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Our spring series of Director Insights sessions, held in partnership with Grant Thornton, looked at the subject of cyber security and shared expert insight on the steps organisations can take to identify and guard against cyber crime.

Attacks on business IT systems are common in the UK and can affect organisations of all sizes. These attacks aim to steal information, money or to disrupt a business by hacking. As cyber attacks increase in quantity and sophistication, the global cost is estimated to hit $6 trillion by 2021. This makes effective security a critical issue for business leaders and it is also a subject of extreme importance to us here at Pure. We are putting robust strategies in place to protect our client and candidate data and to prevent any disruption to our business operations.

Nadia Mullins-Hills, Pure’s IT & Projects Manager, attended all of the Director Insight sessions. She said: “We learnt a lot about how we can build on our ongoing work to secure our systems and data. It was also evident from the sessions that the levels of understanding about cyber crime varied among attendees and that local organisations were all at different stages in their cyber security journey. The positive and main message which everyone took away is that 80% of attacks could be avoided by good cyber hygiene. This simply means being aware of the potential threats to your business and getting the basics right to mitigate against data leaks and hacks.”

Here are some of our cyber security top tips, compiled from the sessions and our own work here at Pure.

Improve user awareness

The human element is one of the biggest risks factors of cyber crime, whether criminals are targeting businesses or individuals. Taking the time to increase understanding of the potential threats and to raise awareness of the types of potential crime will help to protect your employees both at home and at work.

At Pure, we recently carried out cyber crime training with our management team. This included some fantastic, free business support and training from Rebecca Tinsley, Regional Cyber Project Coordinator at the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU). We looked at the potential threats, such as phishing attacks where fraudulent attempts are made to obtain sensitive information such as user names, passwords and credit card details. We also highlighted the potential impacts on our business, including a loss of money, a loss of data or the installation of malicious software. Most importantly we shared top tips on what to look out for and what to do if anyone is unsure about a phone call, message or email they may have received. We will be following this up with company-wide training and we will also include cyber crime awareness as part of our induction process for all new employees.

Password policies

One of the key areas we are raising awareness of is password security. People should have passwords that they can remember easily, so they don’t have to write them down, but still use a different password for each platform. This makes it harder for cyber criminals to infiltrate more than one system or account. If the same password is used across numerous different platforms, cyber criminals only need to hack one account and could potentially gain access to a wealth of different information across multiple accounts, from credit card details stored online through to personal data. Following advice from the National Cyber Security Centre on what makes a good password, we have recommended that people choose three different, random words which are easy for them to remember and then to use variations and combinations of these to make up a separate password for each different platform.

Use two factor authentication

Two factor authentication is something many people will already be familiar with and will be doing when they access accounts such as their internet banking or cloud storage. This is when you are asked for a second piece of authentication, beyond just your user name and password, if you are trying to log on from a different device or carrying out a high value or new transaction. The second piece of authentication could be additional memorable data provided when the account was set up, or it could involve a separate passcode being sent to your mobile phone. The two authentication elements needed to log-in makes it extremely difficult for cyber criminals to access accounts. Even if they do have your password, they will still need more information or to have access to your mobile phone. What many people, and businesses, may not be aware of is that this form of additional cyber protection is available for free across many other platforms including Google and Windows. It is worth reviewing all systems to see where this is available and to activate this as part of your account settings.

Create disaster recovery plans

As well as putting plans in place to protect against cyber crime, we are also assessing all the possible risks our organisation may face and creating disaster recovery plans, just in case the worst-case scenario should happen. Cyber crime is not just an IT problem, it is operation-wide and these recovery plans will form an important part of our overall business continuity strategies. As with all business recovery plans, whether in the event of a serious office fire, or a data hack, everyone needs to know who does what, how the communication process will work and what actions they need to take. The recovery plan should be fully tested before it is finalised. All the processes and back up plans put in place then need to be reviewed regularly, for example every six months or annually, to check they are still suitable and to keep on top of any new areas for consideration.

The topic of cyber crime, and the impact it could have on businesses and their employees, was discussed at the spring series of Director Insights, delivered by Pure Executive and Grant Thornton. These quarterly events, held in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich and Norwich, bring business leaders together to share experiences and gain insights from industry experts. They are part of an extensive calendar of events by Pure to support local businesses and the economic growth of the Eastern region.

We belong to a fortunate generation; one which has acquired extensive knowledge of what makes us who we are and what forms the planet we live on.  Industrialisation has led to strong global economies, thriving urban environments, and new heights of technological advancement. A heavy environmental price has sadly been paid, however, for the improvements we see today.

