Member Blog

While Brexit and its likely outcomes for the UK as a whole looms large in the national debate, the decision makers of businesses surveyed by Price Bailey in a recent report appear to be shrugging off the doubt and negativity surrounding it.

Every business would like the clarity and certainty that comes with knowing how the wider economy will fare and what the government of the day will do. In reality, no business ever really gets it. The same applies for Brexit. Of course, businesses would like an idea of what the effects of Brexit are but no one can know for sure.

In our interactive report, “Inside the Minds of Business Leaders” we uncovered some telling statistics about how Brexit is affecting businesses in Norfolk, Cambridge, Hertfordshire and London.

Brexit remains the stuff of news headlines that, so far, is having little or no direct impact on these businesses.

• More than half (55%) of decision makers say that so far it has made no difference to their business
• A third (35%) say they have seen some negative impacts
• Less than half (44%) expect some negative impacts in 12 months’ time. However, just 13% expect the impact to be positive
• 73% say a soft Brexit would be preferable for their own business, while 15% would prefer a hard Brexit

Brexit is not yet a top concern for most.

• Only a quarter (26%) identified Brexit in their top three business concerns
• 31% expect benefits from Brexit for their business in five years’ time while 32% expect negative outcomes

Many will have regretted the vote to leave: most bosses were ‘remainers’ (71% thought the UK was better off being inside the EU) but few now want to revisit the arguments – when asked what one thing the government could do to support their business, just 7% propose negotiating to somehow keep the UK inside the EU. This suggests they take a pragmatic approach – treating the world as it is rather than how they wish it were.

The research also paints a picture of businesses that, rather than worry about matters beyond their control, are instead focusing on the opportunities in front of them. The decision makers and bosses in the report show that they are out there in their individual markets confidently working to outsmart and outgrow their competition and not letting gloom or uncertainty hold them back.

Perhaps most telling is their short versus medium-term outlook. A third think Brexit will have a negative impact in the short term, but a third think it will be positive in the long term.

This suggests they are more than willing to work with the new post-Brexit reality and exploit the opportunities that arise from it, and so outperform less able and often larger rivals, who will be slower to respond to the new competitive landscape.

To find out more you can view the interactive report where we go into further details on business growth, planning, exporting and wellbeing. (Created by RCD Digital Marketing).

As a new year dawns, many companies will be thinking ahead to the next twelve months and how to deliver business success. Leaders will be considering their strategic approaches, their business plans, and how they can put into practice activities which effect the biggest return. But its within an organisation’s people that lies the key to achieving objectives and delivering performance.

It is the people, the employees, who are the beating heart of an organisation. They are the ones who are ‘doing’ every day. They are the ones who are implementing plans, dealing with customers and putting policies and plans into practice. And to do this effectively and efficiently, and in a way that brings continuous improvement, employees must feel motivated, inspired, and empowered. They must be engaged.

Engaged employees will deliver more for an organisation and so as leaders look ahead to how to deliver their goals this year, they should consider how they are engaging their people.

Leaders need to understand their people, find out what drives them, what matters to them, and what are the barriers to them doing their job. Leaders need to listen and they can do this in a variety of ways, from managing by walking around to online surveys.

And leaders need to demonstrably use this information, making changes where appropriate, and where not, providing feedback. This knowledge and insight can provide the foundation for building a targeted engagement plan which is bespoke to the organisation and which meets the needs of employees whilst aligning with organisational goals.

Communication, in all its forms, is absolutely fundamental to building engaged workforces. It needs to be timely, clear, accessible, open, and consistent. It can be in person, online and offline. But it must happen and regularly – because mistrust builds in communication voids and this leads to disengaged and demotivated workforces.

Employees must have an opportunity to influence and make choices, for example, through a suggestion scheme. In this way, employees will feel empowered, that they can make a difference – and they will. Continuous improvement thrives in companies where employees have influence.

The role of the manager is critical, because, as we know, people will leave managers not organisations. And so they need to be equipped to engage their people. They need to have access to management development, they need to have clarity about their role, and there needs to be HR policies in place which provide a flexible framework.

Feedback is vital too, and in particular, recognition from leaders and managers. This needs to be in the moment. People need to know how they are doing as this allows them to continue to grow and develop.

Running through it all must be a tangible commitment to wellbeing, which, through appropriate engagement activities, empowers employees around self-care and being themselves at work.

And leaders need to keep listening and being aware of what is happening in their organisation. Engagement isn’t a one-off activity plan, it is ongoing, it changes, it becomes a cultural way of working.

