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Alton4Business Blog

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Free Seminar/Workshop – The Business of Creative Art

Women’s Ways

New Business Opportunity in Four Marks

10 Top Tips for Online Security

Why good web design matters to your business

Aware of the new Ofgem rules for micro-businesses?

Free Seminar/Workshop – The Business of Creative Art

August 18, 2011
Posted by:David Woodroofe @ 2:20 pm

A must for any artist seeking to profit from their work, organised by The Market Street Gallery and Wettone Matthews Chartered Certified Accounts.

10am to 12.30pm 13th September 2011 at The Grange Hotel in Alton.

Content

  • Business objectives
  • Marketing
  • Product/Presentation/Positioning
  • Pricing
  • Selling
  • Accounting

This seminar will benefit:

  • The amateur artist seeking to make a modest income from their hobby/interest.
  • Those looking to expand their existing creative business
  • Amateur artists wishing to become professional

For further information or to book your place please call The Market Street Gallery on 01420 88482 or email marketstgallery@btconnect.com

Women’s Ways

February 7, 2011
Posted by:David Woodroofe @ 8:26 pm

You are invited to join with like-minded ladies to learn and discuss how to improve your sales techniques and marketing skills in a relaxed, informal and convivial setting.

Topics covered will include:

  • What the Sales Process is.
  • Understanding the Rules of Engagement.
  • How to Develop a Successful Sales Strategy.

When: Tuesday 15th February 2011, from 10:30 to 12:30
Where: The Alton House Hotel, GU34 1DW

Telphone: 01420 80033

Price for the event (excluding lunch):

£20.00 when booked and paid for in advance
£30.00 on the day

Followed by lunch for an additional £4.95 if you wish.

For more information call Kathy Gilbert on 01420 564242 or 07910 866414 or email kathy@practicalpartners.co.uk

New Business Opportunity in Four Marks

January 14, 2011
Posted by:David Woodroofe @ 4:12 pm Tags: , ,

Blindingly SimpleA new business has been launched in Four Marks for those looking to become professional curtain, cushion or roman blind makers.

Blindingly Simple’s 3 Day Basic Curtain Making course does more than cover the basics of curtain making, it includes preparing client quotations, advertising and keeping accounts.

Visit their website for more information on their Basic Curtain Making course as well as their 1 Day Roman Blind and Cushion making courses. www.blindinglysimple.co.uk

Create Design Studio designed and built their website which includes a content management system that allows them to keep their website up to date and accept online bookings.

If your business needs a new web design or help with an existing site we offer a free consultation service, please call David Woodroofe at Create Design Studio on 01962 737989 or visit www.createdesignstudio.co.uk.

10 Top Tips for Online Security

December 21, 2010
Posted by:Poldings Ltd @ 12:07 pm

We all know we shouldn’t take Internet security lightly, but how many of us actually practice good discipline online and what are the warning signs we should look out for?

Internet users are being attacked from all angles …

  • spam email
  • identity theft
  • bogus shops
  • credit card fraud
  • malicious attacks
  • ‘friendly’ hacks

But there are a number of measures you can incorporate into daily routines that can help make your online experience safer.


When buying online …

1 – Check the Contact Details

Make sure the online store you are buying from has a phone number – then give that number a ring. Consider how quickly they pick up, how they answer the phone and whether they sound like someone you want to order from.

Also make sure they display their contact postal address (not a PO Box number) and any registered office address if applicable.

Look out for …

  • no phone number
  • a phone that nobody answers
  • an unprofessional call answer
  • no static postal address
  • any attempt to mask or hide contact details

2 – Read the Terms and Conditions

It’s amazing how many of us just don’t take the time to read the small print when buying online. You really must!

If buying a product, find out how they handle returns and refunds. If buying a service, make sure you understand the contract term and your cancellation rights.

Look out for …

  • unprofessionally written terms
  • ambiguous, flowery terminology
  • terms that sound too unreasonable

3 – Insist on Secure Pages

Don’t pass any personal details or payment information through unsecured pages. To check if a page is secure, look for the security mark in your browser window. This might be a padlock image in the bottom corner, or the address tab changing colour when you visit the page.

Look out for …

  • no secure pages being used
  • general unprofessional checkout
  • unexpected steps in the payment process

SSL Padlock


When using email …

4 – Install a Local Firewall

Get yourself some good security software to install on your computer to protect your computer and everything on it. This should at least have good email and virus protection features and preferably have a ‘kill switch’ to instantly close your connection to the Internet.

5 – Open Your Mail With Care

If you get an email from an unknown source, open it with caution. Check the title and the sender’s email address then make a decision as to whether it looks legitimate. If in doubt, place it into your trash folder or mark it as spam.

