firstfound - Search Engine Optimisation Company
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Ten Weeks Hard Labour for Charity Volunteer
FirstFound’s credit controller turned charity volunteer Gemma Daubney is swapping her comfortable city-centre desk job for ten weeks hard labour under the Indian sun. In August, she’ll be flying out for a placement in one of India’s poorest communities to help some of the world’s most impoverished people.
Rochdale-born Gemma is one of 40 volunteers heading out to Jaisalmer, Rahasthan, as part of Platform 2’s Dabla Project. With a schedule consisting of primary school teaching, building renovation and tree plantation, it’s a far cry from handling the accounts for Manchester-based search engine consultants, FirstFound.
“It’s an opportunity I couldn’t pass up” explains Gemma, “a chance to help a developing community, see a new country and help children who would otherwise have missed out on an education. My only worry was getting the time off work.”
“We were more than happy to give Gemma a sabbatical” says FirstFound’s Managing Director Chris Bellamy, “we’re heavily involved with a number of charitable causes in the local area, so I’m delighted that a member of our team has volunteered for the Dabla Project.”
Find out more about FirstFound’s involvement in other charitable projects. For more information on Platform2 and the Dabla project, visit the Platform2 website.
June 2010
Chris Bellamy Charity Biker
For a number of years, FirstFound have been supporting the Lancasterian School through a range of fundraising projects. In the past we’ve had dress down days and a sponsored FirstFound haircut, but now FirstFound MD and Lancasterian Governor Chris Bellamy is preparing to go much further.
On 04 July 2010, Chris will be taking part in the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride and hopes to raise a substantial amount to provide extra curricular activities and equipment for children attending the Lancasterian School.
If you want to sponsor Chris, please click here now, and pledge what you can.
May 2010
FirstFound now Found on Facebook
Accompanying our Blog, Online Magazine and Twitter Account, FirstFound have now launched our very own FirstFound Facebook Fan Page.
If you're one of the 30 million Facebook users, why not log on and check us out?
April 2010
A panel of experts from the Chamber answers your business dilemmas
Chris Bellamy founder of FirstFound answers the all important question. “What can I do to market my company through the economic storm?”
Please follow this link to read the 53 Degrees online magazine Chris Bellamy founder of FirstFound.
Or view the PDF here
February 2010
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year The FirstFound Christmas Party
It’s the time of year for our normally shy and retiring staff to let their hair down, pull on their dancing shoes and head off to the FirstFound Christmas Party.
Last week, we spent an enjoyable evening at Manchester’s City Inn for a night of drinking, eating, drinking and dancing – all topped off with a few well earned drinks.
Thankfully, we’ve got a group of well-behaved and professional staff, so there aren’t any tales of drunken debauchery to share with you. However, we do have a few pictures (some embarrassing!) and a bit of a write-up over at the FirstFound Blog
December 2009
Chris Bellamy Interviewed by Channel M News
Fresh from his recent BBC Manchester interview (see October’s FirstFound News article), FirstFound’s Chris Bellamy made the short trip across Manchester city centre in November to appear on Channel M news.
During his five minute interview, Chris covered burning questions such as “What do Search Engine consultants do?”, “Maximising your websites potential” and “Is the Internet replacing the high street?”
With Christmas fast approaching and the weather worsening, Chris was quick to point out that people would much rather do their Christmas shopping in a warm house than on the sunny streets of Greater Manchester, and confidently predicted that Internet sales would rise again over this festive period.
Chris’ full interview with Channel M reporter Andy Crane can be seen on the MEN website.
December 2009
Google and Admob reached an agreement.
The search engine giant has bought out a Silicon Valley start up company called Admob for £449m. Admob specialise in mobile advertising or small screen display advertising like iPhones’ and Blackberry.
The majority of Google’s annual revenue of approximately $22 billion is generated through its online advertising and this latest purchase shows Google’s’ hunger for more.
