Member News

We are delighted to be working with Casino Viking, a new operator in the highly competitive casino industry and helping them maximise their organic search presence on Google and other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo.

The casino industry is very competitive with both real and online casinos and lots of new brands and affiliates are trying to grab the elusive top positions on Google to attract new customers and get the lowest acquisition costs possible.

What We Are Doing For The Client

CasinoViking run a number of sites in the gambling affiliate space and our role is to maximise their search positions on Google using a host of SEO techniques including:

• Content – both guides and landing pages for each game, bonus or product
• Link-building – finding natural links across the internet relevant to gaming, casino, news and sports
• On-site SEO work – optimisation of meta-data, images, internal links, sitemaps, crawl errors and more

Our daily tasks include writing content for the website, including a number of landing pages with different games, bonuses and offers and also relevant guides to build up the authority of the website including types of games, payment options, rules, regulations and general news, whilst maintaining the regulatory guidelines from the Gambling Commission.

Understanding the Casino Algorithms

It is common for Google to have different algorithms for different industries including loans, insurance and above all, gambling. This is to ensure quality and push out any websites trying to ‘game’ Google’s search results by exploiting various techniques. 

To understand the algorithm, we have had to look carefully at competitors and those that are performing well, taking into account that some that are doing well have been struck by different penalties and have fluctuated over time. It is a matter of trying to find common themes and techniques and trying to scale them over the next 6-12 months, also making yourself flexible in case you want to reposition and make changes along the way.

How Casino Viking Attracts New Customers

One of the most popular methods to attract new customers or ‘players’ is to offer incentives including free spins, welcome bonuses, match bonuses and similar. For example, see Casino Bonus UK’s Free Spins Page.

Whilst offering free spins does not generate revenue initially, it is useful to have the customer’s details and they may always make a deposit if they like the company and user experience. 

Other methods include using other partners and affiliates to drive players and traffic, although this will usually require giving some form of commission for every sign up or player passed on.

Whilst it is early days with the client, we are seeing some promising signs and are very excited about what we can achieve in the next 6 to 12 months, particularly working on the newest sites in 2020 from CasinoViking. 

Local marketing agency, Example Marketing and Web Design, has pledged to plant 10,000 tress over the coming year in a move to become a more sustainable business. Owner, Emma Raines, explains their reasoning:

“The environment has been a topic close to my heart since I was very small. But as taking care of the planet becomes an increasingly urgent issue, I started thinking about what positive steps we could take as a business to help.”

As a starting point, the business registered with Offset Earth – a platform which allows businesses to make a positive impact on the climate by offsetting carbon and planting trees. This membership alone will see the company plant 576 trees this year and remove 56 tonnes of CO2.

However, they thought they could do more. Emma continues:

“Being based in a serviced office, there’s little we can do to change our electricity supplier for a green provider, for example, and we don’t consume much in the way of raw materials – apart from paper. We take care of printing business cards, brochures and the like for our clients. We already only use paper manufactured from sustainable, well-managed forests, and biodegradable laminates. But we wanted to do something significant to offset that consumption.”

For the coming year, for every print order over £150, Example Marketing will plant a further 50 trees via the Offset Earth scheme. They hope this will add up to a more sustainable business for themselves, but also for some of their customers who will know that they’re also doing their bit.

“It may be a small step when you consider the mountain there is to climb to tackle climate change, but it definitely feels like a step in the right direction for us. 10,000 trees felt like a nice round number and we wanted to do something significant. So that’s our target – we will top up any deficit at the end of the year.”

The team is aiming to join a local tree planting day to do some of the hard work themselves – anyone in need of a helping hand with a tree planting project should give them a call!

TaxAssist is now guaranteeing 25 qualified leads to all new joiners within the first 12 months of joining the franchise.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the small business tax and accounting franchise, and, confident in its business model and its increased strength in brand across the UK, TaxAssist Accountants is rolling out a new client lead guarantee incentive.

Karl Sandall, Chief Executive Director of The TaxAssist Group said, “As part of the package we offer to new franchisees, we are now happy to guarantee 25 free qualified leads within 12 months, from our unique national lead generation activities. The qualification process maximises efficiencies for franchisees, who currently report a high one-in-two conversion rate. If for any reason we do not deliver 25 leads, we will refund £200 per lead for reinvestment to the business. No quibbles.

“Having helped hundreds of franchisees to build accountancy practices, we know what works and we have the systems and processes in place to help facilitate strong growth for our accountants. With our proven and effective lead generation service, we are confident and pleased to be able to offer a guarantee which we hope will attract new accountants to our network and reassure them regarding any concerns they may have on new client attraction.”

To help kick start a franchisee’s business, the TaxAssist Support Centre provides a comprehensive initial marketing campaign in addition to the client lead generation service. This encompasses national marketing, both online and via TV, a variety of client acquisition activities through paid search engine advertising and social media, as well as support and guidance for local marketing within a franchisee’s territory.

