The legislation is part of an amendment to the European e-privacy directive and is targeted at the use of behavioural advertising which involves tracking users across websites, using their behaviour to dictate the type of adverts they see.

Websites often use cookies – small files that are downloaded onto users’ computers – to track, amongst other things, whether the user has visited before and what their preferences are. In short, they can enhance the user experience but they can also be seen as a form of surveillance. All browsers currently give users the option to globally block cookies, effectively opting out.

Basically, the amendment to the e-privacy bill requires websites to ask users to opt-in to accept cookies, but fails to make it clear whether this can be done globally or on a site-by-site basis. It is also unclear whether this would apply to Google Analytics which is widely used by websites to analyse visitor demographics and behaviour.

This appears to be another example of un-enforceable legislation. Estimates suggest that the vast majority of government websites don’t comply with the legislation and it is inconceivable that all websites using Google Analytics will ever be prosecuted. Although by no means certain at this stage, it is likely that common sense will prevail and that the browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome etc) will be adapted to allow global opt-in to cookies for the European market.

LWS websites do not use cookies, but we do install Google Analytics tracking on our sites, so we will keep an eye on how the legislation is implemented and keep you informed.

Launched in 2011 with the aim of bringing business networking and competitive golf together, the tour held events at six of the best courses across the South East and inspired business people from all across the region in their love of both golf and doing great business!

For 2012, several key business owners have joined the Tour and the Business Networking Club has been added to allow non-golfers to benefit from the networking opportunities without necessarily having to actually play golf or wear silly trousers.

This year’s Tour was launched at a reception at Mannings Heath last month and the first Golf event is at the East Sussex National in Uckfield on Thursday 19th April.

Tempted? Fancy challenging yourself in friendly competition against like-minded business people or simply networking in fabulous surroundings?

Places on both the Tour and the Networking events are still available to contact us today to find out more.

We love our pets, and if any of them could master a mouse and keyboard, they’d all be ordering cures for their ailments from the wonderful e-commerce Pet Vet Medical site.

By contrast, we’ve also produced two e-commerce sites for Favour Fairy which specialises in “favours” – small gifts for wedding guests – and other gift items.

We’ve also been “up on the roof” with new sites for solar PV providers Eco Innovation’s commercial business and for roofing company Cobsen Davis.

Very much back to earth is the new site for garden designer Louisa Bell, appropriately called “The Lovely Garden”.

And finally, how to link roofing to gardens to… finance and investments.

Never mind, I give up. We’ve also made a great site for stockbrockers MC Peat and Son and an investment site for our friends at Paladin Wealth.

If you’d like to talk to us about websites, social media training or SEO, why not email us at info@lwscreative.co.uk or call on 01903 790100?

See, flat out with our new Marketing2Go clients, Great Ballard School! On the left is headmaster David Williams, Sarah (Engerran) LWS’ client services manager in the centre, and to the right is school bursar Tracey Carr, standing knee-deep in a glorious field of daffodils within the grounds of the school. It’s a hard life…

So, with that in mind, may I introduce our newest member of staff, Duncan Jones, or “Duncan Three Macs” as he is known here.

When he was posed a similar question, he mumbled something about his workload and different applications on different Macs.

Duncan is an outstanding graphic designer and all round good chap and has made himself at home here.

For those of you worried that we are working him too hard, let me reassure you that he now only has the one Mac, but the nickname… well, that just may have stuck.

The word L’Assemblage comes from the french art of blending several wine varieties together. L’Assemblage as a company are able to supply some of the finest wines and champagnes from around the globe at prices ranging from £5 to £10,000 per bottle. As well as being experts in the art of fine wine, they also offer cellar management, investment advice and a secure delivery service.
Guy & Nathan from L’Assemblage were looking for an e-commerce solution to take their current website to the next level – a complete overhaul of their website was in order and the results are exceptional – their new website has the following and more:

• Completely bespoke design
• Integration with SagePay online payment
• Downloadable product lists
• Email signup form
• Stock management system allowing them to control the quantities sold (crucial for them, as stock can be bought and sold frequently)
• Search for and categorise their stock via a number of means (location, producer, Vintage, stock number etc)
• ‘Offers’ engine allowing creation of custom lists for new/featured wines.

