BIMA Interview with Spencer Gallagher

If you're interested in finding out a little more about the man behind the Bluhalo brand, Spencer Gallagher recently took part in an interview with BIMA to find out what makes him tick.

So if you're interested to know what he's reading, what he's listening to, who he admires most and much more, you can check out the interview on the BIMA blog.

NFL UK launches new website

We are pleased to announce the launch of NFL’s official UK website, NFLUK.com.

The new launch sees NFL UK’s five year old website receive a complete redesign, with focus on fan engagement through the creation of a strong community offering and social media focus which includes a forum, ‘locker room’, blogs and fan profiles.

Bluhalo was chosen to develop the site following a competitive pitch between a final short list of three agencies. The new website sits alongside our other high profile sporting clients which include Liverpool F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League, Andy Murray, Hi-Tec, SWRT and Prodrive.

Bluhalo’s Managing Director Spencer Gallagher commented: “I am delighted that NFL UK selected us to work with them on this exciting project and am incredibly pleased with the end result – a website that exudes the true spirit of NFL. When it comes to engaging fans digitally, Bluhalo has an impressive track record and I’m looking forward to seeing the site evolve with additional features over the coming months.”

Alistair Kirkwood, Managing Director of NFL UK, said: "Deepening the connection with our fans is an important part of our activity in the UK and a vibrant, community-driven website plays a major role in that. We are delighted to be working with Bluhalo and look forward to a long and fruitful partnership."

Spencer Gallagher joins Hantsweb Awards judging panel

The Hantsweb Awards celebrate excellence in website design, accessibility and service. The awards are open to any website based in Hampshire and Isle of Wight.

This year, Spencer Gallagher, Founder and Managing Director of Bluhalo Ltd and European Head of Strategy at Mighty Mouse Digital, joins the judging panel for the sports category. Joining him in selecting the area's best sports website is Andy Steggall, a sports presenter, producer and filmmaker who regularly presents Sky Sports News and anchors Meridian's Soccer Night programme.

Spencer and Andy will be judging the nominated websites against good practice web criteria. The winning site will be accessible, easy to use, be well used and will provide up to date information and a useful service to its audience.

To find our more, visit the Hantsweb Awards website.

To view profiles of all judges, including Spencer, visit the judges page.

If you'd like to nominate a website (you have until 3rd August 08!), visit the nominate a website page.

The Internet Psychic

That’s what I feel like sometimes, scared to speak out in case I get it wrong.

It's been an interesting journey running a digital agency over the past nine years, to think back in 2000 when Lastminute.com floated and Boo.com crashed, people actually dismissed the internet. I remember back then oh so many businesses telling me "who needs a website", in fact I would be the first to admit that I was very embarrassed to even admit I was in the website building business in the months following the dot com crash, the internet was almost like a dirty word, a fad that had ended.

Today we proudly say at the top of our website, “We build websites!” Yes, its a bit Ronseal, but how proud we are today to claim this...a far cry from 2000 when I would rather just label Bluhalo as "new media" and do everything to avoid the words ‘internet’ or ‘web’.

Back in early 2006 we were talking about Web 2.0, almost instantly, well at least by the end of the year, there were countless claims that this was all a marketing fad? Well is it? Was it? Web democratisation is now part of internet culture.

Today, once again, I am scared of being ridiculed by talking about Web 3.0 or at least if there is a Web 3.0, what is it? What's next? One thing traditional media hasn’t had to do is stick its neck out on the line as much as technology businesses, whether its Beta or VHS; Bluray or HD-DVD; Innovators and Digital Mavens are always trying to spot the next big thing.

There is a saying in business that pioneers get scalped. Bluhalo is a settler. We are on the leading edge, not the bleeding edge...that’s not to say we aren’t right up there...

So, Maven or not, let me stake a claim as to my feelings on the next few years, how things will map out and then think about how your business will evolve to provide these sales, marketing or productivity features to your lives and customers.

The Semantic Web

Nothing new here. Tim Berners-Lee has been talking about this for many years and continues to talk regularly on the subject. Bluhalo is already microformatting its website and I read only last month that Kelkoo is too, along with many more people that see the value in getting their data into microformat.

