Details of Placement Organisation
Name of company: Kaweb | Digital Marketing & Web Design Agency Birmingham
Address:8 Titan Way, Britannia Enterprise Park, Lichfield, Staffordshire, WS14 9TT
Phone Number: 01543 414564
Name of contact within company: CEO,Paul Ingram
Email:paul@kaweb.co.uk
During my second year at University, I was tasked with completing three weeks’ worth of work placement in the media industry. I completed two of these weeks at The Story Lab, a creative advertising agencythat I had previously worked with in my first year. I also assisted in three days for Kettell Productions, a filming and editing production company specialising in wedding videos. Finally, I also did a week at Kawebdigital marketing and web design agency (https://www.kaweb.co.uk)which I have chosen to talk about in this report.
The company
Kaweb is a website design company based in Litchfield, Birmingham. They have been in marketing for over 25 years and have been specialising in new media for over 15 years now. Kaweb create engaging and innovative media applications for many clients across the UK. The company is split into two departments, web design and digital marketing; which is where Iwas positioned. My contact was CEO Paul Ingram, who is involved in overseeing every project from start to finish, ensuring all clients are happy throughout the entire process.
Kaweb’s position in the marketplace involves working on projects for a variety of clients, from blue chip companies such as OLEO international and ZEISS to small businesses like Draker Lettings and INFINITI. The company’s ethos is to ensure high quality, user friendly design across all of their work, taking great care in building and ensuring their websites are accessible and as search engine friendly as possible, meaning that more people have access to their client’s websites. (Kaweb Web Design, 2018)
The companies (as a wider organisation) creative process and structure is four part, being plan, design, build and manage. As a project commences, Kaweb talks to their client about the desired end result from the website. Discussing the goals that will enable them to complete what is desired and the tasks this includes. From this they are able to supply clients with a comprehensive proposal of their build plan and pricing which will guide them through the steps in development. This also allows customers time to amend and approve each aspect of the website build.
Secondly the company comes up with a range of home page designs, allowing the clients to choose their preferred visual style and branding. This then leads to the creation of appropriate designs for the whole of the site. During this period, they communicate closely with clients, allowing them to make changes according to feedback, generating the most preferred website design.
Next there is the build element, where client’s websites will go from a static design to a fully dynamic website. It will be browser tested to certify continuity across all major browsers. The proposed content management system will be applied, ready for clients to access control of the new site.
In order for clients to be aware of how their website is performing, Kaweb manage the site by using analytics to track customers’ performance. They communicate how many people are on your site, how they got there, what activities and pages are most popular and what they can do in order to improve stats. As well as ensuring any bugs are suppressed and the website stays up 24/7.
There are many roles within the company. The organisational groups structure is that the two directors own the company, they are closely followed by the account managers and system admin at the top of the hierarchy. Then the company is almost split into two with a hierarchy arrangement of their own. The website design section is made up of two lead developers, who are collectively in charge of a team of developers and designers who work for them on designated projects.
Seeing as I was a part of the digital marketing team, I was working under the supervision of the companies’ digital marketing manager Adam. His role as an online marketing specialist, is to oversee all of the internal digital marketing activity. He is involved in the management of new and ongoing campaigns, in order to drive visibility to clients’ website and maximise conversions. He works closely with Aliciathe digital marketing executive, who comes up with creative ways to expand client’s online visibility, helping them make more money online and maximise their return on investment through the use of SEO, E-mail Marketing, PPC and Social Media Marketing. They have digital marketing team to assist the process, which is where I was positioned.
Evaluation of my Role & Tasks Performed
Prior to this experience, I had a limited knowledge of what digital marketing actually entailed. I was aware that digital marketing covers a wide range of marketing activities. Referring to advertising that is delivered through digital channels such as search engines, websites, social media, email and mobile apps. However, I wasn’t aware of how all the channels actually worked (Paid search, search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing and marketing automation)as well as the tactics and formulas behind the usage. I need to develop my skills in awareness of digital trends to make the most of these factors.
The first day of my placement was spent researching. I was given a Search Engine Optimizationterminology dictionary and a further reading document which covered how search works, what SEO actually is, the use of content for SEO, keyword density and landing page SEO. I was told that at the end of the day I would take the Kern Media SEO quiz. This really tested my intake of knowledge and gave me the drive to impress the workers with what I had learnt about the comprehensive information needed to progress into professional quality Search Engine Optimization. I have identified that I need to learn about how to measure and track success in the future in order to enhance my SEO skills.
