January

2012 promises to be an amazing year both at the Olympics and beyond. I hope it brings joy and prosperity to you - and perhaps some medals.

Our newsletter is jam-packed this month. Hope you enjoy the read!

Best,
Liam

The ESMA nominations were a huge success, with 2,629 people submitting 8,137 nominations. The ESMA Team have just finished selecting the 10 finalists in each category from nearly 2,000 nominees. It was such a tough job, given the exceptional standard of social media engagement and online etiquette.

Everyone who was nominated with at least one supporting statement went through to the second round. Limited in number, the final places were filled by those with the most compelling supporting statements.

Exclusive: as subscribers of the Abbeyview newsletter you're first to see who's through to the final voting round.

Much of your website's content will be made up of paragraphs so I'm going to give you a few tips on how to make the most out of them for maximum search engine friendliness. The first thing to check is that you can add bold and italic sections to them using your content management system or editor. In PagePlay this is done by adding *s for bold or _s for italic around a section of text, for all formatting options click 'More Info' when editing or adding a paragraph in PagePlay to see how.

The minimum amount of text you should include on any page of your site is open to discussion, but most people in the web industry agree that for Google and other search engines to take a page seriously it should be 300 words or more of visitor friendly, useful text.

There is no real maximum, other than considering if your visitors will actually read it all or if you should break the document into sections and make a page out of each. The later would usually be a better option for adding value to a site.

Once you've written your content, then comes the tweaking. Hopefully you know what your page is about and how you think people will find it. The words people type into a search engine search are called keywords or key phrases and this is what you are looking to include in the content of your page so that your page will be seen to discuss what those searching for you would like to read about or find.

An example would be a page which discusses a recipe for apple pie. People who will find the page useful will search any of the following, and many more combinations of...

apple pie recipe
recipe for apple pie
how to make apple pie
simple apple pie recipe
baking an apple pie

You see the pattern? Ok, so you want to ensure that several of these phrases are being used word for word in your paragraph text and be certain to include at least one of these phrases in the first and last paragraph of your page, adding bold or italic formatting to those first and last references.

Stuck for keywords or phrases? Check out ideas and what your competitors are using with the free google keyword tool.

There is one gotcha to remember. Keyword Stuffing. Don't add too many keywords or phrases to the page. The content still needs to remain useful and readable to your visitors which selling itself using the correct wording.

(Photo by Claire Owen, Attic Photographic)

To celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Year PagePlay user, Caroline Marsh wanted to do something unique, and decided to get together a group of horses and riders each representing various areas of equestrianism, to form a group entitled ‘All The Queen's Horses’ and to participate in the 26th New Years Day London Parade, to raise money for charity and to welcome the New Year in style.

Before gathering together her 50 riders and their equines, Caroline seconded Claire from Attic Photographic so that the occasion could be recorded for posterity, then as She realised the enthusiasm was infectious, Caroline contacted the local Warlingham Horse Club who Sent a long some of their members, the Side Saddle Association produced a few riders, some in classic outfits, and others in period costume, then dressage riders and show jumping riders joined, the showing fraternity was represented, even a Highwayman, a costamongers float, a hackney pony and driving exhibits.

Support was extensive. So while everyone was beginning to celebrate new years eve, many riders opted for horse-washing and tack cleaning, and in some cases a very early night, as long distances separated them from their homes and their intended destination outside The Ritz, Piccadilly, London.

Caroline’s All The Queen's Horses was the fourth exhibit to move to the start for the great Parade, now in its 26th year, and for which half a million people line the streets to see all the amazing and varying exhibits, and a further ten million view it on television channels all around the world.

The length of the route is a little over two miles, and with so many entries the viewing public are treated to a total of three hours of floats and processions, brass bands, cheer leaders, steam engines, clowns on stilts, a London Bus and so much more as they all make their way down the historical London Streets with The Eye, the monuments, the Houses of Parliament, and even the Household Cavalry providing a back drop to the spectacular. The Household Cavalry were keen to support Caroline’s effort, and sent out a rider to parade with her, and to be photographed with the riders outside Buckingham Palace, giving a valuable opportunity for the thousands of tourists to get up close and personal, and obtain their own pictures of the day.

The Parade was deemed a success, and claimed to be the best ever, despite a heavy downpour which did not seem to detract from everyone’s enjoyment.

Caroline wished to thank all the riders for helping her create a unique experience, and for their fund raising efforts, and to Claire of Attic Photographic for her stunning momentos of the occasion.

