Metalfrog Studios: Growth, Business, Thanks and Thoughts

Metalfrog Studios Growth:

This year has been yet another record breaking year here at Metalfrog Studios Limited. Our business continues to flourish through multiple channels of influence – namely word of mouth, search engine positioning and, of course, social media exposure.
It has been a challenging year for a lot of businesses, both locally and nationally. Finances have been tight for a lot and cash flow is always a major consideration. I am pleased to say that Metalfrog Studios and its client's appear to be weathering the storm well. In fact this year we have really gone from being a local web design company to a  national full service marketing agency.  We have managed to grow at an average rate of 80% month on month for the past year, which obviously has many implications on the business - Not least of which is staffing and accommodation.
Equally, we have managed to take a lot of local businesses and place them on a national stage – exposing them to wider business opportunities.

We are looking to expand the number of offices we have here to enable us to have more space. We are in negotiation with our landlord regarding taking more units in this business park, and will advise when this happens.

New personnel:

I am delighted with the integration of new staff at Metalfrog Studios. The combination of design, development , marketing, search engine marketing and creative skills is, I believe, unparalleled in this region. Even more remarkable is that we have a highly professional team who all understand the need for our clients to achieve a return on investment, not just something pretty on the eye. We have a great balance including our latest apprentice from the University of East Anglia, whom we took on under the Project Evolve program, and then gave him a job at the end of it.
We are looking to recruit at least 2 more people (probably designers rather than coders in the new year, so if you know anyone who might fit the bill?).

New sites:

Some of you may be aware that we re-built and relaunched our website: http://www.metalfrog.co.uk  in mid November. The response to this has been phenomenal, and we are now seeing more enquiries. The previous site was nearly 4 years old and looked dated. Equally, we could not easily add to the site with new areas such as digital photography, search engine training etc, so the new site is built in a modular way which allows us to not only expand it in the future, but also ensure its friendliness on the search engines. This morning we are on page 4 on Google across the web for the term "web design company" and the likelihood is that we shall be page 1 for this term by the end of Spring 2012.

Our new http://www.metalfrogstudios.com site will be launched over Xmas, and this will be a complete departure from traditional sites.
We have looked at this site from the point of view of advice, free information and agency relationships (we now have nearly 20 agencies reselling Metalfrog Studios SEO services countrywide). This is a really exciting and bold site, and I am sure that you will see how unique
it is , and how engaging too.

New clients:

in July this year we had a commendation from Theo Paphitis , through social media. Theo referred us to Claire Young (former finalist in the BBC Apprentice Series). We have been delighted to work with Claire , and her team, on several projects including http://www.teenbiz.org.uk, http://www.schoolspeakers.co.uk and we are currently finalising the new Claire Young personal site. This should be live in the coming days and again will be a very interactive experience. in turn, Claire has kindly referred us on to several companies for more business.

Locally, we have new clients in all sectors of commerce and industry. Latest websites to go live include:

http://www.britanniablinds.co.uk
http://www.flatroofnorfolk.co.uk
http://www.morgan-bishop.co.uk
http://www.westlandswow.co.uk


Nationally, our latest site went live yesterday:

Gas Blowback Guns   A site from which to buy Gas Blowback Airsoft Guns and Accessories

This site is already page 1 Google for major search terms and enquiry has already come through!

New sites on the horizon:

http://www.pukkatents.co.uk   
A online community/shopping experience for people who have a passion for camping outdoors, or simply setting up a tent in their garden on a summer's day

http://www.totally-av.co.uk            
An online shop offering all things audi visual at incredible prices.

Both of these sites have already begun to be optimised, and have a bright future for their respective owners.

New sites in early new year for :

MEO Landscapes
Abbey Products
LIfeMatters Group
K9 Walking
Metalfrog Studios
New site for Carpet Fitting Business
New bathroom and bathroom accessories website
A new site for homemade fabrics and cushions

And many more..

On average we are building 8-10 sites a week at present, and we have site projects currently in development until May  2012. Added to this we have some rather exciting projects about to drop. One is for an online bathroom shop. the other involved in the legal services sector (I can say no more about this as we are bound by a confidentiality agreement), but suffice to say, this could make the owners of the site an awful lot of money.

New Avenues:

In the coming 12 months we are going to be pushing SEO training courses. Unlike our so-called competitors in this area, our offering will be on a 1 to 1 basis, and will not be simple sweeping statements about how to get your website to page 1 on search engines. It will be a planned, methodical series of courses (clearly beginner, intermediate and expert), which will enable web masters/site owners to be able to manage their own online marketing, but with Metalfrog Studios as ongoing backup for SEO services should they need us. I think that this is a unique service, but one which is needed. We shall also be offering these training courses to our agents for their clients to attend, or for them to learn more.

Agency Agreements:

In addition, we have three new reseller agents this year who are offering our services to their clients. We are in negotiations with 2 local agencies and three national ones to do the same next year.

2012:

Next year sees the 5th anniversary of Metalfrog Studios in its current guise. This has been a roller coaster of a journey, both for me and for the business. Those of you who know me well will know that I had a very bad business partnership upon arriving in Norfolk, and this left me virtually penniless. But I sold my house, put the money into the business and started again. With the help of local companies, and friends, the business started to make waves in Norfolk, and our reputation started to grow.  We went to Drayton old Lodge in 2006 and spent just over 3 years there. Unbelievably, we are now into our second year in Beech Avenue (where does time go?). We have had only a couple of minor personnel changes in this time, but I am pleased to say that the core of Julie, Jenny and I has remained solid. As mentioned, we now have some great people working for us, and hopefully more to come.

The Value of Metalfrog to Your Business:

Clients have come to realise the value in the services we deliver and understand (or are beginning to) , that time equals money, and that if you want something to be perfect then you have to trust your marketing partner, listen to their advice and be prepared to pay for the time and expertise you are being offered. Over the years we have shown that those who work with us or partner us in this way reap the highest rewards when it comes to marketing.

So the future is looking healthy, but I am never complacent. We still have to maintain the highest of standards, and still have to try to innovate and ensure that our work stands out for all to see. We are not afraid to take criticism, and we are also not perfect. We try to accommodate all needs, and we strive for excellence. Sometimes we have situations which are out of our control, normally based around local broadband speed, but in the main the ship is pretty steady. I hope that you have all seen how we positively affect business profiles. Those of you whom I have copied into this who are not yet customers, we hope you will become so in 2012, and look forward to opening new avenues of income for you. Those of you whose SEO Projects finished in 2011, then we wish you well with your sites for the future.

Finally:

It just remains for me to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Health New Year. I am reminded (mostly by Julie) that work is not everything, and recent tragedies have gone to strengthen that argument.
Sometimes, I lose sight of what is important, but try to get a balance between home and work life which doesn't always succeed. If I am going to make a resolution in 2012 ( and I never do) , then it will be to try to manage time better and look at what is important in life – not just work.

I hope that you all have a prosperous 2012 and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial working relationships with you all. I thank you sincerely for all the business you have given and, if you are a supplier, for the products/services you have supplied to Metalfrog Studios Limited over 2011.


Kind regards and best wishes.

Chris Wheeler
Managing Director
Metalfrog Studios Limited