Commenting on the government’s net zero plan to tackle climate change, BCC Director General Adam Marshall said:
“As business communities restart and rebuild after the pandemic, Chambers are clear that the transition to net zero must be measurable, credible and fair.
“The Prime Minister’s announcement is a step forward on this journey, but more detail and even higher levels of both public and private investment will be needed to ensure that we are able to meet the shared ambition of government and our business communities.
“Business communities in our coastal regions will benefit significantly from a greater emphasis on offshore wind. Integrating local firms into supply chains will be vital in supporting investment and jobs of the future.
“Decarbonisation remains crucial to our future economic recovery, but businesses will need to see more detail in the long-awaited Energy White Paper if we are to boost investor confidence. And if we are to build the supply chains needed to meet these ambitions here in the UK, clarity on the future of industrial strategy is also required.
“While the impact of the pandemic has not diminished business communities’ desire to become greener, the pace of change will mean many firms will need support in the transition to cleaner technologies. Government should consider incentives to help businesses make the change without losing out, including business rates exemptions for green investments and compensation schemes for phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles.”
Transport for Norwich is looking for feedback on plans to improve the area and the consultation for the All Saints Green and Brazengate proposals for are now open. Norfolk County Council and Norwich City Council are looking to provide better infrastructure for cyclists along the yellow pedalway, and to make it easier for pedestrians to move freely, thereby enhancing this part of the city centre for everyone. It builds on the recently completed changes around Westlegate, which have significantly reduced traffic levels in All Saints Green and now mean the next proposed design changes can be put forward. Features of the scheme include a continuous footway on Surrey Street across its junction with All Saints Green; removal of traffic signals on all arms of the same junction and conversion of existing advisory cycle lanes on Brazengate to wider, mandatory lanes. Councillor Mike Stonard, Norwich City Council’s cabinet member for transport and vice-chair of Norwich Highways Agency Committee, says: “Changes around Westlegate have already transformed the way people are using this part of the city so we’re looking to extend these benefits further. We’d like to hear from anyone who uses the area regularly to help shape the final details of the project.” Funding for the project is from the Department for Transport’s Cycle City Ambition Grant. For more information on the details of the scheme, along with plans and how to respond to the consultation, please visit www.norfolk.gov.uk/brazengate.
There are a number of ways to submit your feedback:
Brazengate/Grove Road and All Saints Green Area Consultation Transport for Norwich – Floor 2 Norfolk County Council County Hall Martineau Lane Norwich, NR1 2DH
The deadline for comment is Friday 7 July 2017.
Feedback on the project is due to be reported to the Norwich Highways Agency Committee in September. If approved for construction, work is expected to start early next year.
Most businesses want repeat custom. OK, for some like funeral services it probably doesn’t really happen, however, generally a business will want to deal with the same customer several times. For this to happen a business needs to have delivered what the customer expected to even stand a chance of a second sale. Let’s assume that has happened – what then? Keeping your brand front of mind with great display campaigns, making sure you are visible in search and being generally active in a market will all help, but sometimes you need to take direct action to keep a customer loyal – especially if the competition is keen. By asking for permission from customers to keep in touch (keep the GDPR rules in mind here, folks) any business can build lists of interested, active and relevant people to re-market themselves to. How many customers do you deal with on a weekly basis? If you can engage just one-third of them and send them super-interesting, exciting and useful content that makes them love your brand, you stand a better chance of getting them to buy again. Repeat customers are valuable – social media, email and direct marketing are just a few ways you can keep in touch. What is crucial here is the content. Don’t just send waffle or sales bumph: people have seen it too often and it doesn’t work. Invest time and effort (and if need be money) in generating really useful, engaging content for your customers. Send useful how-to videos, send stories giving advice and inspiration, send humour and insight, send something quirky and different but don’t just send offers… 10% off the thing I just bought isn’t going to make me like you, let alone buy from you again! We know how to use this kind of customer re-marketing, and we have some very smart people who can create this kind of loyalty-driving content and even help deliver it to your market. If you are interested in finding out how, have a look on our website: the email marketing to turn contacts into customers page is a good place to start.
The whole team at Tudor Lodge Consultants is proud and excited to announce that we are now working with MoneyBoat, a well-established instalment and direct payday loans provider in the UK. MoneyBoat have been established for a number of years and have steadily been increasing and growing their customer base via various on and offline channels which have included pay-per-click (PPC) and affiliate marketing.
