My primary role at Contrado Digital is talking to businesses about their ambitions, goals, plans and naturally the many problems they face within their businesses. While we can help out with most problems businesses face when it comes to digital, growth, online marketing and technology, one of the problems that we kept hearing was around recruitment. Not just for digital roles, but for many industries and organisations of all sizes struggling to recruit their ideal candidate.
Employers struggling to find the right skills for the job, not getting enough applicants applying for their jobs and in many cases, companies having to turn down work as they don’t have the right skills to fulfil the work. Even after paying thousands of pounds in job advertisements and recruitment related fees. This clearly isn’t a good situation for anyone involved. So we thought we could do something about that.
Introducing Tendo Jobs. The revolutionary recruitment platform is designed to link employers directly with job hunters in a fully transparent, seamless and highly efficient way. The risk free platform allows you to promote your job to active job hunters for free. Never worry about the traditional high cost of recruitment ever again.
Register now as an employer to promote your job vacancies to job hunters looking to find their next role. The platform has been designed to allow you as an employer to be fully in control of your recruitment process. With our sophisticated ApplicantRank algorithm working in the background, the perfect applicants are automatically prioritised for you so you don’t have to go sifting through hundreds of CVs.
If all of this wasn’t enough, while we are in the early stages of launching, everthing is completely free to use for early adopters! So if you are recruiting currently or know of a company that is recruiting, share this information.
Welcome to 2016. After reviewing the physical post received for the first week back in the office, I can only sit here with my head in my hands pondering why businesses are still failing to grasp how fast the world is really moving around them and adapt accordingly. We’ve our usual tips and advice blog post on their way for what you need to be focusing on in 2016 for your digital strategy, but in the meantime I feel the need to express my opinion on the state of what can only be described as utter junk that had been posted out to me and the company. Please, just stop.
As you can see above, this is just a small selection of the garbage that was received, promotional pens labelled as “The Mythic Stylus Pen”, OK, I’m sure I know what one of these is, it’s not a unicorn walking down the street of Manchester blowing rainbows from its backside for f. sake. Sale catalogues, promotional material, wall planners, seriously who uses wall planners in 2016? Come on folk, please stop this. All of this junk received went straight into the bin. Stop wasting your money on junk and start to market your business effectively through digital channels. We live in a digital world, it’s time to bring your business into the 21st century.
Onwards and upwards. No more Same Stuff Different Day garbage. Think differently, revolutionise your business with digital channels and opportunities for your business to flourish in 2016. The same activities from the last 10 years quite frankly aren’t going to cut it in 2016.
That’s right folks, it’s that time of year again, and we’ve reached the grand old age of 2!! Yay!
So at this special time of year, it’s always nice to look back at what we’ve achieved and where we are heading next.
Accomplishments
Below are some of our notable accomplishments in our 2nd year of business.
Expanded Resources
We’re committed to providing businesses with the right digital knowledge and expertise as they need it which is why we’ve significantly expanded our free Digital Resources to include guides on many of the topics that we often get asked about from businesses. If you haven’t had a look already, browse through our range of digital resources and particularly our Really Simply Guide series which explain things without the jargon;
Block Referrer Spam in Google Analytics
Digital Jargon Buster
Digital Myth Buster
Digital Pulse
Cyber Security
Really Simple Guide to Business Email Addresses
Really Simple Guide to Digital Ownership
Really Simple Guide to Search Engine Optimisation
Really Simple Guide to Pay per Click Advertising
Really Simple Guide to Blogging
Really Simple Guide to Tracking Online Advertising
Really Simple Guide to Payment Gateways
Really Simple Guide to Email Marketing
Online Security
Online security is one of the greatest challenges to date which is why we’ve been sharing regular security related news to keep you and your businesses safe from cyber criminals. We’re on top of security so you can focus on running your business
Taking the skills, knowledge and experience of Contrado Digital over to the USA. Digital channels make the world more accessible than ever before when you understand how to take advantage of these channels. Not only have we helped businesses in international markets, we’ve also gone international ourselves with a fully multi-lingual website allowing us to capture more online searchers in new markets.
Going beyond this we also provide specialised training with our Digital Passport to Export programme which has been designed specifically to look at how your business can grow internationally without the traditional costs involved.
