Wayne Seddon, Designer

Every now and then it’s nice to break away from the normal rules and regulations of web design and come up with something totally new and creative. The concept behind this redesign of our very own First Internet website is based on the periodic table, but instead of chemical elements, we used the elements of what we do – the services we provide – elements of online marketing.

Just like concept cars the final design might look cool and interesting but in reality it may not be practical for everyday use. Or we may not simply have the time to create something so complex. Never-the-less they’re still fun to look at!

The past few weeks have seen a number of major announcements that could impact on the types of web development Manchester companies carry out.

We have already outlined the ten-point plan Manchester City Council has to make Manchester into a “digital city”.

But you can add “superconnected city” to that label, after Manchester secured a £12 million bid for government funding.

The Manchester Digital City plan aims to make sure that 11,000 businesses and 224,000 residential premises have superfast broadband connections by 2014-15.

“We’ve repeatedly stressed the importance of improved transport infrastructure to the city’s future, but leading-edge digital connectivity is every bit as essential,” says Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese.

Key components in the plan that could inspire the web development Manchester businesses choose to carry out include a proposal to make public Wi-Fi connections that enable access at high speeds.

These are to be concentrated on transport corridors and key public areas of the city, which could help to increase the potential local online market for many of the city’s companies.

First Internet looks after Ace Controls’ ongoing PPC and SEO campaigns and has achieved first page and first position rankings for a number of vital key phrases such as ‘hydraulic dampers’ and ‘industrial shock absorbers’, delivering traffic and driving enquiries.

Ace’s website has also been redesigned and developed by First Internet. The new site has an online CAD library and also hosts a huge database, allowing visitors to enquire about a list of products.

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Peter Nyssen sells hundreds of varieties of flower bulbs across the world through their website.

Previously their site acted as a brochure site and customers had to make telephone orders. An ecommerce solution was in desperate need and First Internet was approached. A bright and fresh ecommerce site was designed and developed and now takes hundreds of orders each day.

First Internet promotes the site through PPC and SEO campaigns and has achieved first page rankings for important phrases such as “Galdioli bulbs” and “Dahlia bulbs”. A quarter of the current revenue comes from PPC alone.

The next stage of development will be translating the site into several languages for their overseas customers.

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Bakery chain Greenhalgh’s has 59 bakeries across the North West.

Their previous site didn’t provide all the functionality they needed. First Internet rustled up a new, modern and interactive website for the well established baker, complete with the facility to trade online – an area new to the bakery.

In addition to the online shop – where customers can design their own bespoke cakes by scanning and submitting photos as well as order buffets – the site boasts recipes, product details – including nutritional information – and a postcode shop locator.

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Services:

• Web design and development
• Video production
• Email marketing
• SEO
• PPC
• Social media marketing

Nailease came to us with a brand new beauty concept for young women – nail wraps designed to give users an ‘instant manicure’ without requiring heat or drying time.

We were tasked with creating an interactive and eye-catching ecommerce website to attract fashionable visitors to purchase these brand new beauty products.

The site includes a unique ‘add-to-basket’ feature that sees an animation of your chosen nail product fly into the online basket on screen.

Nailease also commissioned us to produce a promotional and instructional video to be used on their website which we shot, edited and embedded into the site.

In addition to designing and developing the website we took charge of their online marketing strategy, including SEO, PPC, social media marketing and email marketing.

Less than a year after launch the site boasts an average of 3,500 visitors per month, steadily increasing revenue, over 400 Facebook Fans and nearly 2,500 Twitter followers.  Nailease also ranks on page one of Google for important key phrases including “nail wraps”, “nail varnish stickers” and “instant manicure”.

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