My first task was to create landing page content for Draker Lettings (https://www.draker.co.uk/)From my day one research I knew that a landing page is any page on a website where traffic is sent specifically to prompt a certain action or result.Draker Lettings have location-based landing pages to help them rank in search engine results for location related search terms. Therefore, Kaweb were asked to create two landing pages for each of these locations, being ‘Hammersmith’ landing page and an ‘Imperial Wharf’. I wrote a short piece of content for both locations, in order to write this I researched the general area and any attractions, the area’s property market/property styles or periods, how many/types of properties Draker Lettings have in the areas and transport (e.g. well connected to wider London? Closest tube stations etc.)
My awareness for content writing definitely increased, as I ensured the inclusion of the location name and other related keywords in a natural way and evenly throughout the content (beginning, middle, end). The reason for this was so the page would be optimized when people are searching online. I also conducted similar tasks for other companies, such as devising property search content for the IM website (https://www.theim.co.uk/). This allowed me to continue developing my writing skills, specifically in correlation to keyword strategy and research writing which will be a development target of mine for the future.
I learnt how Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. I learnt the importance of link building for SEO as links are a very important signal that the search engines use to determine rankings.As a part of Kawebs link building process, they write titles for content which is then outsourced on a monthly basis to writers on https://www.textbroker.co.uk/. When they want a client to rank in search engine results for a keyword, they build links from external sites, to the client’s site, which are known as backlinks. Each month they have to decide which keyword they want featured in an article and therefore which URL the link in the article will point to. I was tasked with coming up with titles for link building articles for the client Fowler Parts (a supplier of motorcycle parts), for example ‘Pro's and Con's to Fitting Your Own Motorbike Parts’. I feel my creative skills allowed me to develop numerous titles and I am pleased with the range of outcomes I produced.
Analysis of one text or artefact produced by you/the organisation whilst on placement
Another task I underwent was writing a blog article about digital marketing area, I specifically focused on content marketing. I used the knowledge I had acquired on this area to create an informative and useful article titled ‘5 reasons why content marketing should be a key technique within your business’. After I had completed this task, I then created an infographic. I feel the modality of this was strong, as the way in which information is encoded for audiences turned the information from the article into a visually interesting graphic, explaining the same points but in a more concise way.
The visuals
I made this using the Canva website. I believe the colour scheme and layout I chose was appropriate as it was eye catching yet denoted professionalism. This is important as I understand that people can be more attracted to visuals more than the text. This task highlighted how graphic design is missing from my skillset. I included iconic signs in the form of existing graphics from pixabay.com. These were symbolic of the five headings in the article, e.g. a circle of people to signify engaging with customers. However, I would have preferred to have created these myself as it would have made the work more individual. I am hoping to develop my graphic design skills and seeing as we have been gifted Adobe Creative Cloud this year, I will be taking full advantage of the InDesign software to do so.
The content
When reflecting on the infographic, it is clear to me that it is one-level deep. It is basic, containing visuals and content, however to be two-levels deep it would need to provide more details including statistics, time frames and references to give a deeper insight into the topic. I noticed how many articles featured a number in the title such as ‘10 benefits’ and ‘7 reasons why’ so I decided to comply to this form of titling.I like how the information on the infographic clearly separated into the ‘5 reasons why content marketing should be a key technique within your business’. However, I do feel that I could have refined the text, condensing it to the key information within the subheadings as there is a lot of text.
The knowledge
I wrote the blog using the knowledge I had learnt throughout the week as well as some resources I found on the internet as inspiration.Looking at a variation of blog posts written by digital marketing experts or marketing agencies gave me a feel for how it needed to be formatted. I believe that the knowledge I included was informative and useful to a business owner who is considering paying an agency for digital marketing services, but wants to understand more about the topic and why it would benefit their business before they get started. The knowledge referred to the facts and conclusions to convey the overall message.
The infographics contextual position within the organisation is that it is a creative way of letting people easily understand the message that is being delivered from the blog post. Inbound marketers use infographics as they are versatile, controllable and linkworthy, attracting publishers and business owners that will prompt them to link back to your website.
How the work placement enabled your professional development
Personally, I really feel that this experience enabled my professional development as it gave me the opportunity to apply myself to work and a team in the professional media industry.
Since my last year work placement, I definitely feel I am more aware of how to engage and interact with other media workers. I believe I carry myself with more confidence and am not afraid to ask questions which in the past I may have been hesitant of.
At Kaweb I was given the opportunity to learn about a whole new sector of media that I haven’t been exposed to from my chosen modules at University. I was able to approach subjects that previously I wouldn’t have come into contact with, giving me a wider insight as to what career options there are. I believe I grasped what was required of me and completed tasks to a high standard whilst meeting deadlines, gaining positive feedback for my testimonial. As well as this I was also able to network with diverse job roles, building on my linked in contacts and references which will hopefully benefit me after I graduate. I thoroughly enjoyed this placement as it definitely gave me a real knowledge and insight as to what is expected in the world of work.