This week’s course highlight is our Abseil Escape Training. Businesses that use Man Up/VNA forklifts and other equipment that is operated at height have a duty of care to ensure that all employees can escape from height when they are using these types of machinery. Our half day Abseil Escape training course will give operators the know-how and confidence they require to return to the ground safely. To book this course or any other course in our range, please call us on +44 (0)1508 578844 or email enquiries@shieldhealthandsafety.co.uk
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of the best ways in which to improve your company and website’s online positioning. There are no keywords and search terms which are off-limits and with the right planning, strategy and campaign, SEO can take a business from one to a million in the space of months.
Most people associate SEO however with ‘generic’ keywords, which will have a strong relation to the products and services offered by the company in question, via their website. Logically and understandably, if for example you are a company like Rae-TheBrand, selling women’s clothes, you will of course try to get your site to rank for search terms like ‘clothing for women’ and ‘women’s clothes’ to name but a few. However, your brand name is arguably more important in the long term.
In time, and with a combined marketing strategy which leverages the best of various digital marketing channels, users and customers will, in time learn your brand; its name and values and will gravitate towards it. there are various paid and non-SEO channels to utilise to help achieve this too, including:
Social media marketing (paid and non-paid)
Pay-per-click (PPC)
Online display campaigns
Remarketing campaigns
All of these channels can more quickly (than SEO) get a brand in front of targeted and desired audiences, whilst the SEO being undertaken takes effect for the organic rankings and positions.
Also important to remember is that one of the first things people do when they hear about a company or brand is to search online for it, using the brand name as the key search term of focus. Thus, your brand name’s ranking if of increased important beyond the expected digital benefits.
Furthermore, in the case of items and e-commerce, you will be working with various suppliers. This means that you will have due diligence run on your company and potentially yourself as a business owner. Therefore, ranking for your brand name is seen as a ‘given’ when it comes to your online positioning. People will expect to find you quickly when searching for you and your company.
Lastly, always remember that Google is not a human and that it functions as a result of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Therefore, when learning your company and your brand, the brand name will be a logical place for Google and any other search engines to start crawling your online presence.
Years from now, when we reflect on the millions of healthcare professionals that rose to the challenge to fight COVID-19 with bravery, dedication and courage, will we see the pandemic as a turning point when healthcare truly embraced a digital transformation?
COVID-19 has become a catalyst for change in many ways, accelerating digitalisation across the board. We’ve seen email, telephone and video consultations replace face-to-face appointments and an explosion in the use of healthcare apps and web platforms to check symptoms, stay informed and find new ways to keep fit and healthy.
GP practices and hospitals in Norwich and indeed, nationwide, have adapted with incredible agility to provide crucial services, from remote diagnosis and treatment to symptom tracking and online test booking. This has made many services more accessible and more efficient than ever before, even for the most remote or vulnerable of patients. But is our infrastructure up to the challenge of further digitalisation across the entire health service?
Full Fibre – a foundation for digital transformation
The more widely available full fibre is, the easier it will be for this momentum towards a digital transformation in healthcare – hence why the Government has made levelling up connectivity across the country a key part of its ambitions. With the UK set to have 80% of the country covered by gigabit-capable broadband by 2025, now is the time for those within the healthcare industry to start thinking about what this could potentially unlock for them in the form of new digital services.
Innovation in this space is already unlocking many new insights into healthcare, making it possible to develop therapies and approaches that could strengthen health and care services in the face of perhaps more, as yet, unknown challenges.
Harnessing analytics, for example, is already proving invaluable in the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers, while
I shuffled uncomfortably in my chair. ‘Is she two metres away from me? Or closer’, I mused. ‘Do we need to wear masks at this distance when we’re seated? Or not?‘ I wondered further.
The questions bounced around my head like a volley at Wimbledon, leaving me entirely distracted from the event I had gone along to. As one who doesn’t just err on the side of caution but grips onto it with both hands when it comes to Covid, I was utterly disengaged.
Because I didn’t feel safe.
