Whilst it is unlikely that anyone would be alive after such a long time, having a body (dead or alive) gives some element of closure for the friends and family of those involved. My heart goes out to all those people who will now be dealing with the “what if” factor.

Cashing in on disaster: Costa Concordia on eBay

It should come as no surprise that eBay is now flooded with Costa Concordia memorabilia. That said, Sky News reported two items which I really didn’t expect. I was unable to find the first, for t-shirts reading “I survived Costa Concordia”, and can only assume they have been removed due to severely poor taste. The second relates to a Costa Concordia poker/casino chip, which has a buy it now price of more than £1,100! Bidding currently stands at £573 (20:32 31/1/2012).

Costa Concordia poker / casino chip - authentic?

Is this authentic? I have my doubts. The seller has pictured their cabin key next to the chip but neither seem to exhibit any signs of water damage. I suspect this is a case of a former passenger trying to cash in on recent events but would be happy to be proved wrong.

Alyssa Smith, a bespoke and celebrity jeweller specialising in contemporary and personalised jewellery. Buy online at alyssasmith.co.uk.

Alyssa has confessed to being a little scared of technology, so I shall try to make this #sbs SEO freebie as simple as possible, focussing on techniques that require absolutely no technical know-how.

SEO is made up of three elements. The first, on-site SEO, concerns all of the content on any given website. The second, structure/code, merely enables you to get the best out of your on-site SEO. Finally, off-site SEO, is the way in which you publicise your products and services elsewhere on the web.

On-site SEO

Images names

Images are a really great way to improve your position in the search engine results pages (‘SERPs’). Right now, pretty much all of your images are a missed opportunity as they aren’t named properly. Whilst some mention the name of your design, the majority have been uploaded directly from a digital camera and bear names such as DSC2302354.jpg.

With images, you have up to 70 characters to make an impact on search engines. Always try to follow the same format when naming images, for example:

[Company Name] [Product Name] [Short Description].jpg

As an example, consider the following:

http://www.alyssasmith.co.uk/prodimages/DSCF1844_small.JPG should be something like
http://www.alyssasmith.co.uk/prodimages/Alyssa Smith Jewellery – Amazeballs – Sterling Silver Necklace.jpg

Whilst that may seem like a really long image name it is only 66 characters and is a massive improvement on DSCF1844!

The point of doing this is to give search engines a better understanding of the content on your pages. They don’t have eyes, so you need to tell them it’s all about Alyssa Smith Jewellery.

Other considerations

If I were to address all of the issues here, I would suggest getting a sitemap.xml file, custom page titles [much like images these are currently a wasted opportunity] and meta descriptions [a 160 character section of text which tells search engines what to expect; most of these are blank at the moment].

Code wise, your website is completely sound so I shall avoid mentioning it

Off-site SEO

I know you already have a Twitter presence, but I can’t see any mention of Facebook, Google+ or Linked In. All of these websites offer a great way for you to build up credible back-links to your website. Whenever you add a new product or have some interesting news to share, mention it on all of the above with a link to the corresponding page on your website.

Beyond social media, get involved with blogs and forums.  A quick search of Google led me to the UK Jewellers’ Collective. Sign-up for a free account and set up your signature along  these lines:

Kind regards,

Alyssa Smith
Celebrity Jeweller

Once done, introduce yourself and get involved in topics that introduce you. So long as you’re not blatantly spamming your products, forum owners tend to turn a blind eye to links in your signature.

I’m sure you can find others without too much work

If you invest just 30 minutes per day in forums, blogs and social media you will be building up a great portfolio of back-links which helps to push you up the SERPs.

Just bear in mind – you need to be engaging on relevant forums. It’s ok to get involved with general business & entrepreneurship websites (Young Entrepreneur being one that springs to mind) but I suggest focussing on jewellery, fashion and design.

Good luck

Adam Arnold at the New Venture Fest in 2005

Shortly after the birth of my son in July 2008, I found myself involved in a complicated divorce and pretty much lost the plot. I made poor management decisions and in May 2010 the company ceased trading as a result of a huge financial black hole.

