Aside from being one of the most talented editors and writers of one of the top 100 most influential pop-culture/music publications in the entire world, Nigel Carr is the owner, creator and CEO of an innovative company called “Carousel Projects”.
“Carousel Projects” provides services very valuable to to businesses, although I cannot pretend to understand exactly what he does. Instead I let him explain what he offers. However, I do know that he’s quite remarkable when it comes to SEO’s and optimizing websites, as well as designing shoes, and of course writing.
I had Nigel answer a few questions and anyone in doubt or in need of his talents, please do not hesitate to contact him…
You’re a man of many talents, so let’s start here: what exactly can Carousel Projects offer a business and/or the general public?
Haha, yes it all seems pretty mad to be honest – We do Search Engine Optimization or SEO which has been demonised over the years by bad practice, so called Black Hat Tactics. People would create multiple versions of their websites to get them all in Google and get back links from dodgy directories. We do it properly, ‘white hat’, mainly for online retailers – fixing duplicate content issues, often slimmimg a site down by 90%. We have one client with a small shop which had 50,000 pages in Google – she now has 1500 and her rankings have soared, organic traffic (non ads) has doubled!
Give us a little history of your company, what motivated you to start it, how long have you been doing whatever it is that you do?
I was a running an online shoe business which we shut down last year. We couldn’t compete with Amazon so called it a day. We were turning over a couple of million pounds a year but making no money. Over the course of running it I’d fired all the SEO companies that tried to work for us and took on the job myself. I became an expert and decided that the money is in the picks and shovels and not in shipping products.
Is Carousel Projects international, what I mean by this is can any company anywhere in the world use your services?
Our target is the UK but frankly it doesn’t matter. Some UK businesses like to meet face to face and that would be a problem if we were working stateside. We work on websites and those are accessible anywhere in the world. I could do this from a beach in Hawaii – in fact that’s a very good idea! I’d miss the Manchester music scene too much though!
For those of us reading this like myself with blonde hair and nails and technically challenged, what is a SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation is all about taking a website and optimising the pages so that they are more visible in search engines like Google. It’s all about satisfying the users’ intent when they search. We help companies present relevant pages for particular search terms. For example If someone wants to buy FitFlops, I want my client to be the highest in Google for that search term, We help them get there. (very successfully!)
What is Pay Per Click, and are you a google guru ? In other words if I want to get my name out there, how would I or anyone go about hiring you?
I am that too – yes it’s real nerdy isn’t it? – I’m Google accredited and am a Specialist on the oracle of SEO, MOZ.com where I help and advise people. You would just ask me – I’m very nice ! haha
Aside from Carousel you are also an editor at Louder Than War – how did that happen?
I have a bottomless love for music. I remember sitting in the back room of my house when I was six year’s old listening to Yellow Submarine on the radio. I have been hooked on music my entire life. I am a huge fan of punk from the Pistols, The Damned and Wire and first saw Joy Division in 1978 playing in my home town. I’ve never stopped loving music and a few years ago started writing about gigs I’d been to on my own blog. The experience of seeing hundreds of band over the years gives me reference points for writing. A friend of mine, Dave Gleave was doing a gig shoot for a band and told Louder Than War he had a writer to cover it, I think it was Esper Scout – a great band from Leeds. I submitted the article and it was accepted. I now attend gigs in and around Manchester virtually every weekend and in some cases furiously write the review during the performance, on my phone. I did the big Manchester Ariane Grande One Love gig at a stadium n Manchester, the biggest event I’ve covered. It’s the gritty little gigs I love the most though; at Jimmys, The Castle or one of the other small venues in the City.
Oh and before you ask – the best time for music, is Now. It’s always now because music evolves so fast – It’s is so exciting to be part of something new all the time!
In your spare time, probably none of which you have, you also design shoes?
I know its crazy but my first love was shoes – I was a multiple shoe buyer for 10 years in the 90s and got a real taste for it. I design a Men’s high grade collection called ‘LSQ Shoes’ and we sell them to small shops in the UK & Europe and online. It’s small and probably loses money but they are the best shoes I can make and I love it! They’re the only shoes I;ll wear apart from Docs of course!
As writer and editor for Louder Than War, shoe designer, and CEO of to me a very technical project, how do you tie all of these things together in your own mind? I feel that you are caught between a creative and technological trance, that has got to be rough. How do you make it all work as successful as it does?
Well, that’s a good question! There is a fine line between effective juggling and procrastination. I work in bursts of about 90 minutes on any one thing. I’ll start in the morning editing Louder Than War reviews and publishing them. I’ll then research shoes for the balance of the morning. Then I will sit and go through a chunk of Google Ad campaigns and optimise them or pass some content out to some of our writers. Every day is different but I’m less hung up with making money than I was say, ten years ago (My kids left home!) and I think that’s why I enjoy it all so much. It’s as packed and as varied as I want it to be!
Finally Nigel who are the bands to look out for from Manchester?
The Manchester scene is exploding right now and there are a few bands who are beginning to take off. No Hot Ashes, Ist Ist, The Blinders, Cabbage and Sly Antics are my personal tips. Funk, wonky punk and Alt rock!
Nigel is on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/nigeljcarr
Twitter HYPERLINK “https://twitter.com/NigelCarrUK”https://twitter.com/NigelCarrUK and his carousel
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