The Google Panda or Farmer update was originally rolled out in the US in February then around the world in April – many sites got hit with various penalties including smallbusinesspro – but looking around the internet we have seen changes quickly made once people have made a blog post or twitter to Matt Cutts or the Google team. Here are some examples :

Cult of Mac – this popular blog was hit with the first update and the blog made a post on 28th February hereabout it and made a tweat to Matt Cutts - just one day later they posted here that the blog was reinstated. That’s great.

ppcblog – Aaron made a post on his seo blog herethat one of his posts was not ranking well but instead a scraped post was ranking and he posted a screen shot of the serps to prove it. Roll on 24 hours and that scraped post has disappeared and his original post is now ranking in position 4.

Our story – so when we were hit we made some changes that we thought could be the problem and posted about them hereand made a tweat to Matt Cutts about it – the results ? Nothing. We know we are not alone and some really excellent sites have also been penalised. No one really knows yet what the problems are.

Checking our site we have around 250 pages of expert content for new business start-ups to use. All original content, nothing scrapped. This is a real site. We checked around our articles and most have at least 500 words of original text to guide people onto the right path. I think we have 2 or 3 that are below 400 but these are just index type pages. So what could be the problem here ?

Looking around the web there are no straight answers. Many point to pages having 3 or more adsense units on them but there are many cases of sites still ranking well with loads of adsense ads. (We have removed those in any case). The word from Google is they wanted to have a better quality to their results pages and weed out all the duplicate content once and for all. But for some of the pages this website used to rank highly for there are no particular sites that are ranking above us with the same content that has been stolen.

There must be many website owners in the same position as us. ie: spent years developing good solid sites that they enjoy developing and produces a modest income and now they have disappeared. We wondered whether we should continue to write about this in public just in case the site had even more problems, but it’s so severe, we thought we would share where we are.

So please, come on Google, someone suggest why sites have plummeted and some provide some rough guidance on what could be done.

The original algorithm change happened only in the US and was looking at lowering the rankings of so called content farms – very large sites with scrapped content or lots of feeds from other sites so in reality they were not providing original content. A note from Google confirmed that this has rolled out internationally (we saw it yesterday evening) and now this site’s traffic is down around 50% today.

So how can we tell how this affected our site ?

Today we had a look through our site to see how it stacked up to the original searchengineland post to see how we fared against what they thought the criteria was. We *have* made some changes to improve user experience. Here’s where we are at :

Is it a content farm ? Well smallbusinesspro is only 250 pages or so in total is hardly a farm and all pages are researched thoroughly. We are trained accountants so most information is of a financial nature and just last week we spent nearly 5 days updating all the pages from the recent budget report from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ensure everything was accurate and up to date.

A lot of content and no traffic ? Those 250 pages roughly receive around 4,000 unique visitors a day (well up to yesterday) and we have 427 followers on Twitter – is that the sign of a poor low quality site? We don’t think so.

Limited moderation ? We write the pages ourselves and don’t have a forum although we do get comments on the blog. We found a few links to websites that no longer exist so removed those but that doesn’t count for “spammy links”

Loads of adverts ? - perhaps we were a little guilty here. We had some AdSense on the site to pay for the bills (after all, people don’t usually put great content online for no reward) – we followed all the Google AdSense guidelines but perhaps it was too much. Today we have removed all those ads. We also had some recommended affiliate links. These have remained because we feel they are relevant to the content on the site.

So why us? We don’t really know – we have also seen another small business information site suffer the same consequences (we are not affiliated with them but noticed their rankings had dropped – we contacted them and they say they have seen about the same drop as we have although they did not wished to be named).

We don’t know if it’s because people have copied our unique content which has taken years of hard work to develop or that it was because of some ads to pay the bills. We don’t make tons of money with this labour of love site but need to cover the costs at least.

All our content is 100% original and we don’t include news feeds or consolidate anyone else’s work.

It’s a real shame as the site was beginning to see some traction – what should we do now ? Matt Cutts any ideas ?

So there is a new website in town called start up britain and the basic aim was to be a one stop shop for people wanting to start a new business.

