Our team is delighted to reveal that we have teamed up with health insurance firm Equipsme. Tudor Lodge Consultants has been working hard to improve the firm’s online presence through implementing a thorough white hat SEO strategy, using an array of tools that we have acquired.
About Equipsme
Equipsme makes purchasing health insurance for businesses in the UK simple and easy to do. The health insurance company provides an alternative, cost-effective solution for firms so that they can insure the health of their employees straightforwardly at a low price. Equipsme’s healthcare plans involve no medical jargon, no medical questions and an easy to understand pricing structure and the same premium for those aged between 16-69 years old.
What we have achieved for Equipsme
Improving functionality: one important aspect of SEO strategy is ensuring that a website is running as fast as possible – if it does not, this can impact bounce rates and its Google ranking. As a result, our team has been working hard to improve Equipsme’s site speed. We have also been working on the functionality of the mobile version of the site to ensure it is user friendly.
Keywords: we have also been carrying out keyword research to make sure that the health insurance firm is ranking high for terms related to the health and medical sector, so that Equipsme ranks higher in SERPs.
Links: Tudor Lodge Consultants understands just how vital having strong links can be when it comes to having an excellent SEO strategy. That is why we have been working on making sure that we have been finding Equipsme reputable and trustworthy links within the health and medical sector, as well as carrying out link reclamation. This also helps make the site easier to crawl for Google indexing.
Site fix: making sure that response codes have been fixed, as well as meta descriptions and titles are of an adequate length with relevant keywords, is important for SEO. This is something the team has been changing on the Equipsme site.
Norfolk is home to an entrepreneurial spirit that’s the envy of the United Kingdom. We’re a county that loves business, and that knows how to do business, but like the country as a whole, we’re having to deal with economic uncertainty. The impact of Brexit on Norfolk is yet to be seen, of course, but it’s sure to bring opportunities as well as challenges for its business leaders. One way our businesses can keep ahead of their corporate rivals is by avoiding wastage and saving money without impacting on their products or services. With that in mind, here are three simple yet effective ways for Norfolk businesses to save money.
Don’t Pay Too Much for Your Energy
All businesses should know exactly what their overheads are, and use this to ensure that there are no areas which leak money. One of the biggest overheads that most businesses face, whatever sector they operate in, is their energy costs, so it’s important that you don’t pay more than you really have to. The best way to get the best deal is to compare commercial gas suppliers and electricity suppliers via a specialist comparison website like Utility Bidder. You’ll be able to see which suppliers offer the best service at the lowest price, and make an informed decision about who to sign up with. Don’t forget to compare energy suppliers at regular intervals, as prices and deals can change rapidly.
Use Modern Marketing Methods
The world around us is also changing rapidly, and that means that traditional forms of advertising and marketing may not be as effective as they once were. We consume media differently, so adverts on radio, television and radio may no longer be seen or heeded. An increasing number of businesses in Norfolk and beyond are using the opportunities that social media brings to promote their products, and this can allow you to reach a much larger audience for a significantly smaller outlay. You’ll need to have an active presence on all the main social media platforms, and remember that your posts should be vibrant, eye catching and entertaining as well as informative. Social media marketing can bring rich rewards, and it can also be an effective way to reach Millennial customers.
Make the Most of Outsourcing
Outsourcing some of your business functions can allow you to obtain high quality work at a very competitive price, so look for areas of your business where you can outsource tasks rather than recruiting directly into your company. This not only gives you added flexibility in that you can hire people nationwide, it also cuts down on the time and expense that a recruitment campaign can cost. Typical areas where you may be able to outsource include design, customer support, event management and accounting.
Don’t Use Overtime Unless Absolutely Necessary
Plan for the business so that overtime work and overtime pay is not required. While it’s commonplace to see companies resort to offering overtime to cash strapped employees in place of taking on someone part-time, it’s a bad idea. Having already completed their normal day’s work, the extra hours are sub-optimal. The overtime worker cannot perform at the same level and will likely be working early mornings or evenings to get work done. The altered hours lead to an increasing number of mistakes which may exceed what is gained. Also, their regular work will eventually suffer too when they don’t get enough rest.
