Blogging is a simple and powerful method of communicating to a wide audience, so to enable My Treasures to connect further with their customer base; the team at Fluid are building a blog to run alongside the main My Treasures site. This work will provide a simple, user friendly interface enabling a wide range of engaging content to be added that will help to promote the business and attract quality traffic to the main site.

Fluid Creativity is only too aware of how quickly things change online and their ongoing work and consultation will ensure that My Treasures’ online presence will always remain relevant, competitive and successful. Fluid Creativity’s hard work will enable My Treasures to continue putting smiles on the faces of children everywhere

“Our ecommerce platform is developed in house and its functionality can be tailored specifically to the requirements of our clients” says Mike Smith, developer at Fluid Creativity. “The platform is a proven, cost effective solution for our clients as there is no expensive licence fee to pay, unlike other ecommerce platforms”. This technical knowledge combined with Fluid’s proven reputation for design will ensure that the new website will be an attractive, simple to use ecommerce site that will provide Beaudame with a great return on their investment.

Fluid have recently worked closely with the team at Beaudame on other exciting projects and are looking forward to developing their business relationship further with this exciting new site.

Routes Europe is a high profile, must attend event for air service development professionals from all over Europe. Fluid Creativity’s motion graphics designer Scott Green recalls the brief: “Routes asked Fluid Creativity to produce an informative video that would showcase the website in terms of its content, branding and functionality. In order to encourage new industry professionals to sign up, it was vital to demonstrate how its current clients benefitted from the site.”

The result is a highly professional promotional video that clearly communicates how the Routes Online website brings together airlines, airports and suppliers in a combined effort to plan air services worldwide.

Fluid Creativity continues their long standing relationship with Routes Online and it is these levels of high quality work that will see their growing reputation precede them in the flourishing digital sector.

It’s great for us to be shortlisted, and we will be keeping all our fingers crossed in the run up to the awards at the end of April.

Want an award winning agency to develop your brand and look after your online business? contact us today to discuss your requirements.

"This project will be a good one to be involved in due to the scope of where the brand can be taken from a design perspective, and the impact our work can directly have on not only the companies image, but their performance as a business" says Wayne Silcock, lead designer on the project.

"This is set to be a fantastic year for us and this great new relationship gives us all something to really get stuck into and produce more award winning work."

Keep an eye on the Fluid Creativity website to see what the design team come up with and watch the project unfold. It is definitely a project everyone at Fluid can get their teeth into!

Want an award winning agency to develop your brand and look after your online business? contact us today to discuss your requirements.

"This is an exciting project for the whole team at Fluid, and is a great opportunity to show off what we can do across a number of our service areas," says managing director Lee Turner.

"This is set to be a fantastic year for us and this great new relationship gives us all something to really get stuck into and produce more award winning work."

Going into 2009 Fluid Creativity will be involved in a number of exciting projects for the NSC in a number of media across the whole range of digital services. Be sure to keep an eye on the Fluid Creativity website to see what the creative team come up with!

Want an award winning agency to look after your online business? contact us today to discuss your requirements.

With video playing an important role within the scheme of the website, Fluid Creativity designed and developed its own video encoding and streaming solutions catering for the specific requirements set by the client. Videos uploaded by users are automatically encoded to the correct format suitable for delivery from the website. This allows up to the minute delivery of video content from the key events in the route development calendar.

Commenting on the award, Fluid’s Managing Director Lee Turner director said that “It’s fantastic that we have once again been recognised for our outstanding work.  I along with the staff here at Fluid have dedicated a great deal of time and resources into producing what is now an award winning website. We are immensely proud of what we have achieved”

Checkout pictures from the event on the Fluid Creativity blog

Want an award winning agency to look after your online business? contact us today to discuss your requirements.

Featured in the "freshest business to business" category, Routes Online (www.routesonline.com) represents the fruits of a year long initial development cycle which has seen the launch of a bespoke and entirely integrated social business networking platform; the new Routesonline.com website provides airports and airlines with the ability to promote their market opportunities and actively campaign their route development programme 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

It is a great achievement to be shortlisted alongside the best digital agencies in the country for a project which has been a labour of love for our team of designers and developers.

The awards evening is held at the Hilton in Manchester on 20th November and whatever the result is sure to be a great night out.

Want an award winning agency to look after your online business? contact us today to discuss your requirements.

Fluid Creativity and PPC

Fluid Creativity manage PPC campaigns based on the company's successful ethos of innovation and integrity coupled with the all important personal touch. Each campaign is thoroughly researched and devised in conjunction with the needs and aims of the client. Return on Investment is at the forefront of campaign strategy, with all aspects of a client's website taken into consideration such as functionality, usability and aesthetics.

Fluid will only embark upon a PPC campaign if they are content that they can make a healthy return from click spend for the client. They do not use any automated bidding tools and pay close and meticulous attention to detail when creating campaign structures, keywords lists and ad copy. The client is kept fully informed of all the changes that are made throughout the month which are then documented in a monthly report that shows the KPI's achieved.

To find out how Fluid can improve your PPC campaign, contact us today for a free proposal.

The bathroom furniture mirrors the Fluid environment down to the last detail, including the lime green urinal, but if you want to find out about their 70's dance-floor style wall tiles you'll have to go along to Unit 6 Hyde Point and find out for yourself!

It's strange how the Fluid staff always seem to end up in a world of bewilderment, confusion, and even concussion, on their journey into work. We can only guess that it helps their creative juices to flow and keep on creating this motion madness!!

Check out our Vimeo Group and watch this space for the next release!

The green-screen facilities have been set up to achieve the exact look and feel of the glowing radioactive lime green colour of the fluid?s used in the video, along with the background imagery which utilises and reflects the working environment at Fluid.

The video features a pulsing soundtrack and makes use of some fantastic slow motion and time remapping effects generated by Twixtor, combined with some fancy grading and transition effects using Tinderbox and Magic Bullet plugs with added depth and interest provided by masked vector graphics and typographic elements, again all produced by the in house design team. This is composited with live action green screen footage to create a result that is as surreal as it is cutting edge.

