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Tips for Writing Compelling Content

Website layout, design and SEO optimisation are what attracts your visitors, but what converts them into customers is content. Writing compelling content is one of the most important marketing tactics and here are a few tips on how to do it right.

Identify your Target Audience

This is the first step that will help you define your tone and style so that your target audience can relate to what you are telling them. Not knowing your target audience and trying to write good website content is like shooting in the dark and you do not want to leave your visitors with this impression, do you?

Analyse your Competitors

Identifying your competitors and understanding what they are doing right and what could be done better is what gives you an opportunity to write content that focuses on differentiating your products/services from those of your competitors.

Provide Social Proof

Social proof is explained as a phenomenon where people copy other people and their behaviour assuming that this is the right behaviour. According to Consumerist, about 70% of consumers rely on online reviews before making a purchase. This is a perfect indicator of the importance of social proof. When working on your website content, focus on case studies, testimonials, social media proof and ratings & reviews because your visitors will be sure to look for these when surfing your website.

Engaging Headings

Catchy headings are a key to success. Be short, concise and to the point when writing the headings. Use your knowledge of your target audience to predict their questions or challenges and address them in the headings. What can impress your visitors better than answering their questions even before they’ve thought of any?

Write Relevant and to the Point Content

I know you might have a lot to say about your business and services but being to the point is what you should focus on because your content needs to provide value to the readers. Remove the sentences that speak a lot but do not actually say much and focus on the specific information you want to share. For example, Homes and Houses, a Newcastle property sourcing company explains why customers should choose them in a perfectly clear and concise way.

Use Google Analytics

Google analytics is a great tool that can help you identify the pages of your website that convert or have a huge number of long visits. Analyse these pages and understand what exactly it is that makes these pages so interesting to your visitor. Then you can replicate this content on the rest of the pages and further modify it so that it is suitable for these particular pages.

A few more things…

Do not forget to be active when it comes to content creation and updates.  Engaging call to action buttons and aesthetically pleasing visuals will complement your great content and make it even more compelling to your target audience. Remember to keep an eye on new trends and useful tips for creating great content – this is a constantly evolving area of marketing and the internet is full of some great and useful tips that can help you with this.

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What could Icons do for your web design and user experience

It's not news that websites have changed dramatically in the last years. One of the most significant distinctions is that people approach them differently. Information-based sites are still in the game, but users now expect a much more interactive experience. This could involve a lot more content and more sophisticated functionality, which could be challenging in terms of user experience. In this blog, we are going to give you some ideas and tell you why icons could be valuable to your website.

Save Space With so many different devices nowadays, like computers, smartphones, tablets and smartwatches, it is tricky to design a website that looks good on any device. Even with mobile responsive designs a lot of things could go wrong if you need to display extensive information and provide a range of capabilities. As you need to be cautious with space and not overcrowd your website, icons could be a fantastic means of saving some space. Instead of using words to explain what could be found in a specific section of the site, you could use universal icons to lead your users to a particular page or action. Some examples could be a magnifying glass for a searching tool, an envelope for messaging, a trash can for deleting, etc. That works exceptionally well on mobile phones, tablets and all devices with touchscreen navigation. The icons are a useful touch target and will make your website look more compact, clean and straightforward.

