​You don’t have to be a website designer or developer to know that when lots of people visit your website, that’s a good thing. It means that you are offering potential customers services and/or products that they want to buy or hire.
But (yes, there’s always a but…) getting people to your site and opening doors for them to peruse is not an easy objective to attain. The online market is saturated with services like yours and finding unique ways to stand out gets increasingly difficult, year on year.

​Nowadays, it is very common for people looking to purchase a service or product to find out more about it by using the internet and Googling it. Anyone who wants to grow their brand, no matter how small their business is, needs a website.

Having a website for your small business is not just about selling your products or services online. Creating an optimised website provides value to customers and is a form of free advertising. Still need convincing? Then keep reading these 7 reasons of why a website would work wonders for your business…

​During this period of lockdown, it’s important to keep busy and let your customers know that you are still open for business. Whilst how you are delivering your services and products may have changed, what should remain intact is your hope for the future and keeping your customers informed about your service/s.

One way of doing this is by writing a blog. We come across many businesses that have started doing this, but that have somehow not kept up with creatively writing about what they do. This comes as no surprise as regular thought is required, along with commitment of time and some level of planning.

The UK is in lockdown and has officially been so since the evening of 23 March 2020. What have you been doing this past week? Have you been spending the time reflecting on your present and future situation?

With much of the world working from home, it's important that you maintain as much 'normality' as possible and continue to schedule tasks while committing to your daily schedule. Some of the greatest businesses in the world, were borne out of the most difficult times in history by people who believed in themselves and were committed to their own success. It's time to get resourceful!

You might want to take this opportunity to maintain your efforts and stay engaged with your plans, so that you can look towards a better future. Remember:

• This will not last forever
• We will overcome this
• The world will reunite again

This isn't time to spend your days sleeping in and binge-watching TV, or scrolling up and down your social media accounts. It's the time to seek out new opportunities.

Here are some suggestions that you might like to think about:

• Take structured time each day to work. It won’t be the same type of working day you have been used to, but that’s OK.
• Spend quality time with your loved ones and enhance your family dynamic.
• Play games with your children and loved ones.
• Connect and rekindle with old friends – we have amazing technology to keep in touch.
• Take time out for yourself each and every day.
• Spend some moments with fresh air on your face – even if it means simply opening a window.
• Express gratitude each day, no matter how small it is.
• Say a big THANK YOU to the key workers out there working around the clock.

Please know that the Perfect Layout team are here to support your business and offer any assistance you might need for your website and digital marketing.

We encourage everyone to remain calm and look past the current situation, knowing that we will recover and that prosperity is on the other side.
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Stay safe, stay inside, and enjoy this time of reflection that has never before been possible.
Take care.

At Perfect Layout Digital Marketing we like to talk to business owners to find out about their business. The aim is to learn and share with you the personal experiences of these business owners. What is working for them and what they have learned do differently.

We believe that sharing knowledge is a great way to help other businesses develop. We are passionate about promoting the awesome, creative and varied companies that exist not only in our area, but also beyond.

Read our interview here with Marc Denton a Wealth and Tax Planner at Wow based in Andover in Hampshire.

Tell us a bit about you? 
Personally, I am married and have a baby boy which has been an amazing experience. I’m a big sports fan and regular exerciser, which I love as it is a great de-stress.

​Professionally, I started my career in the fitness industry and after 10 years in the industry I was looking for a change. I ended up spending the summer at a friend’s house who was working for RBS working on property deals in London. I found it interesting and started chatting with him and then going to commercial property auctions. Meeting with investors and getting to know them enabled me to see what they were purchasing and how their finances were being structured. I then went on to become a mortgage advisor by completing the CeMAP training. This was in 2006 and then the crash came…
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I love the name Wow, do you know why the company was named this? 
The three founders of the company were college friends. They knew that accounting, tax and wealth management was always presented in a dull and confusing way. Most people switch off when you talk to them about these matters. They had a vision that it could be done differently and that it really was an amazing industry to be in. They started with a small office in Andover looking over a train line, presenting information to clients in a language that was easy to understand and this started gaining momentum in their business. Today it has a team of 30 staff, all with an ethics and principles that really help clients.

What else makes you stand out from other Financial Planners / Accountants?
Our passion for helping people become financially free. For me it’s about bringing money to life and creating passive income for my clients, they shouldn’t need to engage with a professional and end up having to do more work themselves. Anyone can read and recite technical details but having a grasp on what clients benefit from is a whole different ball game, and that’s what we pride ourselves on.