The end result is a stunning website packed with information and an easy purchase process – the perfect addition to their 15th anniversary celebrations. Check out the full website at www.lassemblage.co.uk

Ladies and Gentlemen, a toast!

“To a great website!”

Cheers!

Many Twitter users received this message recently and, succumbing to a morbid curiosity, may even have followed the link. If that was you, you’ll know by now that it was all a scam – having got you to log into your account, it then sent the same message to all your followers. Possibly not the most outrageous scam, but it demonstrates how scammers operate by playing on our innate human sensitivities and curiosity.

Earlier this year, millions of Tweeters got this message: “I have spent 11.6 hours on Twitter. How much have you? Find out here.” 10,000 clicked the link and discovered no such thing. What they actually did was permit the scam to post the same Tweet in their name. This scam was after luring people to a survey page which paid out per visit. More dangerous still are Phishing scams that persuade people to part with their personal and financial details – where you are directed to web pages that look nearly identical to a legitimate company’s website and then share passwords or credit-card numbers.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just a Twitter problem. Users of LinkedIn, the professional social network, have been subject to ‘419 scams’ – advanced fee fraud, named after the relevant section of the Nigerian penal code, as many such scams involve requests for bank account details for which the kind soul who helps will get a share of the millions of pounds to be deposited. They don’t. Meanwhile, on Facebook we have the recurring ‘Dislike button’, ‘Stalker Tracker’, ‘OMG! Watch this’ videos and many many more.

Good anti-phishing software is one defence. The other, much less expensive, option is good-ol’ commonsense. Tweeters cannot Direct Message you if they don’t follow you and visa versa. Doesn’t sound like the sort of message that a follower or friend would send? Link doesn’t take you to the promised page or takes ages to upload? Unexpectedly asks you to enter your login information?

Ignore the lot. And click nothing. But if you didn’t and you did – get out of there quick and change your passwords immediately.
Strong policies for social media use and training in how to use social media for business success are both ways of avoiding the pitfalls of spam and phishing. Call us to discuss your policy and training needs on 01903 790100 or email info@lwscreative.co.uk, www.lwscreative.co.uk/training

About 10 minutes ago, we typed the scam’s name into Google and were surprised to find our post 3rd in the Google results. Just goes to prove the power of blogging for earning attention.

If you want some blog or social media training for your business call LWS on 01903 790100 or visit http://www.lwscreative.co.uk/lws_web_cms_social_media_twitter_training.htm

This is a scam, dont click the link. It will make you log in and then send the same note out to all your contacts. Not nice.

Bad blog going around about you, have you read it yet?

Want some social media training for your business? Call LWS on 01903 790100 or visit http://www.lwscreative.co.uk/lws_web_cms_social_media_twitter_training.htm

The Audience was extremely diverse, but with one common goal.   To cost effectively increase revenue from their website.

A comprehesive writeup to follow, but the slides from todays presentation can be seen below.

Whether its a full campaign, some DIY training or some expert consultancy talk to LWS about your website and your SEO on 01903 790100 or email us at info@lwscreative.co.uk

It all started with a reference to SEO as a ‘dark art’. In Harry Potter, the Dark Arts are magic spells and practices used for malicious purposes. Now that may apply to some forms of SEO but as our very own Voldemort, Peter Parsons, LWS programmes director, explained it’s generally a good description of the way many are left feeling about  how it works. And Google  likes it that way. So do the other search engines – but with 83.5% market share, let’s face it, we’re talking about the big G.

