Blogging has definitely become a more popular way of engaging with customers since it first appeared in the late 1990’s. The purpose behind blogging has also changed. When it first appeared, its purpose was mostly to relay a person’s thoughts or opinions about whatever took their fancy. These days, the concept adds value to the business world and, as a result, many online businesses have taken to writing blogs about their industry, service or product in order to take advantage of the benefits.​

​The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force in May 2018. It is a new legislation proposed by the European Commission that aims to strengthen and unify data protection for individuals within the European Union (EU), whilst also addressing the use and dissemination of personal data outside the EU.
 
If you have not heard of GDPR, or are unsure about what this means for your company, start with reading 12 ways to get ready for GDPR, prepared by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
 
The two main objectives of GDPR are to:
1) give individuals back control of their personal data
2) simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU

Whilst GDPR is intended for every business that collects and stores data, GDPR recognises that smaller businesses need to be treated differently to large or public enterprises. Article 30 of the regulation declares that organisations with fewer than 250 employees will be given some leeway -  although the regulation is not explicit in describing what the leeway exactly is. 
 
The key changes of GDPR from the Data Protection Act 1998 fall under the following areas:

• Penalties
• Consent
• Breach Notification
• Right to Access
• Right to be Forgotten
• Data Portability
• Privacy by Design
• Data Protection Officers

 
To understand the details behind each of these points, take a look at the EU GDPR website.
 
These new regulations should be taken seriously by all businesses, large and small; as the penalties for not being compliant are high. In addition, individuals will be able to seek compensation from businesses that abuse their data.
 
How will this change when Brexit comes into force?
Although the UK has voted to leave the EU, UK business will still have to comply with new regulations if the data they handle is about EU citizens, or has the potential to identify individuals within the EU. GDPR will replace the UK 1988 Data Protection Act (DPA), even post Brexit.
 
Perfect Layout hopes that this article has helped you to understand some basics about GDPR and has signposted you to some useful resources.
 
We aim to help all future clients understand the importance of GDPR, especially when it comes to collecting data via their websites. If you have any question, give us a call on 01708 578 015.

Listing your business on GMB is relatively quick and easy to do. It’s free and can be completed even if your business doesn’t have an address. You have the option of adding a brief description of your services/products (750 characters) as well uploading images relating to your business.

Unlike some directory facilities, GMB now allows you to let people have more up to the minute details of what your business is doing by posting your latest news. If your current website doesn’t have a blog – why not use this facility to offer insights into your business instead?

Reviews are also a prominent feature and this aspect is presented when your GMB shows. Don’t overlook the importance of following up with customers that have used your services and/or products and asking them for a testimonial. Nowadays it’s the norm for people to research companies they are thinking about using and reading reviews forms a big part of this decision making process. Satisfied customers and high star ratings will bring new customers your way and GMB offers you the opportunity to respond to comments that are great as well as those that could be better.

​Other information that can be uploaded onto GMB includes:

• Business address
• Business opening days and hours
• Special days of the year when you may be closed for business or have reduced hours (like Easter or Christmas)
• Business telephone number
• Website address
• Services, attributes, opening date and photos
• Advanced information – shop code, labels, adwords info

Once live, a link to your business is automatically created on Google Maps and Google Search which provides two other platforms where your business can be searched for.
 
GMB also logs the traffic visiting your listing and provides data on:

•  How customers search for your business
•  Where customers view your business on Google
•  Customer actions - the most common actions that customers take on your listing, i.e. do they visit your website, request directions or call you
•  Directions requests
•  Phone calls
•  Photo views
•  Photo quantity

​If you like the sound of what you’ve read, but haven’t got the time to list your business, give Perfect Layout Digital Marketing a call. Our services include listing businesses onto all different types of directories.

​These methods go towards optimising a page – basically packing in what you can (in a natural, free flowing way) to hold the attention and inform the visitor, as well as being found by search engines. In order for you to be found in this way you should include an overview of the following:

• Who’s behind the business, the ethos
• What services the business offers
• What products the business offers
 
It should reflect a bite-sized version of what you have on your about page, services page and products page. Try and make the content throughout your site unique and on the homepage, you should aim to write at least 800 words, preferably more.

But what if you have a business that is based on producing visual goods or services – like a cake shop or a photographer? People just want to see the end result right, not read about how it was made?

Whilst many people do skip to the gallery and review the end result before committing to buy, many users these days want to make an educated decision prior to that happening and who can blame them. Today, more than ever, people have a greater choice about which service provider to use.

With so much choice, this means that businesses have got to be more transparent about what they do and how they do it in order to look unique amongst the competition. It would be hard to appear exclusive in a couple of paragraphs (unless you’ve got some serious marketing money behind you) compared to doing so in 800 or so words. Read more about the importance of writing great content from one of our previous blogs.

If the thought of writing creative, relevant and interesting content overwhelms you, why not let us help? 
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Part of ensuring that your website gets good organic search results is ensuring that you also list your business on independent directories, such as, Yell, 192.com, netmums and other sector relevant directories where your customers might look for your services.

However, it is vital that all your contact information is exactly the same on each listing. If your contact details (name, address and phone number) are inconsistent this could penalise your results in organic search.

Whilst search engine algorithms are sophisticated, they can invariably get confused as to whether two similar listings are the same or not. Given that businesses can have comparable names or that businesses may share an address, it is essential that you do not put your rankings at risk by being sloppy.
​

What happens if my details change?
This is not a problem. But make sure that you keep a record of all your listings with usernames and passwords, so that should you need to alter any information, you can dedicate a period of time to update these in one go. This means that by the time the spiders trawl the internet for updated information, all your details across all the directories that you are listed on are updated at more or less the same time.

The only thing that must be different on each and every directory listing is your description. Search engines penalise plagiarism, so even if they are your own words, copying and pasting the same content numerous times is seriously frowned upon and could hurt your rankings too.

To sum up – Contact details (name, address and phone number) must always be in the same format; description of services and products should be unique to each directory listing.
​
If you need any help with creating or editing your directory listings, Perfect Layout can do this for you. Drop us an email at hello@perfectlayout.co.uk or call us on 01708 578 015.