Category Archives: Searching

Tracesmart launches the 2010 Electoral Register

The end of the calendar year is the period when local authorities make available their amassed edited Electoral Registers, and again Tracesmart is at the forefront following the announcement that they have already started incorporating the newly released 2010 data into their extensive catalogue of consumer information. As one of the UK’s leading data specialists, Tracesmart maintains its position and reputation by ensuring the data they hold is the most up-to-date possible, providing their clients with access to the latest information obtainable.

The UK electorate populate two registers which are collated by local authorities. The first is the full Electoral Register, which is utilised to facilitate local and national elections and is also employed by credit reference agencies. The second is the edited Electoral Register which holds the data of those individuals who did not ‘opt-out’ whilst completing their registration form. This list is held in the public domain and is commercially available. Tracesmart utilises this information, along with previously accumulated data, to provide identity checks, data cleansing and tracing solutions to the nation’s businesses and industries.

Tracesmart Corporate has a diverse and constantly growing legion of companies employing their online facilities to trace people, and verify individuals as part of fraud prevention procedures. Edited Electoral Register records provide indispensable information for both identity checks and tracing exercises, as they contain names and addresses of UK citizens; key information needed to identify or locate an individual.

Commenting on the release of the newly uploaded Electoral Register data, Paul Weathersby, Tracesmart’s Technical Director, remarked, “Once again, Tracesmart leads the way in delivering Electoral Register information. We have uploaded millions of new records to our system in a very short period and they are already fully searchable. We pride ourselves on this rapid integration which guarantees our customers early access to the best data available.”

Loading of the 2010 edited Electoral Register data into Tracesmart’s systems will continue throughout December and January; it is anticipated that the edited register will be fully integrated by the end of January 2010.

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2010 Electoral Roll now available at Tracesmart

In addition to the Christmas festivities, the end of the year brings with it a period when local authorities make new Electoral Roll data available. As in previous years, Tracesmart lead the way, as they have already started incorporating the newly released 2010 data into their people search facility.

As the most up-to-date yearly snapshot of the UK’s adult population, the Electoral Roll is at the core of Tracesmart‘s people search service. There are two versions of the electoral database produced each year, the full Electoral Roll and the edited. Tracesmart utilises the edited version, together with a variety of other datasets such as directory enquiries and birth, death and marriage indexes, to make it as easy as possible for individuals to find relatives and friends.

Ensuring their customers have access to the most up-to-date data available has always been one of Tracesmart’s fundamental principles and loading Electoral Roll data at the earliest possible time is a key part of this ethos. Paul Weathersby, Technical Director at Tracesmart, explained further,

“Every year since Tracesmart formed, we have aimed to load the new edited Electoral Roll records earlier than the previous year, and ahead of our competitors. This year is no different and I am pleased to say that we have loaded new Electoral Roll records earlier than ever before, ensuring our customers have access to this important data at the earliest possible juncture.”

Now is the perfect time for Tracesmart customers to utilise the new 2010 electoral data within their searches as it can be used in an address search to update contact details in readiness for posting Christmas cards, gifts and party invites. Alternatively it can be used to locate relatives in time for a Christmas family reunion.

Commenting on the release of the newly uploaded Electoral Roll data, Owen Roberts, Tracesmart’s Communications Manager, remarked, “We hope the newly added Electoral Roll data will help make more reunions possible. Our researchers are already using it to great success and I am confident that the new data will benefit those gearing up for Christmas, who are looking to be reunited with loved ones.”

Tracesmart has added millions of edited Electoral Roll 2010 records onto their system and will continue to do so throughout December and January. It is anticipated that all of the edited Electoral Roll records for 2010 will be loaded by the end of January.

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Rise In Online People Searches In Time For Holiday Season

With Christmas fast approaching, many people start thinking about absent family members, and will look to the internet for help. Indeed, the rush to reunite with family and friends has already begun, with online people search providers, Tracesmart, reporting a marked rise in visitor numbers to their site.

Tracesmart celebrated their tenth year of tracing earlier this year, and with over 10,000 searches performed daily on their website the service goes from strength to strength.

The popularity of online self search websites has grown rapidly since the introduction of the edited electoral roll, and the growing trend in online searching has empowered people to independently locate individuals without the need to pay for a private investigator.

Even with limited information, it is now possible to use an address to locate a lead as part of a search as Tracesmart provides an address search facility. This is particularly helpful if someone already has a street and house number, but isn’t sure if the person still lives there. Additionally the free postcode search function is especially useful for this time of year as it can be used to update old address details, so that items aren’t unnecessarily delayed at the postal sorting office.

Tracesmart has an experienced customer service team, available all day and late into the evening to offer support and advice to novice tracers. Commenting on this surge in demand, Sarah Lawrence, Tracesmart’s Customer Services Manager, noted, “We are receiving lots more enquires this month, which is not unusual for this time of year. As always my team and I are fully prepared to deal with the amount of searches and transactions that are being carried out on the site. We hope and aim to be able to assist in reuniting as many friends and families as possible this month, to make their Christmas even more special this year.”

