WordPress.com or WordPress.org – which version is right for me?

By Ben Temple2 Comments
A number of our members have recently asked us the question, should I use WordPress.com or WordPress.org? If you are thinking of migrating your existing website to an easy to use platform that gives you flexibility and total control, WordPress is a good choice. It's important to know which version of the open source software to use from the outset, so we've complied some information in order to get started with your own blog or website. What should you consider when deciding to transfer your website to WordPress? What's the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com? What are the differences in: Costs - upfront & ongoing Software pros and cons Maintenance and development Making a decision on which version: WordPress.com or WordPress.org is best you you What is WordPress.org? WordPress is the open source software that is responsible for around 16% of live websites today. It powers millions of websites around the world, including The Marketing Compass website. WordPress.org is the activity hub of the WordPress community. The core software is...
Read More

Technology and medicine

By AlistairHollingtonNo Comments
The benefits of technology to health care are many and varied, but the obvious uses of scans and x-rays isn't the focus of this post. On the BBC News website a story was recently posted about the use of a mobile phone app to raise awareness of the damage alcohol can have on the body. The original article can be found here. The concept of being able to place medical information and educational content directly into the hands [and therefore potentially into the minds] of the public, is something which can only grow. With the mobile phone market expanding rapidly and the increasing proportion of smart phones, the medical community must embrace this avenue of promoting information and good practice, but also take advantage of this method of allowing the community to access services and to some degree educate itself. For many people their mobile phone is one of the first things they check when leaving their house, some feel almost...
Read More

The Conscious Feminine: looking at business. A few tips……

By Margi RossNo Comments
When the Feminine is integrated into life, including business, we will be able to see this by the way people are treated and how their bodies are treated, so here’s a few things to check: Let people know what your ethical principles are. Women really care about these issues. If you use re-cycled paper, or make a product which could be tested on animals, but you don’t test, let people know about this!  This will increase sales. Marks and Spencer don’t test their cosmetics on animals but don’t tell people this! They must loose hundreds of thousands of pounds each year because of this. Don’t keep the nasty person on because they are good at sales: they will also loose customers. Talk to them and say they have to be nice to people or else they will loose their job! If they need psychological help, encourage them to get it. No one has the right to make other people unhappy. Make sure...
Read More

Marketing Compass member wins award for Best Salon in the UK

By Sue CarterNo Comments
While many people were concerned about the Oscars this weekend, Marketing Compass members Image Beauty Salon, Ipswich, were at the Professional Beauty Awards in London waiting to hear the biggest news of their professional lives; that they had won the national award of Best Salon in the UK. A nationwide competition, run by Professional Beauty Magazine, Image salon was a finalist in the category Beauty Salon of the Year Four Rooms or more. An extremely tough and rigorous competition, this is a very prestigious award, normally only won by large city salons or chains. Image had to undergo a series of interviews, mystery visits, an official visit and interview and have all their procedures and policies examined and assessed. A panel of judges then gave an in individual vote. The award was presented to Sue Carter, owner of Image Beauty salon by Claudia Winkleman, Sue said, “Words can’t describe how fantastic it feels to win this, for us as a team, and to do it for...
Read More

First Aid at Work training

By AlistairHollington1 Comment
First aid training is often a requirement of even the smallest of workplaces, which must make arrangements for action in event of an emergency, provide a first aid kit and possibly provide trained workplace first aiders. The Health and Safety Executive have recently clarified the progress towards change of the regulation of workplace first aid training. Current HSE approval will remain till October 2013 with further information being released in due course. As an HSE approved first aid training provider Lazarus Training provides a number of workplace first aid courses, all run in a highly practical and interactive way, by training staff with relevant qualifications and experience. All our first aid courses are aimed at making you confident to provide first aid at work when required. First aid at Work training is ideal for? It is aimed at workplaces with higher numbers of staff and risk. The range of topics [shown below] mean this is an ideal first aid qualification for many workplaces such...
Read More