Aesthetically pleasing The design of your website is the first impression you could make and differentiate yourself from the competition. Additionally, it is one of the main components to attract visitors and keep them longer on your website. We all know that the more time they spend reading your website, the more likely they are to become your customers, subscribers or make an enquiry. That is why your website needs to be engaging and interactive, not only in terms of content but from a visual perspective too. Personalised icons could be the answer to that. Everyone can recognise the universal icons of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and we all know their purpose when we see them on different websites. You can also design your own icons that reflect your website’s unique personality, as long as you follow some basic rules and are consistent with colours, shapes, sizes, making sure the icons are actually helpful rather than confusing to your users. A great example could be Connect Insolvency,  a firm of liquidators & insolvency practitioners based in Newcastle upon Tyne, and the way they represent their range of services through personalised icons on their website. Communicate information Nowadays, people are always connected to the internet and have their phones handy, which gives them an opportunity to browse the internet at any convenient time. We can pay bills while travelling to work, book a hairdresser appointment at a lunch break and look for Christmas presents during the TV ads. A busy lifestyle like this completely changes the way we browse, and we don't have time to read long explanations and posts. What we need is a quick and easy way to navigate ourselves through numerous websites and find out if they have what we need or not. We often have to leave contact details or fill in a form online, and getting a long message that tells us what's wrong or missing could be confusing. Using icons in similar situations allows you to communicate back to your users in a clear and understandable manner. An incomplete or missed field in an application form could be highlighted in red with an exclamation mark beside it, which instantly points the attention to the problematic area with no need of explanation.

In conclusion, icons could add value and credibility to your web design and help you save space, be visually appealing and communicate your message. Keep in mind that being too creative and using too many details could distract your users and frustrate them. If you design personalised icons, keep them simple, consistent and make sure they have a meaning.

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Optimising your website for people

When you hear the term ‘website optimisation’ I guess your first thoughts are: search engine, SEO, Google rankings and similar. But how have we forgotten that it is the people, our visitors, that we should write content and optimize the website for? The market has become so competitive and we are all focusing on being found or ranked well on search engines, but what happens when we achieve this goal? Will the people who visit our website be able to find what they are looking for? Remember, the ‘optimization’ in ‘website optimization’ should be seen as the action of making the best or most effective use the website, not as the act of making it search engine compliant.

It is not about creating a website stuffed with keywords. It is about finding a balance in keywords usage, so that the content flows well. Optimising a website for people also means optimising its load speed because it amplifies visitor engagement. When the website is optimized for people, when the keywords are used appropriately, the website will be optimized for search engines too, the content will be readable, and the website will offer a great user experience in addition to being optimized for search engines.

It is not just about how you write what you mean and how the content is written, it is about WHAT is written on your website. Great content will, by all means, help you optimize your website for real people, and guess what – search engines also ‘like’ and value great content. So, when writing content for your website, choose something great, something that people love and are interested in (and search engines will follow).

An example of a well-optimized website with great design, user experience and content is Abbey Masterbatch (a major manufacturer and supplier of a range of thermoplastic masterbatch; black masterbatch, White masterbatch and colour & additive masterbatch.

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5 SEO Myths

Search engine optimization can be quite confusing even for experienced SEO professionals. There are so many factors that can affect a website’s SEO rankings and given that SEO as a marketing tool is constantly evolving, a good SEO practitioner needs to stay up to date with a list of factors that do affect SEO vs certain myths that can cause them to only waste time and efforts, with no results whatsoever.

Instant success

All you need to do is invest time and efforts in SEO initially - you’ll get super quick results and you are all set. Right? Not really. Investing a great effort and a lot of time in SEO initially might help improve your rankings, you might even end up on the first page of the SERPs, but you are far from done even when you get there. Getting better rankings than your competitors is what you should strive for. Also, when you get your site to page 1 of the SERPs, your rankings can easily drop if you stop working on this. SEO is an ever-evolving process and only regular, ongoing activities will grant results.

All you need is great content

Great content is not enough for great SEO results. I still maintain that content is king, but only when accompanied by a successful overall SEO strategy. That means that great content will give great results when other SEO activities are done well and when this great content focuses on the right keywords.

All you need is a great website

A lot of people think that they can just hire a web design company that will build them a great, SEO optimized website and it will lead them straight to being ranked number 1. This is not true. Search engines prefer websites that are regularly updated and your efforts should not stop when you get a perfect website. Building a blog page and publishing news and posts regularly will most certainly help improve the rankings – search engines simply love the websites that are active plus this should help you get backlinks which, again, is good for your website SEO.

All you need is Google optimization

Google search does comprise most of the search market, however, if you want your efforts to result in more website traffic and lead generation, you need to optimize your website for other search engines such as Yahoo and Bing.

