Hey everyone, I hate to be writing this post but in the interest of being honest and upfront with everyone who supports us. At a time when all businesses are struggling, I have had to be constantly reassessing the viability as a business and the ability to survive the current economic climate. As a business I am not entitled to any of the support the government or banks offer to small businesses and the self-employed during this time, and for the first month since I started our sales were unable to cover our production costs which I have battled to keep as low as possible even when that meant printing our magazine outside of Norwich when I would love nothing more than to make Norwich Nights magazine inside of Norfolk, I also do not take any money from the business and rely on other means to support myself.
Although I am continuing to fight to keep Norwich Nights Magazine active in very uncertain times, June’s issue was the first issue that the business could not afford to print. I personally funded the print of this months issue: which is the only reason it went to print. As I have previously said July’s issue is a joint issue and we will then return in September, I will be taking a rest week then decisions will need to made as to the future direction of the magazine there are options such as online-only, are only streams of income are advertising and subscriptions.
There is also the decision of whether to close the magazine, I am giving a deadline of 30 November 2020 to make the decision on whether or not to close the business if things haven’t improved. Although our advertising sales and subscriptions currently come from outside of Norfolk. There are local individuals and businesses who have supported the magazine from the very beginning and I would like to say a heartfelt thank you, I will continue to work to keep the magazine open for as long as possible.
In the meantime if you get value from the magazine I would love to hear from you, as it helps inform decisions.
Far too often, companies that have had their credentials compromised and sold on the Dark Web don’t know it until they have been informed by the police – but by then, it’s too late.
What is the Dark Web?
The Dark web is a hidden universe within the “Deep Web” – a sub-layer of the internet that is hidden from conventional search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. These search engines only surface 0.04% of the indexed internet. The other 99.96% of the internet is made up of databases, private networks and the dark web. Because you can operate in the dark web anonymously, the dark web holds a lot of stolen data and illegal activity.
Does the identification of my companies exposed credentials mean we are being targeted by hackers?
While we can’t say definitively that the data we’ve discovered has already been used to exploit your business, the fact that we are able to identify this data should be very concerning. Businesses should consult their internal or external IT and/or security teams to determine if they have suffered a cyber incident or data breach.
If my data is on the dark web, can it be removed?
The short answer is no. Once the data is listed for sale on the dark web, it is copied and distributed VERY quickly to a large number of cyber criminals. This is why IT and Cyber Security companies like ourselves and our security department Labsec put a lot of effort into making sure that companies are protected in the first place. If your details are found on the dark web; you can spring into action to make sure that your passwords and details are quickly changed so that the stolen data is instantly obsolete.
How can I tell if my details are for sale?
Our Cyber Security department Labsec can quickly and easily tell you if your company details are available for sale on the Dark web. We have access to a tool that scans the dark web for your company domain and alert you to any instances where your details are being sold. We can also tell you exactly what details are available. Cybersecurity doesn’t have to be too overwhelming, expensive or complicated.
The first step to protecting your business is understanding your risk.
Developing a good email list isn’t easy. To grow your following from zero and build up a list of engaged recipients takes time. However, it’s certainly not impossible to achieve for any business, it just requires a tried-and-tested strategy. So, where do you begin and how can you make sure that you’re doing it right?
Here are Smart Messenger top five tips to getting more sign-ups to your email list.
1. Create consumable content
Make sure that every piece of content you write is valuable and relevant to your audience. People who sign up to your list should know what to expect from you, agree that it’s interesting and useful for them and be willing to engage with it.
If you haven’t established the point of your email list and signed people up on that premise, it’ll be more difficult to build it. Every bit of content you share – whether it’s on social media or hosted on your website – should include an invitation to sign up to your email list.
Avoid the temptation to use spammy pop-up forms on your website, instead, think carefully about positioning your sign-up form. Consider you’re a sign up form in your website header or footer, and add one at the end of every blog post.
