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Tudor Lodge Consultants is happy to reveal we are working with a new loans broker in the industry, My Financial Broker (https://www.myfinancialbroker.co.uk/). The company helps customers find the best loan product available to them through their affiliate lending network. The service is completely free for potential borrowers to use, and instead, lending partners receive a commission. If a loan application is successful, it is possible for funds to be transferred within just an hour.

Our SEO team has been called on to help improve the firm’s online presence through our tried and tested methods, knowing that we have a strong reputation for achieving excellent SEO results. Here is what we have achieved so far.

What we are doing for My Financial Broker

Writing new landing pages – one of the best ways of building an online presence and establishing an excellent reputation is through producing concise, relevant landing pages. This indicates to users that the loan broker has a strong level of expertise and knowledge of its industry making it trustworthy. Strong, in-depth landing pages are also important SEO wise: by ensuring that these pages are structured correctly to meet SEO requirements. For example, our team has done this by choosing relevant content topic titles, as well as using the right H titles, such as h2 headings and internal links which are detected by Google algorithms.

Site clean-up – Our SEO team understands that making sure My Financial Broker’s website is fully optimised is vital for its Google ranking success. As a result, we have carried out a thorough clean up of the website to improve its SEO rating. For example, we have ensured that all titles, descriptions, internal links, response codes and image-alt text have all been optimised and fixed, helping to facilitate the indexing of the website by Google.

Acquiring links – another way we have been helping the loan broker has been through acquiring links to promote trust and authority of the website. We have made sure only reputable websites are now linking to My Financial Broker, which also makes it easier for Google to crawl the site and consequently improving the sites ranking.

HMRC have wisely decided to delay the introduction of the much maligned Domestic Reverse Charge.

The DRC, that was due to have a major impact on the way VAT is collected and reported within the building and construction industry from 1st October 2019, has now been postponed by twelve months.

With the uncertainty of Brexit looming and as many as two thirds of businesses within the industry not even aware of the DRC, the delay represents a victory for common sense with many industry representatives having long called for the new legislation to be postponed due to a lack of effective communication from the Revenue.

HMRC claim that they are still committed to the introduction of the DRC, which now comes into effect from 1st October 2020, stating that it will “work closely with the sector to raise awareness and provide additional guidance and support to make sure all businesses will be ready for the new implementation date.”

Despite the industry breathing a collective sigh of relief with the announcement, some businesses will have already spent time and money preparing for the changes, leading no doubt to frustration at the decision that has been made at the eleventh hour.

For more information on the DRC, including news of the delay that was announced last week, visit www.astonshaw.co.uk/drc.

A dream business team will comprise a well-balanced group of people who complement each other, challenge each other and bring out the best in each other. They will work efficiently together and be equipped and supported to achieve business objectives and results.

If you are recruiting for a new candidate to join an existing team, whether it is to replace someone or to increase the team’s size and resources, consider how they will fit with the team as well as in the role itself. One person can have a significant impact on the dynamics of a team. If they fit well, bringing complementary contributions, skill sets and approaches, they can help the team to work even more effectively. If they don’t fit, it can throw the entire balance and reduce engagement and efficiency across the whole team.

Considering the overall cultural fit of a new recruit is a great starting point to achieving team fit. With a clear employer brand featured across your recruitment materials and touch points, you should attract applicants who are inspired by and share the vision and values of your organisation. How can you then take this one step further and look to identify a good fit for a specific team?  

Identify your current team’s personalities

Before bringing anyone new into a team, take the time to understand the current personalities within the group. This could be through spending direct time with them, psychometric profiling, or a combination of both. The aim is to find out more about each team member as an individual. As well as looking at their skills and experience, look at how they work, how they interact, what their aspirations are and what they are motivated by. This will give you a better understanding not only of what additional skills or experience you need to find, but also what soft skills and working styles would fit and complement. This often doesn’t mean finding people who are all similar. Your team may currently be made up of highly creative workers for example but without the balance of people who are more detail focussed and organisation orientated.