It has been quite messy at times but has been a lot of fun to create and the final product is sure to be breath-takingly good, and proof positive that with the right approach and team, stunning broadcast standard visual effects can be achieved even on a limited budget.

Check out our brand new motion graphics showreel for more fantastic work, and watch this space for the next release!

When you choose to work with Fluid Creativity you will see why our award-winning company is considered one of the top new media agencies in Manchester.

Our New Media Services:

Our skilled team can assist with everything from Brand Development to Animation Design and we have long been a popular local choice for our graphic design, websites and our SEO service. For more information see:

• Web Design Manchester
• SEO Manchester
• Graphic Design Manchester

Revolutionise Your Image

For decades, marketing has relied on standard methods of reaching its audience. Those methods have included print media such as newspaper advertising, magazine articles and even marketing flyers and inserts, as well as more advanced televised advertising. Both of these traditional forms of advertising have their drawbacks such as cost, the ability to targeting the right audience and geographical boundaries.

With new media, however, almost all of those problems can be solved. By using the internet to market your business service or product it is possible to target a very specific audience or an audience of millions, regardless of geographical boundaries and without having to break the bank. Today’s new media can offer affordable websites and cost effective internet advertising for established and start-up businesses alike.

The reason new media is so impressive is that you can utilize the technology in so many different ways. You can creative interactive web sites full of video, sound, and animation. You can develop branded logos, banners, images, and even games that can be downloaded and used by others on the Internet. You can develop viral marketing campaigns which spread through millions of computer users in a flash. The possibilities are absolutely endless, especially if you are working with a qualified and experienced creative team.

New media advertising with Fluid Creativity has never been more affordable. Fluid Creativity can help you design and build an attractive, interactive website from which you can sell your wares and with flexible marketing plans Fluid Creativity can be as hands-on or hands-off as you desire.

SEO Consultant Kay Dinsdale said "We are up against tough competition which isn't surprising with the talent in the North West. We are delighted to be shortlisted not just because Fluid Creativity gains recognition for the hard work and results we can achieve but also because it gives some well deserved limelight to Swell UK. Being up for an award against such well known brands for a regional award is something to shout about"

"Swell UK is going from strength to strength as a result of the natural search successes of the aquatic site but an effective search campaign cannot be achieved without support from highly skilled developers and designers as well as the complete support and backing of the client."

Past Awards

Although this is the first Search Award nomination for Fluid and Swell, both have been recognised in the past for web design and accessibility:

• Big Chips Awards 2007 - Best E-commerce B2C project for Fish Fanatics
• Etameside Awards 2006 - Our own website won Best Business Website at these local awards
• Brand Neusense is an Accessibility Winner - We won the Accessibility category at the Big Chips 2006
• Etameside Awards 2003 - Fluid beat off nominees of two separate categories for the Swell UK website

Do you want an award winning agency looking after your online business? Contact us to discuss your requirements

Although it is possible to get a basic report of a website’s visitors and referring sources from the website’s server logs, use of advanced website analytics is becoming more and more essential in order to understand what users are doing once they land on your site. Some commonly used website analytic systems are:

• Google Analytics
• AW Stats
• StatCounter
• Site Meter

These analytic systems are easy to install and provide a comprehensive report about the visitor behavior on a site, giving detailed information on the following areas:

• Direct Visits – This defines the number of visitors coming to the site by directly typing the URL in the browser.
• Search Engine Referrals – This indicates the number of people reaching your site through the search engines. Data is usually available for major search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN (live) and ASK. This report is usually accompanied by the keywords against which the site showed up in the respective search engines.
• Referring sites – These indicate visits to the sites from other websites. Users may reach a site through website links, affiliate links, articles, web-newsletters etc.
• Bounce Rate – A bounce rate is defined as the number of people abandoning or "bouncing off" a page within a specified time limit. The time limit is set up by the analytic software and hence varies for each analytics (A bounce rate within 20 – 30% is considered average but anything above 40% is a matter of concern).

All of this information, and more, is valuable information that indicates a websites overall success in interacting with their end users (visitors) and can be used to improve a website’s usability and the overall internet marketing campaign of the site. By analysing this information you can get an insight into what users like and dislike about your site, helping you to improve the sales figures once people have found your website.

Fluid Creativity can help you analyse your website’s visitors, looking for patterns and problems in the statistics to help you improve your website’s performance. Get in touch today to discuss search engine marketing options.

The new offices will give Fluid Creativity the capacity to expand its service offerings to its existing clients as well as building new client relationships with some very exciting brands. Our expansion plans also means that we are currently looking for excellent staff with a talent for;

• Web Design
• Web development & programming
• PPC & Search engine optimisation
• Affiliate Marketing
• Media Planning
• Project Management
• Business Development

So, if you are after a Website, Graphic Design Services, SEO or other Internet Marketing or if you want to come and work for an exeptional New Digital Design and Marketing Agency, Fluid Creativity wants to here from you!

See: Recruitment

TK Components approached Fluid Creativity to showcase their products on the web. Fluid Creativity came up with a clean & fresh approach which not only highlighted the products but remained in the style of the brochure which Fluid Creativity is also responsible for. The fonts were replicated by using JavaScript to ensure that as always usability and accessibility standards were adhered to.

Like many of our projects this site allows users to subscribe to a free newsletter or request a brochure and included professionally taken photography to ensure the products were displayed at the highest quality.

Visit TKComponents

Village Drinks wanted to redesign its current website to reflect its members and the highly professional organisation. The company had grown its membership dramatically and it needed to reflect this online.

The new launch of the site saw many new features and enhancements, the main one being “Village People” a section which allowed users to create a profile online and message other members who they met at the organised events or wished to meet at future gatherings.

The updated site also saw new advancements behind the scenes in the administration suite which made the site easier and quicker to update.

Visit Village Drinks

Fluid Creativity worked with the existing corporate colours and photography to create a high quality printed brochure for BIS Salamis, their employees and clients.