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Bigmouthmedia And Econsultancy Reveal Companies Plan Increased Social Media Spend In 2010

The Social Media and Online PR Report, published by Econsultancy in association with bigmouthmedia, has revealed that most companies are planning to invest more in social media next year but are struggling to find the time and resources to manage their activity.

The report is based on a survey of over 1,100 companies and agencies, and is the most comprehensive study of its kind around how companies are using online PR and social media for marketing and customer service.

The results showed that 86% of companies plan to spend more money on social media in 2010, and a further 13% are planning to keep the same level of budget. 54% cited their biggest barrier to better social media engagement was a lack of resources, with 90% of businesses stating that social media is taking up more time internally than a year ago.

“The growth of social media and online PR has been meteoric, but until now there have been very few hard facts available on precisely how UK business is using the new channel and what they’re getting in return for their investment,” said Phil Gripton, Managing Director of bigmouthmedia UK.

“These statistics – the most detailed yet available – show that while an increasing number of companies are embracing social media, many are struggling to effectively manage their engagement and are consequently failing to make the most of a potentially enormous opportunity.”

The research found that many companies are experimenting with social media without yet reaping any measurable benefits. Only a quarter of companies said that they have gained “real, tangible value” from social media whereas 60% said they had gained “some benefit but nothing concrete”. However, 52% of respondents who are heavily involved said they have gained real value, compared to only 13% of companies who “experimented but not done much”.

Michelle Goodall, Econsultancy’s social media and online PR consultant at Econsultancy, said: “Before they think about their strategy and the best tactics, companies need to go back to basics and think in detail about how online PR and social media can help them deliver against their business objectives.

“The reality is that most businesses understand how to listen, what to measure and where to engage but are struggling to define the value of engagement and reputation in social spaces.”

There view of the benefits of Twitter is mixxed, with 31% of respondents saying there are “tremendous opportunities” available, but half reported their companies are “open-minded but not fully convinced about the value to the business”.

The majority of organisations (62%) are using the micro-blogging site for publicising new content, with 54% using the channel for marketing or brand monitoring (47%). Only 27% of companies are using Twitter as a customer service tool for reacting to issues and inquiries, while 25% use Twitter as a customer feedback tool. 7% felt that Twitter is over-hyped and a fad.

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JLT Findings Underline Benefit Of Tracesmart’s Existence Product

Following an assessment of their clients’ member screening procedures, JLT Benefit Solutions Ltd (JLT) established the distinct advantages of Tracesmart’s Existence checks facility. JLT were one of the first companies to employ Existence Alert in conjunction with Tracesmart’s tracing service and are able to quantify fully, the benefits of comprehensive screening and batch pension tracing.

Commenting on the service, Andrew Marson, Head of Administration Consulting, JLT said, “All JLT clients using this service are benefiting from the improvements it brings. A number have saved significant sums of money as a result. Our relationship with Tracesmart is well established.”

Tracesmart Corporate provide a broad spectrum of data intelligence services to the financial sector, including a multi-tiered consumer tracing solution utilised by a growing number of FTSE 100 companies. Tracesmart is also one of a small number of companies to receive a weekly feed of current UK Death Registration Information (DRI) from the General Register Office, crucial data which is employed to enhance the mortality screening functions of its anti-fraud services.

Established as the preferred choice within the pension industry for conducting existence checks, Tracesmart’s Existence service can boast the vast share of the relevant market. The process utilises DRI, historical death indexes and commercially aggregated mortality data to flag any deaths in the UK, whilst also confirming residency and identifying gone aways. This is carried out on a continual basis, permitting appropriate action to be taken to mitigate risk at the earliest possible moment.

Remarking on Existence and his company’s performance within the pension sector, Tracesmart’s Managing Director, Mike Trezise remarked, “Tracesmart’s combined existence checks and tracing services are industry leading. We are the principal player in this market now because we essentially understand the needs of the sector. As JLT has confirmed, our existence service delivers significant advantages. The process appreciably benefits all concerned, except that is, the fraudster.”

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bigmouthmedia Has Been Named One Of The UK’s Ten Fastest Growing Technology Companies For The Second Year Running

Europe’s largest independent digital marketing agency made the list of major winners in the Deloitte Fast 50 2009 following another successful year of exponential expansion. Recording a growth rate of 4111% over the past five years, the company’s top ten listing was cited by the judging panel as evidence of the online sector’s growing influence.

“Trading conditions this year have been challenging to say the least, but the digital marketing sector’s increasing maturity and size has enabled us to pursue an ambitious growth strategy despite the economic situation. Cost-effectiveness and measurable ROI lie at the heart of what we do, and even in the most difficult of times these qualities make for a compelling business argument,” said Lyndsay Menzies, Group Chief Operations Officer at bigmouthmedia.

“We’re delighted to have been ranked so highly and are obviously happy that bigmouthmedia’s continued success across the group has been recognised. It’s a great boost for the entire team and underlines what a talented group of people we have here.”

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50, one of the UK’s foremost technology award programmes, is a ranking of the country’s fastest-growing technology companies based on percentage growth over five years. Now in its 12th year, the programme honours business growth, technological innovation and UK entrepreneurial spirit.