Use Co-Working Arrangements to Save Money
Co-working is the idea of allowing full-time employees to work from their home office. It cuts out the commute and the need for a permanent desk for them. When either used as a strategy to reduce the office space required, or to manage rapid expansion without requiring an office move too soon, it can be a cost-efficient move.
Using co-workers is different to outsourcing because the staff still work for you. They’re under contract, receive most of the same benefits and can be expected to deliver when needed. Freelancers receive much less commitment from you or commitment to you. By mixing a little of both, companies can manage their costs and office footprint better while not sacrificing control of their operations.
Creating a lean, efficient company with the help of outsourcing, adopting social media marketing, and using a comparison website to find the best business energy supplier can save you significant amounts of money, year on year. That means that you’ll be competitive whatever Brexit and other economic factors may bring our way, so that you can continue to contribute to the Norfolk business success story.
AI software firm Optalitix is now working with the Tudor Lodge Consultants team to boost its SEO rankings. We are dedicated to helping the startup to develop their SEO practices and increase its online presence to a much wider audience.
Who are Optalitix?
Optalitix provides an AI machine learning solution to startups, with the aim of removing the complexity than can surround business analytics and data modeling. The company allows companies to see measurable advantages across key business metrics, regardless of the industry they are in.
How we are helping Optalitix?
Keyword ranking: The main task we are carrying out for the AI machine learning startup is focusing on keyword research, ensuring that they rank highly on SERPs for terms that relate strongly to their field of expertise.
This includes terms such as ‘ai companies’ and ‘data analytics companies’. We make sure that content that is created relates to these keywords, as well as ensuring that links to Optalitix feature these terms too.
Market positioning: We wanted to use our knowledge of SEO to position Optalitix in the industry and hopefully when people type anything relating to AI into Google, that they will come up. This includes any “Top 10” lists or “AI Startups to Watch” and working with the publisher to put Optalitix at the top of the tree.
We appreciate that in b2b marketing, conversion rates can be quite low – but if we can establish Optalitix now as a key player in the industry and keep them ranking on different sites in the future, it will maximise their chances of getting a good enquiry.
Content creation: To position the brand further, we are conducting interviews with the company founders across different IT and tech sites and also on Linkedin, to further cement their position in the industry
The entire team at Tudor Lodge Consultants are thrilled to announce that we are working with the well-renowned and very well-established team at Robert Quinn Consultants on their new website and offering, SMCR Compliance (https://www.smcrcompliance.com/).
With so much going on in the world of finance and all the compliance that goes hand in hand with the UK’s huge financial services sector, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have in recent years rolled out a range of different regulation for different sub-sectors of the financial market to keep things fair and safe for users of these services throughout the UK.
One such type of new financial regulation is the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR), which has replaced the Approved Persons Regime for all FCA registered companies and firms in the UK. in short, this regulation makes more members of management and staff in qualifying businesses responsible for the regulatory compliance necessary.
As part of this process, Robert Quinn’s regulatory team have created their SMCR Compliance brand which features a plethora of e-learning and tools for managers and qualifying people to utilise and undertake to make sure that their businesses are fully compliant with UK regulations. Working with their team, we are using our search engine optimisation (SEO) team to overcome the following challenges in the industry and help them with:
Awareness of the Regulation – Many businesses who easily qualify for SMCR and all it entails are not fully aware (if at all) that they qualify for this regime. Hence, when the regulation comes in and takes effect, they may be in a vulnerable position. By helping the SMCR Compliance brand climb higher up Google, we are helping get them in front of the audiences that matter
Promoting E-Learning – Part of the SMCR programme required to be undertaken by firms and financial companies, is the relevant people within the businesses in question learning the relevant regulation. Hence, we are helping SMCR Compliance to increase their online visibility for their e-learning offering through the organic rankings of Google
User Experience – The user experience for those that reach the site is a crucial aspect of any online marketing. When it comes to SEO, it is that extra bit important. SEO allows the capturing of relevant users to the website in question. However, if the website isn’t appealing and if it doesn’t perform to a high level and at the optimum speed, users will leave. Hence, we are working on the site speed of the SMCR Compliance website
Crawling and Understanding – Helping Google to fully understand and comprehend everything on the SMCR website is key. Ultimately, if Google doesn’t understand and fully register the content and offerings on the website, nothing will rank currently if at all. Hence, we are working on the fundamental ranking factors to ensure Google can understand, read and register everything on the SMCR Compliance website properly
We are always gifting each other for different things. Sometimes, it is a just-because gift. Like just because you mean the world to me, here is a necklace, mum. Or it could be an occasion such as a graduation. You need to get something that shows how much you honour a loved one for such a great accomplishment. And sometimes it is the holidays, and you need to think about fantastic Christmas presents for her. With all these instances, it would help if you had a guide that you could follow time and again. The good news is that you can use a few simple steps to get everyone a gift they will treasure. Here’s how:
How much can you spend?
