Shut for Xmas

But that doesn't mean I'm not working and I'm still contactable via telephone and email. We open again on 2 Jan with only me in the office until 7 Jan when everything's fully operational and Peter moves from apprentice to full employee - great to have him on board.

So what does the festive season hold? It started with doing that "Friday before Xmas" thing, i.e. drinking. Night out in Middlesbrough last night which was fun but there was a downside as one of our number had a car crash on the way to work in the morning and has a fractured spine - here's hoping Paul makes a full recovery.

Along with the family time, eating and drinking I'll be up to a few things:

• A couple of websites to finish off before Xmas Day
• Work on a joint project with a couple of business partners
• Complete rehash of a project which I'm quite excited about but is taking a lot longer to launch than anticipated, mainly due to contract negotiations
• Starting my book (that's writing not reading - though I am reading "How to Teach Your Dog Quantum Physics")
• Some general planning

It's a fair bit to do but being married to a care worker means having a partner who works a lot over Xmas including Xmas Day itself - so I'd better make a great Christmas Dinner and get it out on time!

I hope everyone has a great Xmas and wishing you all a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

When Do You Stop For Xmas?

Not long until Santa arrives but when should the office shut for the festive holiday?

I'm planning on Friday 20th being the last day of "proper" work but may open up on 23rd Dec to tie up some loose ends, get the paperwork in order and the like. The problem is Mrs E, who is working Xmas Day and Boxing Day (care workers don't necessarily get those days off) and off on 23rd so it would be wise to take that day off.

How much of a holiday will it be?

I've got a few things I want to work on that aren't part of our core business. There's the development of a project with a couple of partners and I plan to start the book I'm intending to write so there'll be lots to do. It's also a great time to catch up on changes in Web technologies and get up to speed with them when there's seldom time in normal working weeks as we're too busy doing stuff for our clients.

When do we open again?

We're not opening between Xmas and New Year but the mobile will be on for anything urgent. So plenty of time to work on the side projects, which I'm looking forward to, and recharge the batteries.

Probably the last 6 days of the year to go then starting now. The Tadvent calendar (http://www.tadvent.co.uk) will be running right through until Xmas Day though.

Getting Help for the Business

When I started out as a one man band I thought I could do everything myself from the technical stuff that we sell on to clients to the internal running of the business. As I decided to move into doing this full time a couple of years ago, rather than still doing a bit of lecturing to give a financial safety net, the first bit of help was to get a professional marketing plan. It's nearly 3 years ago now that I engaged the services of i2i Business Solutions which led to the formation of Tad Web Solutions Ltd and we've used the plan created then as a framework to get us where we are now. Obviously plans need amending in line with events and opportunities but it has been successful so far and I'm still very much in touch with David Laud who drafted that plan (thank you David).

That was the first lesson I had in the need to use the services of other people who, in my occasional moments of clarity, I recognise as better than me at a particular skill or knowledge area - not always easy when you are as (over) confident as me. The problem with all of this is that there are other "experts" out there who have rather erroneously had that particular epithet applied. I obviously won't mention any names but I have in the past dismissed "expert" help after a brief session when it became clear that they believe that repeating jargon and buzz words in their particular field without any underpinning knowledge makes them an expert.

Past experiences have demonstrated a few things.

Free support via business support packages, e.g. from councils, is not always worth the time you devote to it. We have had some very good support via Redcar & Cleveland Council's expert provider companies but we have also had some very bad advice from other "experts" - we now check out who may be providing the support before even considering taking it, even if it's free.

Cheapest is not best. Before engaging David of i2i we obtained several quotes and spoke to the potential providers. We went for the provider that was significantly more expensive than the others. Why? It wasn't based on price, though there may be a subconscious correlation of price and quality, but on our opinion of the providers after initial discussions. We know we made the right decision in that case.