Why is this here ? The new government of course want the private sector to develop strongly and wants to encourage people to start their own business, employ people and get the economy moving. To do this of course folks need some good advice on what to do and how to do it. And that, we thought was the aim of the website.

The Good – Let’s be Positive

Most of the commentary we have seen has been negative. So unlike the british disease of knocking something at the beginning let’s start with something positive. For many people that want to start a business they have no idea of where to go. Other people may not even think of starting their business because they may think it’s simply not for them.

So, to have a massive campaign that’s now viral with everyone talking about it must be a good thing. The raising of the awareness of information about starting up is now certainly there and there is a one store front with many of the things budding entrepreneurs in one place. Surely that’s a good thing?

The Bad – why all the negativity ?

What’s the problem ?Most people were aggrieved at two points. 1) there was little substance and 2) some of the links were either to the wrong place or provided no value add.

No substance, surely not ?Well to be honest, the actual site looks like a collection of links to other websites. Whilst the current businesslink site has all the right and up to date information (although it is copied in its entirety on the Welsh and Scottish government sites) it’s a very difficult site to use. It’s all there, but where? It can take a while to find what you are looking for if you know what to look for – and for people not having run a business before there is no “start here” button. So there’s a big fail right there.

Links to wrong places, what do you mean ? There were two gripes. One was that you got discounts of products and services that a) you could find elsewhere on the web and 2) were useless (like the 20% discount off a paid of eye glasses).

The main gripe was that there was a link to Matt Mickiewicz’s 99designs site. Here you can post a job for a logo or website and have designers from all over the world bid for your work (on average getting 99 designs back – actual pieces of work mind you, not just a proposal). The cost is around $300 for a logo which is very competitive. (see the ugly section below to see what has happened).

Other poor links- There’s a link for business planning which is going to an affiliate site for paloalto software – why? Why not simply link to the software company itself or other business planning resources which are much better such as Teneric or BusinessLink?

The Ugly – it does get worse

There are three major flaws now.

1) There’s no clear path for starting up – if you are new to starting a business or are already down the path of starting up there are no clear pointers of what to do. The logo part is fine but really, to get started, you need to get things in the right order. I mean, what’s the point in having a logo if you haven’t got funding? We would have preferred a clear path to be written such as :

1. Develop your idea
2. Create a business plan
3. Create a marketing plan
4. Get funding
5. Sort out the legal requirements (such as registering with HMRC)
6. Staffing requirements
7. etc

Then it’s clear on what you have to do.

2) There are no real special offers- all this site appears to be is a link farm. The offers tabled are not special as they can be found anywhere on the internet. It would have been better if the companies involved had provided something better. The Google £30 free advertising is the lowest they ever offer – you can easily find a £75 coupon. And for business loans, what about special rates, or if you present a business plan from xyz company then you are given a speedy route through one of the banks ?

3) The pressure for UK companies- this is where the power of the internet has succeeded in increasing the costs of small businesses. Initially when this went live there was a link to the 99designs logo company. Here you could get an excellent design for $295 – from the uproar since the launch the link from the home page is now to the “Design Business Association” – and what’s the cost of a logo now? Certainly not $295; heck it even costs new designers £1200 to join that association – that is really ugly and something a new start-up simply does not require. This is a big negative.

Overall and moving forward

We think this is a great idea but poorly implemented. The fact that someone has gathered all these companies together in a short space of time should be commended but it looks like a lesson in “who you know” rather than getting experts together and offering something better. Even in last week’s PMQs there was a big piece about not getting internships within the government because you knew someone. So let that roll through here.

Moving forward we think there’s just a small few changes that need to happen; namely :

1. Have that path to starting up with real guidance and real support
2. Get the experts in their field to put offers together and get them on the site rather than a random list of people in the know
3. Keep the publicity going.

What do you think? Good, bad or ugly?

In the detail of the emergency budget documents the 8 regional development agencies that employ 3,400 would be closed and the budget of a whopping £270 million would be cut as part of the overall government savings plan. The RDAs would be replaced by local enterprise partnerships, details of which have not been announced. Now Mark Brisk the business and enterprise minister has told the online small business magazine “Real Business” that Business Link would also be shut down.

