Google pushes Local on UK search
by Brian TurnerIf you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thank you for visiting!Just noticed Google trying to push local search on Google UK SERPS:
I’ve read about Google pushing this before on Google.com, but only just seen this in action on Google UK.
While a number of businesses may serve local markets, […]
December 2, 2008
Lessons for Freelancers
by Brian TurnerSteven Snell writes an interesting post at Design Mag providing 16 tips for freelancers.
While we’ve seen these sorts of lists before, this is a nice collection in terms of range and depth, and raises pointers that really need underlining, especially in today’s climate of economic uncertainty.
I’ll provide a brief over view of the points below:
1. […]
November 21, 2008
How big conservative corporations create opportunity
by Brian TurnerI read this with interest: 11% of AdWords Clicks are Wasted on Dead Pages.
While this is obviously not a “scientific study” it is nicely illustrative of problems I’ve seen around advertising spend - that of focusing too much on bringing traffic in, without properly trying to engage them.
While Jeremy talks about server side issues - […]
November 11, 2008
Tories confused over business tax breaks
by Brian TurnerThe Tories have announced their planned tax breaks for business - which essentially boil down to National Insurance incentives for companies taking on people unemployed for over three months.
Political arguments about the suitability of the Tories to govern aside, David Cameron seems to have just sounded confused about what business needs.
In times of stress, business […]
November 9, 2008
Silicon Valley employees hold worthless stock
by Brian TurnerAccording to a report in the Wall Street Journal, 80% of Silicon Valley’s top 150 companies have employees whose stock options are now worthless.
Stock options are a way to retain key staff, by the right to buy shares at a preset price, as part of a benefits package.
When the stock market runs well, the […]
August 26, 2008
Pricing strategies to increase sales
by Brian TurnerHat tip to SEOblackhat for recently highlighting a great post on SmallBizTrends about pricing: 8 Pricing Strategies you can Implement Right Now.
Some of the pricing strategies are priceless, but the first of the 8 tips especially stands out:
1. The Nine and Zero Effect. People associate the number nine with value and zero with quality. Look […]
August 14, 2008
The importance of praise for good work
by Brian TurnerI have a very good team under me, and often find myself taking it for granted that they know how valued they are.
When I realise this happening, I make a point of thanking them for their great work on an individual basis.
Sometimes I find it hard to say - it takes extra effort to communicate […]
Giant London cheesegrater gets shelved
by Brian TurnerLondon has seen plans for the city’s largest building - the Leadenhall Tower, aka “the cheesegrater” - shelved for the time being because of the credit crunch:
BBC: Slump delays ‘Cheesegrater’ plans
The firm blamed weak demand for office space and rising construction costs.
British Land said the building would be completed in 2012 when letting prospects should […]
August 8, 2008
Reducing revenues to reduce risk
by Brian TurnerOne of the commonest risks in a service business is known as the 80:20 rule - where 80% of your income comes from 20% of your clients.
The risk comes from the danger of any of that 20% cancelling their service, resulting in a significant drop in revenues.
This in itself is bad enough, but if your […]
July 10, 2008
Not every business purchase is tax deductible
by Brian TurnerInteresting thread on the forums: Splitting the cost of a new phone for business & personal use.
Frauke Golding makes some good points in posts 3,8, and 10 about how HMRC doesn’t consider every purchase as tax deductible.
Even a Blackberry is defined as a personal computer, and therefore may not allow for tax concessions.
And even buying […]
June 12, 2008
The Dangers of Content Development
by Brian TurnerLast month I had to settle £8k over copyright infringement. This week my solicitors are taking against action against Google for defamation.
There are risks and liabilities with every content development model everyone needs to be aware of.
Types of content development
No matter what sort of site you publish, whether a forum, a portal, a blog, a […]
May 22, 2008
Unfair Trading Regulations
by Brian TurnerThis week the government sent out leaflets to UK businesses outlining the impact of the recent Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations.
In their wisdom, the government has only provided PDF coverage online, so I’ll cover the main pointers below:
Practices banned outright
Abuse of the following can result in enforcement by Trading Standards:
Falsely Claiming Accreditation
1. Faking credentials […]
April 29, 2008
Basic Guide to Business Blogging
by Brian TurnerThis is an edited form of a report I recently sent to a corporate client, to help explain the principle of why blogging would be useful for engaging the social web.
I’m not going to push for presentation below or send it out as link bait - it’s an edited client report that others may be […]
April 28, 2008
10 Rules for engaging the Social Web
by Brian TurnerI was speaking with Anil Dash a while back, and it turns out we both shared the same problem - posting negative comments online, which can come back and bite us on the ass.
The problem is that while internet communications are currently text-driven, the actual social interactions taking place abide by the same principles of […]
April 17, 2008
Everything changes now on InternetBusiness.co.uk
by Brian TurnerFor the past 5 years I’ve been providing help for business online.
I work with small businesses you have never heard of - I work with massive corporations whose brands you walk past routinely on the high street.
I’ve been interviewed by national media, national press, and spoken at international conferences.
While my speciality is predominantly SEO […]
March 28, 2008
Recession risk warning for business
by Brian TurnerInvestment bank Lehman Brothers has warned that they see a 1 in 3 chance of the UK going into recession over the next 2 years.
A report by Lehman Brothers, one of the world’s largest investment banks, has concluded that the UK faces a significant chance of entering recession within the next two years.
According to the […]
November 21, 2007
Data to clog Internet by 2010
by Jan HarrisAnalyst firm Nemertes Research Group predicts a substantial slowing of the Internet by 2010, as it become unable to cope with the scale of data being exchanged.
A year long study by the company into data flows and Internet infrastructure, concluded that severe bottlenecks could occur in just three to five years.
While core fibre and […]
November 2, 2007
IOD find most small businesses not online
by Jan HarrisNew research from the Institute of Directors shows that up to two thirds of businesses in the UK, with less than 10 employees, are still not connected to the Internet.
The IOD warns that this could put them at risk of losing business or failing to keep up with their peers in continental Europe.
In […]
October 15, 2007
Envirowise advises companies to re-use, not recyle
by Jan HarrisSimon Dury, business partnerships director of the Envirowise Project, has advised firms to choose IT equipment that can be re-used, with easily replaceable parts, rather than recycled.
Envirowise is a UK government project which provides free advice to businesses on environomental issues.
Speaking at a Green Computing in Practice roundtable, Dury said that IT equipment could […]
October 12, 2007
Belfast Telegraph to go offline though inept IT
by Brian TurnerThe Belfast Telegraph website is in danger of going offline in a matter of days - because they failed to renew their domain name in July.
After noticing this, Britecorp contacted their IT dept offering to help use their specialise domain capture service and grab the domain and return it - all free of charge.
Instead, the […]