3. Keep it simple
Don’t ask for too much information in your sign-up form, stick to getting an email address and, if you really need it, a name. In doing so, you are protecting yourself from having to process lots of data and risk falling foul of GDPR rules. Also, if people only have to part with an email address and their name, they’re more likely to do so. Make it simple, make it easy, watch it work.
4. Be strategic
Don’t rely on a sign-up form on your website, use different techniques to encourage people to add themselves to your list. Host a webinar or such like, where people will sign up for the event and the list at the same time. Take physical sign up forms to events and networking. Make it easy for people to share your emails with their contacts and have a link to your sign-up form on all your social media platforms too.
5. Get a good reputation!
Your sender reputation determines whether your recipients’ email service provider allows your message to reach their inbox. If you have a history of unsubscribes, high bounce rates and numerous spam complaints, they’ll send you to junk. Make sure that your list is populated by people who want to be on it and are genuinely interested in your content. If your sender reputation is impeccable, your chances of success increase.
If you’d like more hints and tips about email marketing and our other services, please sign up to the Smart Messenger email list.
If you are ready to begin email marketing and are looking for the right platform to get started, please contact our Smart Messenger team.
Smart Messenger is a UK Email Marketing system, that is fully supported and costs less than you may think.
If you are unaware of accounting software, we’ll enlighten you about it. In simple words, accounting software is used by professionals to cater for financial transactions such as tax compliance, accounts receivable, invoicing, cash flow analysis, balance sheets, and trial balance. Using accounting software is imperative because it can help a company realize its growth over a certain period. So when a company is entitled to a yearly report, it will help in planning for the future.
In today’s time, every company wants fast and efficient processing of their financial transactions. Long delays can cause damage to the company’s reputation and affect productivity at work. So here are a few important benefits of using accounting software:
1.Simple and Easy To Use
The first and most obvious benefit of accounting software is, it is user friendly. For instance, if you have to manually enter a lot of data frequently for calculations, there will always be a high risk of human error. However, if you use accounting software, you will need to add the data just once, and the software will reuse it for future calculations. For instance, if you want to calculate the monthly wage of an employee after deducting holidays in a certain month, the software will automatically use the figure that was entered in the beginning.
2.Saves Time
Because a large part of the calculations will be done by the software, you will easily be able to save a lot of time. This way, a firm will have more time to look after other business issues. Visit QTAC to know more about how a professional accounting software assists businesses in their work. Time is a very important factor today because firms need to constantly plan multiple things simultaneously. So now, when you will use automatic software to calculate the wages, the HR department will have more time to plan different strategies for organizational growth.
3.Fewer Costs
Cost is a major factor when it comes to managing the finances of a firm. In most cases, when companies don’t have an efficient payroll system or even a professional accountant, they need to hire third-party services that can be very costly. Because accounting software is easy to use, one doesn’t need to spend extra money to hire an accountant. This enables firms to cut down on their budget and spend it elsewhere for the betterment of the business. Before you decide to settle for any particular accounting software online, don’t forget to read the customer reviews.
4.Secure Storage of Company Data
Sensitive data is of paramount importance to any company, especially when it is related to finance. With phishing scams and ransomware attacks being rampant across the globe, it has become even more important for firms to be more discreet about their information. The intrusion of payroll services might seem to be a safe option, but there is always a risk of company information leaking out. However, with accounting software, you can store all data in one place and use it whenever you want.
There is very little in the way of news outside coronavirus, which is unsurprising, but with the Agriculture Bill having its second reading and debate in the House of Lords on 10 June and possible Royal Assent in due course, the agricultural industry will brace itself for its biggest upheaval since 1973.
The current pandemic has demonstrated the importance of having a strong and resilient supply chain especially for domestic output. The Bill is based on the overarching principle of public money for public goods and on the face of it, the principal demands of the major industry voices for the Agriculture Bill are seemingly straightforward: strong provisions on food security, safeguarding of standards and resilience and support for the production of food. Nothing these days is straightforward.