David Halstead, Partner TMT practice and Fast 50 Chairman, Deloitte said: “The large number of software and digital marketing companies in the 2008 Deloitte Fast 50 reflects the growing maturity of online enterprises. The web is approaching the next stage of its evolution, and successful business models are becoming entrenched.”

The complete list of winners is available at: http://www.deloitte.co.uk/fast50/

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Online Accountancy Firm Brookson Has Appointed bigmouthmedia To Handle Its Search Marketing Activity


A leading provider of accountancy, tax advice and support services, Brookson selected bigmouthmedia following an extensive search to identify the ideal partner to lead its digital marketing strategy. An established innovator in the sector, the move comes as the award-winning consultancy moves to establish its Navigator Money Manager portal as the UK’s preeminent suite of online financial tools.

“As a company we have been going through a revolution in recent times. We have fundamentally changed our business model and are going direct to market as we look to continue the company’s expansion, so clearly search engine optimisation is a critical part of that strategy,” said Martin Hesketh, Managing Director at Brookson.

“Together with its status as an industry leader, bigmouthmedia’s unrivalled experience in helping brands make the most of their online activity made the agency the only logical choice for the job.”

Founded in 1995, Brookson was recently shortlisted as a finalist in this year’s Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) awards for ‘Innovation of the Year’. The company’s 150-strong accountancy service now manages the financial affairs of over 9,000 customers, freelance contractors and individuals who work in business for themselves.

Brookson’s Navigator Money Manager portal underpins Brookson’s claim to offer one of the most innovative contractor accountant services available on the UK market. Allowing clients to access their business financial information 24/7, the system has been designed to helps customers run their businesses more effectively by providing up to date financial information at their finger tips.

Currently, ninety nine per cent of Brookson’s customers used the online tool to complete their last year-end accounts and each week the online portal records an average of 4500 unique visits.

“We’re delighted to be welcoming Brookson as a client. The company’s focus on innovation and invention is one that we share at bigmouthmedia, and this promises to be both an exciting and challenging campaign,” said Phil Acton, Head of Business Development at bigmouthmedia.

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Data Cleansing Specialists Unveil New-Look Corporate Website

Tracesmart Corporate, data cleansing specialists and leading providers of consumer information services, have launched their new look corporate website. The redesign is not just skin-deep however, as it also includes an updated appearance to their intuitive online services, employed by a growing legion of operators to trace people and conduct identity checks. The redesign project was initiated following discussion with clients and prospects about site functionality.

Following in-depth market research with staff, customers and potential clients, the company embarked on a strategic overhaul of their business website to reflect the requirements and observations made by visitors during the research. The new look website and service portal was developed to portray Tracesmart Corporate as a modern and progressive organisation with a more welcoming and easier to understand user interface.

Owen Roberts, Tracesmart’s Communications Manager commented, “Putting into practice the feedback we received during market research has paid dividends. We believe our new look corporate website presents a more customer focused and user friendly search facility. Our in-house web developers and design team have responded to the challenge and delivered a fresh, contemporary design that I’m sure our customers will greatly appreciate.”

The Tracesmart Corporate website provides access to a variety of data intelligence services such as self-key consumer tracing, existence checks anti money-laundering and know your customer identity verification. Users of these services come from a broad and growing range of industries that include, amongst others, the financial sector, professional services and the media.

Paul Weathersby, Tracesmart’s Technical Director added just before its launch, “Following exhaustive examination of our previous site and listening to visitors and our customers, we were keen to improve the user experience and design. The website has gone through more than just a face lift and early indication from those consulted on the project suggests a more than favourable reaction. We are extremely delighted with the new design.”

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Tracesmart Bolster Their Database

Tracesmart, the online people search providers, have announced the addition of 100,000 rolling register updates for their tracing website. The new records will further assist customers when performing their online searches, delivering added accuracy to the Tracesmart facility. The new electoral roll data consists of individuals who have moved home or changed other details during the past month and have contacted their local authority to register their change of circumstance. The annual canvas of the UK population is undertaken during October every year, offering households the choice to opt out of the electoral roll if they wish. The option has given people the freedom to decide if their information is to be kept in the public domain, or only made available to those within local authority or credit reference agencies.

The number of people choosing to opt-out has risen since the opportunity was introduced in 2003, however the electoral roll continues to document millions of people and in 2009 the total amassed was 25 million records. Paul Weathersby, Tracesmart’s Technical Director, explains that although this number is lower than previous years, he is confident that the company’s unique Tracesmart Register fills in the gaps, strengthening the database. Weathersby commented, “We were the first website to publish the monthly updates, and we know from listening to customers that this has benefited them greatly. The fresh data we upload monthly is in addition to the Tracesmart Register, which is a database of data compliant sources.”

The Tracesmart Register has 250,000 new record uploads every month, and the extra rolling register monthly additions bolster the websites positioning as the premium name search facility.

“We pride ourselves on the information we hold, and invest in the most current data available to us. This provides our customers with the best possible chance of a successful address search to find relatives or friends,” said Owen Roberts, Tracesmart’s Communications Manager.

