When designing a website or any print based work the graphics you use are very important! At Tidy Design we purchase a lot of stock photography from different websites… Ok, this is not cheap! So to save money we also snap away with our own cameras if an opportunity arises… If you think about it, even mobile phones have cameras built in these days!

Yesterday afternoon Rosie and I clocked off work earlier than usual and took a trip to Petworth Park in Sussex, a 700 acre deer park. It is a place we have visited many times, and if you have never been then you should take a trip, especially in autumn.

After snapping away I thought to myself that I would select several of my favourite photos from our trip, add a sprinkle of Photoshop then upload these for you to download! I hope you find some use for these FREE autumnal stock photos. Enjoy!

This week we have listened to Radio Two in the background, not something we normally do at Tidy Design, you could say we are more inclined to listen to dance, trance or rock… Maybe some Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd followed by some Annie Mac on the BBC iPlayer! Anyway, our musical flavour of the day is beside the point!

Today’s news really shocked us; a study by Google reported that the internet is worth £100bn a year to the UK economy! The report found that the internet accounts for 7.2% of the UK’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product)! Now that is some serious coin!

After listening to this report I visited the BBC website to read more… It said “Small businesses that actively use the internet report sales growth more than four times greater than that of less active companies” which is great news for companies like ours who offer web design and web marketing services to these smaller businesses.

Mr Matt Brittin the managing director of Google UK said “the internet is a central pillar of the UK’s economy”… I guess time will tell exactly how much the web can support growth within smaller businesses and generate new employment opportunities in the UK! One thing for sure, we live in both exciting and daunting times!

Over the years we have seen clients use different email marketing companies / packages to promote their businesses. If you Google ‘Email Marketing Software’ or ‘Email Marketing Services’ you will find no shortage of companies looking to help!

Many moons ago Tidy Design created a bespoke mailing script to keep clients updated with tidy news… It is a basic script, one that involves some knowledge of PHP. Sadly the mailing script used by Tidy Design does not generate reports or come with a user friendly management area… Because of this we would not consider re-selling or offering it to our clients as a service or product… So, what now?

If you are serious about email marketing and driving new traffic to your website then you should find ways to measure your campaigns success. One company we know in the south that can offer real-time email stats, link tracking to show who clicked what links and when, an easy-to-use client interface and subscriber management is email.me.it.

Please click here to find out more about email marketing services in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

So today is the day! The day government prepares to reveal the biggest series of cuts in the UK for decades… Yep you guessed it, the much talked about Spending Review will today be made public!

Recent news suggest nearly 500,000 public sector jobs will go by 2014-15 to help save money and pay back some of the debt our country is in! Ok, although I agree that cuts are needed today for a better tomorrow, I also worry about the impact such large job losses will have on our already fragile economy!

Sadly bankers with fat bonuses, job cuts and bad debt has dominated our news headlines in recent years, if you don’t want to feel depressed then my advice is stop watching TV!… With this being the first recession Tidy Design has had to go through I must say I am personally working much harder than ever to ensure our business does well.

I believe it will be this desire to succeed, the impact of new and growing businesses, hard working companies and keeping our heads above water that will eventually turn things around for our country. Ok, as a business owner we may get taxed more, we wont see a great deal of support or thanks, however I believe small businesses will reduce deficits, generate new jobs and ensure growth. The question is will the government start supporting us more or just taxing us more?

At Tidy Design we would like to hear what you are doing to ensure your business survives? Are you also working more hours than you should? How are you increasing brand awareness or generating new business? Please also feel free to post you’re thoughts on the Spending Review, job cuts or our Coalition Government.

Google has recently thanked higher advertising revenues for a 32% rise in profits in its quarterly results! As well as advertising, Google also said its success was down to newer businesses, such as the Android mobile phone.