Google doesn’t reveal its algorithms – the rules and methods it uses to read, assess and rank websites – but it does drop hints. And a whole industry has sprung up to pick up, interpret and second-guess those rules in order to secure better rankings for clients. Nothing wrong with that, but there are those in that industry who practice ’Black Hat’ SEO – Keyword Cramming (overstuffing text with keywords), Cloaking (placing invisible keywords on a page, eg. white text on a white background), Doorway Pages (fake pages the user never sees), Link Buying (paying for inbound links to your website). All are unethical practices designed to fool the search engine spiders into ranking sites more highly and all, except arguably link buying, create an unfavourable experience for the user.

The subject of Dark Arts prompted a lot of questions: “Is it ok to copy and paste chunks of text from someone else’s website?” for instance. Absolutely not. In its simplest form, it’s copyright theft. But it’s also something that will get your site penalised in the rankings. “What about a phrase or a sentence?”. Probably ok.

But getting bogged down in the whys and wherefores, ins and outs, do’s and dont’s detracts from the single crucial factor of SEO – the reader’s experience. Google goes to great lengths to encourage sites to be written for visitors, not for the search engines. Its algorithms are more than capable of recognising identical text, the overuse of keywords and other black hat techniques. And they will penalise you for it. Just ask JC Penney.

The simple message when it comes to SEO is ‘remember your reader’. Create content for users. Write your keywords into your content but keep it readable. Make the site easily navigable, clean, fast, well-structured and legally compliant. Create ‘link bait’ – content so good that visitors will want to share it. Earn inbound links by promoting your site with Blogs, offline promotions, white papers, offers and corporate social responsibility.

Google will continue to change the goalposts as it strives to index the web. There is no magic wand.

Skills South East, the region’s training and skills advisory service, is offering to match-fund training for companies employing between 2 and 250 people (full-time equivalant) and displaying the potential for high or fast growth. This potential needs to be:

• to increase turnover and/or staff numbers by 20% each year for three years (or 60% overall at the end of three years) – if trading for more than 12 months
• to achieve a turnover of £500,000 within three years of trading – if trading for less than 12 months
• to increase turnover and/or staff numbers by 10% in each of the next three years (or 30% overall at the end of three years)

Funding can be put towards one or a combination of training solutions, including workshops, online training, training programmes, tailored training options, peer learning and Higher Education qualifications. You can find more information on the new grant here.

These grants are available now and advisers are on hand to help assess your eligibility for the funding and your training needs, as well as to help you through the application process. Don’t miss out .

Plans for the wholesale extension of training levies would see employers in certain sectors being charged a specified proportion of their wage bill, which is then pooled and used to fund training grants within those sectors. The plans also include the extension of ‘licences to practice’, requiring employees to be trained to a certain level before they obtain a professional licence to operate in sectors such as care, security, construction and heating and gas.

Minsters are looking to employers to take greater responsibility for skills development by potentially extending regulatory measures. But, says the CBI, such schemes would hinder employer investment in staff training and do nothing to increase productive skills levels.

According to a new CBI report on training investment, employers believe a voluntary approach would be the best way to build on the strong business commitment to training and boost skills levels.

“Employers already invest heavily in training for their staff and they recognise their crucial role in supporting sustainable growth by improving the skills of future generations,” said Susan Anderson, CBI Director for Education & Skills. “But employers are clear that a regulatory approach, including the extension of levies and license to practice schemes, would actually hinder investment in training.”

We’d love to hear your views on the Regulatory versus Voluntary training debate. Do you agree with the CBI or do you think the Government’s plans could work? Let us know by making your comment below.

It is generally recognised, both within the walls of the LWS offices and outside of them, that Paul Froome, our business development director, knows a thing or two about digital marketing. And so it was that one recent Tuesday he found himself first presenting a potted workshop on Google Analytics, followed the same afternoon by a similarly potted session on email marketing. Although two separate subjects, the one bears relation to the other. Both can provide a wealth of information that you can exploit to make improvements to your customer/clients’ experience of your products, services and communications.