Imagine a web where machines can read sites almost as easily as humans can read them. Picture this; you ask your machine to check your diary against the appointment diaries of all the dentists and doctors within a 10-mile radius - and it obeys. Imagine your mobile or gas bill comes in and your computer automatically compares your type of usage and identifies the best service provider for your type of use and initiates a change of provider for you... an exciting and virtually limitless prospect…

The 3D Web

We are already seeing these worlds growing daily, a 3D Web you can walk through. Without leaving your desk, you can go business networking in different regions or with different social groups or sectors. You can take a tour of South America, or you can walk through a Second Life style virtual world, surfing for data and interacting with others in 3D.

The Media-Centric Web

A web where you can find media using other media - not just keywords. You supply, say, a photo of your favorite painting and your search engines turn up hundreds of similar paintings in multiple media formats.

The Pervasive Web

A web that's everywhere. On your PC. On your mobile phone. On your clothes and jewellery. Spread throughout your home and office. Even your bedroom windows are online, checking the weather, so they know when to open and close. Nike+ is a good early example of the pervasive web, with a tablet that fits into your running shoe to track your performance. Maybe another is the internet fridge that can weigh your milk carton and know when to re-order online for you…

Browser Applications

Browser based applications are really growing in popularity and in fact one of our most read blog articles from one of team covers this subject really well click here to read more.

So what happens next? There won't be a sudden life-changing moment, but like social media there will be a change in usage trends as adoption of the new technologies grows. Then one day you will realise that it has all changed and you didn't even notice it happening. But by then, everyone is doing it and you've missed the opportunity to get ahead of your competitors. Start thinking about the future, now.

Spencer Gallagher

Entering the Den

In its second series, named e-Den.2, Spencer Gallagher, Founder and Managing Director of Bluhalo, a top UK digital agency and Hampshire’s largest agency, joins the other panel members in providing the candidates with valuable feedback and advice.

The E-Den series, organised by BowShot, an active community of high-performance entrepreneurs, takes on a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style format, with four active e-traders presenting their ‘top-plate’ e-business issue to the audience and the panel of experts.

The forums have been described as highly effective, unique and enjoyable events, with candidates and the audience benefiting hugely from the raft of experience of the panellists.

In addition to sitting on the panel of web experts, Spencer has also agreed for Bluhalo to offer a prize of £2500 of website design work to the winning candidate to give their online business a valuable make over.

The first in the series will be held on 3rd April, 2008. If you’re interested in going along or taking part, you can find out more information on the Bowshot website.

Blue Halo to Bluhalo - how we got here

Blue halo, Bluehalo, Bluhalo, Bluehalo New Media Ltd, Blue Halo New Media Ltd...

We've had a few names, albeit the same name with different variations. So how did we come to be called Bluhalo as we are known today?

When Bluhalo was originally formed in 1999 by Spencer Gallagher, the company traded as K2 Consulting. Before long, Spencer had formed a small team of eight and decided the company needed a rebrand, to reflect its new personality, type of company and to embrace its future as a successful website design and build agency, or digital agency as we are now often described.

After some brainstorming, a bit of help from a dictionary (inspiration can come from anywhere you know!) and as Spencer calls it, some 'divine intervention', the name Blue Halo New Media Ltd was chosen.

As time went on, another company building websites appeared, trading as Blue Halo. They were Manchester based but the names still caused some confusion. The decision was taken to shorten Blue Halo New Media to Bluhalo, giving it a more modern feel, at the same time as differentiating itself from the other company.

So that is how we came to be the Bluhalo that we are today. We went through another rebrand last year, keeping the name the same but updating our corporate identity and giving ourselves the new strapline - Creativity. Cultivated.

If you'd like to find out more about our website design and build services, you can give us a call on 01252 70 11 11.

It’s a job for grown-ups

By Mike Southon - Financial Times on Saturday 23rd February 2008.

Read the article below, which followed on from a recent interview with Spencer Gallagher the Founder and Managing Director of Bluhalo

There is also a Podcast of the full interview (and a cut down version) which can be download from The Beer Mat Entrepreneur Website http://www.beermat.biz/ or through iTunes

"It is hard starting a new business. It is even harder growing it, as this requires the entrepreneur to hire people better than themselves. Anyone starting a business has to be versatile.

They have to have enough sales ability to secure customers. Then they have to be able to deliver on their promises, which often involves working long hours. Finally, they have to do their own finances and try to avoid going broke from poor cash flow.