Your website does not need to be responsive

It is a well-known fact that all search engines tend to rank responsive websites better and you should bear this in mind when building your website. It is important to have a responsive website because you do not want to miss all these visits coming from mobile devices! This was a popular SEO myth when I was working with Connect Insolvency, insolvency practitioners and liquidators based in Newcastle and helping them create the right SEO strategy for the company.  

In summary

There are so many SEO myths nowadays and these are just a few of them I wanted to address in this post. I am sure some more myths will come and be addressed moving forward, given that SEO is an evolving and ever-changing marketing tool.

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Serviced offices vs. Conventional offices

What is the difference between serviced office space and conventional offices? Which option is better for your business? If you are thinking of choosing one of the 2 options, here are a few things to consider first.

Serviced office spaces are an office-as-a-service solution. They include furniture, support and maintenance services, internet, staffed reception and many other benefits so all you need to do is bring your computer or laptop, plug it in and you are all set!

Conventional offices, on the other hand, are not as simple solution. For that reason, businesses going for this option are the ones looking for a more permanent solution – the set-up time is 6 months on average and such offices come with long-term contracts.

The above draws us to the conclusion that serviced offices are a great choice for startups or small businesses whereas conventional offices are more suitable for well-established businesses who want the office space entirely for themselves and have a stable or predictable growth.

If you are asking me, I would say I lean more towards serviced offices. Given that they do not come with long-term contracts, this flexibility means freedom, though there are some advantages conventional offices offer, especially for businesses wanting to control their brand identity and workspace. Long-term costs of conventional offices are also lower.

However, these are the main benefits of serviced offers and these are the reasons I am in favour of this option:

There are no set-up costs.

Serviced offices are fully furnished, and the maintenance and cleaning services are included.

No long-term contracts are needed, and you can rent a serviced office space fairly simply with terms starting from 1 month.

When you find the right office for you, it will be ready for you in a matter of days / weeks.

You are paying only for what you use and what you need.

It is a scalable option and you do not need to worry about additional space you might need when your team grows.

Metropolitan House Business Centre based in Newcastle offers serviced office spaces and having had a chance to work with them, I would strongly recommend them to all business who are thinking of choosing the right office space. Their offer and services are great, the staff is so kind and friendly that I can not recommend them enough!

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The skills you need if you want to be a successful SEO professional

SEO professionals’ background may vary and there are so many SEO experts with a marketing or sales background, or even some programmers end up as SEO professionals. So, your background does not really matter a lot – what matters is that you are ready to learn and grow in this field. Here are some skills that will help you in the process.

Analytical thinking

The ability to collect the data and organize it in a presentable way so you can  eventually analyze it efficiently is crucial for SEO. If you are one of those people who likes to analyze what happened and why and can easily spot and recognize patters, congratulations, you have one of the most important skills you need!

Writing skills

It is important that you are good at communicating your message with clarity in writing and to have an ability to present complex ideas in a simple way, utilising the right keywords for the right niche when writing content. Writing well and effectively is an important skill that will help you become a successful SEO professional.

Knowledge of how search engines work

Clearly, you will need to know the way search engines and the internet work very well. The first 2 skills are more or less something you are born with (but can continually improve these). Learning how search engines work is something you can simply learn and stay up to date with the new trends only if you decide to! So what are you waiting for – start working on this today!

Technical skills

Coding skills and a solid background in HTML are important for on-site SEO. No website will be well ranked if its pages are not SEO-compliant. An SEO professional needs to know how to use the right tags and how to code pages and insert various elements to make the pages SEO optimized.

Be persistent!

Yes, this is one of the skills (or I’d say choices!) you’ll need if you want to be a great SEO professional. Actually, I believe you need persistence and determination if you want to be successful in any career.

In Summary

These are the most important skills our SEO team has identified, but you are welcome to comment or add a few skills you consider important for this profession.