Across the company the level of service and the duty of care we give is above and beyond and we monitor this closely. We look at clients for the long term, it doesn’t work if you just continue to provide ad hoc work. Life and business is fluid and at a moment’s notice the landscape can change, we adapt the services and advice we offer in a timely fashion to suit the situation at hand.

Importantly on the financial planning side of the business we look at how to set up and monitor passive income, I like to design wealth so that it does not involve my clients having to complete extra work, more paper work or deal with additional stress, so as to add any additional time needed to make decisions as all that dramatically reduces the chance of achieving the goals because you simply become too “busy”.
 
I’ve worked, studied and been mentored by a number of millionaires ​over the last 13 years and developed a system that is really powerful for creating financial ​freedom, for some people ​that is money in the bank, and for others it's about having more time ​to spend with family and not worry about money.
 
What type of companies do you help? Give us some examples
We look for companies and business owners that are open to engaging and working together not just on the business but on their personal situation also, receiving the advice that we offer. We typically work with businesses with up to a turnover of £5 million. Any client with more than that, we would recommend to another trusted contact.

We have a large section of digital agencies which grew organically. These businesses are creative and have a lot of energy, and over time, we gained market leading expertise that helped their particular needs.

We also complete lots of self-assessment and tax work for the company directors and some sole traders.  Whilst directors are able to grasp their business financially, the challenge for them is how to grow their personal wealth at the same time.

We get a lot of referrals from estate agents, solicitors, and other accountants and we have great working relationships with these other professionals.

I also personally have a passion for helping couples who are separating. I financial mediate alongside solicitors and help them sort out their finances. The process helps them understand mortgage needs (what can they borrow individually moving forward) and cash flow forecasting for the future, along with complex pension issues. This service provides them with fantastic clarity around what their finances will look like after they split.
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Why is financial planning so important?
It’s one of those things where transparency and trust is so important, being in control of your finances is a must these days more than ever. Everyone should be looking at ways of becoming financially free, this can mean different things to different people for instance some people want money in the bank, for others they are looking to spend more time with their family. Once you have a hold on your finances you can manage the rest of your life so much easier. We help our clients look ahead to the next 5, 10 and 20 years. What is their earning potential and where will they be? Our cashflow forecaster provides is an excellent tool.

Sadly, our education system doesn’t teach us how to handle money and financial decisions. It’s life circumstances that teaches you these lessons, and sometimes these can be very painful lessons.

When you hire a financial and tax planner, how does it work?  Is it a one-off assessment or do you continue working with people on their journey?
It can be a combination. For some clients they will want a clear picture on their current financial situation. People see money coming in/out and think they are OK. In that instance we provide snapshots of where they are and where they are going, for some people that is all they want to start with.

For others they may engage with us to help them plan for the future, either looking at their pensions or investments, setting up strategies or problem solving, and it is these long term clients that benefit most from our advice.

You wouldn’t not check your insurances each year and look for the best deal on the market, yet people happily leave their investments untouched for years without checking on their performance. This mindset needs to change.
 
It is expensive to hire a Financial Advisor?
The benefits of having a good financial planner should always outweigh any costs associated with it, the client should always be in a better position or be making more from the service than the adviser, so it will never become expensive as it pays for itself.

Our work is carried in a number of ways, we can work on an hourly basis and work within the budget of the individual/company. For some people they may want some advice around tax decisions such as paying into pension vs paying a chunk off the mortgage.

If you want us to invest your money, typically the fees come from the investments themselves therefore making it performance related.

If investments are doing well everyone earns more, but if they don’t perform then we work very hard to turn things around.  It is in our interest to make sure our clients’ portfolio performs. We will have a written agreement beforehand explaining our fees and the value proposition of the work that we are doing.

Since 2006, I have advised a number of people who gone on to become financially free. This has been achieved in the financial clarity that we gave them. This provided them with the space to get on with their businesses.

What advice would you give someone unsure about their finances?
To face the initial fear and book a meeting with someone. Most financial advisors will do a fact-finding meeting free of charge and offer you a detailed explanation of their services, just be really clear on how they could help you and what you need from working together.

Also, don’t feel that you need to hire the first company you meet with. Go and meet with 3-4 companies/individuals and ask to speak with some of their clients. Get a real feel about who they are and who you feel most comfortable with. This is an important decision to get right and you are going to need to really trust them with your hard-earned money.