However, our marketing, design, user experience and conversion teams are now working very closely with them, expanding into search engine optimisation (SEO) on Google and online via search engines.
What We Are Doing for MoneyBoat
MoeyBoat’s website was functional but in desperate need of a redesign and a refresh for both the brand as well as for their online marketing and overall digital strategy. With Google having just rolled out one of their most significant updates to their ranking algorithm, it has been particularly important to ensure the website is up to speed and performance.
We have therefore been working with MoneyBoat on their newly launched website which has removed many of the functionality issues of the past and which is much more fit for purpose with regards to SEO and online marketing. As part of the ongoing process with MoneyBoat we have carried out the following work thus far to good effect:
Crawling and Indexing Updates – Important as ever is the ability of Google and other search engines to crawl [rank] websites. This is key as the content and features on a site would be worthless if they weren’t able to be crawled. We have therefore tidied up all broken response codes across the MoneyBoat site and have ensured there are no empty or dead 404 response pages. We have also updated all of their meta data and the necessary URL structures across the site to allow for easy crawling and positive rankings.
Mobile and Speed Updates – One of the most recent Google algorithm updates has pertained to website speed and mobile device performance. We have therefore worked very closely with MoneyBoat to optimise their website’s speed and to ensure that performance on mobile is not hindered by any desktop features or otherwise. We have also worked to ensure that all content and all features on the site can be properly ranked in respect of mobile as well as desktop Google rankings by updating the source code where necessary.
Website Content – As with many websites, MoneyBoat have need a big update and improvement in their on-site content that is presented to users. We have therefore built a comprehensive content strategy for the website and have already started working on this to good effect. We have formulated and written a number of fully optimised pages of content to be crawled and ranked by Google online.
What We Have Achieved
Although still in the very early stages of this project, we have already seen some increases in organic, SEO rankings for the MoneyBoat site as a direct result of the works we have been and continue to carry out. Furthermore, the site now performs much faster than before, a huge positive for users and also performs well on mobile and tablet devices, which is increasingly important in today’s time-shy online loans market. We are looking forward to the coming months and working with the MoneyBoat team.
Providing an initial response to the Prime Minister’s plan for Coronavirus restrictions after the second lockdown ends in England, BCC Director General Adam Marshall said:
“It is helpful that the Prime Minister has heeded our call to give businesses at least a week’s notice of the rule changes that will affect firms across England from December 2nd.
“Businesses across England now need to see the detail – and will judge the latest set of Covid rules on whether they are easy to understand and based on clear, transparently-presented evidence.
“They need to know that the new rules will be accompanied by commensurate support, by a significant expansion of mass testing, particularly to workplaces across the country, and by a plan to get the economy fully open again.
“The reduction of time in quarantine for international passengers will help to re-establish connections to key markets and trade partners across the world, helping businesses that depend on the UK’s connectivity and preserving industries and livelihoods.
“Ministers can’t simply keep switching businesses on and off like a light switch without expecting severe consequences. Covid-secure businesses will be looking to the government for a plan that keeps them, and the economy, open throughout winter and beyond.”
Our client, Auerbach & Steele are a leading luxury optical and eyewear store based in London. It was very important that every aspect of their website design and their search engine rankings reflected their luxury brand.
In order to achieve what we wanted for Auerbach & Steele, we had to make sure we fixed all website errors and provided optimised meta-data and images. In more detail, here is how we helped Auerbach & Steele with their SEO and website.
Meta-data
One of the main focuses when aiming to boost the performance of a website on Google or Bing is to make sure that the meta-date is optimised and written well. We analysed the current meta-data and identified where it was missing. Then, we updated it to make it more SEO friendly with the current Google algorithm in mind.
Meta-data consists of meta-titles and meta-descriptions which should all feature target keywords such as bespoke glasses and boutique glasses, and also alt-text should be present on each image used on the website so that Google can read them. Carefully constructed and well written meta data can quite literally be the difference from ranking on the first couple of pages on google and on the last few or just lost somewhere in the middle. Google will prioritise pages dependant on optimisation, relevance to the search and how well written it is.
Website clean up
Like with all of our clients, we conducted a full clean-up of their website to make sure it was optimised and all errors were removed. A site clean-up involves identifying the errors and broken links and simply redirecting them to a page that works.