Karl added: “These national activities managed by our in-house Business Development team, combined with a visible and welcoming shop have consistently generated new client sign-ups for all franchisees. We are also making further developments and enhancements to the process that will see an ever-increasing number of leads being generated delivering significant new business each and every year to the network”.

If you are interested in finding out more about the benefits of joining TaxAssist Accountants, we are holding a discovery day on Saturday, 18th January. To book your place, please call Nikki Haythorne on 0800 0188297.

On 1st January 2020, Karl Sandall not only celebrated a new year and a new decade but also the 20th anniversary of him joining the TaxAssist Accountants franchise.

Having previously worked for 26 years at Midland and subsequently HSBC Bank at a senior level, Karl was approached by his friend and the founder of the franchise John Westgarth, who could see in Karl the potential to drive the growth of the franchise with his professionalism, integrity, warm personal style and solid work ethic. He initially joined as Group Operations Director, before taking on the role of Chief Executive Director in 2002.

Karl was presented with a celebration cake and card on 7th January to a rapturous reception from the TaxAssist Accountants Support Centre team in Norwich, who enjoyed speeches from Karl and his fellow directors including reflections and anecdotes from his time at the helm.

An emotional Karl, looking back on his time with TaxAssist, said: “It has been a tremendous honour to lead the company for the last 20 years. When I looked around the office today at the fantastic support team we have built up, now numbering over 60 and knowing that more than 2,000 people now make their living from the TaxAssist brand, it makes me incredibly proud.

“It was always my intention to lead from the heart as well as the head while driving the company forward. I think the ‘family feel’ I’ve helped to nurture at the Support Centre has not only created a warm environment in which staff can feel valued and supported, but has extended out to our fantastic network of franchisees who can benefit from the stable and happy workforce.

“There have been a number of highlights over the years – way too many to mention, but among the moments that stand out include our 200th shop, our management buy-out in 2014 and our successful expansion to Ireland and Australia.

“I continue to be heavily involved in many exciting projects both on a national and international level and am looking forward to many more years of success ahead.”

James Mattam, Group Business Development Director, said: “It’s an amazing achievement to have steered TaxAssist Accountants for the past 20 years. Karl has inspired us all over the years to buck trends by staying focused on what clients want and need from their accountant.  “His many years of experience managing in retail banking environments was a major factor in the complete transformation of our business model 18 years ago, when we first launched our shopfront concept. Since then we’ve never looked back, seeing the success it continues to bring to hundreds of franchisees throughout the UK, Ireland and Australia.” 

2020 is a year of special anniversaries for The TaxAssist Group, which also marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the franchise.

It is time to prioritise our hearing health, and what better time to make a positive change than the New Year?

The Hearing Care Centre’s award-winning audiologists are here to help you hear more clearly and naturally in any situation.

Whether you are considering purchasing hearing aids for the first time or possibly looking to upgrading your current model, there has never been a better time! The Hearing Care Centre is offering a series of incredible discounts on hearing systems from some of the world’s leading hearing aid manufacturers, as part of their winter sale!

Improve your hearing for as little at £699 per hearing aid with selected models saving over 60% off and FREE hearing assessments.

Full details available at hearingcarecentre.co.uk/wintersale. Ts & Cs apply.

As part of Lloyds Banking Group’s national pledge to lend up to £18 billion of gross lending to UK businesses in 2020, the Group expects to support firms in the East of England with up to £1.7 billion of lending this year, highlighting its commitment to be by the side of British business whatever the future brings.

The funding is available to firms across the East of England and will support entrepreneurs looking to start a new business, micro-businesses seeking to scale-up and small businesses considering trading internationally for the first time. It will also support established mid-sized businesses and large, multinational corporations seeking further growth.

This new lending commitment for 2020 follows on from the Group’s pledge in 2019, also for £18 billion lent nationally and £1.7 billion available to the region’s firms. Despite the continuing challenging economic environment, the Group is not lessening its backing for British businesses and is on hand to support their growth aspirations.

Part of that money saw Lloyds Bank support Suffolk-based sauce maker, Stokes Sauces, last year with a £450,000 finance package. The finance has helped the business – which makes condiments including ketchup, chutney and jam for major brands in more than 50 countries worldwide – to double its capacity and to launch new, recyclable packaging.

David Atkinson, regional director for the East of England, said: “There are many fantastic opportunities for East of England businesses to take advantage of in 2020. Whether it’s investing in more sustainable ways of working, technologies that help to boost productivity, or to expand into new markets – we’ll be by their side whatever happens.

“We anticipate lending to be up to £1.7 billion to firms across the East of England this year, as we back their efforts to grow and thrive.”