All this can be very hard work and explains why a large number of businesses cease trading in the first year. But if you are successful, you can then start scaling up your business. The problem is that there is a glass ceiling of somewhere between 25 and 40 people.

To grow above this level you need to plan carefully and put some proper business processes in place. Process is the natural enemy of the entrepreneur, so the clever ones hire professionals (or grown-ups as I like to call them), who can do some relatively simple tasks in a systematic and repeatable way.

One such entrepreneur is Spencer Gallagher, who stumbled into web design after a career in clothing retail. He had early success with his company Bluhalo doing simple websites for start-up businesses. His bright idea was to trawl the database at Companies House for newly-registered businesses and offer them a quick service to get up and running.

Business was good and he was able to expand, so Gallagher realised it was time to hire people better than himself to do the jobs he hated the most. Top of the list was finance. Most entrepreneurs have a bookkeeper or an accountant, but these people can only deal with the past. What is required is someone who looks into the future, or a finance cornerstone as we call them in our Beermat model.

This is someone who tells you months in advance that you need to do certain things differently. It is often assumed these people are just there to control costs. This is the easiest part of their job. What they are really there for is to work out how to scale the business, which should involve getting involved in every part of the operation. Some finance cornerstones even make great sales managers.

Gallagher approached finding a finance cornerstone in exactly the right way. It had to be someone whom he liked, who understood the direction he wanted to take Bluhalo. He then told this person they had to pay their way as soon as possible. Reducing unnecessary costs can make finance cornerstones unpopular.

The natural mode of the entrepreneur is to say “yes” to staff, which can lead to a lax regime for personal expenses. It is very common for a new finance cornerstone to attract the nickname Dr No, but increased awareness of the need to control costs is a natural part of the growing-up process for any small company.

The next “grown-up” that Gallagher hired was an experienced project manager from IBM. Small companies usually deliver projects by the seat of their pants. This works for small number of customers, but scaling this up is very hard. It requires skills that can only be gained from the successful delivery of large projects and these skills are most often found in large organisations. Gallagher’s experienced project manager was again given the specific brief of saving her own salary and more.

She installed the project management software they used at IBM, which turned out not to be as monolithic or inflexible as Gallagher had feared.This enabled Bluhalo to raise itself from the hundreds of thousands of companies that offer web design into one of the most successful in the country. Bluhalo specialises in large sports sites, with high numbers of visitors looking at increasing amounts of ever-changing content. This requires advanced software development skills as well as expert customer management.

Hiring grown-ups also enables the entrepreneur to spend more time turning the next good idea into a great business and not bother with ever having to grow up themselves. Perhaps the best role model for the aspiring entrepreneur is not Richard Branson or Bill Gates, but Peter Pan."

Valentine's poems competition winner...

...plus the runners up!

After much deliberation and only 6 poems being entered (what happened to all the romantics at Bluhalo?!), Spencer Gallagher (our MD) chose the winning poem (mainly because it was one of the only serious Valentine's ones!). Just so you get a real feel for our love of Valentine's Day here at Bluhalo, I've included the other entries too... enjoy! I think for the minute we're going to stick to what we're really good at - designing and building websites!

The Winner - A Time To Dine

Seven thirty to half past nine,
Prelude to a night divine.
Oysters that slip, then Asparagus tip.
Thoughts at first; Then let the bodice rip.
On to desert with the sweetest wine,
Relax the head and let the body unwind.
Strolling home hand strays to the hip,
The neck is teased with a gentle nip.
At home in bed as bodies entwine,
A silent whisper; Be my valentine.

The Others

A relationship with cupid

The modern era is a lot of fun,
It’s like Cupid’s armed with a machine gun!
Relationships up and down like nobody knows,
And young mothers with ASBOs!

Cupid’s ammo isn’t just love,
He’s also firing lust from above,
Wounded by this, I drink my drink,
Before waking next to something ugly and pink!

Times have changed and I’m made wiser,
But Cupid’s still the same cheeky conspirer,
Just the other day, he caught me unaware
And shot me so hard I cried without care

On valentines day 2008,
I love to hate him but he’s still a mate,
Ok, his arrows normally hurt too much,
But I know one will strike full of luck!