Marketing event for Huntingdonshire Association for Tourism

By Nigel TempleNo Comments
Since the closure of all local tourist information centres the Huntingdonshire Association for Tourism (HAT) is now a focal point for people looking for accommodation and attractions in the area. Our membership includes some of the largest hotels right through to small bed & breakfast establishments, including caravan parks, self catering and guest houses, which between them offer around 600 rooms to the business and leisure visitor. Marketing consultant and author Nigel Temple will be speaking at the Huntingdonshire Association for Tourism Annual General meeting on Friday 19th April 2013. Nigel's presentation is entitled 'Attracting more customers through the web'. He will be reviewing the attendee's websites and providing practical advice and ideas to make them more effective. Nigel has taught internet marketing since 2000 and he has reviewed over 10,000 websites during that time. Location Wyboston Lakes, Great North Road, Wyboston, Bedfordshire, MK44 3AL Timetable 10.15 - 11.15 HAT AGM Closed meeting 11.15 - 11.30 Coffee meet & greet 11.30 - 12.45 Nigel's presentation part 1 12.45 -...
Read More

Better Business Management

By Jacqui-Hogan1 Comment
When was the last time you took a step back to think about what you want to do to make your business more successful? Here are are few simple, but essential, tips: Define clear Goals As far as possible, define the goals in terms that can be measured. Then, as changes are proposed (and they will be!), you have a set of well understood and defined criteria against which to measure the impact and relevance of changes. And there will be changes! More>> Review your business plan You do have a Business Plan, don’t you? A good business plan will save you time, money and possibly even your business. But you need to look at it regularly, and update it as business conditions change. If you haven’t reviewed it in the last year, take some time to do it now. More> Innovate Are you stuck for ideas to take your business forward? If you’ve got staff, they can be a fabulous source of new ideas to improve...
Read More

Ecommerce Sites Making Sure Yours is The Best not the Worst

By Ben TempleNo Comments
Ecommerce websites are specifically designed to create a venue from which to sell your business or personal products. If you are selling tangible products or downloadable services from your website, you will at some point require an ecommerce website. How do you determine what is and is not a good Ecommerce website? What are some of the things that you'll need to ensure that your own sites give your visitors a good experience? Think about the best and the absolute worst of the sales websites that you have ever seen or tried to buy from. Needless to say, the best was probably attractive and easy to find exactly what you wanted. The worst were those which were not attractive aesthetically and were very difficult to navigate. Great Ecommerce websites are going to be those which makes the buyer feel at home nearly immediately. The website will offer a great look, clean concise and easy to use. The first thing that you see when...
Read More

Meet Martin Myers – our Mr Marketing

By adamduff1 Comment
Here's a little trick we use at www.fusionsoft.co.uk to keep track of the where our Website Marketing customers are coming from. Firstly, let me explain why we use Martin. It's common these days, with the World Wide Web being the huge place that it is, to lose track of calls and emails coming in from your Website Marketing. When companies advertise in printed media or directories, it's easy to track where the call is coming from - quite often, the customer on the other end of the line will say 'I've seen your ad in Yellow Pages'. The trouble is with the internet, it's so big and has so many places to advertise your business, simply hearing a customer tell you they found you 'online' isn't enough. We've also found that, with the web of websites out there, most people don't really know the route they have taken to get to your website or your advert. Often we hear 'I'm not sure'...
Read More

New technology? What about the users?

By richard-battersbyNo Comments
Do we pay enough attention to managing change in the workplace? How readily does your workforce adapt to change? Even the most trusted of your employees might feel uncomfortable with any initiative to change their working practices.  They suspect that the changes will disrupt their daily routine.  After all, they are comfortable with what they know, what they do, and how they try to resolve problems.  Could the proposed changes undermine their role security? After all, they have become “experts” in massaging the existing systems. You won’t necessarily see an overt reaction: It is more likely to be expressed covertly in a passive and non-cooperative form, possibly as an increase in absences from work, or through a reluctance to hand over vital information. What possible reasons are there for this behaviour? Employees feel comfortable with the status quo and their usual routine. Some people become anxious with the challenge of learning new things. People don’t want to be bothered with learning all over again. They fear being...
Read More