13th December 2007

We are pleased to see the start of another key project in Lincolnshire this month with the launch of 'The One'. This is a comprehensive directory of products and services in the Lincolnshire region which once again has been completed in partnership with the Lincolnshire division of Northcliffe Media.

The site provides free contact listings for all businesses based in the region with the opportunity for advertisers and featured companies to take enhanced listings and additional information pages for the benefit of existing and potential customers.

For users the site offers probably the most complete search engine and directory of products and services available within the region, so is an invaluable and easy to use facility.

To start searching please visit:

www.theoneingrimsby.co.uk

13th December 2007

In partnership with the Grimsby and Scunthorpe Telegraph and a number of major commercial enterprises in the North and North East Lincolnshire region, we have just launched the site www.northernlincolnshire.com

The site is aimed at showcasing the key benefits of relocating to this area, covering every aspect from employment and commercial opportunities to leisure, lifestyle, property and all information in between.

The idea behind the site is to raise the profile of the region and highlight the advantages of working for one of the many major employers based there, as well as giving in-depth detail and reference as to the quality of life that those considering such a move could expect to enjoy.

For further information please visit:

www.northernlincolnshire.com

13th December 2007

One of the fastest growing brand names in the world of confectionery have introduced a new venture with a literary twist and a social conscience.

Burnt Sugar, makers of the most addictive fudge known to man and whose own web site we created last year, have in partnership with Book Aid international started an online book club.

Known as The Unrefined Book Club each month different well known personalities and friends of Book Aid international with a passion for literature, such as Maeve Binchy, Michael Morpurgo, David Mitchell, Mariella Frostrup and Alexander McCall Smith select a recommended book as the basis for that month's discussion.

Unrefined members are of course also welcome to put forward their own recommendations and start their own discussions.

Book Aid International promotes literacy in developing countries by creating reading and learning opportunities for disadvantaged people, in order to help them realise their potential and eradicate poverty.

To find out more about this worthy organisation please visit www.bookaid.org

To get involved in The Unrefined Book Club visit www.unrefinedbookclub.org

And if you simply want to indulge your sweet tooth or buy a tasty xmas treat for a favourite friend then look no further than www.burntsugar.co.uk

18th October 2007

Regional nightlife and music web site www.hullvibe.co.uk continues to go from strength to strength on the back of news that it scooped a prestigious national award in recognition of its innovative approach to local content.

At an awards ceremony in London the site won the prize for best niche web site in the UK, at the National Newspaper Society Awards.

The site created by Finesse in partnership with Mail News and Media had already won another major national award earlier this year, and this award further enhances the regional publisher's reputation for excellence and innovation in online content.

They were however quick to recognise the role that Finesse has had to play in this and Regional Marketing Director Judy Ward commented:

"Of course you share in this success, having played such a valuable part in creating these websites with us, and I couldn't let the occasion pass without recognising this, and thanking you for all you have done over the past year or so."

The site has been exponentially growing in popularity since its launch in July 2006, and is now recognised as one of the key sites in the Hull and East Yorkshire region in the provision of information on, and coverage of, its live music, clubbing, entertainment and lifestyle scenes.

There was further good news on the night as www.sporthull.co.uk , another site and user led online community system produced by Finesse on behalf of Mail News and Media, recieved a shortlisted nomination in the category for digital innovation of the year

14th August 2007

Finesse has added to its increasing portfolio of international clients by putting together an integrated site, membership and booking system for Australian based supercar organisation 'P1 International'.

The company specialises in exclusive memberships for enthusiasts in top of the range fantasy cars, allowing members to have access to a fleet of some of the most amazing performance cars on the world's roads including Ferrarais, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Aston Martins, Morgans and Porsches etc.

An annual membership entitles the driver to an agreed number of driving days per year with a vast range of these prestige cars according to their tastes and desires.

**P1 Supercar Club offers its Members immediate access to Australia’s ultimate Supercar collection, without the drawbacks and massive cost of ownership.