Valentine’s poem

The crispness retreated
The sunshine emerged
The fog cleared
The due dried
The colours flourished
And all before breakfast in bed


Two become one

One look, one smile
One call, one kiss…

Could all lead the way to a life of bliss

Two hearts, two lives
Two paths become one

From one lonely soul, to a pair full of fun.


Valentine’s Day

Valentines day
What a waste of cash
I’d rather it was cancelled
So I could go out on the lash


Valentine's Haiku
Emotional Blackmail Time
Tacky cards again
All a marketing swindle!

Bluhalo Vs Blue Halo Vs Bluehalo Vs Blu Halo

It's a common occurence that Bluhalo is often written as Blue Halo, Bluehalo, BluHalo, Blu Halo and I'm sure in many other more obscure ways also! For those of you that have not heard the history of the company name, I thought it would be nice to explain the history behind the name...

Blue Halo New Media Ltd, was the name created back in 1999, and was incorporated in January 2001. Founded by Spencer Gallagher, Blue Halo the name was inspired by a number of companies who use a colour and object. For those of you who remember BlueHalo being created as a combination, you may not know that the name was chosen with the help of a dictionary and a little divine intervention!

Spencer Gallagher, traded originally as K2 consulting which became Blue Halo New Media Ltd and designed and built websites from day one. The original domain name url http://www.bluhalo.com/ was used and we also owned bluehalomedia.co.uk and bluehalomedia.com too.

A couple of years later the website Blue Halo .co.uk appeared as a competitive business trading as a much smaller entity as a sole trader/partnership business. In order to differentiate ourselves, we dropped the e on Blue Halo and trademarked Bluhalo Ltd.

So there you have it, the history of our name!

The best of retro web...

Not all of us have been surfing the web since 1994 like Spencer Gallagher our MD, but we all have our favorite retro moments from the past 14 years! Here's Bluhalo's top list of the best (and the worst!) of retro web, so cast your mind back for a moment...

Bluhalo's Top Ten Retro Memories

1. The horrible dial up internet noise – bi-dong bi-dong!

2. Animated gifs - smiley faces, animated flags, the road sign and the man digging...lol

3. IRC (internet relay chat)

4. Google in 1996!



5. The Dot Com crash….(Lastmintute.com the last to get all the cash! The crash of http://www.boo.com/ )



6. Plenty of blink and marquee html tags, "this site is under construction" - probably with a gif of a guy digging - everywhere was 'Under Construction'!

7. The Java script clock on website (JavaScript: browser took time from local computers) - then broke in the millennium, all the website javascript clocks went wrong!

8. Mosaic browser, the first free browser for the world wide web as it was always called then.

9. http://www.geocities.com/, if you wanted a free web page, you did it here...remember bourbon street?

10. In 1995, whatever you searched for a porn site came up!

Spencer's top tips for website success in 2008!

2008 looks to be a challenging year, so I've put together my top 10 tips for ensuring your website's success in 2008. And it needn't be a whole new website if that's not what you want, although a new look never hurt anyone! You could just enhance your current site with a few choice features to give it that something special to set you apart from your competition.

Remember, to remain competitive on the internet DO TODAY what your competition will do tomorrow!

Can you tick all the boxes below? I can! And our new website that went live in November has already led to loads of new business enquiries!

If you don't understand any of what we're saying, then call us and we can explain, you need to know and understand what we are telling you to remain competitive online.

Make these your business New Year's resolutions!


THE LIST

1. Web 2.0 style redesign (make sure your site is fully designed in CSS)

If your website hasn’t been redesignd in 12 months, it needs an update! Internet trends have changed, business to business or business to consumer websites are all changing in design.

2. Add a tag cloud to your website search

Websites are now using tagging more and more as a way to label up content, add a tag cloud, you’ll see one on http://www.bluhalo.com/, click ‘spencer’ to see an example of how it works (all the resulting articles or products from a search can be tagged by you or your website customers!




3. Add a fat footer!

Add a fat footer to your website to increase usability, they are simple to build! They’re very en vogue and encourage click throughs around your website…




4. Add a Podcast – it's no longer a gimmick but a valuable business tool!

Bluhalo now has our very own recording studio to produce podcasts. Want customers to listen you or someone talk about your products or services? Podcasts can be played through your website as well as itunes and emailed to your customers directly to deliver regular updates.




