Member News

We were recently approached by Silverstream Finance (https://silverstreamfinance.co.uk/) to help the property investor and develop rank to the top of Google for its brand name. This means that when someone types in ‘Silverstream Finance’ or a similar variation, that they will come up as number 1 on the world’s most popular search engine. The London-based company were not looking for any other keywords to rank for. Offering a personal approach to short term lending, they receive enquiries and new business through networking and word-of-mouth, but at least when people look for them, they should be visible through online mediums.

Our SEO Process

We started by making sure that Google and other search engines could crawl and index the website as effectively as possible. This included creating a dedicated sitemap and submitting this to Google Webmaster Tools and physically tell Google to read the site. The sitemap included a clear site structure of all the key pages so that Google could see the site navigation and index accordingly.

To make each page fully-optimised, we created bespoke meta-titles and descriptions for each page and made sure that there was just one h1 tag per page. We ensured all content on the site was unique and also had some internal links between pages to aid the user experience.

To increase the trust signals for the brand and domain, we set up a Google Business Account for Silverstream so that their brand name, address and contact number shows up on the right hand side of Google when their name is typed in. In addition, we added an account for Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to show that this is a socially active and real company.

Some further SEO additions made included speeding up the site by compressing images and adding caching to the site. This is something that Google has started to wait more heavily in their algorithm as they reward those sites that load the fastest, as it helps the user experience.

After 4 weeks of optimising their website, we have seen the Silverstream Finance website reach the bottom of page 1 of Google. We will continue to add content and acquire brand mentions (links) for the website and this will help us push to number 1 over the next few weeks.

With every lazy sofa Sunday, the BBA team turn to the wonderful 

We’re delighted to announce our first pop up event of 2017! BBA Digital Media is helping set the trend with 2 large digital screens at this years https://www.opennorwich.org.uk/gigs-and-events.aspx

We’re delighted to announce our first pop up event of 2017! BBA Digital Media is helping set the trend with 2 large digital screens at this years https://www.opennorwich.org.uk/gigs-and-events.aspx

Sixth form students from UTC Norfolk have risen to a demanding 5-week challenge, set by property consultancy NPS Group, in which they had to produce a comprehensive project plan for a multi-million pound housing development for a real site in Norwich.

Eighty Year 12 students, working in teams of 5, were set this challenging brief at the beginning of January.  It is part of UTC Norfolk’s innovative programme of employer-led Technical Challenges, which are intended to give students a realistic understanding of the sorts of projects they could one day be working on in their future careers in STEM-related industries.

Each student Design Team consisted of a Project Manager, Architect, Quantity Surveyor, Mechanical Engineer and Structural Engineer.  Based on a real site in Norwich, the group were tasked with planning a housing development consisting of 10 new homes.

Over 5 weeks the students worked in their teams, overseen by staff from NPS Group and UTC Norfolk, as they worked up their plans in readiness for presentations to the fictitious client, a property investment firm.

Through the project, the students learned about the different forms of technical expertise, the practical and budgetary considerations and constraints, and how these need to be coordinated in order to deliver a successful housing development.

The outputs that each student team was required to produce included: a 3D drawing or scale model of the planned development; a budget setting out the construction costs, property valuations and potential yield from the development; strategies for energy efficiency and compliance with building regulations; and the design and building of a scale model of a bridge which forms part of the development.

On the final week of the challenge, the students had to present their plans to representatives from NPS Group, including Managing Director Mike Britch.  The teams were given a combined score based on how well each role and function was carried out. 

This included stress testing of the students’ bridges, with the strongest of the scale models successfully bearing a weight of 10 Kg.  For its design quality and stress-bearing performance, the award for the best bridge went to Maddie Newman.

At the end of an intense 5-weeks of activity, and following an excellent series of presentations (which included the 3D designs of houses, the cost, budget and yield and ideas for heating the properties), the winning group were announced as Shaun Burnett-Kiernan, Denzil Dube, Scott Gilbert, George Haythorpe and Georgia Pegg. The winning team were presented with prizes including architecture kits, NPS goodie bags and a tour of the actual site.

George Haythorpe, 17, from Wymondham, who was Project Manager for the winning team said of the experience:

“It’s taught me how to manage a group a lot better. Instead of just allowing people to do everything themselves, you have to keep checking what they are doing and making sure they are doing the right thing and that they are going along the same path. My management’s got a lot better I think.”

