Member Blog

Configured Cars Need Carefully Constructed Finance Arrangements!

A car showroom is a marvellous spectacle of excitement and in its busy hours, it has a buzz that can only be described as that on Wall Street.

Upon entering the dealership, you are alive with trepidation. You hold all the power. The creation of a car perfectly crafted to you- and only you- is within your grasp.

But what will you choose?

The unyielding elegance of a coupe? Or the artistic dominance of an SUV? A Tan interior could add a touch of class, but the depth of black upholstery could be the classic choice for you and your family to enjoy. Ambient lighting may help you create mellow memories of long-distance drives, and the paint could reflect your playful nature.

No matter the decision, take ownership that this is all yours.

After test driving your latest automotive ambition and contemplating the careful configuration of your car…

Take the reins once more and contact Chatsbrook.

We use our flourishing partnerships with dealerships to source the vehicle you desire and then we tailor create a finance plan as bespoke as your car.

Let the excitement linger, talk to our expert team about your particular requirements on 01603 733500.

SEO is a whole collaboration of efforts to get your website to the top of Google, there’s not one set thing that will prove to be the correct way to optimise your site for your chosen search engine. If this were the case, experts wouldn’t still be debating and discussing exactly the right way to implement SEO practices, years down the line.

However, we can all agree that there are two sides to SEO, on-site optimisation and offsite marketing. Although, many SEO experts are split 50/50 as to which one to prioritise over the other.

What is included in on-site optimisation?

On-site optimisation is most commonly known as the conscious action of targeting your copy and website content to answer any searches that include keywords associated with your business, the products you sell and the services you provide.

Having said that, other types of on-site optimisation include the level of usability on desktop and mobile, clear points of contact, a good first impression and engaging content. In simpler terms, anything that helps to keep users on your site and encourages convertion should be considered as on-site optimisation.

For instance, we originally built the Swiftfit website in 2014 and in that time, the way users digest content and what Google expects to see, has changed dramatically. We took Swiftfit on as an SEO client the latter end of 2018 and our first priority was to optimise their site by improving the user experience and conversion journey. Naturally, this has done wonders in improving where they appear in the search rankings and the number of enquiries they receive through the website.

How important is offsite marketing?

Whilst on-site optimisation will help to keep users on your site, as well as ensure Google is able to identify what your business offers and decide whether it is relevant to answer the user’s search query. Offsite marketing will provide the biggest advancements in your search results positions and will drive more traffic to your site.

Our client Anglia Chiropractic Healthcare noticed a big jump in their search rankings in the last year. Of course, on-site optimisation was carried out, but the biggest improvements came about after working on their offsite marketing. This was achieved by working in partnership with other credible, local online businesses and establishing a strong presence on their social media platforms.

When it comes down to answering which of these approaches is most important for your SEO, this entirely depends on your business. In fact our experts believe it is a gentle balance between the two options that bring the biggest reward.  In some instances, all you will need is a few adjustments to your website to start reaching the first page of Google for your targeted keywords. Whereas, in many cases, a carefully crafted SEO strategy over a longer term will ensure results, with the focus directed towards building trust and credibility for your website.

If you would like our SEO experts to audit your site for improvements and help you climb the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPS), don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01603 859007 today.

You’ve been keeping your fingers crossed and refreshing your inbox every five minutes, but now you’ve finally received the email you’ve been waiting for – the interview invitation. Congratulations!

From very early on in our careers we are all told the same things: first impressions are everything, arrive early, give firm handshakes, dress smart… it’s all great advice, but a firm handshake and an early arrival alone are not enough to land yourself that finance role you’ve had your eye on for so long.

So, what are hiring managers going to be looking for?

Demonstrate your skills

You can pretty much guarantee that you are going to be asked questions relating to your skills and core competency questions during your interview, in which you will need to be able to demonstrate your expertise.

To ensure you keep your answers clear and concise, we recommend following the STAR method when it comes to answering competency questions, typically the ones that begin with “Tell me about a time when…” or “Demonstrate how you would…”.

STAR stands for:

• Situation: Set the scene and describe the scenario by asking yourself questions such as who, what, where, and when.
• Task: What was your task or goal that you were working towards?
• Action: What actions did you put in place or what steps did you take to ensure you could complete your task or achieve your goal? (It’s important to focus on your own actions and refrain from using “we”, as interviewers will want to learn about your own actions and not those of a team.)
• Result: What was the outcome of your actions? How did it benefit the business/add value?

