After a great turn-out for our training session on successful event marketing & exhibiting with Norfolk Chamber, we are delighted to see some of the diversity in local businesses preparing to exhibit at Norfolk B2B!
With just over a month to go until B2B opens its doors once more, it’s the perfect time to make sure your stand, stands out! From a simple banner or display plinth to bespoke portable systems, we have a huge array of products to suit any size project or budget, with our in-house design team on hand to bring your ideas and your brand to life.
Get in touch today for more information on any of our products or services, plus if you’re disappointed you missed our training session, we can offer informal advice to anyone looking to make the most out of their experience at B2B.
The company behind ResourceSpace, Montala, has received Royal Warrant of Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen – one of the few software providers to be awarded the honour. ResourceSpace is the web-based Digital Asset Management (DAM) software of choice for leading commercial, academic and not for profit organisations, offering a convenient, productive and easy to use solution for organising and sharing files. ResourceSpace is available as open source software, meaning that there are no license fees to pay and no vendor lock-ins. A highly sought-after privilege, the Royal Warrant is granted to companies or people who have regularly supplied goods or services to either the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh or the Prince of Wales for no fewer than five consecutive years. Montala is one of only 14 companies to be newly appointed a Royal Warrant by the Queen in 2018. Warrant holders are required to demonstrate that they have an effective environmental and sustainability policy. Dan Huby, Managing Director of Montala and ResourceSpace Project Lead said: “For our work to be recognised in this way is a huge honour and I’m very proud of the team here at Montala in providing consistently first class service to our customers.”
Welcome to our Youth in Tech issue – just in time for the new term! It was no coincidence that our August issue is all about younger developers, but we’ve also included articles about how it is important to never stop learning, even when we might think we know everything! The world of tech is always evolving, sometimes it feels difficult to keep up with new developments and technologies. It’s important to spend some time investing in ourselves and staff to make sure we keep abreast of this ever-changing sector. We hear from Luminous PR and netmatters about the importance of learning in their articles. Of course it wouldn’t really be a Youth Issue without the view of an actual young developer, and we knew just the chap. Teenager James kindly gave us his opinion on the best bits of being into technology and where he thinks the future of development will be and student developers Emily and David were also kind enough to give us a developers view of their university project ‘Theia’, which aims to use machine learning to help students. On the lighter side of things developer Adam sent us an amusing code piece (just try not to spit your tea while reading!) and we were also lucky enough to have an insider view from the recent Apple conference in San Jose, California, so if you’ve ever wondered what actually happens inside Apple, see inside! Download now: https://www.norfolkdevelopers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/norDEVmagazine-201808-e05.pdf
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.
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.
Two members of staff at Somerleyton Estate – Nina Lynes and Jude Wilson – are climbing Mount Kilimanjaro this month.
Here’s the story behind the amazing challenge they are undertaking.
While the idea originated on a yet another drunken night out, it was to aid Nina in being able to say she was doing something worthy of a surprised reaction (or, at the very least, a raised eyebrow) when asked the question “What are you doing on your sabbatical”? The idea of climbing Kilimanjaro was then born.
Fully expecting this stupid idea to fade away, as Nina became more determined they should climb, Jude’s mum, Marg, became increasingly sick. Having already shown cancer who was boss for many years, her body was no longer responding to the treatment. In December 2017 Jude’s mum passed away, leaving a massive hole in the world. It then became clear they should climb to raise funds to fight the devastating C word and make Marg proud (though it should be noted that Marg had thought the climb a truly daft idea!).
So they’ve chosen to raise money for The University of Southampton’s Immunology research fund. This ground breaking research is saving lives by using the body’s immune system to eradicate cancer. But revolutionary research needs revolutionary facilities. Both Nina and Jude want to help raise £25m to build a new state of the art centre for Cancer Immunology. THEY want to be part of the cure, and invite YOU to be too.
The trip to climb ‘that damn mountain’ (as they now refer to it) will be self funded, so every penny raised will go straight to the charity.
If you would like to make a donation, however small, please visit their JustGiving page.
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.
We explore some of the key current stats in the exhibitions industry & share why you should be considering event marketing for you & your business. From growing exhibition space, to numerous venues spreading across the globe & ongoing investment, event marketing remains one of the most powerful & growing tools a company can use to promote their brand, advertise, share new products and services, network and more.
Enjoyed the video? Then let us know & stay tuned for more exclusive content, advice, tips, tricks and more on the way!
If you and your business are ready to harness the awesome power of exhibitions, why not check out our special offers, previous projects & let us know how we can help you achieve success in your events.
We are delighted to be working with new brand Ohmies, a company dedicated to helping individuals smoke less through cheaper alternatives. It is estimated that smoking in the UK costs the NHS around £2.5 billion per year and it is a very costly habit for individuals, costing the average person around £3,700 per year to maintain the addiction.
With the rate of smokers not slowing down, we are pleased to working with Ohmies, a new website offering a number of smoking alternatives at affordable prices, helping people get off smoking altogether and helping them save money effectively.
Launching a new eCommerce site
The owners of the site needed a simple eCommerce platform to list all their products, images and payment checkout facilities. Using Shopify, it creates a professional platform for shop owners to design the site, list products and monitor any orders and payments. The site is well adapted to desktop, mobile and tablet and offers a simple navigation so customers can scroll through smoking alternatives effectively.
Using SEO for an eCommerce site
As SEO is our speciality, we took a very methodical approach to help Ohmies optimise their website and boost their rankings on Google for a number of keywords such as ‘smoking alternatives’ and ‘ways to stop smoking.’