"I think people underestimate how important ads have been to funding the development of innovative content on the internet," said AdMob founder Omar Hamoui.
"Our goal has been to make it possible for developers and publishers to bring their products and ideas to mobile with the same business model."
November 2009
Chris Bellamy Interviewed by BBC Radio Manchester
FirstFound co-founder Chris Bellamy made the short trip down Oxford Street to BBC Manchester this week, to be interviewed on the Manchester Business Show by Steve Saul.
Despite the recent economic climate, FirstFound have gone from strength to strength – doubling turnover to almost £4 million in the past two years. However, Chris’ appearance wasn’t all back-slapping and congratulations, as he took the opportunity to explain just why SEO is so important to businesses:
“If you are on the first page of Google or any of the other major search engines, that’s where you going to get your traffic…
What we are trying to do is not just a vanity job for the client, but deliver traffic that’s going to turn into business.”
You can listen to the whole interview below.
To increase your website’s traffic and get more business, call FirstFound today on 0161 909 3400
October 2009
Clash of the Titans TV Advertising vs. Online Marketing
With the rise of the Internet as an entertainment and business medium, a war against television for the hearts, minds and wallets of the British public has been waged across the business and comment sections of newspapers, TV shows and websites.
Social media sites have all but replaced the soaps in the UK’s leisure time, and the all but one-sided fight between teleshopping and online shopping has been over for years, so it’s fairly obvious that television is losing the fight.
The latest battle has been over marketing revenue, and it’s been very hard fought indeed. The defeated party, television advertising, enjoyed unprecedented success for almost fifty years before the rise of the Silicon Valley superpower – online marketing.
Overall advertising spending has declined over the past year, with a 16.1% drop in TV advertising revenues. This drop wasn’t reflected in online fortunes; with a 4.6% increase leading to a staggering £1.75 billion online spend in the first six months of 2009. The internet now accounts for almost a quarter of advertising budgets in Britain, with over a billion being spent on search engine marketing and Pay Per Click.
With online revenue bucking the trends of the recession, and the continued slump for TV and paper-based advertising, there’s never been a more important time to invest in SEO or PPC.
Source: Internet Advertising Bureau & PricewaterhouseCoopers online expenditure study
October 2009
FirstFound recruitment drive sees 22 hired
Search Engine Optimisation firm FirstFound has taken on another 22 employees as part of its latest recruitment drive.
The sales staff and SEO consultants will work out of the company’s Manchester headquarters in St James’ on Oxford Road. In the year to February 28, FirstFound posted a turnover of £3.5m and expects to reach £4.5m in the current year.
Click to read more about FirstFound on Crain's
June 2009
FirstFound is a hit with clients
Promoting your online presence is more important than ever in a recession, and as a result we are the busiest we have ever been. Read more about FirstFound in the Manchester Evening News and on the Northwest Development Agency site.
MEN news article available from FirstFound
May 2009
More milestones as the World Wide Web is 20
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee wrote up a proposal for a hypertext-based system to connect information using TCP/IP protocols. In 2009, that system is known around the planet as the World Wide Web and it is estimated that over a billion users have logged on to it.
The web's impact on the way that companies do business has been incredible, and its 20 year history is littered with huge failures, the casualties of the 2001 dot-com bubble and even huger successes, Google and firstfound both recently celebrated their 10th birthdays. Even as the world economy stares into a recession, online sales continue to rise and more and more businesses are seeing the Internet as the safest port in the global economic storm.
However, it is not just the way that we do business that has been changed by the Internet, the way people and companies interact has changed too. Email, Skype and Online Messaging provide cheap and near instant communication, but as the web moves into its third decade, social media sites look like they will play a prominent role in our online future.
See how firstfound is making use of social media by following us on Twitter (twitter.com/firstfound)
March 2009
FirstFound celebrates 10th birthday
Hot on the heels of Google's 10th birthday comes a milestone in the field of search engine optimisation. 2009 will see Manchester-based firstfound celebrate a tremendously successful first decade in the SEO business.