At the time, there were lots of angry landlords who thought I had simply pocketed the money. Further to a review by SJ Accountancy Services (Leamington Spa), the fraud squad and the Insolvency Service, the majority of Landlords acknowledged I hadn’t stolen any money, rather, I made a giant hash of things. In short, I (yes, my staff – but it was my fault) failed to collect more than £200,000 in rent.

What happened to Baxter-Todd? Don’t jump to conclusions!

One of my former employees went to work for another Leamington Spa letting agency, Baxter Todd, taking a few Landlords in the process. I feel sorry for all concerned as, less than 24 months later, Baxter Todd has closed in suspicious circumstances. For my former employee, that pretty much puts an end to her ability to work in property ever again. For my former Landlords, they now face the possibility of being stung for a second time.

But why am I sympathetic towards Carl Baxter, owner of the Baxter-Todd letting agency? Well, much like I was, he is now being persecuted in the local press as well as number of property blogs. Whilst it is possible that Mr. Baxter is enjoying an extended holiday in the south of Spain, I suspect that nothing illegal has taken place.

If it turns out that rent and deposits have been stolen, I have no doubt that the appropriate punishment will be handed out. In the meantime, stop speculating and focus on what matters: getting your money back!

I am a Landlord affected by the Baxter-Todd closure: what do I do?

If I were you, I would contact Stephen Hughes on 01926 336 220. His companies can help with recovering lost funds and the ongoing management of your property/properties.

When Smarter Housing fell over, several Landlords opted to use SJ Accountancy Services to compile my non-existent rent accounts which prompted company owner, Stephen Hughes, to form S&J Estates. Both companies now trade out of my old premises on Spencer Street, Leamington Spa.

In many cases, Landlords have now been paid money owed by their former tenants (money that I should have collected). The majority of tenants paid when presented with rent accounts but some have been taken to Court. I continue to make myself available for trial dates, however the applications and paperwork have been handled by S&J Estates.

I am a Tenant affected by the Baxter-Todd closure: what do I do?

Many sources are claiming that Carl Baxter is not returning calls. From experience of this sad situation I can say that he may be receiving hundreds of calls per day and simply cannot respond to them all. Be persistent & keep calling any numbers you have available!

In the event you are unable to get in touch and fear for your security deposit, it is – unfortunately for them – the Landlord’s responsibility to pay you back. However, bear in mind the Landlord may also have lost money here so be reasonable and give them time to pay it back.

Such is the compensation culture in which we live these days, I have no doubts some of you will be thinking “the deposit hasn’t been protected and I will get 3 times that amount as a penalty payment”. Unlikely. Firstly, I know my former employee was pretty hot on protecting deposits so I’m 99% sure they will be taken care of. If not, a recent legal case has set a precedent meaning Landlords won’t get hit with the 3 times deposit penalty so long as they protect the amount in question – and they have up until the day before the court hearing to get this done.

Good luck!

For the first part of the video Rory covers some interesting observations by behavioural economists, in particular the way in which our perception of pretty much everything is determined by the overall context.  If this kind of thing interests you, I highly recommend viewing Rory Sutherland’s presentation at the European Zeitgeist 2011: Rediscovering a Lost Science.

Chariable Yield Management is a twist on a concept the airline industry has been using for decades. Anyone familiar with the airline industry knows that customers sat in adjacent seats may have paid massively different prices for the privilege. The same process has been introduced, amongst others, to rail travel and hotel accommodation, in recent years. Economists consider this as a form of price discrimination, but that doesn’t mean people are being exploited: the fact is that people with a greater need are prepared to pay a higher price.

Rory goes on to suggest that the same concept can be applied to many other areas, such as use of the hard shoulder when the motorway is busy, faster check-ins at airport security and “desperate” parking bays in addition to those for the disabled. In order to avoid any kind of hatred (i.e. look at that rich git paying to use the hard shoulder) he proposes the extra revenue is donated to charity. How can you hate someone who is helping the needy?

