DDU Newsletter for October 2009: Issue 72
Monthly news and events from Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council's Digital Development Unit...
Included in this edition:
Free Events on Google Adwords and what Blackburn Library can offer your business
Amercian style internship programme on offer to businesses in the North West
Review the new business regulation changes for October 2009
How to run a successful Google Adword campaign and drive real business to your site
Intended to help businesses understand many issues that are important in setting marketing budgets and measuring ROI, our guest speaker will demonstrate how operators of web sites can run effective Pay per Click campaigns on Google, Yahoo and Facebook (plus other social media). We will look at how to devise campaigns, how to select key words for your campaign and how to monitor the results.
Date: 29th October 8:30 for 9:00am start, buffet breakfast provided
Venue: Blackburn Technology Management Centre, Challenge Way, Blackburn BB1 5QB Directions
Event: Business Services at Blackburn Library
At this free event, we will give a practical demonstration of what Blackburn Central Library can offer to help your business thrive.
As well as a service overview, library staff will be on hand to show you how you can access the valuable information for yourselves. The library services are available to all Pennine Lancashire businesses and budding entrepreneurs. Libraries have the resources to offer support and sign posting to businesses, whether you are setting out your stall or building your empire.
Date: 21st October 4:30pm for 5:00pm start, refreshements available
Venue: Meeting Rooms 1 & 2, 1st Floor, Blackburn Central Library, Town Hall Street, Blackburn BB2 1AG Directions
Search Engine Optimisation - Free online lessons
"Here's lessons 6 and 7 for the SEO of your site. Once lesson 6 has been done you will have a perfectly optimised homepage. The next step is to look at building links..." Jan Klin, Jan Klin & Associates www.janklin.com
Lesson 6 - Optimising Your Meta Tags >>
If you missed the previous lessons you can see them all on our website
UCLAN Internship Scheme
UCLAN has been successful in securing funding to place 200 graduates in internships within reputable businesses across the North West in the next year. The funding was secured to help higher education to respond rapidly to the needs of employers and individuals during the economic downturn. The aim of the intern initiative is to support our new graduates and soon to be graduates in this difficult economic climate. Interns will be paid the agreed fee rate of £6.00 per hour and businesses can download full details of the scheme along with an application form, on our website.
LEAD
LEAD is an innovative leadership programme designed specifically around the needs of business owner-managers. It concentrates on two areas of the business: the business itself and the personal development of the owner-manager. The programme is made up of several elements:
- Overnight experiential
- Masterclasses
- Coaching
- Action learning sets
- Shadowing and exchanges
- Online forum
The businesses that have taken part in LEAD over the last four years have benefitted from a significant increase in sales turnover as a result of their participation.
Regulation changes Oct '09
1 October 2009 is the second Common Commencement Date (CCD) of 2009. This event is where key government departments issue new regulations and make changes to existing ones. Some of these changes simplify existing legislation for businesses.
Business Link is committed to providing you with the latest news and relevant information for your business. For your convenience, we have summarised the key points of the changes. Read a summary of the upcoming changes to check if any of the new regulations apply to you and what action you need to take in order to comply.
Business Link's website is used by government departments to give advance information to companies about regulations coming into effect. To take advantage of this, sign up for updates on new and changing regulations, at www.businesslink.gov.uk/northwest/regulationupdates (registration is required for this service).
Local News for October 2009
Local company transcribes success
Webscription Ltd is a new company which was set up by Debra Mitchell and Pamela Cleasby to develop and market a family of on line work flow management systems initially to the growing virtual assistant and outsourced transcription market, and, ultimately, to the professional services market.
The DDU helped the company to define the technology that underpins the product offering and has been helping to provide structure and direction to the directors to allow the project to conclude successfully.
Fast food gets faster
Based at Greenbank Technology Park Blackburn, Mobo Innovations offers a new range of mobile and internet solutions to help businesses improve the efficiency of their processes. The company has several solutions that provide an innovative use of mobile technology.
Mobo2go which is a mobile phone / internet based ordering and payment system designed specifically for the hospitality and food service industry. Customers order products directly from their mobile phone or computer and chose when they want to collect it. The system handles the order taking and delivers a preparation order for the food at the correct time. To run the system all the food vendor needs to a portable printer connected to a GPRS (mobile) network to print receipts from the central system.
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