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Christmas Shopping – Using online websites in North Wales

October 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Well it’s approaching that time of year again when we have to dig deep, get our thinking caps on and find our loved ones Christmas Shopping – Using online websites in North Walesthat special gift for Christmas.  Every year I spend hours and hours wandering around the shops in amongst the hordes of other Christmas shoppers (at the last minute, is’nt that what Christmas Eve is for?) getting very frustrated and very sore feet!!

However this year like many of my friends I have decided to buy all my gifts online as it saves me a lot of time and stress.  My only issue is that I normally like to shop locally and help support local businesses so for this reason I will be shopping at local online stores that are based in the North Wales area.

If you are like me and struggle to find the perfect gift for certain family members every year then hopefully my blog will inspire you.

For the women in your life why not treat them to a beauty treatment or pamper day, what women do you know who doesn’t enjoy a bit of pampering.  TH1 Beauty Salon in Bangor offers a wide range of treatments at their stylish and contemporary salon where you can totally relax and enjoy the opulent surroundings. As well as a wide range of beauty treatments available they also have ‘Monday Pamper Days’ running throughout the year where you can enjoy any 2 treatments for £50.00.

If you have jewellery in mind for your special lady then you must check out Italian World in Llandudno. They have a wonderful selection of gifts sourced from Italy exclusively for Italian World including some lovely pieces of Murano Glass Jewellery, Tedora Bracelets and a wide selection of unique Tedora Charms to accompany the beautiful bracelets. They also have a great range of  Venetian Masks which are perfect if you are planning on going to a Masquerade Ball this Christmas or New Year.

Duckworths is another great online shop that stocks a wide range of Ladies Gifts including handbag mirrors, purses, lipstick cases and perfume bottles along with a great selection of Mens Gifts such as silk ties, cuff links, hip flasks and wallets. They also stock a wide range of Welsh souvenirs and smoking accessories.

Is anybody in your family thinking of learning to drive? Then why not treat them to some driving lessons. Glan Conwy School of Motoring is a local driving school offering Driving Lessons in North Wales at competitive prices.  They also offer Residential Driving Courses for those that live further away and fancy a nice break in beautiful North Wales whilst learning to Drive.

For the Gardeners in your home who enjoy pottering in the greenhouse for hours on end, how about some Greenhouse Staging.  Greenhouse Staging is a great solution for making the most of your space for potting plants.  Greenhouse staging comes in a variety of sizes and is a great way to keep your pots and plants organised in a safe and secure area. Great Garden Products are based in Llandudno and stock a wide selection of Greenhouse Staging and other Wooden Garden Furniture.

Wine…. I don’t mean to sound like an absolute Lush but I never get bored of receiving a nice bottle of Red Wine as a gift, especially a good quality Natural Wine. If you are not familiar with Natural Wines then check out Good Wine Online, this North Wales based online retailer stocks a wide selection of Natural Wines as well as other quality Red Wines, White Wines, Rose’s and Champagne.  They also have a wealth of information about Natural Wines on their site which explains the benefits of drinking Natural Wine. The great thing about Natural wines is the fact that you can drink more of the wine without suffering with a hangover headache the next day.

The Christmas break for many people is a great time to get on with DIY and a time to spend time with your family and discuss future projects including renovations to the home.  If you have some spare time over the Christmas period and want to move forward with your plans then why not have a chat with Barry Richards from BR Architecture. This North Wales based firm of architectural designers specialise in luxury house designs, extensions, garage & loft conversions and Eco Design Houses in North Wales.

For those that like to get away from it all at Christmas then why not stay in a wondel  Hotel Snowdonia.  Ty’n Rhos Country House Hotel is a magnificent 5 star hotel nestled between the foothills of Snowdonia and the Menai Strait.   They have some wonderful Christmas breaks offers on their website.

As it’s approaching the Christmas break many of us will be thinking about the Christmas parties and nights out.  The problem many of us have if we venture further a field is getting home after a drink. Well no need to worry any longer as Castle Mini Coaches is a local firm that caters for nights out. Their Minibus Hire North Wales service is fantastic for big groups, they will literally pick you up, drop you at your destination then wait around for you whilst you party the night away and then drop you all the way home again, talk about a stress free night.

Well I hope I have managed to inspire you with some gift ideas from the above list of reputable local businesses that trade online.  Now sit back relax and start browsing from the comfort of your own home, just think you could have all your presents sorted by the weekend!!

