we don’t mean a headache!

As people and search engines scan read online it’s important that your content is organised in such a way to aid this. Consider using subtitles and bullet points to break up the copy and improve readability. Linking to other relevant pages within your website also help the readers and the search engines to find what they are looking for effortlessly.

No one likes stale content and with the Internet being such an evolving and interactive place there really is no excuse for the boring and clichéd. Make sure that your content stays up-to-date so that your readers stay interested and the search engines keep coming back to crawl.

Google AdWords – Using Google AdWords to promote your services can work hand-in-hand with Search Engine Optimisation. AdWords also use keywords as a point of relevance and you will notice that the sponsored ads always appear alongside natural search results (on the right-hand side and at the top) for whatever keywords or terms you are searching for on Google.

The difference between sponsored ads and organic search is that sponsored ads are likely to be far more specific and more useful when searching for specialist products or services and when comparing prices and expertise.  For example, if you search for “bike maintenance Chichester” you may see a sponsored ad from Bike-Master and if you click on that ad you will be taken directly to the Bike-Master website so that you can contact them and find out more about their services. On the other hand, if you were to click on an organic search result it could be an article about the Council maintaining cycle routes – not really very helpful if you need to fix your bike – you see the difference?

It is a good idea to have specially designed landing pages for each product or service that you are advertising through AdWords, which should also be Search Engine Optimised. The main reason for this is that if a person has to make more than one click after clicking through from your Ad to your website, they will get bored and leave.

Social Media – Using Social Media such as Twitter and Facebook has been increasingly popular over the last year and 2010 is heralded to be “The Year of Social Media” so it seems there’s much more excitement to come.

Google has been indexing blog posts for a while and this indexing is usually as quick as the posts are frequent, which has seen blog pages coming up trumps in the organic search results. For example, if you search for “Google AdWords Chichester” the Chichester Design blog takes places number one and two in the search results.

The mighty search engine has now turned its attention to indexing social media posts, which are showing up in search results far more regularly. For example, Google recently launched its real time search feature which uses social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, to provide live commentary, links and reportage related to a user’s search. Not only that, but Google’s fusion of blog, news and social networking content has produced a search results page which focuses on synergy more than ever before. That means your Twitter or Facebook profile page can now be as important as your website itself.

“How can I get more traffic to my website?”

This is what everyone wants but some seem to believe that it will just happen as a result of a flick of a switch overnight; it takes considerably more effort than this. First of all, people need to know that you’ve got a website and then they need to know what it is and how to find it.

Marketing Strategy – Kate’s always reminding us that any business needs to have a good, solid marketing plan in place to survive but this does not necessarily need to cost the earth.  The purpose of a marketing strategy might be to raise brand awareness, attract new customers and retain existing customers. But, whatever mode of communication you choose, your key call to action would usually be to get people to visit your website and find out more about you. Thus, you should use other media to drive visitors to your main marketing vehicle (your website) and from there it will create new leads and conversions.

Digital media is a much more cost-friendly and accessible option for many and the likes of e-newsletters, PPC and distributing press releases online seem to be taking over where direct mail, print advertising and snail mail press releases left off.

Chichester Design offers a full marketing consultancy service, which includes a proposal to help you take all sides of marketing into consideration to achieve the best mix for your brand. There are so many options available now and newer mediums like social media cost more in time management than hard cash so are a more viable option for start-up businesses.

Search Engine Ranking – as long as your website is ranking well in the search engines for keywords relating to your business service or product you should acquire a good share of traffic. For example, our clients Ski Floralie wished to rank for terms such as “ski chalet”, “luxury chalet” and “Luxury chalets Saint Martin”. As a result, we have re-written their webcopy as well as their page titles and meta descriptions for their web pages to include these terms.

Since we published this new and improved Search Engine Optimised copy online just after Christmas there has already been a 60% increase in web traffic to Ski Floralie’s website. With time, the website should also rank higher in search engine results for these specific terms and encourage those people searching for those terms to visit the website and hopefully make a booking.

“Is it worth me starting up a business for this, that or the other?”

Traditionally, when considering starting a business, conducting market research is perhaps the most vital step. After all, without such consideration, the endeavour is merely a shot in the dark – which is really a rather irrational and foolish way to go! When it comes to the web the story’s the same, with the identification and targeting of a niche being make-or-break for your business.

