Category: News

As the call for climate action intensifies, businesses of all sizes and industries are adopting sustainability as a core value, embedding it into their operations, and taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint. This eco-consciousness is not simply in response to increasing environmental concerns, it’s also a strategy for long-term profitability and brand loyalty.

In this article, we look at how big businesses are making sustainability a fundamental part of their operations, what smaller businesses can do to reduce their carbon footprint, and why they should.

What to do when you need a website but website design companies are outside your budget. Thanks to website builders, creating your own website without coding knowledge is easier than ever. You can create your own website using a website builder – think Squarespace, Wix and the like – and have it online in as little as a day. However, with over 50+ website builders, many of them very similar, it’s difficult to know which is best for you.

This article will give you an overview of some of the most popular website builders but we include links to other articles that discusses them in more depth or have conducted independent tests of website builders.

In this episode, Ben discusses his recent charity walk on Dartmoor with Helen Aldis, the Chief Executive of Moor Trees. They delve into the mission and activities of Moor Trees, a Devon-based charity focused on restoring native woodlands in the UK. Helen shares insights about the charity’s origins, ongoing projects, and the importance of tree planting for environmental conservation.

I’m thrilled to share that we have successfully completed our charity walk along the Two Moors Way! Starting in Lynmouth on Sunday, 26th May, Sam Shaw and I faced a variety of weather conditions, from rain on the moors to sunshine as we swam in the river.

Our journey began with an unexpected 5K walk just to secure a weekly parking ticket, adding an extra challenge before we even started the official route. The initial stages were tough, but as the miles went on, our bodies and minds adapted, making the trek more manageable.

A significant moment was the realisation of our journey’s length when, coming off Exmoor, we saw Dartmoor in the distance, a sight that felt impossible to reach in just two days. Despite this daunting view, we pressed on, inspired by the beautiful landscape and the mission to support the planting of more native species of woodland, such as oak, and the preservation of ancient oak forests like Piles Copse.

One highlight was our stop at the Drewe Arms in Drewsteignton, where we indulged in fish and chips on their fish and chip day, a meal we’d been dreaming about all day. The hardest part of the walk was navigating the Dartmoor highlands, notorious for their wet and boggy terrain. While the overall weather was as expected, the wind chill at higher elevations made nights particularly chilly.

Meeting Glyn on Friday was a much-needed boost; he brought fresh supplies, treats, and tales from the world beyond our walking trail. Although we finished slightly short of the full Two Moors Way in Ivybridge on Sunday, 2nd June (for logistical reasons), it was with a heavy heart that we headed home.

We are incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received and are thrilled to share that we have raised over £800 for Moor Trees. Your contributions are helping restore and maintain precious woodlands. For those who have been waiting for us to complete the walk, you can still donate on Just Giving.

Thank you for being part of this journey with us!

Read my update, Completing the Two Moors Way, for a short round-up of our adventure.

Next week, my school friend Sam Shaw (pictured on the left) and I (centre) will embark on an exciting adventure by walking the Two Moors Way. This trek, known for its stunning landscapes and challenging terrain, stretches across 117 miles of beautiful Devon countryside from Ivybridge in the south to Lynmouth in the north. It will be the furthest I have ever walked in one go, making this journey both a personal challenge and a meaningful endeavor.

Our walk aims to raise funds for Moor Trees, a charity dedicated to restoring native woodland in the area. Moor Trees’ mission is vital for preserving the natural environment and fostering biodiversity, and we are thrilled to support their efforts. By wild camping along the way, we hope to connect deeply with the landscapes Moor Trees works so hard to protect.

I haven’t undertaken a walk of this magnitude since my scouting days, which makes this trek even more significant. The journey will undoubtedly test our endurance and resolve, but with the knowledge that we’re contributing to such a worthy cause, we are confident and excited.

Glyn Darkin (pictured on the right), our usual walking buddy, was initially planning to join us for the entire trek but is now only able to join us for the last leg of the trip. His presence will be a welcome boost as we near the end of our journey.