The ‘Parish’ amendment to the Bill, which sought to enshrine in law the parity of standards of imported food with our own domestic output was voted down in parliament. Given that the current government had promised to maintain high standards on imported food, and they have a large majority, this came as quite a surprise. The main reason for its rejection was that it would be potentially harmful to future trade deals the UK is hoping to achieve as we would be seen to be discriminating against other countries’ food standards, which is against World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. So, is UK agriculture going to be thrown under the bus for the greater good of the UK economy? Yes and no.
Just because the UK may end up importing cheaper alternatives, will people buy them? Of course they will. Is that any different to the current situation? Not really. One thing the pandemic has showcased is the ability and capability of the UK food production network. If, as expected, the Bill passes in its current format, the UK agricultural industry will be faced with a PR problem in how it continues to inform consumers about its produce. This has always been a problem and it doesn’t matter how many Red Tractors or Union Flags are stuck on packaging, there will always be a percentage of consumers who will purchase purely on price and not provenance. If people want to buy chlorinated chicken and they are fully aware that’s what they’re doing, then how can we stop them? We can’t, but chlorinated chicken doesn’t have to be on the menu as the US has pointed out in its other worldwide trade deals that exclude it or have a dual-tariff system in place.
While a concerted PR effort to reinforce our food security and production standards will help, the average consumer will more than likely have less disposable income as a result of the pandemic. Even before the crisis, average UK household spend on food was 10.6% compared to 25% only a generation ago. The percentage may not change, as the household income will fall, so there will be a net reduction. Only time will tell if there’s a wholesale shift into cheaper alternatives, but consumers do tend to be creatures of habit.
Pressure on farm income will come from the phased reduction in Basic Payment Scheme from next year. There are lobbying efforts to see this deferred until 2022 but the money tree in Westminster is looking more than parched so it’s unlikely this will happen, but the pressure must be applied.
It’s unlikely the sector voices will get exactly what they want from the Bill but hopefully it will only be a distraction allowing the UK to focus on what it can do best. UK producers will have to think more about what they produce rather than how. The UK government is desperate to get itself the best trade deals around the world so the concessions, however they may impact so-called smaller industries, will be made.
We are delighted to announce that we are working with Aura Smart Air to help boost their visibility on search engines such as Google and Bing.
Aura Smart Air is a brand new invention designed to monitor and regulate air quality, with an easy-to-use app for shops, retailers, clinics and more.
Tudor Lodge was approached by Aura Smart Air to help rank for their brand name and make the most of an increased demand from covid-19.
Our Approach
The website has been built on Weebly and whilst we prefer custom-code or WordPress, we have had success ranking with Weebly in the past and were quick to add our SEO techniques to boost a site’s ranking including:
Meta-title optimisation
Meta-description optimisation
Image optimisation
Internal link optimisation
Sitemap optimisation
Robots txt optimisation
In addition, we have been acquiring natural links by putting out press releases on high quality sites relating to news, tech and more. By strengthening the domain, it will help Smart Aura Air rank quickly for their brand name and other keywords too – to be completed in phase 2 of the campaign.
We allow Google around 4 to 6 weeks to fully index the site and we aim to speed up the process via adding more content and generating quality links to the site.