Anyone who moves or changes their details is encouraged to contact their local authority or visit the website About My Vote to register or update their details.

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National SEO , Global SEO – Mirror, Mirror on the Web, Who’s the Fairest of Them All?

That’s what we say everyday, when peering into our looking glass of this information age: our computer monitors: “Who’s the fairest of them all?” In other words, whose website is #1, or at least on Page 1 of Google, the juggernaut of the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) world? One of the technologies used by one of the leaders in National SEOand Global SEO and in their own backyard, Denver SEO, USWebCentral has one of the highest technologies available these days: Video SpokesPerson on your website. Another aspect is how to obtain more “square footage” high on search engine results pages.

What is a Video SpokesPerson? It is a filmed person, walking and talking on your website, in a 30 second commercial/ introduction, superimposed right onto the homepage of a website, or on any webpage. The SpokesPerson discusses the most important aspects of a company’s mission, presenting it in a compelling manner that is hopefully interesting to potential clients. The desire is that the SpokesPerson’s presentation will create a Call To Action, resulting in the potential client phoning or e-mailing the owner of the website to do business.

Having a Video SpokesPerson is one of the coolest technologies you can have these days. “Seeing their Video SpokesModel on their Denver web design site, immediately convinced me we had the right website and SEO consultant,” said Rand Soellner AIA, of Rand Soellner Home Architect, a leading custom home architect that engaged USWebCentral’s services earlier this year, “Actually seeing something different and cutting edge that works, that actually sets your website on a higher level of professionalism, now that’s the sort of thing that helps your website elevate in people’s minds and creates more clicks and therefore a higher ranking on search engines.”

Also, as an architect, Rand Soellner Architect deals in square footage of buildings and used this to describe the recent success of his revamped website with USWebCentral’s help: “We have a series of press releases about various hot topics and speak to those issues in which we are recognized leaders of the industry, like Green Home Architects, for instance. I have noticed that when I type in certain search terms, that not only do 1, 2 or 3 of my press releases pop up on page 1 or page 2 of Yahoo or Google, so does my main website, quite often. In other words, I own from 20% to 30% square footage of the organically searched results on page 1 and /or page 2, which is huge in SEO circles, I am told.”

Scott Carvin of USWebCentral agrees, getting a kick out of the term “Page 1 square footage percentage ownership” to describe what he is doing for his clients. “I started this trend of the Video SpokesPerson to make a difference, and it’s working. We are leaders in this technology. We actually digitally film everything right here in our own high-tech studio, and we have about 50 professional actors and anchor people and models on call, all of whom present themselves and our clients well. We allow our clients to pick the talent they want, or they can personally be the star of their own show, right there on their own website.”

Creating as much square footage ownership of Page 1 is Carvin’s mission, which he talks about like an impassioned evangelist, “I want my clients to succeed. If they do, they keep paying me to help their websites rank high, and I get new clients who want that kind of success, so that’s a win-win for all of us. We also provide a multi-pronged press release service that allows us to launch multiple press releases for clients, which will help accomplish the obtaining of the additional square footage on page1 and page 2 search engine results. If possible, we want our client to own the entire first page of Google search results, meaning that our clients, in their industry, are most of what people see, when searching for what our clients do.”

Carvin knows that owning an entire page on search results is a Nirvana-like utopian result that is not likely, but he has seen something near this with some of his clients’ search results. He is a client advocate whose desire is to place them on a pedestal for the whole world to see. Check out the Denver search engine optimization company online!

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HSBC Division Employ Tracesmart’s Proprietary Existence System

Tracesmart Corporate has been appointed by HSBC Actuaries and Consultants Limited (HACL) to provide their proprietary existence and tracing services. The facility will allow the verification of customer data against vital consumer information, including key UK mortality records; permitting the HSBC employee benefit consultancy to continuously and confidently monitor their client database in order to maintain contact with existing customers and highlight possible fraudulent activity.

HACL is part of the HSBC Group and a market leader in the UK specialising in actuarial and employee benefits consultancy, providing opinion, advice and services to pension scheme trustees, employers and individuals. It has become one of the leading employee benefits and actuarial consultancies in the UK.

Following stringent examination amongst stiff competition, including the incumbent, Tracesmart was recently awarded the three year preferred supplier contract. Mike Trezise, Tracesmart’s Managing Director commented, “Our meticulous procedures and thorough understanding of our customers’ requirements has successfully delivered yet another major account. Our existence facility and unique multi-tiered tracing solutions are currently delivering significant benefits to our clients. We look forward to working with HACL to deliver the best possible and most cost effective service available.”

Tracesmart, the Cardiff based data intelligence company, provides a comprehensive and unique facility to trace people, delivered by a team of in-house tracing agents, the service offers a tiered search solution to a growing number of companies. Tracesmart is also one of a small number of organisations to receive a weekly update of the UK Death Registration Information f r o m the General Register Office (GRO) to enhance its mortality screening facility. Approximately 12,000 deaths are recorded weekly in the UK, and this amassed information, combined with Tracesmart’s vast consumer database, drives the company’s proprietary service ‘Existence Alert’. The service is in essence a data cleansing process, which provides a continuous screening facility that identifies deceased individuals and ‘gone aways’ (people that move home without notifying a change of address) at the earliest possible moment, allowing appropriate action to be taken to minimise risk and combat escalating fraud such as the impersonation of the deceased.