Having broken links and crawl errors present can seriously affect the speed and the user experience of the website, since the user may not be able to find where they want to go and give up. Furthermore, Google favours a website which is considered clean and ideally not showing errors to their users.
Adjusting to the new algorithm update
Google will regularly introduce new algorithm updates to continue to clean out the web search results and ensure that the most authoritative and useful sites are ranking. The most recent update was introduced in early August 2018 and the key points including making sure the mobile version of the site is readable and easy to use and ensuring good site speed to aim the user experience.
We have rigorously tested the Auerbach site to ensure that every page works on mobile effectively and have used a range of techniques to ensure that the site speed is effective. Using Google’s Pagespeed Insights Tool, they provide suggestions so you can stay on top of speed including image compression, browser caching, js compression and more.
We are delighted to see Auerbach and Steele ranking in position 1 and 2 for all their main keywords in the Chelsea and Kensington area. We continue to work on more competitive terms such as bespoke glasses, luxury glasses and boutique glasses and expect these to rank on page 1 within 3 to 6 months.
Here at Green Farm Coffee, we get a lot of people through our doors just starting up a coffee business, be it a cafe, mobile coffee shop or catering. More and more people are lacking the important barista skills that are essential to success in the market. You can offer all the trendy new fads, and the latest fair trade, green, eco-friendly and all around good to the planet coffee but if your barista skills are not up to scratch then you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot every time you hand over a barely there latte or overpowering mocha.
We run a full barista program here at Green Farm Coffee, to ensure that everyone understands not only the importance of good barista skills but also where coffee comes from and the roasting process. Through our time of being a base for barista training in Norwich, we have discovered also that even well-established businesses need a refresh and hone in on their skills.
Fully trained and confident baristas ensure the smooth running of the establishment and can transform customers visit from an everyday one to something special. Every cup of coffee is important, it’s what we stand by. Having your staff take this feeling on board too and really put their soul into coffee. If you have a friendly good barista experience you are more likely to return there for your daily coffee.
You may be completely underutilizing your staffs’ skills, and improving the quality of your drinks will ensure your ingredients work a lot harder too towards success.
Long queues with well-trained baristas will not phase them, as they will have the confidence behind them to whizz through each drink and still produce the best quality.
Training on the traditional espresso machine staff use daily can easily be done, or we invite you into our HQ where you can also see the roasting process. Adding another level of knowledge to your skills.
Our training includes everything from coffee production, espresso styles, milk texturing, latte art and troubleshooting.
You may have seen our work with The Feed in Norwich, an amazing charity who help vulnerable people gain skills and training in the food industry and help them get back into work, houses and better lifestyles.
We have been working with them to offer trainees days at our head office to learn about coffee, how to be a barista and tonnes of skills they can take away with them for future employment. Our training is always well received, and we have a fantastic time delivering and giving them the resources they need to succeed in their next steps in training.
Skills and training is so important, this could help yourself and your business stand out from the crowd of coffee shops.
Offering perfect and skilled barista coffee each and every time.
The 10th of October 2017 is World Mental Health Day, a time to promote good mental health for all and reduce the stigma associated with mental health conditions. The focus this year is on managing mental health in the workplace.
Mental Health conditions affects 1 in 6 adults in the workplace
Mental health is everyone’s business. 1 in 4 adults will be currently experiencing a common mental health condition. 1 in 6 of us will be experiencing this in the workplace. Whether we feel comfortable talking about it or not, stress, anxiety and depression is something that none of us are immune to, so let’s start to talk about it.
The cost of poor mental health to individuals and businesses is substantial. Mental illness affects people’s lives. It can interfere with our ability to maintain good relationships, carry out normal day to day tasks and affects our performance at work and our overall enjoyment in life.
Mental Health in the UK and the cost to business
The OECD estimates the cost of mental health to the UK economy to be £70 billion per year, equating to 4.5% of GDP. Mental ill health, alongside muscular skeletal problems are the leading causes of sickness absence in the UK and mental illness is on the increase. 15.2 million days of sickness absence in 2013 were caused by everyday conditions such as stress anxiety or depression – a dramatic increase from 11.8 million days in 2010. Mental ill health costs on average £1035 per employee, costing UK employers £26 billion each year (OECD, 2014). Presenteeism (the practice of being at work despite illness, injury, anxiety often resulting in reduced productivity) from mental ill health alone costs the UK economy £15.1 billion per year, almost twice the business cost of actual absence from work (Centre for Mental Health). One-quarter of employees have considered resigning due to stress and a further one in ten has done so (Mind, 2015).
