Member Blog

In order to get working on the website of our client Trovex, we had to spend some time getting familiar with the services they offer and the general get to know the general tone of their company so that we could reflect this in their content and meta-data. This is always a vital part of working with any company as we want any content on their site to appeal to their target audience.

Trovex provides superior hygienic surfaces and systems for walls, ceilings, doorsets and washrooms. All the while, their solutions work to enhance the hygiene and functionality in healthcare, leisure, hospitality and commercial environments.

Trovex’s client base was very impressive, including the NHS, and they have many years of experience. As a digital marketing company, some of these terms are very specific so we had to take time to develop an undetstanding of the product and how we could target them effectively on Google. Our keyword research and approach is moving away from very specific projects to more general times such as commercial washrooms, bathroom suppliers and hospital refurbishments.

Meta-Data

In SEO, one of the most important things to get right is the meta-date of a website. This includes meta-descriptions, meta-title and alt-text on images. In these are not all correctly optimised it can seriously damage the websites ranking potential. In fact, good optimisation of keywords in the meta-titles can be the difference between ranking on the first couple of pages and the last few pages.

We ran a standard health check on the Trovex website. From this, it became clear that each page was missing a meta-description and the images present on the site did not feature an alt-text. Therefore, we made it our priority to getting working on writing these up and adding them in across the entire site and all of its 111 pages.

Crawl Errors and Response Codes

If you want a website to rank well on a search engine, then you will need to turn your attention to the health of the websites to identify whether there are any crawl errors or broken response codes which might affect it. These are broken links on the website, broken pages and any links that are redirecting to others – but by cleaning everything up, you enable a much smoother indexing of the website.

The initial results for Trovex in the first month are extremely positive. Once the site has been fully fixed from a health check perspective, we then need to scale our SEO activity through useful content relating to hygience and bathrooms and generating links from strong, trusted resouces in the health and business sector.

There are likely to be many reasons and scenarios as to why you miss calls. Perhaps you have insufficient staff but can’t justify recruiting anyone else or much of your day is spent in meetings. You don’t have back up during peak holiday times or when an employee is off sick. Maybe there is a problem with the phone line itself.

Whatever it is, have you considered what image this may be portraying to the outside world? How your prospects and customer may feel when they can’t reach you and how this could have a very negative impact on your business?

Your customers shoes…

When a call is missed, there will be one of three things that your caller is experiencing…whilst reading through these it’s worth thinking about a time when you needed to reach someone you wanted to do business with.

1. They call, the call rings out before they hang up 2. They call, the line is engaged, or they are put on hold for a long period of time before hanging up 3. They get your voicemail option

Regardless of the scenario that your customer is faced with, it’s frustrating. In most cases, they are calling you to either find out more about your product/service or to discuss a purchase they have already made.

Calling for the first time

When someone is calling you for the first time and is unable to get through, it just looks like their call is unimportant to you and that, should they eventually place their order and there is a problem, they will have issues getting this resolved.

Existing customers

If they are an existing customer wanting to discuss their purchase, missing their call will leave them feeling neglected and a little helpless particularly if their call is already relating to an issue that they need to get resolved.

It’s worth remembering at this point that people will shout a lot more about a bad experience than they will a good one. Social media and our impulsive review culture is fantastic for generating sales but can also be your biggest enemy.

First impressions count…

Using a call answering service such as Pocket Receptionist will significantly improve your reputation almost overnight and even if your caller’s issue can’t be resolved on that first call, they have been acknowledged – that makes a massive difference and shows that you value them!

Volkswagen confirm manufacturing of the VW Beetle will cease in 2019.

Since the beginning of production, the Volkswagen Beetle has been world renowned for its ergonomic design, curved body and round headlights. Following a decline in sales, Volkswagen have confirmed that manufacturing of the Beetle will cease in 2019 after the release of two special edition models.

These are the celebrationary Edition Models. Image obtained from VW Media.

These 3rd generation coupe and convertible bugs will be released in two brand new hues, beige and blue, in addition to the standard colour collection. 

‘The people’s car’ has become iconic within its 70 years of production despite its Nazi roots. Sales peaked in the 1960’s when it became the biggest selling foreign car on the US market- a response to the 1968 Disney movie ‘The Love Bug’ featuring the autonomous and loveable ‘Herbie’.

The love bug Herbie takes on the racing competition.

