Member Blog

If you live or work in and around Great Yarmouth or the wider Norfolk region you may be surprised to hear about our PPE and workwear shop located on the Gapton Hall Industrial Estate, we’re a little hidden away! The My Safety Gear trade counter is a one-stop PPE and workwear store for construction, engineering and offshore workers, or anyone else who needs to purchase top quality health and safety products at fantastic prices for their business or simply personal use locally. We stock a huge range of workwear, PPE and work safety products from top notch brands such as Portwest, Mascot Workwear, Moldex, Fort Workwear, TuffStuff Workwear, JSP, Himalayan and the list is growing, trust us! We have you covered!! Furthermore, if we don’t stock it, and if we can, we’ll find it for you! Need your workwear fully branded up? No Problem! With our state-of-art, in-house embroidery and heat transfer equipment we can customise any work gear with your logo, corporate message or anything else you may need. Having bespoke work clothing is after all one of the best ways to advertise your business, it’s always with you, and always in front of the people who may pass you by while you’re hard at it. So whether you are in the market for a new hi vis jacket, a hard hat, some work boots or something a little more high end, like the JSP Powercap Infinity, we have you covered. So, why not pop in to see us at the My Safety Gear workwear and PPE trade counter today, we’re located at: Marine Park, Gapton Hall Industrial Estate, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk NR31 0NB. Upon arrival one of our knowledgeable team will be very happy to help you pick the right product for the right job. What if I can’t get to you? If you’re up against time and need your stuff fast, you can call us on 01493 658571 or email sales@mysafetygear.uk and we’ll get you sorted. You will also find a fast array of top-quality work safety gear directly on this website so please take a look around. Safety Gear – Great Yarmouth’s workwear and PPE people Image credit – My Safety Gear

SEO, PPC and Paid Social, what a force to be reckoned with! Many business owners believe that running just one of these marketing techniques is all they need, because why start another one when the other is doing well? Right?… WRONG! It is actually proven that running these campaigns together, if done correctly, can do wonders for your customer base and revenue. Look at it as tripling your online visibility! 3 of a Kind Trust us, we know that choosing which way to go with your digital marketing is tough enough without giving you 3 options, which is as a digital marketing agency we are here to offer our expertise! Whilst we understand that taking all 3 routes is not always the best direction for all businesses, it has been for one of our clients, The Fine Curtain Company. We have been working closely with them for over a year now! They started on their journey with us with PCC and Paid Social, which we have seen some great results from. So great in fact that they have recently taken the final step on the podium with SEO completing their golden trio! And they are already starting to reap the benefits that SEO, PPC and Paid Social bring, some of the benefits are as follows: You Get the Best of All Worlds The ultimate digital marketing goal for businesses is to bring more traffic back to their site, that’s a given! And each of the 3 digital marketing strategies can help to bring in an audience from a different platform. For example posting on social media could bring in customers from Facebook, Instagram or even TikTok. PPC means that you have complete control over what you appear for, who it appears for and how you appear for it. And SEO brings you organic traffic… which is important as it is proven that more people click on an organic listing over a paid one! Grabbing a handful of users using each of these strategies is an ideal way to broaden your customer base, and therefore your revenue.  Helping to Stay at the Top PPC translates to Pay Per Click which are the paid ads that are ocated at the top of the Google Search Results above SEO’s organic listings. With a good SEO strategy and a little bit of time you will see your rankings climb. But maintaining the top spots in the search results can sometimes prove difficult, especially if Google rolls out an algorithm. Most of the time Google’s core updates will have little to no effect on your business, but it can’t help to have a backup plan in place just in case you do see an unexpected drop in rankings. PPC and Paid Social to the rescue! With PPC you always have a fall back option, having the power to pause or activate these ads whenever you feel like you need the extra spotlight. With Paid Social you can have the comfort of a constant stream of users. As Paid Social doesn’t depend on your site being high in the organic search results. Criss Cross  A fully woven digital marketing web is sure to catch more than one fly. Using PPC and Paid Social marketing opens opportunities for remarketing ads and tailored ads on Social. You can target a specific audience or even people who have viewed your site organically. There is a rule in the industry that suggests that someone needs to see an ad 7 times before they are encouraged to buy or even notice the product. Criss crossing to different platforms with your ads using SEO as a base line and PPC and Paid Social as a booster can boast incredible results!  SEO, PPC, Paid Social, all of these strategies are a great way of taking off on your flight towards an online presence. If taking all of these on at once is too much of a step then don’t worry! Here at Nu Image we are happy to have a chat about which direction we feel is the best way to take your digital marketing journey. Get in touch with one of our friendly digital marketing team for more information!  Photo credit: Unsplash