Google Analytics is a free tool allowing you to analyse visitors to your website – how they found you, what they looked at, what they clicked on, how long they spent on your site and so forth. In turn, these statistics can be used to highlight poor performing pages and other factors that may need your attention to ensure a better visitor experience and, importantly, to produce leads.

One of the keys to conducting an email marketing campaign is analysis. Many mail providers willallow you to analystics data into your mail solution. If yours does not, ask them to do so or move to one that does. Once linked, you can analyse open and click-through rates – that is the number of recipients who open your email and the number who click-through it to your website or other content.

Paul’s advice – always know your open and click-through percentages, and, if you are an E-commerce site, your return on investment (openings and click-throughs that ultimately lead to sales). Once you know these rates, adapt and improve your campaign accordingly – change the subject line, alter the content – to drive up those percentages and make your email work harder for you. The beauty of this is that every time you send out a campaign, and every time you analyse your results, the more honed your strategy will become.

If you want to broaden your knowledge of either of these crucial marketing tools, Paul will be training again in September – but not on the same day this time! Google Analytics will be on Tuesday 13th September 11am-12pm, with Email Marketing on Tuesday 20th September (9.30am-12pm)

Click here for more details

The Carpenter Box team battled against 15 other teams, torrential rain and strong winds to take the top prize at the charity’s 20th Golf Challenge in June at Worthing Golf Club. The team were later awarded their trophy at a gala dinner and charity auction, which ultimately helped to raise £6,400 for the charity.

Suzanne Millard, Guild Care’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have had such fantastic support from the local business community and we owe them a big thank you for taking part in such soggy weather.”

The funds raised are to go to the charity’s Ashdown Club, which helps children and young people with special needs.

Carpenter Box team - Paul Froome, Peter Raynsford & Charlie Eve with Guild Care's Suzanne Millard

Its been a superb project for both LWS and Ski Bespoke.  ”The team at Ski Bespoke have been an absolute pleasure to work with, if they are as good at organising holidays as they are at being a client then I’d advise any Skier to book their next holiday through Lesley, Kelly, Luke and the team.”

Former key members of the Made to Measure /Ski Dream team have regrouped under the name of Ski Bespoke which, as the name states, is committed to providing you with a bespoke service, built on past knowledge … and more.  The company’s strengths lie in its ability to find that exact location or hotel, or newly-discovered ‘shh, don’t tell anybody’ destination, offering clients a unique ‘je ne sais quoi’ element to their ski experience.

For adrenalin junkies, there are Heli and Cat skiing adventures. A concierge service comes as standard and the Ski Bespoke staff go to great lengths to ensure that every element of any ski holiday is seamless.  They are passionate about tailoring a perfect match for their clients and all hotels are 4 or 5 star standard, with the occasional special 3 star property which offers something extra that they believe their guests will enjoy.

Our website shows details of our carefully selected resorts and hotels which will be continously added to and updated to bring a wider variety of choice.

Main resorts covered by Ski Bespoke are (others on request):

• Canada: Whistler, Banff, Tremblant, Sun Peaks
• America:  Aspen, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Jackson Hole, Vail
• Austria:  Bregenzerwald, Gaschurn, Flachau, Ischgl, Kitzbuhel, Lech, Oberlech, Saalbach-Hinterglemm, St Anton, St Cristoph, Zurs
• France:  Chamonix, Courchevel, Les Arcs, La Plagne, Megeve, Meribel, Val d’Isere, Val Thorens
• Italy: Courmayeur, Cervinia
• Switzerland:   Arosa, Davos, Engelberg, Grindelwald, Wengen, Gstaad, Klosters, Riederalp, Saas Fee, St Moritz, Verbier, Villars, Zermatt

Visit www.skibespoke.com now for more information.

www.skibespoke.com

Anyone for Pimm's?