Please consider supporting our fundraising efforts to help Moor Trees restore and maintain these precious woodlands. Every contribution will make a difference in preserving the natural beauty and ecological health of the region.

To make a donation, visit our Just Giving page. Your support is greatly appreciated!

From a Rework podcast episode.

‘Join Jason and David as they unravel the intricate dance between data-driven decisions and the art of making judgment calls, guiding listeners through trusting your gut and breaking free from external pressures when making product and pricing decisions.’

Ok the quote from the podcast show notes doesn’t sound exciting but the content is.

Three themes from the podcast I whole heartedly agree with, but don’t always follow:

1. Just make a decision. You’ll only know the answer once your idea is being tested for real
2. Trust your gut. Your intuition is build upon your experience and knowledge
3. Sleep on it. Allow your built in AI to do the hard work for you

From Seth

All successful cultural change (books, movies, public health), has a super-simple two-step loop:

AWARENESS
TENSION
–>Loop<–

It’s easy to focus on awareness. Get the word out. Hype. Promo.

I think that’s a mistake.

Because awareness without tension is useless.

Astute observation as always from Seth. But we can use this in our marketing.

For me tension creates anticipation and anticipation is where I find happiness.

Think about how you feel looking forward to your next holiday, a meal at a new restaurant, coffee with a friend or waiting for the next film in your favourite series.

The best bit is the anticipation, the waiting, the rumours. Once the holiday, meal or film is done with the tension is released and we move on.

A slow website can be frustrating for visitors and can impact your website’s search engine rankings. So here’s a step-by-step guide on how to speed up your WordPress website.

Google Analytics is a powerful tool for tracking website traffic and understanding user behaviour. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use Google Analytics to improve your website performance.

Google is one of the largest tech companies in the world and offers a range of services, including email (Gmail), online storage (Google Drive), and much more. To access these services, you need a Google account. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create a Google account.

As many of you are aware, Google is the world’s leading search engine, receiving around 8.5 Billion searches a day (according to Internet Live Stats, 2022). So why not promote your business on a platform like Google that not only has a local reach but a national, global reach?

Firstly, you need to set up a Google Account, if you already have an existing one, you just need to sign in. Once it’s all been set up, you can now add a business profile. This will then need to be verified for eligibility purposes. It’s worth knowing that creating a business profile is free and it’s a great way for users to find you on Google Search and Maps.

YouTube is rolling out Handles – just like we have for other social networks – in November. You will be notified via email when you can choose. Here’s a quote from the email

if you already have a personalized URL for your channel, we’ve reserved this for you as your handle. If you’re happy with that handle then you’re all set. If you want a different handle from the one we reserved, you can change it. If you don’t already have a personalized URL today, you’ll also be able to choose a handle. Keep in mind that handles are unique to each channel, so once a handle has been chosen, it can’t be selected by anyone else.

But what are handles you might ask. From their help page on the subject youtube.com/handle 

Handles are a way for you to find and connect with creators on YouTube. Handles are unique and short channel identifiers separate from channel names, and they start with the “@” symbol. For example, @youtubecreators.

And most importantly

If you don’t select a handle by November 14, 2022, YouTube will automatically assign you one. You can change this handle at any point.

Jason Friend pushing back on the axiom that you need to love what you do in order to succeed.

‘Back in the mid-’90s, I was looking for a simple tool to keep track of my music collection, and all of the available programs seemed bloated and unnecessarily complex. Those are two things I despise, so I set out to make my own tool and eventually released it under the name Audiofile. I didn’t love music collecting. I didn’t even love software development. (I was just learning it at the time.) And I didn’t have any aspirations to run a software business – I just saw a need, couldn’t find anything I thought was great, and I built something better.’

Succeeding is not about how much you love something, it’s about how much motivation you have.

More on persistence.

The Guardian reporting on Josh Nalley who played dead in hundreds of TikTok videos just to get on TV.