With our customer, J3 Building Solutions, a leading building and construction company based in Newcastle, we have utilized all these skills bringing their SEO ranking among the top 10 results for the relevant keywords and we could not be prouder!

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The benefits of using a web design template for your website

A high-quality designer will always be in favour of bespoke website design. There are no limitations when it comes to custom web design – such websites are built from scratch and crafted specifically for your business needs. And yet there are so many businesses whose websites use templates. There is a good reason for this since web design templates have their own advantages.

Affordable

Price is probably the most important factor for those who decide to use web design templates. There are some free template versions available and even the ones you need to buy usually cost between £50 and £100 and come with built-in features.

Easy to set-up

They are so easy to set up that even if you are not too tech-savvy, you could set them up with some effort. If you hire a developer to do that for you, they should even be able to customize it to a certain extent. Of course, you’d first need to find a template with the features that are most suitable for your brand and business and thus reduce the amount of time spent on customization.

Built-in SEO features

If you want better search engine rankings for your website, you should take care of the SEO aspect. But even if you are not an expert in the field, there are many web design templates available that have built-in SEO features - so one thing less to think about.

There are so many template choices

This is also one of the most important benefits of using web design templates. So, again – it is crucial that you choose the one most suitable for your brand and business and thus make sure there is as little customization as possible – that will make your life easier!

Content can be easily updated

There is a number of Content Management System platforms (i.e. WordPress) and these enable you to regularly update your website content without anyone’s help. They are simple to use and pretty self-explanatory, so you can easily add new pages, upload and publish images in just a few clicks.

Finally..

It is up to you to decide if you’d like to have a template or custom-built website. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. A great example of a template website is Connect Insolvency Limited -  liquidators and insolvency practitioners based in Newcastle.

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7 things your website really needs

Every website owner dreams of having their website ranked number 1 on Google. When you get there, you will have more visits, sell more and get rich. Is that right? I don’t think so! Yes, it is very important for your website to be well ranked on search engines and be loved by them. But here is a list of features your website should have if you want to achieve the same success with your visitors.

Site speed

Slow loading websites lead to a high bounce rate. I guess there is no reason to explain why this happens – simply when a visitor first lands on your website and it is taking too much time to load, they won’t be able to find what they are looking for and will leave. Not to mention how important website speed is for your rankings!

Effective landing page

We have all heard that we Should not judge a book by its cover, but let’s be honest - we often do. This is why you should have an effective landing page which will tell your story and answer the visitors’ questions or direct them to a relevant page.

Easy navigation

Of course your landing page cannot answer all the questions your visitors might have. And it shouldn’t, because it would mean a text-heavy landing page which might scare your visitors. So you need to distribute your content effectively. Your homepage should provide just enough information to explain who you are, what you do, what you can help your customers with and this is when an easy navigation kicks in. Make sure it is clearly shown what information can be found on what page – website navigation is like a map the visitors will use to get to the page of your website that will answer their questions.

Great content

Your audience will be looking for informative and easy to read content. It is a great challenge to achieve both, but it is possible. It is also important to have fresh content and update it regularly – that way you will make sure search engines see your website as active and will also help your visitors find the most recent updates on your business and services.

Clear call to action buttons

Call to action buttons are like an invitation for your customers to actively participate in this user journey. Whether it is a ‘download a brochure’, ‘sign up for newsletter’ or ‘get in touch’, they need to be visible and compelling. Using contrasting colours or surrounding them with some white space will help you make them stand out and this is just what you need.

Social proof

According to Hootsuite, social proof is a psychological phenomenon referring to people’s reliance on the feedback and actions of others to determine what is right and what is wrong in a given situation. So if a visitor lands on your website for the first time and is considering using your services, it will be important for them to find out if someone else has been using your services and that they are happy with these services. So a link to social media accounts, user stories or testimonials is a great way to tell your visitors how good your services are.

Visible contact information

Contact information should be placed in the header so that the visitors can see the contact details whatever page of your website they visit. If you include a clickable ‘email us’ button, you will make it even easier for your visitors to get in touch with you!