These free monthly events offer a tantalising combination of taster training sessions, networking in true LWS-style, plus a bit of light entertainment – for our launch golf teaching pro Dave Fluke, md of South Coast Golf , here with his golf nets. Dave ran a chipping competition for our guests - after careful instructions not to hit any of the equipment inside the office… Our lucky winner was Sarah Petras of SJA International – a super if somewhat suprising result given her comment on picking up the wedge: “I’m not sure if I’m right or left handed.” No matter, she was the only ‘competitor’ to get one in the net and duly left with a bottle of wine.

Due to popular demand from our guests on the night and its position as a top priority in the LWS Training Survey (click here to take part), Setting Up a Database and Email Marketing Campaign will be the taster training session on our next GTBE event – Tuesday 2nd August 5-7pm here at the LWS offices.

Regular communication with your customers is crucial to your business success. If you are not in frequent contact with them then you can bet someone else will be.  Come and find out why you need to get to grips with this low cost, simple to track, high feedback and high return on investment (ROI) tool that enables you to communicate effectively with your target audience(s).

So that’s the Get Trained part sorted (click here to book your FREE place)… now to choose the Be Entertained bit – wine tasting, cake tasting, cookery demo, chocolates…hmmm, decisions, decisions.

Dave Fluke with winner Sarah Petras

So, the time has come to change handsets. Its decision time!

Apple’s awesome iPhone4, wait for the 5, switch to Android or perhaps even a Windows phone?

Well, I’m still a PC boy you see so it makes sense for me to consider the other two options. Windows I dont really love, so I’ll rule that out. However, Google are some of my favourite people. The stuff they bring out is great, their Ethos is something I really like and I think the future is bright for the Android market.

So is price the issue? Well its a factor. £40+ for a decent iPhone contract, circa £25 for a new HTC handset. I like HTC too, the way they have crept in under the rader is impressive.

Then chuck in the fact that my wife needs a phone. I’m not retraining her from android to another OS, so she will be getting a new Android phone. Should I consider this and make sure the same charger works for us both, the same car kit and the same screen covers. All more reasons to go for an Android device this time round.

But there is also a good reason for LWS Creative. We’ve all got iPhones right now, so we are adept and capable of making things happen on Apple devices. But no-one has an android.

So, the decision is made.  Ignoring anything above, and for no reason other than the good of the company I am going to have to move to a new phone and think it’ll be the HTC Sensation.

Come on HTC & Google, challenge set. You have 2 years to make some very cool things for this to interact with my PC lifestyle and deliver me mobile benefits. I promise in return to preech you as much as I have Apple’s iPhone over the past few years.

The HTC Sensation

The iPhone 4 - I wouldnt go with white!

One of the staples of any creative agency (aside from mountains of inspiration, that is) is caffeine. However the barrier that always seems to be lowered is: Who’s going to supply it? The echoes of the above cries heard through the annals of time. LWS Creative is no different. However, what else makes a leading design agency tick? What makes up their day?

Picture the scene: 8:30am and the tranquil surroundings of Arundel’s Chalk Springs is interrupted by the various team members rolling in – Claire or Pete usually the first to whisk open the blinds and let the Arundel sunshine flood the rooms. Matt and Paul will not be too far behind discussing watching golf, playing golf, holding golf clubs…its no wonder they don’t arrive in a buggy. The remaining members will also make an appearance, either kick starting their computers into life, Cat and Becky checking newly delivered print or in Graham’s case, falling over something.

9:15 rolls around and Matt calls us into the client room for the daily project meeting – discussing the work that is scheduled for the day, organising work for coming days and weeks and generally ensuring that the team knows the state of play with projects. The outstanding quotes will also be looked at to see where future projects are – giving the sales team a chance to one-up each other on sales targets. All in good spirits…mostly. From there on in the office is a hive of activity; Shirley will field calls like a pro and ensure that Claire’s movements are documented, all the while barking at us that the front door has been left open again.