To target these keywords, we put together a specialist landing page and added relevant content relating to that key term. This creates relevancy in Google’s eyes and creates a page that they can index effectively.
We ensured that of the hundreds of products featured, every image had specific alt-text so Google could read the image and meta-titles and meta descriptions so each page can be categorised and found by Google.
Acquiring links from other websites is not easy in this highly competitive industry. As a result, we are putting together a number of useful guides about smoking, filled with statistics so that other companies and resources may find it interesting and want to link to it. We then intend to use outreach to ask other websites, resources and guides to link back to the site – helping the site build up its domain and this will strengthen the site’s SEO and its rankings.
How does your business stand out against its competition? In life we can be certain of death and taxes, in business we can also be certain of competition (some businesses do also get away with the whole tax thing). I am sure that there are businesses out there with competitors offering the same service, the same expertise and sometimes even the exact same product. Potential customers also don’t have to go that far to find the competition as Google does such a good job of bringing them all together in search results. In order to stand out when people are comparing businesses, a business needs all of its marketing ducks in a row. It needs a strong and recognisable brand, it needs visibility online with great continuity between its website and social media. A business needs to give potential customers a great experience from beginning to end. On top of all of this, though, a business needs to know when (and how) to make an offer their potential customers can’t refuse. One really good tip is to only make an offer to people who are interested in what you do, and to make the offer specific. What I mean by this is only show your 10% off widgets offer to people who have been on the widget page of your website, only send the ‘buy one get one free’ offer to people who have downloaded your widget brochure, and so on. It might sound obvious but an offer is much more effective if it is made to an audience of interested people. PPC adverts, email marketing, online display retargeting, direct mail and even digital geo fencing are all ways a business can get its offer to these super responsive people. Using these delivery methods with a great offer is an excellent way of standing out from the crowd right at the point a potential customer is choosing who to buy from. It sounds simplistic but this approach does work. If you are interested in understanding the detail of how we do this check out our website, in particular the page titled ‘How do you stand out against your competition?’
Enquiries about ‘seagulls’, which usually relate to the large Herring Gull are certainly on the increase. You just need to read the press and every week you will find a story about these birds causing havoc somewhere on the coast or inland.
The main issues that come from business owners relate to mess, attacks on people and property damage. Typical problems will include bird droppings (guano). Guano is generally known to be a source of bacteria which can be transmitted to humans and ultimately lead to disease. Property issues include blocked gulley’s and drainage problems, however, we also have incidents of gulls pecking through skylights on roofs and attacks on people.
With bird control, you need to put in place a detailed disruption and dispersal programme. Its not a quick fix, it’s a method that over time will reduce the amount of birds or even make the location a bird free zone. The key to success is timing, education and physical deterrents.
In March, Herring Gulls start their nesting season, so it is important to get the plan in place before this time.
During the summer season, Herring Gulls are feeding and protecting their young and under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, you cannot disturb nests, eggs or the young which include trying to disperse the adults leaving the young behind. The gulls will seek out food by any means possible. If you feed the birds, leave unsecured rubbish bags out for collection and drop litter in the street, people will make it easy for the gulls and this will be the main reasons the area is experiencing problems, particularly in the spring and summer seasons. People need to take responsibility over educating others on litter and food.
At the end of every nesting season (usually September until February) all nests and nesting material should be removed from buildings as they will return to breed. Gulls will typically return to site year after year as they are fairly territorial. If chicks also return to ‘their site’, any problems experienced now are only likely to increase in line with an increased volume of birds present, year on year.
This is the key time to implement bird control measures.
Bird exclusion netting
Professionally installed bird netting protects buildings without harming birds. The netting will act as a barrier preventing the birds from landing on the building roof. Our team design and install bespoke bird netting systems based on a site survey and when completed they typically don’t need much maintenance.
Bird repellent gel
Bird deterrent gels are non-toxic, they do not harm the birds and are much more discreet than netting. Birds are deterred from landing on a surface by the UV light reflected from the gel. We apply the gel to small dishes at close intervals and will remain effective for at least two years even in harsh climates.
Laser control
Enter the world of technology. Laser control is a very effective way of managing bird issues. An approaching laser beam appeals to the survival instinct of birds, causing them to fly away immediately. One laser system installed on a roof can cover up to 3,000 acres and reach 2,500 meters in the right conditions. The lasers are programmed to operate on various roofs and at set intervals during dawn and dusk. We have had major successes with this method at Sizewell Power Station. One laser has significantly reduced the number of gulls present at this facility.
Dispersal of Gulls using Distress Calls
Another method of dispersing birds is using a device which transmits digitally stored distress calls. The system we use has 9 different bird distress calls, including different gull species, starlings and pigeons. When sounded the birds will lift, circle around where the distress call is coming from, look for a predator below and start to feel that the area is unsafe as they cannot locate anything. These systems are available as a portable megaphone or can be hardwired on a timer. This is the same system as used at airports to keep birds away from runways reducing the risks of bird-strikes.
What is the law?
All wild birds, their nests, eggs and chicks are protected by law (Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981). Even an empty unoccupied nest may not be removed within the breeding season.
However, in very particular circumstances property owners can have Herring Gull nests and eggs removed by a specialist contractor, under the terms of a Natural England General Licence. This may include:
It must be for reasons only of public health or public safety. (Nuisance, noise or mess are not legal reasons for removal).
Other legal methods of resolving the public safety issue have been tried and were unsuccessful or impractical.
Our advice is to start looking to plan a programme which will commence in September. We are happy to provide a free survey and quotation. Please get in touch by calling us on 0800 980 9767 or via our website.