Father and daughter team help local businesses take on the big boys

A father and daughter team from Walshaw are helping local businesses compete with the larger high street retailers by using the power of the internet. Paul and Megan Bird have set up the Bury and Bolton franchise for national website design company ORCA Websites who specialise in designing quality websites for small to medium sized enterprises (SME’s) to increase their online trade.

Already the pair have signed up 4 business with interest from companies ranging from food retailers to window manufacturers, across the Bury and Bolton Area. Paul Bird, a qualified accountant with experience of running larger corporations at Finance and Managing Director level, and his daughter Megan, a creative arts graduate, invested in the franchise to realise a life long ambition of starting a family business together. Paul comments: “Running my own family business has always been a life long ambition of mine and both myself and my daughter Megan had been looking for the right opportunity for a while. We were looking for an opportunity that enabled us to have a better work life balance and a more flexible structure than we had in our previous careers. In my previous job as the Managing Director of a national corporation I had very little flexibility but running my own business now enables me to spend more time with Megan as well as my wife and two younger sons.” The duo also realised that in the current economic climate it is important for SME’s to have a strong online presence so that they are able to compete with other businesses whilst the economy is slow. Megan adds: “Being in the midst of the credit crunch businesses should look to have a competitive advantage over their rivals and having a quality website is one of the best ways of giving your business an edge. People often think that branded, quality websites which rank high on the search engines must cost a fortune, but as the ORCA concept was built with small businesses in mind, we empathise with their needs. Most small firms have to work within very tight budgetary restraints in marketing their products and services, especially at start-up. Our websites have to be (and are) affordable for them. “Many firms are now finding that they have less to spend on advertising and marketing but still need to get their firm noticed and bring in business. Most people now use the internet as their first port of call and so a good website could be all a business needs. ORCA websites rank high on search engines meaning that when people search for products or services in that area their business will appear near the top of the search and the business will get noticed.” Paul and Megan are now sourcing and meeting businesses across the Bolton and Bury area that can benefit from creating or upgrading their websites. They are the interface between the client and ORCA’s head office in Leeds, briefing its central team of experienced designers to produce hard-working websites which reflect the unique positioning of each client. Paul adds: “From talking with local businesses we are getting a lot of interest from businesses in the food industry in Bolton whereas in Bury it seems to be tradesman. Business owners I’m speaking to are gobsmacked at the quality of the sites we’re creating for them. The outcomes of their investment are measurable, and they provide an invaluable source of management information. The websites also optimize any other marketing spend, as potential customers can be steered to the site to find out more about the business.”

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