Search engines seem to have the answer to everything and this is no coincidence. Google is very clever at showing you the most relevant and accurate results based on your search. It’s their mission to understand the user better and the intent behind their searches. Google must evolve and adapt as users shift their search behaviour and global conversations change.  Why do people search?  It may seem obvious but there are a number of reasons why people search on Google; they may be looking for specific information, a location, to purchase something or for entertainment. Whatever the reason, the goal is always the same… They want answers, and relevant ones.  Nowadays the way people search has evolved considerably, with the likes of mobile and voice search. As technology has advanced, how people search has changed. People now have various ways in which they can find out information, but the way they carry this out differs depending on what device they’re using.  Mobile search People search differently on mobile compared to desktop. According to Techjury “smartphone conversion rates are up by 64% compared to the average desktop conversion rates”. There is a definite time aspect attached to mobile search and often people are more ready to act. They are usually on-the-go and want relevant answers quickly. Location-based searches are also common here, for instance when searching for a local mortgage broker you might search ‘mortgage brokers near me’. Or perhaps you’re looking for a new garden room and search ‘garden room Norfolk’. Less content, more relevance. Voice search  Alexa and Siri have certainly shaken up how people search and introduced a new dynamic. Today search has evolved to be a lot more conversational and question-based, especially when using smart speakers. These searches tend to be longer, mirroring how you would actually ask someone a question face-to-face. This can affect your keyword length, which is where long-tail keywords come in. Instead of typing ‘mortgage broker fees’, someone would ask outloud, ‘Hey Google, do mortgage brokers charge a fee?’ when carrying out a voice search.     Clickless searches Google wants to provide the user with the most relevant information as quickly and easily as possible, and featured snippets are a great way to do this. Featured snippets are a small section of text that appear at the top of the search result, providing short quick answers. There are different featured snippet formats, one of which is the definition box. These usually occur when searching for ‘what is’ queries, for example ‘what is equity release’? The definition tends to be short and sweet, making it easier for the user to find the correct answer to their question. It’s clear that search behaviour impacts the results a search engine shows and understanding this is key to your SEO strategy. As much as Google needs to adapt to search behaviour changes, your SEO strategy needs to follow suit too. Need help ironing out your strategy? Feel free to give us a call on 01603 859007 or email us at hello@nuimage.co.uk.    

Bill, 80, lives near Great Yarmouth with his wife of over 60 years. In October 2020, Bill was diagnosed with bladder cancer. “I was given chemo which is how I first heard of Hope for Tomorrow’s mobile cancer care unit. It has saved me an awful lot of hassle.” Although Bill lives just a few miles from Great Yarmouth, the journey to the James Paget University Hospital where he was a patient was often not a straightforward one. “The hospital for me is the other side of the town, which means travelling at various times of the day when there are congestion points and it’s not always easy. Sometimes, I had to allow an hour to get there to ensure I arrived on time for treatment. Fortunately, the unit is based in the next village from me in Tesco’s car park, which is no more than six minutes’ drive away.” With the added convenience of free parking where he “could virtually park outside the door of the unit”, the travel time he saved meant he could enjoy one of his favourite hobbies. “I’ve got a big garden which I like to spend time in; the hour I have saved in travelling means I can maintain it a lot more easily! I have a fairly active lifestyle and there’s always plenty to do. I’ve also got the beach close to me and it’s nice to have more time to take advantage of that.” “The other great thing about the unit was that I saw the same nurses each week which was a great comfort. This isn’t necessarily always the case at the hospital, as often you don’t know who you are going to see. At the unit, you have a cup of coffee, and you can enjoy that with the same familiar faces. The whole experience was very convenient, and it helped enormously.” Six months before Bill’s own diagnosis, his son Damon was diagnosed with lung cancer. Having had an initial course of chemotherapy, Damon is now on a continuous programme of immunotherapy. Bill told us, “Thankfully, Damon’s been in a position to make use of the unit too, living close by, which has been brilliant.” “Without the unit, our situations would be far more stressful. It means we can focus on the treatment rather than worrying about how long it will take to get there through traffic. This makes an enormous difference, and we are forever grateful to Hope for Tomorrow.”