Because through engaged, motivated, inspired people, businesses will achieve – and exceed – their goals.

We are excited to be working with Western Circle, technology & data oriented lending company. The company develops and integrates technologies to enable affordable loans online under FCA regulation. The technologies faciliated include underwriting expert systems, online loan intelligence analytic and proactive compliance management systems.

WCL has already helped over 4,000 people in the UK alone to obtain affordable loans online, through the use of pay-per-click advertising (PPC) and search engine optimisation (SEO).

Our contact at Western Circle explained: “We are using our technology to faciliate easy quick loans whilst maintaining transparency and compliance in a very competitive industry. The power of our technology is to assign the user’s details with the best financial product for them, giving them the highest chance of approval and keeping their data and security safe.”

  Our Contribution

We have been assisting Western Circle through traditional online marketing methods. This includes conducting keyword research to find hundreds and thousands of long-tail key phrases that they can target through PPC and SEO and we have helped them create content for these pages too, optimised with meta-data, headings, keywords, internal links, images and more.

Trying to get up the search results for online finance products is always challenging so keeping content clean and consistent (never duplicated) and using clean link building techniques is helping achieve our goals. This means not using directories, paid submissions or reciprocal links (I link to you and you link to me strategies). 

We are now helping the company maintain a strong position in the market, especially with upcoming changes in data protection (GDPR). We must ensure that the site is fully compliant and has clear details of what data can be stored and how it is used for each individual customer.

When it comes to SEO, some of the hardest things to rank for include life insurance, car insurance and short term loans. Trying to rank your website in the toughest algorithm requires real dedication, focus and perhaps a different approach to how we would regularly do SEO (search engine optimisation). 

We are delighted to be working with Cashfloat, a fresh brand that has secured page 1 positions for ‘short term loans’ and ‘payday loans’ outranking some of the most long-standing and established companies in the industry. 

Background

The short term loans and payday algorithm has historically been so difficult to rank for on Google.co.uk that it came with its own SEO algorithm which Google updated on three separate occasions in 2013 and 2014, known as payday loans 1.0, 2.0 and so forth. 

Initially, the first page of Google for these competitive terms was dominated by ‘hacked sites’ who would encourage applications and sell the data over and over. At one point in 2012, page 1 consisted of only two real loan companies and 8 hacked websites. This caused the execs at Google HQ to wake up and create a special approach for these search terms, taking away irresponsible companies and protecting customer details.

The algorithm changes included demoting websites with ‘thin’ content that was not deemed relevant, those witih spammy or irrelevant links including private blog networks, directories, paid submissions and reciprocal link strategies.

The result for not following best practices could lead to being demoted 10 pages on Google or removed altogether, not even ranking for your brand name, a total blacklist.

How We Have Approach Cashfloat

Keeping within the Google guidelines, we have adopted a super-clean approach for Cashfloat. This has included adding regular, well-written and unique SEO content and uploading around 6 articles per week, with strong internal links to other pages. The language and content is also approved by their compliance team to ensure it is FCA friendly. 

In terms of links, we have had to attract natural follow links through writing useful guides and using SEO tools like Majestic to find the strongest links of competitiors and trying to replicate their backlink profiles. This is coupled with regular link disavows to Google to remove any low quality of spammy links that are naturally accumulated in the loans industry, similar to hosting, gambling and binary. 

Our success with Cashfloat has put them in a strong position leading to the busy Christmas and January spillover, alling them to maximise their returns and strengthen our relationship as an SEO partner.

We are pleased to announce our partnership with Family Money, a new family money magazine in the UK. The site’s approach to lead generation is very clever. Whilst most websites these days consist of clear contact forms and comparison tables, Family Money are taking a similar style to Which.co.uk and MoneySavingExpert. With the site consisting of thousands of editorial content, they focus on answering the key questions of consumer finance products such as loans, currencies, money transfers and insurance.

For highly specific products regulated by the FCA such as excise duties, contemporary insurance and wedding insurance – the average person knows very little about this and needs to do their research. By providing a long, useful guide, the site is able to engage the reader and potentially convert them as a customer through an affiliate link or form. Finding that balance between reading the content and incorporating calls-to-action is key here.

Our Role

As SEO specialists, it is our job to ensure that every article and its content is optimised to its fullest across meta-titles, meta-descriptions, h1 headings, h2 headings, internal links and images (and their alt-text).

We ensure that every article can be well optimised for long-tail key phrases and that a potential piece can rank for dozens of keywords.