If you would like more information on bespoke printed brochures, folders and inserts, please speak to us here at Fluid Creativity or send us an email on our contact page.

Overdoing the amount of animation on your website will effectively kill the experience from the users perspective. Adding just the right amount, however, adds a touch of refinement, drawing the user into the website and allowing them to commit to whatever mindset you are trying to establish.

If you think that your website could do with a small facelift, Fluid Creativity have compiled the following ideas that can help to transform a website:

Navigation menu's

Rotating, morphing, and interactive text are really neat and fun to use. Try to avoid adding sound files, such as clicks, beeps, or songs however, as a user will often mouse-over the entire menu, and the last thing you want is for them to leave the website because they got annoyed with the medley of noises.

Page headers and titles

Want to emphasise or draw attention to something? Moving text or animation will catch the eye of a viewer, immediately drawing their attention to it (and whatever you want to get noticed).

Animations, cartoons, or games

Adding interactive elements, such as a cartoon or flash game, is a fun way for a user to become more involved with your website. If you have a website about poker, for example, having a flash version of Texas Hold'Em will generate interest and viewer loyalty. Flash Games can also have a viral marketing effect, with users sending links to the game to their friends.

Pop-up Information Windows

Great for definitions, pricing, quoting, etc. This type of pop-up window is an immediate attention grabber and is also unobtrusive.

When Flash Animation Goes Wrong!

Going crazy with flash animation is a big no-no. As tempting as it may be (and trust us, it is tempting), keep your head on your shoulders and your feet on the ground. Tasteful flash additions will add to your overall site design and can turn your informative yet dull website into a mine of information that keeps users coming back for more; adding too much animation to your site will have the opposite effect and drive customers away.

Talk to Fluid Creativity today about adding the right amount of flash animation to your website. We have a number of professional graphic artists that can help you create the right Flash graphic for your site.

It has been said that the single most difficult task that a new business owner has is publicity – making people aware of your products or services – and developing a reputation. Since the two elements (publicity and reputation) operate hand in hand, generating one is likely to affect the other.

There are many ways to generate publicity and awareness, though not all of them are cost effective. One method of advertising that is both effective and relatively inexpensive is the distribution of flyers, coupons, and leaflets. This type of advertising is as old as time itself, and it is still as effective as ever.

Fluid Creativity design Flyers and Promotional Leaflet campaigns and have collected together the following tips to help deliver a remarkable flyer campaign.

Use an eye-catching design

A good flyer is a lot more than a page full of text and images; a good flyer is involving, drawing the attention of those passing by. It will implore someone to look at it, give it a read, and actively take in the information that it is presenting.

Think about the last time you walked through the town centre. How many flyers did you notice advertising concerts or plays? You may not pay attention to them, but that doesn't mean that other people didn't. The effectiveness of a flyer is determined by its ability to garner interest.

Clearly display the information required

Dates, names, numbers, phrases, etc. should all be displayed in a way that is memorable and easily recognised. The last thing that you want is someone walking away from your flyer because they were unable to get the information that they wanted out of it.

If you are having a 50% off sale, for example, you want that information to be displayed so that the person reading the flyer immediately knows about your sale, when it is taking place, and how to get to your place of business.

Be original

A lot of flyers aim for a contemporary look. Done right, this type of design will attract attention and hence interest in the message that it's trying to deliver. Done incorrectly and many people will disregard the flier and ignore the message. Try to find the right design to suit your business.

If you need help or advice about your leaflet campaign, talk to Fluid Creativity today. We have years of print design experience and can help you create a flyer of leaflet for your business that will draw attention to your company and its products.

Contact us online or ring 0161 368 9814.

2. Quick ping times – A web server in Dallas, Texas may send a complete website to a surfer in London, England in eight seconds. A server in London will send a signal to a user in London in less than one half of a second. The time difference, though seemingly insignificant, means quicker response times during server loads. If your website is ecommerce driven, that could mean the difference between earning an income and experiencing downtime.

3. Local customer service and support – Rather than talking with someone based in India, talk with someone who speaks the same language that you do. Local web hosts are much more likely to employ local residents to act as service staff.
4. Search Engine Visibility - If you have a .com domain but your target market is in the UK then your hosting should be in the UK too. Placing hosting over in the US can mean you don't show up in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) of UK only results.

Remember that web hosting is not a cut and paste commodity- just like anything else, there are quality web hosts and there are second rate web hosts. Before you choose your web host, always find out a few pieces of important information:

1. Hosting package features – Web space, bandwidth, e-mail accounts, domains, server side includes, etc. are all important features that you should know. You want to have as much control over your hosting package as possible.
2. Location of the web servers – The further away from you the server is, the longer it is going to take to send and receive files. This affects more than just your FTP performance- it also affects server response times, and may indirectly affect server responsiveness.

More importantly, it affects service issues. If your website goes down (for whatever reason), a server that is located internationally will be harder to conduct support on than one that is local. Time differences can play havoc with communication, and you definitely don't want to be getting up at 4 am so that you can talk to a support guy in a different time zone.

Fluid Creativity offer a range of web hosting solutions for your business. Talk to your hosting professionals today to see what we can offer your business.

When entering a procurement process, pricing is usually one of the most important, if not the most important factor when deciding which company to award the business to. As mentioned there is a broad range of pricing options available for businesses seeking PPC management. Whilst this maybe a benefit in terms of providing companies with a variety options that suit their budgetary requirements, it can make it difficult to judge how much to spend and what the difference is in service levels.

For example, some companies will charge as little as £200 per month for pay per click management whilst others will charge up to £5,000. The charges are usually based upon a percentage of you monthly spend on clicks, either on Google, Yahoo or MSN, typically between 10% and 15%. However should have a relatively small monthly spend (£2,500 or less), then you are likely to be charged a retainer fee of around £250. Unless you are intending on spending a large amount on clicks each month (over £5,000), you are also likely to pay a set up fee. The amount you pay for a set up fee can range hugely on how big the campaign will be in terms of keywords and also which company you choose. Some of the larger agencies can charge up £2,000, whereas smaller agencies may be up to 75% cheaper than this.