We’ve talked a lot about being safe this past year, about making adaptations to protect ourselves and each other. Keeping our distance, spraying hand gel with abandon, wearing masks, going virtual.
But if we want to engage people, it’s not just about literal safety – it’s about metaphorical safety too. It’s about how we make people feel comfortable so that they know it’s ok for them to respond to our communications and get involved in our engagement activities.
This can be achieved in a number of ways. Firstly, organisations need to build trust and confidence, something that can be achieved through being transparent, authentic, and consistent. By communicating regularly, openly, and honestly about what they’re doing – including when things go wrong – they can engender confidence. They can also build trust by showing their credentials, especially the impact and influence of engagement activities.
Organisations also need to provide choice in ways to engage – interacting through technology is so easy for many of us, but for some it can be way out of the comfort zone. So offering other ways to get involved is crucial. People will opt for the channel that they feel safest with.
People also feel safe when they are valued. Whether this is recognising and acting on feedback from a customer, or listening to an employee, or a simple but powerful word of ‘thanks’, when organisations show people that they matter, they are more likely to engage.
A feeling of safety comes too from a sense of belonging – that we are in it together. This can be a team of employees, or it could be customers of a company. When we feel that we are part of something, that we belong, we can feel more confident to engage in conversations, consultation, or other activities that seek to involve us.
One of the places where it can often feel unsafe for us to engage is within meetings, workshops, and other spaces where we come together in discussion. I recall myself in many meetings when I was younger keeping my mouth firmly shut because I feared making a suggestion or asking a question that was so utterly stupid it would cause people to fall around laughing. Of course, it never happened, but how many great ideas and perspectives do we miss out on because people don’t feel comfortable to have their say?
That’s why it’s so important to make the spaces where we meet safe, inclusive, and supportive. Bringing people into the conversation, valuing people’s contribution, using silence to allow thoughts to grow and thrive, and creating a sense of equality so that people know everyone has something valuable to contribute will help to make it safe.
Hopefully, it won’t be too much longer before we can move our chairs a little closer and abandon the masks but organisations will still need to create conditions so that people know that it’s safe to engage.
While there has been a significant improvement in safety in the past decade, working in asset-intensive organisations like manufacturing is still considered a dangerous occupation. Injuries and deaths that have occurred in manufacturing floors have led to a massive damaged reputation and thousands of lawsuits. They also affect employee morale and productivity. While it is impossible to prevent injuries from happening entirely, companies can take steps to minimise the rate of injury and death on their manufacturing floors. Here are effective ways to enhance safety on a manufacturing floor.
Provide personal protective equipment (PPE)
Personal protective equipment is essential for anyone working on a manufacturing floor to enhance their safety. Anyone working in a manufacturing plant is not only putting themselves at risk but others as well. Operating in close proximity to toxic materials and heavy machinery and working in dark areas exposes workers to injuries and health problems. As an employer, ensure you provide protective gear to all your workers and make wearing them mandatory for all workers at all times.
Look to technology
Technologies such as automation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and analytics can be used to enhance safety. Robotic and robotic technologies help to keep your employees out of harm’s way. IoT technology can be utilised to provide information on equipment operation and how processes are running.
Real-time monitoring of the status of facilities, lines, and machines helps manufacturers to predict and respond to problems before they happen. Anomalies with patterns of IoT data can set off alerts for things like air quality, noise level, and temperature, allowing for proactive clearing of unsafe areas or shut down of faulty machinery. For instance, installing gas sensors from Alphasense around the manufacturing plant can help you know when there is a gas leak allowing you to respond quickly.
Regular training
An unsafe working environment is usually a result of a lack of or insufficient training. If the workers are not aware of the safety hazards on a manufacturing floor, they can easily put themselves and others in danger of serious accidents. This risk can be eliminated by providing continuous training on the latest technologies and the right protocols for handling processes, machines, and equipment. In addition, all new employees should be taught essential safety practices.
Create a safety-focused company culture
Safety measures will only be as effective as the people working on the manufacturing floor allow them to be. For true safety to be achieved, everyone in the company should feel responsible for their own safety and that of everyone one else. There can be hundreds of warning signs around dangerous machinery, but nothing will change if employees choose to ignore them.