In return for an annual membership fee the club takes care of capital costs, depreciation, maintenance, insurance and storage, leaving Members free to enjoy all of the cars.**

Given the outright purchase and insurance costs of some of these cars, the supercar club provides an exlcusive yet cost-effective means of getting behind the wheel of any number of the ultimate driving experiences and has already proved extremely popular in Australia, which is evident by the huge expansion programme underway by P1 international.

As well as the site which showcases some of the finest cars that the club offers access to, information on its track days and events and cars which are actually available for purchase, our system has provided the organisation with the infrastructure to interact with this growing membership, taking care of everything from booking, billing and customer care not to mention everything in between.

With large growth already in hand and further online developments planned for the coming months this promises to be another exciting and fast paced partnership for Finesse.

See www.supercarclub.com.au

13th August 2007

Having recently celebrated its first birthday in typically over the top style, it was decided it was time to give the region's favourite music, clubbing and lifestyle web site a bit of a makeover as a present.

Its been a successful first year for the award winning site with its galleries and video sections having quickly become a traditional 'morning after' ritual, and with the addition of Lucy La as a reviewer, ligger and general mouthpiece for the site, its still going from strength to strength. You can now also catch the Hull Vibe weekly column in the Hull Daily Mail every Thursday.

In response to its ever-growing audience and in an effort to keep the site fresh and exciting we've now added several new features, which include enabling users to create their own profiles and personal picture galleries, the ability to comment on all pictures generally within the site. The gallery as a whole has been overhauled to reflect the fact that the site now has new pictures often from several different venues and events per night, being loaded onto the site each morning.

The message boards have also been given a refurbishment to make them a little flashier and more fun. In addition the site now provides individuals with the means to publish their own blogs.

There are further additions planned over the next month or two so keep checking back for those, but in the meantime sign-up to the site to stay up to date on everything happening in the vibrant clubbing and live music scenes in the Hull area, and also share your opinions and experiences with fellow Hull vibers.

See www.hullvibe.co.uk

6th August 2007

Finesse has been as busy as ever this year and one of our more demanding projects has been the development, in Partnership with Northcliffe Newspapers, of a series of sports sites for the Northcliffe North East region, focussing initially on sporthull.co.uk with Mail News and Media (publishers of the Hull Daily Mail) and then rolling out additional sites to cover the Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Lincoln regions.

In development for most of the year and going live one by one during May and June, the sites were designed to replace the traditional sports coverage provided for these regions via their respective printed sports mails and provide a more innovative, interactive and up to the minute service on a daily and often hourly basis; not only continuing the papers' tradition for comprehensive local and national sports reporting, but also allowing the introduction of a higher level of user generated contribution and involvement.

The sites were an immediate hit with the users themselves, with site visitor numbers going through the roof, but now they have been given the once over by the newspaper industry themselves and have come out very favourably.

Please see the article here for further comment and analysis

See www.sporthull.co.uk www.sportgrimsby.co.uk www.sportscunthorpe.co.uk www.sportlincoln.co.uk

15th November 2006

We are pleased to announce that one of the region’s most high profile business web sites and online business networking specialists www.bseen2.biz have struck up a partnership with Finesse Internet to use them as their internet development partner to help evolve their concept further and take their business to the next stage.

To tie in with a high profile feature on the company and its successes to date in this week’s Hull Daily Mail, we re-launched the updated version of the bseen2 site this week, but as Finesse director Adrian Gosling explains, this is merely just the start of an ongoing process which will see the site embrace many more new, innovative and ambitious features and functions which will take the site and the business on to the next level.

He commented ‘when we began speaking with Bseen2 we loved the idea of their business model and actually felt they already had a pretty good web site which had enabled them to achieve the first set of aims that they had set themselves. However we felt that to fully realise the potential of the business model and to further enhance the business networking opportunities they wish to provide to the Hull and East Yorkshire region’s business community, the site needed to become more interactive and take advantage of some of our technology that will offer a platform to bring like-minded, pro-active businesses closer together. To this end there will be many changes and additions over the coming months as we work toward achieving this’.