The Beetle has only gone through two full redesigns during its lifetime, yet the original shape embodies the essence and true character of this Bug.  The value of the first-generation Beetle is expected to increase, especially if they have original features like the split screen.

The firm’s chief US executive Hinrich Woebcken captured fanatics devastation of the news in his comment “The loss of the Beetle will evoke a host of emotions from the Beetle’s many devoted fans.” However, he then sparked hope when he revealed “I would never say never” to resurrecting the Beetle again. Enthusiasts around the world are wondering the same thing -Is this truly the end for the Volkswagen Beetle?

The priority for Volkswagen at the moment is to concentrate on developing, manufacturing and producing electric vehicles in an attempt to fulfil their green initiative.

We cannot know for sure if this is the end of the Beetle, but we can admire its quirky charm.

Please share what your favourite memories of the VW Beetle is on our Social Media pages: @Chatsbrook. 

For more information on our products and services, contact 01603 733500 or email [email protected] today.

We were approached by Westcountry Estate Planning to help maximise their rankings on Google for a number of key terms relating to later life solutions including estate planning, funeral plans, family trusts and property protection trusts. With a new site built on Wix.com, we were asked to help optimise the site from head-to-toe and ensure that can be found on search engines, specifically in the South-West of England in areas such as Cornwall, Devon, Truro and Plymouth.

Cleaning up the site

Using a popular SEO tool called Screaming Frog, we were able to crawl every page on the website and ensure that everything was optimised to include key terms, specifically in the:

• h tags/titles
• meta titles
• meta descriptions
• meta keywords (removed)
• internal links

The idea is to have one specific page for every main keyword you want to target and not overlap with several pages. Your homepage is always your strongest page so we used this to focus the keyword ‘estate planning’ and then having separate landing pages for things like will writing, funeral plans, trusts etc

New Steps

Once the site is optimised on a basic level, we then have to look at bulking it up in terms of content and links. Naturally, a site with very good content and a lot of good links is going to outrank a site that does not. Slowly but surely, we are ramping up the content that we are adding to the site in the form of useful guides and typical questions that people would ask relating to later life planning. The links we acquire must come from relevant sources, either in the local area, or relating to senior living – hence we have reached out to news sites in the South-West of England and sites that really talk about senior life, hence we have already approached another partner at Perfect Funeral Plans. 

Conversion Optimisation

SEO is a process and it takes time not only to rank on Google (3-6 months) but also time to get everything on board for the client. Ideally, we will need to make some subtle changes to the existing content and make additions to improve conversions. Common techniques include adding a phone number and email address on the top of every page and adding clear contact forms so an enquiry is just one click away. 

Combined with good rankings on Google and a good user experience to get conversions, we are on track to making this campaign a real success.

thepensioncounter.com; an insight into early stage business

Chadwick’s Daniel Harvey takes us through his experience of launching a start-up technology business: thepensioncounter.com

It is important to keep learning in business. Norfolk has some of the UK’s most innovative and ambitious small businesses. Here we look at an example of the lessons and highs that come from running a project from the ground up.

Daniel Harvey is the Special Projects lead at UEA-based advisory firm Chadwicks. Joining as a graduate trainee in January 2014, he founded thepensioncounter.com. the following year when he saw a need to help payroll bureaux, accountants and employers comply with workplace pension reforms.

Here Daniel shares the highs and lows of building a business to meet a new market.

How did the project start?

“I was helping one of our corporate clients with their pension scheme. I soon realised how tricky the new legislation [workplace pension reform] was making the whole process of managing a company pension scheme. We like to think inventively here at Chadwicks; my idea was to simplify the processes that go on behind setting up your company pension scheme. Our aim was to make the whole thing a lot easier for everyone involved.”

“It was one of my first projects working at Chadwicks. The company is a bit different, we encourage and back innovative ideas. As a graduate, leading the project was an opportunity I do not think I would have got anywhere else. It was partly what attracted me to work here.”

What was one of your highlights on the project?

“There are many highs when setting out on a project like thepensioncounter, especially as I was given a lot of responsibility right out of the gate.”

“I would have to say my biggest highlight was Sage tweeting about our webinar. Sage is a giant multinational company with 14,000 employees with a large user base from which to promote us. Something as simple as that tweet was a great source of pride. We had worked hard and to be recognised by a multinational company such as Sage was a landmark moment.”

What have you learned most from your time working on the project?

“At Chadwicks we consider ourselves a learning organisation. We strive to keep learning new stuff and developing new skills regardless of what it is. We really champion our relationships with our clients and I think thepensioncounter was a lesson in the importance of developing meaningful relationships.”