5. GET A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY! – a WHAT?

Ensure your customers can add your content to their social bookmarking sites! Its not only good for your natural search results but also good for syndicating out your content, look at the bottom of every Bluhalo story, click the ‘share with’ button, even the BBC uses this, do you?




6. RSS and ATOM News Feeds

Is your website content available for distribution?




7. Add a blog today

Google likes websites whose content is updated regularly through news and blogs. It takes about two days for Google to update Wordpress and Blogger.com blog stories, get Bluhalo to put a blog on your website!




8. Create a show reel or video piece to bring your business alive…

Bluhalo now has access to a wide range of video services – it’s exciting, it’s cool to watch and it adds a new facet to your brand.




9. Create a first phase mobile website.

Get your content onto a mobile site, regardless of whether or not the iphone and Opera revolution will negate the need to a mobile sites in the future, there is nothing to say. This is now.

10. HTML Email Newsletters

If you do are not currently sending your customers at least one nicely designed email html a month because you don’t have the time, then let us do it for you!

Most of the above can be implemented with modest budgets… but could make a world of difference.

If you want to know more, you can speak to Spencer, Michael, Vim, David, Simon or Rob and we can point you in the right direction for your business! (You can call on 01252 70 11 11 or contact us online.)

The Myth of the Fold

In my 3.5 years at Bluhalo I’ve learnt that so called ‘best practice’ design methodologies come and go in fads. What is considered best one day is often turned on its head within a year or two. The fashion in the last few years has been that all important content must be ‘above the fold’. Information Architects and us designers often clash over this and don’t always see eye-to-eye. To us, this theory has always been a bone of contention.

So….I ask the questions….is the ‘fold’ as important as it once was and should we slavishly adhere to it at all costs?

Screen performance data and new research indicate that users are now far more prepared to scroll to find information and items below the fold. AOL did a small study on one of their sites - TMZ.com - and found that the most popular link was actually in the footer area at the bottom of the page. NB. Some of their pages can span 15,000 pixels in height! This in turn supports the ClickTale research that shows 76% of users scroll and that a good portion of them scroll all the way to the bottom, despite the height of the screen… ie. Scrolling behaviour is independent of screen height.



TMZ homepage screen shot

This ties in to the premise behind one of our earlier blog posts, about the website footer, which highlighted the fact it now as important to consider the whole web page in terms of content and not just the top 1/3.

Of course, there are always going to be key elements that must stay above the fold. Commercially critical ‘Call To Actions’, important bits of news/content, heavily used tools/functionality and signposting should be kept as visible as possible, but what you mustn’t do is blindly cram everything together in the hope of getting eyeballs. This simply will not work.

Remember…there is nothing wrong with space as part of an effective web design. After all, we all have to breathe and this will give us designers a bit more creative freedom and the chance to continue pushing the boundaries of digital design.

Natalie

Engaging fans - What? Why? How?

We’re the largest bespoke website design and build agency for the UK sports industry. And why is that?

Because we’re good at engaging fans.

We know sport, we’re fans ourselves. We know how fans think, what they want, why and how; and when we’re not a fan, we become one. We get inside the minds of fans and we work out exactly what makes them tick.

We don’t just design a website to how we think it should look, and we don’t just design a website that follows the crowd, we design a website that sets you apart from the crowd, encapsulates the essence of your brand and most importantly, excites your fans.

Exciting your fans isn’t just about giving them a website that has that ‘wow’ factor, although that’s important too, of course. It’s also about giving them the basics that they are going to need, such as real-time results, updates and news. The ‘wow’ factor obviously helps and gives them something to talk about too. But there also needs to be more depth, things to keep them coming back, we don’t only give you a way to talk to your fans, we give you a way to interact with your fans.

Fan interaction is great. They love you, they want to be associated with you and they really want to be listed to by you. By creating ways for the fans to interact, not only do we get you even more fan-love, but we also get you a great resource for research, feedback and the halo effect – they’ll spread the love. We give them a place to belong, a place of passion and community.

But it’s not all about cool features, communities and the latest downloads. There’s also a bit of theory behind the way we do a great job at engaging the fans via your website. We focus on user experience - a clear layout, intuitive navigation and compelling calls to action; we ensure you are accessible – after all, up to one in five visitors to your site will have some form of disability; we keep it simple – the less clicks to where they want to go the better; the list of what we do is pretty long, but the long and the short of it is – we help our clients engage their fans and we do a good job of it too. Which is why we are the agency of choice for the UK sporting sector.