Thankfully we are witnessing a far more concerted effort than ever before from businesses and individuals alike to reduce the carbon footprint that we continue to create.  Many companies are now investing in ‘greentech’ and adopting a corporate social responsibility business model.

Green is the New Black – Rethink Your Ink

The UK alone consumes around 65 million ink cartridges every year and the majority of non-domestic inkjet printers use inks containing strong solvents, possessing a high volume of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) which when evaporated into the air are known to contribute to global warming.  There are, however, other options on the market which are markedly less harmful to our atmosphere. Fo example mimaki ink, which is eco-solvent, and aqueous inks are a very cost-effective solution to help diminish the potential health and environmental risks associated with traditional solvent inks.  

The “Eco” in Eco-solvent in fact stands for “economical”, because on top of its greatly reduced VOC content (as low as 4 percent compared to the 25 to 40 percent of solvent inks) its is also a low-cost alternative.  This ink type is far less likely to clog printers, vastly improving their lifespan. Due to the reduced solvent content, the ink dries faster but still provides a wide colour gamut, boasting great scratch and fade resistance which makes it perfect for outdoor applications such as signage and vehicle graphics.   

Food for Thought, and for Fuel!

There’s a good reason that the government provides us those little black bins into which many of us dispose of our toast crusts and banana skins. These degrading leftovers are ultimately placed into an anaerobic digester which is used to create a mixture of CO2 and methane, coined ‘biogas,’ which can be fed into the public grid and used to provide heating for homes and businesses. Most of this type of energy is generated from large-scale systems installed on farms or factories; however more compact versions are becoming increasingly popular, predominantly in the industry of food and drink. Restaurant and supermarket businesses are leading the way in what hopes to be a future of small scale self-produced clean energy.

Green Incentives

It’s not just the consumers who prefer to give a little extra money to greener businesses.  Most governments offer financially rewarding incentive schemes for companies who invest in eco or renewable energy technologies. The UK for example started a Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) in 2011 which pays quarterly dividends for a twenty year period to companies who utilise sustainable energy sources for their heating such solar thermal and heat pumps.

Are Broken Links Breaking Your SEO?

Let’s imagine you found a treasure map. A super detailed one that made it really easy to find the place where the big pot of gold was buried. You followed it to the letter, grabbed your shovel, dug deep and found a note that said ‘sorry, this treasure has been moved or destroyed, sorry!’ Annoying, right?

Well, this is kind of what a broken link would look like in the real world.

Ok, but in technical terms, what is a broken link?

In the most basic terms, a broken link is any link that doesn’t work or takes you to the wrong place.

They’re the little gremlins that lead you to those infuriating 404 pages which say things like ‘page not found’, ‘the page you were looking for doesn’t exist’, or simply ‘error’. No one likes them, and they make for terribly annoyed web users. If you’re the owner of a website selling products and services, I’m going to guess that you probably don’t want your users to be terribly annoyed.

That makes sense! But why are broken links bad for SEO?

To help understand why broken links are bad for SEO it’s worth remembering that links are how we as users navigate the web. They’re the signposts we look at when deciding which site is most likely to give us the information we’re looking for.

In other words, links are the cornerstone of our user experience.

As a company which aims to be constantly improving our user experience, Google naturally pays very close attention to links. Should Google detect that your links are regularly sending users down dead ends, it’s going to punish you in the only way it knows. That’s right, it’s going to drop your site further and further in the rankings.

This translates to less traffic which translates to less sales.

Sounds like I really need to avoid broken links, but what if I need to remove pages from my site?

Don’t sweat it, it’s totally possible for you to reshuffle and remove things from your site without creating a trail of broken links.

Websites are constantly evolving beasts and it’s often necessary to move pages around or remove them altogether. The key is putting measures in place that mean links to these pages still take users to an appropriate place on your website.

To illustrate an example of how we as an agency avoid broken links, I present to you the Norfolk Yacht Agency (NYA) website.

They sell boats. Some really nice ones, in fact. The trouble is, they’re also really good at selling them, and a sold boat naturally means that page is no longer required on the website, so default website behaviour dictates that this is removed so not to get in the way of the remaining stock.

In order to avoid this from happening, we have created an archiving process which triggers once a boat is sold, leaves said boat in the listings for two weeks and then archives away out of the listings. But crucially, the page still sits within the framework of the site so that if Google has ranked the page in its listings, or if a user has bookmarked the page, the content remains.

