IMC71: Top WordPress plugins for site speed, SEO and more
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Ben shares a look at his WordPress plugin folder to share which plugins he uses every day plus some new ones he’s testing out.
(more…)You can now choose your channel’s handle
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.
IMC70: Creating an Agri business Youtube Channel
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We are joined by Nigel Smith who will share how he has built a following on his Youtube in just a few months with almost 2.5k subscribers already tuned in.
(more…)Do you have to love what you do?
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.
On playing dead and being persistent
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.
Leading By Example
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.”’
IMC69: The do’s and don’ts of Password Security
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Ben is joined by Ash Gibbons, IT Software Developer who has a passion for online security. Together they discuss the importance of ensuring your online security, how best to avoid being breached and what to do if this happens.
(more…)IMC68: Grab Bag Marketing Questions
Ben and Clare go through the grab bag questions from customers focused around planning looking at where you should start with your marketing, how to work out your marketing budget and different ways to track your return on investment.
(more…)IMC67: Google Analytics GA4 Walkthrough
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Ben takes us on a tour of GA4 the new version of Google analytics. You’ll get to see how to transition to GA4, tracking visitors and logging conversions.
(more…)Climate Change In Photos

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.
IMC66: Rationale behind brand design
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We are joined by Flying Lizard designer Charlotte Smirthwaite Walker to discuss how she develops a brand and the rationale process she works through with a client.
(more…)IMC65: Email Video Marketing with Loom
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Ben shares the benefits of using video in your email marketing with Loom. Loom is a video messaging tool that helps you get your message across through instantly shareable videos.
(more…)What marketing is
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.
IMC64: Open Club Website Review
During this weeks session we open the club and invite guest members Frank Szucs (Bauxit Painting & Decorating) and Holly Foskett-Barnes (Bristol Illustrator) to have a website review where we share SEO tips, content ideas and different ways to draw more traffic to their websites.
(more…)IMC63: Google SEO Case Study
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We are joined by Abi Unwin (Abigail Jane Coaching) who will shared her journey into SEO. Earlier this year she attended one of Ben’s introductory SEO workshop and managed to boost her website Google Ranking ‘from page 15 to page 1 in under a month!’ and gained more sales.
(more…)Boost your SEO and get more website traffic
Extract from my post published on Start and Grow. You should read all of the tips in the article but I like this one the best.
2. Find out who you’re up against
Search optimisation is all about competition and ranking. By knowing who you are up against, and what they are doing to boost their SEO you can gain the upper hand.
Know your enemy…
IMC62: The Second Phase of Our SEO Audit
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SEO expert Chris Richards (Utterly Digital) returns to guide us through phase two of our SEO audit. After completing the suggestions he recommended earlier this year we will see how these improvements have impacted the site and look at the next steps to help us build more traffic and gain more sales.
(more…)How to create a Bulletproof Marketing Strategy – Workshop Series

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.
(more…)IMC61: Grab Bag Copywriting Questions
This grab bag episode focused on marketing questions around blogging and content writing. We were joined by Catherine Every (Pippin Copywriting) who helped us tackle some of the questions we received.
(more…)IMC60: Be Sociable book extracts
Ben is joined by Helen Davies (Citrus Web), to revisit a book they wrote back in 2014. Be Sociable brought together marketing strategy and social media concepts based on their own unique experience. In this episode they’ll be looking at what’s still relevant and where marketing has moved on to.
(more…)IMC59: Benefits of WooCommerce
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Join Ben and WooCommerce expert Ronald Gijsel (Automattic) as they chat about the benefits of WooCommerce, product development, community, and social commerce and omnichannel.
(more…)5 tips to improve your productivity as a freelancer
Productivity tips from me published over on Start and Grow Enterprise.
This is one of my favourites.
To-do lists work because they help you stay on the path to getting your most important work done – but they work even better when you write them as an action! So instead of ‘get more paper’, write ‘buy A4 laser paper from Amazon’ and add a due date. If the to-do is to call someone, write their contact details, that’ll save you from having to hunt later.
The aim is not to have to think about a task when you come to do it. Also, don’t pack numerous tasks inside one to-do item. Instead of ‘finish project’ break it down into many smaller actions and you’re more likely to get them done.
The ideas originaly came from webinar IMC13 Productivity at work and are a distillation of ideas from the book Getting Things Done by David Allen – well worth a read – among other books I’ve read over the years. Having a background in programming I’m often like to take the lazy path and am always looking for a simpler way to do work.
IMC58: Capture Attention with a Case Study
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We were joined by Jack McCaughtrie (Core Tree) to discuss why case studies are an effective way to capture the attention of buyers in your industry, help build brand awareness and let your customers sell your products for you.
(more…)IMC57: A World Without Email
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Ben was joined by Alex Coppock (Communion Architects) to discuss the path back to sanity in which Cal Newport’s book: A world Without Email offers a variety of road-tested practices to help us escape the tyranny of our inboxes in order to achieve a calmer, more intentional, and productive working life.
(more…)IMC56: Get to grips with Google Ads
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Google Ads Expert, Libby Windle (Creative Ads) takes us through how to set up your Google Ads Campaign, plus some top tips on how to make it work effectively!
(more…)