Contributing to the New Normal, or How to Improve your Business Management System (BMS) Many people, me included have commented with regards to the ‘New Normal’ as the country and business recovers from the impact of the coronavirus. Obviously, as yet we don’t know what the changes will be and what (new) demands it will place upon our organisations. One concept that has gained widespread traction is remote working – by necessity during lockdown, but increasingly now as a matter of choice. There are real gains possible arising from the reduction in travel/ commuting and then a reduction in disturbances and the associated loss of concentration. One of the key success factors will relate to the full availability of information from the company management system to all staff that need it. Effectively this will mandate a paperless, on-line (cloud-based) solution. This is often there and available for larger organisations and those with strong IT frameworks, but not so commonly for smaller, more traditional businesses We, at P+P have been considering the options for a practical, pragmatic and effective solution and as a result have developed RAMS (Remote Access management System). This covers all aspects of Quality, Environment, Health & Safety and Data Security (ISO’s 9001, 14001, 45001 and 27001) frameworks, including the audit and management review elements Performance variations and the impact of changes can be flagged through a Dashboard module, tuned to the specific needs of each organization. Staff and managers can thus keep abreast of trends and act accordingly. All (management) system information can be obtained via a Control Panel available to all approved users, but with a close control on the changes and authorisation loop. The audit (Verify) module is another important element that really enhances the remote working capabilities for audit on an internal and external basis, including those of the standard registration bodies. The module is structured to guide users from the plan (schedule) to the specifics and guidance for each task, to the evidence capture and then the corrective action and improvements. The evidence may include documents, photographs or video clips of areas under review. RAMS has many more facets that we would be happy to discuss and explain further if you are interested. P+P and RAMS making the ‘New Normal’ work.
If you want to begin email marketing, or you’ve already had success and want to go further, finding the right platform is critical. Many people turn to Mailchimp, the email marketing juggernaut with a mindboggling advertising budget. However, there are some excellent alternatives to Mailchimp out there – including Smart Messenger. Why should you choose Smart Messenger over Mailchimp? It’s all about the personal touch.
When we speak to people about big email marketing platforms, one of the common complaints they have is that if they get stuck, they can’t quickly get help. Even the most digital-savvy amongst us might come up against an issue using a new piece of software and need some guidance. Many of us don’t want to search on a help forum or type out our query in a chatbox, just to get an automated response. Instead, we want to speak to an expert.
One of the reasons Smart Messenger is an excellent alternative to Mailchimp is that you get a dedicated account manager when you sign up. If you are working on an email campaign and come up against a problem, you can call our Smart Messenger team, and we’ll help you through it. Mailchimp is so big that they can’t offer that personal touch, but we know it makes all the difference when you are trying to get things right. Our team are all based in Norwich under one roof, and there’s no call waiting system. When you ring, we pick up ready to help you.
When you are trying to craft email marketing campaigns that will truly engage and excite your potential customers, expert help is invaluable. Being UK-based and able to offer phone support and advice at any time, we’re able to get to know our customers, their businesses and help them meet their goals. Over the years, Smart Messenger has been chosen as the Mailchimp alternative by plenty of our customers and we’ve seen what works well for different types of businesses. It’s great to be able to share those insights and use our knowledge to help our customers and their businesses succeed.
If you’d like to learn more about Email Marketing, please call one of our friendly team on 01603 858250.
What Is The Secret To Success For SME’s? THE NEWS IS OUT Usually success is attributed to an amalgamation of efforts working symbiotically, however, arguably the most critical component of success is the ability to manage a working cashflow. The mastering of such a discipline is one easily facilitated through funding solutions that have been designed in accordance to your specific business growth plans and requirements. Last year The Bodycentre took full advantage of one of our products and they have not looked back. Since 1996 The Bodycentre have been on a strong trajectory to success. With their customer-base increasing exponentially year on year, it was time to take the business to the next stage with the support of Chatsbrook- moving to larger premises, hiring new staff and purchasing a substantial amount of specialist equipment. Requiring further financial investment, Chatsbrook advised that the best course of action to conserve cashflow would be a combination of commercial loan and a hire purchase agreement to mitigate additional costs in the most efficient format. Directors of The Bodycentre stated “Adrian [Director of Chatsbrook] has worked with us since almost the beginning, he has provided finance from a fleet of courtesy vehicles 7/8 years ago to the Commercial Loan most recently. He has always been very professional, and we know that The Bodycentre have been appreciative of him taking the time to understand the intricacies of our business. When he suggested the Commercial Loan, we understood that it was because he knew it would be the best option for our business. The funding has helped with overall expansion and with the ability to keep up with demand.” Commercial Loans are one way to help to sustain a healthy, working capital but they are preferable to SME’s for a number of other reasons including; – Providing the ability to receive investment without having to relinquish a share of ownership over your business. -Enabling investment in multiple aspects of your business at once. -Ensuring terms are tailored to suit the needs of your business. -Repayment plans are agreed in advance and calculated on affordability and practicality. “It was important to set our business apart from the competition, the investment into new premises and three spray booths has put us more than a few steps ahead of our usual counterparts. The Commercial Loan has improved many facets of our business but the two main aspects it has helped is the overall productivity and quality of our work. Our workflow and efficiency have improved tenfold with the new equipment, they really are an asset to us. The spray booths are in a whole other league and we are able to offer a whole new level of customisation to our clients. It would be fair to say that the alternative funding solutions that Chatsbrook continue to provide are a real driving force behind our growth as a business.” Director of Bodycentre The ‘not so’ secret to sustainable growth comes from the opportunities that funding alternatives can provide.