“One of thepensioncounter’s USPs was its process. It was hassle free and required minimal engagement from businesses to streamline the process of auto enrolment. As a result we were hindered in actually connecting with the businesses we were targeting. This lack of direct contact made it harder for us to maximise the potential of the relationships we were building.”

“I think it was a very positive learning project. These are experiences that I think have made me a better advisor and a better strategist going forward.”

Summary

Daniel will be speaking about his experiences at Chadwicks Insight Masterclass on Wednesday 14th November where the theme will be early stage investing. Daniel will be joined by innovation specialist Dr Clive Edmonds, founder of Scienta Group and Saffron Myhill-Hunt who, as innovation funding manager at the Low Carbon Innovation Fund, brings her practical experience of investing in early stage businesses.

The event is free to attend.

To learn more and to register, please visit: 

https://www.chadwicks.co.uk/masterclasses/patient-capital-investing/

To keep in touch with our future masterclasses, or to sign up for  ‘Behavioural Insights’ masterclass,  follow the url below:

https://www.chadwicks.co.uk/masterclasses/

The answer we were all waiting for? Raspberry Ripple.

Maybe it was the tempting twist of colour, perhaps the combination of flavours, we’re not sure…but the number one flavour of Norfolk B2B 2018 was indeed, raspberry ripple. Visitors ate up our quirky take on the flavours of Image Display and Graphics. Creative design, events, project management and exhibition build all featured on the menu as we used a vibrant custom light-box, floor graphics and bespoke counter to serve up our key services. That’s not all that exhibitors and visitors had a taste for, with a definitive air of creativity & diversity across the event. Attracting over 100 exhibitors, with opportunities to network, learn new skills and forge meaningful connections, Norfolk B2B serves as a great introduction to the benefits of live events.

Speaking with Mark Shields of the EDP, we highlighted the impressive creativity on show, with Iain Cosham, managing director of Image Display & Graphics sharing that ‘this year we’ve helped more people to be a bit more interactive – just because it’s a B2B event doesn’t mean it can’t be fun and entertaining’. Attending the B2B exhibition since the early 1990s, we have certainly seen an evolution in how businesses approach their events, even on a more intimate scale. From VR to themed putting greens, more businesses are considering how to create an experience that immerses visitors and position that all-important ‘interesting angle’ that sets them apart from the crowd.

It’s exciting to see the local business community buying into the value of events, beginning to cultivate their own strategies, experiences and aspirations. Nova Fairbank, public affairs manager at the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce also spoke with Mark Shields of the EDP. Sharing a wider theme shared across events success stories like Norfolk B2B, Ms Fairbank said the next event will be ‘even bigger and better’. Exhibitions and live events continue to grow as one of the most successful marketing platforms in the world, with local iterations like Norfolk B2B the ideal entrée. If you and your business have developed a taste for events there is a whole buffet of opportunities out there, you just need to let us know – what’s your flavour?

 Interested in developing your use of event marketing, check our more exclusive content here. 

Sync the City is a great event in which you can promote, share and test your API’s, Tools and Services.  You could provide the vital ingredient that helps the startup teams Build & Launch a Startup in 54 Hours, and win the amazing cash prizes on offer! Sync the City 2018 is a 54 Hour event that brings together local entrepreneurs, developers, business managers, marketing gurus, graphic artists, students to pitch ideas for new startup companies, form teams around those ideas, and work to develop a working prototype, demo & final pitch (to win cash prizes). More details syncthecity.com In the past, we have had companies providing free access to address lookup API’s, customer surveying services, hosting services, sentiment analysis API’s and much more.  Its a great opportunity to publicise your own SDK / APIs / Products to be used at the event, and put them to the test and get direct feedback. If you are interested in getting involved, then email [email protected]

On 12th September, MIGSOLV again welcomed over 100 business people to The Gatehouse data centre in Norwich as they hosted the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce Summer BBQ.

Now in its second year, the event also welcomed members from TechEast and featured a ‘Taste of Norfolk’ theme with locally produced food and drink.

“The weather was sunny and the Norfolk-sourced barbeque proved a big hit!” says David Manning, Managing Director of MIGSOLV. “It was once again a great event for bringing people together to network and celebrate business in the East”

For those unfamiliar with MIGSOLV’s data centre and how it protects business’s IT and data, guided tours were delivered of the world-class facilities. MIGSOLV’s staff and a number of their key partners were also on hand to give help and advice.

