The First Surgery

The first Web 2.0 Surgery took place at Cape, Nottingham on Thursday 26th March 2009.

There were six experts in attendance:

• David Coveney – Consulting, Web Design and Online Marketing for Small Businesses.
• Susi O’Neill – Developing multimedia web content (text, audio and video), blogging and online copywriting, cross-platform production and developing online audiences.
• Chris Rowe – Web CMSs, Site Interactivity, XHTML and CSS, GTD (Get things done) Ninja.
• Caron-Jane Lyon – Web 2 & Social Media orientation, Mobile & Live Social Media tools, Virtual World – Second Life
• Stu Owens – E-Commerce development, Online Marketing strategy, SEO, PPC & Email marketing.
• Helen Whitehead – online communities, tools and techniques for remote and flexible working, social media strategy and training.

Among the conversations were:

• Sophie Low from Hughes & Low talking blogs and Adwords with Susi O’Neill
  
• Ryan O’Sullivan from Shoosmiths discussing privacy and data protection with David Coveney
  
• Chris Frost from GadgetStylist talking Twitter and social media with Helen Whitehead
  
• Nick Walker from Walker Systems talking all things Web 2.0 with Caron-Jane Lyon
• Students from Nottingham Trent Uni getting an SEO and online marketing intro from Stu Owens
• Kiran John from The Plate Market discussing web design with Chris Rowe

The other topics of discussion throughout the night were:

Twitter, Social Media, Blogs, Google Adwords, Copywriting, SEO, PPC, Online Marketing Strategy, Trends in the Banking Industry, Reworking Existing CMS, Web Design, HTML/CSS Tutorials, Website Contracts and Data Protection.

If you would like to discuss any of these topics with a group of experts, please join us at the next Web 2.0 Surgery.

Meet the Experts on 26th March

The following experts have been confirmed for the first Web 2.0 Surgery event on Thursday 26th March:

• David Coveney – Consulting, Web Design and Online Marketing for Small Businesses.
• Susi O’Neill – Developing multimedia web content (text, audio and video), blogging and online copywriting, cross-platform production and developing online audiences.
• Chris Rowe – Web CMSs, Site Interactivity, XHTML and CSS, GTD (Get things done) Ninja.
• Sean Holmes – Graphic Designer with 10 years experience in the industry
• Caron-Jane Lyon – Web 2 & Social Media orientation, Mobile & Live Social Media tools, Virtual World – Second Life
• Stu Owens – E-Commerce development, Online Marketing strategy, SEO, PPC & Email marketing.
• Helen Whitehead – online communities, tools and techniques for remote and flexible working, social media strategy and training.
• Edward Lewis – Online Marketing, SEO, PPC

Bring your questions/problems/projects to discuss with the experts.

Ada Lovelace Day

About Guest Poster, Helen Whitehead

Helen Whitehead is co-founder and Director of Reach Further Ltd. Reach Further works with businesses, educational & membership organisations to adopt & embed social and collaborative technologies to deliver learning & commercial advantage. Follow Helen on Twitter.

Ada Lovelace Day

A few years ago I worked at Nottingham Trent University and spent a fair amount of time in Ada Byron King House, the home of the Education Faculty. I’m remembering that today because it’s Ada Lovelace Day, an international day of blogging organized by Suw Charman-Anderson to draw attention to women excelling in technology. It’s appropriate because even then I was working with some inspiring women who used technology in  social ways to build community and to collaborate on creative projects (mostly as part of the trAce Online Writing Centre from 1995-2005, archived at tracearchive.

Ada Byron King was born Augusta Ada, daughter of the poet, Lord Byron. Later she become the Countess of Lovelace when her husband William King, whom she married in 1835, was created an Earl in 1838. It’s entirely possible that in attempting to ensure that her daughter did not follow in the footsteps of her poet father (who separated from Ada’s mother a month after she was born and died when she was 8 years old) Lady Byron may have encouraged the “opposite” interest – mathematics. Ada showed a natural aptitude in the world of mathematics and worked closely with Charles Babbage, inventor of the Analytical Engine. She described how the Analytical Engine could be programmed and detailed what many consider to be the first ever computer program.

While the numbers of Ada’s most obvious successors – female programmers and the like in traditional IT – are falling, women are now making their mark in the more social and creative aspects of the digital industries. My fellow experts at Web 2.0 Surgery Caron-Jane Lyon, a Social Media and Virtual Worlds advisor and Susi O’Neill, creative industries and digital media consultancy are cases in point. Women are not slow to see the advantages that web technologies offer for flexible and remote working – I myself work from home in Nottingham three days a week for the consultancy I founded, Reach Further, which offers specialist services in the areas of social media, elearning, flexible working and online communities.

Fifteen years ago, when I first started creating communities on the Web, we were seen as weird (I almost typed wired!) geeks and the people we talked to asked why on earth would anyone want to “talk” online? In 2009, after creating a number of successful online communities and networks for universities, businesses, membership organisations and the UN, suddenly ‘online community’ is mainstream, and I put that at least partly down to more women taking to the Web. And once they’ve pushed the children and male partners off the games sites, women like to do social things. As they say – it’s good to talk!

Two More Experts in Attendance

Two more experts for Web 2.0 Surgery on 26th March have been announced:

• Stu Owens – E-Commerce development, Online Marketing strategy, SEO, PPC & Email marketing.
• Helen Whitehead – online communities, tools and techniques for remote and flexible working, social media strategy and training.

If you are an expert interested in attending the event, or you are looking for an expert with a particular skill, please contact us at experts@web20surgery.com.

Grouped Together

We have been embracing Web 2.0 to promote and manage the Web 2.0 Surgery event.