Where you can add value.

Talking about your previous roles and responsibilities is great, but during a finance interview, something your interviewers will be looking to learn about is how you were able to add value to the business and be able to demonstrate some examples.

Adding value to a business doesn’t necessarily have to be from a monetary perspective in the form of increasing profit. Other examples could include:

• Improve the reporting process to drive the quality of financial information.
• Cost saving (the STAR method is a good way to demonstrate this point).
• Influencing decisions – maybe you found a financially better way to take a product to market.
• Systems implementation – perhaps you’ve been involved in a system upgrade/implementation that has saved the business time? After all, as Benjamin Franklin once said, time is money.

Remember to always be positive about your achievements. Selling yourself and promoting your abilities and contributions to the business will not only make you a valuable candidate but will also demonstrate where you can add value to the business.

Talk about finance interacting with the business

One factor that employers are increasingly keen to see are ways to integrate the finance department into the rest of the business.

As recruiters, we often hear from candidates who work within finance teams that are referred to as “back office” or sit in silo.

The good news is that an increasing number of employers are now looking to modernise this way of thinking and are keen to get Finance out into the business, working across different divisions. Try to think of examples of where you have worked with other departments within a business and how you can support the business in making finance more external.

Stay up to date

The finance world frequently changes, which is why it’s essential that you’re able to demonstrate that you have kept up to date.

If you’re applying for a new role in finance, we recommend researching which regulations/guidelines would affect your role and ensure you can demonstrate your awareness. Whether it’s FRS102, US GAAP, SOX or IFRS, it’s always worth being prepared for a technical question!

Show a genuine interest

During the interview, your interviewer will give you the chance to ask some questions. Remember, an interview is a two-way process that is as much about the employer finding the right candidate as it is for you to find the right position.

Asking questions during an interview will not only help you to ascertain if it’s the right opportunity for you but will also help you to come across as having a genuine interest in the position and the company.

Reading the news section on the employer’s website will give you access to information rarely published anywhere else, which will demonstrate to the employer that you’ve done your homework and have a genuine interest in the business.

At NXTGEN, we take interview prep seriously and ensure all of our candidates are briefed and prepared ahead of their interviews. If you’re currently looking for your next finance role, or to see how we can help with your business, speak to our specialist team today on 01603 273489.

We’ve experienced a lot of change in our 30 years of events and exhibitions, from the introduction of emails to the birth of the internet to the explosion of social media to mention a few. Closer to home what has surprised us is the growth and diversification of the portable and modular display market. What was once a specialised sector of our very own exhibition and display industry, aided with the advent of online availability & marketing, this industry sector has been laid bare for all to exploit. As the name implies, these portable, easy to use, self-assembly display systems came about in the early 1990’s to provide useful DIY solutions to those wishing to promote their services or products and exhibit on a budget. Over the years we’ve seen these products both evolve into some of the most fantastic and innovative products such as Link 2, T3 and Twist, and devolve into the budget bin of banners, pop-ups and displays. Indeed a race to the bottom in terms of both price and quality with sub-standard displays failing at events, now accepted as a commonplace occurrence and fair collateral damage by those who supply such products from the bargain bucket.

So we were left thinking…you wouldn’t feed your pedigree pooch on a diet of fast food or fuel up your Maserati with lemonade, at least we hope you wouldn’t. So why would you fuel your marketing campaign with lacklustre displays not suited to the task and prone to breakage leaving you high and dry at the crucial moment?

We’ve always focused on quality and our client’s exhibition and event success, so we have never stocked the ‘budget bin’ varieties. Our main brand budget products offer a core standard build quality, guarantees and of course our uncompromising quality in graphics which we maintain across our full range. However with the ever quickening race to the bottom, which we really don’t want to be part of, we’ve seen many main brand manufacturers forced to include increasingly cheaper budget products in order to compete.  This reduction in price is naturally accompanied with a reduction in quality. Consider the humble roll up budget banner stand cassette, which first came to market in the early 90’s with a retail price tag of £189.00, and that’s without a graphic. Today 25 years on, a budget version complete with its carry bag typically retails at £18.00! Just how good do we expect these to be?

So what to do? Well we say enough is enough, we’ve drawn a line and started our Campaign for Better Portables!  

