If you sell products on eBay or Amazon, the two most popular social ecommerce sites you can (and should) make a charge for postage sufficient to cover the costs in sending the item to the purchaser.

When you set your item to sell you can offer a variety of different postage options and I do believe you should, these would include next day, recorded etc…  And if you use Royal Mail then the fact remains that today all these costs went up, so in effect yours did too.

So what can you do to ensure you minimise the effect on your business, here are a few ideas;

• Check all your postage costs, are they correct do you need to increase them?
• Don’t be afraid to tell your customer how the item will be delivered and why you use the Royal Mail.
• If you can offer different postage options then do, next day delivery or a timed delivery slot is one of the top choices.
• Finally if you offer FREE delivery (a great sales tool) do you need to increase your item prices to cover this OR can you offer an add on to justify a charge, for example gift wrapping?

So when you need to go and check your correct postage rates head over to the Royal Mail http://www.royalmail.com/price-finder where they have a great tool where you can cost postage and shipping rates for anywhere in the World!!!

So the start of the new financial year is upon us, and time to really get the website marketing for your business going, so why not use the new financial year as the chance to get your business up to speed?

So here are my four ways to supercharge your business for the new financial year.

1. Video. You should already be using video to market your company if not why not? Good videos can bring you more traffic than you think and you dont have to be an expert to make an ok film, why not do a Q and A with a customer or ask for a testimonial. Do not make it more than around 2 minutes and of course post the completed video up to YouTube and then share through your social networks.

2. Mobile is massive and only going one way: You need to start thinking about mobile marketing, this is definitely where it is all happening and where the growth is, so get a plan together and action it

3. Email marketing is a tried and tested formula because it works and it really is that simple, make sure your data is in categories so you can target prospects, customers, associates etc with relevant offers and news tailored just for them. Why not check out mailPDQ this is a really cost effective email marketing solution and it is really cost effective.

4. Google Places is a must for any local business, go to Google Places and claim your business listing right now. Make sure to include your address, phone number, opening hours, the credit cards you accept, any great photos, a video and why not add a voucher of reason to call in?a coupon – its FREE, all it takes is your time!

These are four simple steps that will really kick start your business for the new financial year, so why not try them and be sure to leave your simple steps in the comments.

So what have we got here, is it anything new, have the developers tried to give it a Devon feel or even a local Newton Abbot feel?? – NO they haven’t.  In simple terms this is another identikit out of town retail park and  it could be on any urban industrial estate in the UK, are you watching Mary Portas!!!

Part of the conversion of the Homemaker was to turn it into 4 units which are now occupied by a large 2 story Next, Boots the Chemist a Pets at Home and soon to be joined by a Hobby Craft store. Yes I do confess they look modern and shiny and yes they offer jobs to the local community which surely is a good thing.  The large unit you can see in the picture was a Richleys – a kind of large Primark selling end of line stuff from major retailers, well this apparently will soon be converted into a homewares stores and adding the obligatory Costa Coffee – to add to the 3 others already in Newton Abbot.

Is it any good and do we need it?  Well I cant help thinking another retail park isnt going to do he town of Newton Abbot any good, indeed the long standing town centre stores may be rightly annoyed but the town is fighting back with regular events and free parking on a Sunday, yes FREE parking… As for the retail park, well it has a Next so come Boxing day the traffic will be mad, what interests me is the potential for a specialist store like Hobby Craft that should pull people it and that has to be good doesnt it?

I attended the Renewable Energy Marketplace Exhibition at Westpoint last Thursday with over 1,000 others keen to explore green options for our homes and business, a big crowd that shows the increasing interest from business, communities and the general public in learning more about generating their own clean, green and reliable renewable energy.

What caught my eye wasn’t the wind generator or boilers, it was the two electric cars outside, positioned like two bad boys wanting access but denied by door security.

We had a Tesla Roadster capable of 3.7 Seconds to 60 mph, 245 miles for charge and  zero emissions charging by its own Solar Car port supplied by SunGift Solar and a large and it has to be said more practical Renault Fluence part of the new Renault ZE range.

As you can see lots of people were interested in both of the cars and the technology behind them, I have to say I think the Solar Car Port is a genius idea and if you can afford the £100k for the Tesla Roadster then the additional £x for the car port is nothing.  I wonder if Tesla will offer these as options for UK purchases, indeed looking at the figures it could make real sense as the average electric car will travel 4-5 miles on 1kWh of charge and the average 4kWp Solar PV array can produce 4000kWh/year which is equivalent to 16,000 – 20,000 sun powered, so FREE miles per year (thanks to SunGift Solar for the figures)…

So will I be buying an Electric Vehicle anytime soon? Simple answer no, but give it a few years and I wouldn’t be surprised if these are a far more common sight on UK roads…

So how pleased was I last week when I stumbled in on EAT, Baker Street, it was a cold day and I was really in need of something hot and filling and I walked in the Baker Street outlet of EAT not sure what to expect.  On walking in I was greeted by cheery staff and a diverse menu board with things like soup, hot pies and or course sandwiches.  For me one thing stood out – pie with gravy and mash, so this is what i ordered and it was served in a box and was lovely, tasted beautiful and definitely hit the spot.

Next time you are in London and are in need of some really good food served by friendly staff I can heartily recommend you give EAT a tray, as it says on their website – ‘EAT a family company dedicated to quality food’ – and that gets my vote EVERYTIME!!