Therefore, the page we’ve created to advertise that boat is no longer linked to from the ‘boats for sale’ page. It simply exists behind the scenes.

‘So why not let it delete?’ you might (reasonably) ask. If we did that, though, we’d create a broken link. Let me explain why.  

When the page was created, it got indexed by Google. A link to the page might also have featured on a boating blog or maybe have been tweeted out by a yachting enthusiast. These links won’t magically disappear if the page is removed. No, they’ll remain clickable and will take users to an error page that we’ve already identified as being a terrible thing to encounter.   

Instead, by moving the page to an archive, users are still able to access it. Whilst they may not be able to purchase the boat, they’ll be presented with a list of similar models for sale as well as the necessary contact information to get in touch with NYA.

All in all, this archiving of sold boats is good from both an SEO and business perspective.

Obviously, an archive isn’t going to be the answer in every case. Sometimes web pages need to be taken down as they no longer serve a purpose. In this instance, the best thing to do is to put a redirect in place that takes users to a relevant page or simply back to the homepage. This avoids any nasty 404 errors and helps the user find what they’re looking for. 

Keeping on top of all this stuff ultimately keeps the user happy, who keeps Google happy. As everyone knows, keeping the search giant happy is the key to ranking well. It’s what SEO is all about.

At Nu Image, we make it our job to keep up to date with Google’s best practices. This allows our clients to be found by users who are interested in their products and services. If you’re looking to get ahead with your digital marketing efforts, why not get in touch with us today to find out how we can help.

It’s one of the top buzz words in technology for 2019, but what is multi-cloud and how could it benefit your business?

What is multi-cloud?

As the name suggests, multi-cloud is the weaving together of various (primarily cloud-based) data storage methods to meet an individual business’s or project’s needs.

This may include mainstream public cloud services (like AWS or Azure), private cloud solutions (like our MIGSOLV.cloud), data centre colocation and existing onsite servers.

What are the advantages?

Multi-cloud lets businesses select the most appropriate solution for each element of their IT and flex as their requirements evolve.

It helps organisations safely separate critical services and increase their diversification and protection against physical and cyber threats. It’s a good way to control costs too.

For example, IT projects can be partitioned, every-day services can be stored locally, remote workers can benefit from public cloud and critical data can be better protected with colocation or private cloud.

Access priorities and speeds can also be better controlled by placing big or critical data in highly connected and available environments, like colocation or private cloud.

Is it the future?

In 2017, a study by Microsoft and 451 Research found nearly a third of organisations were using four or more cloud providers. This is typically to increase resilience and counter the rising costs of mainstream cloud which some experience as their data grows.

One of the newest weapons in the war on costs is private cloud. An exclusive cloud environment is created (in a known location) which provides the flexibility of public cloud but with greater security and lower operating costs as data volumes rise. With our partners, we’ve developed one of the most innovate private cloud solutions now available.

GDPR and other regulatory forces are increasing the need to demonstrate data protection and sovereignty. Multi-cloud is being adopted by many companies as a way to minimise threats, isolate customers data and reassure stakeholders.

How can MIGSOLV help?

At MIGSOLV, we provide a complete range of managed solutions to help you blend private cloud, public cloud, colocation and your existing IT.

With our dedicated connections to major peering points, we can improve your access to public cloud services including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and SoftLayer.

As mentioned, we’ve developed a private cloud, hosted in our world-class data centre, which provides a highly-secure, fully supported and easily accessed cloud environment, exclusive to your business. As your use of mainstream cloud services rise, it can help reduce costs.

At the centre of our services remains colocation in our Gatehouse data centre, ensuring world-class protection with high physical security, 24/7 support and diverse connectivity.

With MIGSOLV, there’s no need to settle for a single solution to your changing needs. We can help you determine the right mix and enjoy every benefit of a modern multi-cloud solution.

Visit www.migolv.com or contact us today on 01603 510323 to find out more.

Remortgaging is a popular option for homeowners looking to secure additional funds against the value of their home. Nevertheless, there are instances where a secured loan could prove more accessible, effective and affordable than a comparable remortgage product. Particularly when considering the various types of specialist secured loans available, such as bridging finance. In order to determine which of the two is most appropriate in any given scenario, it’s first worth considering how each of the two works:

What is a Secured Loan?

