Crash course in SEO

With Hope Marshall – Support Local

As part of our series of specialist workshops during lock-down Hope Marshall joined us to talk about SEO to support local businesses improve their digital presence.

No 1 Top Tip…..Name your images. Depending on your website provider this can be done via the alt tag or on your desktop before you upload to your website by renaming the image name. It normally defaults to something like JPEG-0099. This is the bit you need to change.

City Healthcare Solutions have produced a FREE user guide for creating a healthy work environment at home.

James Burgess, Kent based business owner of City Health Solutions has produced a free guide to help everyone working from home during this period of lock-down. With many of us all now working from the kitchen table, or a make shift office in the spare room, have we really thought about our health and the impact this way of working could have on us.

James Burgess
DC, MSc, LRCC, ICCSP

James Burgess “My intention is simple, to help people working from home keep a healthy body, and healthy mind, throughout these uncertain times!

To find out more about City Healthcare Solutions click HERE

Local companies join force to ensure businesses across the county stay connected.

JK Online, Clockwork Moggy and Dragon Co-Working, all based in Medway, set up Together Self Isolated Business Networking on Facebook.

In just under three weeks, the community has gathered more than 1,000 followers.

One of those behind the network, Karl Cowell, set up his business JK Online, which offers digital marketing solutions, with best friend Joe Bennett two years ago….. Read more about what they have been doing HERE…..

digitalbeans launches YourLocal.Delivery

Free website to support local businesses in Kent stay in business

digitalbeans, a leading digital agency based in Canterbury, has launched YourLocal.Delivery, a free website solution which will help local businesses in Kent who are impacted by the Covid-19 situation and unable to service their customers. This free of charge service from digitalbeans will allow restaurants, toy shops, art shops, garden centres, small convenience stores and those on Kent’s high-streets to launch their own online store, by signing up to the free website solution. 

YourLocal.Delivery is a swift solution for many local businesses who would not have been able to set up their own online service in such a short space of time. The bespoke free-of-charge package includes a branded web page, individual to each company, so they can continue to take orders, online payments and display listings of an unlimited amount of product/menu items. Each website will be created manually by a member of the digitalbeans, who are kindly giving up their time to support this service.

Once local businesses have set up their profile online, they will need to share the link with its local community, accept the order and then offer a click and collect or delivery option to the customer. Thanks to Spark Film Production, also based in Canterbury, each business will have the opportunity to receive a free marketing package which includes eye-catching visuals to promote their new online store.

The agency recommends that all Kent businesses, that are keen to use this service, are following the government requirements for food/product delivery and social distancing to ensure they are qualified to carry out this service to the local community. 

Piperis Filippaios, Managing Director of digitalbeans, says “The coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt life as we know it and for our high-street and local eateries, business is far from normal. A number of local businesses are starting to shift to digital solutions in an attempt to continue to serve their customers, including personal delivery services. Unfortunately, many are having to pay extensive fees to companies as they do not have an efficient online platform to host such a service. We have launched YourLocal.Delivery to help and encourage local businesses to continue during these uncertain times by getting online. YouLocal.Delivery will give local businesses the opportunity to continue selling products to the local community with ease and enable them to survive during this difficult time.”

Piperis Filippaios

More about digitalbeans HERE

Coronavirus – Where are we now? Updated 27 March 2020

Jack Sales of TN Accountancy takes a look at the measures announced so far.

Support for Businesses

The government has put together a package of measures to support public services, people and businesses through this period of disruption caused by COVID-19.

This includes a package of measures to support businesses including:

  • a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
  • deferring VAT and Income Tax payments
  • a Self-employment Income Support Scheme
  • a Statutory Sick Pay relief package for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs)
  • a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England
  • small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
  • grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
  • the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank
  • a new lending facility from the Bank of England to help support liquidity among larger firms, helping them bridge coronavirus disruption to their cash flows through loans
  • the HMRC Time To Pay Scheme

Information on the above, including eligibility criteria and how to access the various schemes can be found on the Government website here which is continuously updated as things develop, so is the best source of information for businesses.

Self-employed and business owners

The Self-employment Income Support Scheme was announced yesterday which will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) who have lost income due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

This scheme will allow individuals to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of their trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for the next 3 months. This may be extended if needed.

Individuals cannot apply for this scheme yet – it is not expected to be available until June.

HMRC will contact individuals if they are eligible for the scheme and will invite them to apply online. Individuals do not need to contact HMRC now and doing so will only delay the urgent work being undertaken to introduce the scheme.

The government is also providing the following additional help for the self-employed:

Further information regarding the Self-employment Income Support Scheme can be found here.

Directors of Limited Companies

Individuals who pay themselves a salary and dividends through their own company are not covered by the scheme, but should be covered for their salary using the Job Retention Scheme.

Support for businesses through deferring VAT and Income Tax payments

One area that will affect the vast majority of our clients is the announcements that VAT and income tax payments will be deferred.

VAT payments have been deferred for 3 months (the deferral will apply from 20 March 2020 until 30 June 2020). Businesses will not need to make a VAT payment during this period and taxpayers will be given until the end of the 2020 to 2021 tax year to pay any liabilities that have accumulated during the deferral period.

For the self-employed, Income Tax payments due in July 2020 under the Self-Assessment system will be deferred to January 2021. No penalties or interest for late payment will be charged in the deferral period.

HMRC have also scaled up their Time to Pay offer to all firms and individuals who are in temporary financial distress as a result of Covid-19 and have outstanding tax liabilities.