Formed by Chris Bellamy in 1999, firstfound has gone from strength to strength, cementing its position as the UK's leading search engine consultancy. By achieving exceptional results over an entire decade, firstfound now boasts an impressive portfolio of over 6,000 satisfied customers (and more than their fair share of delighted ones).
It's not just firstfound's client base that's increased, while SEO remains firstfound's core product, the company has continued to branch out - offering AdWord campaigns, website design and online marketing consultancy services. What's more, firstfound is set to go international with a new website translation service aimed at customers across the UK and Europe.
With ten years of experience and the continued growth of internet commerce, it's safe to say that future success for firstfound is guaranteed. In the words of managing director Chris Bellamy; "we've had a fantastic first ten years, and I'm incredibly confident that we're going to see even more success over the next ten years - and the ten after that..."
February 2009
New e-mail anti terrorist legislation
New laws coming into effect in March 2009 as part of a European Commission directive have caused some mixed reactions across the business community. The proposed new anti-terrorist legislation, put forward by the Home Office states that all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will have to record each and every email sent or received in the UK for up to a year.
The Home Office insists that this new law (first proposed by then Home Secretary David Blunkett in 2001) will provide the police and security services with vital information for the war on terror and the fight against crime – despite the fact that the content of emails will not be stored. Once this law has passed, over 600 public bodies, including the police and local councils, will be able to request details of when and by whom emails were sent.
In order to get this system off the ground, the government may have to support Internet Service Providers with up to £70m of funding.
January 2009
The Recent VAT cut costs one Manchester business a staggering 10,000
The recent VAT cut has cost one Manchester business a staggering £10,000. firstfound, a search engine consultancy based in St James's Buildings, Oxford Street, has had no choice but to reprogram their systems to accommodate the temporary change in VAT rates – at a cost of £10,000.
Chris Bellamy, who owns the company, complained: "I've now had to create 68,000 new invoices and credit notes and email them to 6,000 different customers.
"In addition I've got 2,300 customers who pay me by standing order and are now paying the wrong amount so I need to address that as a matter of urgency too."
Tony Reynolds, of Cassons chartered accountants and businesses advisers, looks after firstfound's financial affairs. He said: "I am horrified that they have had to spend £10,000 reprogramming their systems, particularly as the cut was of no benefit to their business; firstfound's customers are predominantly VAT registered businesses to whom VAT is a cash flow issue only."
December 2008
Online shoppers could save your business!
The latest figures show that UK retailers will be hit the hardest in the run up to Christmas. Christmas sales volumes have fallen for the seventh month in a row in October. Customers are tightening their belts and it is predicted that this knock on affect is going to get worse in the coming months.
There is one saving grace however. It is forecast that UK online shoppers will spend £13.16 billion in the final quarter of 2008. This is a 15% increase on the same period a year ago. Retailers and suppliers are under extreme pressure to keep their prices competitive.
Researchers have suggested that the majority of online shopping will take place outside traditional shopping hours, either before 9am or after 6pm.
It was said that "British shoppers will beat the crunch with Internet prices this Christmas, spending more than a billion pounds each week in the run-up"
November 2008
Our Fund Raising Activities
firstfound have recently nominated the Lancasterian School in Didsbury as their dedicated charity. You can read more about the school and why they are trying to raise 20,000 on our nominated charity page.
The firstfound staff have been fully behind the cause organising a number of events in order to raise funds and we have already raised in excess of 1,600.00 from a dress-down day and donations.
Events in the pipeline include a football tournament (which should sort the men from the boys!), a quiz night including a round of questions compiled by our very own MD, and various other individual projects.
One of our managers, Matt Ferns, agreed to have his head shaved and was promised over £350.00 of pledges if he was brave enough to go through with it.