As the name suggests, the term ‘secured loan’ applies to any type of loan secured against assets owned by the applicant. In most instances, loans are secured against the applicant’s home, though it may also be possible to use other valuable assets as collateral. In the specialist secured loans arena, lenders are often happy to accept residential and commercial properties, land, automobiles, jewellery, fine art and other personal possessions to cover the cost of the loan. A secured loan can typically be taken out for absolutely any amount with no upper-limit, in accordance with the agreed value of the collateral provided. In addition, there are no restrictions as to how a secured loan can be used, allowing borrowers to allocate the funds for all personal or professional application they choose.

What is a Remortgage?

Though technically a secured loan in its own right, remortgage products are somewhat more restrictive than secured loans. In most instances, a remortgage is taken out as something of an extension on an existing mortgage with the borrower’s current provider. Their home is therefore the only acceptable collateral for the loan, which may limit how much they can borrow. In addition, the remaining balance owed on the mortgage and the borrower’s history of timely payments (or otherwise) may affect their eligibility. In addition, remortgage products are usually only available for very specific applications. Examples of which include improving or extending the property itself – restrictions varying from one lender to the next. As is the case when applying for a mortgage in general, securing funds by way of a remortgage can be a time-consuming and complex endeavour.

When Is a Secured Loan the Preferred Option?

By considering the points outlined above, it becomes clear that there are certain instances where a secured loan could be preferable to a remortgage. If the funds are needed as quickly as possible, a secured funding solution like a bridging loan could be ideal. If you intend to use the funds for a non-standard purpose, a secured loan may be the only option. The same also applies if you have an imperfect credit rating or proof of income, which could count you out of the running for a remortgage (iConquer). This isn’t to say remortgage products aren’t without their advantages and shouldn’t be considered. Instead, it’s simply a case of ensuring you explore every available option, prior to submitting your application.

Seek assistance from an independent broker or financial adviser, if unsure which secured funding solution best-suits your needs.

It has taken far too long but we are finally waking up to the fact that our planet is vulnerable, its resources are finite and that the lifestyle choices of everyone is contributing to the destruction of our environment. Going ‘green’ is not just some fluffy tree hugging eccentricity it is an essential shift in our social behaviour, and businesses should be setting an example and acting as responsible role models to their employees.  If you are still not convinced by the environmental arguments, then how about the economic ones. The average business that employs 10-49 employees spends £12,327 on electricity and £7011 annually on gas, and those figures are certainly ones where by adopting more energy efficient practices, significant savings can be made. Consider these suggestions, make your business an example of an energy responsible environment and trim your outgoings in the process.

Do you know what your business consumes?

The first step toward making savings on your energy consumption is accurate data on what you are using, not estimates. How does your energy consumption fluctuate during the year?

Look at your business premises with energy efficiency in mind

Is there scope for using more natural light and less electric light? Is your building sufficiently well insulated?  Are doors and windows draft free?  Are heating appliances located in the optimum position or is their heat being blocked?

Choose new equipment for its energy efficiency

Laptops use less electricity than conventional computers and offer more scope for creative ways of ways of working but whatever new equipment you are buying, whether it’s a photocopier or a fridge, there will always be an option which is more energy efficient than another.

Make your staff energy conscious

The UK wastes £171 million a year by leaving lights on. Only 5% of the power drawn by a charger is used to charge a phone.  All those chargers that are left plugged in are wasting energy and costing you money, it’s not for nothing that it’s known as vampire energy. Reduce the brightness of monitors and set screens to go to sleep after five minutes. Encourage staff to fill kettles with the amount of water they need rather than always boiling full kettles.

Don’t provide single use plastic

The UK throws away 2.5 billion coffee cups every year and less than 1% is recycled. Microplastics are a serious threat to our environment and the use of plastic cups and plastic bottles is economically wasteful. There is nothing sophisticated or business like about chucking plastic cups in a bin, provide your staff with a proper cup. 

Go paperless

Going totally paperless may not be possible but even a small reduction will result in financial savings and increased efficiency.  Digital documents are quicker to access, receipts and invoices can be scanned, clients can be emailed or texted, which is faster and cheaper. Digital files can be accessed from any location and cloud-based accounting systems provide automatic backups on a pre-scheduled basis, so you don’t have to spend time doing it. Cloud-based systems also offer a high level of data security.  The days of fax machines and document couriers are long gone and if you still have an energy hungry photocopier then maybe it’s time to say goodbye to that too. Think of all the money you’ll save on ink cartridges once there’s no more paper.

Provide recycling facilities

Make staff aware of the need to recycle and provide facilities for the recycling of batteries and paper.