Safety is crucial in any modern manufacturing plant. You don’t just owe it to your employees; you also have to consider the regulations set forth by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Improving safety in the workplace also demonstrates to your employees that you care about their well-being and safety, which helps to increase productivity.
We are pleased to announce that we are working with A Body Forever, on their search engine optimisation (SEO) and online presence. Working with the design, development, user experience (UX) and content teams, A Body Forever has recently launched a brand-new website.
As a new website, there are some unique challenges to the processes involving SEO as well as otherwise. A unique and engaging platform, A Body Forever provides a range of online classes and sessions including high intensity workouts, yoga, Pilates and much more, from a number of qualified and experienced trainers.
Unique Challenges When Re-Launching a New Website
As expected, there are a number of challenges to expect when launching a new website of any nature. In the case of A Body Forever, which encompasses a wide variety of technical functions and experiences, there are different challenges to those which may be faced by for example, a simply service-based website.
A Body Forever allows users to purchase courses and to make transactions on the site, which in itself can prove technically complicated for some websites.
Integrations and Other Systems – When a website allows users to make purchases and engage in a multitude of ways, many of these functions need specific attention. Although most websites use open-source content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Drupal and others that allow for easy plugins to facilitate many of these functions, there is a degree of nuance and detail required.
For example, payment providers and facilitators like PayPal or Stripe need to be considered to process and carry out the payments and their relevant processes. Additionally, if there are products and courses and even lead generation, there may be the need for a Customer relationship Management (CRM) tool to be linked and implemented too. all of these need to be considered by the developers and relevant marketing professionals when launching a new website.
Redefining Your Targets – A new website will bring with it new opportunities. Many of the technical and SEO-related issues that an old site may have had can be ironed out with a new website. Stripping apart an older website allows webmasters to address many issues they may have repeatedly experienced with the old site. Thus, this means that there may be additional targets and opportunities for webmasters and business owners.
By improving and updating a website, you may be able to target increased numbers of searches and online targets, potentially those of increased competitiveness too, as the website is updated form a technical perspective. Hence, it is important to reassess the website and the wider business and re-identify some key targets for the online offering of the business in question.
New Content – Of course, a key part of all websites and a key tenet of any successful SEO campaign is the content that lives on any website. A new website will rarely have the same content an old one had and so therefore, thinking about what messaging is needed, what needs changing from the older offering and what you want to get across to get users’ attention through the new site is a key consideration.
The team at Tudor Lodge Consultants is excited to announce that we are working with the innovative and exciting team at LuxiGaming. Having created a truly unique product for console gamer sin the form of a beanbag for gamers, LuxiGaming are growing as a business and online. Thus, they approached us to help them work on their online presence and visibility.
Working with the branding, development and content teams at LuxiGaming, we are working with a n exciting and hardworking team, looking to build a truly unique brand in the USA.
There are some unique challenges and considerations when it comes to a new product, which doesn’t necessarily exist in its original form. However, LuxiGaming are already making progress into the gaming market.
What We Are Doing for LuxiGaming
With a product that is not yet mainstream, some of the initial search engine optimisation (SEO) work does differ in the case of LuxiGaming, because their closest competitors’ products are simply not the same. However, as with all good SEO, it is key to consider the intent of users and customers and thus, we have been working hard with the team at LuxiGaming to understand and tap into the relevant customer and user-bases.
Keyword and Industry Research – The first port of call for all successful SEO campaigns, understanding what your desired customers are looking for online is key to future success. We are therefore looking into the relevant rankings of the relevant competitors of LuxiGaming as well as around keywords and search terms of the highest degrees of relevance to the product offerings LuxiGaming have to offer.
Technical SEO – The initial portion of a successful SEO campaign requires the website in question to be as perfect as possible from a technical point of view. What this means in practice is that the website is as easy as possible for search engines to crawl [read and understand for the purposes of search rankings] and that there are no technical errors throughout the website in any way, shape or form, for example broken links or crawl errors.