Every year, on average around 1,300 people in your local area are diagnosed with cancer, and an increasing number of people are facing this frightening and life-changing diagnosis, sometimes alone. Hope for Tomorrow have been partnered with Norfolk & Norwich University NHS Foundation Trust since 2021, helping local cancer patients receive their treatment closer to them. Based at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, ‘Amara’ visits Beccles, Attleborough, Fakenham and Dereham. From January – December 2021, 697 patient treatments have been delivered on ‘Amara’ and so far, 304 patient treatments in 2022. James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are also utilising one of our mobile cancer care units, treating patients in Beccles, Pakefield, Caister, Bradwell and Lowestoft. Since April 2021, 940 patient treatments have been delivered on board.  

Ann from Holt has terminal cancer but has hailed her local mobile cancer care unit as ‘transformational’ as she undergoes regular cancer treatment during the COVID pandemic. Ann needs to receive cancer treatment as part of her routine for the rest of her life and started using ‘Amara’ after being advised by an NHS nurse that it might improve her cancer experience. Ann told us “I have been shielding for over a year now and had to undertake a 50 mile journey each time I needed treatment. At the time of the COVID variant, and as an at-risk, clinically vulnerable person, it was frightening going into the hospital and seeing warning signs everywhere.” “This was a real ordeal for me as it took such a long time with travel, parking and waiting for my appointment. I would have to muster energy just to attend the appointment and it was terribly draining, along with the treatment itself.” Ann adds, “I am so glad that I found out about Hope for Tomorrow; it really has transformed my life. I am now actually elated to go for treatment as I can be back home within the hour because of the 7-mile journey. It’s made a huge difference to my day. Hope for Tomorrow really has changed my life and attitude to treatment because I now have no additional fatigue and no stress.” “I am living my best life, watching YouTube and history channels, and I also do voluntary work rehoming dogs. Despite the cancer and side effects, this is definitely my best decade.”

SEO is the most diverse, fast paced industry and it so important to keep up to date with the latest trends to ensure your strategies are still effective and relevant. Google constantly changes its algorithm, and each update brings new ways of working, transforming SEO. We will talk about how SEO is changing coming into next year and the new trends and updates to look out for. 

Voice Search

Google Voice Search is a product that allows users to use Google Search by speaking on a mobile phone or computer initially released back in 2012 starting as a small project but is expected to rise and make a big comeback in 2022. We already use Alexa, google dot and Siri daily and they now play a crucial role in the day to day lie of many people, its only a question of when will the voice search be a main form of search. 

This will change how marketing teams work, to focus on their vocabulary to translate written content to natural language and to understand what language the users will use to voice search, optimizing your website with that in mind. Google will be introducing LaMDA (Language Model For Dialogue Applications) which allows Google to talk back to you, designed for conversation. 

Trained to read words and understand how those words elate and what they would possibly say next. There are any ways you can start optimizing your website to facilitate voice search including, using long-tail keywords which will help your website be the most relevant answer for the search as they are more specific and targeted, using keywords which are broad will decrease the chances of your site appearing during searches. 

Most voice searches are used for local searches for example ‘Chinese takeaway near me’ so making sure your google my business profile is updated is very important as this will boost your traffic and rankings. Another simple feature you can add to your website is frequently asked questions (FAQs) where you can write out questions that are popular within your industry and write out responses that are in a conversational format to appear in voice searches. These people who are asking a question are looking specifically for that and by you fulfilling their needs, Google will reward you with higher rankings. 

Shopping online in 2022

Voice based shopping is predicted to spike and Google are adding and updating many features to add searchers when online shopping. During covid-19 online shopping was huge as shops were closed and so many people spent time indoors on their technology as this was their only option, e-commerce stores experienced an influx in orders. 

Google shopping has been around for a long time however has never really become popular, but they want this too change. They have recently announced the idea of ‘shopping graph’ which is a model created to understand products, sellers, brads and reviews. Therefore, making the users shopping experience much easier and provides them with the help they require as Google shows them listings from millions of merchants related to their search. This works in real-time meaning you can also see whether it’s in stock, so with this you must ensure your information on your site is correct such as showing the right stock levels, product information and prices, update this regularly. Also, ‘open cart tabs’ is another idea Google has introduced which is a feature which shows your current open carts when you open a new tab allowing customers to pick up where they left off. 