In a brief address, the Chamber of Commerce’s Chief Executive Chris Sargisson, David Manning and representatives of MIGSOLV partners PSTG, Blocz IO and Next Connex once again showcased the breadth of innovative technology available to the region’s businesses, including exciting new services available through MIGSOLV’s partnerships.

As champions of business in the East, MIGSOLV chose a barbeque featuring Norfolk reared pork, beef and chicken, including a hog roast. Liquid refreshment was served by the Bubbles & Pips horsebox bar and included wine from Norfolk grapes and Bullard’s award-winning local gin. The menu was topped with a Ronaldo Ices cart serving more than a dozen flavours of Norfolk ice cream.

A charity auction for East Anglian Children’s Hospices (EACH) raised £200 toward their new Nook hospice appeal.

Attracting members of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, the TechEast sector group and local businesses invited by MIGSOLV themselves, the event rounded off a successful summer for the data centre providers. MIGSOLV also took the opportunity to announce their new suite of services aimed at helping businesses take advantage of colocation, cloud storage and improved connectivity.

“This year’s event was even bigger, better and well-received than the inaugural event in 2017” concluded David Manning. “We hope to host the event again in 2019 so we’ll have to start thinking of ways to top it! It’s a great chance to bring everyone together and showcase the roles MIGSOLV, Norfolk Chamber and Tech East are playing in championing technology in the East”

To learn more about MIGSOLV’s new services, visit www.migsolv.com/services

Prime Minister Teresa May has recently announced that, as of April next year, mixed sex couples in England and Wales will be able to choose to enter into a civil partnership rather than getting married. The change stems from the Supreme Court ruling of Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan three months ago.

Civil partnerships were initially created in 2004 to give same-sex couples (who at the time could not marry) similar legal and financial protection as that offered by marriage. Same-sex marriage has since then been legalised – by virtue of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 – allowing same-sex couples to decide between marriage or entering into a civil partnership.

Many unmarried couples in long standing relationships in England and Wales share the view that they do not wish to marry, due to historical and religious connotations. Often these same individuals believe that, over time, they will acquire similar rights and protections to married couples. Unfortunately there is simply no such thing as ‘common law marriage’; under current law, it is possible to live with someone for decades, and have children together, but to have no financial claim if the relationship breaks down. 

This change in the law will address the imbalance that allows same-sex couples to choose between marriage and entering into a civil partnership. The benefits attached to entering into a civil partnership provide greater protection to mixed-sex couples and their families who want to formalise their relationship but do not want to get married. Similarly to marriage, a civil partnership will attract many tax exemptions including Inheritance Tax reliefs. On death, the surviving partner will have the automatic right to inherit their partner’s estate. In effect this may mean that the surviving partner does not have to worry about the risk of not being able to afford to stay living in the family home. Alternatively, if the relationship breaks downs, the couple may have a guaranteed right to ownership of each other’s property.

5 Benefits of Face-to-Face Networking

Whilst we digitise more of our everyday communications, the idea of face to face networking can be daunting. As technology becomes ever smarter and efficient at ensuring we’re connected all the time, it’s odd that actually making a real connection with a real person strikes fear into the heart of many. Not that there is anything wrong with connecting online, in fact such digital connections have impressive power to nurture and grow businesses (the irony of this being posted online is not lost on us). However,ahead of our attendance at the  Norfolk Chamber of Commerce B2B event, we reflect on the benefits of unplugging how we connect once in a while. So here are our ‘5 Benefits to Face to Face Networking’…

1)      Being Human

As with so many things, sometimes it’s not what you do, but how you do it…or in this case, say it. All too often messages shared online can be lost in translation. Unless you are a real Hemmingway of the web, messages shared in person tend to incorporate voice, body language, facial expressions and add much greater depth to what is being said. In turn this depth is communicated in your brand and how your business is perceived by others as more interesting, more genuine…and more human.

2)      Escape the Online Vacuum

Digital marketing and the use of social media have been transformative tools in business interaction. However for most of us, business does not only exist in a vast online universe, it has to come back down to earth, with physical interactions important to get right. By networking face to face you are able to show off your personality that could otherwise struggle to breathe in the online vacuum and develop the communication skills key to business growth. As a result, face to face networking goes hand in hand with a joined up online & offline approach to networking, marketing and even general communications.