Google Trends – It’s exciting (exciting for us, at least!) that such a large volume of web traffic is directed through the major search engines. Such a high percentage of the population search the web that usage data is an invaluable resource for identifying what’s being searched for and whether/how well that search is being catered for. Even more invaluably, Google publishes this data for free at Google Trends.

Not only is Trends an interesting way to identify niches, but it’s also an excellent way to find the optimum keywords for a website, depending on the present popularity of certain topics. Entering multiple keywords returns a graph comparing the popularity of each keyword over a selected time span. Not only do correlations emerge, but a clear winner when it comes to which keyword to focus on.

Hitwise – Similarly to Google Trends, Hitwise can help to identify online marketing opportunities for clients based on how their online presence compares to competitive websites and, in turn, maximize the return on their investments.

Hitwise offer a range of services for this purpose. For example, Hitwise Rankings are updated daily and provide a comprehensive overview of top performing websites across more than 160 industries. With over 1 million websites categorised, this tool gives marketers a complete view of their industry and specific online competitors.

Chichester Design offer clients free access to Hitwise analysis reports (which can cost up to £1000) through their premium AdWords Management service, Jumpstart. Read more about how Chichester Design can Jumpstart your AdWords.

Google Analytics – We recommend Google Analytics to all Chichester Design customers and will set up this free service as standard whenever we build a website.

This is because Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. With the help of Analytics data you will be able to focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver return on investment, and improve content on your site to convert more visitors’ enquiries into sales and commissions.

Google Analytics has the enterprise level capabilities you would expect from a high-end web analytics offering and provides timesaving integration with Google AdWords as well as non-AdWords initiatives.

In summary…

You now know the resources you need to work out whether it’s worth going forward with your business concept, how you can get your website to the top of the Google search rankings and how you can generate more traffic to your website.

Well there’s not a lot left to say apart from, what on earth are you waiting for?!

And remember if you need any help with Search Engine Optimisation, web copywriting, Social Media Optimisation, Google AdWords, marketing strategies or any of the other services that Chichester Design specialises in, we’re only an email away. Contact us now and start 2010 off the right way.

Lucy Hackett Snow Photography

Many people were stranded at home at the beginning of the New Year as a result of the adverse weather conditions. Some had to stay at home and look after their children due to school closure in the Chichester area and some were forced to stay at home because they were snowed in. However, there were a number of Chichester Design clients who were able to continue working, make money and keep their businesses running despite the weather.

Chichester Design’s customers now benefit from the best possible email services and support around with Google Apps. The service provides reliable, secure online applications and communications wherever you work and whatever the weather!

Managing Director of Chichester Design, Ben Davis, says of the Chichester based design and marketing agency’s new service:

“As the service is run by Google but provided by us our clients benefit from the fact that we are in full control of the system with the added advantage of using Google’s servers and technology as well.

“Google offers a free, standard version of Google Apps but there are some fundamental differences between the standard version and the Premier edition that Chichester Design offers.

“With Google Apps Premier our clients can enjoy personalised Gmail with its 25 GB of email storage and 99.9% uptime reliability guarantee, so there’s no worries about running out of space or your email going down. There are no ads allowed, meaning you can enjoy reading your emails without ads popping up and distracting you. Benefits such as powerful spam filtering and anti-virus are included. Mobile services, with several options for accessing and syncing all your information while on your laptop, Blackberry and iPhone are also a great advantage”

Since the local design and marketing agency became an Authorized Reseller of Google Apps in November they have moved over a number of their clients, from local accountants and electricians to data centre relocators and interior designers, all of which have most certainly recognized the benefits.

Chichester Design’s Executive Director, Simon Batchelar has been signing clients up to the new service for the past two months and he’s delighted with the number of enquiries and positive feedback received. Simon commented:

“Google Apps is a service that will not only benefit individuals and businesses but also schools – the main benefit being that it’s free for educational institutions. We’re in talks with several schools in the area who are interested in the service”

Sam Dunster of www.opennshut.co.uk specialises in supplying and fitting DIY wooden window shutters. He helps customers measure and fit their own shutters and has made several TV appearances based around his expertise. Sam is one of Chichester Design’s happy customers who has been utilising Google Apps to work from home for some time:

“Following Ben’s advice I switched to Google Apps in July 09 to help me run my business remotely and to ensure I could stay in constant contact with my customers. With Ben’s help, I managed to set up and switch to Google Apps quickly and smoothly and have not looked back since.

“Its great having a service that works and I am looking forward to the integration with the new website that Chichester Design are building so that everything can be under one roof. Having the flexibility to access emails from any computer or my phone makes running my online business easier and more efficient, thanks Ben.”