Service

Knowing what service you will receive is a very tricky task to judge. Getting feedback from the agencies current clients is the best way to find out how good an agency is. Any agency worth their salt will have no qualms about you approaching any of their current clients. Pick a handful yourself and ask to speak to them about the service they have received. Many search agencies seek to maximise their own revenue by assigning lots of clients to each member of staff, lessening the standard of service.

So what should you be receiving from your agency?

1. Regular contact
2. Updates on performance / strategy / optimisation
3. 100% transparency
4. KPI (Key Performance Indicators) reports
5. Usability Advice

As the management fee is based on monthly click spend, some agencies tend to spend as much of your budget as possible, even if it is not improving your ROI. Known as "budget burning" this practice means you may be paying too much each month without a suitable return.

Reputation

You will want to entrust your PPC campaign to a reputable company. Many agencies stake their reputation based on the stature of their client lists. Whilst this may seem logical to offer your management contract to one of the established agencies with the most impressive client list, it also true to say that they will more often than not be the most expensive. Does your business fit in with those on the clients list? Remember you will be one of many when working with these sized agencies.

Equally, it may also be tempting to see PPC management as a standard service that is similar in quality whomever you choose, and thus always opt for the cheapest option. Because of the amount of technical and creative know how needed to run a successful PPC campaign, the performance and service you receive is likely to vary from agency to agency.

You will never quite know how good or bad an agency is until you experience their services for yourself and there are of course, no guarantees. Doing some thorough research and finding out how they have performed for other similar sized companies to yourself, should help to reduce the chance of making the wrong decision.

Finally, try to avoid signing long contracts that tie you in for a protracted period of time. Often companies with a poor retention rate lock new clients into yearly contracts to guarantee revenue.

Ability

A good graphic designer will have capability to do just about anything so don't be afraid to shoot your ideas past them. Any designer that is worth paying will be more than happy to let you have a few minutes of Q&A time with them, after all, if you're going to be paying them possible hundreds of pounds for design work you should be giving them your creative input.

Ask for samples of previous work that they've done, and don't forget to ask if it's okay that you contact previous clients to verify the quality of their work. A designer with confidence and a solid reputation will have no problem allowing you to do so.

Reliability

With some creative work, there is a good chance that your designer will probably miss the quoted deadline that they give you. Being late by a day or two isn't a sign of poor reliability, but rather a sign of life. Many creative people are excellent in terms of their craft but lack some of the finer time management skills. If you can find a graphic designer who can deliver quality work in a short timeframe, keep hold of them! However, if your designer “disappears” on you and begins to ignore your messages there is a good chance that you have a problem.

Talk to previous clients and verify their reliability. Being able to deliver their product around their quoted deadline is important, so take steps to ensure that the designer that you've hired is capable of doing so.

Service

Ask your designer what they will do if you are not happy with the product that they submit. A reputable designer will work with you to create a product that you will be happy with, ensuring that you are satisfied and that they can say that they have another happy client. They should keep the lines of communication open so that you are able to contribute when required and they are able to contact you when they need to.

Other Important Information before choosing a Graphic Designer

Graphic designers work on either a freelance basis or as part of a larger design company. Freelance graphic designers are generally cheaper but may also come at the cost of dependability and delivery. Larger design houses create their reputations on their ability to create unique work that is of high quality, and their ability to deliver the work on time. If you are unable to find a freelance designer who can conform to your expectations, try looking for assistance at a larger design house. More often than not a large design house will be more than happy to try to deliver a product that is tailored to your needs and budget.

Articles in this series

• Choosing a PPC Agency
• Choosing an SEO Agency
• Choosing a Graphic Designer

Contact us online or ring 0161 368 9814.

Why a Brochure?

Brochures are compact enough that they are easily stored and transported, yet their unique layout (tri-fold design, for example) allows them to display a lot of information in a relatively small amount of space. As well, brochures have been around since the dawn of modern printing, and consumers are accustomed to receiving and browsing them. In fact, you can even design your brochure to accommodate someone's viewing habits, creating the largest likelihood of a sale or commitment to the sales process.

Effective Brochure Design Elements

Given our knowledge of how an average person views advertising mediums, you're best bet at achieving some kind of recognition or conversion is through creativity and interaction. There are a few ways to cater to the sales process while delivering your message:

• BE GRAPHIC - Effective use of vibrant, high-quality graphics have shown to improve the amount of interest that someone will put into a brochure. There is a limit to how effective this can be, so don't go overboard with graphic work. A complimentary mix of colors that will attract attention which is the hardest part, and once you've accomplished that you're in the game.
• ENSURE THAT YOUR BROCHURE IS EASY TO READ - Creative and interesting copy will transform a brochure (a relatively tame and benign part of a sales process) into an effective medium that will generate conversions and revenue. Write the copy for your brochure in the same way that you would write it for any other informative medium: a catchy introduction, compelling leading arguments, and then a conclusive and effective conclusion.
• PASSIVE/ACTIVE SALES INFORMATION - If your brochure is a part of your sales process you may be tempted to include sales messages. Be careful of the messages that you include in your brochure, as if the customer is expecting information, they will likely be turned off by a sales pitch.

Fluid Creativity has been designing effective brochure campaigns for many businesses large and small. Talk to us about your brochure design needs: 0161 368 9814

One of the most telling ways to choose a Search Engine Optimisation Company is to ask for examples of current rankings for other clients. Good SEO companies will be able to give you a sample list of the best performing keywords for another of their clients. Keywords ranking in top 20 positions are OK. Keywords ranking in top 10 positions are good. Keywords ranking in top 5 positions are excellent.

Competition

Are those sample keywords competitive? With a sample list of high ranking keywords, its now up to you to do some research on the competitiveness of those words and phrases; just because a phrase is at postion 1 in the search engines does not mean that it will be relevant to your site or drive new customers to you. Ask yourself if you would type that phrase into a search engine to find a given service. For example, if you sell flowers and someone wants to buy a bouquet of roses, would they type "Florists in Manchester" or "Rose flower shops"? Both phrases are indeed relevant but one will be used more in searches and therefore drive more traffic to ranking sites.