It makes PR sense

Making your business an energy efficient business is an essential part of a positive public image. Why not hold a fundraiser and donate to a renewable energy charity?

With the first website having been launched on the World Wide Web nearly 30 years ago, the design, user experience, building process, functionality and even the way in which we find them has changed considerably.

From the very first coding language, HyperText Markup Language (HTML), where sites were mainly text orientated, to incorporating imagery and icons with Graphical User Interface (GUI), to adding styling and dynamic functions with CSS and JavaScript programming language. And, so on and so on – the rest is history.

However, pulling it back to the present, the digital age is still evolving as developers and geniuses alike find new ways to improve the way we shop, take part in experiences, and find and digest new information online. Queue, voice search. Another factor to consider when designing, building, optimising and promoting your website.

“What is voice search?” You ask.

Voice search, as the name suggests, requires a user to ask their device aloud about any queries they have or a service/product they are looking for. Now, this particular feature creates a challenge for website owners as people generally don’t verbally ask questions in the same way that they would carry out a typed search. Therefore, businesses will need to review how users will search for their site based on what they provide for a user.

Why will this affect the way my website is currently set up?

Whatever your business offers for customers will determine the kind of questions that users will ask when looking for you.

For example, with our client Garner being a local hairdressers in Norwich, often users in that vicinity will verbally ask their device for “hairdressers near me” as opposed to the commonly typed phrase ‘hairdressers Norwich’ which their site is optimised for. Whereas, our client – Goldsmith & Cooper – who provide bespoke glass installations to a larger geographical audience may need to be optimised for longtail informative questions such as “what style walk in shower enclosure should I have in my home?”.

The point is: review what your business offers, who and where you’re targeting, whether your business provides information to answer a question or the means to purchase a product or book a service, and whether your website could seamlessly help a user based on the kind of questions they would be asking about your business.

Once you’ve done this, play around with different questions and honestly look at what kind of questions you would ask in hopes of finding your business.

Are there any easy steps I can take to optimise my site for voice search?

1.      Set up a Google My Business listing and optimise this – with a large number of verbally asked questions in search of a local business as the answer, setting up and optimising a Google My Business listing is the easiest way for Google to identify your business as local to the user.

2.      Ensure your website is mobile friendly and responsive – the majority of voice searches will be carried out on a mobile whilst people are on the go and need a quick response. It would be an unfortunate missed opportunity if you lose out on these ‘in the moment’ searches that are more likely to convert compared to those searching ahead of when they need the answer, purely because your website isn’t compatible with mobiles.

3.      Answer customers questions through blog posts – for longtail keyword searches like the example with Goldsmith & Cooper above, answer these questions in the form of a blog post. Without doubt, it would be near impossible to answer every potential question within your landing pages. For that reason, take advantage of your blog and include the question in the header one and two tags so Google can easily identify that you’re answering the user’s question.

With voice search expected to amount to 50% of all searches by 2020, the time to evaluate whether your website is optimised for this and ready for the onslaught of voice queries is now. Imagine, due to taking the time to analyse and prepare your site now, when your competitors are bamboozled as to why their traffic has dropped, it’ll be you who’s reaping the rewards from all the well-earned traffic being directed to your site.

Indeed, as you may have guessed, 2019 is the ‘year of voice search’ in the SEO world. At Nu Image, our SEO experts are shamelessly excited about planning the next steps for our clients in regard to voice search. If you would like to ensure your website is ready for the next SEO revolution, don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01603 859007 to discuss how we could help you.

Whether it’s sports, online slots or taking a punt on politics, the betting industry is booming. Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that it’s popular, with almost half of people in Britain gambling. This popularity isn’t just good luck either, it requires serious business planning with a concerted effort and investment behind the scenes. With that in mind, there’s a lot that other businesses can learn from the success of betting companies…

Ensure You Are Versatile

Whether it’s betting, banking or boiler installations, every industry is subject to constant changes. One key lesson to learn early on is that in order to be successful, your business needs be versatile. No matter what gets thrown at you – whether strict competition or new industry updates – you should be ready and raring to go.

As an example, betting companies face the challenge of immediacy. Modern customers don’t want to wait about, or face hurdles when it comes to payment. They want to place a bet now, without having to go through various steps or wait for payments to be processed. The solution? Most betting companies have added new money transfer and payment options for users around the globe. Businesses would do well to learn from this versatility.

Be Creative

Staying ahead isn’t just about being versatile, it’s about delivering fresh, new products. In the case of betting companies, that means coming up with innovative new games to appeal to different users, rather than sticking to the age-old horse-racing and football betting. Online betting sites (like https://www.redbet.com/en) now offer a wide range of markets, covering almost every sport imaginable as well as a wide range of online games.