How does Wow find new clients?
Most of our clients come organically from the accountancy side of the business. We also get referrals from law firms, estate agents, other accountancy practices and existing clients.

I have also written for investment publications such as What Investment, Financial Advisor, and City Wire magazines, and undertaken radio interviews which helps bring clients our way.

Is there anything else that Wow offers?
Yes, I also provide mental health talks for companies in the South of England. There are a lot of financial triggers that lead to doubts and stress in people’s mind. A good friend of mine has been through the mill and started speaking about his illness.

More and more his audience was asking about financials so we got together and now have both of us speak.  We go into companies and present then discuss further with individuals, the highlight was a talk we presented to Microsoft UK a few weeks ago.

Every year at Wow we undertake a BenchPress Survey that goes out to all agency owners. It is the largest survey of UK agencies. Here they can compare their own business and track against what others are doing.


​They can see how companies are growing; how people promote the culture in their business; how cash flow is working and what their worries are.

Off the back of this, we produce additional webinars on the findings and push this across our social media channels. Our marketing department takes care all this and our dynamic website with lots of helpful articles and videos too.

What are the ambitions for Wow in the next 5 years? 
To continue to grow, it’s an ever-evolving discussion and we are engaging all employees so it’s not just a top down approach. 
 
You mentioned to me that you have some other projects too, tell me more about them?
I have two new opportunities in the pipeline.

In 2009 I started a property fund. In the last two years, I found more people are looking for more secure returns on their investments. With the recent changes in tax legislation, mortgage interest relief being pulled and the stamp duty on buy-to-lets this option is not as attractive as it once was.
I have a fund where Ltd companies and those with over £100k can invest. It is a secured fund that produces solid returns for investors.

I am also working on Liberty Investments; this is socially responsible investment platform for conscious investors. We are working with a fund manager who is one of the leading ethical managers in the country.

The platform helps investors to avoid companies that are investing in fracking, tobacco and other industries that they may not want to be affiliated with and will be open to all investors, its designed for those already making conscious choices in their life such as reducing plastic, organic foods etc.

Who inspires you?
On a daily basis, my son. I want to build a better future for him and surroundings that he can be proud of.

Around money management - Warren Buffet and Earl Nightingale. For mindset and energy - Tony Robbins, T Harv Ecker, Zig Ziglar and Alex Mandossian to name a few that your mind have heard of.

​Can you recommend any good books you have been reading?
Yes, I really enjoyed these books:
Legacy by James Kerr
Socratic Selling by Kevin Daily
Grinding it Out by Ray Kroc
Sales Mind by Helen Kensett

Thank you for a really insightful interview. It was great to get to know more about you, Wow and the projects that you are working on. Do you have any closing thoughts that you would like to share?
Here is a thought I like to remind myself of daily.
I won’t get where I need to be unless I help others get where they need to be.

With this mindset everyone wins. This is dispelling the old myths on Financial Advisors who may have been perceived to take people’s money and do what they want with it, whether it benefits the clients or not. Independent Financial Advisors can help run and manage your finances, whilst you get the education that you need to be confident to do it yourself.

If you would like to contact Marc about for finances and tax planning email him at: marc.denton@thewowcompany.com
07931 295116 
Connect with Marc on LinkedIn
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If you have a business that you would like to feature in this regular slot, why not get in touch? We’d love to hear from you!

Would you like more customers?
Yes, of course! I mean who wouldn't want more customers?

Would you like to get exclusive qualified leads specifically for your business?
Is that another yes, I hear?

Would you like someone else to do all of the hard work for you and you only pay a small fee for the leads that come your way?
Hell yeah!

Then you have come to the right place!!

We specialise in giving our clients genuine, exclusive, qualified leads specifically for their business.

How we do that is by creating a website that is bespoke to your business and adding all the digital marketing magic to the site, which ensures that it gets noticed. We are not offering a marketplace directory (like Bark) that send qualified leads to several other competitors, nor a listings directory, like Yell.com.

What we offer is 100% verified leads for people that are looking for YOUR services and YOUR products. When they contact us, we filter out pesky sales calls, and make sure that we pass details of valid leads for you to follow up and close the deal.

The set-up costs to you are a grand sum of £0. Yes, you read that correctly. The set up cost is FREE. Once we start generating leads, you will pay for the contact information of the person that we send to you. Like with all business leads, some you will win, but others will decide to hire someone else. Sadly that is out of our control.