‘With nearly 125,000 followers and 4.3m total likes, the 41-year-old restaurant owner poses for a few seconds at a time in various settings – on river banks, roads, bridges and in forests.

“I figured that was the easiest way that I could actually get on to a TV show or movie, you know, without actually having to audition or move out of Kentucky,” he told the Washington Post. “Laziness is part of it.”’

This is a masterclass in marketing. Have a goal, know your niche and be persistent.

From the Daily Difference Email at The Carbon Almanac

‘The certified B-Corp continues to lead in the fight against climate change.

The company’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, recently announced that the earth is its sole shareholder. “Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source. We’re making Earth our only shareholder. I am dead serious about saving this planet.”’

Grab a coffee and take a few minutes to flick through this PDF photo book.

We are facing an earth crisis. I think that art is a way to engage people. Art can initiate conversations when other media fails.

Graphic artist Shepard Fairey

PS remember to share it with others, it’s important but it’s not too late.

Seth offers a little clarity

Marketing isn’t paying for ads, changing the logo or building a social media presence.

Marketing is product design, customer service, pricing, customer delight and creating and living a remarkable story. Marketing is creating the conditions for the network effect.

Understanding is half the battle.

If you aren’t getting the website traffic you want; join us on our Bulletproof Marketing Strategy workshop series. Across six, thirty minute sessions you’ll learn how online marketing impacts your business’s growth, gain tactics for attracting more of your ideal customers, learn how to create powerful marketing messages and understand how to find out what’s working.

Please register your interest on the form below to receive more information.

Everything listed is free unless otherwise specified. If you find an app, tool or website that you cannot live without share it with us.

Image, video and audio sourcing

• Pexels – Free commercial images
• Pixabay – Free commercial images, illustrations and video
• Flickr – Free images, commercially available, check the license!
• Envato Elements – Photos, graphics, video and audio assets for under £12 a month
• Giphy – Animated graphic images, may not be able to use commercially
• Inventive People – Photos sourcing for a website or social post (£20 for three images)
• YouTube Thumbnail Grabber – Paste in a YouTube link, get the video thumbnail images!

Graphic and image creation and processing

• Pixlr X – Online image editor
• Canva.com – Online image editor and layout. Great for making social graphics
• Pixelmator – Very useful and fast image editor, macOS only
• Imageoptim – Image compressor, macOS only
• Imagify – Online image compressor and WordPress plugin
• Retrobatch – £49, multi-image processor
• Digital Colour Meter – Handy colour picker, macOS only

Document editing

• PDF Candy – Online PDF metadata editor, compression and a number of PDF tools
• ExSqueeze it – Drag and drop desktop PDF compression tool, macOS only (£3 apx)
• tableconvert.com – Website to convert tabular data or an uploaded CSV to HTML, JSON or other text formats
• typosaur.us – Website spelling checker

Video creation

• Promo.com (£39/mo)
• Any Video Converter – Youtube video downloader
• Simon Says – Video transcription 10p/min
• Shotcut – Video editing software, macOS/Windows
• Inventive People – Video production and editing resources (from £50)
• Be.Live – Live video streaming to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (free and paid plans)
• Loom – Send video in your emails. I use this to send video alongside my proposals (free and paid plans)

Copywriting

• Answer The Public – What help topics people are searching for
• Content ideas – Get ideas for article from  Search Console data
• Hubspot blog topic generator
• Grammarly – Spelling and grammars checking. Paid version 
• Typosaur – Website spelling checker
• Inventive People – Proofreading and copywriting (from £35)
• Fakexy – Fake UK addresses, useful for wire framing content

Marketing support

• Ticked off – Marketing resources, advice and guidelines in a simple, step by step process.
• Inventive People – Workshops and support calls (from £50)
• Mail-tester.com – Email and newsletter deliverability tester

Tracking

• QR Code Generator – Create QR code. Make sure to select Static option to prevent too many redirects
• Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder – Add more details campaign tracking to the website links you share on social media or banner advertising
• Google Analytics – Extensive website tracking

