We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients for the projects they placed with Absolute over the past year and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

2011 was a year of continued growth for Absolute, with the business growing overall by 20% and web design & development growing by 38% based on 2010 turnover.

We also expanded our web team, taking on two additional developers and strengthening our knowledge base. As a result of our strong growth during the year we are currently recruiting for two further positions.

As expected, we witnessed a reduced spend from public sector clients this year, but growth in the private sector was maintained with over 52 new clients during the year and 693 projects completed. I guess we are inadvertently following David Cameron's directive!

Search Engine Optimisation

As with most businesses these days, SEO has continued to be crucial to our plans. We maintained our number one position for our key Google search term ‘web design' throughout the year for Nottingham and also achieved a number one position for Derby. The opening of our Leicester sales office in 2011 gave us even wider coverage in the East Midlands and we are currently at page one position 3 and aim to be at number one early in the New Year.

Seminars

We held five seminars throughout the year on subjects ranging from SEO, Social Media, E-commerce, Design Trends and Conversion Optimisation. They are always well received and provide a great platform for meeting existing and potential clients.

Networking

In addition to the Nottingham Think Tank, which holds a breakfast meeting every quarter at our Nottingham head office, we also attended many of the Institute of Directors events in our capacity as Regional Sponsor. There have also been numerous other events that we have attended, which always help to increase our business profile.

Projects

Perhaps the most significant project of 2011 was the new Nottingham Tram campaign. This project went live in December and was a truly integrated campaign involving the whole of the Absolute team. The project encompassed developing creative concepts and focus group reviews, through to a CMS website with bespoke journey time and map functionality, plus a 28 page timetable and 46 A0 Tram Stop posters. We are very proud to be associated with such a high profile project and look forward to working on the mobile optimised version of the NET website in the New Year.

Other key projects have included a rebrand and roll-out for international ribbon manufacturer Cole Fabrics, web and printed prospectus work for Greenwood Academies Trust, web development for TDX Group, Hancocks, Respect for Animals, VetsMedicover and Potter Clarkson, plus colour correction, brochures, pattern book inserts and advertising for brands within The Romo Group.

Summary

2011 really flew by and no doubt 2012 will be the same. It has been a strong year and we've worked with some great clients, both new and existing. Although the mass media would have us believe the business landscape is bleak, whenever a room of business people are asked, they seem to report similar or improved trading. Perhaps this is because they tend to be from smaller SME businesses that have to respond faster to the changing economic climate, but let's hope it's a good sign for 2012.