Business Link to go as well – but the website continues

He said that as part of the winding down process of the RDAs that they would also be winding down the regional Business Link contracts.

It is thought that the online web service would be continued to be state funded and wanted a privately funded partnership for the face to face advice as a “21st century approach to business support” and recent research showed just how much government websites cost. The total cost of developing the Business Link website is a mind blowing £35 million which attracts around 1.6 million visitors a month equating to £2.15 per visitor.

During the budget the coalition government spelled out clearly that they wanted a private business economic recovery with the rates of both corporation tax and small business tax falling over the coming years. New businesses of course need real support and although the web can provide a lot of that many new business people do need some form of networking presence with like minded individuals to take them to the next level and may not have the funds to invest into expensive consultants who may not be able to help them in any case.

Most people don’t actually turn to the government for advice when starting or running their businesses in any case and the vast majority don’t actually know that perhaps Business Link advisers exist or where to contact them. We hear all the time of good reports as well as bad reports of trying to get appointments and about the quality of the advice provided.

So if you have used Business Link in the past what do you think of its passing ? Will the private sector be able to provide a better response to people that need help not only starting their business but helping it perform especially in these current tough economic conditions ? Over to you.. is this a good idea for Business Link to be scrapped together with the regional development agencies or not ?

One tactic many of the energy companies use is to put businesses on so called “roll over contracts” for their electric and gas. This means that any contract you sign will have a clause when you can terminate or even renegotiate the contract each year and if you don’t exercise that right then the energy provider will put you on another contract for another year and can increase your prices without informing you.

A recent ruling by ofgem, the industry regulator, said that for micro business users the energy companies had to inform customers when their contracts run out so for the smallest of users taking out new contract this is less of a burden but for everyone else it’s something to take account of when thinking of trying to reduce your costs.

Electricity and gas – lowering your rates

Just like you would do with your own household bills you should shop around when your contract comes to an end. We have a page about electricity and gas supplies for business hereand this provides a little more detail but in summary, you should shop around with the big 6 suppliers in the market (British Gas, Southern Electric, Npower, EDF, EON energy and Scottish Power) who can all (apart from one) provide you with a quote online from their website. Just enter your postcode, meter number and estimated consumption and you’ll get your proposed rates.

This is however just the starting point as although rates online are normally the lowest prices you can get for energy tariffs it’s always best to telephone the supplier to see if you can negotiated them downwards even further. Alternatively you could use the professional services of an energy broker who has better relationships with the energy suppliers than you’ll ever had. If you want more information on electric and gas supplies including dual fuel contracts there is a wealth of information on this website that takes you through all the different types of contracts and providers that supply business users.

It will probably only take you an hour to get quotes from all the suppliers and put in a telephone call but at the end of the day you could save your business literally thousands of pounds each year by switching to someone cheaper and your supply will virtually be the same. Switching suppliers is also hassle free as your new provider will prepare and process all the paperwork on your behalf.

Telecoms and broadband

The same goes for business telecommunications services. If you have had the same supplier for years the chances are that you are on a bad deal. The cost of broadband has plummeted in recent years for both domestic and business users and there are many special deals on the market place. We have a page here about broadband which can certainly lower your costs. There are also specialist price comparison sites out there that can show you all of the deals available.

In summary

As you would do at home why not go through all your utility providers and get online quotes to see how much you could save. Even if you just put aside half a day to look at energy, telecommunications and even office supplies you’ll make savings which will go directly to your bottom line and improve your profits this year.

We did initially have a factual write up of recent marketing activities by the Chris Cardell group of companies which is further explained in the ASA rulingwhich was offering 6 free CDs on various marketing tactics for the price of postage. You also got 2 free months in his VIP club and if you did not cancel then would be charged £39.95 per month until you did cancel.

The original post about the mailing undertaken by Cardell contained various items including a post it note sign by “J” together with a newspaper cutting from the Times and a link to a website where you could sign up.