Look for quality not quantity. See if any obvious phrases that have been included on the report to 'fill it out'. If these 'filler rankings' constitute most of the report then you need to think carefully about employing this SEO agency. Even just a handful of high ranking competitive phrases that have been achieved as a direct result of that firms efforts is what you are looking for.

Organic or Paid Search

There are, effectively, two areas of search engine marketing. Paid search is the easiest to classify. Paid search allows your site to appear in certain sponsored positions within the search engines. You would then pay a nominal amount for every click in order to maintain these listings. Organic search is everything else; it is being ranked based on the Search Engine’s opinion of your site. If the Search Engine believes your site to be relevant to a phrase then you will appear high in the listings (on the first few pages of results), otherwise you will appear lower down (on results pages very few people visit).

Fluid Creativity specialises in Organic Search Engine Optimisation, attracting the audience that matters most to your website. Our SEO team has in-depth understanding of the leading search engines and how they rank web pages. For further information about choosing an SEO agency contact us online or call 0845 658 837

1. Do you want your website to attract new customers to your business?
2. Do you want your website to attract new investment into your business?
3. Do you want to build an online brand awareness of your business?
4. Do you want your website to increase sales of your product?
5. Do you want to use your website to educate your customers about your product?
6. Do you want your website to be a resource for existing customers who have your product?

If you answered YES to any of those questions you need to think about SEO.

What is SEO?

SEO is the process of tweaking your website so that it is fully accessible to the Search Engines and that your site’s information is presented in way that makes it easy to find and understand. Most websites are built with a level of SEO included meaning that, unless you are very unfortunate, the search engines will be aware of your homepage within a month or two of your website going online. SEO includes ensuring that all of the pages in your site can be found by the search engines in as short a time as possible, and that they are held in such high regard that a search related to your niche or industry, will return your webpage in the search results.

SEO is an incredibly powerful marketing tool. In a decade which has seen Internet Search Engines go from a stock market disaster to highly successful, multi-million dollar businesses (and the starting point for an estimated 80% of internet users) it’s fair to say that most websites need search engine optimisation in order for them to attract new customers, increase sales or develop greater brand awareness.

Contact us today to discuss our search engine optimisation service

Our development team here at Fluid Creativity created an administration suite to control the e-commerce website and allow Katie and her staff to maintain every last detail. Katie can edit, add and delete everything from products and gift vouchers to news articles or sub categories. There is also a built in 'Recommend a Friend' system and the ability to register and maintain a personal account. Site visitors will soon be able to subscribe to a live news feed so they can keep up to date with new content and news from their favourite jeweller direct to their desktop.

The Inspired Jewellery shop, based in Hyde, already prides itself on giving great customer service and offers a wide range of products with beautiful presentation and complimentary gift-wrapping. The extension of the online shop, www.inspiredjewelleryonline.co.uk means Katie Kane and her team have a great opportunity to touch a much wider audience.

Now the website is live Fluid Creativity has been tasked with the development of their search presence, including both natural and PPC (Pay Per Click).

Detecting that he eats, sleeps and breathes design like the rest of the gang at Fluid, Scott was snapped up and brought on board to bring his skillbase to the table and assist with work for our roster of high profile clients on rich media contracts, and work on some extra special internal Fluid projects that we currently have tightly under wraps!

Lee Turner Managing Director of Manchester based Fluid Creativity said; "Fluid is going from strength to strength and Scott is a key hire for us and we believe his skills and eye for design will add yet another dimension to the high quality and industry-recognised output from our new Hyde located studio."

If you think that your current website needs picking up and dusting off and bringing up to date with the inclusion of rich media experiences for your clients, or you have a promotional campaign that needs an injection of broadcast standard motion design, give Fluid Creativity a call!

Pyramid also offer a wedding list service online, allowing customers to build up a list of products they wish their friends and family to buy. The system is automated producing all the necessary emails which are sent to their friends and family, which on receiving details the list of products which can then be purchased directly from the website. The customer (or their friends and family) at any time can track their wedding list by entering the unique code on the website to see which products have been purchased (but not who until the big day).

The website has a unique delivery charging system allow Pyramid to setup complex rules for delivery options with ease, taking into account weight, method and options available per product.

As part of the development we constructed a secure bespoke scalable administration suite to allow Pyramid to add, edit and remove categories, products and designers as and when required.

Correctly scaled and proportioned photos are automatically generated by the system on upload and since all of this processing is done server-side, the Pyramid staff need only source a standard JPEG photo, removing the time and effort that would otherwise be needed to keep a consistent look across the website.

Pyramid GlassWare have also drafted in Fluid's Search Engine Optimisation experts to help make the most of their new site by driving targetted traffic from the natural listings in Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines.

Our very own MD Lee Turner was named "Young Entrepenuer of The Year", and Fluid also received runner up certificates for "Best Business Website" for Brand Neusense, and "Small Business of The Year".

Lee says "I'm really proud to receive these awards, personally but also on behalf of the team here at Fluid. We have gone from strength to strength over the years and it's fantastic that our work is being recognised at both local and national industry awards."

The annual e-Tameside awards recognise the achievements in ICT by local business, schools, colleges and voluntary and community groups. Many organisations submit their entries and, as the judges explained, this makes picking a winner a difficult task.

We are no stranger to receiving awards for creative projects here at Fluid. Over the last few years we've received recognition for Web Design projects, knowledge in Accessible Design and success in Search Engine Optimisation.

We've done it for Brand Neusense and we can do it for you too. If you'd like an award winning website, contact us today.

Bohle Convex Mirror Systems have also drafted in Fluid's Search Engine Optimisation experts to help make the most of their new site by driving lots of lovely targetted traffic from the natural listings in Google, Yahoo, MSN et al.

