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“Supporting your employees getting vaccinated comes with several benefits.

Having the COVID-19 vaccine means:

✅your employees can better protect themselves and those around them

✅lower risk of your employees catching and spreading COVID-19 to colleagues, therefore reducing the negative impact on your workforce

✅protecting your customers when using your services

✅bringing your staff back safely into the workplace sooner

All those aged 18 and over can book their vaccination through the NHS booking service. You can also call 119 free of charge, anytime between 7am and 11pm seven days a week. You can book via the NHS” here: https://bit.ly/3yjZlNW

Starting a new business in this day and age can be a truly troublesome venture. There is just so much competition for new businesses out there now, and that’s even without mentioning the fact that there is oftentimes a lot of one’s own capital at stake if said business fails.

On the other hand, starting a business now is easier than it has ever been, and it really is within the grasp of anyone who has the determination and drive to make it happen.

Start a Blog 

Perhaps one of the best ways businesses can grow and increase their outreach is simply by starting and running a consistent blog. The topic of the blog doesn’t have to be any too fancy – just make sure it’s something related to your business and something in which you have some level of expertise.

For example, a betting site could write a post about the newest betting portals or the best sports to bet on. On the other hand, a company that primarily focuses on buying and selling real-estate could make a post about the best locations for people to find their perfect home or tips and tricks that people could use in order to get an advantage when looking to buy a property.

Blogging can be one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways for businesses to connect with their customers, as well as draw new ones in.

There are endless advantages for businesses who blog, and you will surely see this for yourself after a few months of growing your blog. 

Get Involved in Social Media  

Nowadays, everyone has a social media account, and that’s even including businesses and corporations. By creating an account for your business on one of the several popular social media sites, you can not only increase public perception, but you can also get access to a vast number of potential customers that you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. There are a variety of ways business leaders can get involved with social media, and if you want to keep up with your competition, getting on social media sites is a must.

Don’t be Scared to Stand Out

New business owners are so frightened to take risks or do anything differently, and this ends up being a huge detriment to both business and the people. In reality, there is now so much competition out there that doing something new and standing out is really the only chance new businesses have of becoming successful.

Don’t be afraid to stray from the beaten path

Starting and running a successful business can be a headache, there is no debating that. Although by putting the tips we have given you through this article into practice you can get ahead of the competition and have a much better chance at succeeding. 

The phrase ‘your money your life’ (YMYL) has become increasingly important in the world of Google and search engine optimisation (SEO). The phrase relates to topics and subject areas online which as you might imagine, have the potential to affect people’s money and their lives more broadly.

There are a wide range of topics which are encompassed within the YMYL sphere which include (but are certainly not limited to):

• Loans and personal finance
• Health and healthcare
• Insurance
• Online gambling, bingo and casinos
• Some areas relating to mental health

There are also various areas which fall into the remit of YMYL as they may even indirectly affect those specific areas of a person’s life.

For example, when it comes to things like brain injury solicitors and compensation claims, although not necessarily within the above remit of YMYL, it can still affect a person in the same way as those mentioned, should something untoward, or ‘less than kosher’ occur, in a way that various other areas cannot do.

What Are the Implications of YMYL?

Although in the case of any industry online, the likes of Google and other search engines and social media platforms take strict stances, such are the potential ramifications, YMYL is a specific area of focus for Google.

In past years, unscrupulous people have exploited loopholes in Google and other platforms’ algorithms and have been able to market shady products to unsuspecting customers.

In the case of loans and personal finance, in the early days of payday loans in the UK, there were providers who were in essence, no more than loan sharks, that managed to rank online and offer potentially desperate customers appealing offers, only to later on exploit and overcharge them.

Thus, in the case of Google, they have openly admitted to developing specific features within their rankings and algorithm, to judge and assess topics and areas within YMYL in their own right. This means that as far as possible, only honest and true experts in potentially very impactful areas can rank, while those who may try and ‘chance’ ranking in areas of high repercussions, will find it much more difficult.

YMYL and Advice

More than a few people each day use ‘Doctor Google’ to try and understand and diagnose conditions. Although there are reputable providers of such information online, like the NHS in the UK and the FDA in the USA, there have in the past been unscrupulous people who have tried to exploit the need for knowledge and health information for unsavoury means.

Thus, when it comes to information, much like it does for products and services, the YMYL algorithm and terms and conditions will also apply, with users and honest people browsing in mind.

We now have information on how to do a right to work check.

The Home Office has published their guidance on right to work checks for employers that apply from 1 July 2021.

Retrospective checks are not required for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who commenced work before 1 July 2021.  You should ensure that your right to work procedures are updated in line with the revised guidance.

We can help you to navigate these changes.  Get in touch at sarah@ignitepeoplesolutions.co.uk

Business owners and leaders are constantly learning new things and as a relatively recent business owner I am no exception.  I am always seeking advice, and trying to find the best people to help me make the business a success.

A great example is marketing.  Coming from a technical and consulting background, this is not really my area of strength.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve picked up a lot over the years, and I’ve managed, through luck or judgement or some combination of both to do enough to get the business into a pretty good place in our first three years.  But when it came to the point where we decided to put some real focus on our marketing, I wasn’t really too sure where to start.

Clearly there are many aspects to marketing a business, whether you’re new or established.  I knew I needed some help, but to whom should I turn?  Should I employ someone, or use an agency?  Should I look for a generalist, or a specialist (or a number of different specialists)?  I know that I prefer working with specialists, but if I pick a specialist in one area, am I neglecting other important areas?

The problem, for me, was that not having sufficient experience or knowledge of the area that I needed help with, I wasn’t sure how to articulate exactly what help I was looking for.

I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Fortunately, I managed to find my way through this with some advice from friends in the field, and some trial and error, and I’m confident that we’re now on the right track.  However, if there had been a course or workshop that I had come across that would have helped me figure out the key areas that I needed to consider, key questions to ask myself and guide me towards some priorities, I would definitely have jumped at that.  I’m sure they exist; I just didn’t find them.

When it comes to Cyber Security and managing the risks to a business, I frequently see exactly the same scenario.  Business owners, and senior management teams know that their business is at significant risk from Cyber Attacks, ransomware, email-based fraud and similar, and many know they need help.  Their IT department, or external IT provider looks after some of the technical aspects of security but they’re often not specialists in security – they’re typically more focused on keeping the lights on and implementing new technology to help the business stay ahead.   Rightly so.  The owner, or leadership team, however, has this nagging feeling that they should definitely be doing more.  They know they need some help.

But they don’t know what they don’t know.

Our Cyber Security for Business Owners and Leaders training is, for security, exactly what I was looking for when I needed help with marketing.

The point of the one-day training workshop is not to make you a security expert.  It’s not designed to scare you into buying services from us (although it might scare you a bit).  It’s purpose is to help you understand what you don’t know – what’s important, what to look at and prioritise when it comes to security, and where to go for help that you can trust.  But  it’s more than just telling you.

Yes, we provide you with lots of information, all geared towards owners and senior management teams, but it’s a bit of a whirlwind “voyage of discovery”.  Through carefully designed exercises and discussions, we’ll help YOU discover how to determine what is important to your business, how to assess risks and impacts in a security context, and how to build a strategy and plan to improve security and reduce business risk.

Want to find out more? You can contact us to talk through your needs or alternatively go online and book yourself on to the next available course.