Chief executive of Google Eric Schmidt said in a BBC news report “Going forward, we remain committed to aggressive investment in both our people and our products as we pursue an innovation agenda”

Google added that more internet users seem to be clicking on Google Ads (PPC, pay-per-click) and they are now charging businesses more to list an advert. Based on these figures it would seem Google’s aggressive re-investment strategy into both existing businesses and new ventures is paying off! You can view Google`s philosophy here

When it comes to technology, the web, brand leaders etc so much has changed over the last decade! I guess that’s what makes this such an exciting industry to work in! If you have a question then please contact Tidy Design

Afternoon all, just thought I would type a quick blog post before lunch about Police in Manchester who for 24 hours from 5.00am this morning, Thursday 14 October, will be publishing details of every incident! Twitter is a social networking site designed to keep its users up to date with events, real time news and offers. Manchester Police (one of the largest forces in the UK) has had the idea to reveal to the British public what police officers face on a daily basis.

With inevitable budget cuts coming our way, increased VAT, job redundancies and more depressing stuff on the horizon I predict many more public sectors / businesses will use social sites such as Twitter to release information and make appeals.

Times are changing and having the correct platform to increase awareness is so important!

The truth is, life is hard for all kinds of businesses / sectors at the moment, I don’t think going on strike every 5 minutes is the answer, we need to be positive and think outside the box when it comes to promoting or getting your message across. If you would like any help marketing your business then please drop us an email, Tidy Design would be delighted to help.

Over the weekend Tidy Design visited several interesting sites such as Stonehenge, Langford Lakes and Old Sarum. The weekend was a needed escape from work emails, business, paperwork and more… As some of you will know last week was a difficult time for Rosie and me, sadly events out of our control happened, and we had to deal with them!

So this week Tidy Design has found its forwards and upwards momentum! Yesterday was a very productive day; we made great progress on several web design and marketing projects.

Rosie jumped for joy as one of the sites we market ‘The Fitted Bedroom Centre’ reached page one of Google for ‘fitted bedroom furniture’ after several months of intense tidy SEO! It is always an amazing feeling when sites go from pages thirty and beyond to page one of Google’s organic search results… It is not only good for the client, word of mouth is a great marketing tool, one that generates us business!

Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to all clients, friends and family that sent kind wishes and support last week. We are lucky to have you, and with this in mind we are working our socks off to make sure all web design projects / marketing campaigns etc get back on track this week. Keep the coffee coming!

Would you believe it? Christmas here again! Well… almost! This year has been the busiest year to date for Tidy Design! We are hosting twice as many sites as last year, we have set new financial records, we expanded our team, paid HM Rev loads of money and all in all had fun developing the brand / company! So here we are, October 2010! Exactly one year since MJWARD UK purchased the domain TidyDesign.com and re-branded it all! So what about the last 12 months, our new brand identity, the long hours we put in, the ups and downs of our fragile economy! Has it been worth it?

The short answer is ‘yes!’ it has been awesome! It is amazing how close you actually become to your own company / clients; at times it can be all consuming however the good often out weighs the bad. I really believe that in life / business you get out what you put in, and if you work hard then your business should hold its ground during these tough economic times.

So what about Christmas 2010, what has Tidy Design got planned for its clients, what new promotional offers do we have up our sleeves? These are questions all business owners should be asking right now; the festive period is a time when people spend lots of money on gifts, parties and marketing! Now is the time to get your company on the band wagon, why not use the season of goodwill to offer more for less? Start telling people about these amazing offers today, not in the second week of December! Finally, remind people that these offers don’t last for ever! Christmas comes but one a year!

At Tidy Design we believe giving the personal (real-time) touch could give your company the competitive edge; I mean dressing up your company logo with a Santa hat would not take long… You could then add this to your email signature, newsletter, flyers, website, gift vouchers etc. This is just one way of showing customers you are up-to-date.

So what else could you do to promote / market your business over this festive period? Here are Tidy Design’s top ten tips for a successful Christmas marketing campaign:

Solid marketing strategies and seasonal campaigns that stand out in a crowd can help build customer loyalty, convert general enquiries into sales, and help generate that all important cash flow… To get an idea of what the largest company spends on marketing per year I did some homework online. Thanks to a report on theglobeandmail.com, a breakdown by percent of revenue in 2006 showed Microsoft spending more than 20 percent of their annual revenue or $11.5 billion on marketing! Big bucks hey!

So to conclude, Tidy Design would like to wish you and your company a successful final quarter of 2010. If you have any thoughts / feedback about this article then please post your comments below.