There is no single place for the Web 2.0 Surgery community. There is a Facebook group and a LinkedIn group. The event is listed on Facebook, Network Nottingham and Smart Women although registration for the event is not necessary we at least have an idea of who may be attending. There is no discussion forum but both Facebook and LinkedIn allow this. All information about the event is posted at Web 2.0 Surgery and cross-posted to all other sites. All content and event announcements are also posted on Twitter @web20surgery.

As the event evolves so too will the sites used to assist with promotion and planning of Web 2.0 Surgery. If you have any suggestions of sites that we should consider, please let us know in the comments.

More Experts Announced

More experts for Web 2.0 Surgery on 26th March have been announced:

• Sean Holmes – Graphic Designer with 10 years experience in the industry
• Caron-Jane Lyon – Web 2 & Social Media orientation, Mobile & Live Social Media tools, Virtual World – Second Life

If you are an expert interested in attending the event, or you are looking for an expert with a particular skill, please contact us at experts@web20surgery.com.

SEO Planning And Strategy – The Right Way!

About Guest Poster, David Coveney

David Coveney, has been in marketing since 2003, in various online and offline campaign management roles. Throughout recent years he has made a more permanent move into search marketing in 2006, working in-house and on a consulting basis for clients in the UK. Say hello to David on Twitter.

Overview

SEO, or search engine optimisation, is widely considered to be one of the most beneficial methods of driving more traffic to a site. By optimising both on page and off page factors it is possible to increase the ranking of each of your web pages within the search results. The higher your pages rank, the more traffic you will generate as a result. One of the greatest benefits of search engine optimisation traffic is that it can be highly targeted and specific to the range of services and products you offer generating greater conversions and improving your website ROI.

Setting Goals

Whether you’re new to the SEO arena or are unsure of exactly what can be achieved using this potentially beneficial tool, the first step should be identifying and setting goals. An SEO campaign can take time to come to full fruition but some early results can still be achieved. We will work with you to determine your goals and desirable results before planning a strategy that will help to realise these goals.

Competitor Analysis

As with many forms of online marketing, competitor analysis should be considered a vital step. Spying on your competitors enables us to determine several factors; not only will we able to ascertain the kind of results we will need before you start to see results but we can also use the information harvested from the analysis as a basis for our own search engine optimisation. Internet marketing makes competition analysis easier because all the information required can be found on the search results and on the websites themselves; you just have to know what to look for.

Keyword Research

We can’t overstate the importance of good and thorough keyword research. Keyword analysis indicates the most targeted, the most competitive, and the most beneficial keywords for a campaign. It can highlight niche or long tail keywords that will be useful in generating that early traffic and in the continued generation of highly targeted visitors. Without good keyword research or keyword analysis a website can suffer from poor traffic levels as well as poor conversion rates from visitors that have arrived using too generic keywords.

Site Audit

For existing and established websites, the search engine optimisation challenge differs slightly. Among our range of SEO services, Flat Pack Marketing can complete a full audit of your website to determine the most effective SEO strategy moving forward. We will determine whether any content optimisation, meta tag optimisation, and other on page optimisation is required before calculating the effectiveness of your current or previous link building strategies.

Including SEO In Your Marketing Mix

Search engine optimisation services are not the only form of Internet marketing available and combining several online marketing techniques into a single mix is the most beneficial solution for most businesses and websites. An online marketing mix enables a website to enjoy the benefits of various marketing tools. For example, combining a long term search engine optimisation strategy with pay per click advertising can provide an instant traffic boost from pay per click advertising combined with inexpensive, lifelong traffic from search engine optimisation.

Flat Pack Marketing

As a leading supplier of online marketing in Nottingham, Flat Pack Marketing has already successfully worked with clients on various SEO strategies. As part of our online marketing service we have helped establish new and beneficial sources of traffic and we have improved search engine results for well established websites. By keeping abreast of the regular search engine algorithm changes and implementing the appropriate SEO strategies we can help drive targeted and active traffic to help generate sales and improve your website ROI.

The next 4 steps of successful SEO are Improving Index Inclusion, On Page Optimisation, Link Building and Pay Per Click Management. I can talk to you about any or all of these at the event. See you all there!

First Experts Announced

The first experts for Web 2.0 Surgery on 26th March have been announced:

• David Coveney – Consulting, Web Design and Online Marketing for Small Businesses.
• Susi O’Neill – Developing multimedia web content (text, audio and video), blogging and online copywriting, cross-platform production and developing online audiences.
• Chris Rowe – WordPress and PHP in general.

If you are an expert interested in attending the event, or you are looking for an expert with a particular skill, please contact us at experts@web20surgery.com.

Moo Cards

Even in the age of LinkedIn and Facebook, the business card is still a useful tool at networking events like Web 2.0 Surgery.

Moo are redefining the business card with their preprinted card designs and the ability to easily upload your own graphics or photos. Moo business cards cost £10.99 for 50 cards plus £3.49 P+P  and are delivered within 5-7 days.

With quick turnaround time, you could get yourself a brand new set of business cards in time for the Web 2.0 Surgery.

Explore the full selection of business cards at Moo.

First Web 2.0 Surgery

Thursday 26th March 2009
6:30pm
Cape Bar, Nottingham

The first Web 2.0 Surgery is to be held on Thursday 26th March 2009 at from 6:30pm at Cape, Victoria St, Nottingham NG1 2EW. View map

Web 2.0 Surgery is an informal gathering of experts and clients to discuss SEO, ecommerce, RSS, video, audio, traffic building, mailing lists, analytics, adwords, social networks and anything else.

The idea is to create a marketplace for Web 2.0 skills within Nottingham. This will be a great resource for those looking for work and those looking for solutions.

Attendee is free and all are welcome.