So how much will the leads cost me? 
That's the great thing about this, between us we decide what is the right price for a lead and industry to industry this will change. The factors we would look at are:

• what are the prices of a job/services you offer?
  
• what is the frequency of the work that you do?
  
• how many calls do you have in month, usually?
  

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From there we find a fair price for both parties. 

Do you do this for every business category?
No, we would need to decide whether your industry is the right fit for us. Give us a call on 01708 578 015 and we can quickly give you an answer. However, if your business leads are usually generated from a phone call, or a contact form on a website or directory, then you are likely to be a good fit for us.

Say YES, and let us help with the cost to your next holiday.
If you like the sound of our serivce, give us call today and we will schedule a discovery meeting. The new business that you generate from us, could pay for your next holiday...so, what are you waiting for?

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1. Keep it Fresh. Your website content must be fresh, trustworthy and informative. Search engines like new content so you have to keep your website regularly update. Don't create a website and just let it sit there forever.

2. Generate Organic Traffic (Part A). This is part of your search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy and first you have to know and plan your keywords. Keywords are the words that people type into a search engine to find something on the internet. A keyword can consist of a single word, such as "bike" or an entire phrase, like "mountain bikes for beginners".

3. Generate Organic Traffic (Part B). Keyword placement is important. Make sure your 'title tags' (the words you see in your browser window) have your keywords in them. This is what search engines use for the title display in their search results.

4. Generate Backlinks. This where other internet sites link to your website. They are important because search engines look at the number and the level of quality of websites that connect to your website to determine how your page may rank on their listing. One of the most common ways of finding backlinks is in trading links with other websites.

5.Article Marketing. Article marketing is a technique to generate quality backlinks to your website quickly and easily. Each article will have an author's resource information box that is attached to your article submission and you can refer readers to your website.

6. Use Feeder Sites. A feeder site is a third party website that allows you to place content on its webite. Search engines like feeder websites and there are many feeder sites online that you can use to siphon traffic from the search engines to your website.

7. Video marketing. It is easy to submit a video to YouTube and some of the other video sharing websites. Add your site's URL to the video itself, and add a link to your site in the description of the video, too. This will help generate traffic, especially if you target keywords with your video titles!

8. Paid Traffic. Pay Per Click advertising is paying for your website to be at the top of search engine results when a person types in the keywords that best describe your product or service. The higher you bid, the higher your link will be displayed in the list and you only pay when a somebody clicks on your link.

9. Employ a specialist web design / search optimisation company. They can apply methods to get your website near the top of the search page. Employing a specialist to generate traffic will cost you money however their graphics, knowledge and input will be search friendly.

10. Remain Consistent. In order to maximise the performance of all of your traffic campaigns you need to stay consistent, adding fresh new content to your websites and consistently maximising exposure so you keep the momentum going.

Article Source

If you would like help getting your website ranking on page one of Google, get in touch with our team on 01708 578 015.

Every other month, Perfect Layout Digital Marketing talks to business owners to talk about their business. The aim is to learn and share with you the personal experiences of these business owners. What is working for them and what they have learned to do differently.

At Perfect Layout we believe that sharing knowledge is a great way to help other businesses develop. We are passionate about promoting the awesome, creative and varied companies that exist not only in our local area, but also beyond the Essex borders.
​
Read our interview with Sun Lee, a restaurant owner of Lime Orange that offers Korean food in London.

Tell us a bit about you? 
Lime Orange is a family business that was started by my parents. I used to help them out in the restaurant when I was at school. At 18 years old, I had to choose whether to go into the restaurant business with them or go to university. I felt that university was a good place for those seeking a particular profession, but as I wasn’t going to be heading down that path, I decided to work with my parents instead and gain my training through on-the-job experience.

How did you come up with the name Lime Orange? 
There are two reasons. At the time that my parents opened the restaurant, all the other Korean restaurants in London had Korean names. We wanted to be different. My mum had read and enjoyed the book My Lime Orange Tree, so they decided to call the restaurant Lime Orange.

Was it easy to introduce Korean food into the British market?
Yes, we were fully booked the first week our restaurant opened. Whilst there were Korean restaurants in Soho, there weren’t any around Victoria at the time. The majority of our customers are European and Chinese. We also get a lot of the pre-theatre clientele.