Bseen2 director Graeme Barnfather said he was very happy to be working with Finesse as he felt they had a similar outlook to themselves. Graeme said ‘when we were talking to potential partners it became apparent very quickly that Finesse could clearly relate to our aims and objectives and more importantly, because of their background and past project experiences, could demonstrate some quite simple yet exciting ways as to how they planned to do it. The site is just starting to take on a life of its own now, introducing new members, content and opportunities on a weekly basis and this will increasingly become the case in the coming months.

See www.bseen2.biz

27th September 2006

This week saw us launch the new web site for creative confectioners Burnt Sugar.

Hailed by the Observer Food Monthly as making ‘the best fudge in the world’, Burnt Sugar called on Finesse to help them create a site to showcase their unbelievably tasty yet traditional new product range, which is becoming increasingly popular throughout the country.

Within the site you can get the full lowdown on their mouth-watering and original range of fudges from crumbly chocolate fudge and dark chocolate caramel fudge right through to the more unusual varieties such as strawberry and white chocolate crumbly fudge, and Christmas pudding crumbly fudge.

Also within the Burnt Sugar site you can find out about the creators, the company and their equally valued ‘sweety monsters’, sign up to receive ‘sweet nothings’ from them, and get all their latest news.

Most importantly you can find out just how and where to get your hands on some of the most amazing confectionery around.

Take a look but don’t blame us when you’re addicted.

In the meantime we have resolved to work on attracting a gym as a client to redress the balance.

See www.burntsugar.co.uk

13th July 2006

This week saw us launch the new web site for Hull recruitment company, Arlington Moore.

Arlington Moore are new recruits to the business world although they are run by Managing Director Joanne Norman, who has 14 years experience in the recruitment industry with several key players.

The site itself was done by our own new recruit Nicholas Beech, and represents his first site to go live. Looking at his production schedule though it is the first in what will be a rapid procession. A promising start by all parties though.

Best of luck to Jo and Arlington Moore in their new venture.

See www.arlingtonmoore.co.uk

22nd June 2006

Well, it’s now less than a month until one of the East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire region’s biggest events of the year is upon us. Certainly the biggest event in the history of the Humber Bridge, since its opening twenty five years ago.

Amazingly it is now twenty five years since the world famous landmark was first opened by the Queen. This milestone in the life of the Humber Bridge is being marked by a series of events during July, ranging from festivals, sporting competitions and fairgrounds to air displays, pyrotechnics and some great stuff for thrill seekers from hot air ballooning and helicopter rides to parasailing and abseiling.

All of this takes place along both banks of the Humber set in 70 acres of woodland, meadows and trails.

The whole four day extravaganza is accompanied by a number of live music concerts ranging from open air opera with the internationally acclaimed Katherine Jenkins, to the best indie and dance music from the region.

As we have another very exciting live music related project due to be launched in July, we will be doing an extended piece (written not performed don’t worry) on the site on this subject next month.

In the meantime, find out just exactly how much is happening to celebrate bridge bash on the site which we created specifically for the event.

See  www.bridgebash.co.uk


Also for those of you for whom the passing of this milestone sparks a little nostalgia and reflection and stirs up a few memories, feel free to share them with other residents of the region past and present on the message board we have now placed on the main Humber Bridge web site for that very purpose. This site has also recently had an overhaul, and on top of the great images, information and memories you can find there, you can now also buy bridge related merchandise including books and videos etc. Not to mention that for the first time ever, bridge tickets are now also available to buy online.

See  www.humberbridge.co.uk

28th May 2006

Last week saw us launch the new Web site for translation and interpreting company, Language Finders.

Run by Eve Clark, a recent nominee for the young business person of the year for the Hull region, the company was set up last year and is already making great progress in establishing itself as a leading player in the provision of face to face, written and telephone interpreting services.

The company is part of the National Locum group which is itself going through a period of growth and diversification, and there will be a new site online shortly to reflect the broadened focus of the company.

Best of luck to Eve and her team in the meantime.

See  www.language-finders.co.uk

28th May 2006

In spite of our name we're not always renowned for our own sartorial elegance. However we're still nonetheless pretty pleased with the stylish end result of the web site for fashion company Passione and their summer collection of womens' clothes and accessories.

Never again will you mock our fashion sense. Well, wishful thinking maybe.