London Marathon 2008

This is the first blog page on one of Bluhalo's several Marathon or Half-Marathon runners this year.

Firstly, Spencer Gallagher who starts the 14 week training, for the London Marathon 2008 on Monday 7th January.

The London Marathon this year is on 13th April and Spencer will be running for the Registered Charity "Vision" http://www.visioncharity.co.uk/

He will also be running both Reading and Fleet Half Marathons along the way!

He will be running a wopping 600 miles over the next 14 weeks. He is aiming for a time of 3 hours 59 minutes!

Spencer is aiming to raise £1,200 and is asking everyone to please sponsor him online (naturally) by visiting http://www.justgiving.com/spencergallagher

Story from Spurs...

As you may or may not know, Bluhalo has an executive box at White Hart Lane, the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. We use it for entertaining clients, suppliers, friends of Bluhalo and of course our very own team too!

On one of these delightful match days, one of our guests parked their car as you would normally expect to do and went and enjoyed a rather successful game (Spurs won).

To my surprise, later that evening I received an email thanking us for our hospitality and a rather amusing story to go with it. It went like this:

"Parked my car right by the stadium - when I got back, it was gone, as were all the cars in the street....oops!

Asked the police where it had been removed to and they said 'Lansdowne Road' (a few streets south)

Went to Lansdowne Road and there it was, in the street - not in a pound, no visible fine....they'd just moved it for me!"

Made me smile so thought it was worth sharing with you :-)

Geeks Vs. Freaks

I've now nearly been at Bluhalo for three months, so I thought it worthwhile to jot down a couple of my key thoughts so far.

I'm lucky (or unlucky if you count my agency that folded spectacularly in the original dot com gold rush!) enough to have experienced working at four very different digital agencies, so it's very interesting for me to look back at compare how they've all approached things. All have had straplines that are designed to sum up their USP or 'difference'. One of them (the biggest agency I've worked for) used 'ideas that work'. This one always made me laugh, as it's hardly going to be 'ideas that don't work'. Look at bit deeper though and you can see the point. There's absolutely no point in presenting an idea to a client that is likely to win a handful of Revolution Awards, a fist of IPA Effectiveness awards and a gold Cyber Lion at Cannes IF the idea isn't based on sound commercial judgement. As a strapline, 'ideas that work' is very noble and tips its hat at commerciality. The reality was occasionally very different though and sometimes it was obvious that an idea was more award-winning than ROI winning.

Bluhalo's strapline is 'Creativity Cultivated'. 'What does that mean?' was one of the first questions I asked in my interview. Spencer explained it with his normal passion and it makes sense. A team built round the skills and ambitions of the individual is more likely to succeed than not. Most agencies talk about a collaborative style of working and this is rightly very important, but it's not only collaboration with our clients that produces the best results, it's also how we work with each internally and produce great ideas. Afterall, without an idea, you are nothing!

It was this idea of collaboration that really got me thinking about my agency experience. It also got me thinking about a phrase Spencer had used as panelist at the E-Den event....'Geeks v Freaks'. I had never heard of this before, but basically it's an old digital description that sums up the age-old battle for control between the tecchies (affectionately named 'geeks'!) and the creatives (equally affectionalty referred to as the 'freaks'). To me, the success of an agency largely depends on how you get these two groups working together.

Alas, not all agencies will agree on this. My first agency (the one that died in the year 2000!), was very much driven by the technical approach and this was reflected in the hierarchy of the agency. Tech first, design second. The Geeks were in control and ruled the roost at brainstorms. At my second agency, now 170 strong and one of the biggest in the UK, the approach was the complete antithesis of my first. Very much formed in the image of BBH advertising (think Levi's, Audi and Vodafone), where the founder was the MD, the Freaks ran the show. To such an extent that I don't ever recall a brainstorm with a tecchie present. Ideas were generated by 'teams', which comprised of an art director and a copywriter. These were then presented back to the client in a pretty much unadulterated form.

I'm not 100% convinced that this traditional advertising approach always works. Yes, creative boundaries are pushed and I would suggest that it is the correct approach for online advertising campaigns, but is it the best approach for websites? Does a creative team consider in enough detail the overall user experience or functionality that will create a killer app? To me, the jury is still out.

