DDU Newsletter for August 2009: Issue 70
Monthly news and events from Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council's Digital Development Unit...
Included in this edition:
Learn how E-mail Marketing can generate sales at this free event
The Government scrap the annual charge on thier online tendering service for small contracts
Another online lesson in Search Engine Optimisation from leading expert Jan Klin
How to run an e-mail marketing campaign
Are you running e-mail campaigns but would like them to be more successful? Would you like to run campaigns but are unsure of where to start?
Our guest speaker at this free event, will outline the important elements of good email campaign practice and how this affects your critical success factors. We will also help you to identify the important metrics so that you can identify those campaigns that have been successful and those that aren’t.
Date: Thursday 27th August 8:30am for 9:00am start, buffet breakfast provided
Venue: The Innovation Centre, Accrington & Rossendale College, Sandy Lane, Accrington BB5 2AW
Small Loans for Business hits two-year milestone and further funding is announced
The Northwest Regional Development Agency's (NWDA) Small Loans for Business programme has reached the end of its second year and the outputs are exceeding expectations and helping more businesses in the region to start-up and expand, despite the current difficult economic conditions.
The Small Loans for Business (SLB) scheme is designed to help Northwest business owners, entrepreneurs, charities and social enterprises start up and expand their businesses. Over the past two years it has provided small loans of between £3,000 and £50,000 to new and growing businesses and social enterprises. It was set up to encourage and make it easier for more people to access finance, start up and grow their own enterprises in the region.
Search Engine Optimisation - Free online lessons
We at the DDU have always emphasised the importance of Search Engine Optimisation in order to have a successful online business. We are delighted to have the opportunity to offer you free valuable SEO information from one of the leaders in this field. Jan Klin has presented a number of our popular events and has kindly agreed to release his online lessons to us each month for us to distribute to you.
"Here’s lesson 4 for the SEO of your site. So, let's get down to SEO... Now we'll start the all important process of optimising your homepage for some important keyphrases. Once this has been done and Googlebot comes back to visit - you'll start getting some rankings." Jan Klin, Jan Klin & Associates www.janklin.com
Lesson 4 - Homepage Optimisation 1>>
Here are the previous lessons if you missed them:
Lesson 1 - Essential Pre-requisites >>
Lesson 2 - Google Webmaster central >>
Lesson 3 - Keyphrase Analysis 1>>
Free access to government contracts
Small businesses in the region now have free access to thousands of lower value government contracts after the government scrapped fees for its Supply2.gov.uk website. Searching for the contracts was previously only available as part of a subscription service costing £180 per year.
Business Rate Relief
From 31 July, local authorities have been writing to local businesses offering them the option to spread payment of this year's inflation up-rating to business rates over three years, under new legislation announced by the government in March.
From 31 July:
- All business ratepayers can apply to their local council to put off 3 per cent of their whole year's 2009-2010 business rates bill. So, if a yearly bill is £5,000, ratepayers will be able to postpone paying £150.
- Those who accrued a rise in their bill because transitional relief has come to an end can defer 60 per cent of the increase.
Local News for August 2009
Driven for success
Staff Cars is a new start up offering vehicle Personal Contract Hire to individuals as a staff benefit via a company endorsed scheme. The company Principal has several years of experience working for a major PCH company and has seen a niche in the market and wished to set up his own company to exploit it.
With the DDU’s help, it was proposed to purchase a content-managed, database-driven website that would enable potential customers to understand the offering and individuals who are signed up to the scheme to be able to search a vehicle database.
PRR 'pens' new technology
Established in 1997, PRR Computers specialise in the supply of hardware and the installation & maintenance of network systems within the dental industry, and have an established client base of both NHS and Private Practices. PRR Computers operate in a competitive and highly aggressive marketplace which has meant that survival depends greatly on customer service and innovation.
The company identified an opportunity to develop digital pen technology for the dental industry. The product would improve the working practices for dental receptionists. To bring this new product to the target industry they needed to establish best use of the technology and establish a link with a technology provider. The company contacted the DDU for expert advice on how to bring this innovative product to market.
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