Keep your eyes out for further sections, features, trends and collections appearing on the site in the coming weeks.

See  www.apassionforfashion.co.uk

9th May 2006

Following some productive activity in the transfer market we are pleased to announce the signing of Nicholas Beech as a new member of the Finesse team. Nic arrives with specific responsibility for web and multimedia issues but over time we envisage him becoming a utility player capable of assuming a number of roles.

Nic is an honours graduate of the Interactive multimedia degree programme at the University of Lincoln. Since then he has held roles with a couple of internet and design companies, most recently being responsible for the management of the Next online directory.

We’re pleased to have him on board as we are sure that not only will he be a valuable member of the team, but it may enable some of our existing staff to get a few hours extra sleep.

We’re sure you will all have the pleasure of meeting him in due course.

3rd May 2006

We are glad to welcome aboard (or is that ashore?) the UK Marine Pilots Authority

They have chosen to work with us on the creation of both a new web site and a new membership management system and database. We aim to chart a course that will ensure they smoothly sail through the overhaul of their entire member communications strategy, from their basic web site through to their active members area, member mailing, legal and regulatory information updates, frequent newsletters and their message boards and working groups and committees

The UKMPA has been in operation for over 100 years and represents 98% of all UK pilots

3rd May 2006

Recent figures have revealed that following an upgrade of our hosting environment and the introduction of a number of new optimisation packages for our clients, the main Finesse server has now this year passed the three million hits per month mark and looks set to keep on rising

Whats more this figure doesn't include our own site, any client who has their own dedicated server, or indeed those clients that are hosted elsewhere such as on their own on-site servers

Obviously part of this is down to the increasing number of sites we host, but proportionately speaking it still also shows that not only are the new initiatives working but that you must be collectively doing something right with your businesses and their presences, as the indications we are getting direct back from clients are that these increased hits are being translated into continually improving online performance and results

Long may it continue!

For those interested in such issues we will be following up on this with some specific case studies, focussing not only on the work that we do alongside and on behalf of our clients to achieve these results, but also some of the methods they have additonally adopted to increase their online business via other marketing techniques

18th April 2006

As many of our clients may already be aware, Finesse has been the internet partner for the region’s most famous landmark, the Humber Bridge, for as long as we care to remember. This recently saw us (finally) redevelop the original site to produce a new improved version of the site which not only contains better pictures and more in-depth information, but also now offers people the opportunity to buy bridge tickets online, along with a range of other bridge-related merchandise.

See  www.humberbridge.co.uk

However, in addition we are proud to announce that we have now also become the internet partner of the company set up to run and promote the Bridge’s Silver Jubilee celebrations.

It’s going to be quite a busy year for the bridge, so much so that we’ve set up a dedicated site where people can get information on and buy tickets for, the full range of events taking place to commemorate this landmark in the bridge’s history

See  www.bridgebash.co.uk

18th April 2006

Following the successful launch of its own in-house e-commerce system last year, Finesse has now followed this up with further development and innovation to produce an updated version of the system. It now possesses even more functionality, offers further flexibility and of course as is our way, is still completely customisable to your exact business needs. What’s more, despite matching all the features of the larger, full scale corporate solutions, our system still weighs in at fraction of the price.

For more information or a demonstration, give us a call or  drop us a line.

18th April 2006

Finesse’s catchment area continues to grow ever wider. Having previously proved ourselves to be cosmopolitan types by winning clients in such far flung exotic locations as Australia, America, Canada and the Ukraine, latest additions to the Finesse portfolio include China based jewellery retailers Monty B, and New Zealand based healthcare personnel specialists Linkz Healthcare. Ok so we cheated a bit with these as they have strong UK connections. Nonetheless we would like to welcome them both on board and wish them long and successful working relationships with us here at Finesse.

18th April 2006

Here are a few of our latest creations fresh out of our production department.

• A Passion for Fashion
• Language Finders
• The Humber Bridge
• The Humber Bridge Bash
• Drinna Homoeopathy
• Marine Rescue Technologies
• Monty B
• Sailfish Silver Jewellery
• Marquee Bar
• Sarah Estill Soprano