Georgia Pegg, 17, from Happisburgh, said the Technical Challenge had opened her eyes to a potential future career:

“I got to see what it was like to be an architect. Doing this challenge has helped me to decide that I would like to be an architect. It’s been really useful working with NPS, as they can guide you on how to go about it.”    

Georgia has since been offered work experience with NPS in their Architecture team.

Mike Britch, Managing Director, NPS Group, praised all of the UTC Norfolk students for the effort they had put in and for the quality of their presentations, adding:

“The construction industry is very short of professionals, so encouraging youngsters into construction and engineering is vitally important.  This Technical Challenge is a fantastic way of getting young people to consider some of the opportunities that are available in construction and property work.  It’s great to see the enthusiasm of everyone at UTC Norfolk for engineering and hopefully we can encourage some of these students to come and join us in the future.”

Alex Hayes, Principal, UTC Norfolk, commented:

“The opportunity for our students to undertake Technical Challenges like this, which are designed by our employer partners to be as realistic as possible, is a unique learning experience that you can only get at a UTC.  Our students have learned so much from this Technical Challenge and have greatly impressed with their attitude and commitment.  Crucially, it has also deepened their understanding of the many career opportunities available within the property industry and put our students in direct contact with a potential future employer.”

A newly-qualified Norfolk accountant is on top of the world.

Lauren Day, who works for East Anglian chartered accountants and business advisors Larking Gowen, has been awarded the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Gold Medal for the highest global score attained over the final tier of five professional exams.

An aggregate score of 416 marks out of 500 left her top of a class of 5,000. It marks a triumphant end to a gruelling five-year schedule of accountancy qualification exams for the former Wymondham High Academy Sixth Form pupil.

ACCA is a global body for professional accountants, supporting 480,000 students in 178 countries.  A spokesperson for ACCA said the aggregate marks Lauren gained in the P (professional) level exams were an “amazing achievement.” It earns her the title of Top Affiliate from the December 2016 exam session and an award of £500. 

Lauren, who joined Larking Gowen’s Diss office straight from sixth form, said she was “stunned” to receive a congratulatory email from the ACCA’s Director of Learning. The letter described her performance as outstanding and informed her that her marks were the highest achieved anywhere in the world. The prize caps a study marathon which saw Lauren pass 20 exams in four-and-a-half years.

Taking so many exams in a relatively short period while also working full time was a big ask – but Lauren said her colleagues had been very supportive.

Larking Gowen partner Grant Pilcher, who has mentored Lauren throughout her time at the firm, was not at all surprised by her spectacular achievement.

“Since the day she began with us Lauren has been a model member of staff,” he said. “You only have to tell her something once and she has got it. She is a very bright young lady – and more than that, she invests so much application in everything she does. She thoroughly deserves the gold medal.”

Tim Howes, Regional Manager for training provide Kaplan Financial described Lauren’s attainment as “pretty special.”

“She gained top mark in the world for her P2 Corporate reporting paper in June 2016 – and that was no mean feat. But she has surpassed that with this amalgamated score recognition.”

 “We are extremely happy to share in Lauren’s success once again. Her dedication to her studies is plain for all to see and the rewards are testament to the time and effort she has invested over a sustained period. This kind of award is the icing on the cake for us at Kaplan Financial,” he said.

“We are proud to work closely alongside Larking Gowen in the delivery of their professional examination training and this proximity means we all feel part of their success in the nurturing of exceptional talent. Congratulations again to Lauren and we wish her all the best for her future career.”

Larking Gowen regularly recruit both graduates and A level students and have a history of producing prize winners. We would welcome anyone who thinks they can join that lengthening list to apply via our website.  

Tudor Lodge Consultants are thrilled to be working with Redstone Commodity Search, a Hertfordshire based consultancy specialising in the selection, recruitment and successful placement of candidates of all levels in the commodities industry. With commodities playing a hugely important part in all of our daily lives (from metals to coffee and cocoa), it is more important than ever for businesses to ensure they get the right expertise for their business.

Redstone Commodity Search came to us with a website that whilst having a clean design and traditional feel, needed modernising, optimising and updating. We worked with their developers to migrate the site over to an open source content management system (CMS), making it much easier for staff to upload and edit content and post jobs on a regular basis.

We also worked with the developer ensuring that the integration between numerous databases that manage the bespoke jobs section of the site was seamless.