During 2019, as well as supporting British businesses’ growth aspirations, the Group assisted its customers in becoming more sustainable. In 2018, the Group launched a £2 billion Clean Growth Financing Initiative (CGFI), which was designed to support clients’ investment in a lower-carbon future by providing the incentive of discounted lending to all types of businesses that invest in reducing their environmental impact. The initiative built on the £1bn funding announced in 2016 to help Global Corporate clients improve the energy efficiency of their Commercial Real Estate, and brought the total green lending commitment to £3bn. The Group is on course to meet its ambitions to support existing and new customers with energy efficiency improvements for a further one million square feet of commercial real estate as well as delivering renewable energy projects capable of powering 3.5 million homes by 2020.

To support customers on their sustainability journey, over 450 relationship managers have undertaken intensive training on climate change and sustainability-related risks and opportunities in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership. We are putting sustainability at the heart of our relationship teams’ support for businesses.

António Horta Osório, Chief Executive of Lloyds Banking Group said: “In 2020, our commitment to supporting businesses is undiminished and we will lend up to £18bn to businesses across the UK. We know that during uncertain times our customers look to us not just for financial support but also for expert guidance to navigate the challenges they may face. Whatever the future brings, we will continue to support UK businesses as part of our commitment to help Britain prosper.”

ENDS  

The Maids Head Hotel in Tombland, Norwich, has purchased an elegant Edwardian style Frolic 31 electric launch and, following a winter refit, the boat will take to the River Wensum in Norwich, when it will be officially named The Murtle Fish.

The boat will be driven by a Maids Head skipper, assisted by a steward, and can take 12 passengers. The Murtle Fish will be available to hire from the spring for afternoon tea afloat, wedding photography and receptions, business away days, drinks receptions and guided river tours.

A two-hour trip will depart from the Quayside next to Fye Bridge and will head to Whitlingham before returning to the city centre. The Murtle Fish will also be used to transport guests to the Maids Head’s box at Norwich City FC.

Christine Malcolm, General Manager, the Maids Head Hotel said: “We are really looking forward to offering a luxury service afloat in the heart of Norwich. The Murtle Fish will complement our two Bentleys, providing a memorable experience for guests.”

“To celebrate the launch’s purchase we organised a photo shoot with local businesses, who are our wedding partners,” continued Christine Malcolm. “I would like to thank, Best Beauty, Elizabeth’s the Florist, Elm Hill Brides, Hairsmiths, Just Big Smiles Photography and Milly J Shoes for their support, along with our staff who were the models on the day.”

The Murtle Fish is the original name of the Maids Head Hotel. The tavern operated on the Maids Head site from at least the middle of the 13th century. The name change to the Maids Head was confirmed in a Paston Letter dated 22 November 1472.

For more information about hiring The Murtle Fish contact Maids Head Events. t. 01603 272008, e. events@maidsheadthotel.co.uk, www.maidsheadhotel.co.uk

Layrd Design are excited to announce our Workspace Design Competition.

The competition is open to all companies with offices based in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and Suffolk. All you need to do is fill in the form on our website and you will be in with the chance of winning a free Interior Concept Design Package for their Workspace worth £3000 in professional consultation and design fees.

The winning entrant will receive; professional consultations with our designers, a site survey, concept sketches, concept image boards, plan drawings, initial interior visuals etc.

You can then use this design pack as you wish to improve your space. 

You can find the application form here: www.layrddesign.co.uk/competition

This competition will close on the 31st January 2020. Winner will be announced before the 7th February 2020. 

Good luck with your entries!

The Forum, Norwich has launched a new meeting space to complement its existing spaces available to hire.

Overlooking the bustling atrium and adjacent to Pizza Express and Cafe Bar Marzano The View is a  flexible space bookable by the hour.

The View is an ideal space for meetings, training courses, workshops, networking events and more. It’s also the perfect breakout space when hired with The Forum Auditorium or Gallery.

Features at a glance

• Located in The Forum in Norwich city centre
• Fast WiFi
• Special launch offer – Discounted parking for delegates
• Bookable by the hour
• Flexible furniture to suit your needs
• Option to pre-book refreshments and catering
• Interactive Avocor screen for presentations, video conferencing and more 

Ideal for: Meetings | Training courses | Workshops | Networking Events

Capacity: 30 seated / 20 boardroom 

Availability: 7am-midnight, Monday to Sunday

Pricing: Just £40 +VAT per hour

BOOK THE VIEW

Our venue hire team are happy to advise and help you to put together the perfect event.

Contact: James Coates 01603 727963 or Kim Sedgwick 01603 727964 or email info@theforumnorwich.co.uk 

14 new accountants have joined the small business tax and accountancy franchise in 2019, with an additional six purchasing a resale and two joining as partners in existing practices.