Sometimes, it is not how much you would like to spend, but rather how much you can afford. Let’s suppose you are working with a budget of fifty dollars. It would help if you used this as a parameter for the gifts. That way, you would walk into a shop and state that you need a gift that is around that price range or below that. For online shopping, you can put this as one of the determinants. Having a budget helps in narrowing down the choices. It also keeps you from spending too much money on a gift, only to realize that you dented your savings by a significant percentage.
What is the occasion?
Now that you know how much you can spend on the gift, you need to narrow down the options further. And you can do this by considering the type of occasion you will be attending. Here is an example of this. For a bridal shower, you could get an item from an adult shop, if you get the drift. This gift would be one that would not lead to cringes and side looks when opened in front of people. But take the same gift to a graduation party where family members are present, and it will be out of place. The host may not mind the gift and may inwardly be itching to take it home immediately, but the attendants may feel put out. So you can save this for another time. But that does not mean that your gift should be dull. You know what the host would like, and you can get a gift in line with their personality. As long as it is mindful of other people in the party.
Also, other than appropriateness, you should think about the use of the gift. Take the example of a wedding or a house-warming party. It is the start of a new life and calls for gifts that aid in the same. While you could show up with a bottle of chardonnay, it would be great if you presented them with something practical. However, if the hosts insist on simple items, you do not have to go out of your way. You will find that in some cases, the hosts may state that they have a register in place with their preferred selections. You can have an easy time shopping for them by going through the list and choosing what would work with your budget.
Do they have a colour preference?
While some people may not openly admit it, we are all drawn to some colours more than others. Other people may state that they have a favourite colour. You can use this information when getting a gift. Suppose you have a friend who loves pink, and you are getting a bathrobe for them. Getting one in pink would delight them. Then some people do not like colours much. Or you could be unsure of what they would like. In this case, it is best to go with neutral colours as they will rarely be out of place.
What do they like?
We all have different interests. Some people are all about photography, while others have a keen interest in collections. Maybe you have a friend who loves trying out new cuisines and even has a channel on the same. Getting them a cooking set, recipe book, or something related to this would be great. It might feel challenging to get something in a field in which you are a newbie. But the results will be well worth it.
Online shopping has opened up a new realm of possibilities. And you can get a lot of creative gifts for your loved ones at the touch of a button. So don’t shy away from being creative in this process. Have fun!
During the first few years of business, small companies have to face a lot of challenges. Some of them are harder to overcome, while many can be resolved effectively. In fact, many common business problems are fixable such as generating leads, finding customers, building an email list, hiring talented staff, balancing growth and quality. To resolve all these issues, you just require to take the right steps. Below in this article, we’ve mentioned a few main problems most small companies face. Read them all, take your time, understand these issues, and introduce solutions accordingly.
Finding Customers
Every business needs to make an effort in order to grab the attention of their customers. Marketers of world-renowned companies such as Apple, Toyota, and McDonald’s don’t just sit around and wait for their customers to come they work every day to find and attract new customers. However, for small businesses, especially the one that just started, finding customers can be a very challenging task. To find customers, first, you need to understand who your ideal customers are. Once you’ve done that, you have to build your buyer persona and then start creating content to reach your customers effectively.
