The re-development of MyCreativeEdge

MyCreativeEdge.eu was launched in June 2013 to showcase the work of creative people from Europe’s Northern Edge.  Since then it has grown into a popular online platform attracting over 100,000 sessions.  It now hosts 605 profiles of creative enterprises and freelancers from Northern Ireland, Northern Finland, North East Iceland, Mid-Sweden and the West of Ireland.

New funding under a creative momentum project, the addition of two new regions in Iceland and Sweden, our experience over the past 2 ½ years, as well as recent trends in technology, prompted us to take this opportunity to re-develop and expand the site.

The ultimate objective is to make each and every member more accessible both to each other and to a wider public that is in need of creative products or services.  Showcasing the work of creative people from Europe’s Northern Edge in a highly visual way remains the core function of MyCreativeEdge.

The re-development will account for the needs of different site users – consumers/businesses, creative members and seekers of inspiration – while making sure that member profiles and images are prioritised and very easily found.  Some of key features of the re-development will be:

• Members will have more options to customise their profile page to best showcase their work and also to share their stories, ideas and creative journeys through the site. They will also be able to easily identify opportunities such as available funding, training and vacancies in spaces.
• Members will have the option to create a joint profile with other members to showcase a joint project.
• The new website will be built with enhanced SEO, with a strong emphasis on landing pages, and on individual member companies. Accordingly, two of the key features of the site will be faster internal search and higher rankings in Google search.
• A new online digital marketing campaign will be launched to market website to key target markets in Europe and the US.
• As web usage shifts increasingly to phones and tablets, the site content will display in a clear and sleek way in all types of devices.

McCadden – a creative agency based in Belfast – was contracted to carry out this facelift. Drawing from the agency’s long-time experience in developing online solutions, the re-development of the website will take into account current technology and design style, the need for customisation and immediacy.

We will need the help of all site members to achieve the full benefits of this re-development. The testing phase will begin soon and we will be in contact directly with all members about what steps they’ll need to take to adapt their profile to the redesigned site.

We are looking forward to seeing the final result and hope users are going to make the revamped MyCreativeEdge.eu central to their online marketing activities.