Weboptimiser in 2008, the year that was

Our Research and Development really paid dividends in 2008. Although it continues, we covered a lot of ground, with new processes for SEO, PPC and Social Media. In terms of SEO and PPC we have seen client results exceed the 100% growth mark - since we took over. In terms of positions, lets say we even surprised our clients... All of which bodes well for 2009 as despite the turn down, our clients are still with us and many now spend even more. We definitely take this opportunity to thank them all, lets have some fun in 2009 too!

We were preparing for a Plus market listing over the year, to be ready for our January 2009 year end results and now we are here we discover that whilst our results are in, we do not really want to get listed after all, as there does not appear to be a lot of money around to invest. Our eyes and ears are still open of course, but right now, it is all hands on deck focusing on making 2009 the next big year.

We managed to rebuild our site twice and not only maintain positions but also gain new ones, so obviously that was a good outcome too. Not like we want to make it easy for ourselves, but we have further plans for change in 2009... We also launched a good number of other sites during 2009 too. So it seems that launching new sites is inescapably, part of our DNA.

Last year the charity that we supported was Crisis, and this year we hope to assist The British Heart Foundation. We also helped to raise the profile of the Federation of Small Business too, where we met David Bellamy and a few others. Of course this year, we even had Gordon Brown visit us! It's all happening! Barrack Obama has been invited...

We take pride in our team, especially in the current climate. Every one of them helps us to run a profitable, trading businesses which we are intent on growing. Our research and development efforts further determined how we would further develop the company into a web 2.0 player - there is a lot more of that to come in 2009, watch this space (literally - we will make all announcements through this blog) or follow Weboptimiser on Twitter. Our growth forecast key metric is based on achieving just 1%. So we just need a little bit of luck to tilt substantially, we have everything to play for!

Our client base was diverse enough that the business hardly faltered in 2009. As a result of cost savings early in the year our profits actually increased. We end the year in a good position, profitable results and a good client spread.

We continue to learn. We were particularly excited by a visit from Gordon Brown on the 19th of January to launch an initiative that should put more working capital into our hands. Watch the video if you can, not only is Gordon Brown shown in our offices, the No.10 team included our MD David White on screen for the first 6 seconds and Conrad Swailes, our CEO later on. Gordon Brown agrees with David White and pitches the plan. There is not many people who can say that Gordon Brown agrees with them!