http://www.mylocalforums.com/ A friendly spam free community of like minded business owners, entrepreneurs, or people interested in all things business related. 100% free, so come and say hello. en Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:59:49 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.mylocalforums.com/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.mylocalforums.com/ http://www.mylocalforums.com/general-business-news-help-discussion/1612-govt-spending-cuts-produce-first-major-casulty.html Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:53:05 GMT Property and environmental services giant Connaught is expected to formally enter administration later, putting thousands of jobs at risk. The... Property and environmental services giant Connaught is expected to formally enter administration later, putting thousands of jobs at risk.

The company, which specialises in social housing, said late on Tuesday it was "in the process of appointing administrators".

...It would be the biggest company bankruptcy in the UK since Woolworths failed in 2008.

Connaught employs almost 10,000 people, and around 180 outstanding maintenance contracts with local councils and housing associations.
BBC News - Connaught administration threatens thousands of jobs

I wonder how many other businesses were dependant on govt and local authority contracts? I bet we'll hear plenty more bad bews in the near future.

I suppose it would be the online equivelant of Google deciding you could no longer use adwords, adsense or recive any of its traffic :eek: ]]> General Business News, Help and Discussion sjr4x4 http://www.mylocalforums.com/general-business-news-help-discussion/1612-govt-spending-cuts-produce-first-major-casulty.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1609-hello.html Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:20:31 GMT Hi I'd like to introduce myself to the group, my name is Andrew Davis, I'm an account manager for a company that manages comparison shopping campaigns for e-commerce merchants. I specialize in all things comparison shopping related and I also love to blog. You can see my posts at blog.cpcstrategy.com.

I'd love to provide any personal help with these websites or with e-commerce in general. Within the next few weeks our company is releasing a free 20-page white paper on how to start and successfully manage comparison shopping campaigns. I'm trying to reach as many online retailers as possible with this valuable information from experts in the industry.

If you have a personal blog and you talk about e-commerce or comparison shopping I'd love to connect and see how we can mutually benefit from marketing this information.

Any questions you have, feel free to throw them at me.

Sincerely,

Andrew Davis
andrew@cpcstrategy.com ]]> Introductions - Come and Say Hello! CPC_Andrew http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1609-hello.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/take-break/1608-misheard-tunes.html Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:55:08 GMT Following on from the "Tunes that motivate" post by Stavros, what are your favourite misheard lyrics.

One of my favs has got to be "get up in the morning baked beans for breakfast" and "me ears are alight" both from Desmond Dekkers Isrealites.

Wife spent 30 odd years singing along to Albert Hammonds "Free electric van"

Dave:) ]]> Take a Break! wassat http://www.mylocalforums.com/take-break/1608-misheard-tunes.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/e-commerce-online-shops/1607-shopzilla-any-one-using.html Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:32:20 GMT Just wondered if anyone here has any experience with shopzilla and similar shopping sites like kelkoo - worth a punt? Just wondered if anyone here has any experience with shopzilla and similar shopping sites like kelkoo - worth a punt? ]]> E-Commerce and Online Shops tomsk http://www.mylocalforums.com/e-commerce-online-shops/1607-shopzilla-any-one-using.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/e-commerce-online-shops/1605-tips-increase-your-ecommerce-business.html Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:58:27 GMT Professional website design: Always make sure that your website has a modern and professional design to project a corporate brand image and make... Professional website design:

Always make sure that your website has a modern and professional design to project a corporate brand image and make your company look trustworthy to the clients. If your site has an out-of-date website then the users will not feel secure enough to buy from you. So build confidence with a design that matches your identity of your brand that fits with your target market. The colors and styles of your website should also be appropriate to your audience.

User Friendly

Include menu which easy to find and navigate around. If users cannot easily find their way around the website then they will get bored quickly and buy the products form another online store. Not only should the design and structure be user friendly, but also menu option labels should be suitable and relevant. Make important features of the site stand out well to help users find their way, especially the shopping basket and contact details and shopping basket.

Make Products Worth Attractive and Appealing

Use professional, high quality images which can help your products look appealing and clear to users. Write an effective descriptions of each product to help advertise the benefits and features, without proper product descriptions you may lose sales. Text on category and product pages within your ecommerce store will help you to improve SEO results for those pages and the keywords that you include within the text.