Subsequently we’ve audited our entire product range, with a focus on quality, function and our clients’ needs. So when it comes to your events, your business and your brand, keep an eye out for our Image Display & Graphics ‘Event Approved’ stamp.

These are products we recommend and vouch for when it comes to exhibitions and events, offering robust build, long-term use and our own high-quality graphic finish. Don’t worry if you are still looking for an economical product, we still stock these for shorter term promotional use. Although we do hope that as you invest in your business, your brand and your events, you will also invest in displays that stand up to the task, joining us in our campaign for better portables!

Be sure to head on over to our exhibition shop to explore our refreshed range of quality portables, from roller banner stands, pop-ups and display kits to fabric backdrops, outdoor event products and a full hire inventory. 

Want to go further than portable displays, why not take a look at our range of custom hire packages to elevate your next event space and step out of the shell scheme?

Contact us for more information on our products, service or just to get some informal advice on your next event marketing project.

It’s a hot topic and something you’ve seen in many movies: AI. But what does this mean for you in the HR department? Much more than you may think. AI is no longer an abstract idea that makes futuristic novels interesting. This technology is how businesses get ahead in the game and it’s starting to become vital for HR managers too. Let’s share a few innovative developments you may not have heard about. See how your day to day can be transformed for the better; for you, for employees and the business as a whole.

What is AI in Practice?

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is technology that simulates human intelligence. These computers cantake action in certain situation in similar ways than humans would.

A popular part of AI is machine learning. This technology can learn from humans’ actions what needs to be done according to specific guidelines, even if they weren’t originally programmed to perform those tasks in that manner. They can then take over that task. A popular application in administration is to use this AI tech to copy and paste information from a data base to other forms. This work can feel boring and repetitive to humans so why not give it to computers to do in a fraction of the time? This saves workers a lot of time and keeps data accurate.

Other types of AI and applications include:

• Speech recognition
• Machine vision
• Smart assistants
• Deep learning where data is broken down into abstraction layers, used to recognize patterns in data

Why Does HR Need Advanced Tech?

Perhaps you think your department is functioning adequately and changes will only disrupt your effective processes. But how effective are you really? There’s a reason why market leading vendors such as Advance Systems are quickly gaining a following. Innovative applications ranging from time and attendance software to dynamic employee performance records lead to many benefits:

• More accuracy in employee records and payroll
• Saving HR workers time so they can focus on other tasks
• Faster replies to management or workers after queries
• More cost effective HR services
• Higher employee satisfaction thanks to an effective HR team

You can see that switching to modern methods can affect a business in a variety of ways. Now, how do you need to implement AI in HR?

5 Ways AI Affects HR Find Red Flags: Enhance Your Recruitment Process

The difficult thing is to admit that a robot can do your job better than you can. It’s especially difficult to admit in the HR department because you may think your knowledge of people will help you identify potential risks in new applicants.

Accept the truth: AI can pick up on red flags in resumes more effectively than you can. While you can probably handle the last interview the best and pick your favorite, AI can:

• Identify problems found with background checks based on analyzing a mass of data you’ll never have time to work through.
• Find possible risk factors based on someone’s resume.
• Create a fair application process if you allow AI to compile your short list from the mass of applicants. AI won’t allow prejudice for color, gender, race or culture to discriminate.

Get to Know Your Team: Identify High Risk Employees

AI can also assist with your existing team. Your number one goal should be to ensure workers are happy and satisfied. When the opposite happens they may leave, giving you a high ETR (employee turnover rate). From analyzing data from employees’ personnel files, communication and feedback, AI can identify those who may not be as content in their roles as they seem to the naked eye. Knowing this empowers you to take action before an employee gets to the point where he or she writes a resignation letter.

Help Your Employees: Benefit Their Futures

One way of preventing employees from leaving is helping them move forward in life. But you don’t have time to assess each person’s career path. The good news is that AI can do it in a fraction of the time. An interesting part of AI called predictive analytics can use gathered in formation to create suggestions for a person’s future. These suggestions will be based on data such as the actions other employees have taken in the past. Perhaps joining a learning pathway or development program is the thing that improves someone’s attitude about their job. But you won’t know what they need without some insight which AI can provide.

