Copyright © 2010 Manchester 2010-07-30T07:43:54+0100 2010-07-30T07:43:54+0100 http://www.i-com.net/blog/ Leading Manchester SEO, SEM and web design agency blog. http://www.i-com.net/blog/ http://i-com.net/images/icom-net.gif http://www.i-com.net/blog/ Leading Manchester SEO, SEM and web design agency blog. I-COM International blogmaster at i-com dot net Manchester Manchester en SEO, SEM, Web Design, Web Development 1440 http://www.i-com.net/blog/manchester-blogging-is-not-dead-241/ Last night Manchester's blogging community got together for a semi-regular meeting of the minds, as organised, once again, by Kate from The Manchizzle, sponsored by Creative Tourist.The timing of the event was chosen because (I presume, as today marks the final day to submit nominations for the Manchester Blog Awards) it was the perfect opportunity to encourage Manchester's bloggers to nominate their favourite blogs, discover some new ones before the closing date and get to know each other before the big night.I've been blogging for long enough to remember the first year of the Blog Awards and the days when 7 people was a good turnout for a Blogmeet and I am happy to say that the number of people blogging locally appears to be growing - despite a number of naysayers suggesting that blogging is on the decline.Although a lot of familiar faces from the local bloggerati were missing last night, it was great to discover some new blogs - some started only within the last few weeks - on ever new and unusual subjects. I was particularly impressed by Liam and Marie from Manchester Zedders and their quest to explore and describe every corner of Manchester, based on grid squares in their A to Z and Kath's Parklover blog which is a guide to the best parks in the greater Manchester area for parents and kids, or people who just like parks. I am always amazed by the diversity and sense of community amongst Manchester's bloggers. This time, even some of the political bloggers made their way down (in the past it was mostly the arts and culture types), including Richard from The Asparagus.I even spoke with another SEO blogger, Tom.To me, this represents the crux of what social media is about - people sharing their thoughts and ideas online and getting feedback from people around them. It's about building relationships and discovering things you didn't know were out there.If you haven't already made your nominations for the Blog Awards this year, then get across to the website and get nominating and then show your support for Manchester's contribution to the blogosphere by coming down to Band on the Wall on 21st October for the awards. Manchester 2009-09-18 09:18:00 http://www.i-com.net/blog/manchester-blogging-is-not-dead-241/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/creative-credits-get-your-lottery-ticket-240/ Earlier today I attended the launch of the Creative Credits scheme in Manchester. It was a very well attended event which included an interesting debate organised by Nesta about the important issues facing Manchester in the new economy.Creative Credits are an experimental attempt to engender co-operation and collaboration between businesses. It gives small and medium enterprises the opportunity to get up to 4000 to purchase support from a creative business provided they're willing to invest up to 1,000 themselves.The creative credit could be spent on such things as helping you design a new product or develop an innovative way for your business to address new markets - perhaps through a transactional web-site when you've never done that before.Creative Credits will be allocated on a random basis initially to 75 companies that have simply applied and been judged eligible.It really does seem very simple; to be eligible a business simply has to be a limited company based in one of the Greater Manchester council areas, registered for VAT and employing less than 250 people and not involved in the creative sector itself; to apply it simply needs to complete a simple form on the Creative Credits website www.creative-credits.org.uk, look there for full details and conditions.The form needs to be completed by the 8th of October and the awardees will be announced shortly after.Creative Credits are a gift for businesses wanting to do something different with their business. You don't even need to dream up the project before you put in the application - I'm sure many businesses like I-COM could at that stage provide you some creative input into how you might spend them.Take your chance and try to get your share of the Creative Credit pot now. Manchester 2009-09-17 23:30:00 http://www.i-com.net/blog/creative-credits-get-your-lottery-ticket-240/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/working-from-home-a-flexible-option-or-playing-the-system-220/ Im working from home for most of this week, and last night had an interesting conversation with my housemates about benefits of the situation.  One does a similar(ish) job to me an in-house web content copywriter for the SEO department of a travel firm.  One is a town regeneration planner (he has explained on many occasions exactly what he does and none of us still understand!) and the other is steadily crawling his way up what is left of the corporate ladder in the banking world!We all have different views on the benefits of working from home, whether you can get as much done, can you get more done, or is the whole thing a fraud?The town planner spends most of his time running around making sure new buildings have proper right-angles, etc., so working from home for him isnt really an option, but the views of the rest of us differ considerably.The banker readily admits he could carry out his job at home if he had to, but in his office people who are working from home are seen as playing the system, everyone thinks theyre really sat round watching Jeremy Kyle wearing a dressing gown!  He cant explain where this distrust has come from it is simply part of the office culture.The content copywriter says she would be able to carry out her job at home but cant; she has no access to her work systems at home.  She cannot access work email or servers.  She also says she doesnt think that she would be able to carry out her job effectively as she wouldnt be in the office environment and feels she needs the close contact with colleagues.This is my second day working from home and what do I think?  I set up access to my work email and files a long time ago so no problem there and I'm able to keep in touch with the office because we're all set up on instant messenger clients for this purpose.  The most important factor is that I-COM is not an office with a culture of mistrust of people working away from the office.  I have successfully been sent work and carried it out with no real problems.  My employers trust me and know that I am sat here working and that trust is worth its weight in gold. Over the coming months, due primarily to the Swine Flu pandemic, the whole of the UK is going to be hit by big absence problems from work, some people will be sick, some will be quarantined by proxy, and some will not be able to come into the office because family members are ill and they have to look after them.It is VITAL for the businesses of Manchester, and indeed the UK, to prepare for this in two ways.  