Things are going so well that Chichester Design has also employed the services of local IT support technician, Pete Alner, to help them with the volume of requests for the Google Apps Premier service.

So while weather conditions of this extreme do not effect the Chichester area too regularly, there are so many other reasons why you might have to work from home and why not make it as easy on yourself and your colleagues as possible? The Chichester Design team have proved that having a reliable email system is a priceless business tool today.

If you would like to know more about Google Apps from Chichester Design please email simon@chichesterdesign.co.uk.

• We’ve grown 50% since last year
• We’ve completed projects for companies such as Field & Fork, Chalet Floralie and Mafi Mushkila
• We’ve incorporated a marketing department offering a whole new range of services
• We’ve moved to a bigger office in Chichester and set plans in motion for a London office opening in 2010
• We’ve acquired 2 more Google qualifications- Kate has become a Google AdWords Professional and Chichester Design has become an Authorised Google Apps Reseller
• We’ve temporarily taken on editing the South Coast Design Forum e-newsletter as well as taking care of compiling and sending the newsletter and maintaining their website

Chichester Design would like to thank all of our customers and colleagues for their support. Please read on to find out more in our yearly round-up.

Our team is growing…

Many of you might have worked with Ben and Jeremy over the years but here are a few more names and faces that have worked with us during 2009 and you might not have had the pleasure of meeting yet:

• Ben Davis – Managing Director, Project Manager, Problem Solver, Photographer and Nocturnal Mountain Biker
• Simon Batchelar – Executive Director, Financial Brain, Voice of Reason, Audiophile and Husband-to-be
• Jeremy Gilbert – Senior Web Developer, Coding Wizard, Cheese Loving Rugby Nut and Father-to-be
• Ashley Stevens – Junior Web Developer, Boy Genius, Web Enthusiast and Media and Photography Student
• Kate Lassetter – Marketing Consultant, Search Engine Optimisation Expert, Organiser and Lover of Tapirs

Did you know Chichester Design is now in East Pallant?

Chichester Design is now located at Hollybrook House, 4 East Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TR.

You can find us just a few doors down from the Chichester District Council Offices and directly opposite the entrance to the Pallant House Gallery restaurant, Field & Fork.

This makes it really handy for meetings as Field & Fork knows how to make a good coffee and make exceedingly good cakes- Sam’s are far better than Mr Kipling’s.

As our offices are located on the top floor of a beautiful old Georgian building without a lift, we are more than happy to meet people in Field & Fork which on ground level and has wheelchair access.

If you haven’t been to see us in East Pallant this year, why not pop in and see us?

We’d love to see you and you can even have one of our spectacular limited edition pens – what do you think of that?

Would you like free hosting next year? Save £230 with the Chichester Design Referral Programme

We know that the best business is done by people recommending other businesses to their friends, family and colleagues.

We’d like to think that you would recommend us to someone you know and as a thank you for doing so, providing that your recommendation goes on to become a new customer, we’ll give you free hosting for a whole year.

That’s a saving of £230!

Would you like to recommend someone and claim your free hosting?

Either email us and let us know their details or feel free to pass on our details so that they can contact us.

Chichester Design has a new website

We decided that it was about time for a Chichester Design website design refresh.  The problem is that when you design websites for a living, regardless of how important it is to sell your services, your own website can tend to suffer. You always put those updates off and concentrate more on the bread and butter stuff.

But as we soon came to realise there is nothing more important than your own website when you’re in this business.

With more team members and more services to shout about we thought it would be a good chance to update our design and create a website that really reflects our brand as it has developed. The design is fresh, funky and highlights our love of the whole social media revolution as well as our commitment to exceeding our customers’ expectations.

Our website also highlights our new and improved range of services and features a load more additions to our project portfolio and examples of our photography for your perusal.

Check it out, you know you want to.

Chichester Design is here to Jumpstart your Google Adwords

Jumpstart for Agencies is a new business development service that makes it possible for Chichester Design to offer clients an extra element to their Google AdWords Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, at no extra cost.

We are currently the only agency in the Chichester area that Google are working with to offer a premium Jumpstart AdWords Management Service that can help to develop your business and, ultimately, maximise your Return on Investment.

What’s AdWords all about?

Paid search allows advertisers to tailor messages with precision in order to target the needs of their prospective audience and they have complete control over the budget – it is possible to set a daily budget for as little or as much as you would like.