Personally, I think it is a great idea. Enjoy:

Smith & Rodger have been manufacturing and supplying wood finishes since 1877. Full contact details are available on their website, FrenchPolishes.com, however they also maintain a Twitter account (Smith_Rodger).

Tracking the impact of SEO tweaks

I strongly advise signing up to Google Analytics. As with all of the websites mentioned in this post, the sign-up process is free and easy. Once you have entered your URL, you will be given a snippet of code which must then be added into each of your pages.

As you only have a few pages, the easiest way to do this is simply open up your pages in a plain text editor (notepad will do) and paste the code before the </body> tag. Save the page and then overwrite the existing file.

More detailed instructions are available on Adding the tracking code – Analytics help.

There are entire training courses dedicated to Google Analytics but you can’t go wrong by focussing on the summary page. More visitors spending more time on your ‘products’ and then ‘contact us’ pages is typically a good thing!

The basics of SEO

SEO can be broken down into three parts:

- on-site content;
- code; and
- off-site content.

In your case, the first two are related to one another and thus I shall treat them as a single section.

On-site content & Code

Sitemap files

These act as a map for search engine crawlers. To create one for the first time, go to http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ and enter your URL. Once the generator has finished, you will be presented with links to download your sitemap in many different formats.

Personally, I run with ‘sitemap.xml’ and ‘sitemap.xml.gz’. Save these and then upload to your FTP, in the same folder as all of your web pages (most likely ftp://frenchpolishes.com/httpdocs/).

Once you have done that, register an account with Google Webmaster Tools. This can be done using the same e-mail address that you used for Google Analytics.

From there, go to “Add Site” and “Add Sitemap”. In the space provided, add the location of your sitemap files:

http://www.frenchpolishes.com/sitemap.xml &

http://www.frenchpolishes.com/sitemap.xml.gz

It can take a while for Google to index your sitemap files but once it does, you can use Google Webmaster Tools tools to ensure this has been done properly. If there are any errors, you will see an exclamation mark inside a yellow triangle, with a link to a list of any problems.

Page Titles

There are many ways you can structure the above, but the main thing I go for is consistency. For your website, I would go with:

Smith & Rodger Wood Finishes – [Page name] – [Short Description]

Some examples:

Smith & Rodger Wood Finishes – Index – Bringing Wood Back to Life (65 chars)
Smith & Rodger Wood Finishes – Products – Shellac Wood Polishes (62 chars)
Smith & Rodger Wood Finishes – Contact Us – G3 8EA, 0141 248 6341 (65 chars)

You want to try and use as close to 70 characters as possible as this is the amount of text a search engine will show.

These can be edited in your .html files by changing the text between <TITLE> … </TITLE> tags.

Page Descriptions

To illustrate the importance of page descriptions, take a look at this site: search for your website.

For each page, Google displays 160 characters of text to give a quick indication of what can be found by clicking on any of those links and you can make better use of this allowance.

Again, this can be done via notepad. All of your pages have the right section of code at the very top, you just need to tweak it a little.

<meta name=”description” content=”enter your 160 character summary here”>

Try to be consistent and focus on your products. Using your contact page as an example:

Current code:

<meta name=”description” content=”Opening Hours, Contacts. Online Viewing.”>

Potential code:

<meta name=”description” content=”Smith & Rodger – Wood Finishes since 1877. View our opening hours, plus contact details for sales, account, technical, press & general enquiries. “> (146 chars)

Images

When using images it is important to consider how you name the individual files and to use alternate text.

As an example, this is an image used on your Shellac product page:

http://www.frenchpolishes.com/images/shellac_introduction.JPG

Similar to page titles, you want to use around 70 characters and ensure files are named consistently.

The above image could be called:

Smith & Rodger Wood Finishes – Products – Shellac Polishes.JPG

Once renamed, be sure to amend your code accordingly. At the same time, you can deal with the alternate text, which for convenience can be set the same as the file name.