Review current team roles

Before advertising a new position, review the current team’s responsibilities, performance and development opportunities. Is there an opening to increase engagement levels by offering an existing high-calibre member of the team the chance to progress or move into a different role? Bringing in a new recruit without consideration of this could potentially result in the disengagement of existing team members. They may feel they have been overlooked for the role the new employee would be filling. This reduces the chances of everyone working together as the dream team you are looking to build and the probability of the newest team member being able to fit in well. If you are replacing someone, are there any learnings to be considered first? If they were a great team fit, why was this? If not, what didn’t work so well?

Identifying team fit

Considering the first two areas should help you to build a more complete picture of what you need to find to achieve a good team fit. This is where our expert consultants can add real value to your recruitment process and help you to identify these desired traits. We work with our clients to provide competency-based interviewing techniques which focus not only on gathering evidence of required skills and experience, but also other competencies such as behaviours and personal qualities. Our complimentary services also include psychometric and personality profiling. There are many different types of assessment tests available, but generally, they will be used to measure how candidates differ in their motivation, values, priorities and opinions. This will help you to understand how they are likely to respond to different tasks and situations, their favoured working style and how they will interact with fellow workers. These tests can be especially useful if you have already used some form of profiling tool with your existing employees, as you will be able to see how potential candidates could fit and strengthen your existing team. Our consultants can also sit in on interviews, bringing an additional perspective on how the candidate would fit within the team dynamic.

And with team fit in mind, look for ways to involve team members within the interview process. This could be a social occasion with some or all, depending on numbers, of the candidate’s prospective peers. Or you could invite one or two of the team members to be on the interview panel. This will help you to see first-hand how candidates interact with their potential colleagues. It also gives the candidate their own chance to assess how they think they would fit with the team. Giving the other team members a say in the recruitment decision will also help them to feel more invested in their newest team member and encouraged to help them to fit in from the outset. 

Remain flexible and fair

While the team and cultural fit are worth exploring for all the reasons mentioned, it is still only one element to creating an overall recruitment campaign which shows real consideration for all involved and a commitment to achieving a successful result. The information gathered should always be considered as part of a wider picture and never be the only focus. Follow a fair and inclusive recruitment process and be considerate of not letting conscious or unconscious bias get in the way of making a great hiring decision. The best teams are usually made up of a variety of different people who all bring a range of different experiences, perspectives and skill sets to the table. They also naturally evolve and change over time.

Identity Crisis

In amongst all the noise of the ongoing saga of Brexit, we are starting to see an interesting trend emerge from British brands.

The result of the Brexit referendum on 24 June 2016 may suggest we, as a nation, are suffering something of an identity crisis. This uncertainty has given British brands an opportunity to reaffirm who they are and what they stand for – a rebirth of Brand Britain. This move by British brands is likely no coincidence, but a strategic decision to seize an opportunity, as trust in non-UK goods looks set to take a hit following our separation from the European Union.

Brand Britain extends beyond the visual cues of the Union Jack flag, to deeper, shared values – According to the latest research, for American consumers, there’s one word which sums up their perception of UK goods: quality. It’s the most common positive trait associated with British products, followed by heritage.

In the UK, consumers value British brands along similar lines as the Americans. Three in five Britons associate British products with quality, and 60% of British women see Made in Britain as a stamp of heritage. (Source: <a .

It has been recently announced the loans comparison site Badger Loans will now begin collaborating with our SEO team at Tudor Lodge Consultants. The business is looking to help improve their online presence through developing their SEO practices and came to us having found out about the number of clients in various sectors we have helped using our SEO expertise.

Who are Badger Loans?

Badger Loans uses award-winning technology in order to provide the most suitable lenders to applicants, enabling them to find the very best deals available for not only good credit loans but bad ones too. The fundamental aim of the company is to provide ease of use for those looking to find a suitable loan, without having to compromise on the reputation of the lender.

How we are helping Badger Loans

Landing pages: Creating new landing pages for the Badger Loans website is one way to help the company build upon its reputation online. Our team has made sure that these new landing pages have been properly structured to help with SEO rankings: this includes using relevant topic titles, H2 headings as well as internal links on articles to help boost its ranking online.

Creating links: We know that it is vital for a firm’s Google ranking to have strong links, and our SEO team has made sure that Badger Loans will only from now on have strong links from other reputable websites. This has two benefits for the loan comparison site: not only will it now be easier to crawl for Google, but it also aides their SEO ranking.