However writers of blogs in the UK have received what are known as “cease and desist” letters from lawyers in the US saying that they should take down their postings and many have complied and taken down their blog posts. We have also received the letter entitled “notice of unlawful conduct demand to cease and desist immediately” from Preovolos and associates based in California who are retained by Mr. Chris Cardell, Cardell Media Limited, a UK company, Cardell Media Limited an Isle of Man company and Cardell Media LLC a US company (collectively the Cardell Media Family) over various matters of the post and some of the many comments left by people who also received the same “J” letter.

We thank the many hundreds of people who have come to this post and posted about their experiences and thoughts about the “letter from a friend” . We have saved the original article which may appear back here in the future and if you have received letters from the Cardell Media Family lawyers then please feel free to get in touch.

For those that are needing to cancel their membership then please try emailing accounts@cardellmedia.co.uk

The register is also reporting about various websites receiving legal letters http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/09/junk_mail_returns/

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For many people starting a business is the one thing they dream of in life but unfortunately of the many hundreds of thousands of new startups each year and high percentage don’t make it past year 1. Here are our tips starting with those that you will having probably already heard about but worth remembering.

1: Research your market – and that means customers. It’s those people who are going to buy your products or services. Just imagine your typical customer, their age, where they are based and their income. Just why on earth will they buy from you and not one of your competitors ?

2: Location, location, location – it’s all too easy to see an empty shop in your high street and think that you can open a business there and make your fortune but many a time a business is not there for good reasons. So think real hard on your location because in reality you only get one shot at getting premises and once you have signed that 10 year contract it’s going to be hard (and expensive) to get out of it.

3: Start up costs – sometimes these can be almost zero (for example if you are going to offer consulting services and you already have some clients) but for most these are huge (if you are going to open a restaurant there are so many initial costs such as shop fitting and equipment) so make sure you account for them all so you don’t get too many nasty surprises.

4: Get a business plan sorted – many believe these are a waste of time but even if you have run successful businesses before even having a simple spreadsheet showing how the business will grow in terms of sales and all your costs coming in will show the cold light of reality and just how much money you may need to fund the initial start up phase.

5: Only trust those you trust – many a good idea has been stolen so be careful who you discuss your plans with especially if you are developing something online.

6: Discuss your ideas – but of course with only those you trust. When you are deep within your own project it can be hard to think outside of what you know and getting a friend or family member who you really can trust and who will provide honest feedback is essential. If you know someone who already has a successful business then get them to go through your ideas as there maybe something you are missing or could do better with.

7: Temper your ambitions – almost no new business becomes a big success overnight although we all think that our ideas are the best so when it comes to planning be realistic and not believe your business will keep doubling in turnover in the first 3 years. It’s unlikely and can cost your business, so:

8: Start small and grow big – some of the most profitable businesses are in small niches and are the biggest player in the niche. It’s OK to be small and earning loads of money because once you have found success you can duplicate your formula.

9: Start whilst being employed – if you can. Try not to quit your job and then work on your business. If you want to start ensure you have all your plans ready and a place in mind. Many people quit there jobs and then start to develop their plans. This can cost you about six months with no revenue because there is always something to slow you down whether it be the bank not lending to you or government red tape. If you can start earning whilst you already have a steady job then you can test your idea before losing that (almost) guaranteed income.

10: Read up on what the government and tax office need – there are so many hoops to jump through from letting the tax office know that you are now self employed and registering for VAT to setting up a limited company if you are going down that route to any health and safety certificates if you need them. So make sure you know what’s required otherwise you may find yourself with a big fine.

11: Get professional accounting advice – although you may read on some of the forums which legal company set up is right for someone else it may not be right for you because of your personal circumstances so it’s always wise to seek the advice of a qualified account as you are setting up your business. An initial 30 minute consultation can be free or certainly low cost and it can help you in the longer term.

12: Do get an accounting package – and keep all receipts as you are setting your business up because all of this can be claimed against tax at the end of your first financial year and expenses that have VAT attached to them can be reclaimed if you register for VAT.

13: Separate your personal and business bank accounts – because a) your personal bank account will not accept cheques and payments made out to your company and b) it really is a lot easier to account for everything. You can get free business banking in any case from 3 banks in the UK so it won’t cost you anything.