September 2008
Build Your Own Search Service
Yahoo opens up its index and search engine to any outside developers who want to incorporate Yahoo Search's content functionality into search engines on their own sites.
BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service) could create a multitude of smaller search engines that in aggregate, could become the biggest player in the search market. This rather ambitious idea could generate them a goliath stream of revenue from offering the smaller search engines add-ons like the all important Search Ads. BOSS will also include Yahoo web news and image searches.The possibilities are endless for companies to start up their own search engines.
I don't know about you but I find this a very exciting concept and in my experience if searching the Internet and trying to come to terms with how and why the search engine show me the results it does, this could revolutionise the whole web user usability experience.
One page, one search, no restrictions. Could we see a firstfound search engine in the near future? Watch this space!
July 2008
Yahoo and Google agree online advertising deal
Yahoo has agreed a deal with Google which will see Yahoo use the search engine giant's advertising technology. Under the agreement, Google ads will appear alongside some Yahoo search results in the US and Canada.
The announcement came after Yahoo said it had failed to persuade Microsoft to renew its bid to buy all of the internet company.
Recent talks concluded after Yahoo rejected a Microsoft proposal to buy just its online search business. Yahoo said the agreement with Google could be worth up to $800m (£410m) in additional revenue every year.
The partnership will initially last for three years, but could last up to 10 if Yahoo decides to renew. Google said the deal did not need regulatory approval but that it would delay its implementation by up to three and a half months to give the US Department of Justice a chance to review it.
Microsoft sources told the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones that the company was no longer interested in a full takeover because Yahoo had been "underperforming" and was losing some of its key staff. Yahoo's shares closed 10% lower at $23.52, while Microsoft finished 4.1% higher at $28.24.
June 2008
Google to use page load time as a factor in quality scoring
Google will start incorporating landing page load time as a factor in its quality score for AdWords in mid-June, the search giant said in a blog post this month. Google's quality score influences an ad's position on Google and the Google network. It is also used to calculate a keyword's minimum bid.
Google first announced in March that it would consider landing page load time when determining quality score and said implementation would be 'in about a month.' Advertisers with AdWords accounts can go to Google's keyword analysis page to review their load time evaluations.
The firstfound AdWords Consultant team specialise in the development of high quality landing pages for their AdWords customers by including a free landing page with every new account that signs up.
May 2008
Storm in a trademark over Google UK AdWords bidding
Plans by Google to deregulate the use of trademarks in UK AdWords accounts have been seen by some commentators as a charter for unscrupulous sites to undermine real brands. The changes proposed by Google are in line with AdWords accounts for US and Canadian businesses and will take effect from the 5th May 2008. Their reason is to enable advertisers to use more relevant keywords which may incorporate trademarks.
Despite the increased competition, some critics have hit out over increased AdWords costs and less relevant ads taking preference.
On the other hand, some are foreseeing significant increases in conversion rates. Google's AdWords results will be determined by several quality factors, including its PageRank algorithm.
April 2008
Paid-For Links Punished In First Google Update Of 2008
The first Google Update of 2008 proved to be bad news for businesses and site owners whom have turned to paid-for links to boost their position on Google. Businesses who have sold paid-for links too have been hit hard by this. Instead, the recent update has focused on websites who have gained links organically, focusing on relevant links which have been gained freely.
Sites which have used paid-for links have seen a drop in figures from Google's Page Rank ratings. For instance, some sites have seen figures drop by four places. One such site has seen a drop from 10/10 to 6/10. This has been met with mixed opinion among website owners. Some have seen this as a ploy for Google to sell more Adwords accounts or as the death of Page Rank as a credible measure of website quality.
For some, there has been little change. Page Rank is a type of rating system used by Google to determine the importance of each page, starting from 0 to 10. Sites with 0 out of 10 Page Rank are the least important, whereas sites with 10 out of 10 are most important.
February 2008
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