Keeping up to date

The UK Government website (see link to the support for businesses page here) is continuously updated as things develop, so is the best source of information for businesses on an ongoing basis

Please note that the above is for general information only and does not constitute financial or tax advice. You should not rely on this information to make or refrain from making any decisions. You should always obtain independent professional advice in respect of your own situation.

Jack Sales TN Accountancy

How to Successfully Start a Local Business

How to Successfully Start a Local Business

Like anything good in life, owning your own business comes with its highs and lows. It can be an extremely rewarding experience – one that may sort you out with a job that you’ll enjoy for the rest of your life – but it isn’t without its struggles. One of the things that people struggle to get to grips with the most is the initial start-up process. Even if it’s something you’ve done in the past, it can prove to be a tricky and sometimes overwhelming task. Even more so with the sheer amount of thriving local businesses in Kent. However, don’t fret just yet. Setting up a business is much easier if you break down the process into steps. The first step in how to successfully start a local business is to start researching your local area, and the businesses within it.

Do your research

We know it’s boring, and that you’re probably itching to get down to the nitty-gritty of starting your business, but research is one of the most important parts of the business start-up process.By now you should have a rough idea of what kind of business venture you wish to begin. It doesn’t have to be a fully formed idea, just something general (for example, a vintage clothing store in Kent).

The three key things you need to research at this point are:

  1. If there is any interest in your local area for your business venture (or if there will be in the near future)
  2. Take a look at the competition (Google is your friend)
  3. Business start-up costs

For the former, it may be wise to conduct a short survey in a shopping centre, ask around friends and family and perhaps create an online version to share on social media. The purpose is to find out what potential customers there might be for your product/service in your local area. if you don’t have customers then you don’t have a business.

If there are already businesses of your kind in your area it could indicate there will be less interest in your business venture. Don’t be discouraged. There’s nothing saying that you can’t start another form of business, or modify your original plan slightly by looking for a unique selling point. Ask yourself why customers will buy from you and not your competitors?

Business start-up costs

A simple list of expenditure and income will suffice to start. What costs will you incur to start the business e.g. equipment, licenses, premises, graphic design etc. What ongoing costs will the business incur e.g. renewal of insurance, licenses, website domains, wages, rent etc.

For your income, you will need to work out what you will charge for your product or service, and how much you will need to sell in order to make your business profitable, not forgetting the costs you have incurred above. You may well have to estimate some of the figures you expect to receive on a month by month basis but why not use this as a target income for your business? More on cashflow and forecasting here…

What next?

Once you’re set on what sort of business you’re looking to start and you’ve completed your research you can begin some of the more formal parts of starting your business

The start-up process for your business is going to vary massively depending on you and your business but as a general guide we have identified some key points below:

  • Name your business
  • Choose a legal structures e.g. sole trader, ltd company and register your business
  • Set up a bank account
  • Set up necessary insurance (You’ll find Public Liability Insurance is essential)
  • Identify National Insurance/ VAT arrangements
  • Register for any licenses that you may need to run your business legitimately. This will vary depending on your business type. For example; you would need to apply for different licenses for charity work, for agricultural work, food preparation etc. because of the nature the work involves.

Some additional thinking points are: How will you promote the business? Website, social media, networking? Where will you run your business from, can you run it from home, do you need an office or retail premises?  Take a look at building your brand so people can identify your business.

There’s a lot to think about and if you’re already feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry; it’s totally normal, break your tasks down in to manageable chunks.

Hiring an employee

Congratulations…You’re now officially a start-up, you’ve put a lot of hard work in and your business is booming. Things are getting a little bit busy, so much so, that you’ve thought about hiring one or two people to help you out. Hiring an employee or two is going to be massively beneficial for you and your business, but it isn’t without a little bit of hard work. So how’s it done?

Before you begin looking for staff, you’re going to have to brush up on your knowledge of employment law (if you haven’t already, that is). Put simply it concerns anything that mediates the relationship between employers, workers, the government, and trade unions. It’s a lot to take in, we know. It concerns everything from employee rights, to what’s included in their employment contract, to how you manage your employees.

First things first; the employment contract.

The contract can be verbal, but it’s always much more professional and convenient to have a typed one that every new employee can sign. It will be much easier to modify should any changes need to be made.

Whatever the nature of the contract, it must set out four key ‘terms’:

  • Employment conditions
  • Rights
  • Responsibilities
  • Duties

Both the employee and employer have to abide by the contract until it ends (this could be for a number of reasons, such as an employee being dismissed, an employee giving notice, or if the terms are mutually changed).

There’s plenty of information available on gov.uk to help you out. If you’re still struggling you can always talk to an employment solicitor or lawyer who will be able to help you look in to the finer details.

That’s not all…

Every business start-up journey is different and we are well aware that we have only just scratched the surface here but we hope you have gained a useful insight and feel better equipped on how to successfully start a local business.

There’s no doubt you will discover many challenges, successes, failures, lessons and fun on your journey in to business. Some you may have expected and some not – You will learn a lot! Take those good times and relish them, be proud of what you have achieved! Also remember in those tougher times and ‘I don’t know’ moments there’s always support available to get you through, whether it’s a solicitor, lawyer, accountant, business adviser, events etc.

We would like to thank Thomson, Snell and Passmore for their input in to this business start-up article. A leading law firm in Kent providing top solicitors and lawyers with a wealth of knowledge and expertise in employment law and redundancy.