Website Content and Offerings – Key to the success of any website, whether selling products or services is clear and relevant communication of what is on offer. Moreover, content for any website needs to be optimised for SEO, in a modern sense. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing and trying to get certain phrases into content for the sake of it. Nowadays, clear and effective communication as well as covering the necessary topics are fundamental to SEO success and this should be apparent in all and any content.
We are looking forward to continuing the growth of LuxiGaming online and being a part of their success in the months and years to come.
FLEXIBLE VIRTUAL TENANCY OPTIONS – THE PERFECT SOLUTION FOR NEW WAYS OF WORKING
Has the corona virus pandemic caused you to have to re-think your business set-up and location? If you and colleagues are fed up always working from home, we can provide the perfect base where you can come together for meetings and team building. Or maybe you’ve had a change of circumstances that means you’ve had the chance to finally work on a business idea of your own?
With a range of virtual tenancy packages available with The Enterprise Centre, all including use of our prestigious business address, we could provide just what you’re looking for.
You would benefit from being part of a wider business community for a very reasonable cost and on flexible terms. We currently have over 160 virtual tenants as part of our friendly community. They form a key part of our vibrant leading business hub of SMEs, start-ups and sole traders. Post-handling, use of registered address, display of logos on our website and at the building entrance and discounts on additional services are all included as standard.
For any new interest in virtual tenancies we’re delighted to be extending the following offer: 1 free hour of meeting space or a half-day free use of a hot-desk.
Our range of virtual tenancy packages are all very accessibly priced from £20 (plus VAT) monthly, depending on individuals’ requirements. The more premium packages all include free access to meeting space in the building. Arrangements can be put in place quickly, via an application form, and with only a month’s notice required to end the tenancy, there are no long-term liabilities.
Tudor Lodge Consultants is delighted to be working with esteemed insurance company, Taylor Watkins.
Taylor Watkins is a comparison site to find the most reasonable and best-suited boat insurance, regardless of your sailing needs. Tudor Lodge Consultants were approached to help the new brand boost their visibility on Google in order to increase traffic and leads generation.
Below we give an overview of how we approached the project and our success so far.
Keyword Analysis: For Taylor Watkins we started with a thorough analysis of keywords to establish what relevant keywords we could compete for. Not only did we explore the more common words associated with boat insurance, but also explored more niche keywords in the hope that we could compete for these. Whilst some keywords relating to boat insurance might be more competitive, we have looked at several variations including adding words like quotes, cover, policies, UK, europe, abroad and more.
Landing Pages: These chosen keywords become the basis of the site structure. Subsequently, we have used these keywords to plan the landing pages of the site. We naturally create a new landing page for each keyword and try to naturally include variations by answering questions about the policies provided and key product features.
Technical SEO: To ensure the site can be indexed to its fullest, we completed a full technical audit using tools such as SEMRush and Screaming Frog to tidy up meta-titles, meta descriptions, image alt text, redirects, broken pages and links, html and XML sitemap. This means that the website can be crawled by Google as effectively as possible.
We included internal links throughout the website in order to keep people engaging with the domain once they were there and relating related pages to provide a useful user experience.
Content: In addition to landing pages, we have created a series of useful guides and authority pieces to become a major resource in the industry and we upload around 5 pieces per month to show consistency and that we are proactive on Google.
User Experience: As well as ensuring that the site follows a clear and logical structure, we made sure to add straightforward call to actions per page to enhance user experience including phone numbers, email addresses and quote buttons.
With competitive industries such as finance and insurance, it can take up to 6 months for results to really manifest, sometimes requiring a Google algorithm update to trigger a burst of results. By targeting more niche keywords, we can see results much quicker and we use AWR to monitor our reporting for the client on a daily basis.
We are delighted to be working with Amy’s Bakehouse, an exciting baking business that was started in lockdown. Many people consider the founder, Amy Leigh, a local treasure after her delightful treats have been widely enjoying by people all over the local area and branching out with orders as far as Hampstead and Chelsea in London.