Get More Work Done: Use Robots 

AI is not only about benefiting the employees: you also need some help. These days vendors can roll out productsthat engage with people in an extremely humanlike manner. While nothing beats a chat with a real human, basic queries can be handled more than adequately by modern chatbots. Thanks to NLP (natural language processing) your chatbot can gauge someone’s tone and even the context their questions refer to. A bonus: your HR chatbot can converse with people in different languages, making it easier to manage a global, multi cultural worker team.

Make Better Decisions: Let AI Give You the Facts

During your day to day in the HR office you make vital decisions that affect the business as a whole. AI and other HR tech innovations can often help make more appropriate choices:

• How many employees do you really need? AI can analyze data and determine the most effective scenario.
• Which skill sets should you employ in the next year to benefit the company in years to come? By analyzing big data AI can provide insightful feedback
• How can your department save costs? Only pay for services rendered with more effective, automated attendance systems. Make sure data transfer to payroll takes place automatically so there’s not chance of human error.

There’s no question: AI and modern technology can transform your HR department. The only question that’s left is: where will you start?

Case Study: Chatsbrook Help Local Fisherman To Live His Dream

Sometimes you can go years with the intention of investing in your dreams, but something like needing a new car, roof or having to pay for a wedding may grab the attention of your purse strings instead. This is what happened to Simon Bywater.

Since 1984, Simon and his brothers have run a successful, independent fishing business. From listening to Simon speak about his experience with his brothers, you are able to get a clear understanding of how tight-knit they are. The most beautiful aspect that he relayed was how much they share. Not only do they share an enormous amount of time together, but they each share facilities, knowledge AND their own catches if one doesn’t have enough to fulfil an order.

This is why it is important to Chatsbrook to continue to support and protect local, family run businesses.

Although Simon has always enjoyed working with his brothers, he yearned for his own boat and to work his own pots. Being a supportive family, Simon’s brother Peter agreed to sell his boat to Simon. After waiting almost a year and having to decline offers in the interim, last week the funds were transferred to Simon so that he could finally purchase his brothers boat!

However, Simon’s journey to finance wasn’t easy.

Back in October last year Simon set out to obtain finance for a boat, a shellfish licence and an outboard. He approached many brokers, but lenders were reluctant to provide finance for the assets he desired. After months of getting nowhere and starting to feel disillusioned, Adrian Brooks of Chatsbrook Vehicle & Asset Finance was finally recommended to him.

” I got referred to Adrian and from the offset I trusted him and felt like I was being taken seriously. He really got to understand the nature of the business which is what helped to secure the finance. I knew that securing finance may prove to be tricky, so I gave him the freedom to secure finance in whatever way he saw fit and that was a commercial loan!”

Instead of paying three lots of interest rates on three separate assets, Adrian knew that a commercial loan would be the best fit for Simon WHILST saving him money!

” I’ve had finance in the past for a couple of vehicles and the process has always been easy. But with Adrian, the service is so much more personal. He kept in touch during every stage, he was very clear about the process which gave me confidence. He stuck to his every word and that is very rare nowadays.” 

” I felt like he was dealing with a friend. I hope to remain good friends after this. I’ve even invited him for a trip on my boat!”

Chatsbrook have a reputation for running our business with integrity and morality. With patience and determination we promise to do all that we can for all of our clients. Whether that be providing a simple service, advising businesses on their finances or sourcing a vehicle, supporting our clients and improving their quality of life is what drives us.

If you, yourself, have also felt disillusioned like Simon, break the cycle and begin the rest of your life today. Our incredible team are on hand to help you on 01603 733500 or [email protected]

When you are in the office day in day out, you need to find ways to make the space you are working in feel personalised, as well as trying to think of innovative ways to keep morale high and improve motivation. 

From custom mugs, themed days and team photos, we offer some clever ways to spruce up your office and keep staff upbeat and positive.

Customise the space: mugs, t-shirts, doormats,…

Why not consider purchasing customised work equipment? This could be even things like mugs, doormats, mouse mats, cardboard cut outs, t-shirts etc, all of which can help the space to feel a little less impersonal for workers, but also create this sense of pride and belonging in the organisation.

Leaderboards for sales

In the communal area of your office space, why not consider having a leaderboard if you work within sales? This can help encourage productivity within the office, as well as also have an impact on your sales too, as people are competitive by nature and will want to be at the top of the leaderboard.