3)      No Time Like the Present

During a conversation, you can tailor your message to an individual or group and receive feedback immediately. What you say to one person or group, may be very different to how you engage with another. Often within digital marketing, such as emails and social media, the same message can go out to everyone, whereas when you are face to face with potential clients and collaborators, you can tailor your message. You are able to respond to the feedback, be it verbal or indeed non-verbal in real-time. Not only does this make discussions faster, but often results in those involved feeling more valued too.

4)      Real Becomes Digital

Once you have used the character of face to face networking to your advantage by showing off your glowing personality, communicating a deeper brand identity and perhaps shovelling warm pastries and coffee into your face…get digital. You’ve broken the ice and made a connection or two, and can add to your online profiles to continue the conversation online. There is the added benefit of bringing together the greater intimacy achieved in a face to face introductions with the ease of further communication online, nurturing your new contact even if you do not see them again in person.

5)      Concrete Connections

Like. Retweet. Share. Repeat.

Sound familiar? Often this can be the level at which online engagement remains, and it can be handy. However people we meet and form bonds with in person will reliably yield working relationships with greater longevity and robustness to stand the test of time. It can also be hard to hear a genuine voice in an online sea of likes, thumbs up and tags that would drown out even the most booming voice. Why only fight for a quantity of attention online, when you can have the quality face to face attention that could put you ahead of competition who don’t unplug from time to time?

So there you have it our ‘5 Benefits of Face to Face Networking’, we hoped you enjoyed reading & we will see you at B2B! 

Our client, Choose Wisely, is a lending company which offers business loans, guarantor loans, credit cards and bad credit loans – to name a few. It basically covers all financial products and holds a brilliant reputation for doing so.

In our work for Choose Wisely, one of our main aims was to reflect their expertise and their company culture as young, fun and vibrant. We wanted to do this through creating a site which was altogether informative, attractive and user-friendly whilst remaining professional and clear.

Keywords & Links

To boost a websites SEO, an effective approach is to seek out relevant keywords and target them on the site. So, for Choose Wisely, we reviewed all their current keywords and aimed to get a few quick wins to get the ball rolling.

External links are also very beneficial to the performance of a site on Google or Bing. We reached out to those in the business and finance world for links on their website which were directed towards the Choose Wisely homepage or a particular landing page which they were aiming to promote.

To conduct link outreach, we used the tool Majestic to reveal what links their competitors and those who held the top spots on Google for the same targeted key words had obtained. We then approached the same website and asked about featuring Choose Wisely. We also searched Google for places in which Choose Wisely was mentioned online, but no link was provided. Here, we simply got in contact and asked them to add a link where their name was mentioned.

Revamping the Site

In order to help Choose Wisely to rank well, we reorganised their landing page’s content to appear clearer, target stronger key words and to improve the overall user experience.

We added loans eligibility calculators above the fold, forms and worked to optimise their headings, meta-data and keywords on each page. 

Put simply, hard coatings are specially formulated materials which are applied to plastic substrates in liquid form and cured usually using heat or UV energy. They can be applied using many different methods such as spray, flow, roll or dip coating.

Hard coatings offer plastic materials greater abrasion resistance, giving very strong and versatile material such as Polycarbonate a harder surface, enabling the material to be used in a wider variety of applications.

Such coatings also offer increased chemical resistance to plastic materials, which generally are easily damaged by harsh chemicals.

Other properties can be included within hard coatings such as UV resistance, Anti-Microbial properties and Anti-Glare.

The level of abrasion and chemical resistance can vary depending on the hard coatings formulation. Some coatings offer a lower abrasion resistance but in doing so offer an extended life under external weathering conditions.

Hard coatings can be applied to many substrates such as Polycarbonate, PMMA, PET, PVC and PETg in sheet form or mouldings.

Hard coatings can also be applied to some printed (digital and screen) or painted surfaces.

At Peerless we use UV technology to cure our coatings.

Our brand is Peeraguard and we currently offer the below coatings:

·        Peeraguard Clear Coating – Our most popular coating, high abrasion/chemical resistance, with a high gloss finish.

·        Peeraguard Optical Coating – All of the properties offered by Peeraguard Clear but with superior optical quality.

·        Peeraguard Anti-Glare Coating – A matt hard coating, perfect for light diffusion.

·        Microguard™ Coating – An Anti-Microbial coating that has been developed and formulated to give protection against bugs such as MRSA and E-coli.

·        https://www.peerless-coatings.co.uk/coatings-for-plastic/ or call 01842 750333