We’ve Partnered with UKFast to Offer Industry Leading Web Hosting
Your website is more than just a few digital files sat on a web server, it is the front door to your business for the modern consumer. That’s why we’ve partnered with UKFast in Manchester to offer industry leading web hosting to businesses to ensure your website is running on the right technology that is suitable for your needs.
Beyond this we’ve invested heavily in industry leading web server resource monitoring technology allowing us to further solidify our web hosting offering for businesses with the confidence that we can significantly minimise the problems that often come with web hosting.
Industry Conferences and Events
Being at the forefront of digital we often get asked to speak at industry conferences and events and this year was no different. Getting involved with Salford University’s Creative Entrepreneur event at MediaCityUK to talk to businesses about the Christmas retail period and how they can take advantage of this. In addition to running many workshops of our own we’ve also been involved with organising this year’s WordCamp Manchester 2015 conference to give something back to the WordPress community.
The Big £5k PPC Give Away
The Hacienda Lives at Google Manchester
As we’re working towards our Google Partnership status we were invited back to Google’s Manchester office for a top up course on the latest trends and techniques on Google AdWords. In addition to this, we regularly receive free Google AdWords vouchers which we give away to businesses of all sizes new to using Google AdWords. The Big £5k PPC Give Away campaign sparked a lot of interest alongside training events designed to help businesses set up their first campaign in no time.
We still have Google AdWords vouchers available, so if your business would like to take advantage of modern digital marketing, then we’ll be happy to provide a free Google AdWords voucher for you to use. Working with our dedicated Account Manager at Google, you can be sure to get the right advice that you need for your business to grow.
Google Invited us to London
As part of the Grow Local campaign, designed to get local businesses utilising Google AdWords to grow their business, Google invited us for a party in London to celebrate the achievements and the results from the campaign.
Thoughts and Discussions
Meeting regularly with business leaders, funded project partners and support agencies within the business community, we’ve been discussing some very interesting topics about how digital is shaping the world we live in. So we decided to start to write a few of these up to share our thoughts with everyone;
A bit of a downer, although worth mentioning as we’ve seen a rise in issues for businesses when it comes to the world of digital. Often related to working with inexperienced people, all of which can be avoided. Which is why we’ve started to write about the problems we’ve been seeing so businesses can learn from the mistakes of others sooner and save their business valuable time and money;
Technology allows you to implement solutions in many different ways. This in itself can cause a few issues which is why we’ve started to discuss some more technical items to help you learn from the mistakes of others;
Thinking about the right technology for your business should not be a quick decision. Speak with people and companies who are experts in their fields to ensure the technology you are implementing is going to be suitable for your needs for many years to come.
Awards & Recognition
Adding to the success of last year, we were shortlisted in the finals for the Hive Awards in three categories;
While we like to think we are rather good at what we do, it’s always nice to see such positive feedback from clients, staff and businesses who we’ve worked with recently and throughout our careers. It is comments and feedback like this which is why we do what we do. Take a look through the range of case studies and testimonials now available on the website with real feedback from real people.
Overall
Last year was an exciting time for us, really solidifying our position as the go-to company for results driven digital marketing campaigns. Anyone can build a website, ‘do SEO’ and ‘do PPC’. Very few can build a website that works, is scalable, is using the right technology and performs for SEO, PPC, Email and Social. We focus on the digital strategy for organisations looking to seriously boost their revenue online and we are being recognised for this work that we do which is fantastic to see.
Looking Ahead to the Future
So that’s just a quick summary of what we’ve been busy doing last year and what we’ve achieved in such a short space of time. Now to the future. Where are we heading next? Well, this is a really interesting and exciting time for us but we can’t go into too much detail just yet…
Alongside the regular ambitious businesses we work with, suffice to say that we’re working on some super exciting internal projects that are scheduled to launch before the end of the year. One of these specifically is something that has been in development for over 12 months which is designed to revolutionise the way people find jobs. Stay tuned for more on this as announcements are made!
Keeping in line with the regular work, we’re always on the lookout for ambitious companies to work with who need direction with their digital strategy. We’ve been working with larger businesses last year and technology start-ups which is always exciting. Whatever the size of business, as long as you’re ambitious, there is generally something we can do to help, so get in touch and lets discuss things further.