Site redesign: another thing that the team at Tudor Lodge Consultants is working on is re-designing and updating the website, as this will also help improve its online presence and keep it in line with its other competitors online. For example, we will be introducing calculators onto the website, to help improve online engagement – as this will impact SEO ranking.

We have all thought of a great business idea, the next big thing and then got back to the ‘day’ job. Let’s face it, ideas are ten a penny.  It’s taking action that counts. Louise knew the insurance market well and spotted a gap in the market just waiting to be filled.  Rather than just think about it, she went all in and has worked for over two years creating her product and bringing it to market. The work involved has been enormous and together with a great team here in Norwich they are now ready to launch.

Along the way, they raised £2.5 million from a mix of investors including probably the most high profile business person in the insurance sector, received regulatory approval, worked out a route to market and are now ready to launch PIKL to the world, literally.

If you ever use Airbnb and have an interest in the sharing economy, this is for you.

Hear Louise’s extraordinary story here:https://businessgrowthclub.net/spot-a-gap-in-the-market-raise-2-million-and-launch-louise-birritteri-explains-how/

Enjoy!

Content has become one of those buzz wordy sounding things that it is trendy to bash, marketers can be very quick to channel their inner hipster in this way. Content marketing could be cast as crusty and old fashioned in the light of more technical, data driven ‘new age’ marketing techniques, but maybe all it needs is a bit of a polish. The reputation of content marketing has been dented, not because of it not ‘working’, but because a big chunk of the advertising industry has forgotten how to use it. You will have seen this in sponsored articles that are little more than text based adverts and sales features that look like they came straight from a brochure. To really work, content marketing has to be better than this. Content marketing now has to be useful; it has to be interesting, engaging or entertaining in some way. To cut through all the fluff pieces that usually sit under sponsored content banners good content marketing has to be…well… good.   Content marketing should also not just be about words: video, photos and infographics all have a valuable part to play.  Being ahead of the curve, we are transforming the way we create content marketing. Starting with a process of topic modelling, we are able to take a subject and research questions being asked online. Questions that start with ‘How do I…’ or ‘What is the best…’ can bring some interesting and useful answers. Good content marketing delivers expert answers to these questions and maybe even asks the questions in the first place. One of the things we have seen with our new content marketing approach is that it really does deliver results. It builds awareness, delivers visibility on search engines, it builds reputation and interaction on social channels and it really does deliver new customers. Done right content marketing is a really valuable, relevant and effective piece of the marketing puzzle.

Liftshare CEO calls transport sector’s efforts to reduce emissions ’embarrassing’ live on BBC Breakfast television

Liftshare Founder and CEO, Ali Clabburn, was interviewed on BBC Breakfast in the run up to the forthcoming General Election.

Speaking at the John Innes Centre in Norwich for the BBC’s flagship morning news programme’s coverage of how national issues are effecting business, Ali was invited onto BBC Breakfast to give his opinion on what government should be taking about when it comes to transport.

“Sadly transport is now THE most emitting sector. It produces more emissions than any other sector. The energy sector has reduced emissions by 60% in the last 20-30 years and the transport sector has done nothing and it’s embarrassing really.

There are plenty of things we could do right now to overcome this problem and sharing a is a key solution.”

Asked for his views on what he wanted politicians to be talking about, Ali said, “I want to see them stop pushing things off into the long grass, particularly when the environment is concerned. We’ve got solutions now that could help within the next 2-5 years. They should be investing in Future Mobility Zones across cities in the UK to start getting public and private sectors working together to solve these problems.

Things like more car sharing, more cycling, more walking, more car clubs in cities can help solve the problem really quickly, and if we can get it done now we can really start reducing the emissions and improve the air quality in our cities.

We’re killing 40,000 people due to air quality issues and we can solve it now.”  

Branding your business is worth the effort. The colours and images that you use regularly will reinforce your company and what you do in your customers’ minds. And if you’re lucky they will begin to associate your brand colours with your business. Think about brands that use specific shades of purple or the Royal Mail and their shade of red. When you’ve spent the time and money on sending out information or communications by post you need your envelopes to stand out and using coloured envelopes is a perfect way.

Make an Impact on the Doorstep

You’ll want your business’s communication to stand out from all of the other mail your potential customer has received. An envelope in an unusual colour with an unusual finish, like a pearl or shiny finish, will be different. If you use the same coloured envelopes, then your customer will know that it’s from you before they’ve looked any closer.