14: Prepare for hard work – because starting a business requires a lot of your time and if you are opening a restaurant or high street shop it’s going to be hard work so prepare for this.

15: Do outsource administration tasks – if you are going it alone running the business and carrying out all tasks such as accounting, answering the telephone and emails, marketing your business etc takes time and really you should be concentrating on what’s going to bring in the cash. So if you can outsource these to others who can take this time burden away from you.

16: Be careful with franchises – there are some really great franchise operations but there are some really bad ones around who will take your money and offer limited support. You’ll still need to promote and run the business and often this is not an instant money machine so talk with existing franchise owners if you are thinking of going down this route.

17: Set it up and they will not come – many people believe just because they develop a business then customers will be falling over themselves to buy their products but if know one knows about you then you’ll have none. If you are good at marketing then you’ll have no problems but most people don’t have these skills so get professional advice if you can or ask others how to get customers to your business.

18: How many customers do you need ? to meet your profit projections ? Once you have your business plan ready break it down so you know just how many sales you need per day to meeting your weekly, monthly or even yearly profit projections. You’ll then know instantly if you are ahead. You can easily put a spreadsheet together to add up sales and costs on a weekly basis then you can make adjustments if things are not quite going to plan.

19: Don’t bury your head – if you have started and things are slow and not up to your expectations then seek help as soon as possible. It might just be you need to make a few tweaks to your business model to get things moving again.

20: How about just do it ? Some people have an idea for a business all of their lives but don’t act upon it. Preparing a plan can be done in a weekend so if you are putting things off why not just put your plan together and see what it looks like ?

21: Spend time on your pricing- a lot of people believe that the lowest price always wins, and sometimes it can when you are selling a commodity product but with services it can be tricky. You can learn a lot from your competitors and what type of customers you are targeting. It can be difficult to increase prices once you have had low pricing for a while but easy to have sales and special offers. Higher pricing also suggests increased perceived quality so it’s not just about the actual figure but how your business is perceived in the market place that also matters. There is always room for the cheapest contender (eg: poundland) and the most expensive (eg: John Lewis) but they are targeting different products to different types of people.

22: Have an end goal in mind – whatever that may be. Is it simply to succeed with your dream so your business is in effect a hobby or will it provide for you and your family? Whatever it is keep that goal in mind and strive towards it.

23: Do something you know – if you want to start a business but have no experience in the field you are entering then you have a steep learning curve to climb. Although this can be done people with the knowledge will likely succeed more than you. If you need the knowledge then acquire it via training or get someone how has the experience to help you.

24: Do something you enjoy – as it’s no use running a business you hate.

25: The detail matters or does it ? - It can be easy to get bogged down with minute details when starting off but looking after your finances is key, however, you need to keep the bigger picture in mind and not lose sight of how and why your business will succeed.

Our additional thoughts – Many people do start successful businesses each year with careful planning and you could to. You can start at any time even in a recession as people are still eating out and still spending millions of pounds each week but not every business is a success. Just enjoy the process and let us know of your success.

Last Thursday I believe it was on a sunny September day I thought I would head over to the Federation of Small Businesses website and join up. I remember when I have been to their website before that they have a ton of benefits to offer and many people on forums highly recommended them.

So onto their website where I found how much it costs I was searching for the online registration page where I would simply pay my fees and hey-presto I thought I would be a fully fledged member within a couple of minutes.

But wait – where is their online payment form to be found ?

Well I though I had found it on the “join now” page where it asks you for some basic details… and your telephone number (I thought that was a little odd at first – I mean, why would they need that?)

Anyhow, I completed my details on their form thinking that this was like step 1 of 2 when the next page would be asking for my credit card information. But no all I got was another pages saying “thank you for your request for information to join”

That’s odd – *the* place that supports and guides the majority of small businesses in the UK can’t (or won’t) take online payments to subscribe to their service? What could be more easy – a front end payment form that integrates with their back-end subscription database and automatically sends out new joiners packs? Well, it wasn’t there.