In conclusion

The list of things your website should have is a long and an ever-growing one! If I include all the necessary features in my list, I am sure there will be around 20 items, so I decided to limit the list to 7 important items that will help you achieve a great success both in terms of search engine rankings and a great user journey for your visitors.

An example of a well-optimized website with the right features is care home & rehabilitation neuro centre, Chase Park Neuro Centre – their services are clearly outlined, page layout is well suited to their target audience and content is well distributed across the website, offering a great user experience to visitors!

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Responsive web design

Mobile has overtaken desktop as the most popular way to view websites. In this day and age, the expectation is that a website will be mobile friendly but unfortunately many websites are behind the times.

Having a mobile friendly site has many benefits, no least of which being that Google favours responsive websites. Lets have a look at those who are doing it well, and those who are in need of a rebuild...

This website for a trade finance and pharmacy finance provider looks great on desktop. Unfortunately when it is viewed on mobile the experience is not so great.

This photo booth hire company based in Newcastle is a great example of website that is responsive and well designed. This makes for a pleasant user experience, meaning that visitors will stay on your site longer.

It’s important that your website is visually appealing across all platforms. By ensuring that your content and imagery is attractive and works across mobile, laptop, tablet and desktop you will create a website that people want to come back to. Good luck!

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Getting your brand personality across on your website

Web design and branding go hand in hand. Your brand personality should come across immediately giving visitors a feel for what you do and what your message is.

When creating a website you should ask yourself – what message am I trying to get across about my business? It it a fun, entertainment business that offers photo booth hire in newcastle. They needed a striking website that got across the message that they cater for parties, whilst still looking professional.

Let's have a look at the different ways businesses have got their personality across using their website.

J3 Building Solutions – When you're dealing with big commercial contracts, you need visitors to your site to know you're professional and capable. This company specialises in commercial building projects in Newcastle and their website focuses on their completed projects and case studies to get their message across.

Sleeky Web Design – By using avatars instead of staff photos this Newcastle-based web design company shows their playful side.

AG Events – This company has used custom icons to illustrate their services, which consist of wedding entertainment in Newcastle. These icons not only stand out and look great, but they guide visitors through the site and make it easy for them to find what they need.

Forklift Solutions – This company has used bold colour blocks which match their branding to show their personality. As they offer forklift hire in Newcastle they wanted to show full screen images of the vehicles to get across their professionalism and quality.

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It’s All About The Journey

When you click through 100s of websites every week, you expect them to work in a certain way. The logo and title should be at the top, there should be links to every page in sight immediately and you should really only ever be a maximum of three clicks away from the information you need.

But every now and then, a website will rock you to the core with an innovative navigation menu. Here are five of the best we’ve seen recently.

Swiss Airlines

http://www.world-of-swiss.com/en

Think of this one as less of a website, more of a journey. A trusty hamburger menu lurks in the top right corner, but you’re missing the voyage of a lifetime by doing things the old fashioned way. Scroll down with your trackpad and you’ll fly through the clouds, learning about Switzerland, it’s history and of course it’s world famous airline. A wonderful enthralling experience.

Ariel Beninca

http://arielbeninca.com/

An Australia based Graphic Designer with an absolutely stunning website, this page features a plethora of interactive hover elements pulling together as you scroll through the beautifully minimalist design.

Admir Hadzic

http://admirhadzic.com/

This one is all about the transitions - move your mouse around over the page elements for some stunning parrallax effects. The navigation is unusual in it’s simplicity for a transition-heavy design like this.

Studio Rotate

http://studiorotate.com/

A design studio’s website whose simplicity is so stunning it only need consist of a logo, two sentences and a set of contact details. The transition as you switch between the two main sections is a glorious and triumphant

Green Zone Surveys

http://www.greenzonesurveys.com

This air conditioning inspections company from the UK has a stunning animated icon featured in their navigation, which spins on rollover whilst extending the firm’s branding past the top logo.