For impartial advice, expert knowledge and access to funds for your business within days, get in touch with a member of our team on info@chatsbrook.co.uk or 01603 733500.
From signing a lease agreement to completing the onboarding process for new employees, e-signatures are used for a range of different circumstances. They’re a solution used in contracts throughout the world, and offer a safe, convenient way to obtain signatures. E-signature use is growing, and fast, with reports showing that in just five years transactions increased from 89 to 754 million. The government states in their guide on Electronic signatures that:
“More and more businesses and individuals are using, or are seeking to use, electronic signatures and trust services and, with an increasing number of government services available digitally, there will be continued growth in this market for some time to come.”
However, in spite of this, and the multiple benefits it can provide, there are some businesses and organisations who are hesitant to use e-sign technology, unsure of how it works, and when it can be used. In reality, e-signatures solutions like an effective e-signature API for businesses can be used for a whole host of different situations, especially within the business sector; easy to implement and even easier to execute, streamlining numerous different contractual processes. Below we explore just some of the many areas where e-signatures can be used.
Employee Onboarding with E-Signatures
Hiring a new employee typically comes with a large amount of paperwork, with consent forms, contact forms, performance appraisals and more. Working your way through the onboarding paperwork can take up a considerable amount of time, and if handwritten, requires people to take time out of their day to meet up and sign the agreements together. E-signatures can help to improve this process, with all the forms listed above, and more, able to be signed quickly and efficiently. When using e-sign during employee onboarding, all parties can fill in the numerous documents anywhere, anytime, making the process a lot more efficient.
Legal Agreements
E-signatures can also be used in a variety of different legal documents. This again, helps to speed up the process of completing contractual agreements, improving the efficiency, and overall ease, in which these practices are conducted. E-sign technology can be used for intellectual property licensing and for NDAs, in addition to a multitude of other legal agreements. Lawyers, and other professionals within the legal industry, will work their way through a fair amount of paperwork, much of which will rely on signatures from clients and other relevant parties. By using e-sign technology, those in the legal industry can save time previously spent chasing up on unsigned documents.
E-Signatures and Sales Agreements
Whether it’s business-to-business (B2B) or a business-to-consumer (B2C), sales agreements can be made faster with e-sign technology. Using e-signatures can take a lot of the hassle out of signing a contract, enabling businesses to close on deals faster than ever before. For a multitude of organisations, sales contracts are one of the most frequently used documents, and often, one of the most important. Therefore, helping to streamline this process and making it faster than ever can help businesses to improve their overall efficiency and productivity.
All this and access to the design service included.
For our first issue, we designed the following advert for local comic Reynard City Chronicles
Norwich Nights Magazine publishes 10 issues a year free online and in print. Our print copies are distributed through local venues and via ordering the website. While Norwich Nights Magazine was designed as a Norwich magazine for the local community, we soon found we had a global audience on our website with 15 different countries checking the blog regularly, due to this and the variety of authors who showcase their books with us we decided to plan the launch of an additional global publication. E/E Magazine will be launched in January 2020 and will focus on the same key areas but will also contain lifestyle features – It is being developed to be the place where entertainment meets lifestyle. As we want chamber members to be able to take advantage of our global audience reach we have offered the same 25% discount on advertising and 10% on printed copies of E/E Magazine as it will be a paid-for publication priced at £4.50 and will be 3 times longer than Norwich Nights Magazine at a massive 144 pages.