Preparation is Key

In the betting world, companies need to be ready for anything – whether it’s a quick change in circumstances for a front-runner, a big shock with an even bigger pay-out or just a massive influx of online traffic. What can you take from this? In short, it’s best to prepare for a range of outcomes and ensure customers always receive the same level of service. While your business might not be dependent on the kick of a ball or roll of a slot, there are still a lot of potential outcomes. Whether it’s providing technical support for customer difficulties or setting prices to ensure the right level of cash flow, it’s important to put in place a number of mechanisms to ensure you’re ready for what’s around the corner.

Technology Advancements

Technology is advancing quickly, and the way consumers want to interact with brands is reflecting this shift. Betting companies have taken this tech evolution on board, moving from traditional forms of gambling like casinos, betting shops and scratch cards to gambling apps purpose-built for smartphones. It’s important for other businesses to understand how their customers want to use their services too. Is it online, in person or on a mobile device? In 2019, the number of mobile users is expected to reach a whopping 4.68 billion. With more and more people getting tech savvy, audiences want fast, responsive and reliable mobiles sites.

Booming Business

Staying ahead in a competitive market place can be a tricky task, but you can find inspiration in the most unlikely of places. Betting companies offer plenty of helpful lessons to businesses from a variety of sectors. By taking them on board, you might even find more customers willing to take a punt on your company.

People often love the idea of starting a home-based business but are too afraid to take the leap and make it happen. They fall victim to common myths about working from home, allowing their fears to keep them from even exploring the possibility. Although the thought of starting your own business can be overwhelming, it is still worth considering.

If you have taken the plunge and find yourself needing that extra space for your office there is a faster way to sell your home to upgrade to a bigger place. Take a look at Ready Steady Sell for a no obligation valuation on your home.

Don’t give up on your dream, reflect on the following 10 benefits of working at home:

1. You decide when to work.

One major advantage of being your own boss is that you get to set your own hours. That means that you can plan your schedule around other aspects of your life. Are you most productive at night? If so, you can start your workday when everyone else is going to bed. Do you want to take a break in the middle of the day? All that you have to do is plan your schedule accordingly.

Of course, there are some risks associated with being in charge of your own schedule. There is always a chance that you could get distracted or that you could succumb to procrastination. To stay on task, make sure that you have a plan in place that will allow you to make good use of your time.

2. A flexible schedule means you can spend more time with your family or doing things that you love.

When you work at a regular job, finding time for your hobbies or your family can be challenging. Starting a home-based business gives you a lot more flexibility, making it easier to spend time with the people that you love. Some people are even able to homeschool their children thanks to the fact that they run their own business.

Keep in mind, however, that you still need to devote time to your business if you want to succeed. That means that you most likely will still need someone to watch your children so that you can focus on work.

3. You can design your business around something you are passionate about.

Imagine how amazing it would be to earn a living doing something that you enjoyed. Turning something you are passionate about into a business makes going to work a real joy. It is easy to get motivated to spend time on your business when you are doing something that you love.

4. You don’t have to worry about a long or expensive commute.

Think about how much time you spend traveling back and forth to work. Now, think about how much money you spend. Reducing the distance of your commute could save you a significant amount of money. Not only that but the cost of maintaining your vehicle is also usually a lot less since you aren’t driving it as often.

5. You decide how much money you want to make.

One of the biggest fears that people usually have about starting their own business is that they won’t have a steady pay-check. Although it is true that you need to plan for slow times, being a business owner also gives you a chance to decide exactly how much money you want to earn. In most cases, your earnings will far exceed what you could make at a traditional job.

You are in charge of setting your own prices. As long as you don’t undercut yourself by pricing your products or services too low, you stand a good chance of making a profit particularly if you master the art of marketing.

6. You get to take advantage of a lot of business write-offs.

As a business owner, you can write off a lot of your purchases, which can save you money on your taxes. Any supplies or equipment that you purchase for your business can generally be written off. If you use part of your home exclusively for your business, you may also be able to claim a deduction for that space. The same goes for your car. You may already be paying for certain services that you could deduct if you used them for your business. Your Internet service is a good example.

When you work for someone else, all of the money that you earn is taxed. As a business owner, however, you have a chance to deduct all of your expenses before calculating your taxes, meaning that you only pay tax on your actual income. Always work closely with a tax specialist to ensure that your business is in compliance with tax laws.