Lunchtime hits (12pm for some, somewhat later for others) and the office will disperse into different places – many will stay at their desks and eat while working (they’re troopers, the lot of them) while some may go round the back of the office and practice their swing (the purchase of a Golf net being a welcome addition to the team). One poor soul will make the trip into Arundel to buy some lunch…with a list of food longer than the A24 from the rest of the staff.

Once the plates/bowls have been removed of provision the afternoon arrives just as swiftly as the morning left – meetings take place with clients, the phones vie with the local wildlife for ‘most repetitive noise in the vicinity’ and Leon will demolish another Red Bull. Once 5pm rolls up you would expect most to down tools and enjoy the remainder of the evening…however, this is one arena whereby the work doesn’t stop.Eventually, Shirley will shoehorn everyone out of the office, with the usual exception of Claire or Graham who will still be beavering away.

Last one out has to lock up – the office has to be tidy, organised and any cakes suitably digested. All this and it’s ready to hit the ground running and do the same tomorrow…

Will Twitter still be here in a few years time? Who knows. But at the moment, this is a must for all people who want to reach a much larger, and more diverse client base.

So what are you waiting for? Here are our Top 5 reasons why you should sign up today!

1. Exposure of Your Website – Perhaps the most obvious benefit of Twitter is generating traffic to your website. When you’re connected with followers, they can help spread your content by ‘ReTweeting’ it to their followers. Use Twitter and you’ll experience more traffic to your blog and website.

2. Need Answers? – If you need help with a question and no-one in your office can help then Twitter is one of the best ways to get a fast response. Just pose your question to the community, and within minutes, you could get an array of responses from your followers. It could even spark a larger discussion that gets you some attention.

3. Your Online Reputation – If you are a business who is using twitter, it can be an effective tool for online reputation management. You can follow your name and see what people are saying about you.

4. Breaking News – Twitter can keep you up to date with all the news that’s important. This could be industry news that often flies under the radar. By following the right people, you always have the latest niche news I can’t find anywhere else.

5. Build Relationships – You don’t have to follow only the people you know. You can make valuable new contacts with Twitter. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for people to work for your company or you just want to interact with others who like the same music as you, you can find all the new contacts you need through Twitter.

So what are you waiting for. Click here to go to Twitter and set yourself up an account now!

(And don’t forget to follow @LWSCreative)

The world has gone digital and with that face-to-face communication kind of got lost in the modern business world.  This is madness and the most influential brands made sure they never stopped engaging and impressing their customers and prospects.

You can no longer just hide behind your site or your advertisements and hope your message gets across because you can guarantee someone has written, heard or read something more on a forum, social media site, or from a good old fashioned chat with their friends and colleagues.  These sites and chats often hold more weight than your advert will and become the convincer in a buy or not to buy decision.

So, how do you avoid falling foul to user generated content?  Well, one of the answers is to improve your field marketing. You must have people out there representing your brand.  Be they at retail outlets, exhibitions, on the street, networking or at any other style of event, those people need to stay on brand and know exactly why they are there, and what they should be saying.

There is most certainly a place for the world of digital media, but don’t forget that good old fashioned Face to Face business is often still the best way to sell where relationships truly are still key to your success.

First to go live was a site for Dan’s brand new venture, The Sussex Ice Cream Company. We’ve already had lots of positive feedback and Dan has received several enquiries for his product directly from the site. We also linked the site to a dedicated fan page on Facebook which is rapidly growing in popularity.

Following close behind, we’ve launched a new site for the Red Anywhere catering business. Also linked to a Facebook fan page, this new site is dynamic and vibrant, reflecting the Red Anywhere ethos, and a lot of attention was paid to how the site looks on Ipads and Iphones as well as Android devices.