The statistics are pretty compelling, but the majority of businesses do not focus on managing mental health in the workplace or see it as a business priority. Why is this? There will be many reasons for this, such as perceived time and cost pressures, although perhaps this could be challenged in view of the cost of absenteeism and presenteeism. A significant factor in reality is likely to be fear and stigma associated with mental health issues. In a survey carried out by MIND (2014) 69% of individuals feel there is a stigma around mental health and 54% fear colleagues would judge them for having mental ill health.
Looking after your business assets – your employees
We have a long way to go to break down the stigma associated with mental health and employers can play a vital role in this. Employees are often seen as the most vital asset within a business, therefore it makes sense to look after employees and by talking about and creating a working environment that supports good mental health employers can play a vital role in reducing discrimination and stigma associated with mental illness.
A useful starting point for businesses is to access good information. Business in the Community (BITC) is a useful resource as well as Mind and the Mental Health Foundation. The BITC 2015 report, Mental Health: We’re Ready to Talk – One year on, shows the quick pace at which business Champion companies had started to promote mental wellbeing within their organisations. The Mental Health Foundations guide on Managing Mental Health in the Workplace is also a good read in my opinion and looks at strategies to safeguard good mental health, how to address problems before they become severe and how to support employees when issues do emerge. The guide recommends that companies seek the help of outside agencies who offer specialist support to employees who are struggling in or out of work due to poor mental health.
Accessing specialist Mental Health services in Norfolk
At Feel Well Therapy we recognise that employers need to access specialist services that provide the right type of help for their employees. We specialise in providing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which is recommended by NICE (National institute for Clinical Effectiveness) as an effective therapy for treating stress, anxiety disorders (including GAD, panic disorder, OCD and PTSD) and depression and Eye Movement Desensitisation Therapy (EMDR) for the treatment of PTSD.
Helping individuals to achieve good mental health is our business. Based in south Norfolk, we provide services to individuals, business, and insurers and feedback from our clients shows that 100% of those surveyed would recommend us to friends and family.
Whether you are an individual seeking private therapy, or a company looking to access specialist therapy services to improve the mental health of your employees then please contact us via our website at www.feelwelltherapy.co.uk or contact Michelle Webster Clinical Lead and Founder of Feel Well therapy at michelle@feelwelltherapy.co.uk or call 07957 350396
There has been an update to the UK Governments Border Operating Model, this contains all details on how our border with the European Union will work and will be introduced on 01 January 2021.
Explaining the importance of the new model, Liam Smyth, Director of Trade Facilitation at the British Chamber of Commerce, said that the “announcement of a revised Border Operating Model provides some more of the detail that was missing from the version published less than 12 weeks ago. Duty deferment accounts and postponed VAT accounting will both help firms’ cash flow as we enter a period of huge change at our borders. However, as highlighted in our recent unanswered questions document, businesses still have many areas where they urgently need more certainty, such as how the border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain will operate, clear guidance on rules of origin, which will only be done by ramping up government engagement with business.”
Elizabeth de Jong, Policy Director at Logistics UK, commented: “Clarification on the arrangements for the UK’s borders with the EU at the end of the Transition Period is welcomed by our members, the organisations charged with moving goods and services to and from our nation’s largest trading partner. It is imperative that businesses seeking to sell their goods to companies in the EU make the most of this guidance to speed up their preparations and ensure that their paperwork is in order on 01 January 2021. Logistics organisations need their customers to prepare if they are to maintain the smooth flow of goods to and from the EU” She also called for greater clarity over the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, describing detail as necessary so that “businesses can plan and logistics operators avoid delays”.
Last week we kicked-off our Christmas Countdown of Charities here at the Norfolk Chambers, where throughout December we shall be sharing stories and updates from a variety of Norfolk charities.
Below is a recap list of the Charities we shared last week, along with links to the post we made on LinkedIn:
Pensions are the main way most people will pay for themselves once they’ve retired from the working world. You save for decades to build up a nice pot of money to keep you going.
Now, imagine the money you accumulated during all those years of saving disappears. How will you support yourself as a retiree?