What’s more, all campaigns are built according to a clients’ individual business objectives, whether these are to increase an online profile by generating more visitors to a website, or develop a more complex marketing strategy such as increasing sales of specific products.

What’s Jumpstart all about?

As Google AdWords Certified Professionals and part of the Jumpstart programme, Chichester Design’s Ben and Kate are now able to work closely with Google UK’s in-house AdWords team.  This enables us to take your paid search a step further.

We can create a bespoke campaign using Google’s industry-specific expertise as well as independent 3rd party reports from Hitwise on your direct competitors.

What’s the catch?

Believe it or not, there is no catch.  Our affiliation with Google means that you get the premium Jumpstart service absolutely free. Everyone knows that there’s no such thing as a free lunch but the reason that Google have teamed up with Chichester Design to offer this complimentary service, which will make paid search marketing strategies fly, is because it’s open to all those who spend £3000+ on their AdWords campaigns per month.

You can think of it as a reward for those clients who are interested in dedicating a proportion of their marketing budget to AdWords and are wise to the old proverb that you’ve got to “speculate to accumulate”. The current B2B online market is now estimated to be worth £200 billion, and Chichester Design is here to help you get right to the centre of the action, for just:

A one-off account set-up fee + a minimum spend of £3000 on your PPC campaigns + our monthly management fee

How can you resist?

To find out more about how Chichester Design can set-up and manage your AdWords account or how we can work with our affiliates at Google UK to maximise the efficacy of your AdWords campaign contact Kate

Chichester Design is now an authorised Google Apps reseller

We are offering you the Google Apps Premier service with local set up and support carried out by our trusty technicians.

Google Apps provides reliable, secure online applications and communications wherever you work.

Some of the main features are:

• Gmail – webmail (email through your browser) and mail client (e.g. Outlook, Mail) on your computer
• 25 GB of email storage – it’s usually around just 5 GB!
• 99.9% uptime reliability guarantee – so no worries about your email going down
• No adverts – enjoy reading your emails without ads popping up and distracting you
• Powerful spam filtering, anti-virus and automatic message threading
• Google-powered email search – allowing you to find information and emails instantly
• Google Calendar, Google Docs and many other useful tools
• Mobile services with several options for accessing and syncing all your information while on the go, on your laptop, blackberry, iPhone, you can be productive with Google Apps even when not at your desk

Interested?

You know you can’t live without Google Apps! For more information take a look at our website or to arrange a time for us to set up your account contact Simon

Team News

This year Chichester Design introduced marketing to their services.  Kate Lassetter has worked for the company doing bits of copywriting and SEO for the last 3 years but in 2009 she took the plunge to join us on a permanent basis.  Kate’s now a team member enabling us to offer our clients key marketing services:

• Copywriting – We can write engaging, informative copy to promote any product, any service, any industry, either off or online.
• Social Media – We can build your brand using the likes of Twitter, Facebook and more.
• SEO – We can get your website higher on Search Engine Results Pages.
• Marketing Consultation – We can discuss what will work for you and write a comprehensive strategy that will see a significant return on your investment.
• Google AdWords – We can work with our contacts at google to manage your AdWords account and optimise your ads for a maximum return on investment.

Our Executive Director Simon Batchelar has also been setting the cogs in motion to open our new London office.  Simon has been dedicating a lot of his time to learning about the Google Apps program and as a result Chichester Design is now an Authorized Reseller. Read more about Google Apps.

Ashley has joined the team and has been helping with the configuration, development and maintenance of websites. In his spare time Ashley owns and runs independent fashion blog ‘Thread Rave’ and has plans to launch indie fashion brand ‘The Rave Line’ in 2010.

And for a bit of ahhhhh factor – Jeremy and Celine are expecting a baby in the new year so we all wish them the very best of luck and look forward to meeting the little one.

Keep in the Know

We’ve always got something to say for ourselves. So why don’t you stay in the know about what’s going down here at Chichester Design through social media:

• Check out the CD blog
• Become a fan of Chichester Design on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter
• See what we’re listening to on last.fm

Here’s looking forward to a prosperous and successful 2010, when we look forward to working with you on your web design and development or marketing projects.

Warm wishes and best regards,

Ben, Simon, Jeremy, Kate and Ashley

Chichester Design

Ben comes from a background as a professional photographer with a degree in Photography Media & Society. He went on to share his passion for the arts with the public by working as senior administrator for Chichester’s Oxmarket Centre of Arts before co-founding Chichester Design as it is today.