In addition, to ensure a smooth indexation of the website, we monitor crawl errors and broken links daily to ensure no downtime for the customer and a clean experience for both the customer and reader. In addition, we aim to maintain a strong site speed of over 70/100 on both mobile and desktop to achieve fast loading of pages and ideally keep users on the site for as long as possible.

We expect Family Money to grow considerably in the next year and eventually become a strong resource for financial products in the UK.

Commercial leases often contain provisions, commonly referred to as a “break clause”, allowing one (or either) party to terminate the lease early. In the current challenging economic conditions, break clauses are increasingly relied on by tenants to bring the lease to an early end. Landlords on the other hand are often keen to maintain their income stream and may look for ways to hold the tenant to the full term. This has resulted in a recent increase in litigation. While exercising a break clause may seem straightforward at first, there are many potential pitfalls which tenants may not be aware of which could result in the break notice being defective and the tenant missing out on the opportunity to terminate the lease early. This can have devastating effects on a tenant’s business. To avoid this situation legal advice should be sought at an early stage and certainly before any notice is served. The difficulties and requirements when a tenant exercises a break clause include the following: Drafting the notice The first step of course is to consider the lease carefully for any specific requirements. For example, the break clause may stipulate the exact form in which the break notice must be served in which case it is crucial that form is used. The notice should of course be addressed to the correct party and the first step is to identify the competent landlord and the correct address for service. This will usually involve checking the lease as well as the Land Registry and Companies House. If there is any doubt more than one copy of the notice should be served. Serving the notice When it comes to service, the break clause itself may specify how the notice must be sent and when it will be deemed to have been received by the landlord. Otherwise the general notice provisions in the lease will apply. If the service provisions are mandatory then strict compliance is essential whereas permissive provisions will give the tenant a choice on how to effect service. Due to the importance of break notices this will often demand greater certainty (compared to routine notices) and the only way to achieve this might be to hand deliver the notice to the landlord, often by a process server. Timing The break dates are the dates on which the lease may be terminated early. The break clause may, for example, allow the tenant to terminate the lease at any time (known as a rolling break), on a fixed date or dates, or at any time after a specified date. It is a good idea to diarise any break dates and the notice period required at the start of the lease to give sufficient time to review the position, consider different options and seek legal advice before exercising the break clause. Break conditions The right to exercise a break clause is usually subject to the tenant complying with certain conditions. These are known as the “break conditions”. The lease will specify whether the break conditions must be complied with at the date of service of the notice, at the break date, or both. The break conditions must be complied with strictly as even a trivial breach can result in the lease continuing. There are of course many different break conditions, all of which come with their own requirements and potential difficulties, however perhaps the most common condition is to pay all the rent or all payments due under the lease. Although it is common place, compliance can be anything but straightforward because working out the exact amount due can be complex: 1. If the tenant has ever been late paying rent then, irrespective of whether the landlord has ever demanded interest to be paid, default interest will in all likelihood have accrued and be due to the landlord. The harsh reality is that, unless this is picked up on and an amount is paid to cover any outstanding interest,  the break condition will not be satisfied and the lease will continue. 2. There may also be a question of how rent should be apportioned for any part month/quarter/year and there are different methods for calculating this which will provide slightly different results. 3. It is not always appropriate for the tenant to apportion rent and the tenant may be required to pay any instalment of rent which has fallen due in full (and subsequently ask the landlord for a refund) in order to comply with the break condition. As a tenant it is prudent to either agree with your landlord what sum, if any, is due under the lease or if that is not possible then “overpay” what you think is due and ask the landlord to refund the balance. Expert advice is essential in order to exercise a break option to terminate a lease successfully and to avoid litigation. We have a dedicated Property Disputes Team experienced in terminating leases and dealing with any disputes which have arisen. If you need assistance exercising a break clause, or advice regarding an ongoing dispute then please do not hesitate to contact the team on 01603 610911. Note: the content of this article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Specific legal advice should be taken in any specific circumstance.