British Eventing's Commercial and Marketing Director, Mike Barnes tells us about what's been going on behind the scenes and an exciting new digital vacancy.

No sooner have the needles dropped off the Christmas tree withering by the garage than the planning for 2012 starts in earnest. It’s a busy year for British Eventing. First up is the proposed national PR campaign. This year is ripe for enticing any would be eventers to have go and maybe watch the ‘ultimate equestrian challenge’ in a field nearby. It's all about demystifying the sport and introducing access points such as Day Tickets. To help this along we need a website that operates like a swiss wrist watch and gives journalists and riders all the information they ever want. With an Olympic year the sport needs to have a high profile and be active. All this means revamping what we have and creating some resource, so if you are a talented online design assistant give me a shout – as I need someone now: mike.barnes@britisheventing.com.

With an iPhone clamped to every ear in sight, we have to get busy on the App front. Both Badminton and Burghley Apps have been an amazing success and shown us the demand for mobile information. Accessing the fixtures and event booking system is an obvious one so keep your eye on our news pages. Talking of which, the new Training & Education area has also just been launched as a massive initiative. Check it out on britisheventing.com/training. We are also looking at launching a new monthly newsletter that links to a new social area of the web. That effectively means that you can look at all the BE affiliated events, results and information that you get now, then pop next door for a digital chat and upload your lorry park snaps. It will also highlight all the new member services such as the fuel discount for members. The launch of this got 50% of the members visiting the web area in less than a week. So Less of a Jump at the Pump as we call it, is one of our most successful campaigns ever. If you haven’t seen it you must have been visiting another planet.

Our magazine British Eventing Life goes from strength to strength with increased pagination and a broader editorial read. You can even buy it now on subscription as a non-member. Reader research is tremendous and helped us get the magazine as shortlisted winner for the APA Awards. So champagne all round when we win it next year. Work around this is creating a special Olympic issue using the BE archive.

And then the season starts and British Eventing does what it does best. We are planning to have a big stand presence at Badminton and, if you have time, pay us a visit.

The British Equestrian ID service (BEIDS) has teamed up with Petplan Equine, one of the UK’s leading horse insurance providers, to roll out the next phase of their nationwide safety campaign. This exciting new partnership with Petplan Equine brings every rider in the UK the opportunity to register with BEIDS and enjoy 3 months of the service completely free of charge.

By registering FREE with BEIDS, riders and their families are offered the peace of mind that in the event of an accident, the BEIDS Emergency Support Team are just one call away and help is quickly on hand. With all your medical and emergency contact details held centrally, the support team will be able to identify a horse and rider and assist medical services with valuable medical information. They will also immediately telephone family members with details of any incident.

How it works; it really couldn’t be more simple:

1. Visit www.beids.co.uk and click 3 months free family trial
2. Use the registration code: TRIAL209903
3. Register your contact details and create your account
4. Enter your medical records and emergency contact details
5. Print your emergency ID card with your unique ID number, to be kept on your person when riding or anytime 24/7.
6. Extend the trial offer to a 12 month Family Registration with the purchase of any ID wristband, horse toggle, or hat and mobile phone badge from the BEIDS members shop.

In addition to crisis management, the personal profile of any BEIDS member can be forwarded by email or simply printed and handed to their school, livery yard, college or event, where they can be collated. This means that trainers and organisers have a record of each student along with medical and emergency contact details which may prove vital should the need arise.

With the ever increasing need for improved rider safety, this is a significant opportunity for all and is available thanks to the support of Petplan Equine.

There is also an exclusive horse and rider package on offer from Petplan Equine, and only available to BEIDS members via the link from the BEIDS register.

Exclusive BEIDS Membership offers are available for riding clubs, schools, colleges, livery yards and equestrian organisations by application to support@beids.co.uk with subject heading ‘BEIDS equestrian organisation offers.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this. Last month I introduced Abbeyview's new office assistant, a 4 year old rescue dog called Tommy. Sadly Tommy fell ill before Christmas, with what the vet initially diagnosed as gastroenteritis. It transpired he had an underlying condition which had led to irreversible kidney failure. The little chap was put to sleep between Christmas and New Year. A heartbreaking moment for any animal lover, but better for him to be at peace than in pain.

Tommy was such a sweet dog and a real character, loved by everyone who met him, especially the guys in the PagePlay office. He is sorely missed.