Did you know that Google is tracking your every single move? No? Most people don’t, yet they are;
The above is where I have personally been recently while out and about on the road visiting businesses which is naturally a large part of the work that I do. This isn’t some feature that I have personally set up. No, this is something which Google has enabled by default and means that they are tracking my every move, and yours too. I’m sure there will be some small print in the terms of use somewhere but this isn’t the point.
Google is not alone in this activity. Back in 2012, Apple were found out to be tracking users without permission. With the rise of smart technology such as phones and tablets, which have many sensing devices built in, there needs to be a much easier way for users to understand what data is being tracked and how this is being used.
To see what Google knows about where you have been recently, click the above link and sign into the (or one of the..) Google Accounts that you are signed into on your mobile phone. You’ll be surprised at what you can see!
Clear Permissions and User Control
Currently it is not clear for users what data is being tracked by the majority of software and apps that you are using on your mobile devices. The industry as a whole needs to take more responsibility for privacy and security related issues. Google has recently launched Google My Account which is designed to take this a step closer to where we need to be, although I’m not sure this going far enough;
If you are concerned about what information Google is tracking about you, it would be recommended to check through the settings for all of your Google Accounts within the My Account feature that has recently launched. Specifically where you can turn off the feature for how Google is tracking your every move if you feel this is a little too invasive into your life. Simply navigate to the Personal Info & Privacy page, then scroll down to the Places You Go section to turn this off;
Privacy
The amount of data that is being collected about everyone on a daily basis isenormous. Data that can ultimately be used for advertising purposes, sold to other companies or even stolen by cyber criminals. There are already rules in place around data security including the Data Protection Act which states that any information stored must be;
used fairly and lawfully
used for limited, specifically stated purposes
used in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive
accurate
kept for no longer than is absolutely necessary
handled according to people’s data protection rights
kept safe and secure
not transferred outside the UK without adequate protection
There is stronger legal protection for more sensitive information, such as:
ethnic background
political opinions
religious beliefs
health
sexual health
criminal records
What is interesting when comparing the above with what is actually happening in the world, it takes no legal expert to raise a few eyebrows at the disparity between the rules and reality. What is clear though is that there needs to be a much more thorough and clear process in place for all data stored about people by large organisations. When comparing this to a real world context, if you were being followed around all day, every day, by a private investigator how would you feel?
Following on from our success last year we have continued this theme into the New Year as we have been shortlisted in the finals for the prestigious Hive Business Awards in Blackburn with Darwen in the following categories;
Creative Agency Award
International Achievement Award
Young Entrepreneur Award
The Hive Business Awards have been designed to celebrate the success of businesses based in Blackburn with Darwen. Blackburn and Darwen have a fantastic history and is still home to world leading brands such as Graham & Brown and Crown Paints, so it is fantastic to celebrate achievement from local ambitious companies.
Within the awards we have been shortlisted for (full finalists here) we are in the run up alongside leading Blackburn companies employing in access 300 staff and operating on a global scale. For a small business less than 2 years old, this is a fantastic achievement for us and really celebrates the work that we do and the ambitions we have as a business.
It’s time to say goodbye to our long standing client Superfast Lancashire. The programme has unfortunately come to an end after an extremely successful sprint of fast paced workshops helping local businesses utilise digital technologies to grow. We have been involved with the programme since the very early days, delivering a wide range of workshops varying from how businesses can utilise collaborative web based tools to save time and money to workshops covering digital marketing in the modern age and how to increase website traffic, sales and enquiries.
The programme has helped over 700 businesses throughout Lancashire, many of whom will have attended one of the many courses, workshops and training sessions we have run throughout the programme. It’s been a great pleasure being part of the programme and I only hope that Lancashire County Council, Funding Providers and other similar groups who are responsible for these types of projects do address the gap that is being left wide open with the programme ending. In the meantime, we are running regular digital marketing events for those still looking to learn about the latest technologies and marketing opportunities. Here is a quick summary of the programme;
This type of support is hugely needed throughout Lancashire, where many businesses within the small to medium sized business bracket are actively looking for support for how to integrate digital throughout their business. Fingers crossed that something comes along to replace this in the coming months. As mentioned, in the meantime, why not pop along to one of our events.
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