If you use a preview pane to view the content of an email without opening it, try not to use this to view any questionable emails. If a spam email contains html or rich content, by viewing the email you are effectively downloading information from their server to your computer. This could pose a risk to the security of your computer.

Look out for …

  • pharmacy related emails
  • requests to update your details
  • prize winning notifications
  • links to visit a site you’ve never heard of
  • any request for you to download something

6 – Guard Your Email Address

By all means give out your email address to friends and family but never give it out to anyone else. Whenever you need to provide an email address online, give a secondary address or even better, a specific prefix that relates to them.

For example, if your normal email address is ‘you@yourdomain.com’ and you are ordering a pair of new trainers from, say, Hitec Sports, give them an email address of ‘hitec@yourdomain.com’.

In this way, you can quickly identify any email sent to you at that address as actually coming from Hitec Sports.

The ability to do this with email may not be available to everyone but any good host provider will include this for free with their hosting and email services.


When running a website …

7 – Keep Your Scripts Updated

If your site is built using any ‘open source’ script such as WordPress or Joomla or Drupal, it is essential you keep it up to date and apply any security patches that are released.

If you are writing your own website code, or getting a developer to do it for you, make sure it is written to a high level and follows good security practices. Don’t risk losing your website for the sake of a little care and attention during the build process.

Failure to practice good security measures will result in your site being vulnerable to attack and even though you think it will never happen to you – it will. One day you will wake up and find your website has been replaced with a virtual graffiti tag from the guy who hacked into it the night before.

If you need help with building or developing websites then please contact our Web Development Team for assistance.

8 – Practice Using Good Passwords

These days we all have numerous usernames and passwords to remember which makes it tempting to just think of a simple password and use it everywhere.

This is extremely bad practice and we strongly recommend you follow these guidelines for good password practice …

Things to avoid …

  • DO NOT use a dictionary word
  • DO NOT use family, friend or common names
  • DO NOT use sequential letters or numbers (abc, 123)
  • DO NOT use the same password for multiple logins

Things to practice …

  • DO use random strings of letters and numbers
  • DO use different passwords for different logins
  • DO include upper and lower case letters at random
  • DO change your password regularly (monthly or quarterly)

9 – Check Usage Statistics

If you have access to usage stats for your website then check them regularly. Learn to identify common and uncommon behaviour from your site visitors and focus on unusual peaks that may be as a result of dubious activity.

Check your system error logs to see any errors the system has recorded. These logs help to identify errors in your site pages and also any dubious activity that you should be aware of.

Look out for …

  • activity from countries you don’t market to
  • attempts to access secured areas
  • links to files that don’t exist

10 – Backup Your Data

Don’t take the risk of losing your information, back it up regularly. We recommend daily, weekly and monthly backups that are stored locally and remotely. You’ll find that a good backup schedule will save a great deal of time, money and frustration should you ever lose your information.


About the Author

This article was written by Poldings Ltd who have been providing professional grade UK Web Hosting and UK Web Development services since 2001. Visit them online at …

http://www.poldings.co.uk

Entry Hosting | Home Hosting | Business Hosting

Why good web design matters to your business

July 7, 2010
Posted by:David Woodroofe @ 3:59 pm

Your website is available to customers 24/7 and it can do more than simply provide a place for people to look up your phone number, address and prices. With planning your website can influence customer perception of your company, differentiate you from the competition, encourage new customers to call you and it allows existing customers to keep in touch by creating a ‘club’ atmosphere to keep customers coming back to you.

How the design of your site affects customer perception

If your website looks as though no thought went into the design, then the impression your customers will have is that your company does not care about its image. Good design improves customer perception of your company and shows you care about your image, your company and hence your customers. It also makes it easy for your visitors to navigate website pages and access information. Look at the website from the perspective of your customer, the site visitor, don’t add bells and whistles unless they help visitors to find what they are looking for and enhance their perception of your company. Sound effects, music and animated graphics that loop endlessly can distract from your content and may annoy site visitors, prompting them to go elsewhere.

Keeping in touch with customers

When did you last update your website? If it was ages ago then not only could your site drop down the search engine rankings but also your customers may assume that you have disappeared and will be less likely to re-visit your site. Updates tell visitors you are in-demand and give customers the perception that you are good at what you do. Tell them about the great projects you are involved in, about your new services and introduce them to new staff members.

A blog provides a way for you to build an on-line profile and write as often as you like. Blogging software lets you make your article live as soon as you hit the “publish” button. This enables you to react quickly to news stories and company events such as winning a big contract or completing a project and instantly inform your customers. Influencing customer perception by showing your capabilities and encouraging them to become your customers.

David Woodroofe
Mangaing Director
Create Design Studio
01962 737989
www.createdesignstudio.co.uk