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Top Three Common Adwords Mistakes

We’re all using the internet as at least a starting point for our purchases these days. From a box of teabags to flights abroad, 80% of purchases are now either online or researched in advance online. AdWords is Google’s way of driving traffic - and therefore sales - to your website. In a nutshell, you pay them for every click on your ad, which they put at the top of their organic search results. Here are the three most common mistakes made by beginners to using AdWords.

1. Keywords are too broad.

Beginners in the world of digital marketing use broader keywords than are necessary, in the vain hope of attracting maximum traffic. This lack of focus can result in your ad being lost amongst a load of irrelevant adverts, meaning you’re throwing your money away. Bryan Watson of Newcastle builders J3 Building Solutions has been using adwords since mid-2015. “When we first started running an AdWords campaign we had poor results. We consulted with a local Digital Marketing specialist and they helped us to regain the focus of our ads, resulting in much better end results”.

2. Not having a specific landing page

If someone clicks a link in an ad and they are taken to your homepage, they might not be too happy they have to click their way to what you offered them. Create a specific landing page that relates directly to the offering you are providing.

3. Neglecting Content-focussed Marketing

It’s better to split your focus between AdWords marketing and content marketing - together they are much greater than the sum of their parts.

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Scam Alert - Is Your Call Back Form Ripping You Off?

Many websites now contain a ‘call back’ form - a short form where a customer can enter some basic information in order ro receive a call back from the company. The idea, of course, is that your customer gets to make an enquiry without having to do much - and your business acquires a valuable sales lead for your CRM.

Recently, however, it has come to light that some unscrupulous spam merchants are entering premium rate 070 and 076 numbers into these forms - meaning when you call your new client about their enquiry, you’re actually paying up to £1.50 a minute (plus a similar if not greater connection charge). If your company has 1000s of views per day, chances are you need a team of operatives to make the calls on your behalf - so make sure they know.

One of my clients, who runs a wrapping machine company, cottoned on to this soon after the launch of their new website, so we looked at ways to avoid this scam. One way is to quickly Google the phone number, another of course is to only return calls to geographical, local rate or free numbers. Another thing to try is adding a CAPTCHA field to your call back form - if the scammers are using automated software to entrap you, then they can’t get past this option.

Be wary of dubious looking numbers - if in doubt, don’t risk it.

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Choosing the right photography for your website…

You’ve decided your business needs to go online, you’ve found the right web designer (hopefully!) and copy writer, and your site is almost ready - there’s one thing left to decide.

The photography on your website tells a customer more than anything else. If they click onto your page and are presented with old, grainy images chances are they’ll look elsewhere. On the other hand if they see clean, bright, modern photos they’ll feel like reading on.

Once you’ve decided the eight year old mobile phone photos of ex-team members in an out of date uniform aren’t the way ahead, you’ve another choice to make - stock photography or bespoke professional photography. What advantages do each have?

Stock

Stock libraries contain 1000s of ready-to-go images which, once paid for, you can use with limited restrictions. The photos are high quality and you can find something to suit most industries. Advantages of using stock photography are:

Saves time

Huge choice

Great quality

Disadvantages include:

Photos used elsewhere, sometimes 1000s of times

Not original

Doesn’t speak for your brand in a distinct way

Perceived lack of interest from website visitors

Bespoke

Bespoke photography may seem like it would cost more, but in reality the price of a few hours of on-site photography is little more than a few good quality stock images. Bespoke photography really communicates the character and personality of your brand, and as a result customers will connect personally with your company through the real life imagery. Edwards Cleaning have high quality imagery of their staff and vehicle fleet which really sells the brand on their website - you get a feel for the team and the photos project a professional, tidy brand which is what you’d expect of a commercial cleaning company.

In Summary

If you want your customers to really connect with the values you’re selling to them, bespoke photography is the best way to communicate this.