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Tracesmart Won The South Wales Chamber Of Commerce Excellence In eBusiness Award For 2009

The Cardiff based people search specialists, Tracesmart, have won the South Wales Chamber of Commerce Excellence in eBusiness award for 2009. The award was presented to Tracesmart by the distinguished journalist and television personality, John Sergeant at a glittering ceremony and dinner to honour the best in Welsh business. The event was the culmination of the Chamber’s Business Week in Wales.

Following 10 years of growth, investment and continued technical advancement, Tracesmart has developed one of the UK’s leading people tracing facilities. Utilising a range of consumer datasets, including the continuously updated electoral roll, the online resource delivers an intuitive tracing service to the general public.

The web based facility offers, amongst a multitude of functions, an address search feature, affording consumers an easy to use resource to find relatives and friends. The facility has, over the years, helped reunite thousands of families and friends, whose stories have often attracted media attention.

Mike Trezise, Tracesmart’s Managing Director commented, “We are delighted to have won the Chamber of Commerce Excellence in eBusiness award, it’s a notable mark of distinction and a tribute to the work we do at Tracesmart. We constantly strive to develop and improve our online services, and it’s great that our work has been recognised.”

Tracesmart’s Communications Manager, Owen Roberts added, “The South Wales Chamber has built up an excellent reputation within Wales and has firmly established itself as the nation’s most prominent business support organisation. We are proud to be associated with the Chamber and are extremely pleased to have won the award. The company has changed and grown significantly over recent times and we are now reaping the benefits of our hard work.”

Tracesmart will now receive automatic entry to the British Chambers of Commerce national awards.

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Fujitsu Has Chosen bigmouthmedia To Lead Its International PPC Campaign

Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH selected the Edinburgh based search engine optimisation company following a multi-agency pitch. Bigmouthmedia will now lead the company’s paid search advertising campaign in more than 25 countries worldwide, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

David Hardy, bigmouthmedia group’s international sales and marketing director, commented on the deal saying: “We’re delighted to be working for such an internationally renowned brand like Fujitsu. One of bigmouthmedia’s key strengths is our international scope, and our demonstrable expertise in running complex multi-language campaigns has been a key factor in winning this account.”

He added: “Over the past 12 years we have established a proven track record in managing big brands across multiple territories, and I am confident we will enjoy similar success with our strategy for what promises to be a challenging and exciting campaign.”

Fujitsu’s digital marketing requirements also included an increase in the profile, turnover and traffic on their international sites as well as the capacity to oversee new product and service launches. Beginning work immediately, bigmouthmedia now develops and manages Fujitsu’s PPC campaigns in more than 25 countries, including Italy, Spain, Turkey, Scandinavia and the Eastern European countries.

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe’s largest and most experienced digital marketing agency and was rated the UK’s #1 Search agency for Search Engine Optimisation and PPC in the 2009 NMA Marketing Services Guide.

Bigmouthmedia’s 200+ online marketing experts across 12 international offices maximise online brand exposure for our clients by means of integrated digital strategies incorporating SEO, PPC, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, display advertising, online PR and copywriting.

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Data Cleansing Experts Shortlisted for Industry Award

Consumer data specialists Tracesmart have been shortlisted for a new industry award. Following the submission of an application into the ‘Best PR/Advertising Campaign’ category of the CSA (Credit Services Association) Awards, the Tracesmart Corporate ‘Nobody home?’ campaign has made the shortlist.The winner is to be announced at the CSA’s annual Gala Dinner, which concludes the CSA & DBSG (Debt Buyers and Sellers Group) Conference in Brighton later this month.

Tracesmart’s ‘Nobody home?’ entry, employs a variety of promotional mediums to communicate its message. The campaign promotes the Tracesmart Corporate data cleansing and debtor tracing services, which can be utilised to verify debtor residency and trace people.

The message which the campaign conveys is that Tracesmart’s services make it simple to confirm whether a debtor is resident or not – a task which is even more pertinent in the current economic climate, as more individuals attempt to avoid paying debt. Commenting on the imagery used to symbolise how difficult it can be to confirm residency, Adam Smith – Tracesmart’s Marketing Manager – commented,

“Our creative brainstorming session led to the idea of a vacant house to symbolise someone who may no longer be resident, however this concept did not deliver the striking imagery we required. It eventually evolved into the more abstract concept of an empty tortoise shell. This image ticked all the boxes; whilst the shell appears empty, it could still have a resident, thus epitomising the problem of confirming debtor residency.”

The concept has clearly worked for Smith’s team as Tracesmart have seen impressive results from the campaign. Commenting on the effectiveness of the ‘Nobody home?’ campaign, Chris Rothwell – Sales Director for Tracesmart – remarked, “The campaign’s creative concept has been well received by the industry and this has been reflected in the campaign results to date.