Do you serve traditional Korean food or is it a fusion?
We used to do Sushi and Korean, but we dropped the sushi, and decided to concentrate on our own dishes. 

What is your signature dish? 
Bibimbap – it translates to Mixed Rice. The dish has seven different vegetables, egg, rice, chilli paste, all individually marinated, so each dish is slightly different. There is a meat option for those who want that too.

How long have you been running Lime Orange? 
I have been part-managing it since 2011 but I took over the restaurant completely in 2015. Looking back, I see that by going to work with them in the restaurant they could plan for their retirement. 

How have things changed since you took over?
In the beginning I didn’t see the flaws, it was what I always knew. I was used to the working week being 6/7 days per week and up to 12 hrs per day. Eventually that got to me, so I sought ways to make a change and bring in the right staff and systems to make it run more efficiently.

How did you start making that change?
Part of the inspiration came from the book The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E Gerber. It showed me that I was a good manager and technician, however I was working too much ‘in’ the business, rather than ‘on’ the business. I was nowhere near being a business owner but rather becoming an exhausted employee. At that time, I was set on controlling all aspects of the business, despite having numerous members of staff.

A light bulb morning was when my wife went into labour. Had I not given over control to a member of staff, I could have easily missed my baby’s birth. Despite it being hard for me at the time, I called all my staff and told them that I had to leave and that I trusted them to take care of the restaurant for the night. It was then that I realised that I wasn’t always needed at every moment of the working day. 

So, I restructured the team and put the correct systems in place to support the staff. With a kitchen manager and a front of house manager I was able to let go of many of the time-consuming tasks that had to be done each day. 

From there I began creating training manuals, for all new staff members. Check lists to make sure that everything was in place. Today, it is easy to know when day-to-day tasks have been completed or are outstanding.

What makes you stand out from other Korean restaurants?
Our service is something that we focus on. The others don’t tend to focus on the service. Our food is excellent. Even Koreans who come to London often say that it is better than in Korea!

We used to use only Korean chefs but found over time that many of them had their own style, which didn’t always marry with our desired outcome for the dishes. About three years into the business we decided to train non-Koreans in our style of cooking.

I see you have Certificates of Excellence from Trip Advisor from 2016-2019. Tell me how you were awarded these? 
Trip Advisor rewards those businesses that have more than 80% positive reviews. We don’t focus on getting awards, we work on good customer service, excellent food and word of mouth. With those elements in place, the rest follows.

What are your digital marketing strategies for your business?
Influencer marketing and food bloggers on Instagram is what we are focussing on right now. We invite them in for a free meal in exchange for an honest review. Our Instagram following is now up to 1,000 followers and our revenue shot up since then.

What are your ambitions for the next 5 years? 
My plan is to expand the business. I want to bring Korean food to Europe. My plan is to have 50 locations by the end of 2029. I want to start in London, then across the UK. Once they are established, I will set up restaurants in European cities.

What advice would you give someone wanting to open up their own restaurant? 
I have three top tips.
1. Make sure you have good food. There are a lot of restaurants that don’t have great food. You could have all the other things in place, such as good customer service, décor etc, but if the food isn’t right then they won’t come back.
2. Location – this is an obvious one, but is so true. If you’re not in the right place, it could kill your business before it even gets started.
3. Marketing. People need to know you exist, especially when you are opening a restaurant. The aim is to get profitable as quickly as possible. Doing the right marketing at the beginning can make all the difference. Today we are focused on social media marketing and influencer marketing, 

What or who is your inspiration?
Right now, I am following Mac Attram, Tony Robbins and other personal development coaches. Since I jumped into personal growth for myself, it’s an area in which I ultimately want to be in. I’d like to make a change to people’s lives. My calling is supporting secondary school children in years 9, 10, 11. I feel that this is a critical age for young adults. This is the time when they need a positive influence in their life and somehow, I want to be in that space to motive and inspire them.
If you would like make a reservation at Lime Orange, go to: www.limeorange.co.uk
Orders with Deliveroo
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If you have a business that you would like to feature in this regular slot, why not get in touch? We’d love to hear from you!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We hope that you have been enjoying the festive season.

Here we are not only in a new year, but also a new decade. Are you thinking about this new beginning..wondering what it may bring? This is a time where people make resolutions, but by the end of the week, many will be broken. Use this new chapter as a way to make positive changes for yourself, your family and maybe your business too. What do you want to happen? What are the steps you need to take to get there?

Wishing you all the best in succeeding.