Current:

<img src=”../images/shellac_introduction.JPG” width=”333″ height=”213″ border=”1″ alt=”Shellac Polishes”>

Proposed:

<img src=”../images/Smith%20&%20Rodger%20Wood%20Finishes%20-%20Products%20-%20Shellac%20Polishes.JPG” width=”333″ height=”213″ border=”1″ alt=”Smith & Rodger Wood Finishes – Products – Shellac Polishes (alternate image  text)”>

Please note, your file name can be written as Smith & Rodger Wood Finishes – Products – Shellac Polishes.JPG. However, when linking to the file you are wise to use “%20″ instead of spaces to ensure compatibility with older browsers.

Dead links

Your “courses” page links to no-where. Either correct or delete the link from your navigation bar. In short, dead links are bad for SEO!

For websites that are changed frequently you can implement some advanced SEO and have a 404 error page that searches your site for the missing link, but I suspect this would be overkill given the small number of pages at the present time.

In the event you decide to host your shop on your own server, this would be worth considering.

Shop

On that note, hosting your own shop would be beneficial to SEO. Whilst it would be a time consuming process, you can now process payments securely using Paypal, which supports all major credit cards, and thus have no need to rely on a third party website.

Blog

Similarly, hosting your own blog (or at least, appearing to host your own blog) can have massive SEO benefits.

Full instructions for making your posts appear at blog.frenchpolishes.com or frenchpolishes.com/blog/ can be found on this Blogspot help page.

Off-site content

Google Places

I always start by suggesting people sign up for Google Places. Once you have registered your company information and been verified (an automated phone call from Google) your business will be given its own place marker on Google Maps.

From within your Google Places account click “See your listing on Google Maps”. On the next page, click on the map on the right hand side, which will open up your listing on maps.Google.co.uk. From there, click on the link button (looks like a paperclip on its side) and you can copy the code for embedding this map in your website.

Open up your Contact.html file and paste the code where you see fit (at the bottom of the page is absolutely fine).

Directories

In addition to Google Places, make sure you are registered with all of the key directory websites, such as Yell.com, and anything specific to your industry or local area.

Blogs & Forums

Finally, try to seek out an engage in relevant discussion on blogs and forums. So long as you are adding something of value, the majority will allow you to display a link to your website in your signature or profile.