So far, in comparison to our last financial year, lead generation is up 53% for the sector, which has significantly boosted sales of the services promoted by the campaign. From a brand awareness point of view, this campaign has definitely helped to highlight how we can help debt collection agencies and enforcers verify debtor residency and locate gone aways.”

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Identity Verification Experts Reach Half-Million GRO Mortality Records

Tracesmart, the data and fraud prevention specialists, this week reached a landmark half million mortality records received from the General Register Office (GRO) as part of the Disclosure of Death Registration Information (DDRI) scheme. The UK Death Registration Information (DRI) was first released in September 2008 and Tracesmart Corporate were the first organisation to be approved by the GRO to receive the weekly update of the DRI following rigorous examination. The DRI is only accessible for the purposes prescribed by law and is stored within Tracesmart’s secure data facility.

Identity Verification Experts Reach Half-Million GRO Mortality Records

The Home Office estimate that identity fraud costs the UK economy over £1.2 billion a year and the half million death records accumulated since the beginning of the scheme less than a year ago, supplemented by Tracesmart’s additional and vast database, will significantly help combat today’s ever increasing and resourceful fraudster. Mortality data is a key tool in the battle to beat identity fraud, especially its derivatives – impersonation of the deceased (IOD) and the lesser known concealment fraud.

Although both IOD and concealment fraud involve deceiving organisations into the belief that a deceased person is still alive and dishonestly claiming and receiving lines of credit and other beneficial services, the perpetrators differ greatly.

IOD fraud is often committed by professional fraudsters who utilise previous occupant’s mail or obituaries to assume an individual’s identity and obtain credit or benefits illegally. In contrast, concealment fraud is often committed by the deceased’s spouse or dependents, who deliberately neglect to notify the correct parties of the deceased’s passing in order to receive illicit funds.

Tracesmart is one of the UKs leading providers of identity fraud prevention tools, and its clients benefit significantly from the DDRI scheme as electronic identity checks and mortality screening searches are conducted utilising the weekly feed of the DRI. In addition to its identity verification facility, Tracesmart also provides a data cleansing service and an online resource to trace people for positive or negative intentions.

Highlighting the benefits of the DRI to Tracesmart and its clients, Mike Trezise, the company’s Managing Director commented, “Regularly updated mortality information has become crucial in our fight against fraud. Obviously, the more information we hold, better the chance we have of highlighting discrepancies within client databases and possible cases of fraud. The half million records of new mortality data received since the inception of the DDRI scheme is certainly a landmark and has already significantly helped Tracesmart, and our service users, expose fraudulent activity.”

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Standards And Services Body Employ Tracesmart’s Proprietary Existence Checking Service

Origo, the eCommerce standards and services body for the UK financial services industry, has appointed Tracesmart Corporate as their exclusive service provider to deliver their new online facility – the Origo Data Matching Service (ODMS) on a 3 year contract. The bespoke data screening service allows financial providers to check their customer data against key sources of information, including records of deceased UK individuals and those no longer residing at a given address, which in turn helps them to manage payments in-force, reserves and identify fraudulent activity.

Tracesmart, the Cardiff based tracing, identity verification and data cleansing agency, is one of a small number of companies to receive a weekly update of the UK Death Registration Information f r o m the General Register Office (GRO), and this information, along with Tracesmart’s vast consumer database, drives the company’s proprietary service “Existence Alert” which distinctively fulfils Origo’s requirements for its new data matching service.

Paul Pettitt, Managing Director of Origo, commented on Tracesmart’s commission, “Origo is delighted to announce the launch of this service, which addresses fraud issues and delivers immediate bottom line benefits for providers. Origo is uniquely placed to identify collective requirements, following which we have procured a cost effective service to meet those requirements. We are looking forward to working with our chosen supplier, Tracesmart, to deliver immediate benefits to providers.”

The ODMS will assist providers in mitigating risks associated with annuity overpayment to the recently deceased, combat ‘Impersonation of the Deceased’ fraud and highlight ‘gone aways’ policyholders who have moved f r o m their last known address. Tracesmart currently provide similar services to numerous other financial institutions throughout the UK, including the vast majority of third party administrators within the pension sector.

Following exhaustive examination and assessment, Tracesmart emerged as the preferred data supplier for Origo’s new service and Mike Trezise, Tracesmart’s Managing Director, commented, “We are delighted to have secured such a significant account. Tracesmart’s ability to fully recognise Origo’s requirements is fundamental to our success. The provision of relevant data, accessed via an easy to use platform will significantly help Origo’s members to verify customer residency and flag gone aways, in addition to mortality screening their databases. We look forward to working with Origo and their associates, to deliver the best possible service.”

Rick Williams, Actuarial and Technical Support Manager of Friends Provident, one of Origo’s original members and sponsors, added, “ODMS will allow Friends Provident to keep in touch with its customers in a simple and non-intrusive manner, without the bureaucracy that annuity providers have traditionally used. Using better technology to reduce costs, whilst not losing sight of our customers, is what we are all about. As the first company to use ODMS we have been fully involved in the development of this service and are looking forward to our relationship with both Tracesmart and Origo.”