Put team photos on the wall

It should come as no surprise that people like to feel valued within the workspace. With this in mind, why not consider putting up team photos on the wall of the office? It can help people feel like they belong in the workspace, and that they are important to the company too. Having employees’ pets and babies on the wall all goes down well and creates a good talking point too.

Employee of the month

Have you thought about introducing an employee of the month scheme within the workspace? Time and time again, this has proved itself to be a very effective way of boosting staff morale, and can even help to maintain staff retention in a firm.

The benefits of having such a scheme are multiple: not only does it make your staff feel appreciated, it also helps you as a firm: after all, if less people leave the company, that means less time and money that you will need to spend on finding new staff as well as training them.

Including themed days at the office

Sometimes, things can get really intense in the office: there may be a huge project that everyone is working on, or a particularly stressful task on a certain day. One way to make the atmosphere a little more relaxed is having regular themed days in the office, and this can help with team bonding too. Stuck on ideas for a themed day? Why not consider funky jumper days or bake offs, and raise some money for charity too? It is a winning combination.

The regeneration project at Freebridge’s Hillington Square estate in King’s Lynn has won another award in the Eastern Region Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) awards last night in Bury St Edmunds.

The award which was given in the Regeneration category was presented torepresentatives of Freebridge Community Housing, Field + Mawson LLP – the architects currently working on the project, Lovell Partnership – the construction firm who completed work on the first four stages and G C Baxter & Associates – quantity surveyors on the project.

As a winner of the Eastern Region award the regeneration project is now put forward to the National RICS awards that will take place on the 4th October in London.

The RICS judges commended the team behind the project “as two thirds through its overall redevelopment, the benefits to the local residents and surrounding community can be seen already” and stated that the work completed so far “has not only improved the standard of living for its residents, but improved their sense of belonging, safety and community”.

Tony Hall, Freebridge’s Chief Executive, said “We are delighted that the Hillington Square project has won another award, and are particularly pleased that it won in the Regeneration category. It was always our intention from the outset to ensure that the work we needed to do with the estate extended to more than just the refurbishment of the existing buildings and an award like this means that others agree that this approach was the right one and one that is working.”

Work on the Hillington Square project continues with tenders being currently sought for the next stage of construction work, after which plans will be made for the completion of the final phases.

Whether you have an office full of hayfever sufferers, or you and your family suffer from this annual problem, you may not immediately think of blinds as a solution. However, Louvolite, one of our fabric suppliers, has created Pollergen™ – a unique fabric treatment that has the Allergy UK seal of approval.

Pollergen™ treated fabrics contain an active ingredient that captures and then neutralises the pollen, thereby helping to reduce the effects of hayfever.   All Pollergen™ fabrics can be washed or wiped down with little effect on the pollen reducing qualities. This is because the active formulation continuously migrates to the surface of the fabric, providing many years of protection.   Norwich Sunblinds make bespoke blinds for homes and offices, and Pollergen™is just one of the options available.   If you are looking for commercial blinds, we can also help you with other options such as antibacterial and antifungal finishes, solar protection and anti-glare coatings, and we can ensure that your blinds are fire-retardant. We’ll visit you to chat through your needs and to take measurements. We can also help with extra large or unusual shaped windows in commercial buildings.

Norwich has endured a storm over the recent past as factory after factory has announced planned closures, causing hundreds of local jobs to go. The blows came in a short space of time as Heatrae Sadia announced it would close its factory and cause 200 locals to become redundant. Along with Britvic setting up shop and Coleman’s who have been operating on the same premises also confirming that their site is due to close, the future does not look bright for Norwich’s unemployment rate.

Some people may point the finger at Downing Street for closures due to the uncertainty of Brexit. However, the UK as a whole appears to be in good shape. Unemployment rates have never been this low since 1975. In fact, the last time unemployment rates were at the current 3.9% low, Derby County F.C fans were braced for league success and Bowie’s Young Americans was about to hit the clubs.

How Can Online Courses Help?

One option for Norwich locals that are directly affected by the factory closures is to retrain. However, some people choose not to retrain because it comes in the way of making money and supporting families. When you consider that the companies who are due to leave Norwich have been there for almost a century, you can expect these long-standing workers to look for immediate employment to support families rather retraining for a new career.

Online courses provided by a recognised institution will allow you to do both. They are capable of being completed in your own time at home, so you can work your schedule – whether that is finding a new job or working in a temporary job in the meantime – around your online course. They offer the best of both worlds to keep earning money to support family, while also enhancing personal skills to find a better career you would enjoy.