Today there are many e commerce website design service provider who provides you user friendly ecommerce solutions with designs from their expert web design team that can bring you more and more potential customers to your website. ]]> E-Commerce and Online Shops marchal04 http://www.mylocalforums.com/e-commerce-online-shops/1605-tips-increase-your-ecommerce-business.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1603-saying-hello-everyone.html Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:25:22 GMT Hi everyone,

My name is Aisha, and I'm new to this forum. I've an online clothing store focused on modern women's clothing and accessories. I'm new to online business. I'm currently working hard on my SEO.
I guess you’re all doing great with your various businesses and what issues do you currently face? ]]> Introductions - Come and Say Hello! sales@eagleeyedcollection http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1603-saying-hello-everyone.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1606-hi.html Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:59:10 GMT Hi to all members of this forum. I live in Leeds and have a greeting card distribution business. I love Phoenix Cards, I first came across them... Hi to all members of this forum. I live in Leeds and have a greeting card distribution business. I love Phoenix Cards, I first came across them whilst looking for some different Xmas cards to the ones sold in shops. I saw an advert for Phoenix Cards in a magazine so I sent off for the brochure. I was so impressed with the selection I placed a big order, two month's later I became a Trader. The cards really are fabulous, and so what is so surprising is that they are so affordable. £1.20 per card or £1.00 per card if purchasing any 10 or more. If they were sold in say Clintons, you would expect to pay maybe £1.99 or even £2.40 per card. The gift wrap is also fantastic. The company have recently seen an increase in sales of a whopping 15% on last year, and trade successfully through a number of Independent Traders in the UK, France, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. This is one Direct Sales UK Company that is doing exceptionally well. Take a look at my website, let me know what you think.
Paul Amatt
Phoenix Trader ]]> Introductions - Come and Say Hello! fanofbettyboop http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1606-hi.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1602-hello-all.html Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:48:32 GMT hi, i'm new here..nice too meet u..
yoroshiku!!:) ]]> Introductions - Come and Say Hello! millionaire777 http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1602-hello-all.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/village-market/1601-september-october-ppc-management-offer.html Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:16:44 GMT I have been working on an offer of PPC management for the lovely members of MLF as PPC seems to be a hot topic on a regular basis. Throughout the... I have been working on an offer of PPC management for the lovely members of MLF as PPC seems to be a hot topic on a regular basis.

Throughout the months of September and October any UK member of MLF who wants a professional PPC management service from yours truly will get the same high level service I offer, at a vastly reduced price.

So here lies the offer........


For an account spending below £800 per month
100 keywords or below is a flat fee of £75 per month (unique offering to MLF - I don't normally do this)
For every keyword above the first 100 add 40p per month to a maximum cost of £135 monthly fee (That’s £65 per month off my usual monthly flat fee or 33% off)

For an account above £801 per month the following percentage sliding scale applies
£801- £1500..........21% of marketing spend (Usually 25%)
£1501 - £2500........19% of marketing spend (Usually 22.5%)
£2501 - £3500........17% of marketing spend (Usually 20%)
£3501 - £4500........15% of marketing spend (Usually 17.5%)
£4501 - £5500........13% of marketing spend (Usually 15%)
£5501+..................10% of marketing spend (Usually 12%)


Set-up account – One off fee (Account, Adgroups, Adtext, keyword research and research the best bid available for your budget and business aims)
100 keyword or below account set up is £100
For every extra keyword above the first 100 add an extra 85p per keyword to a maximum charge of £150. (Max volume of keywords must not exceed 230 in the account)
Accounts containing more than 230 keywords I will have to work you out an individual set-up fee.

Simply commission me and MagnifyB as your PPC management consultant/company within the months of September or October 2010 and the above prices will remain for the duration I manage your account. I may have to slightly raise these prices due to inflation after the initial 18 month period but they will remain at a discounted rate in line with the raised cost of my normal charges.

The offer is based on setting up and/or running campaigns using Google Adwords. If further down the line you want to add PPC accounts on Bing or Yahoo!, I will set-up for free (230 keywords or under) as long as I am managing the account thereafter.