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Email marketing: Five Reasons it Works

1. Reach

The reach of email marketing is limited only by the size of your mailing list. By proactively encouraging website visitors to sign up to email alerts you can build a large list of potential customers with very little effort, like Edwards Cleaning have done with this smart email capture form.. The great thing about email is how quick it is - you can send a campaign and within seconds have people viewing your website.  

2. Return-on-investment

Email marketing is cost-effective, due to the lack of physical advertising needed. Rather than paying a designer and a printer and a delivery service, many businesses use a service like Mailchimp to create great looking email templates that cost very little to construct and send.

3. Brand awareness

Properly designed email messages with subject lines, consistent style and correctly used logos and colours reinforce your company’s product and services in your customer’s eyes. Due to the interactive nature of email communication your relationships with your customer are nurtured and improved.

4. Measurable

Using a mass mail service allows you to track every email you send and view reports on clicks, opens, and conversions. These statistics help you to tweak your future campaigns to have a greater impact.

5. Customisation

Email campaigns can now be tailored to specific customers using intelligent programming of your software. Geographic location, age, sex - you name it, you can target your latest service at the most appropriate demographic with great ease.

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Staying IT Savvy for SMEs

When was the last time your small business reviewed its IT systems? Chances are you call the IT Support company whenever there’s a problem but the rest of the time its out of sight, out of mind. If you want your business to stay at the forefront of new innovations - all designed to make you more productive - we suggest you take the time to consider the following five points. After all, there’s never a better time to consider the future of your IT than now, so without further ado…

Upgrade Windows

Are you still using Windows XP? So are lots of people, despite the fact it is now 14 years since release date. To get an idea of how long that is, here’s the top of the range mobile handset from back then:

People got used to XP, and thanks to the disasters that were Windows 2000 and Windows Vista they’re clinging to this OS simply because it’s adequate and doesn’t break. But it’s 14 years old - you should really look at a replacement. Furthermore, Microsoft ended support for Windows XP almost a year ago in April 2014 - so for the past year you’ve been at increased risk from spammers and hackers. Windows 7 and 8 are both available now, so as long as you’ve a 64 bit computer you should upgrade to either of these fantastic replacements before you fall foul of a malicious programmer.

Upgrade Your Broadband

Do you waste more than ten minutes a day waiting for files to attach to emails? How about those software upgrades - they can take up to an hour to download. With fibre broadband now widely rolled-out across the UK, you’ve no excuse to struggle by with the low download (and much lower upload) speeds of your old internet connection. Most broadband suppliers are offering great deals to get you to switch to their superfast internet so you’re costing yourself time and money by sticking with what you have.

Learn What The Cloud Can Do For You

Are your staff stuck to their desk? Does your workflow end the moment you leave the office? The chances are you use a smartphone or tablet (or probably both) so you may as well at least find out what cloud computing can do for your business. The number of high quality cloud apps means your staff can now work from wherever they are - Google Drive contains high power office apps that can replace Microsoft Office, and the files are wherever you are. Cloud backups mean you can now backup your systems without expensive and bulky servers.

Switch to VoIP

VoIP allows you to make and recieve calls using your internet connection rather than a dedicated landline - it’s much cheaper than normal calling. You can also link your system to your mobile and field office calls whilst out and about. The higher speed of today’s internet connections means that the old problems of poor call quality and dropped calls are no longer an issue.

Get Your Security Up To Date

A worryingly large number of people sign up for a year’s virus protection when they first get a new computer, but simply let it lapse and don’t think about it after it expires. If you think that the guys hacking your computer are as prolific as the guys updating your software you’ll get an idea of how dangerous this strategy is. Viruses and malware are often updated and revised on a daily basis, so you shouldn’t put your data and systems at risk through indifference - contact an IT Support Newcastle company if in doubt.

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What’s the difference between POP3 and IMAP? In a nutshell, IMAP saves your mail on the server when you download it to your device, and POP3 doesn’t. So if you use POP3, your only copy of the mail is on your device, if you use IMAP there is a permanent backup on your web server. 

For more information on email visit www.itcservice.co.uk