Even before Uber made the headlines (for all the wrong reasons) by covering up a massive data breach, the imminent introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has made data protection a hot topic. The GDPR is a brand new regulation which will replace the Data Protection Act with effect from the 25 May 2018. You may have heard some chatter about the more sensational features of the new GDPR, such as more stringent consent requirements for processing of personal data and huge fining powers. We, at Leathes Prior, prefer to shut out the chatter and take a practical and prepared approach to these upcoming changes. We have therefore prepared a new GDPR-ready data protection clause, which will help employers comply with data protection law both before and after May 2018 in respect of their employees. The GDPR will introduce stringent new requirements on obtaining consent for processing personal data, and so a general clause in an employment contract requiring an employee to consent to all processing activities is unlikely to be effective. But fear not! Among general changes in terminology, this new clause highlights that, under the GDPR, consent should not be the legal basis used for the processing activities which employers are required to carry out in relation to their employees (such as payroll) – consent is not the only basis for legal processing of personal data when it comes to employees. Transparency and accountability in data processing are a central feature of the GDPR. Our new data protection clause highlights the need for employees to notify employers of any data breach immediately (such as a lost laptop, missing mobile or even an errant email) so that you can keep accurate records and safeguard your business in the event of a breach. Of course, employment contracts are only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to complying with the new law. For our part, we are currently in the process of reviewing our Data Protection Policy which will be available soon – so watch this space! In the meantime, if you have any questions about amending your staff handbook or employment contracts, please contact the Employment Team on 01603 281142. If you would like advice on the GDPR in relation to your commercial transactions and activities, please contact our Commercial Team on 01603 281165, for a no obligation quote.  Note: the content of this article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Specific legal advice should be taken in any specific circumstance.

We are delighted to announce that we are working with The Wood Works, a leading provider of bespoke kitchen and furniture in the UK. Standing out in this crowded market is not easy, especially when you are based in London and there is a lot of choice available.

We were hired by The Wood Works as SEO and UX (user experience) specialists to help drive users and conversions to the site. The secret was to find the balance between letting people browse and also submit their details. 

User Experience

Giving users the opportunity to browse a full range of kitchens and furniture was key, so we implemented a simple flick through via mobile and tablet for anyone prospective customers. In addition, we have proactively compressed hundreds of images on the website to below 100kb to increase the speed, whilst still maintaining quality high res images.

We have opted for adding contact forms and calls-to-action within the web page and always on the footer of every page, creating a natural scroll down to get in touch and make an enquiry.

SEO

In terms of keywords, we have devised a strategy which targets local keywords around Hitchin and Hertfordshire and also Mill Hill, where their new branch will soon be based (in North London). We consider that location keywords should be easier to grab top spots for on Google since they are less competitive. We have achieved this via adding the location keywords into the meta-titles and descriptions and also acquiring links from local authorities such as the Herts Growth Hub and Watford Observer.

The organic searches we have generated have been maximised through an effective remarketing campaign via Google’s display network and facebook marketing. This is part of our strategy to help convert customers, believing that the first-time customers may not get in touch but once they have seen the brand several times on other channels, they will be inclined to take that next step.

Moving forward, we believe that a focused approach to add continuous content and strong links to the site will help achieve top spots for the shorter-tail, more competitive keywords such as ‘bespoke furniture’ and ‘bespoke kitchens.’ We acknowledge that for more competitive keywords, you must start ranking on page 10 to 9 to 8 etc and slowly make your way up.

Give the gift of Park Farm Hotel. Whether it be for a birthday, special occasion, Christmas or just to let someone special know you care. Give them a Hotel voucher to enjoy the finest hospitality Norfolk has to offer.

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For over 5 years, Abate Pest Management has been servicing Bretts Transport’s 170,000ft2 ambient warehouse at its Guyhirn Distribution Centre in Cambridgeshire. Simon Brett, Managing Director has praised Abate for the services that they carry out to the required BRC requirement. He then asked if he could have some help at his private residence. Simon has had an issue with birds at his house for some time. Pigeons were roosting at various places and depositing pigeon guano over window ledges, brickwork and onto the drive. He had tried several different methods to resolve the situation but didn’t have much success. We advised that bird gel would be a great solution. Gel systems are a physical barrier to discourage birds from landing on buildings. The gel is applied to ledges and ridges in small pots. To the birds, the gel distorts their landing patterns and this discourages them from perching. It was later found that a gel solution had been tried before but not installed correctly making it ineffective. We also recommended a spike system for a certain area of the property which consisted of strips of plastic spikes that again provide a physical barrier preventing birds from landing. They are a cost effective and adaptable solution that can be used on a wide range of buildings. We cleaned down by soaking the affected areas with water and an anti-bacterial agent to prevent the creation of dust whilst cleaning all the guano. Our technicians then applied the gel and spike solutions throughout the necessary areas of the property. Simon said, “It was like magic.  The birds instantly disappeared and haven’t been seen since the work was carried out”.  Jon Blake of Abate said “Bird control isn’t just for commercial buildings. At Abate we create a bespoke solution for the type of bird problem and the property concerned. There are several solutions that we use to eradicate bird problems. Every property is different.  We conduct a detailed survey to identify the best solution to use which may be based upon the age of the property; if it is listed and where the bird problems are taking place. To see all of the different proofing solutions, check out the bird control page on our website.”