Brand Association with Coloured Envelopes

If you are consistent with your approach and use the same few colours for all of your advertisements and communications you will claim those colours in your customers’ minds. This is especially true if you are focusing on your local area as you can have a big impact with only a little effort by using a well-planned brand strategy. All of your communication with your customers needs to be in the same format with the same colours, the weight of paper and paper and envelope finish.

Think About a Brand Envelope Size

Your official branded envelopes need to be the same size as well as the same set of colours. Consider what you are sending out and ensure that the envelope is the correct size and think about keeping the same size as a standard across your business. An unusual shape of envelope, such as square rather than a rectangle, will add to the impact of your mail along with the colour.

Envelopes to Protect the Contents

Once you’ve put all that time and money into working out the perfect set of brand colours and writing an ideal mailshot you need to protect the contents. If you’re sending out something that is easily damaged, use a bubble wrap lined envelope or one with a cardboard backing to prevent bending. No matter what you’re sending have it all in the same coloured envelopes to unify your brand and keep your business at the forefront of your customers’ minds.

Having a clean home or working area is a very important aspect of everyday life. Mainly, it makes the place where you spend most of your time look neat and comfortable to live in. Secondly, it is a lot healthier if the quarters you dwell the most are clean.

Whether we are talking about an office area, a commercial place or even your home, cleaning it thoroughly is necessary. This needs to be done on a regular basis and we don’t mean just taking out the trash, we do mean some thorough scrubbing. Your area of work sometimes needs a professional touch and you will not have always a lot of time to clean out your house because of work.

Enter professional cleaning services! There are a lot of benefits to hiring a service that will take care of all the hard stuff for you. Office areas will benefit from it as it will make your place of work look professional and acceptable for your clients.

Commercial areas often need a touch up as they deal with a lot of materials that can leave you with a lot of debris. Professional disposal may work better and you will not have to deal with it by yourself. Finally, if you are constantly busy with work and everyday life affairs, cleaning is probably the most difficult thing on your task list. Fortunately, the UK has some great companies that provide office cleaning services which can take care of your working space. You can even have them come by at designated hours so you can organize your other affairs.

These are just some of the benefits that professional cleaning service can offer you. But let’s look at it in a more profound way. We promise you that once you learn more about the advantages that professional cleaning offers you will not hesitate to hire one.

Professional Tools and Equipment

Every professional needs its tools. Professional cleaning services come with their own equipment that regular people do not own. This is one of the biggest advantages that they pose compared to regular cleaning that every one of us can do. This raises the cleaning level too much greater heights and will also get the job done much faster. You will immediately notice how different it is when a place is cleaned with special tools compared to regular cleaning appliances.

Most importantly, special tools and equipment can allow the cleaners to deal with some harder problems. If you have a certain situation which is impossible to deal by yourself, a cleaning company that comes with their own special equipment will resolve the issue in no time.

Environmentally Safe Cleaning Services

Most of the companies that are present in today’s market provide eco-friendly services. This is mostly because of the current laws. All of the companies involved in cleaning and removing waste need to conduct their business according to a certain code. Safe disposal is what makes the face of most cleaning companies. Additionally, most companies pride themselves in being able to remove the waste safely and dispose of it without damaging the environment.

If you are an environmentally-aware person and are trying to protect the environment, you should make sure that your waste is disposed of in such a way. No matter how the area you are personally, professionals can still do this type of disposal better than you. So no matter the waste you have and no matter the place that has to be cleaned, professional cleaning services will employ a safe removal method which will, in turn, be safe for the environment.

Trained Staff

The staff that you have working fro a professional cleaning company is specifically trained for that purpose. So let’s say that you are an amateur athlete. You train every day and can run fast and jump high. But one day you just so happen to have the opportunity to play against a professional athlete who has all the current technology of the world and professional training facilities available to him. You are fighting a losing battle.

The same thing goes with cleaning. No matter how well prepared you are and how importantly you view regular cleaning a professional will always be able to do a better job than you. This is particularly beneficial for office areas where you meet your clients. Having a professional cleaner arrange your office space will make the company look professional in the eyes of the clients.