Visit Bohle Convex Mirror Systems

January brings us the annual e-tameside awards which aims to recognise achievements in ICT within local business, community groups, education and in individuals. Fluid Creativity has been short listed for a total of 4 awards across 3 categories:

• Small Business of the Year – Fluid Creativity
• Best Business Website – Client sites Brand Neusense and New Car Discount
• Young Entrepreneur of the Year – Lee Turner

The awards evening is Thursday 24th January 2008 at Ashton Town Hall in Ashton-under-Lyne.

Would you like an award winning agency to look after your online business? Contact us to discuss your requirements

Managing Director, Lee Turner is very excited about the move. He said,

"It’s been hard work but we are finally here and we expect 2008 to be a exciting year for Fluid. We have gone from strength to strength over the years and our work is being recognised at both local and national industry awards. Our service now includes everything you would expect from a digital media agency from developing the corporate brand right the way through to website development and natural search optimisation. Our reputation for hard work, professionalism and excellent results is growing and with that comes further success and the need to expand. The only way is up!"

Fluid Creativity also welcomes a new addition to the SEO team. Matt Davies joins the company as an SEO consultant and brings with him lots of solid of experience developing SEO strategies for a wide range of industries.

A new developer will be joining the company in February and a newly created role of dedicated Project Manager is currently being advertised.

Fluid Creativity will be interested to hear from bright individuals with proven skills in Web Design & Development, Graphic Design and any of the Search Marketing disciplines including SEO, PPC, Affiliate Marketing and Media Planning. See our current jobs list

Judges of the Big Chip Awards liked the attention to detail in the site’s design, particularly the use of images. And they were impressed with its usability, saying, "it does what it does very well".

Lee Turner MD commented: "This award couldn’t have been won without our excellent team of staff and their high level of commitment. We are extremely proud of this award and look forward to getting many more next year."

View the fishaliciously tasty award winning website at www.fishfanatics.co.uk

Other Awards

In case you didn't know, we are no stranger to winning awards for our web work. Read about past awards that we are particularly proud of:

• eTameside Awards 2006 - Our own website won Best Business Website at these local awards
• Brand Neusense is an Accessibility Winner - We won the Accessibility category at the Big Chips 2006
• Etameside Awards 2003 - Fluid beat off nominees of two separate categories for the Swell UK website

RFCF engages with the community to promote and protect the good health and well being of the people of Rusholme and Fallowfield. The site allows the forum to make it's directory available to a much wider audience. Because the website is easily updated by volunteers using a very simple CMS (admin suite) it means the directory of resources and events are as up to date as they can be.

View the Rusholme and Fallowfield Community Forum website

Fluid Creativity is proud to have been chosen to help with the RFCF website project and everyone involved is very pleased with the result. If you are a charity and are in need of a website to promote your organisation Contact us online or give us a call on 0161 368 9814.

The annual e-Tameside awards recognises the achievements in ICT by local business, schools, colleges and voluntary and community groups. Many organisations submit their entries and battle it out to come top in their category. The fluid website stood out in it’s category because of the accessible design and fresh, up to date content.

It's not the first time Fluid have come up tops in this area, it scored the thumbs up in 2006 when Brand Neusense won the award for Accessibility and Web Standards at the Big Chip Awards 8.

Fluid Creativity were also behind the winning design for Best Commercial / Retail website 2003 & scooped the Best Overall website in the same year.

Do you want an award winning website? Contact us online or give us a call on 0161 368 9814.

Tres Logos is available from all good book stores in the design section!

Evil Tongues loved the results, and we loved the night of nice food, cold beer and optional dad dancing that we were lucky to be a part of!

In the meantime if you want to get to know us and find out how we can help you, please get in touch.

Most new PC’s now come complete with virus checkers and rudimentary spam filters that act on the local machine, meaning that even if a spam email did get through the ISP’s checks you can be protected from it (and it’s contents) by a piece of software running in the background on your desktop.

These local spam filters and virus checkers can usually be updated every few weeks to protect you against a new wave of spam emails that could be hitting your screen; helping you to stay ontop of the war on spam.

For those more technically minded it is even possible to create your own spam filter using the advanced filters section of your desktop email software. Although a time consuming process it can also be very rewarding (if you are that way inclined i.e. a bit geeky!). Looking at the spam you receive you will often be able to see patterns in the text used or phrases which occur time and time again. Adding these into an advanced filter and setting the mail to be binned into your junk folder each time is an alternative, hands-on way of dealing with spam email.

One final point to make is that any spam emails should always be sent to your Junk folder rather than your Deleted Items / Trash folder. You may think there is no difference but you would wrong. Junk folders were specifically designed to be a holding place for spam email. By sending your spam email to this folder you (in certain cases) can be educating both your desktop spam checker software and your ISP (specifically for online email systems) as to what is Spam, and what isn’t. Continuing to send spam email to your Trash folder, although satisfying, is not helping you system automatically deal with the Spam you receive.

Hosted.co.uk provides a range of services including hosting packages, domain names and email, with more to launch in the new year, where’s your .co.uk hosted?

Brand Neusense is an online fashion store stocking famous brands such as Bench, Fly 53 and Eio, as well as its own designer label. With a fresh style and unique outlook Brand Neusense is the place for unique branded clothing.

Behind the good looks we have ensured that the site is fully accessible and very usable, in keeping with web standards. We are already very happy with how Brand Neusense has turned out and winning this award is a great recognition of that achievement.

Organised by Manchester Digital, the Big Chip Awards are in their eighth-year. The 20 categories saw more than 30 companies being shortlisted from 168 entrants, with such a high level of competition from the North Wests best creative agencies its a very big deal to win an award.

We are always on the look out for new challenges, so if you have a site that needs to look fantastic, works like a dream and you know is accessible as required by law then please contact us or give us a call on 0161 368 9814.

Antony Steadman, said "I was over the moon to win Best Commercial/Retail Website, but to win 2 awards in one evening is fantastic. Fluid Creativity has worked consistently on the website over the last twelve months and all their hard work has paid off."

Fluid Creativity's Managing Director, said "We are extremely proud to have been recognised for our commitment to build high calibre creative websites that give our clients an effective tool to generate revenue, ultimately giving them a return on their investment."