Working directly and very closely with the client, we have created over 15 individual landing pages tailored to specific areas within the commodities industry. We have ensured that the site’s SEO practices are fully updated and brought into 2017, by cleaning up their link profile; removing spam, auditing their internal and external link structuring and providing each and every page with unique and SEO-friendly meta titles, meta descriptions and alt-texts. We have also made sure that all meta keywords, an outdated practice are fully removed.

We also made sure to submit them an up to date sitemap in the correct format, making sure it is properly crawled and ranked by Google and other search engines.

We worked to ensure that the site’s menu structures and links are fully updated, adhering to the cleanest SEO practices. This has also been the case with the site’s footer, where we worked to remove reciprocal and unnecessary links.

Furthermore, we are continuing to help Redstone Commodity Search write further SEO-friendly content for the site and are constantly working to build them a solid platform online; strengthening their presence through thorough link and keyword research across a number of different channels.

We look forward to working further with the team at Redstone Commodity Search, helping them to build on their already impressive and hugely promising progress.

One of the world’s top portrait photographers Rankin was in Sheringham, Cromer and Norwich this week filming a documentary for the BBC and Mustard TV.  He’s presenting a programme about the Sheringham’s famous photographer Olive Edis.  As part of the film Rankin was shooting scenes in Edis’s old studio in South Street where he was using her original camera to take pictures of Lord of the Rings star Bernard Hill.

“Olive took photographs in her studio using only natural light and it’s quite a challenge using her camera that’s over a century old to emulate her style,” said Rankin. “Olive was a pioneer of portrait photography and one of only a handful of female photographers making their mark in a male world.  Her work is hugely inspiring for what I do today.”

Olive’s photography spanned the social spectrum but her work is largely forgotten today.

“She was equally at home taking portraits of Princes as she was recording ordinary working people like her evocative studies of fishermen. She had an innate ability to put anybody who sat for her at their ease. Her fame a hundred years ago was second to none and our film aims to bring her story to a wider audience,” said director Clive Dunn.

“Olive’s place in the history of photography has been overlooked but thanks to a recent exhibition of her work at Norwich Castle and the forthcoming TV film, this renewed attention will help reinforce her reputation,” added the film’s producer Charlie Gauvain.

Being made by Norwich production company Eye Film, Fishermen to Kings – the forgotten photographs of Olive Edis will be shown on BBC 1 and Mustard TV later in the year and you’ll have to wait until then to discover how Rankin’s portrait of Bernard Hill turned out.

For further information please contact: Producer, charlie@eyefilm.co.uk

One of the world’s top portrait photographers Rankin was in Sheringham, Cromer and Norwich this week filming a documentary for the BBC and Mustard TV.  He’s presenting a programme about the Sheringham’s famous photographer Olive Edis.  As part of the film Rankin was shooting scenes in Edis’s old studio in South Street where he was using her original camera to take pictures of Lord of the Rings star Bernard Hill.

“Olive took photographs in her studio using only natural light and it’s quite a challenge using her camera that’s over a century old to emulate her style,” said Rankin. “Olive was a pioneer of portrait photography and one of only a handful of female photographers making their mark in a male world.  Her work is hugely inspiring for what I do today.”

Olive’s photography spanned the social spectrum but her work is largely forgotten today.

“She was equally at home taking portraits of Princes as she was recording ordinary working people like her evocative studies of fishermen. She had an innate ability to put anybody who sat for her at their ease. Her fame a hundred years ago was second to none and our film aims to bring her story to a wider audience,” said director Clive Dunn.

“Olive’s place in the history of photography has been overlooked but thanks to a recent exhibition of her work at Norwich Castle and the forthcoming TV film, this renewed attention will help reinforce her reputation,” added the film’s producer Charlie Gauvain.

Being made by Norwich production company Eye Film, Fishermen to Kings – the forgotten photographs of Olive Edis will be shown on BBC 1 and Mustard TV later in the year and you’ll have to wait until then to discover how Rankin’s portrait of Bernard Hill turned out.

For further information please contact: Producer, charlie@eyefilm.co.uk

TaxAssist Accountants moved up two places from 24th into 22nd in Accountancy magazine’s Top 75 firms survey, with fee income continuing to grow for a seventh year running among the UK’s biggest accounting firms.

A key factor behind the continued growth of the TaxAssist Accountants franchise network was its 13.1 per cent increase in fee income, up from £29.7m to £33.6m.