7. You are in charge of your own dress code.

If the thought of wearing a necktie or pantyhose makes you cringe, think how nice it would be to be able to wear any outfit you want to work. You can literally work in your pyjamas if that is how you feel the most comfortable.

Keep in mind, however, that the clothing you wear can impact how productive you are. Dressing up for work in business casual clothing can put you in the right frame of mind to get a lot of work done.

8. There is no one else to report to.

If you don’t like the idea of a boss or manager breathing down your neck, owning your own business is a great option. You are in charge of making all the decisions, meaning that you can do things your own way.

If you have to be late for work one day, it isn’t a big deal as long as no one is waiting there to meet you. If you wake up feeling sick, you don’t have to call in. If you want to take a vacation, you can simply go without having to get permission.

9. Owning a business can be extremely satisfying.

When you are satisfied at work, you also tend to be happier in your life. The more successful you are at your job, the better you feel about yourself and your abilities. This can positively impact every aspect of your life. When you are happier and in a better mood, people will naturally enjoy spending time around you. This can help you form deeper bonds with your loved ones while also allowing you to live a much more fulfilling life.

10. You can continually change things up.

One of the biggest complaints that people have about their jobs is that they have to do the same thing day after day. When you run your own business, there naturally will be some tasks that you have to perform every day. However, you have a lot more freedom to try new things or to change the way that you work. For example, you could take your work to a local coffee shop for a change of scenery or you could rearrange your schedule so that you do the tasks you usually save for the end of the day first.

We are happy to announce another new project we are currently working on in collaboration with React Property Solutions. The company, which specialises in commercial and domestic property solutions across London and Surrey, has sought the expertise and knowledge of SEO that our hard-working team members have acquired over a number of years and through the variety of clients we have supported and helped to successfully improve their online presence.

Following on from the huge impact we had helping other commercial and domestic property companies like Secure Site, we are excited about working with React Property Solutions to help fully optimise its website and increase the awareness about the excellent customer service they provide and the high standards of work they carry out.

About React Property Solutions

To give a little more in-depth information about the work that the team at React Property Solutions: its staff has over 15 year’s experience in commercial and domestic property maintenance sector. There range of skills and expertise in these fields is considerable, with services including outdoor cleaning, carpentry, reactive maintenance, as well as window and patio cleaning, to name just a few things the team provides.

The company has built a strong reputation in London and Surrey as a firm that prides itself on its workmanship, trustworthiness and reliability, as well as always making sure that each job carried out has been done so to the highest of standards. It is one of reasons why the business has experienced year-on-year client growth for three years and running. We want to support React Property Solutions on this huge achievement, and we can do just that by improving its Google ranking and optimising its website in a number of ways, to make it easier to index.

Ways we are helping React Property Solutions

As SEO specialists, the team has developed a wide variety of (trustworthy and genuine) tools and tricks when it comes to optimising a website and making it rank higher on Google, thanks to our years of expertise and experience in the industry that has been accumulated. This means that, depending on the project and client, our SEO techniques can vary, taking into account the individual needs of the firm we are working with. In this project, here is how we have been helping React Property Solutions to build on its success online.

Site cleaning – as we have already mentioned, we use a number of SEO techniques, and one of these includes optimising a site by focusing on the technical side of things. Making sure site has a thorough clean-up is one of the first-steps to improving a websites ranking, and it is absolutely essential to do. But what exactly do we mean by a thorough clean-up of a website? Our team has helped to ensure that every single title, description response code, image-alt text and any internal links have all been corrected to a high SEO standard. Ensuring that these have all been optimised and fixed (if needed) means a better indexing of the website by Google, which can have a huge impact on its ranking over the course of time.

We are able to carry out this cleanup due to the wide-range of tools we have considerable experiencing using, such as SEMrush, AWR and Screaming Fog. Our strong knowledge of these tools means we can quickly tackle issues that appear for React Property Solutions and fix team. It also means we can regularly monitor ranking changes, and then focus our strategy based on them.

Meta-data: another fundamental way in which we have improved the property maintenance firms SEO is through optimising meta-data. When the firm became our client, it became clear that some titles and description on its content management system (CMS) were not correctly indexed, which had an impact on their search engine ranking. We promptly solved this, by making sure duplicates were removed, as well as ensuring descriptions were relevant and of an adequate length.