This offer is valid for you or your clients – hope it can be of use to you :)
Kerry ]]> The Village Market MagnifyB http://www.mylocalforums.com/village-market/1601-september-october-ppc-management-offer.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1600-hi-everyone-hoping-share-my-cupcake-news.html Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:05:58 GMT Hi i am new to this site and am hoping to find other cupcake mad people like me. I make them, decorate them, eat them and most importantly teach... Hi i am new to this site and am hoping to find other cupcake mad people like me.
I make them, decorate them, eat them and most importantly teach others how to make and decorate them too.



I am hoping to share creative recipes or help budding enthusiasts!!

Hope to hear from you

Kiera:) ]]> Introductions - Come and Say Hello! http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1600-hi-everyone-hoping-share-my-cupcake-news.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/seo-webrankings-google-yahoo-bing-etc/1599-search-engine-optimizations.html Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:09:33 GMT Hi ya all long time since I added to here but thought ud find this funny. Had a Call from a company wanting to sell us SEO and ended up offering my... Hi ya all
long time since I added to here but thought ud find this funny.
Had a Call from a company wanting to sell us SEO and ended up offering my partner a part time job sorting SEO's for clients.
hmmmmmmmmmmm am i losing my partner here?
lol
regards marc ]]> SEO, Webrankings, Google, Yahoo, Bing etc fitz2kleen http://www.mylocalforums.com/seo-webrankings-google-yahoo-bing-etc/1599-search-engine-optimizations.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/hr-h-s-insurance-all-things-legal/1598-we-have-been-ripped-off-ukfreedirectory-com.html Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:14:12 GMT Got a call this morning who were curious if we had launched another directory called www.ukfreedirectory.com - rip off... Got a call this morning who were curious if we had launched another directory called www.ukfreedirectory.com - rip off

Had a look, and couldn't believe it, blatant rip off of our logo, and have obviously tried to base their site around us, looking at their content. Even their search box is word for word the same as our old one "Business Type - e.g. builders, hotels, taxis..." We recently updated it.

It looks like they are a cheap script generated site, no contact details, and based in the states.

So question is, what can we do about it?? Our logo is a registered under the UK Trademarks registry, but this won't cover the US, or will it because they are using a .co.uk domain?

Anyone had any similiar experiences? ]]> sjr4x4 http://www.mylocalforums.com/hr-h-s-insurance-all-things-legal/1598-we-have-been-ripped-off-ukfreedirectory-com.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/general-business-news-help-discussion/1596-uks-fsb-says-400-small-businesses-going-bust-every-week.html Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:33:50 GMT The banks aren't happy with the govt strongarm tactics asking them to lend small businesses more money, as the banks are saying the reason they are refusing is simply down to risk.

So all the big banks have agreed to be audited to find out why small businesses are getting refused, to satisfy the govt that they are not being unfair.

"Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, has talked about the "heartbreaking" sight of so many UK businesses going under because of lack of credit. Britain's Federation of Small Businesses says 300 to 400 of its members are collapsing every week.

But the banks have said that lending figures are down due to lack of demand and only risky companies are being turned away."
Banks' report aims to blunt lending row - Telegraph

It's an interesting point, does access to credit simply stay off the inevitable if a business is in trouble? Maybe there are better solutions if its cash flow, like factoring etc.

I can't see loans getting turned down for expansion and growth, if presented with a well written business plan, and the business has a good trading history or am I being naive? ]]> General Business News, Help and Discussion sjr4x4 http://www.mylocalforums.com/general-business-news-help-discussion/1596-uks-fsb-says-400-small-businesses-going-bust-every-week.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1595-hi-guys.html Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:47:44 GMT Hello guys.. Im Andre... New GUy Here... MORE POWER:D Hello guys..

Im Andre... New GUy Here...

MORE POWER:D ]]> Introductions - Come and Say Hello! AndreCollison http://www.mylocalforums.com/introductions-come-say-hello/1595-hi-guys.html http://www.mylocalforums.com/tenders-assistance-find-supplier/1594-web-designer-needed-urgently.html Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:11:45 GMT Hi, Please I need a website designer to work on my website. Hi,

Please I need a website designer to work on my website. ]]> AloeForBeauty http://www.mylocalforums.com/tenders-assistance-find-supplier/1594-web-designer-needed-urgently.html