Over time, this will build up a strong portfolio of backlinks to your website. A quick Google search for “wood stain forum” led me to http://www.diynot.com and http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/.

~~~

Should you get stuck, please feel free to get in touch!

Good luck

]]> http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/sbs-seo-freebie-for-frenchpolishes-com/feed/ 3 http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/maximuscle-progain-the-gym-an-update/ http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/maximuscle-progain-the-gym-an-update/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:54:56 +0000 Adam Arnold http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/?p=4328

(Read More...)]]> At school, I would use the gym 3 times per week and play sports on ‘rest’ days. At uni, I would play football every Wednesday (often with a hangover) and use the gym whenever my body wasn’t feeling battered from the night before. Beyond graduation, my exercise was limited to once a week in the gym and the occasional kick about with a few mates who were still at uni or ended up living in the surrounding areas after graduation.

Beyond 2008 or, more specifically, the birth of my first child and the commencement of divorce proceedings, I stopped exercising all together. Add to that a terrible diet and several teaspoons of stress and I dropped to a rather pitiful 11 stone 154 lbs.

After the collapse of Smarter Housing, a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders and I have gradually been getting my life back in order. From around July 2011 a couple of mates have been pressuring me to join the gym and in October I eventually cracked – and I’m glad I did!

Not long after, I blogged about my use of Maximuscle PROGAIN and PROMASS, as well as a little bit of creatine. Since then, I have decided to stick with Maximuscle PROGAIN for the simple reason it tastes much nicer (in both chocolate and strawberry form) than the PROMASS.

After a bit of Googling and I found myself reading health and fitness posts on Quora (my profile), resulting in a slight change in the way I take creatine. Prior to Christmas I was taking a small teaspoon in water/fruit juice both 30 min before and 30 min after a gym session. Now, I simply throw one teaspoon of creatine in with my post-gym PROGAIN.

Workout wise, I’ve managed to stick to 3 times per week for around about 30 minutes to an hour, sometimes longer if time permits. I’ve also been on one Saturday session with the two lads responsible for getting me into this exercise malarkey and intend to step this up over the coming months.

At the moment, I’m literally doing nothing other than arms, shoulders and abs. Food wise, I’m just eating lots of white meat, veg and of course, taking two PROGAIN shakes every day.

The results? I’m back up to 13.5 stone (190 lbs) and lifting double what I was back in October. It’s fair to say I’m happy with progress to date

My aim now is to double everything again and hit 15 stone (210 lbs) and then focus on my diet in an effort to tone everything up. I’ll keep you posted on progress!

For anyone looking to get hold of Maximuscle PROGAIN it is still on offer at Tesco, although ASDA have now dropped their prices to match.

Maximuscle PROGAIN seems to be working as intended!

Despite the fact Smarter Housing hasn’t been trading for so long, the website still appears in Google searches for ‘student accommodation’, ‘student property’ and ‘student housing’, particularly for searches including ‘Leamington Spa’ or those conducted in the areas surrounding the University of Warwick. Anyone who ends up clicking on Smarter Housing link is automatically (301 – for those interested in SEO) redirected to my post announcing the company’s failure.

11th January 2012: University of Warwick Students’ Union Housing Day

Upon signing into Google Analytics this morning I noted a massive spike in traffic for terms related to the student letting calendar. This can mean only one thing: today is the housing fair at the University of Warwick!

For anyone who lands on this blog in search of a student property for September 2012, I regret I can be of no assistance – as much as I would like to! However, I know a company who can: S&J Estates – Quality Lets in Quality Locations.

S&J Estates – who, what, where, when & why

You can contact S&J Estates via their website or on 01926 336 220. They are based out of my old premises, 13 Spencer Street in Leamington Spa and the following Google map should help you find them (walk down the Parade & turn right at the main bus station by the Parish church, walk 20 metres and they are on your right hand side).

View Larger Map

People have asked me why I am so keen to promote S&J Estates. Am I involved? Yes and no. On the one hand, I am neither employed by S&J Estates nor have I done any paid work for them. However, the company owner – Stephen Hughes – also owns S&J Accountancy Services who were brought in to help sort out the financial disarray at Smarter Housing. After conducting a full review of my accounts, they have been working with a number of Landlords in order to help them recover their losses. Obviously, I have been on hand to answer any questions and I have also been used as a witness in multiple County Court claims against students who had evaded paying rent under the management of Smarter Housing. One thing led to another and before you know it, S&J have branched out from accountancy to the management of student property.

Over the past 18 months I have come to know the people at S&J and I think they are well worthy of your business. They have the same goal of letting only the best student properties and, thanks to their accounting arm, do a much better job of rent collection than I did (post 2008 anyway).

Happy house hunting