Cash Flow
Being a business owner, you need to understand that poor cash flow can potentially break your business. According to the report, every one out of four firms could not even complete their first year, and over half don’t survive past the fifth. While investing money in your business is necessary, you must generate profit as well. You need to keep a hard eye on cash flowing in and out of your business. Plus, you need to make sure that you collect all the payments on time so that you are not just investing money. For this, you need to make sure that you receive payments from those who have bought your products on lease. If they don’t pay you money on time, then you can contact any debt collector to ask for advice. Click here to learn more about debt collection through legal processes.
Lack of Communication
While business communication has improved in different ways, many issues are still unsolved. These problems can have a significant influence on your business performance and key stakeholders, including workers, customers, and third-party vendors. Some of the most common communication barriers that your small business can face are missing important calls, lack of communication with stakeholders, and disconnected employees. In order to make sure proper interaction between employees and stakeholders, you need to introduce practices that can eliminate these communication barriers.
Spreading Brand Awareness
Have you ever wondered how today’s most prominent brands become a household name? How do they do it? How did they grow that rapidly? Can your business make progress like that? Why not! It is essential to understand that nobody gains success overnight. Behind every successful business, there are failures, hard work, and rejections. To build and promote your company, you need to spread your business message. You can do that through PR, co-marketing, and blogging. These strategies have proven to be beneficial for businesses of all scales.
Norfolk’s tourism economy brings in approximately £3.3 billion annually and provides over 67,000 jobs (that’s 18.7% of all employment in Norfolk). That’s a healthy economy and a lot of revenue your small business can draw from. That’s why every small business in Norfolk should have a marketing strategy that targets tourists. Marketing is an important skill to master if you want your small business to grow. So much so, that marketing skills rank among the top 10 in-demand skills on LinkedIn. Segmented marketing targets specific groups or demographics, like tourists. Marketing to tourists doesn’t have to involve big budgets or elaborate campaigns. Here are five easy ways to market your small business to tourists.
Get listed on online business directories
Joining the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is a great way to network with other businesses. There are also several online business directories you can join to target both local residents and visitors to Norfolk. Some directories charge a listing fee but others are free to join. Here are a few to start with:
The Business UK directory offers its members free advertising. Local Business Forums lists businesses across three districts in Norfolk, covering the towns of Attleborough, Snetterton, Breckland, Broadland, South Norfolk, and Thetford. On Yell.com, you can place sponsored ads and purchase digital marketing packages that run pay-per-click advertising campaigns. They also have a smartphone app that allows customers to easily find your business, get directions, and leave a review. Buy Local Norfolk is passionate about local sustainability. If your business uses products and materials sourced locally in the making of your goods, this is a great directory to join.
Place marketing material at tourist hot spots
One of the easiest ways to reach tourists is with old-fashioned print marketing. Think of how many times you’ve browsed the leaflet rack while waiting to check-in at a hotel. Plenty of other tourists do the same thing. Print a batch of leaflets, brochures, or business cards and distribute these at airports, hotels, car rental offices and any other tourist touchpoints you can think of. If your design skills are lacking, Norwich Print Solutions can help design your promotional material.
Advertise online
Technology and travel have converged. Today, tourists do most of their travel research and planning online. According to Google Travel, 74% of travellers plan their trips online compared to only 13% who still use travel agencies. That’s why online marketing is a must to draw tourists.
Paid advertising on platforms like GoogleAds and Facebook ads allows you to fine-tune your target market. You can create campaigns that target a specific demographic, location, and even time of day. It also lets you choose the best keywords to attract the right customers. If budget is a concern, pay-per-click advertising allows you to control your ad spend by setting an affordable campaign budget.
Approach bloggers to highlight your business
Influencer marketing has exploded over the last few years and for good reason. Having your product or service mentioned on a high-profile blog can boost your business’s reputation. Successful bloggers have built up a loyal following who trust their opinion. If they mention your business, their readers are likely to trust you too. It also helps you acquire valuable backlinks to your website. All of this increases the chance of tourists finding your business when searching for travel information.
When working with bloggers, it’s important to find the right fit. Put together a list of suitable travel bloggers and local bloggers who focus on the Norfolk region. Before approaching the blogger, do some research on their criteria for sponsored posts. If they are open to a sponsored post, offer to send them a product sample or invite them to experience a service you provide. Most bloggers will only recommend a product or service they have used and like.