We are away from the office as of Tuesday 19th December 2006 and will return on Tuesday 2nd January 2007.

See you in 2007!

Lee’s ambition is for Isobelle to be a key player in the Fluid Team within the next 6 months, so watch this space!

Designed to reflect Red Florals exciting and surprising floral displays, the work is eye catching and invigorating.

Fluid has already produced other successful pieces of work for Ian Martin including their website. www.ianmartin.co.uk

www.fluidcreativity.co.uk new client Fish Fanatics is aiming to become the industry leader in home delivered frozen fish. They have been gradually building up their business through a number of direct marketing methods and are now ready to expand their business nationwide by using an e-commerce web solution, designed and built by Fluid Creativity.

They are fish fanatics and we are design fanatics so what could be a better match?

Fluid have provided a full branding service resulting in logo and stationery.

Designed to provide online support to their customers and promote the range of services that they provide throughout the telecommunications industry, Service Telecom are able to supply excellent experience and solutions to their existing and potential customers with their website a key tool in this approach.

This is another web project designed with a big dose of style and accessibility that we are very proud of so please have a look.

Built to high accessibility standards yet filled with animation Kidz in2 Sport is a fun to use good looking site that keeps you up to date with their current goings on.

Encourage your kids to get in2 sport! and visit www.kidzin2sport.co.uk

• Unique visitors increased by 18%
• Hits increased by 48%
• PPC spend reduced by 17%

Ranking improvements

Kay continued “We are delighted with the Pure02 results. When ethical SEOtechniques are applied, you see a gradual improvement so this is just the start. We are continuing to see an increase of unique visitors this month by a further 33%. And the effects will be long lasting.”

Fluid Creativity gives the following SEOadvice to webmasters:

Don’t expect to see great results straight away for all the terms related to your site. The key to SEOis in the keywords that you target and you should build up the list and monitor where you are ranking regularly. If your site is young and you target very competitive terms, you won’t see results for a long time and if your technique is too aggressive you run the risk of being ‘sandboxed’. Consider the lesser competitive keyterms that also get searched on and optimize your site for those. Reserve your efforts for bigger fish when you are more established and in a much stronger position.

Be sure to apply all elements of SEO rather than just relying on one activity, such as link building. Make sure your site clearly tells the search engines what it is about, use good anchor text and a cross linking structure within the site, make use of a sitemap for larger sites. Make good use of title tags and page headers. Always have good quality well written and keyword rich content throughout your site and don’t forget the little things like alt tags and even image and page filenames.

Any SEOcompany can increase your traffic but are you seeing conversions? Fluid Creativity manage your SEOcampaign and monitor the important data such as increased sales as well as the traffic and ranks. We continuously update the strategy and adapt according to how the search engines are treating your site.

Fluid Creativity stresses that a number of factors determine the success rate of a website in organic search and every website is approached differently.

If you would like to discuss SEOpossibilities with Fluid Creativity, please contact 0161 368 9814

In the web standards category we have Brand Neusense, an e-commerce website that sells designer brands including Bench and Fly53. Whats special about this site is that as well as looking great it has also had a lot of time and effort put into accessibility and web standards.

How well will we do? Its great to have been short-listed so lets just wait and see…

Housing mood boards, concept layouts, sketch ideas, visuals and interactive scaled plans, and a selection of completed projects, the Design4business site met their main objective; allowing multimedia presentations to convey interior design concepts to clients, without the need to take portfolios and hefty visuals into meetings.

See what Fluid can do for you, contact us today.

Can he possibly win?

Will he consider taking a taxi?

Who knows what will go through his mind as his legs speed to a blur and his heart pounds like a steam engine… What we do know is this; Lee wants your help to raise £5000 in sponsorship to support We Are Macmillan. Cancer Support.

Please show your support for Lee by sponsoring him generously for this run at www.justgiving.com/leeturner

There are two main types of Search Engine Marketing; ' sponsored listings' (usually show up first in a different colour) and 'natural listings'. As every business and website is different, we will consider your needs on an individual basis. It might be that the best course of action for you is one or both of these.

Please contact us or give us a call to discuss what we can do for you on 0161 368 9814 and ask for Lee.

MostLuxurious.com commissioned Fluid Creativity to create for them a website that reflected their ethos of luxury, resulting in a cascade of style sheets liberally sprinkled over the finest handcoded html, integrated lovingly by our master developers with a sumptuous administration suite.

This is not just luxury, this is MostLuxurious.com designed and developed by Fluid Creativity.

With parcel force integration, discount point loyalty system, advanced stock controls, integrated over the phone ordering system and a unqiue feature that allows the entire stock range to be updated in one upload! Swell UK has been designed to provide powerful yet easy to use administrative tools combined with an accessible web-standards compliant shopping experience.

Swell UK provide pond supplies, koi products and have a vast range of marine and aquarium products that are available to buy online at SwellUk.com

*Okay we diddn't, but Lee does have Koi so its feasible that he may have consulted them at some point... (although none are over 200 years old so their opinion would hardly matter).

Please contact us if there is something we can do for you.

Built around web standards and designed to be extremely easy to use, the Entertain The Kids website allows users to signup and enjoy the benefits of a vast up to date resource of children’s activities.

So take a look around and then have a think if there is anything we could do for you?

Aston Estates have benefited from Fluids service to small companies looking for a high-quality low-budget website designs.

Please contact us if there is something we can do for you.

Style and subject matter can be entirely down to you, or come to us with an idea, suggestion or hint and you can be sure that our design skills will result in the perfect showpiece for any location.

Commissioned examples:

Providing news feeds to keep users up to date with the latest motoring news and designed from the ground up to be search engine friendly; New-Car-Insurance is another example of the benefits of working with Fluid Creativity.

New-Car-Insurance is the second in a range of sister sites being launched by New-Car-Discount and branded and designed by Fluid, so keep a lookout for the next release over the coming weeks.