TH1 Hairdressing – Beauty Salon Bangor
Italian World – Murano Glass Jewellery & Masquerade Masks
Duckworths – Ladies Gifts & Mens Gifts
Glan Conwy School of Motoring – Driving Lessons North Wales
Great Garden Products – Greenhouse Staging
Good wine online – Natural Wines
BR Architecture – Eco Design Houses in North Wales
Ty’n Rhos Country House – Snowdonia Hotel
Castle Mini Coaches – Minibus Hire North Wales

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized

Venetian Trip – Masks, Music and Motor Boats

October 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Grand Canal Venice

I enjoyed a wonderful week with the choir in Italy, performing as part of the Merchatello festival. Where we sang in a number of outstanding venues.

After this we visited Venice, what a  scene on arriving at the station with the Grand Canal presented in front of us! After an adventure trying to find the hotel on Calle del Forno (the wrong one had been listed online and it seemed that there were about five of these streets with the same name within a close distance of one another, yes ours was the last we visited), GPS can be a wonderful thing!
Enjoyed concert of the Interpreti Veneziani at Chiesa di San Vidal, stunning performances by all!
Wandering looking at the various shops, Venetian venetian  masks, antique prints, designer goods.
We took a second to help a boatman who was struggling to moor  and secure his boat next to the Rialto Bridge with the rapid water taxis zooming around and creating excessive wash.
Pics and more to follow.

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Introduction to Web Marketing Techniques at Bangor University for Anglesey Business Week

September 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Web Marketing Techniques

Last week I had the opportunity to share knowledge and techniques about Web Marketing as a speaker with a group assembled for Anglesey Business Week at the Management Centre, part of Bangor University.

The morning was very interesting with additional contributions from Joe Quinney (Marketing), Wyn Roberts of Aqua Marketing and Dr Rosalind Jones of  Bangor University. I did an overview of popular web maketing techniques, all from a personal experience perspective. My talk lasted around 50 minutes, covering all the main techniques, although I could certainly have gone on a lot longer! I’m looking forward to some feedback and postive critisism so that I can improve the presentation for future talks.

Filed Under: Featured, Livetech News, Web Marketting

Social Media – What you need to know in North Wales?

August 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

People will increasing meet up and 'exist' online!

Is Social Media a fad?

More importantly will it affect your business and can you use it get more business.

Here are a few facts for you to consider:

  1. Facebook tops google for weekly traffic in the US
  2. Social media has overtaken pornography as the  no 1 activity on the web
  3. Facebook added over 200 million users in less than a year
  4. 80% of companies use social media for recruitment; 95% of these use Linkedin.
  5. The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year old females
  6. Britney Spears has more followers on Twitter than the entire population of Sweden
  7. 50% of the mobile internet traffic is for Facebook, imagine what this means for bad customer experiences
  8. The younger generation see email as passé….Some universities have stopped distributing email accounts
  9. You Tube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world!
  10. There are over 200,000,000 blogs. 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands. Do you like what they are saying about your brand?

So, it seems pretty certain to us here at Livetech that every business needs a presence on some kind of social network. In fact you could say that social med is the new ‘Word of mouth’. Note that 78% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family but only 14% trust advertisements

The problem you have as a business is what networks should you be active on. If you were active on every network highlighted above you’d probably not have time to do any work!!

Here are some guidelines for you to consider. It all depends really on what type of business you are and who is your target market.

If you sell relatively low value products or services to consumers then you should consider Facebook. It’s a good way to target the mass market. Friends and friends of friends can be targeted in various ways.

If you’re a professional services company such as an accountant, a solicitor, architect etc. then you want to be targeting other professionals. This means that you should consider Linkedin which is very business to business focussed.

Having your own blog is a great way of people finding you on generic searches on the internet. So if you’re targeting consumers do consider this.

You can use Twitter whatever business you are in, but you’ll get the most benefit if you’re targeting large amounts of consumers and have lots of interesting things that you can say on a regular basis.

If you’ve got a company video overview, then get it posted on YouTube, with the right keywords your business will be found. This can be used by any business.

There are pieces of software out there that can help you manage these different pieces of software, to the extent that you can type an update and post it to multiple accounts.

Now is the time to start using these services, adopt a playful approach…….

If you’d like to chat about how Social Media fits into your business and which channels you should be active on, please get in touch with the Livetech team. We’d love to have the opportunity to offer you some advice or invite you on one of our web marketing courses.

Filed Under: Featured, Livetech News

SafetyMap featured on ITV News

August 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

SafetyMap featured on ITV News

The important work we have involved with safetymap.co.uk was recently featured on ITV News. Debbie from ‘River and Sea Sense’ gave information about how important this work is, along with Dave from International Rescue. the full article can be viewed online by visiting the ITV Player link.

ITV Player: http://www.itv.com/wales/welsh-made-safety-map-pinpoints-dangerous-water-spots60128/

River and Sea Sense: http://www.riversandseasense.com

International Rescue: http://www.irtcw.co.uk/

Filed Under: Livetech News

Improved Welsh Mountain Zoo Site Launched

August 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Welsh Mountain Zoo online

We are currently putting the finishing touches to an improved Welsh Mountain Zoo web site.