A website from LWS Creative isn’t just another website. We deliver sites with a little bit of Wow and we take care to ensure the best possible user experience, regardless of the browser or platform. We optimise the site against the latest SEO guidelines and we ensure that the site complies with the Digital Discrimination Act.

If you feel that your skills would be useful for LWS Creative then please send in your CV and covering letter to shirley@lwscreative.co.uk.

Permanent
There are currently no permanent positions available at LWS.

Freelance
We are always interested to hear from experienced and motivated freelancers. At present we would be interested particularly in DTP, Graphic Design and Web Design freelancers. For freelance positions, please send all of the following.

• Covering letter including full details of all rates
• Whether you would be available to work on or off site
• CV to include full details of your skill levels in relevant industry programmes e.g. Fireworks, Illustrator
• Portfolio clearly demonstrating your field of work

The LWS Work Experience Programme
LWS are keen to offer work experience opportunities for forward thinking, self motivated candidates with a ‘can do’ attitude.

Three of our permanent team, Becky, Leon and Graham all earnt positions following the work experience programme. A fourth team member, Gemma, came to us via a work experience programme through Employer Engagement. Other work experience candidates have moved on from LWS with great examples of workplace experience to enhance their CV’s for future career benefit.

We are always happy to provide glowing references for the right candidates.

Work Experience Programmes are available – now – as follows:

• Desk Top Publishing / GraphicDesign
  For budding DTP or graphic designers (or a combination of both). For this programme, a reasonable level of experience in Quark, Publisher, Illustrator or InDesign is required.
• Social Media Project
  Do you want to enhance your social media experience? We are looking for someone to assist in a key social media project at LWS. Knowledge of Twitter, Facebook is required, training on LinkedIn will be provided. E-marketing and blogging could also be a key part of this project.
• Training Division Project
  LWS have just launched their training division. Could you assist with course administration, write course content, promoting courses via email marketing and even learn to deliver some of the training? Working alongside our in-house Training Co-Ordinator, this is a great opportunity for someone with great organisational skills and movitation.
• Web Administration/Technical/Design
  We currently have a superb team member on the work experience programme for web based skills however we are still keen to hear from people interested in this field. Fireworks and Photoshop knowledge is required.

This is a work experience programme and therefore unpaid, however travelling expenses will be covered. To apply please contact shirley@lwscreative.co.uk with all of the following details:

• your available start date
• which days and hours you can be available (a minimumm of 15hrs per week for at least a 3 month period)
• which type of work experience you are interested in (web, design, marketing, project work)
• any relevant portfolios/details of skills required
• why you think you’re the best person to be on our programme!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Check out http://www.iguana-solutions.co.uk for more information about this modern, IT training solutions provider for West Sussex and the South East.  Lucy Ignatiadis is a Certified Microsoft Trainer and you can follow here and Iguana on Twitter here.

“Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) are the premier technical and instructional experts on Microsoft technologies, and are the only individuals authorized to deliver training for Microsoft Certification.”

Iguana's new website

Green Cuisine

2011 promises to be a great year for the latest LWS Creative client to scoop an award for their excellence.

Green Cuisine of Worthing have picked up the award of Best New Business in the Splash FM awards.

Visit the Green Cuisine Website – http://www.mentalaboutlentils.co.uk to find out more about this exciting new restaurant in Worthing, West Sussex.

Article from Splash FM

Run by Clare McIvor, Green Cuisine is a restaurant offering a menu that is thoroughly organic, fair trade and locally sourced. The food on offer is focussed toward vegetarians and vegans, those with  dairy, nut and wheat allergies – and more generally, those who want to lead a healthier lifestyle. The welcome is warm, and there are regular events like art classes, kids’ cookery workshops, crafts fairs,  quiz nights – and the restaurant regularly showcases work form local artists The business is green though and through -  they even use toilet paper made from sugar cane!!