Book your spot at local events
If you sell crafts or food, having a presence at local events, markets, and fairs is a great way to take your business to the customer. If there are events taking place during school vacations or over the Christmas season, like the Norfolk Creations Christmas Fair and Holkham Festive Food Fair, book your spot as a vendor. At these times of the year, there are more visitors to our shores and many of them attend these festivals.
Marketing your small business to tourists can be accomplished on a small budget yet boost your annual turnover in a big way.
Tudor Lodge Consultants is happy to announce that we are doing SEO for a new tea start-up called Nutra Tea. Based in Hemel Hempstead near London, the company are experts in nutritious but finely crafted herbal teas, which have been formulated in order to provide a number of health benefits without compromising on quality or flavour.
The ingredients have been selected and sourced from over 20 countries in order to provide the finest quality tea. Each tea in the range is made up of 100% raw ingredients with zero additives – compared to regular teas which may only include a small percentage of ginger or mint, but are loaded with our flavours and sweeteners to improve flavour.
Job specification
Our role as SEO professionals is to help maximise visibility on search engines such as Google and Bing and ultimately lead to sales.
We created a long list of keywords to target such as ginger tea, herbal tea, mint tea etc, but appreciate the high competition from other retailers and top supermarket brands.
Therefore, we compiled a long list of long tail keywords to be more specific and target the uses of the products including ‘tea of anxiety,’ ‘tea for stress’ and ‘tea to boost energy’ which we have curated through a number of effective guides and landing pages.
Our SEO approach for Nutra Tea
Links: our team understands the importance of having strong links in order to improve a firm’s Google ranking. Consequently, we have focused on ensuring that Nutra Tea has reputable links with a number of trustworthy websites. Not only does this make it easier for Google to crawl the site, but it also improves the startup’s SEO ranking as well.
Content writing: We have also been writing content for Nutra Tea to help solidify its reputation in the health sector as well as to a larger audience base overall. We have shared this content to be featured on a variety of websites in the field to help improve the company’s rankings.
Technical SEO: In addition we have ensured that content has been carefully structured, so that it adheres to our SEO guidelines. This includes things such as making sure to use relevant topic titles, H2 headings as well as internal links on any article we write for Nutra Tea.
In month one, you can only really expect to rank for your brand name and maybe the odd long-term keyword. However, as the weeks progress and we reach the 3, 6 and 12 month stage, we expect the brand to start pushing to page 1 for some larger terms and generating quality sales.
Freebridge Community Housing employees helped to collect nearly 400 boxes of food donations for the King’s Lynn Foodbank last week.
Six people from across the organisation spent time at the Tesco stores at Hardwick and Gaywood as part of their charitable support leave, a day which all Freebridge employees can take to voluntarily support local charities within the community.
The team were handing out leaflets with shopping lists on to explain to shoppers exactly what the foodbank needs, with the list including items they are in urgent need of such as squash and long life juice in small containers, tinned rice pudding, sponge pudding, UHT and long life milk and tinned meat.
Helen Gilbert from King’s Lynn Foodbank said: “The volunteers from Freebridge made a massive difference – the more leaflets get handed out, the more food we get in, and without their support we’d have been without any help for large parts of the collection, so big thanks to them and to Freebridge for allowing them to come along.”
Birgit Lenton, Director of Corporate Service and Culture at Freebridge said: “Every year Freebridge’s employees choose a charity to support throughout the year, and this year they chose the King’s Lynn Foodbank. We are delighted that our colleagues have been able to help such an important charity at a time of year when they are more needed than ever.”