Video Content 

Video content is rising in popularity and will hugely impact SEO and the use of videos have major benefits. Individuals are becoming more visual with apps such as TikTok on the rise, people like to watch videos about businesses products or services to get more of an insight and may aid their decision whether to purchase. Having video content on your site allows you to be seen as an authoritative and a helpful source, as a result Google will place you higher up on search engines. To optimize your content, update your video channels descriptions by using keywords which are more user-friendly and to make sure it explains what the video/channel is about. 

Also, you must optimize the featured snippets especially for question-based videos to capture the attention of the user at the top of the search informing them straight away what they will benefit from watching the video. This will allow you to stand out from competitors as you will become a leader on answering questions users ae interested about. 

Overall, the updates and changes to Google will affect SEO and it may feel overwhelming staying up to date but its crucial to know what’s happening so that you can alter your practises and implement changes to your site so your campaigns are effective. Here at MR SEO we can assist you on how to optimize your site in the most effective way and take your business to the next level. 

It would be very easy, and not at all surprising to witness, to get oneself in to a panic and high state of fear relating to the risks of cyber crime to your own business, or your employer, especially if you are in a position of responsibility relating to data, information or security.  With the UK governments latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey reporting that “Four in ten businesses and a quarter of charities report having cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months”, we should not be overlooking that to be forewarned is to be forearmed when it comes to your cyber security strategy.

Any cyber security strategy, to be as strong as it can be, should involve a combination of technical, people and process elements.

Cyber criminals are always looking at ways to overcome technical solutions, which will never be 100% infallible, and they have the time to dedicate towards finding ways to bypass them.    Phishing campaigns are becoming more sophisticated and harder to spot and even target companies at times they consider peoples guard will be down the most.  Add to this that we see more and more that the technology side of an organisation is people dependent, as alerts need to be responded to, updates need to be made and the right questions need to be asked if people are unsure of something.

Although not glamorous at first thought, security processes and policies are arguably the bedrock of your cyber security strategy.  They outline the organisational standards for the controls you put around the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, and can also help employees know what to do under certain situations to further minimise risk.  This element of your strategy is also ultimately about people and how they understand, implement, follow and respond to any security related process or policy requirements.

Now above I said “arguably” as we often hear that people are seen as a key problem when it comes to cyber security.  At CyberScale,  we prefer to see people as a potential strength and central to any robust cyber security strategy.  So, what is the bedrock?…Educating staff about what to look out for, why they should/shouldn’t do something, and what to do if something does happen is paramount to a company’s defence against cybercrime.

Whatever your organisation is handling in terms of data or sensitive information, the importance of awareness across the organisation cannot be underestimated as this can and will ensure a more vigilant workforce.   One simple error can lead to catastrophic effects for the smallest or largest of organisation.  The sooner a mistake can be identified the better the chance of the company recovering quickly and minimizing the damage. Without awareness and emotional investment from employees, security will be forever seen as that mundane or intimidating topic that people will generally avoid.

Having your cyber security strategy clearly defined and accessible will also ensure that you are able to increase customer confidence and compliance with their (and your) supply chain requirements.

So what are we really talking about here?  We are talking about building a culture of security within your organisation, a key element of which is investing in cyber security training for your staff.  Depending on where you are on your cyber maturity journey cyber security training will often begin as non-technical, tailored to the teams and their needs, and will always be developed to be made understandable and accessible.

Mistakes made by people can lead to cyber security breaches so placing staff training at the centre will go some way to mitigating this.  Greater awareness can lead to overall improvements in defences especially against the most commonly used tactics such as phishing.  Building a culture where security is easy to talk about will reap rewards in terms of not only what is prevented but also how your organisation reacts as and when any cyber-attack happens.

By personalising your cyber security training, making it mandatory and part of staff onboarding, keeping it updated and on repeat to ensure everyone is kept abreast of the ever-changing landscape, all goes towards keeping the topic alive within the business.  As change involves asking people to do something, they need to feel supported in this.

We believe that with face-to-face training, we can provide context and that human perspective on why security not only matters at a business level, but at a personal level in this changing landscape.   People should be at the front and centre of security, they can spot a suspicious email, they can report if something doesn’t seem normal about their computer, they are the first line of defence and that should never be overlooked.  We can also deliver remote sessions providing the same quality and value which are more accessible for people who can’t travel or are not comfortable with in person training.