The first is to must make the resources of the office available to the workers, even if this only means setting up an employees email account on their personal laptop it could be the difference between financial survival and going to the wall. The second is that the corporate world must accept that people can work from home and that they arent playing the system; those employers out there who have this culture of mistrust need to rethink their strategies pronto.  I also believe this is going to be the harder of the two tasks, but will, in the end, prove to be one of the most important.So in conclusion, Im getting almost the same amount of work done, hopefully not bugging my colleagues TOO much with phone calls and should be back to work soon. Anyway, got to go know, the adverts are finishing and I want to find out the results of the DNA test. ;) Manchester 2009-07-29 10:00:55 http://www.i-com.net/blog/working-from-home-a-flexible-option-or-playing-the-system-220/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/nwvm-hoodwinked-by-search-firm-207/ I've just read with amazement an article in today's Crains about a Liverpool search firm CL5 that has been awarded a grant by North West Vision and Media to set up an office in Manchester. To be quite frank I can't believe it - search is one of the few parts of the market that are really buoyant at the moment with most firms of any merit recording quite rapid growth and acceptable profits. Why does a government institution want to pour money into a firm that if it was any good would be able to finance its expansion itself? The remit of NWVM, part of the North West Development Agency, is to help businesses in the digital and creative sector grow - but surely there are other businesses out there more in need of help than search firms. I'm thinking of all the traditional and pure creative agencies that are having a hard time as clients' budgets are cut. The other thing that upsets me is that for a long time Liverpool agencies have benefited from an unfair playing field in Merseyside. It's been very difficult for Manchester agencies to compete with the 20% discounts offered by Liverpool competitors because they had access to Objective One funding again administered by the NWDA. One has to wonder if the NWDA has a Mersey bias or whether it's just that Liverpool firms are better at working the system. Manchester 2009-06-22 10:09:39 http://www.i-com.net/blog/nwvm-hoodwinked-by-search-firm-207/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/save-the-christie-hospital-call-to-manchester-bloggers-172/ The Christie Hospital, the specialist cancer hospital in Manchester, has lost 6.5m following the collapse of an Icelandic bank and needs the support of the local community in Manchester in order to recover the money. This money would have been used to help them continue to provide the same amazing levels of care for people across the North West. The hospital has followed the agreed procedure to try to recover the money by submitting a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme but this has been turned down. Their next step is to appeal through the High Court - a route they're currently progressing. We can all help by showing our support and visiting their website to sign an online petition. Please push this appeal out to all your contacts and let's see if the blogosphere can make a difference for the Christie Hospital and for cancer patients in the North West of England. Manchester 2009-03-12 10:39:00 http://www.i-com.net/blog/save-the-christie-hospital-call-to-manchester-bloggers-172/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/btweens-mapping-creativity-project-and-making-the-most-of-manchesters-creative-forces-92/ Last Friday marked the deadline for submissions for the 25K Mapping Creativity commission from Manchester Beacon through the b.TWEEN website.The grant on offer is for a project that can connect various creative resources around greater Manchester by bringing different communities together using both online and offline events and spaces. They are looking for projects that combine cutting edge Web 2.0 social community and enabling the participants to realise the benefits of their online interaction in a real-life physical setting.You can view the Mapping Creativity submissions and give your own input on the b.TWEEN website. Manchester 2008-09-15 14:25:02 http://www.i-com.net/blog/btweens-mapping-creativity-project-and-making-the-most-of-manchesters-creative-forces-92/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/manchester-blog-awards-2008-nominations-open-78/ The nominations are now open for the 3rd annual Manchester Blog Awards, according to a post by the organiser over at The Manchizzle. The awards are part of the Manchester Literary Festival and they recognise the work and literary efforts of Manchester bloggers in the categories of: Best New Blog Best Writing on a Blog Best Arts and Culture Blog Best Personal Blog Best Neighborhood Blog Nominations are open until the 18th of September at which point a panel of judges will pick the shortlist for each category and then pick the winners. The ceremony is back at Matt & Phred's again this year as part of the Literary Festival on 22nd October. Last year's ceremony was a great shindig with readings from the nominees for Best Writing as well as a reading from a writer/blogger Caroline Smailes and music provided by Manchester music bloggers Black Country Grammar and Yer Mam! It was a great evening out in support of local bloggers who are helping to bring a taste of Manchester to the rest of the world through their websites and this year's ceremony is sure to be more of the same, so support Manchester's blogging community by nominating your favourite Manchester blogs and cheering them on to victory on the night. Manchester 2008-08-22 14:20:04 http://www.i-com.net/blog/manchester-blog-awards-2008-nominations-open-78/ http://www.i-com.net/blog/on-their-bikes-manchester-to-blackpool-charity-ride-49/ Every year local hospital Christies organise a charity bike ride from Manchester to Blackpool. This year it's going to be held this Sunday 13th July. Full details and last minute registrations can be made here http://www.bike-events.com/Ride.aspx?id=164. Anyway the reason for this post is that some of our friends Richard Green and Pete Terry along with their wives Kim and Pauline are undertaking the ride. I'm not sure if the decision to do it was taken in a drunken moment but it was at rather short notice and they've just got their fundraising page up on Just Giving. This isn't the first time they've done the ride but the last time was probably 15 years ago before children came along, so its bound to be a bit different this time! If you feel able and would like to support Christies please go to their Just Giving page and donate what you can. Thanks Manchester 2008-07-10 09:10:55 http://www.i-com.net/blog/on-their-bikes-manchester-to-blackpool-charity-ride-49/