TaxAssist Accountants continued to buck industry trends with a bumper year of franchisee recruitment in 2019.

Billy Ahaouari (Canterbury), Abdallah Bello (Barnes & Putney), Ritesh Goel (East Barnet) and Maneet Singh (Greenford North & Hayes East) have all graduated from the final course of the year.

Karl Sandall, Group Chief Executive Director, said, “We have had a very buoyant year, with good levels of interest in the franchise, discovery day visitors and joiners. TaxAssist Accountants has always recruited well, but it is especially pleasing that in a year which has witnessed such economic and political turmoil, we have been able to maintain our consistently high level of growth.”

Chartered Accountant and Business Advisor, Ritesh Goel ACA MBA, has over 17 years’ experience in financial management, banking, accountancy and consulting. He explained his reasons for joining the franchise: “I wanted to find a franchise model that would enable me to build an independent business using my commercial skills, while still providing the necessary support.

“After speaking to my friends in the accountancy industry, I decided to attend the Discovery Day in June 2019 at the Norwich Support Centre. I was really impressed by the presentations and transparent approach of the directors. Positive feedback from other franchisees and the reputation of the brand in the marketplace further reinforced my decision to join the TaxAssist network.

“Although I could have started an accountancy practice or an advisory business on my own, joining the TaxAssist network will accelerate my growth and I will be able to realise my ambition of building a significant business faster. I am confident that joining TaxAssist will prove to be a good commercial decision. I intend to grow my franchise area and am also keen to buy a TaxAssist resale in the coming future.”

With more than a decade of experience working in the accounting and finance sector, Abdallah Bello, decided he wanted to achieve his long-term goal of running his own business.

“I have always had the mindset and the desire to manage my own business,” explained Abdallah. “After examining the possible options available to me, TaxAssist was the one that really stood out and fit my profile. The decision to invest in TaxAssist Accountants was made easy on the Discovery Day and reaching out to existing franchisees only reassured me further.

“The assistance I have received from the Support Centre throughout my initial start-up period has been superb, and more than justified my decision to choose becoming a TaxAssist franchisee rather than setting up on my own. Whether I need help with my marketing or IT, it is reassuring that I have a team of experts just a call away.” The next TaxAssist Accountants training course will start on 17th February 2020.

December 2019  

The 21st Macmillan Charity Golf Day was held at Barnham Broom Golf Club in October 2019, where over 100 golfers turned out to support the charity.

The event was made possible through the support of Barnham Broom, local companies and individuals alike.

After golf on the 18-hole Valley Course, a dinner was held along with an auction and raffle together with a variety of donated rounds of golf from many Clubs which were sold by silent auction.

Organiser Graham Knights, who is an Ambassador for Macmillan in Norfolk, commented that the amount raised between this event and other fundraising for Macmillan throughout 2019 now equals a grand total of £17,640 – a truly impressive amount made possible by Mr Knights’ hard work and the support of Barnham Broom Golf Club.

The money will be used to support cancer patients in Norfolk.

Mr Knights also praised Barnham Broom saying that the event would not be possible without the support of hotel, events and golf staff.

Barnham Broom is a resort near Norwich, Norfolk. Overlooking 300 acres of beautiful countryside and the River Yare Valley, the venue features a luxury four-star hotel, spa, leisure centre, two golf courses, award-winning Brasserie restaurant, Sports Bar and conference room. It is a popular choice for weddings and events.

Visit www.barnham-broom.co.uk to find out more.

Method Marketing is delighted to reveal that Norfolk Community Foundation will be its Charity of the Year in 2020.

Based at St James’ Mill in Norwich, Norfolk Community Foundation is a charity that raises vital funds and support for community organisations, voluntary groups and other charities throughout the county.

By providing a day of content marketing support each month, Method Marketing is helping the Norfolk-based charity to raise both awareness and donations. From advising on website copy, enewsletter content, social media activity and more, Method Marketing will ensure that NCF’s marketing efforts drive greater response rates,

Says Claire Cullens, CEO of Norfolk Community Foundation: “We are so delighted to have found Lucy! Communicating to our many different audiences at the Community Foundation poses lots of challenges. We asked Lucy to help us with some of our communication to professional advisors.

“Lucy immediately understood the challenges and spent time trying to understand both what we want to achieve and how to translate that to our audience. We are delighted with our new messaging. It is a pleasure to work with Lucy and we are looking to do much more together in 2020. “

Lucy Mowatt, Founder of Method Marketing adds: “There are so many charities doing amazing work in Norfolk. It was difficult to know which to support and in what capacity.

“By working with Norfolk Community Foundation, we can help several. By raising the profile of the charity and the work that it does, we can provide local organisations with the funding they need.”

If you’d like to raise funds, visit their website. Alternatively, visit Norfolk ProHelp donate your time.