Simon Chadwick tells us about why Manchester is a Global Centre for Sport

Many of us here around the centre of Manchester love sport. We are all different whether we are active participants, enthusiastic spectators or avid readers, sport is often an integral part of our lives. When you engage in sport, try and think about what sport really means to you, your family and friends, the place you live, your country and, indeed, the world in general. It means a lot to me, for sure!

I think that sport is one means through which health and well-being of people is improved. It is also a way of building social cohesion by bringing people together. I believe sport can help foster both community and national identities, helping generate a feel good factor among those engaged with it. What do you think?

Have you thought about how sport also creates jobs, generates income, and builds export revenues? There are marketing and commercial benefits too. How do towns and cities position themselves as being homes of sport, while countries utilise sport as a way of influencing other countries?

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Yousef Essali tells you why lack of experience should not limit your ambition

In the 2nd year of my BSc at Salford I applied for a lot of placements. Not even once did I get to the interview stage! What was I doing wrong? That was during my undergraduate degree where everyone was fairly similar in age and experience. But, when you think about  the postgrad level it gets even tougher. Suddenly you find yourself competing with peers with wider levels of experience and talent.

Why did I return straight away after graduation to start MSc International Business? One reason was the opportunity to do an internship or placement as part of my course. However, after the rejection fiasco in my Undergraduate degree I knew I needed a new approach! How could I change the playing field to my advantage, bypass the traditional recruitment process and get face-to-face with potential employers?

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Dr. Yvonne Moogan, Salford MBA Director

Why study for an MBA at Salford? Being able to assess a number of information sources and make judgement on the most appropriate course of action for your organisation is just one of the key skills that a Salford MBA graduate will develop.

To be relevant to the business world the Salford MBA programme itself is constantly reviewed and aligned to the needs of organisations. The latest Salford MBA course revisions ready for September 2016 intake make our Salford MBA programme up to date by focusing on these factors:

All Salford MBA modules are now specific to MBA students so that these are no longer shared with MSc students on other programmes. This change increases time when MBA students can learn from one another and gives each intake a distinct group identity and forges your contacts beyond the course timelines and helps for you establish long term business networks.

All modules are core except for the pathways in Digital Business, Sports Business and Executive Education Leadership. The assessment process comprises assessment portfolios without any exams. The teaching is made even more industry linked by all modules including company visits, monthly guests talks followed by individual personal development review sessions with MBA director and most interesting is the International trip which shows an insight into an international market.

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Ian McHale, Professor of Sports Analytics

Now that SAM’s predictions for Premier League matches are on the BBC website every week, I am getting asked three questions a lot:

1. What is SAM?
2. How does SAM work?
3. Is SAM any good?

In this blog I hope to give pretty simple answers to these questions, and point the interested reader in the right direction to get more information.

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Karl Chevalier

For me, leaving University was one of the hardest challenges I have had to face so far. Having previously studied at a small independent faith school with a population less than that of a coal miner’s convention – it was hard to embrace the fact I would be competing for a place in this crowded digital environment. With hundreds of people graduating alongside me in Greater Manchester alone, and an extra few hundred graduating each year thereafter what are the chances of me being noticed? How would I ever stand out from the crowd and land my dream job?

Thousands of pounds and several hundred caffeine induced beverages later and I found myself standing looking deep in to this digital precipice with an abundance of career options available. A fantastic new parachute-shaped degree strapped to my back – but is a degree alone enough to stand out from the crowd and help land your dream job?

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Nim Tennakoon, MSc Digital Marketing student

Before I started my Search and Social Media Marketing module (SSMM), I did not consider optimising my digital profiles or worry about the ranking of my name in Search Engine Results Page (SERPs). Knowing what I know now this is one reason as to why I study Digital Marketing at Salford.

Most of us have social media profiles such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I actually have more than 5000 friends on Facebook! Even my Facebook page has more than 2000 likes. On Instagram I have nearly 3500 followers. For a long time I was active online posting around twice a day. But only recently I have started to understand the theoretical and financial values behind it.

Once I began to appreciate the theory of social media marketing I became fascinated. Did you know I am what you might call in digital marketing a micro-influencer?

It’s true! I have now even read some studies that suggest users like myself with smaller follower numbers actually have higher engagement rates on social media compared to some Megastars. Therefore, people like me with similar followings can be of huge benefit to online brands.

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Seema Dosanjh – why students should do a work placement

Are you a student eager to finish university and jump right into your amazing career? Are you excited to have a professional job title and the salary that comes along with it? Are you ready to hear to the unfortunate truth about the reality that awaits you after graduation? Read this blog post on why you should consider doing a work placement to broaden your horizons.

As a natural optimist I hate having to do this. If you’re a student waiting to start your first job after completing your studies, you may want to may want to re-evaluate this decision.

The workforce is slowly but surely shifting as employers are demanding more from their applicants. There used to be a time where an undergraduate degree would get your ‘foot in the door’. Over the recent years, more job listings require candidates to have 1-3 years of work experience to even be considered for an entry level position.

This is not to say that students who don’t have prior work experience will not be employed. Instead this blog post looks at how doing a work placement during a your academic career is helpful in accelerating your professional career.

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Helvijs Smoteks- Rank on Google

After you have your money maker phrase at your disposal and you have implemented the on-page ranking factors that matter the most – it’s time to rank on Google.
Buckle up because this is the part that will matter a lot when you have a great foundation in place. Here is the final step in finding out how to rank on Google.

According to backlinko.com and an analyses of 1 million search results, the number one ranking factor that helps websites to rank on Google is, drum roll please, the URLs leading to one’s site from other webpages (clarification of  concept: the URLs that are redirecting a person from one website to your webpage are called backlinks).

To help you to create a backlink, WordPress saves the day once again.  You need to highlight the anchor text (1) and link it with a website (2).

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Helvijs Smoteks- Rank on Google

In the previous blog post, I showed you how to do keyword research as the first step to rank on Google. If you haven’t already read it you can find it Step 1 to be #1 here. Now we move on to the second step which is on-page SEO as what would be the point of good keywords without the knowledge of where to place them?

On-page SEO is a part of your website that is perceived as important to rank on Google. It’s everything from content and URLs to the code itself. After doing some proper keyword research, this section provides you with a know-how on where to put these words.

There are a couple of things that can improve your ranking based on how great is your on-page SEO. In this section you can find 6 factors that you should know about to improve your chances to rank on Google. Read more…..

Helvijs Smoteks- Rank on Google

This post introduces you to the first step in the 3 step approach on how to rank on Google and become the number 1 in your field. We will go through posts 2 and 3 in future blog posts so stay tuned.

By now it seems like everyone with a laptop has started a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) agency and most of them are capable of generating decent revenue. If you want to jump on this SEO train, and don’t have the time to join our MSc in Digital Marketing or the Search and Social Media Marketing evening course, this post is a must read!

Knowing all about how to rank on Google from the best in the SEO field can be a real money-maker later on in your career. So, pull out your notebook and let’s learn. Read more…..