What Type of Courses Are Available?

Even better news is the diversity of online courses today. The best providers offer a number of different courses to set you up for an array of careers. From business and IT courses to CIPD online courses, there is usually something for everybody. Some of which will build on the skills held by workers at Norwich’s closing factories. Whatever course you choose, just be sure that you choose one that is offered by an accredited and recognised provider. If not, employers may not recognise the hard work you put in to earn your qualification.

Do Online Courses Exclude Me from Benefits?

Enrolling onto an online course means you are now a student. Students in the UK who are working on their course in a full-time capacity are not permitted to claim government benefits, including allowances for seeking a new job. The government will recognise any course that takes up more than 16 hours per week of your time, or a certain number of credits for university students, to be classed as a full-time course, meaning this will exclude you from financial assistance. However, these rules online apply to courses which are funded by a small group of bodies, including the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the Welsh Assembly Government.

For other courses, such as most online courses in the UK, there are no set hours as to what will determine a full-time course, and thus classify you as a full-time student. Instead, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will determine if you are a full-time student on a case-by-case basis.

Making Sure You Still Get Benefits

If you are a job seeker in Norwich and have a family to support or a mortgage to pay it is only natural that you would choose financial assistance over an online course – and not take the risk. However, most online course cases are not seen as a full-time commitment by the DWP and learners still have the right to receive benefits. One way of making your case is by finding written information on your provider’s website that the course is not necessarily a full-time course and is completed at the learners’ discretion. You may also want to record hours to show a log of course time to your local DWP office.

An online course may be a great consideration for anyone in the UK to advance their current career or change direction. They may be of great value for Norwich residents currently experiencing job loss or job uncertainty.

To mark the Mental Health Foundation’s Mental Health Week 2019 (13th to 19th May), we’re looking at mental health in the workplace and some of the initiatives we have introduced here at Pure to create a workplace culture which supports the mental health of our team.

As the leading professional recruitment company in the East of England, we recognise that our people are at the heart of our business. Our industry is fast-paced and has many highs and lows, so we believe it is crucial to offer our employees the mental health support they need throughout their career.

Positive mental health is also critical for people to be productive and engaged, which impacts on business success and client experience. Research by the Mental Health Foundation shows that addressing wellbeing at work can increase productivity by as much as 12%. It can also have a significant impact on reducing sickness absence, as 70 million workdays are lost each year due to mental health problems in the UK.

There are simple and inexpensive measures that all employers can put in place to support the mental health and wellbeing of their staff. The Mental Health Foundation has a range of free resources to help employers and we’ve also shared some of what we have been doing here at Pure as examples.

Supportive culture

We live by our values in everything that we do, one of which is ‘Pure Supports’. This includes supporting our employees to progress, supporting each other and creating a supportive workplace which is as mentally healthy as possible. We work hard but in a fun culture where we foster and celebrate teamwork. We support our employees to create a positive work-life balance through part-time and flexible working options and we all work genuinely sensible office hours. We encourage and support our consultants to focus their energy on building relationships not on meeting pressurised volumes or targets. We know that our people are integral to our success and we provide long-term, professional careers in which people’s enthusiasm and talent are supported by our resources and training.

Wellbeing policy and mental health strategy

We believe healthy employees are happy employees and we encourage workplace health with initiatives including free fruit in the office, cycle to work schemes and subsidised gym membership. Exercise and eating well have a positive impact on our mental health, but our wellbeing policy also includes a mental health strategy as well as covering physical health. Through staff surveys, our employees are encouraged to feed into our wellbeing policy and we are continuing to develop our initiatives as a result, including offering wellbeing sessions on mindfulness and stress management, lifestyle and fitness guidance and access to counselling.

Mental health first aiders

We have a trained Mental Health First Aider who works with our managers to support them in supporting their teams. We recognise that our line managers play a crucial role in supporting staff who may be experiencing mental health problems. We want to ensure they have the support they need to develop compassionate and effective relationships and feel equipped to line manage anyone who does have a mental health problem or who is showing signs of distress.