If you’d like to donate to the King’s Lynn Foodbank you can find details of what to give and where to take it at www.kingslynn.foodbank.org.uk
How to Differentiate Your Business | Start With Why When you are running a small enterprise, differentiating your business from your competition is essential. Positioning yourself differently within a market can help you stand out from the competition and provide you with the opportunity to really inspire your customers. Cutting your prices is definitely not how to make your business stand out from the crowd. We all have bills to pay and there will always be someone that’s cheaper than you at some point anyway. And there’s nothing more depressing than spending an entire month working your socks off only to find your bank balance is still at 0. Trust me, I’ve been there, and it’s a downhill spiral once you’ve made that decision. So we need answers to the following questions: 1) How to differentiate your brand. 2) How to differentiate your business. The good news is, it is likely you already possess one of the key ingredients you need to make your business stand out. All we need to do is reveal it and articulate it. And to do that, all we need is Simon Sinek’s ‘Start With Why’. Watch the video to find how. ________ The Native Origin channel provides a small business toolbox – in other words, everything you could possibly need – to gain the essential DIY skills to maximise the success of your small business. The aim of this channel is to give you all of the things I wish I knew when I set up my small business. So SUBSCRIBE now to be notified the moment new videos go live.
<a t want to consider changing anything, the plan was to build the profile of Lapland Mailroom and the positioning for keywords surrounding Letters From Santa within Google. Social media engagement with customers on social channels including FaceBook and Twitter was also highlighted as an incremental element of the campaign.
(Nicola says) After 2 months of the SEO campaign starting we noticed a positive shift in Google traffic. Daniel was on hand all he way offering explanations in a very easy to understand fashion. We have moved up from page 8 to page 1 and sales have started to increase week on week. We are delighted with Daniel and his team and would recommend them for everyone in Norfolk.
Brief Summary: Established business selling personalised letters from Santa. Targeting parents and grandparents in the UK. Price point of £8.95. The brief to build a brand online and increase awareness and visibility to increase seasonal sales.
Solution: Landing page design & development, PPC campaign via Google Adwords, National SEO campaign targeting 14 keywords, Social media awareness on Facebook and Twitter to increase customer interaction and after sales service.
The Association for Family lawyers, Resolution, found that 46% of cohabiting couples wrongly believe “common-law marriage” laws exist for couples who choose not to marry. As part of their annual Awareness Week, Resolution is focusing on the need for legal reform, to provide at least basic rights for cohabiting couples who separate. Between 25 – 29 November 2019, they will be campaigning on, and raising awareness of, the issues facing our ‘cohabitation nation’.
The fastest growing family type
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the fastest growing family type in 2017 was cohabiting households, with 3.3 million cohabiting families compared to just 1.5 million in 1996. This equates to 1 in every 5 families in the UK.
Many couples starting a family together now choose to delay marriage or avoid it altogether.
Legal disadvantages
There are legal disadvantages, however, for unmarried couples. The law does not currently offer protection for cohabiting couples in the same way as for married couples.
Whilst particularly relevant in unfortunate cases where a relationship breaks down, there are also implications for couples who wish to stay together.
Rights upon the break down of an unmarried relationship
It is possible for a couple to live together for many years and bring up children together, but at the end of the relationship not to have any financial claim for income or assets built up during the relationship.
Other cohabitation issues
As opposed to rights after marriage, a cohabitee is not legally classed as the next of kin. If one partner were to die without making a Will, the surviving partner is not classed as next of kin, so they would not automatically have a right to a share of a property or possessions.
Financially speaking, in certain circumstances, there are some tax advantages to marriage that don’t apply in the same way for unmarried couples. This and further issues are explained in a good article on the Citizens Advice Bureau website, ‘Living together and marriage: Legal differences.’
Providing protection
Via Resolution and other lobby groups, there is a movement to persuade MPs to consider updating the law around cohabitation to catch up with the change in society.
There are also some steps individuals and cohabiting couples can take to protect themselves in advance of anything going wrong, including:
A Cohabitation or Living Together Agreement can detail issues including who pays the bills, the operation of bank accounts and how any property should be divided should the relationship end in the future.
Before any property is jointly purchased, a Declaration of Trust can set out how sale proceeds will be divided in the future if you split up, for example.
Making a Will, to detail your wishes regarding your dependants and property.
Richard Dilks is a specialist Norwich Family Law solicitor at Hatch Brenner on Theatre Street. He is a member of Resolution, and can provide advice to those who are planning on cohabiting or are in a cohabiting relationship. Call 01603 660 811, or email [email protected]