Business listings and reviews

• Google My Business (GMB) – Free business profile is usually shown at the top of a local search result
• SayHola – A simple way to collect and manage customer reviews
• Inventive People – Local SEO optimisation (£349)

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) keyword research

• Text Optimizer – Find additional related words to add to your content
• Textrazer – Check how ‘on topic’ your web content is. Use the demo to copy on your own text
• Google Trends – Simple keyword volume and trend tool
• Soovle – Keyword research tool with relevant keywords from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Youtube, Wikipedia, Amazon, and Answers.com. Just place the keyword you wish to check on the search bar and it will show the results of relevant keywords.
• Ubersuggest – This keyword suggestion tool helps you get a lot of keyword ideas which covers your keyword + terms from A to Z
• Word tracker – Display a list of 100 keywords. You may need to create an account though.
• Google Keyword Planner – Extensive keyword volume and trend tool. You may need a Google Ad account
• Inventive People – Optimisation reports, keyword analysis support calls (from £35)

Hacking prevention and cure

• Sucuri Security – WP plugin for auditing and security hardening
• Sucuri – External website malware scanner
• VirusTotal – Scans malware directors to see if URL has been flagged
• Rescan – Extensive malware scanner
• Fetch as user agent – Testing if Google sees different content
• Site Guarding – WP Plugin, internal scanner
• Inventive People – Fix a hacked WordPress website service (from £380)

Hosting

• Uptime Robot – Uptime tracking for up to 15 sites for free
• MX Toolbox – Domain and MX tests

Ecommerce

• World Postal code – Postcode lists for each country and county. Handy to create custom shipping zones

In The Register last month. Via ~this week in security~

The regulator ordered an unnamed website manager to strip Google Analytics out of their site, giving him a month to comply. It added: “Concerning the audience measurement and analysis services of a website, the CNIL recommends that these tools be used only to produce anonymous statistical data, thus allowing an exemption from consent if the data controller ensures that there are no illegal transfers.”

I see the beginning of a crack down

From The Guardian via Jonathan Pollinger

This month the advertising regulator named six social media celebrities, including Jodie Marsh and five former Love Island contestants, for repeatedly failing to tell followers when they were paid to promote products in posts.

Oops

“The market has blossomed, the influencer marketing market has doubled in two years and it’s very, very effective,” Lusty told MPs. “It’s much more powerful than traditional advertising techniques and it’s particularly powerful with younger people in persuading them to buy things.”

Recommendations from influencers (be they family, friends or online celebs) are incredibly powerful. It’s why referrals are often the top marketing source and the easiest prospects to sell to.

Watch Amber Atherton share why it is important to find people who don’t mirror your strengths but supplement your weaknesses.

Amber Atherton, boss of tech firm Zyper (recently bought by Discord), says you need staff who are good at things you might not be.

BBC News

Don’t be afraid to find people who have a different set of strengths from you.

Ecommerce, just like marketing, requires long-term investment to yield the best long-term results.

Promotion is the gasoline. The accelerant of not only sales, but brand essence. Yet, if you can’t control the experience, then a drop in price can lead to a drop of future brand value. It might even be better to hold back instead of leaping forward with the first discount that comes to hand.

Mediatel News

Think about the three Cs of Culture, Community and Commerce as you navigate your marketing funnel.

Even the big brands can sometimes get it wrong…

The infamous error, which is still remembered 35 years later as a spectacular failure, was the release of “New Coke” – which saw the formula of what was and is still the most popular soda in the world changed for the first time in 99 years.

According to Coca-Cola, the launch of the product, which was pushed aside for the return of the original recipe just 79 days later, “spawned consumer angst the likes of which no business has ever seen”.

However, to fully understand the scope of the mistake, the soda company insists that one must first take into context the factors that “shaped the launch decision”

Inside the recipe tweak which sparked nationwide backlash, Independent

Make sure you listen to your consumers and don’t be afraid to reach out to them to ask for feedback.