Amy’s Bakehouse approached Tudor Lodge Digital to assist with her SEO (search engine optimisation) and to maximise her search positions and visibility on search engines such as Google. Below we explain the approach that we have taken to help reach her goals.
Keyword Analysis
Any SEO campaign starts with keyword research and analysis and this was no different. We created a strong list of 30 key phrases to target which typically including the main product such as personalised cupcakes, cakes, treat boxes, wedding cakes, plus the local area such as Elstree, Radlett, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, Norfolk or London.
The approach is then to incorporate these words naturally into the meta-data of the website and also create dedicated landing pages where possible. Using our reporting tools of AWR and SEMRush, we can report on the progress of these keywords on a daily basis.
Technical Fix-Up
With the site built on Shopify, we completed a full technical fix up, optimising all meta-titles, meta descriptions, image alt-text, html and XML sitemap using tools such as Screaming Frog and SEMrush and we have confirmed that the site is fully clean and perfectly indexed for Google to pick up.
New Content
Typically we would create and draft new landing pages for our clients, but Amy’s Bakehouse already had this in place, with clear pages for each product. We have taken it to the next level by adding additional content onto each page, answering key phrases and including more keywords for indexing purposes, including mentioning the local areas and using words such as ‘order’ and ‘deliver’ to show Google our user content.
The brand should contine to add new landing pages and place these in the main navigation of the site for any new products they offer, whilst constantly updating their blog section and news to show Google that they are a proactive brand.
Link Building
With link-building so vital to SEO, we have made outreach to a number of local press publications, including community news and trade press, in the hope that Amy can tell her story, gain some good PR and naturally receive a link back to her website. In addition, we have a number of food and business specific websites where Amy can product an interview, guide or top tips and receive a link back to her website.
Being in a close neighbourhood, there is very strong word of mouth marketing, but through the use of good SEO and claiming the top spots, Amy is in a great position to obtain good business leads and successfully continue to grow her business!
Ways Your Small Business Can Save Money to See You Through the Last Stretch of the Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has been very harsh on many small local businesses. Many have gone bankrupt as they haven’t been able to adapt at the speed that was required of them. Some just couldn’t afford to add all of the safety measures and were forced to shut down.
However, if your business was able to stay afloat amidst the pandemic, and your money is looking impossibly tight, and you don’t know how much longer it’s going to last, here are some ways you can save some money:
#1 Think about your bills
Your bills are probably where you spend most of your money. If you’re not using your business’s building quite as much and you’re still spending an excessive amount of money on these bills, you are probably noticing that the money is disappearing faster than you would like.
This is why it is probably a good idea to take a look at the deals that can be made when it comes to your bills. To find out more about how to save money on your water bill, click here: https://www.businesswaterquotes.co.uk/.
#2 Use VoIP services
If you spend a lot of time on phone calls and use the telephone an excessive amount, you are probably spending a lot of money on your phone bills. This in itself can get very expensive very quickly and can make a big dent in your pocket. By switching scheduled calls onto free services such as Skype or Discord, you can cut down on the amount of money that you spend when contacting your colleagues or doing group meetings.
#3 Sponsor local events
Not only will this integrate your business further into the community, but it will also help your business advertise. This can be good, especially if the event is a gathering of local towns and villages. It can be a good way to get extra revenue in the door and can help the locals to take an interest in your business.
#4 Think about using government grants
Government and trust grants are worthwhile things to look into. There is bound to be a grant which matches your business niche. This can make a big difference to your business, and you can really start getting your funds back up, which is the ultimate goal here. Even if you’re not eligible, it doesn’t cost anything to apply, so it’s not a bad idea to see what’s about.
To wrap up
Now the pandemic is hopefully coming to a close, everyone is looking forward to businesses reopening. However, a larger concern might be your finances and whether you’re not going to quite reach the end of lockdown with a business.
So, you want to save as much money as you possibly can. By looking at your water bills, your telephone bills, government and trust grants, and sponsoring local events, you can save money and hopefully make it to the end of the pandemic.