Early indications throughout the industry suggest that revenues will continue to grow in 2017, with businesses increasingly turning to accountants for guidance and support to negotiate the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the EU referendum and the consequent volatility for exchange rates and the political scene.

Inside the top 20 firms within the rankings, there was no change of positions whatsoever. The ‘Big Four’ firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Deloitte, EY and KPMG, received a combined income of £10.69bn, accounting for more than three-quarters (77 per cent) of the entire fee income reported by the Top 75 accounting firms in the UK.

The best performing firm outside the top 10 firms was Menzies, reporting 18.5 per cent growth to £40.3m. Encouragingly, TaxAssist Accountants recorded the ninth highest year-on-year fee income growth outside the top 10 firms.

TaxAssist Accountants is continuing the expansion of its network of shops and offices across the UK, with the remit of making life simpler for small business owners, allowing them to focus on doing more of what they do best: running their business.

With more than 200 franchised areas already across the UK, the network is always looking to further expand its reach and encourage more people to run their own TaxAssist accountancy franchise.

Our Discovery Days are the perfect starting point for anyone that’s thinking of branching out on their own as an accountant. They help accountants to understand the TaxAssist business model, the support on offer and more importantly, meet the senior TaxAssist team.

Our next Discovery Day is on 2nd March 2017, with other days planned for 11th April and 17th May. Call us today on 0800 0188297 for a confidential chat about becoming an integral part of the TaxAssist Accountants network.

February 2017

Honouring shooters from across a selection of categories, the CPSA Awards 2017 were held on Saturday 4 February. Sporting inspiration,Sharon Davies MBE, guest hosted the evening to complete an evening of achievement and glamour.

Founded in 1928,The Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA)co-ordinates clay target shooting for around 25,000 members. Another 200 trade members, along with 400 grounds and clubs, are also affiliated with them. Organising competition opportunities, the CPSA, also organises events for the selection of the England Shooting Team or the GB Team throughBritish Shooting.

Young Shooter of the Year 2017

Nominated for the Young Shooter of the Year, our sponsored local shooter, Charlie Soanes attended the ceremony with his parents. Although the remarkable young shotAmy Easemantook the trophy, Chalie nevertheless walked away with the runner-up trophy. Charlie and his successes over the past year have made TVC proud, furthermore, reaching the nominations is a fantastic achievement! The award is a great accomplishment since he competes against older and experienced shooters the majority of the time.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to all award winners and nominees, it is an extraordinary reflection of your determination and skills being recognised in this way.

A video of the ceremony is available on the CPSA Facebook page, clickhereto view.

Picture (from top-left): Charlie and his parents; Charlie’s trophy; Charlie and Amy Easeman; Charlie and his mum and lastly, enjoying his meal!

The race is on to secure your place in the fifth annual West Norfolk Fit4Work Games! Registration is now open for all businesses ready to take on the challenge of the West Norfolk Fit4Work Games, which will be held on Wednesday 8th March at Alive Lynnsport. Get your colleagues together and enter a team for this year’s Games! Network, be competitive and have fun competing in a variety of sports such as football, badminton, netball and fitness triathlon with trophies up for grabs in each of the sports. The games, offer a unique opportunity for colleagues to get together and show off their team work and sporting skills against teams from other local businesses. Kicking off at 6pm and finishing at 9pm, the West Norfolk Fit4Work Games promises to be an action packed event, providing teams a great chance for a bit of team bonding with colleagues as well as an opportunity to network with local businesses. Chair of Alive Leisure Peter Lemon said: “The Fit4Work Games is an event organised jointly by Alive Leisure and Active Norfolk. The Games encourages employers to get their staff to take part in activities that will improve their physical health and therefore their productivity, motivation and attendance at work. The Games promote team work and is a great way to make new friends, the Games keep growing each year and I’m sure this will be the best yet.” Fit4Work is a free workplace health scheme that provides employers access to a wide range of opportunities to engage, inspire and help improve employees’ overall health and physical activity levels. Katie Tierney, Active Norfolk Fit4Work Project Officer, said: ‘It’s great to be working with Alive Leisure again this year to run the event. It is always a really fun evening giving colleagues the chance to enjoy some time together outside of the work environment and creating a buzz in the workplace in the days preceding and following the event. Each year we see new businesses taking part in addition to lots of organisations returning which is really positive to see.’ Teams from businesses in West Norfolk are invited to enter into this fun tournament. All abilities are welcome! For more information and to book your place, please visit www.activenorfolk.org/west