About Tracesmart
Established in 1999, Tracesmart Ltd is a leading provider of consumer intelligence services. It specialises in the provision of both online tracing and identity verification. Prominent in the pensions, legal, financial and retail sectors, their fraud prevention and anti-money laundering solutions are employed by a growing legion of businesses ranging f r o m SME to FTSE 100 companies.

The company’s management has recently embarked on a rapid growth strategy, recently doubling, staff numbers and office accommodation at its Cardiff Bay headquarters in addition to opening its City of London office to satisfy existing and anticipated future demands for its products and services.

Mike Trezise
Trezise is the founder and Managing Director of Tracesmart. With over 25 years tracing and fraud analysis experience, his unrivalled knowledge provides the company with a distinct competitive advantage.

About Origo
Origo was launched by 16 of the UK’s leading life assurance companies in June 1989 to facilitate the development of electronic trading between principals and agents for Life, Pensions and Collective Investment business. In February 2006, the scope of Origo’s activity was extended to include mortgage business.

Origo’s main purpose is to address cost and efficiency issues for the UK Life, Pensions, Investment and Mortgage sectors by delivering common eCommerce services and standards. Origo drives the adoption of eBusiness by creating a standards-based, competitive and secure trading environment in which industry goals are being met.

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Enterprise Level CRM Data Cleansing By Acquirelists

Bad data within your CRM system can drastically reduce the effectiveness of your sales, service, and marketing organizations. Duplicate companies and contacts, incorrect addresses, and incomplete information results in a CRM system that 1) is underutilized by your employees, 2) creates conflict within your sales organization, and 3) is a wasted investment. Acquirelists CRM data cleansing services ensure that data within ERP or CRM silos, Data Marts or Legacy Systems is accurate and complete across the enterprise. Enhance the value of your data by intelligently enriching it with data from trusted sources.

Commenting, Acquirelists Marketing Manager George Goss said “Acquirelists new CRM data services are already widely used by all the industries; we are now bringing CRM data solutions to all types of business to business sales companies. Whether they require CRM data enrichment, CRM data cleansing, CRM data appending or market intelligence, Acquirelists have a commitment to ensuring the ongoing success of its partners.”

Enhance the Value of Marketing Data through Acquirelists CRM Data Enrichment Service

1) Append Contact Name, Title,Email, SIC Code, DUNS Number, Revenue, Phone & Fax Number etc or other internal or external information to your data
2) De-dup your data and merge duplicate records based on clearly defined business rules
3) Remove garbage data to reduce time wasted by your staff
4) Standardize and clean up addresses, phone numbers, and other existing data
5) Add new emails, phone numbers, and titles to your contact database
6) Add detailed company data such as assets, revenues, employees, and addresses
7) Identify parent-subsidiary relationships

Acquirelists CRM data cleansing services extract, deduplicate, standardize, analyze, validate and enrich data. The result of these services is a CRM system that is well organized with accurate information to be leveraged by your sales and marketing organizations. Our cleansing approach is driven by our experience in business rules management and in data governance compliancy.

• Remove any Existing Duplicates
• Match Phonetic, Miskeyed, Abbreviated Data
• Prevent the Addition of Duplicate Records
• Automatically Case Names & Addresses
• Relocate Data Elements to Correct Fields
• On Demand Cleansing, Real-Time or Batch
• Merge / Purge, Intelligent Lookup
• Data Enrichment

Company:

Acquirelists offers a range of email services to help Sales & Marketing Execs drive lead generation and build sales pipelines. AcquireLists is a leading provider of quality Business to Business and Information Technology mailing, email and telemarketing lists. Led by seasoned B2B lead generation experts, AcquireLists enables marketers to deliver higher quality and quantity of leads to sales teams We specializes in providing business and consumer mailing lists that are privacy-compliant, accurate and affordable. Our continuously updated email/direct mail lists allow you to target your market, grow your sales and increase your profits.

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Bigmouthmedia Welcomes The New Search Partnership Between Yahoo And Microsoft’s Bing Search Engine, Stating That The New Arrangement Could Rejuvenate Competition In A Market Currently Dominated By Google

Although details of the deal are as yet unclear, reports from numerous credible news outlets worldwide suggest that after many months of negotiation, the global giants are set to unveil an agreement that will see Yahoo sell search ads under Microsoft’s nascent Bing brand. While estimates of the global market share the partnership will hold vary from 12% to 30%, Europe’s largest independent digital marketing agency believes that the news will have a positive impact upon the industry.

“It’s been 18 months since the rumour mill first started touting the possibility of a deal involving Yahoo and Microsoft, and the industry as a whole will be delighted to see what’s become the search business’ longest-running soap opera finally approaching a conclusion. The devil will be in the detail, but given the alarming dominance that Google has held over the market for so long, the prospect of a serious challenge to their position is good news for everyone,” said Lyndsay Menzies, Chief Operations Officer at bigmouthmedia.

“Although the impact in the UK will be minimal, with the combined entity still only accounting for a market share of around 5%, competition in any market is good for consumers. If the partnership succeeds in growing their market share still further, the renewed challenge could force Google to become more competitive.”