So, the big question is how does Bluhalo's approach differ? Well, it's early days for me, but I don't sense a hierarchy between the Geeks and Freaks. We talk about a collaborative style of working and I genuinely think we do a good job of it. Believe me, it's not an easy task and a digital agency without argument or debate is going about things in the wrong way. We also use another strapline when trying to explain our overall approach to clients - 'by making our clients successful, we make ourselves successful. If I were a client in the process of appointing an agency, this is exactly the philosophy I would be looking for. I would want to partner an agency that focuses on achieving my commercial objectives, rather than producing functionality for functionality's sake or design to impress an awards judge. This is what Bluhalo does well and doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.

I'll tell you if I've changed my opinion in another three months!

Michael

Is the customer always right?

When entering the initial consultation period with a client it is always important for us to listen to the brief and build a full picture of what the client is aiming to achieve. Often, it is web entrepreneurs developing a unique idea or an SMEs developing an ecommerce site for the first time that require most commercial guidance in the web domain.

Experts are there to ask the right questions and explore the answers with the client. Experience of many different clients facing similar challenges and the observed level of success helps us challenge ideas, to reinforce and to develop them.

Consultation meetings often turn into ad-hoc brainstorming sessions where creative ideas are sprung from the shared knowledge – frequently dramatically, but positively changing the client’s initial vision for their online business.

From time to time, clients can be set on an idea that we would not necessarily agree is the best way forward. In these situations, it is still our duty to explain alternatives and our thoughts about why we think there are better ways – even if we’re not always favoured for doing this! It is important that our clients are successful and to do this means challenging ideas and using the knowledge of the team to develop these ideas.

We often advise our clients to develop in a phased approach. Splitting the project up into smaller chunks not only spreads the cost but also allows the success of phases to be measured before proceeding to the next. This reduces the risk of the project and adds key flexibility and measurability.

So, what I’m trying to say is - what the client wants is not always what we think they should have. But whether we agree or disagree, we’re still duty bound to share our thoughts and help paint a realistic picture of running a business online.

David Lythgoe

Comment from Spencer G -

"In my humble opinion (and i'll write less words than David) the customers who have sought advice from us, considered our opinion, then taken decisive action have been the most successful. The clients that tell you what to do, are the ones who often fail the most.

So is the customer always right? Honestly? Yes from experience, as long as we are talking about the ones who make their decisions by being collaborative and then taking directive decisions and standing by them whilst learning from them. Which do seem to be the type of customers we attract!

St. George's Hill joins Bluhalo as client

Another successful pitch and Bluhalo has beaten a number of other agencies to win the website redesign and redevelopment work for St. George's Hill Lawn Tennis Club Ltd - a prestigious and well established lawn tennis and squash retreat.

St. George's Hill now wants to create a new visually appealing, stylish, contemporary, and intuitive website that reflects St George’s Hill's growing success.

Bluhalo believes that this is an opportunity to create a ‘best of breed’ website that truly exceeds the needs of its target audience and allows St George’s Hill to reach and impress potential members.

The new website will tempt both members and potential members to use the facilities, stimulate new membership enquiries and offer a community for existing members. It will be news and events driven in order to keep members constantly informed of what’s going on.

Recent pitch successes...

We're pretty pleased with the successes we've had with pitching over the last couple of weeks. We entered into some very competitive pitch processes with some great potential clients and we've come out on top every time!!

The first was for Andy Murray.com. Andy Murray is a young rising tennis star. As part of his increasing popularity and success, Bluhalo is giving his current website (http://www.andymurray.com/) a 'technical make-over' and we're going to be improving his existing online store. This is a great website to add to Bluhalo's sporting repertoire of clients and continues our strategy to be the largest provider of bespoke sports websites in Europe.

Andy Murray's current website.

The second successful pitch was for Paddy Power Plc, Ireland's largest provider of fixed odds sports betting in Ireland. We'll be redesigning and redeveloping their existing corporate website - http://www.paddypowerplc.com/. With 7-1 starting odds, we came out strides ahead of the other agencies pitching for the website!

Paddy Power's current corporate website.

Steve, Mike and Ben out for the night after pitching to Paddy Power in Ireland. (Spencer's behind the camera!)

From the rally...

The latest pics are in from Vim and Spencer at Rally GB in Cardiff.

The ceremonial start...