Graeme Davidson speaks

I work for Equator as their business development manager.  We have a fantastic team here that is constantly looking for opportunities in the digital market.

So how does the business development department go about their job, I hear you ask.  Well, business development has a lot of factors combined into one big mixing bowl to make us effective.  And we never stop working, as any company which stops business development is going to be in trouble down the line – it is an ongoing and non-stop process.  So I have compiled a list of all things that we do in business development to make Equator tick.

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Posted on April 30th, 2009 in Work with 2 comments

Hotel chain Ramada Jarvis have re-launched their website following a full review and redesign by Equator.

Equator were challenged to create a portal for leisure guests and business people alike – a one stop shop for accommodation, events, destination and attractions information. Working hand in hand Ramada Jarvis and Equator agreed the vision for the site and set about the design process in a collaborative manner. Extensive web usability testing was utilised to ensure the user journey is as seamless, logical and friendly as possible. The launch of the site is only the beginning. The plan is to constantly evolve the site using feedback from analytics and users to ensure ease of use and maximum conversion.

The full service digital agency is also running an integrated campaign via SEO, PPC and affiliate channels to drive traffic to the site and increase revenue for the 42 strong, UK hotel chain.

John McLeish, Equator’s Managing Director, is delighted to have had the opportunity to redesign the Ramada Jarvis website. “We have been working for Ramada Jarvis on their affiliate SEO & PPC programmes for a number of years now and it was a great opportunity for us to take our learnings from this and apply them to the website in order to increase conversion.

Equator has many years of experience with the leisure industry, and we believe that our knowledge of what makes customers follow through the booking process will mean that the new Ramada Jarvis site will be a great success.”

David Witham, Director of Marketing & Partnerships, Ramada Jarvis: “We are delighted with the results of our new website functionality and design by Equator. Not only does our new site offer the user more content and imagery on our hotels, it also presents unparalleled access to live information about latest regional events and attractions around our properties which is fed by What’s on When. In today’s climate, when looking for value, our site now allows the user instant access to room availability at our Best Rate Guarantee which can’t be beaten anywhere on the web. The improved user experience allows easy trip planning and booking a Ramada Jarvis hotel which are in ideal locations to explore the great outdoors and the exciting attractions which Britain has to offer, at affordable prices.”

Posted on April 29th, 2009 in Work with no comments

I saw this recently and had to post it up here.  It made me laugh so much.  A wonderful piece of advertising.

Posted on April 22nd, 2009 in Play with no comments

After much trawling around the interweb to find a cheap pair of Stan Smiths, I stumbled across M & M Direct.   I had searched high and low for weeks, trying to find my prefered choice at a great price.  Not an easy job, let me tell you!  

I would suggest now to M & M Direct that they have to work on their SEO as their price was an excellent £29.35 plus £3.90 for P&P.  Considering that in my local sportswear shop, these trainers were on sale for £54.99, I couldn’t believe my luck.  And they arrived in 3 working days.

However, I only got lucky finding them at this price – due to my Scottish tenacity and eye for a bargain.  I think I had been searching online for around 4 or 5 days until I discovered them at this price.  And the Stan Smiths are available in white/green or white/black which is nice.

Furthermore, the checkout process for M & M Direct was relatively painless in comparison to the Next complaints I suffered.   I was even allowed to enter a delivery and billing address.

So anyway - if you fancy buying a lovely pair of Adidas Originals Stan Smith then use M & M Direct.   I did and now Graeme Davidson is a happy man

Posted on April 14th, 2009 in Play with no comments

Full service digital agency Equator has been awarded the SEO contract for BiP Solutions following a competitive three way pitch.

BiP Solutions is a leading provider of public sector contract information, with over 500 UK government organisations using their internet solutions to create and manage their contract information.

Equator have been tasked with building the natural search engine rankings for www.tendermatch.co.uk, BiP’s essential tracker tool for those looking to win contracts with public sector organisations, both in the UK and worldwide.  Equator’s brief is to devise a strategy that encourages visitors to sign up for BiP’s tracker tool.

John McLeish, Equator’s Managing Director, is thrilled to have won the business; “It’s a fantastic opportunity for Equator to work with such a pioneering company as BiP Solutions.  With over £175 billion pounds expected to be spent by the UK’s public sector this year, having a tool such as tendermatch available to companies is invaluable. Even more so in this difficult economic climate, as it allows them to keep their finger on the pulse when it comes to new business opportunities.”

Ewan McKay, BiP Solutions Tracker Brand Manager said, “BiP are absolutely delighted to be working with Equator.  We were impressed by the pitch that the team made and in the short space of time that we have been working with Equator we have seen a quantifiable improvement in Tracker’s SEO performance. We look forward to further positive results and a long and successful partnership”.

Posted on April 9th, 2009 in search engine optimisation with no comments

Good news!

This article has been taken from The Drum Website

Posted on April 7th, 2009 in Work with no comments

Well, well, well.  Since writing my post a few weeks ago about my pagerank loss it would appear that Google has found my site again, and promptly promoted me to PR3.  That is certainly a result.

However, as pleased as I am about this improvement, I also wonder how this happened.  I haven’t been particularly busy writing new posts and there are no new links from trusted sites.  Hmmm…. This makes me wonder.  How exactly is PR calculated?  I’m not sure.  I read some excellent blog posts about it (Chris Garrett Google Authority post, Ian Rogers Pagerank) , but cannot work it out other than the two mentioned methods above.

Never mind though, I am proud of my PR3 and will be proudly showing it off to the SEO guys at our agency.  And I think I will put to an end my page rank rant!

Posted on April 6th, 2009 in seo with 1 comment