EAT - http://www.eat.co.uk

EAT have over 100 stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham and you don’t get that big from doing it wrong, so keep it up EAT we need you….

by Kake Pugh

So picture the scene if you will, I am sat in my dentists waiting room having discarded the out of date magazines looking around at all the notices on the wall and my eyes rest on the rather large poster with the wording below.

Due to unforseen emergencies and urgent appointments
your dentist may run behind schedule

If you have been waiting more than 20 minutes
please let reception know

So if I read this right, they are saying they may get urgent stuff in, fine i understand that and have no problem with that….The thing is, as a customer how do I know that? Do they have a digital board giving upto date information – NO, maybe a receptionist checks on who is waiting – NO, maybe if they have someone come in that pushes everyone back someone walks in and tells all those waiting – NO. I have ben sat is this waiting room numerous times waiting and the only reason I know that they ‘may‘ have an emergency is the poster amongst all the others that you may or may not see in the waiting room.

In my book, how NOT to deliver excellent customer service! Your thoughts……

The projects I have worked on have been as varied as complex ecommerce sites to small business developments, you can read more about this on my about us page here and my Linked In Profile is here http://www.linkedin.com/in/alistairg

“…Alistair enables us to put our ideas into reality on the website by his forward and innovative thinking. He is down to earth and very easy to work with. He has the natural ability to explain the most technical point, relating to websites or social media, in an easy to understand way”

Sarah Burden, PR Manager, Devon Air Ambulance

So how does the service I offer work and why should you use me?

Well to START with my service begins with a free no obligation chat and review of what you are looking to accomplish and why, seeing what your budgets and aspirations are both for the website and the promoting and online marketing of it when it is built. This initial meeting is free, I am based in Exeter so if geography plays a part then we can always use Skype.

Following this I can then put together a draft of what I see you are trying to achieve and how I can help you achieve this.  This will include cost outlines both of my service and target budgets for the web development and online marketing.

The key difference between an Independent Internet Project Manager (myself) and a web company’s own account manager is how they prioritise your business needs. I work exclusively for the YOU the customer, whereas a web company’s own account manager works for that Internet Development Company.

When I am hired to work for YOU I follow a 3 stage process. FIRST this sees a full web specification created that uses all my experience of web development and your knowledge of your business. This ensures that any web company called on to quote will have all the information they need. This is agreed and signed off with you.

As touched on already, the Full Build & Development service is my speciality. As your adviser, carrying out full due diligence and negotiating the best possible terms for YOU is my primary interest.

SECOND I then visit up to three web companies using my experience who I feel have the best skills to complete the work required of them and invite them to quote. These are then summarised in my comprehensive report.

When you are happy to go ahead I’ll negotiate on your behalf, using my expertise to ensure YOU are getting the best solution. I then continue to monitor every step to your successful website build, working closely with your chosen providers and any other advisers to help resolve any issues that may arise.

The final part for YOU is getting a website built that is delivered on time, within budget and exceeding your expectation, removing all the pain and hassle from dealing with technology company’s covering stuff you may not understand or being sold stuff you just dont need or even simply have time to deal with – I remove the hassle, manage the trouble and deliver what you want.

To contact me to discuss further either email me at alistair@gleavemedia.co.uk or complete my contact form on this site.

Please watch the video below and leave your thoughts in the comments;

Sir Richard told the BBC: “People are suspicious of banks and they have good reason to be after the last few years. “The Virgin brand is well trusted and has always offered good products in a range of different businesses..We think we can come in and shake up the industry.”

Virgin purchased the Northern Rock from the Government at the end of 2011 and will be turning the 75 branches into Virgin Money branches during 2012.

The feature for me though is the advert, a full 3D spectacular typical of the Virgin brand – big and spectacular. Please watch the video and let me know what you think in the comments below;

So where would you use Dropbox?well suppose you had a great day out with friends and wanted to share the photos you took with them, simple open a Dropbox account and invite them into the shared folder.  If you own or run a business and you need to share large files between your sales team for example or maybe a potential customer wants pictures now of that great car you’re selling.  All this can be accomplished through Dropbox I cant recommend it enough, and what is more the service is FREE.

You heard it correct Dropbox works on a freemium basis so they offer a free account of 2GB and of course you could have a paid account of upto 1TB, everytime someone joins through a referral link you gain an additional 250Gb of space on your account, thus encouraging users to share – as I have done here.

You can visit the Dropbox site clicking on this link here as I said I cannot recommend it highly enough so go on try it out, its FREE!

This is the 10th such seminar I have run with my co collaborator Jackie Dawkins and during that time we have had numerous and varied charities attend and a huge number of testimonials for this free event.

So what could a marketer or PR person from a charity gain from attending this seminar? Well the seminar will give an insight into how social networking can help your charity to:

• Communicate your cause
• Increase your following
• Interact with the community
• Improve your fundraising
• Increase your volunteer base

As with all our training seminars, interaction and participation are encouraged and we welcome all charities who want to learn how to make better use of these new media technologies in a fun and challenging way.

Booking is simple just use the Eventbrite form below, or if you have any questions or maybe want to talk about a dedicated training for your team why not get in touch here or email alistair@gleavemedia.co.uk.