The site showcases all the fantastic activities to get involved with at this premier North Wales tourist attraction.

The site features some stunning photos and when fully complete will allow users to access lots of additional information about the animals, vital to the zoo in their education and conservation role.

To view the site please visit: www.welshmountainzoo.org

Filed Under: Livetech News

WebJAM at The Marine Rooms, Deganwy Quay. Training and Networking North Wales.

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Blogging training with the popular wordpress.com platform

We ran a course last week on using Facebook for Business using what we hope is the catchy name of WebJAM. This is an opportunity for businesses to come together to share insights and learn new web marketing techniques in a relaxed atmosphere, whilst at the same time making new contacts/networking.

This week, due to popular demand, we are running a similar session on blogging for business. We will be tackling basic blogging principles and using the popular and powerful wordpress.com system.

The courses are being held at the Marine Rooms which is rapidly becoming known for being one of the premier training and conference venues in North Wales. There are still a few places available for this week so if you are fast you might want to request a place by calling 01492 581131 or info@marinerooms.co.uk

Filed Under: Livetech News

Marine Rooms – First Multi Day Conferences Venues- New North Wales Conference Facilities

June 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We have just successfullly hosted our first multi-day conference at the Marine Rooms. We are delighted to offer our facilities and be able to provide the high standard of venue service we aimed to.

Recent pictures show how the facility is developing. conference venues north wales

View through the window

Set up for Groups of Four

Stunning Marina, Castle, River and Mountain Views

We have also just launched North Wales Projector Hire to perfectly fit with the conference facilities.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

2 – Outlook Social Connector

May 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Make Microsoft Outlook the central part of your Social Media communications

Outlook Social Connector with Plugins

Merge your business life with your personal life. Link in your work/personal emails with your Social media networks such as Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace and MSN Messenger.

This little add-on available from Microsoft works with Office 2003, 200 and 2010. It’s simple to download, install and easy to use too.

The Outlook Social Connector allows you to synchronize your contact data from your social networks right into Outlook and obtain information about your friends and business colleagues.

Use the Outlook Social Connector to display a quick view of related Outlook content such as recent e-mail conversations, meetings, and shared attachments.

Even if you don’t want to use it to connect with Facebook and Linkedin it is a brilliant tool that allows you view contact related Outlook content. These include:

One tool that shows every email you’ve ever sent or received from a contact

List every meeting you’ve had with someone that you added in your calendar

View every attachment from a person that you’ve ever received

The ability to segment what you see, i.e. see everything or only certain things such as attachments, Facebook comments etc.

This tool combines both the business side and the personal side within Outlook. So, there’s no need to go anywhere else when you want to communicate with your business and personal contacts. You can do it all through Outlook.

with annotations

If you don’t want to see this extra information, a simple click of a button and it is hidden. It doesn’t yet link into Twitter, but this seems just a matter of time.

One thing you need to be conscious of is that even if you don’t have the Social Connector installed but you have your Facebook privacy set to open to everyone, then other people who are copied into emails and have the connector will be able to link straight into your profile and view it. It might be wise to consider what you want people to see and adjust accordingly.

Here at Livetech we keep on top of technology changes similar to this. If you like this, or would like some further advice then please give us a call.

Download it from Microsoft

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=b638cc14-11e5-448a-b5a6-4f553ce81b94&displaylang=en

Plugins

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/outlook-social-connector-partner-listing-FX102317540.aspx

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Creating SafetyMap

May 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Weekly News Article

SafetyMap is a response to the need identified for better public awareness of dangerous locations and the opportunity this presents for wider water safety education. The technology used is being applied from knowledge gained working with  online mapping technologies for agencies such as the Police.

Background

Often there are hidden dangers in a location that some people, especially young people, are not aware of. The resource will be the central point and database for a network of resources that will particularly appeal to young people – website, mobile phone app, social networks, signs with bar codes that can be scanned and an online mapping and alert system. There will be a section where it will be possible for the public to generate a printable sign with warnings and safety information. There will be an emphasis on education, to help young people make good decisions.

Safetymap Homepage

The Plan

Livetech along with River and Sea Sense are currently developing an innovative water safety resource tool, ‘SafetyMap’ . The tool links locations where there have been water safety incidents together on a map for the first time, allowing the public to see where areas for concern are and be educated on the potential dangers at various locations. Full use of social networking techniques will be made to collect up to date  information and relay this on to the users who will benefit most from it.

Further information

www.riveranseasense.com

www.safetymap.co.uk

Filed Under: Uncategorized
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