So what now? Don’t sit on what you now know, make sure you talk to the relevant people in your organisation or reach out to us if that’s you and start building your cyber security strategy.

Is your business championing Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)?  

✅ Are you working towards a social value strategy?

✅ Do you want to give back more to the communities you operate in?

✅ Would you like to be seen more as a diverse & inclusive employer?

✅ Do you want to upskill your Managers on D&I?

✅ Do you want to respond to recent events (Covid/Black Lives Matter) in a strategic structured positive manner that supports your employees?

✅ Are you working towards a CSR (corporate social responsibility) recognition award?

✅ Is the wellbeing of your employees at the forefront of your people strategy?

We can partner with your business to champion inclusive organisational change, bespoke to your business aims and objectives.

Get in touch at: sarah@ignitepeoplesolutions.co.uk

Regardless of whether you’re new to business or leadership, or you have been in business for a while, when you first start to take your cyber security approach seriously, you may well discover that your first challenge is where to start.

There are many different elements to cyber security, and lots of different ways to approach it once you start looking at the detail of all of the things you need to do, but in terms of your starting point there are really two fundamental approaches that you can choose to take.

The first approach is to pick a framework or a set of standards and work towards that.

A bit of research will show you that there are a number of frameworks that you could pick from.  Standards like Cyber Essentials, CIS controls, or ISO standards (27001 for example).  All vary somewhat, and have a slightly different focus, but there are certainly some common themes running through most of these standards or frameworks.

The nature of frameworks however is that they are trying to be all things to all people; it is extremely difficult to create a framework which is equally applicable to all types of businesses or organisation.  So how do you know which one is most applicable to you, and which one to pick if that’s the cyber security approach you are going to take?  That’s not an easy question to answer.

Following a framework is one valid approach to cyber security.  It gives you something to work towards.  But how applicable is it to your organisation?  Answering this question is not something that you need to be considering alone and from within the walls of your organisation.

Not only can we support you in gaining ISO 27001 accreditation or Cyber Essentials Certification, training and awareness are something we strongly believe in and to this end we have built a number of training courses and workshops.  These will not only inform and educate but will also empower the right people in the right roles to be able to ask and answer the most relevant questions for your business.

Rather than focusing on frameworks, you may decide to instead take a risk-based cyber security approach.  This is an approach that is more tailored towards your specific business or organisation.  It considers the specific data that you have, the systems you use, the people you have in your organisation and their level of understanding of all things security, the processes that you have in place, and how all of these combine to create risk specific to you.

How this happens depends on who you partner with.  Our approach is to come in to your business and run discovery workshops on site with your teams.  This enables a depth of understanding which allows for the development of the most relevant and workable cyber security roadmap to you – a roadmap that will get you to a position where your risks are being proactively managed.

Different organisations, different security requirements – What sort of differences are we talking about though?  Let’s look at three key differences.

Firstly there is data.  Some organisations are heavily reliant on data, some not so much.  Some organisations collect and process particularly confidential or sensitive data, such as health data for instance.  Whatever data or sensitive information your business handles, it is of paramount importance to ensure you fully understand the implications of a data breach for you, your customers and those whose data you hold.

Some organisations have only employed staff, where elements of security policy can be made part of their employment contract and ongoing training, whereas other organisations have a heavy reliance on freelancers or subcontract staff where this is not so easy.  Management of systems used by these groups also differs in its level of practicality; managing and controlling devices which are company supplied is one thing, but devices owned by a freelancer or subcontractor present a particular challenge.

And third we have technology and technical infrastructure.  Every single business is unique in this aspect, so to this end there is no “out of the box” solution to understanding what risks your specific solutions and set-up pose.  Whilst it is a key part of understanding your business, we would also advocate that increasing awareness amongst your staff should be front of mind when choosing how you approach cyber security.

Security is all about risk – appreciating it, understanding it, and reducing, mitigating or sometimes accepting it.  Building confidence in your organisation and across all teams and departments is not something that should be left as a nice to have part of your cyber security approach.  Investing in your people as well as technology and advice, will go a long way to ensuring you are as best protected as you can be from cyber threats.

Welcome to our new team member – Kate – a Diversity, Inclusion and belonging Specialist

Diversity refers to the characteristics that make people unique.  Inclusion refers to the behaviours and cultural norms that make people feel welcome.  Belonging refers to an individual sense of acceptance.

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