Already an existing client of Fluid Creativity they approached us to produce this exciting project, looking for a fresh new identity and a website to put them ahead of their competitors and place them at the top of their market.

We came up with a fun and unique logo that leaves a lasting impression on the viewer.

We also produced a full e-commerce solution allowing shoppers to buy all products online, also giving the client a full content management suite (CMS) which allows them to control all content of the website.

Brand Neusense stocks cutting edge brands including:

• Bench Clothing
• Boxfresh Clothing
• Ringspun
• Hooch Clothes
• Criminal Clothing
• David and Goliath Clothing

With these popular urban streetwear brands (which are being added to all the time) this website is sure to be a hit with the design conscious fashion follower.

Check out this exciting shop at www.brandneusense.com - When you spend £50 or more you will get a FREE Bench belt worth £10 for a limited period only.

With our help Demon Plates is a highly effective and very successful website. If you would like help with developing a corporate brand, designing a website or developing an online tool such as the platemaker at Demon Plates, contact Us.

Providing news feeds to keep users up to date with the latest motoring news and designed from the ground up to be search engine friendly; New-Car-Loans is another example of the benefits of working with Fluid Creativity.

New-Car-Loans is the first of a range of sister sites to be launched by New-Car-Discount and branded and designed by Fluid, so keep a lookout for the full fleet over the coming weeks.

It's hard for some people not to be influenced by designs they have seen but to reject a pitch and then take that design and claim it as their own is just not cricket! Well their skulduggery has not paid off, because as well as being identified as dishonest their website has ended up vastly inferior to our proposal.

It's a hazard of the industry, hopefully something you won't have to encounter, but if you have, you know how we feel.

What can be done? Well we always put our copyright on pitch material and we do make it clear to those we pitch to that the designs belong to us> ultimatly through it comes down to pride, honesty and the age old difference between the original and the knock-off 'on the cheap' copy!

Check back soon for our usual tales of happy site launches and hopefull no more mentions of dance routines!

You can find The Circle Club at: 13 Barton arcade, Barton Square, Manchester, M3 2BB. Click here for more information about The Circle Club.

Already Wayne’s influence extends across a range of projects having created the latest Free Desktop wallpaper for Fluid Creativity as well as designing for a range of websites you will see launched later on this year.

With a beginning like this, its worth checking back here often to see the impact he has!

OML has now launched so why not take a look around?

Fluid Creativity has developed a website that reflects The Shubar's place in the community and it's commitment to making your feet look their best!

Mixing Flash animation with accessible html technology the Childhood Dreams website is a place where you can while a way the hours planning a dream room for your children!

Jennings Design Associates are doing their part: Once again it is time for their wildly popular Architecture Week Ball. A glamorous event hosted at the popular Yang-Sing restaurant; the free drinks reception, banquet, raffle/auction and live band make it a night to remember!

Money raised goes to the charity Shelter, so why not come along and meet the JDA team while you are there! Find out more about Architecture week and the Architecture Week Ball from here.

Fluid has developed a comprehensive corporate identity featured across business cards, appointment cards, stationery, and the website. Encapsulating a corporate yet caring approach Salve's new website aims to be a point of contact for people looking for mental health services throughout the region; using a clean highly usable design coupled with a close focus on accessibility and Search Engine Optimisation Salve are confident of success.

We recommend that you take a look, especially if you are planning a wedding.

Visit New-Car-Discount.com now to see the changes.

11-07-05 update:New-Car-Discount.com is now live!

Our new website has been designed to show that you can have a sexy looking website and still be completely accessible.

We are also working very hard to complete our new stationery and more importantly our first brochure, which we guarentee will blow your mind (but won't leave a mess).

The site is currently in development and will be launched in the coming months.

We came up with a fun and unique logo that leaves a lasting impression on the viewer.

We also produced a full e-commerce solution allowing shoppers to buy all products online, also giving the client a full content management suite (CMS) which allows them to control all content of the website.

Our old website was getting a bit like a suitcase before an extended holiday, crammed, bodged and bloated with the zips sealing everything together ready to burst. It was high time we got a new suitcase and organised our extensive wardrobe into something better, which brings us to our new site. It's more pleasing on the eye, well we think so anyway, and to quote our boss, "everything just works...". It's got an organised structure, we can add and change everything from the back end, and there's plenty of room for expansion - our seams shouldn't be bursting any time soon.

One thing we're particularly pleased with is our new portfolio section. You can filter the work we've done by category, so if you just want to see the animation work we've done, that's not a problem.

Of course it's not just a website we're launching here, this is about repositioning ourselves as a business. Along with our new website, there are now two new services on offer, online marketing training and social media marketing. Our expansion into these areas of the digital world is testament to our growth over the last few years and we're excited about where we now are - a true full service digital agency.

Finally, we've also got a new motion graphics showcase which details plenty of the work we've done over the years and shows where we are as a business. It's a fantastic piece of work by our motion graphics department, so take a look and tell us what you think.

If you like what you see from the new Fluid Creativity, get in touch, and we'll tell you what we can do for you and your business.

Our Portfolio Casestudy for Room14 Menswear

www.room14menswear.co.uk

The move follows a fruitful year for us here at Fluid,  we've recently won several high profile clients resulting in steady growth in our search and development departments.  Further to this we are now developing the services on offer to our clients with a focus on adding value and giving our customers a tangible return on their investment.

MD of Fluid Creativity, Lee Turner spoke of Wayne’s appointment "I have seen him grow over the years and would say it’s been a pleasure to work with him. His constant drive to move forward is testament to his commitment to produce outstanding work.  Wayne will play a key part in the future of Fluid Creativity".

Silcock is similarly looking to the future and said "This new appointment allows me to take an overhead view of the business as a whole, and drive the studio forward over the next year. I'm extremely pleased to be offered the position and look forward to doing some awesome work with the team and having cups of tea made to demand for the foreseeable future"

This latest appointment cements our commitment to furthering our reputation and becoming a leader in providing a full service digital solution for businesses. 

Go to the new site and let us know what you think!
 
www.hyperchips.co.uk