]]> http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/memories-student-accommodation-in-leamington-spa/feed/ 2 http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/google-update-for-ios-now-with-video-hangouts/ http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/google-update-for-ios-now-with-video-hangouts/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:11:47 +0000 Adam Arnold http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/?p=4320

(Read More...)]]> If you’re an Android user I am aware this is old news and there is no need to point it out in the comments! As you would naturally expect, Google deploys new features to their own handsets before Apple gets them.

Moving on…. I signed into the App Store last night and was pleased to see a new Google Plus update, boasting video hangout functionality.

Google Plus update for iOS: now with video hangouts

Starting a hangout is a fairly simple process: sign into Google+, go to the messenger tab and tap the video icon. You get a pleasant warning to check your hair before starting the hangout, at which point you will see something like this:

Google+ Video Hangouts: check your hair and begin!

Hit the big green button and away you go….

A live (albeit one sided) video hangout on G+

The controls you see allow you to to enable/mute sound, start/stop steaming, toggle which camera is in use and to leave/end the hangout. I happened to take these images in landscape mode although they also work in portrait.

Assuming you already have G+, open up iTunes and you will see the update. If not, you can download it here (UK) or here (US) for free.

That’s right, absolutely nothing.

Hang on a second. Nothing happens! That is because the Liquipel iPhone has been treated to a special nano coating which prevents the water from interfering with the electronics.

According to the Liquipel website, this technology can be applied to the following handsets:

Apple iPhone 4s
Apple iPhone 4
Apple iPhone 3g/s
HTC Evo 4G
HTC Evo Shift 4G
HTC MyTouch 4G
HTC Thunderbolt
Motorola Droid X/X2
Samsung Charge

To be honest, I’m surprised that they have opened this out to the public. Whilst prices are very reasonable (less than £50), if this was my idea I would be looking to get Apple & Google in a bidding war to buy the technology. Personally I haven’t ever lost a phone to water damage (famous last words?) but I must read at least one “oops dropped my phone in the sink/shower/bath/toilet/glass of wine” Facebook status every week!

From there, no doubt Apple/Google would apply the technology to their respective tablets. How long till it happens? I’ll give it 12 months max. What do you think?

]]> http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/liquipel-prepare-to-be-amazed/feed/ 0 http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/sbs-seo-freebies-in-2012-a-different-approach/ http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/sbs-seo-freebies-in-2012-a-different-approach/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:40:10 +0000 Adam Arnold http://ceo.smartergroup.biz/?p=4310

(Read More...)]]> After a small Christmas break Small Business Sunday is back for 2012 and I am once again offering up an hour of my time to the weekly winners. For those of you unfamiliar with #sbs, it is a weekly Twitter competition hosted by ‘family man and Dragon’ Theo Paphitis. More detailed information (including links to previous winners) is available on this post.

#sbs SEO freebies in 2012: a different approach

Previously, I would Tweet all 6 weekly winners and link them to this example of one of my SEO freebies and then liaise directly with anyone who was interested via e-mail. To complete the review, all I need is a website link – I don’t need any passwords or other personal information.

In passing, I should point out I did eventually notice that Theo Paphitis sold LaSenza five years ago and thus my example wasn’t as clever as I first thought.

I’ll be honest, take up on the #sbs SEO freebies was hit and miss: some weeks almost all #sbs winners would respond and on other occasions I wouldn’t hear back from anyone. Part of me thinks this is because the offer looks too good to be true.

To address this issue, all #sbs SEO freebies for 2012 will be uploaded to my blog.

I’ve just won #sbs – now what?

1. I will tweet you a link to this page;

2. If you are interested in the #sbs SEO freebie, leave a comment below stating (a) your Twitter @name & (b) you website URL; and

3. I will post your #sbs SEO freebie to my blog and Tweet you the corresponding link.

The benefits of blogging #sbs SEO freebies

Primarily, I hope this will increase take-up on the offer. If weekly winners can see reviews I have done for other members of the #sbs club, it should put to bed any suspicions that this is a sales exercise or some kind of scam.

Secondly, it should allow me to offer additional advice by linking to relevant sections of previous reviews. By doing this I hope to make it clear to all #sbs winners that SEO is nothing more than:

1. Good content;

2. Good website structure; and

3. Relevant back-links.

I first became involved with SEO because I believe (some) existing companies are – for want of a better expression – taking advantage of their customers. Whilst it may occasionally make sense to outsource your SEO at £X per week until the end of time, I firmly believe that the best SEO is done by you, the business owner. You know your business better than anyone and thus allows you to produce the best content and seek out the most relevant back-links.

Yes, these are pretty much the same reasons I became involved in the student rental market which, I suppose, is why Smarter Housing was so successful until I took my eye off  the ball. In my somewhat limited experience people tend to trust someone who is passionate about something and, right now, I am trying to convey the same passion about SEO. Fingers crossed I don’t fudge it up this time