Backlinks: An ongoing aspect of our work with React Property Solutions is making sure that it has strong backlinks. These are extremely important to a website’s Google ranking. Our dedicated team has focused on ensuring that the site only has strong backlinks from trustworthy and reliable websites. This is helping to make the property maintenance website easier to crawl for Google, having a knock-on impact on the firm’s SEO ranking.

Content writing: we understand that React Property Solutions has so much in-depth experience and knowledge of the property maintenance sector, and having content online that demonstrates this helps to build not only their online presence, but hopefully their client base too. Our team has been helping to write content for the website as well as for links elsewhere, to help build its reputation to a larger audience base. In addition, content that is carefully structured can also help boost SEO rankings, through using different strategies such as carefully chosen topic titles, H2 headings as well as internal links on articles.

As we start to see results with React Property Solutions SEO, we become even more excited about the potential for change in the next coming months. As we continue to implement new SEO strategies, we look forward to helping the business expand and grow over the next year.

The Search Engine Optimisation team at Tudor Lodge Consultants is delighted to announce that we will now be working wit one of the principal development finance partners in England and Wales, Magnet Capital. Following on from our our success in the property lending sector that we have already had with Bridging Loan Hub, we are looking forward to partnering with the Magnet Capital team and continuing to build our expertise and knowledge in the field, whilst helping to improve Magnet Capital’s online presence through our tried and tested methods.

About Magnet Capital

The development finance team at Magnet Capital take pride in making the loans process with them as quick and efficient as possible, keeping the process to just six stages. The lender makes sure funding is always tailored to each and every project undertaken, understanding that the needs of any development project change on a case-by-case basis. The Magnet Capital team approached us as it is looking to expand as a firm and wants to increase its online presence, and knows that Tudor Lodge Consultants has developed a strong reputation for excellent SEO results. Making sure that your website is fully optimised has become increasingly important when it comes to Google ranking, and can make a huge impact as to whether your business is a commercial success or not. Here is how we have have helped Magnet Capital to continue thriving in the property development finance sector.

What we are doing for Magnet Capital

As Magnet Capital uses a content management system (CMS) it has helped to efficiently facilitate the SEO strategies and updates that our team needed to implement in order to optimise the website. This is because using a CMS makes changes far more straightforward and faster to implement.

Site clean-up – in terms of our SEO approach, we tackle optimisation in a number of different ways. For example, making sure that a site like Magnet Capital’s is fully optimised from a technical perspective is something we know is key to its Google ranking success. As a result, we have carried out a thorough clean up of the website. This includes making sure that all titles, descriptions, internal links, response codes and image-alt text have all been optimised and fixed. Making sure these are correct enables a smooth indexing of the website by Google.

As our team has a strong level of expertise in a variety of SEO tools including Screaming Frog, SEMrush and AWR, we are able to quickly identify fixes for Magnet Capital. Our knowledge of these key tools within the SEO field also means we can adeptly monitor changes in ranking, and alter our strategy based on them.

Meta-data – meta-data is a small but incredibly important piece of information that is factored into search rankings. A number of titles and descriptions on Magnet Capital’s CMS were unfortunately not properly indexed, which affected their search engine ranking on Google. We have helped to correct this by cleaning up metadata, making sure the information is relevant, removing duplicates on the site, as well as making sure the descriptions were of an adequate length. This remains an ongoing process.

Writing new content – one of the best ways of building an online presence and gaining a good reputation in the property development finance sector is through producing excellent content.

This is important for a number of reasons. Not only do relevant property development guides and content indicate to the browser that Magnet Capital has a considerable level of expertise and knowledge of its sector, making it trustworthy, but it can also help for SEO purposes. Making sure that the content is structured correctly to meet SEO requirements can help to optimise the site. It is possible to do this through carefully considered content topic titles, as well as using the right H titles, such as h2 headings and internal links which provide structure to the site, and are something that Google algorithms particularly like.

Backlinks – another way in which we have been supporting Magnet Capital is through backlinks. With SEO, there is not just one key factor that contributes to a website’s ranking a Google, but a variety of different things that lead to a good ranking, one of which are excellent backlinks. Our team has worked hard to make sure that only reputable and clean websites are linking to Magnet Capital. The effect of this, is that it makes it considerably easier for Google to crawl the site, which in turn improves the firm’s ranking online.

Since Magnet Capital have partnered with us, we have been able to make considerable progress in their search engine optimisation ranking, with the overall results made by our hard-working SEO team anticipated in the next coming months. We have enjoyed the journey so far with Magnet Capital, and we are particularly excited as to the outcome we will see with our client over the course of the year, helping the firm to become more successful