Friday, July 11, 2008

It's Christmas...

Well okay it's not but that's our first Festive job of the year now signed off. A couple of years ago we had the idea to create a separate and unique website for Fairfield House Hotel in Ayr promoting nothing but their Christmas programme and promotions. Hotel websites, we thought have enough to do year round without being taken over by the Festive programme. And we thought, have the site up all year round and it's going to be more relevant to the search engines and true to our plan it's now found readily and when seen alongside the complementary brochure design it becomes a mini marketing campaign all of its own.

So if you're already thinking of your Festive Break, Christmas Party Night or Hogmanay Celebration then stop it! But of course if you can't help being organised you can always have a look at Christmas at Fairfield.

It's Christmas...

Well okay it's not but that's our first Festive job of the year now signed off. A couple of years ago we had the idea to create a separate and unique website for Fairfield House Hotel in Ayr promoting nothing but their Christmas programme and promotions. Hotel websites, we thought have enough to do year round without being taken over by the Festive programme. And we thought, have the site up all year round and it's going to be more relevant to the search engines and true to our plan it's now found readily and when seen alongside the complementary brochure design it becomes a mini marketing campaign all of its own.

So if you're already thinking of your Festive Break, Christmas Party Night or Hogmanay Celebration then stop it! But of course if you can't help being organised you can always have a look at Christmas at Fairfield.

Golf Tourism Matters - Doesn't it?

A lot of the work we do is for tourism related businesses - we have the web design side working with golf courses, hotels and guest houses, attractions and organisations such as Ayrshire Food Network - and like most industries there are challenges ahead for many of these sometimes small and often independent businesses.
We manage and administer the day to day operations of Golf Tourism Scotland from the Ayr office and this week has been fairly hectic pulling together the arrangements for a national workshop at Ayr Racecourse for up to 75 delegates from across the country and all aspects of the industry.
The word crisis is not being bandied about without caution but there is increasing concern and growing frustration from the industry that it's knowledge, experience and potential input is simply being ignored by the public sector bodies.
How will this frustration express itself? Time will tell but it seems a strange strategy for the tourism marketing bodies and government departments to ignore the free and motivated talent that is available in this country. Having worked with many of these individuals in projects spanning more than a decade their passion, understanding and creativity cannot be understated. To not utilise this skillset really is nothing short of criminal.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Tourism Matters - Doesn't It?

A lot of the work we do is for tourism related businesses - we have the web design side working with golf courses, hotels and guest houses, attractions and organisations such as Ayrshire Food Network - and like most industries there are challenges ahead for many of these sometimes small and often independent businesses.
We manage and administer the day to day operations of Golf Tourism Scotland from the Ayr office and this week has been fairly hectic pulling together the arrangements for a national workshop at Ayr Racecourse for up to 75 delegates from across the country and all aspects of the industry.
The word crisis is not being bandied about without caution but there is increasing concern and growing frustration from the industry that it's knowledge, experience and potential input is simply being ignored by the public sector bodies.
How will this frustration express itself? Time will tell but it seems a strange strategy for the tourism marketing bodies and government departments to ignore the free and motivated talent that is available in this country. Having worked with many of these individuals in projects spanning more than a decade their passion, understanding and creativity cannot be understated. To not utilise this skillset really is nothing short of criminal.

Tourism Matters - Doesn't It?

A lot of the work we do is for tourism related businesses - we have the web design side working with golf courses, hotels and guest houses, attractions and organisations such as Ayrshire Food Network - and like most industries there are challenges ahead for many of these sometimes small and often independent businesses.
We manage and administer the day to day operations of Golf Tourism Scotland from the Ayr office and this week has been fairly hectic pulling together the arrangements for a national workshop at Ayr Racecourse for up to 75 delegates from across the country and all aspects of the industry.
The word crisis is not being bandied about without caution but there is increasing concern and growing frustration from the industry that it's knowledge, experience and potential input is simply being ignored by the public sector bodies.
How will this frustration express itself? Time will tell but it seems a strange strategy for the tourism marketing bodies and government departments to ignore the free and motivated talent that is available in this country. Having worked with many of these individuals in projects spanning more than a decade their passion, understanding and creativity cannot be understated. To not utilise this skillset really is nothing short of criminal.

Young Killie Goes Live

Just over a year ago we started working on the development of a dedicated site for Young Killie. The group is the official young supporters club of Kilmarnock Football Club and is manned wholly on a voluntary basis by a group of dedicated guys and girls. During the season they operate a training session every Saturday at Powerleague in Kilmarnock - initial membership and then just £3 per head for a couple of hours of coaching and football. Great value and the youngsters love it.
They also arrange trips to away matches, invite away supporters along to Rugby Park and raise chunks of cash in a number of ways.
Anyway, we designed their site the season before last - just shortly before being gubbed by Hibs in the CIS Cup Final as I recall - and it seems to have worked quite well for them. So after the disaster that was 2007/08 season we thought it time for a refresh of the design and structure using our upgraded Claymore Project database and a new look. Jill had a wee go at the layout with Steven overseeing and after a bit of cleaning old stuff out it now features just what it needs to.
Home page with forthcoming events for parents and kids to keep an eye on; news items and a newsflash section and clear navigation. We've incorporated some relevant football related RSS News Feeds into the site and have integrated Google's Picasa to drive the gallery section. It's wholly updateable by the organisers of Young Killie.
We're delighted to provide the design and support completely free to the guys in thanks fopr the work that they do. Good luck for the new season!

Young Killie Goes Live

Just over a year ago we started working on the development of a dedicated site for Young Killie. The group is the official young supporters club of Kilmarnock Football Club and is manned wholly on a voluntary basis by a group of dedicated guys and girls. During the season they operate a training session every Saturday at Powerleague in Kilmarnock - initial membership and then just £3 per head for a couple of hours of coaching and football. Great value and the youngsters love it.
They also arrange trips to away matches, invite away supporters along to Rugby Park and raise chunks of cash in a number of ways.
Anyway, we designed their site the season before last - just shortly before being gubbed by Hibs in the CIS Cup Final as I recall - and it seems to have worked quite well for them. So after the disaster that was 2007/08 season we thought it time for a refresh of the design and structure using our upgraded Claymore Project database and a new look. Jill had a wee go at the layout with Steven overseeing and after a bit of cleaning old stuff out it now features just what it needs to.
Home page with forthcoming events for parents and kids to keep an eye on; news items and a newsflash section and clear navigation. We've incorporated some relevant football related RSS News Feeds into the site and have integrated Google's Picasa to drive the gallery section. It's wholly updateable by the organisers of Young Killie.
We're delighted to provide the design and support completely free to the guys in thanks fopr the work that they do. Good luck for the new season!