Pension scams are on the rise in the UK. Fraudsters are scamming victims out of tens of thousands of pounds of their hard-earned savings.
How to know if you are being scammed
Scammers are now creating convincing websites and an online presence which means it might not be immediately obvious that they are up to no good. There are, however, a number of signs that you can look out for to keep you safe from the scammers.
Here are 5 questions to ask yourself if you are suspicious:
1 – Is the company regulated by the FCA?
The easiest way to tell if you are in contact with a genuine financial company or a scammer is to check whether the caller is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). These companies are regulated so are able to offer sound, professional financial advice. You can find a list of all registered companies on the FCA website. This should always be the first place you check.
Most pensions companies will not directly contact you about your pension without your permission. The best thing to do if you get a cold call about your pension is hang up. If you get emailed or texted, ignore the messages.
The government is currently working on a scheme that will ban pension cold calls. So soon it should be easier to spot when someone is attempting to scam you.
2 – Are you under the age of 55?
Be wary of people encouraging you to release cash from your pension before the age of 55. This can be called ‘pension liberation’ or a ‘pension loan’.
Should you take money from your pension pot before the age of 55 you could face a large tax bill of 55%, plus other charges, on what you withdraw. This is definitely not in your best interests!
3 – Do you feel pressured or is it a limited time only offer?
A reputable pension adviser will never pressure you into making a big decision there and then. So, if you are feeling under pressure to commit to an offer you should just walk away.
4 – Does it sound too good to be true?
If the answer is yes, then it usually is! Be suspicious of anyone who is offering high/guaranteed investment returns or ways of avoiding paying tax.
Once you have transferred your money across to the scammer it is unlikely that you will get it back. If you use a firm who is not FCA registered you will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FCSC).
If you think you have a scammer on your hands, check the FCA’s Scamsmart website where you’ll find information on any known scams and firms on their warning list. Always report a scam if you come across one. Help others avoid becoming a victim.
It is always recommended to get independent advice when you are considering doing anything with your pension. Get that advice from a reputable, FCA authorised company and you will be in safe hands.
Until quite recently, starting a business of almost any nature meant having to account for and arrange high-cost expenses and overheads which without, the business would simply not be able to take off in the first place. This was likely to include business premises, stationary, computers and office equipment and much more. More recently, the business owner may have had to remortgage a property or consider a second mortgage to fund these costs.
However, nowadays, it is entirely possible and feasible to start up a business purely online; massively reducing the overheads and start-up costs incurred from the outset. It is important though that the most important aspects of the business are accounted for and taken care of first as there are various considerations to be made when starting a business up purely online.
The Nature of the Business
The first thing you should consider is whether or not your business will be able to survive being totally based online. Some businesses, for example many retailers, need business premises in order to store their stock before purchase and delivery. Hence, whilst a business that sells goods online without retail premises will not need a ‘shop,’ it will need storage facilities to store the goods.
Therefore, the business owner will need to account for the renting or leasing of those premises that are needed. There will however, be savings made compared to a ‘traditional’ retail business as the running costs of a warehouse or other storage facility are likely to be considerably less than those required for retail premises.
Your Website
Being based online, by its very nature requires a website to enter the online world of business. When planning and creating a website there are a number of things to consider to make sure that your website reflects the values of the business and offers something appealing and useful to prospective customers. Therefore, consider the following:
Type of Website – You should consider whether the website going to be used as an e-commerce website, where customers can make purchases online and whether the website will securely accept payments. If this is the case, you will need to invest in a secure card payment provider such as PayPal or otherwise. Alternatively, the site may be used as brochure site that showcases your work and promotes contact by customers. In such cases, you may be able to design and build the website yourself.
Build of the Website – There are many different platforms upon which you may build the website. This includes the likes of Drupal, SquareSpace and WordPress, three of the most popular content management systems (CMS). When picking which CMS to use for your site, you should consider which is better for each type of website. WordPress very often works out as the most cost effective as well as the most customisable and functional.
Marketing your Website Online – You will need to market your website to the online world in order to be discovered and for the website to generate leads, interest and business. There are various different online marketing channels that incur different costs, but all of which are likely to drive traffic and customers to your website. These include:
Pay-per-Click
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Social Media Marketing
Email Marketing
It is important to note that some businesses, for example those targeting much older demographics, are likely to see only limited success via social media marketing, with older audiences possessing a lesser presence on social media channels than younger audiences.