Recognised to be the best place to enjoy a pleasant gambling experience, the United Kingdom has legalised many firms associated with this field since 1961. Apart from the sports betting sites and internet casinos, other services to reduce the problem related to gambling are also growing there. These agencies have the main purpose to encourage responsible gambling as well as to support people who suffer from gambling addiction.
National Online Self-Exclusion Scheme (NOSES) is a company mainly known for its non-profit entity called Gamstop. Since the self-exclusion solution is one of the best options to prevent and minimise harm from gambling, Gamstop is among these services bundled with effective policies. This organisation allows the players to block access to all gambling sites licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission. Located in Harrogate, United Kingdom, NOSES is part of the government’s industry.
A Brief History of NOSES
Under the 2005 Gambling Act, the gambling activities in Great Britain must be regulated and controlled by UKGC making the UK one of the best place for safe and legal gambling. In February 2016, this Commission informed all remote gambling holders than a new self-exclusion scheme would be introduced to promote responsible gambling and to restrict people’s gambling activities.
This company is NOSES which was established in November 2016 by both the Gambling Commission and the Remote Gambling Association (RGA). Its system Gamstop was set-up in April 2018 to help the UK resident players excluding themselves from all licensed gambling platforms. This online self-exclusion program has partnered with more than 50 operators in this sovereign country. On the 31st March 2020, the law to integrate all remote operating licence holders took effect. In this act, these operators must join Gamstop whereas others who have already accepted the scheme are required to check the entire consumer database every day.
How does Gamstop Work?
To access Gamstop, the first step the players have to do is register on this website. In this registration, they will be required to provide their personal details confirming their identities. This information includes names, date of birth, postcode, and e-mail address. After signup, they will receive a confirmation message on their e-mail within 24 hours resuming all the details of this scheme. Once the confirmation is done, these players will be forbidden on their chosen gambling sites.
On that self-exclusion, they have three options depending on their choice. In fact, they can be banned to play on a platform for 6 months, 1 year, and 5 years. Obviously, these players cannot access gambling platforms until their chosen period has expired. When this period ends, they can ask to remove their self-prohibition.
But even after self-exclusion ends some operators refuse to accept these users and gamblers are looking for non Gamstop bingo sites without self-exclusion and other casino games as stated at CasinoGap. This Gamstop app is advantageous for both the consumers and operators because the players can prevent problem gambling after being banned. As for the operators, promoting social gambling will certainly increase their reputation.
Gamstop Duties and Responsibilities
As stated above, Gamstop is a program for self-exclusion for gamblers who are at risk to develop a gambling problem. This project plays an important role in minimising gambling harm in the UK. Moreover, the self-exclusion in other gambling platforms that they don’t have an account is also allowed provided that these websites hold a licence from the UKGC. Aside from that, the NOSES scheme also supplies support to people with pathological gambling behaviour.
Gamstop offers gambling and practical help as well as debt and emotional supports. What’s more, as Gamstop encourages responsible gambling, all operators who offer services in the UK are required to get a licence from the UK Gambling Commission. Unfortunately, this body cannot prevent the consumers to access gambling operators who are not licensed by this British regulator.
Final Words
NOSES is a company whose main goal is to prevent gambling problems within the UK. With its app Gamstop, the consumers will be banned from the licensed gambling platforms of their choice. As these players exclude themselves from the sports betting sites and online casinos, this ban will be for a limited period of time.
Besides, since the firm is also responsible for encouraging safe gambling, its program Gamstop comes also with effective supports and advice to the gamblers who experience pathological gambling. Out of its various helpful features, Gamstop also offers the players an option to register for multi-operator self-exclusion.