Just as we bet you didn’t know that Ben shot the photography for the latest book of scenographer, director, writer, educator and curator Professor Pamela Howard OBE FRSA. Pamela, like us, is a local and has a studio in nearby Selsey. Chichester Design helps Pamela out with her website and is also involved in Pamela’s Eddi of Manhood End opera.

Being an admirer of our Ben’s work she asked him to use his photography skills for the cover of her new book: What is Scenography? (Second edition). Pamela then applied her creative vision to cut out Ben’s photos and develop an arty visual of a stage set (see image above).

The two chairs on Pamela’s book cover inspired Alan Fletcher (one of the most influential figures in British graphic design, according to the Design Museum) to design and create the famous red and blue chair image which featured in his ‘Beware Wet Paint’ book published by Phaidon.

Pamela and Alan were good friends and both taught at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, which has developed a reputation for pushing the boundaries of arts, design and performance. The chairs were made especially for The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov’s last great play. This unique comedy tells of an old family estate up for auction and how, with the sale, a whole way of life comes to an end. It shows fifteen widely differentiated characters in situations that are by turn farcical, tragic and romantic. A performance of The Cherry Orchard was shown at Chichester Festival Theatre earlier this year.

This new edition of What is Scenography? is being published in the UK and USA from July this year. It takes a critical look at some of the issues raised in “What is Scenography?” (First edition) in light of Pamela’s personal and professional practice as a scenographer and director from 2001 – 2009, following several ‘case studies’, and how they relate to aspects of scenography in the book.

Much adoration for the book has already been stated including that it: “Gives an excellent sense of scenography and a window on a life in the theatre – which is fascinating. …A superb book.” – Professor Arnold Aronson, Columbia University, USA

The book also takes on an enlarged format, 40 new drawings and 40,000 new words and is being translated into Greek, Serbian and Galician. This means that not only will keen scenographers from across the seas will be able to relish in Pamela’s knowledge and expertise but Ben’s photographic images will become far flung too!

You can order What is Scenography? direct from the publisher, Routledge, or you can buy directly from Amazon.

To find out more about Chichester Design’s creative services such as photography, graphic design, web design and copywriting, contact us today.

The Chichester Design team is a dynamic bunch. We’re close-knit, on the ball and we stay involved and focused at all stages of the design process.

We have strong links with the local business and design communities and boast a profile of happy clients from manufacturers and services provider to government and not-for-profit organisations.

And it just so happens that we are looking for a web developer, experienced in building web applications in a fast-pace production environment and in developing using the Ruby on Rails framework, to hit the ground running.

Job description

We are looking for a talented web developer to work on an exciting new project we have inherited called AtMarket. AtMarket.co.uk is the place to find goods, including local farm produce, from fresh organic vegetables to delicious organic wine.

Does the challenge of scaling a Ruby on Rails deployment to change the way people do their weekly shop excite you? Are you passionate about using Test Driven Development to write tight well-tested code? If so, we’ve got the right position for you!

You will work closely with the client and project management team to gather requirements and rapidly incorporate them as you manage new features and projects from idea to prototype to production. This is your opportunity to take your passion for Rails and build compelling applications to enhance the revolutionary AtMarket concept.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with client and project manager to resolve any existing bugs and issues
• Collaborate with client and project manager to define clear requirements, deliverables, and milestones for new projects
• Design, test, develop, and deploy production-ready applications using Ruby on Rails
• Actively investigate interesting new tools and techniques
• Manage the Rails environment including developing recipes for deployment, auditing gems, and working with the team to provide the required hardware and software for a scalable Rails production environment

Skills range:

• 3 years experience building web applications in a production environment
• 2 years experience writing and maintaining code in an interpreted language such as Ruby, Perl, PHP, Python, etc.
• 1 years experience developing in the Rails framework
• Strong Javascript experience
• Strong understanding of the server side software, scalability, performance and reliability aspects
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, test-driven collaborative and iterative programming environment
• Proven aptitude developing applications leveraging XML/JSON based RESTful/SOAP APIs.
• Understanding of cross-site scripting (XSS) and other client-side vulnerabilities.
• Experience with OpenSocial applications or Facebook applications is a plus
• BSc in Computer Science or equivalent experience

Think this is right up your street? Apply to Ben Davis with your CV and a covering letter by 21/10/09. Chichester Design is looking for someone to start ASAP and is not interested in recruitment agencies or overseas outsourcing agencies.

Ben’s just got around to uploading some of his photos from this years Festival of Speed.