With the precise details of the agreement still a closely guarded secret, the news that Yahoo has finally succumbed to Microsoft’s advances has spawned widespread speculation over the deal’s possible ramifications. While the prospect of a serious competitor to Google’s Adwords system is being touted as a move that could help push PPC advertising prices downwards, other commentators have suggested that the deal could force the search giant to reconsider its policy against paying commission to partner agencies.

“There are still more questions than there are answers about this deal, but If Yahoo’s paid search ads are powered by Bing then we will have another credible search engine to consider for paid search budgets. That may result in some instability as bid management platforms adapt to cope with the new landscape, but it will help keep cost-per-click prices down,” said Andrew Girdwood, bigmouthmedia’s Head of Search.

“But if Bing is only going to supply Yahoo with organic results then it still means Yahoo is out of the search game. They’ll not be developing their search engine, are unlikely to return to it and will in essence become an ad management platform – the long term effects of which remain to be seen.”

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe’s largest and most experienced digital marketing agency and was rated the UK’s #1 Search agency for Search Engine Optimisation and PPC in the 2009 NMA Marketing Services Guide.

Bigmouthmedia’s 200+ online marketing experts across 12 international offices maximise online brand exposure for our clients by means of integrated digital strategies incorporating SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing, Affiliate marketing, Display Advertising, Online PR and Copywriting.

Bigmouthmedia’s multilingual digital solutions deliver outstanding ROI for over 300 world leading brands including British Airways, Tesco, ebay, Sky, Cisco, BT, Comic Relief, Barclaycard and Europcar.

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Consumer Data Specialists Tracesmart Partners With NeuStar To Employ Their UltraDNS Service

Utilizing UltraDNS will greatly improve connection reliability from their Tracesmart Corporate and consumer services to their datacentres. The move forms part of the company’s disaster recovery program and their continued commitment to service quality and dependability.

Well regarded worldwide, NeuStar currently works with the likes of Tesco, SalesForce, Forbes, Oracle and My Space. With a reputation for technical superiority and service reliability, NeuStar’s UltraDNS service was the ideal choice for Tracesmart as it employs an external domain name system spanning continents and housed in 6 data centres, ensuring continuous availability and speed. Using UltraDNS, Tracesmart will now be able to interchange between their datacentres much faster – a benefit that is of great importance for disaster recovery planning.

As part of the company’s larger business continuity plan, the UltraDNS implementation means that in the highly unlikely event that Tracesmart’s core data centre fails due to a natural or human-induced disaster, the company can quickly switch to their backup datacentre. Discussing how their new approach will negate the impact of external physical catastrophes, Tracesmart’s Technical Director, Paul Weathersby, commented,

“The new UltraDNS service will enable us to have a standby response to any possible disaster that impacts upon our primary datacentre. The new service will divert service traffic to our reserve datacentre; which means our consumer and business clients should experience as little service degradation as possible.”

The new implementation also adds further reliability to Tracesmart’s services, such as their identity checks service, AML, which is used for anti-money laundering purposes. Additionally, the employment of the UltraDNS service will benefit Tracesmart’s internal functions, as it means their corporate specialist staff will still have access to the various datasets needed for manual tracing and data cleansing in the event of the company’s core datacentre failing. From a customer standpoint¬ this will further benefit Tracesmart’s corporate clients as it means their projects would have little or no additional delay in turnaround.

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People Search Website Receives Traffic Surge

Following the first episode of the new series of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, Tracesmart, leading providers of online people search tools, experienced a significant surge in visitors to their site. It would appear the programme has inspired viewers to research their family tree, in which Tracesmart can play an important role.

Over 10,000 people searches are conducted daily on the Tracesmart website, which helps people to find relatives and friends.The site provides people tracing and research tools, such as their address search tool, which are driven by a multitude of databases which cover recent history. Whilst users cannot research historical data such as census records, which are a useful resource for genealogists, they do provide a link to some of the most powerful resources for family tree research – living relatives.

Many people in the UK have lost touch with family members or have distant relatives who may hold the key to unlocking their family history, and Tracesmart has long been used to aid amateur genealogists in their quest for knowledge. Providing access to information such as current and historic Electoral Roll records and Birth, Death and Marriage Indexes, Tracesmart can be utilised to locate relatives that could provide vital links to the past.

The BBC’s ‘Who Do you Think You Are?’ series has raised the profile of genealogy. The first episode of this new series aired on Wednesday 15th July at 9pm and featured Davina McCall, who traced her French and English roots. It was following this broadcast that the Tracesmart website received an influx of visitors. Owen Roberts, Communications Manager at Tracesmart, comments on the role the company has to play in family research,

“Living relatives can often provide gems of information about a family’s history but, unfortunately, family members can often lose touch with one another. It is at this point that the genealogist will turn to us to help them locate those relatives they have lost contact with.

In addition to our online search facilities, we also have an experienced team of researchers who can offer advice to those who have lost contact with a family member – my advice to anyone who is searching for a relative is get in touch with us!”

This series of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ continues for another 5 episodes, with the forthcoming episode featuring Radio 1’s Chris Moyles.

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