Sponsored by The Best of Worthing

The site was a bespoke design for Beacon Recruitment and Consultancy based in Chichester, West Sussex.  Beacon specialises in supplying temporary, permanent and contract personnel to a wide range of businesses, professions and industries up to senior management level.  You can expect a professional response to your specific requirements and be assured that you will be provided with flexible and cost effective solutions to support your recruitment process.

Beacon Recruitment Job Board

You can see the Beacon Recruitment Website by clicking the image to the right or visiting www.beacon-recruitment.com

Here is what Owner Jan Dixon had to say about the LWS Experience.

A big thank you to the team at LWS Creative for creating a fantastic new website for us; we are delighted with the results.

“From our first meeting with Claire Love and Paul Froome we knew that they would capture all we needed the site to be and this has certainly been achieved.

Special thanks to Paul Froome who project managed everything so well and talked to us in such a straight forward way avoiding the jargon. Julian Allen for his technical expertise and Leon Strydon who designed our site giving it just the right look and feel.”

Jan Dixon, Director. Beacon Recruitment Services Limited

Authors Note: What I would like to say is a big thanks to Jan and Roger for being such superb clients.   If they are as good at recruitment as they are at being clients then they should certainly be the people you should call when you have a recruitment need in Sussex and Hampshire.  - Paul Froome

Look out for LWS on page 18, 32, 66,  77 and 98

Euphoria Lifestyle took home both runner up and winner for the category ‘Residential Portable Hot Tub above £10,000’, in recognition of the company’s outstanding design and installation of hot tubs across the south east.

The awards were organised by BISHTA, who represent over 100 specialist hot tub and spa companies across the UK, with some overseas members. The evening highlighted the achievements of the spa and hot tub industry by showcasing the best examples of product design and innovation.

Chris Hayes, Managing Director of the BISHTA says “This year is BISHTA’s tenth anniversary and the Awards created tough competition for the judges to deal with a shortlist of 29 entries across 6 categories. The Awards profile some excellent work from our members and demonstrates the value of choosing a BISHTA member when buying a spa or hot tub, as they can provide great spas and they are very knowledgeable about their products and can ensure correct water treatment advice is given to the consumer.

“BISHTA host their awards evening at the SPATEX exhibition, the UK’s largest swimming pool and hot tub exhibition, which held its 15th annual trade show at the Hilton Brighton Metropole Exhibition Centre over the weekend. As this event sees companies from across the UK gather to showcase their most innovative products. We were delighted to recognise the hard work from our industry’s hard working companies, these award winners demonstrate that hot tubs and spas bring more to the home than simply leisure; they can be a way to keep healthy, `as well as providing relaxation with family and friends.”

Mike Robinson from Euphoria Lifestyle said “Winning two awards this year is a fantastic achievement. They are recognition of the fantastic work throughout the last 12months and makes the total awards won from BISHTA to ten in the last three years”

Euphoria Lifestyle are one of the UK’s leading and award winning suppliers of Jacuzzi Hot Tubs, Catalina Spas and Helo Sauna and Steam.  They also provide other related items including gazebos, water products accessories, toy and games.

Click here to view the Euphoria Lifestyle website

LWS  provide Euphoria with many services including their website, marketing, design and print.

Mike and Frank Collecting their awards

The Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) rules already apply to ads in newspapers, etc but, until now, its digital remit only covered ads in emails, text messages and in paid-for space, such as banner and pop-up ads or keyword advertising on search engines.

From March, however, the rules cover “Advertisements and other marketing communications by or from companies, organisations or sole traders on their own websites, or in other non-paid-for space online under their control, that are directly connected with the supply or transfer of goods, services, opportunities and gifts, or which consist of direct solicitations of donations as part of their own fund-raising activities.”

The new rules don’t just apply to .co.uk sites, but cover organisations operating from the UK, on their own websites and in other non-paid for space online under their control e.g. Facebook.

However, the new remit does not cover user generated content it unless it is adopted and incorporated within an organisation’s own online communications.