Never mind I thought I would wait for the call that afternoon.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Well it was onto Monday when the call finally arrived to make an appointment for their local rep to come and visit me and take me through all the benefits that the FSB can provide to me. I suggested to the guy on the telephone that their website had indeed done a wonderful job of selling me on their service and all I wanted to do was to sign up. “oh, but your local FSB rep must visit you first”

Well, I didn’t want a visit (and as an aside here, my old boss used to tell me “don’t sell past closing” – a great phrase saying “once you have the sale simply close it – don’t carry on trying to sell in benefits or whatever…)

So onwards. The telephone guy then said he would speak to the rep himself and see what could be done. A few moments later he called back and said that the local rep *must* come to visit me because he had to *witness* my signature on the application form ????? Well, I though I must be back in the 1960’s at that point because I had never heard this before. I gave up at this point and said I would instigate the process at a future point in time and thanked him for his efforts.

But 30 minutes later my local rep then called me and again attempted to sell in the benefits of the FSB (which I said the website had done, yadda yadda) and I asked if the application form could simply be posted to me – well that’s not possible because this chap didn’t trust the postal service in the UK and he would have to personally deliver the app. forms to me.

OK, so be it. So the forms have now duly arrived (the next day – a bit like the postal service really…) and what do I find ? An application form in triplicate that has a direct debit mandate attached to it.

Sigh

I can only deduce that the wheels are turning slowly and life is at the same speed. Perhaps the FSB don’t want to use new fangled gadgets such as online credit card processing but I would have thought that would have made the entire process much, much easier and cost effective. But may be I am just an old Victor Meldrew in disguise?

There are so many people who want to quit their day jobs or are now unemployed and want to earn more cash or get another job. I see it all the time when people are “umm-ing and ahh-ing” over a project or idea and are looking for 100% perfection before they launch it on the world and of course many of those people never actually achieve anything.

There are two phrases that should be kept in the back of one’s mind or pasted on the wall of your office:

• Nike’s “just do it” phrase
• 80% is good enough

You see once you have 80% or even 60% of your project completed it may be enough to launch it. The effort / reward curve once you have got to this stage tails off dramatically so the work you put in to complete the final 20% is so great that the rewards can appear to be almost lost.

In fact perato’s 80/20 rule suggests 20% effort provides 80% of the rules with the reverse being true. Here’s a great cartoon from Dilbert about procrastination in the work place where no one really wants to make a decision anyway

(Click on the image for the full picture)

But joking aside you really don’t need to be a perfectionist and here are some of the things to think about….

• Your idea of perfection may not be the same as your target audience – ie: you could get real close to 100% of where *you* believe your product should be adding all the little extras you *think* are required and yet when you launch it your customers didn’t want the items you spent the past 3 months doing and want some other features instead.
• Research is your enemy (but your best friend) – of course you need to be developing something that people really, really want and that is the core of your product offering. But don’t keep thinking “is this all of the product they want” and continue researching. Large companies are adding extra features to their *core* offerings all of the time and if they waited nothing would be there. Eg: Google launched their search engine and have been honing it ever since. Even niche products like the Kashflow accounting system are evolving – if Kashflow wasn’t launched as it was back in 2005 do you think it would be where it is today if they had waited to add in *all* the features their customers told them they wanted ?
• You can start small and build it bigger – many people may be put off because they want a business *today* that earns them the salary they think they want and are not prepared to start off small but in most cases being a large niche player is a real strategy for long term success. Once you have dominated a niche you can expand into other related verticals with related products and services you already have.
• Business success is always a long term goal – expanding on the above observation many people still believe that they will make it big in a short time but history tells us that even very successful companies sometimes take decades to be great. That goes with the new entrepreneur as well. Perhaps you want to start a restaurant but don’t have the capital or knowledge to do that now so why not start a small coffee shop or sandwich bar first? By starting small you can hone your skills and lower the risk if, for example, you don’t actually cut it as a business owner.  

So if you have a new website that’s “nearly ready” or are thinking of starting a blog why not launch it today and write your first blog post. If you have a bricks and mortar business in the offing could you service customers today if it were open? I’ve leave it up to you.