Mental health champions

We have trained a team of employees to become Pure’s Mental Health Champions. Their role is to offer support and advice to employees who are struggling with mental ill-health and to help increase mental health awareness across the business and to reduce stigma and discrimination. By raising awareness of mental health and having dedicated mental health champions we will be helping our employees to support each other. It can sometimes be easier for other people to spot early warning signs of mental health problems, such as uncharacteristic mistakes, appearing distracted or becoming more isolated than it can be to see these traits in ourselves.

Signposts to support

We have also introduced a ‘mental-wellbeing board’ in all four of our offices around the region. These highlight signs to help our employees identify if someone may be struggling, tips on how to support each other and signposts to find relevant advice, helplines and positive coping strategies.

Want to work at Pure? Visit workforus.prs.uk.com  for more information and the latest opportunities.

Once upon a time, SEO was easy. All you had to do was cram in a bunch of keywords and your site would quickly find itself at the top of the page for related searches.

Then Google woke up and got smart. Instead of accepting spammy tactics, the search engine started to look at things like backlinks and useful content to measure the authority of the sites it crawled.  

This meant that the sites which provided useful information to searchers were the ones which came out on top.

This is all well and good and means that, nowadays, to appear at the top of Google, you have to make sure that your site is the best fit for what users are looking for.

If you’re selling running shoes, for example, then you need to ensure that your site provides the best information about this particular product. As well as being technically sound, your site would need to feature content that would be useful for someone looking to buy a new pair of trainers.   

It would also help if the respected authorities on running shoes were linking to your site.   

Whilst this all makes perfect sense; it does mean that there’s a lot of juggling to do when you’re trying to get a site to rank well. Making things even more complicated still, the team at Google are constantly refining the way that their search engine ranks websites.

Indeed, they’re regularly introducing new metrics which they use to evaluate the strength of any given website.

One of the metrics which is perhaps spoken of less frequently than others is the way that Google is using AI, or machine learning, to refine results based on user behaviour. The idea being that if the vast majority of users who click through to a web page after searching in Google leave shortly after, the relevance of that page is very questionable. The net result of this, is that user experience impacts search engine position.

What is User Experience?

User Experience (UX), as the name suggests, is a term used to describe the way that users interact with design. It refers to all the aspects which make it easy (or difficult) for users to find what they’re looking for on a website.

In very simple terms, you can think of UX as being the study of how people use your website, and how many of those follow a journey to conversion.

How does UX affect SEO?

To understand how UX affects SEO, you need to remember that Google’s mission statement is to provide users with the best possible search results. In order to do this, it learns which websites provide a good experience for users and privileges these sites above ones which don’t offer such a good time. Looking at things like bounce rate and session duration, Google is able to tell if your UX is up to scratch and whether you’re deserving of a spot at the top of its search results. And whether you are ultimately answering the question posed by the user. In this way it’s possible to see that understanding your UX is just as important as understanding your keywords if you want to stay ahead with your SEO.  

What can I do to improve UX?

To help explain how you might improve the user experience on your website, consider the following real-life example.

We recently inherited a new client who helps users to view and compare a range of franchises for sale. When we took on their site, we imagined we were in the market for a franchise and asked ourselves the following questions once we were on the site:

·         Is everything explained clearly and laid out intuitively?

·         Is it easy to find information about franchises for sale?

·         Is the route to inquiring about a franchise straight forward?

By answering these questions, we were able to roll out changes to the site which would benefit the user. By doing this, we helped to increase the likelihood of getting a conversion. Here’s a before and after to illustrate things a little better:

Ultimately, to improve UX you need to put yourself in the position of a user who is visiting your site for the first time and is presumably interested in the services or products you specialise in. Then you need to consider how easy it is for them to get hold of these services or products.

Ensure that the user is clearly led into the website with a hierarchy of content that is welcoming and easy to digest. Optimise the route to conversion by reducing the journey and adding easy to follow prompts through the site and add clear calls to action throughout. Ensure consistent delivery of navigation and structure and apply a colour to all clickable items so that the user expectation is met, and bounce rates are kept nice and low.

At Nu Image, User Experience is something we think very carefully about when building a new website. We realise that our clients depend on securing new business with their sites, so it’s our job to make it as easy as possible for new users to make bookings or place an order.

Similarly, when we’re providing some digital marketing for an existing site, we’ll spend plenty of time testing it to optimise the route to conversion. If you’re interested in finding out more about how the UX of your site could be improved to help increase your SEO, get in touch with a member of our team today, and we will happily offer a free audit or review. Call us on 01603 859007 today.