On the 24th November we saw the return of Norwich’s fourth Sync the City event, which took place in the beautiful setting of Norwich Cathedral. For those who have escaped the hype surrounding this event over the past few years, Sync the City, run by SyncNorwich, is a 54 hour event which brings together budding entrepreneurs with experienced business mentors and technology expertise. The lucky competitors start by taking part in a 1 minute pitchoff, where anybody can pitch an idea. The best ideas are taken forward and you hire a team on the spot! The teams then have from Thursday afternoon until Saturday evening (minus a few hours sleep) to make their ideas a reality. This is more than your average Hackathon. It’s a three day frenzy of start-up building where the winning team can potentially win £4,000 in cash prizes (£3,000 judges’ winner and £1,000 people’s choice), as well as sales training from Sandler Training and one year associate membership of Norfolk Network. Not only that, but last year’s winners, SenLab, who took their Sync the City idea forward, went on to secure around £300,000 worth of funding in their first round of pitches; turning 18 year old computer science student George Davis into Group Chief Executive.

I chatted to our one of our Software Developers, Henri, and Software Apprentice, Jack, who took part for the first time this year, to find out how they found the experience.

What were you expecting from Sync the City?

We were slightly apprehensive. We pictured a really tense environment with lots of serious people doing serious work. But we were also worried that our skill set might not match up to that of the rest of our team and we might not be able to contribute all that much.

What were your overall impressions of the event?

In the end it was really enjoyable. We ended up with a great team who were all really friendly and that meant that everything was very open. They were accepting of everyone’s different skill sets and everyone was given the chance to put their ideas forward. And, even though not everyone had experience of presenting, we were all asked if we’d like to give it a go when it came to doing the final pitch and given the opportunity to challenge ourselves.

Can you tell us what the idea behind your startup was?

Our idea was for a type of social network that encourages face-to-face meeting. We named it “Jolli Good” and it was actually tailored toward lonely people and encouraging community involvement. You start by posting the words “Who wants to…” followed by something like “start a community allotment” or “go and see x film”. So the focus was really on finding people near you who are free at the time and who aren’t already in your social network or Facebook friends list.

Who was on your team?

There were 9 people on our team from various backgrounds. Our Team Mentor, Brian, was a developer from Earthware, a digital consultancy who design apps and websites. And then there were 3 people from Liftshare, another aspiring developer from Norwich City Council and a Design student from the UEA.

What aspects of the project were you responsible for?

We were both responsible for developing a prototype for the frontend, but we had to focus on the elements which would make it easiest for the rest of the team to pitch and for people to understand the concept.

What was the most exciting / challenging aspect of the event?

When we had to scrap the original plan about 8pm on Friday night and start again with a whole new concept. We definitely had to work hard from then onwards to meet the deadline.

What would you do differently next time?

We probably could have driven our own ideas into it more from a developer perspective and managed the rest of the team’s expectations a bit better in terms of what we could get done in the timeframe. And never again will we try to shove new ideas into the build 15 minutes before the technical demo; only to mess up the code so that we were worried we weren’t going to have anything to show at all!

What did you think of LoneSafe’s winning project?

They had a great pitch and a really nice idea for a system for keeping workers safe, which would probably have a wide ranging social impact if it was developed.

Have you caught up on sleep yet?

Just about. We only had about 3 hours sleep one night.

Would you do it again?

Definitely!

Photos by Tim Stephenson Photography

Words by Hollie Shooter

Venue: The Maids Head Hotel, Tombland, Norwich, NR3 1LB

Price: £13.95 per person

Register: https://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/245072685/

7.30 am Breakfast

7.50 am How Norfolk Chamber of Commerce can help digital business

8.30 am Finish

At the nor(Dev) breakfast, Chris will explain how Norfolk Chamber can help you to raise the profile of your digital business, highlight you as an expert in your sector and increase awareness of your brand. Chris will demonstrate how Norfolk Chamber can ensure your business content, press releases and promotions reach the maximum number of potential readers.

Free parking is available at the Maids Head, but make sure you give your car registration number to reception before you leave so as not to be charged.