Most importantly, and it's a lesson I don't always remember, you can buy in services that will save you money even though it appears that you are spending. It's cost effective to have things done properly and quickly by an expert and leaves you to concentrate on what you are good at which will generate income instead of spending a lot of time doing "stuff" that you don't do so well.

So where am I going with this? I have always done my own bookkeeping, though not formal accounts, and my quarterly VAT period ended on 30 Nov.

How much do I owe? No idea as my bookkeeping isn't up to date as we've been really busy.

How long would it take me to get it up to date? Several days.

Have I got time? No we've got a lot of work on, stuff I'm good at.

What's the answer? The brilliant Jo at Ambrose Accounting to the rescue.

I've been ignoring the most important lesson above when it comes to my accounts and am now addressing it. I have no idea why it's taken me so long to come to this decision (that's a lie, tight Yorkshireman is the real reason).

So apologies to Jo, please sort out my mess!

The Joy of a Couple of Days Off

Very brief post this week as I've had a weekend away and thus a little behind.

A great family weekend in the Lakes, dashing over on Saturday morning, walk up Loughrigg (despite it's lowly stature it is my favourite fell), overnight stay, walk up to Easdale Tarn and then back home for Sunday tea-time has done wonders in recharging the batteries.

So back in the office now it's Monday, random draw done for the 01 Dec Tadvent prize (there's more at www.tadvent.co.uk) and time to crack on.

Networking - What Works For You?

A quick post as, having had a rare full day off yesterday including a late night (by my standards) following an excellent Saltburn gig by Jon Richardson supported by the local and extremely funny Pete Firman, I've got a lot of work to do today.

So a brief post about networking. Anyone who has read the blog before will probably know I'm a member of BNI plus attend some other networking events. I am only considering general business networking here, industry specific events may be the subject of a later post.

This week I went along to the Mussel Club (http://www.themusselclub.com/) for it's first evening event in Teesside after an invite from a couple of owners of quality local businesses, Jo from Ambrose Accounting (http://www.ambroseaccounting.co.uk/) and Gordon from Active Tax Solutions (http://www.activetaxsolutions.net/). Firstly a big thanks to both Jo and Gordon for the invite to a very enjoyable evening that was very informal and useful in making some new contacts. I must also say what a great venue Brasserie Hudson Quay (http://www.brasseriehudsonquay.com/) is with great staff and excellent food (and great website even though we didn't make it), I shall definitely be there again in a more personal capacity.

So a really good event where I got to meet a bunch of local and regional business people and hopefully will get to meet them again as I intend to get along to the next event. Well it makes it easy to explain to my wife that chatting over nice food with some great local business owners is work! A great way to develop what hopefully will become long term relationships with other businesses.

It was a big contrast to the breakfast events I attend. I go along to breakfast events organised by both Middlesbrough Council and Redcar & Cleveland Council but do this much less frequently than I used to (even though the Redcar one takes place directly above our office). This is largely because it's the same people every month, often quite cliquey, and I'm not entirely sure of the worth of going along.

Which is one of the difficulties in measuring the worth of networking. At events where the purpose is to get to know other business people and perhaps do some business with each other in the long term it is very difficult to measure. My gut feeling is that the Mussel Club can do that as you get to meet and chat informally over several hours at an evening event whereas the council events you get limited time to find out more about other people so I doubt many deeper relationships are formed.

And what of BNI (http://www.bni.co.uk/)? Whilst understanding many people don't like it, I really enjoy getting along at daft o'clock every Wednesday morning to meet with my chapter. The first reason I enjoy it is the people I meet there, who you do get to know really well - we have a cracking bunch of people as members of Links Chapter who I am really pleased to have met plus great people from the region (Russ, Craig, Andy, Joe) who provide us with tons of support and guidance as a new chapter. Secondly it works in a business sense and is playing a big role in getting Tad Web Solutions growing, not just some great referrals to do business but we operate differently when meeting customers and writing quotes from the free business training we've already had AND I'm back in the office to have a normal day. We also measure everything, numbers of referrals, business passed, etc.so I know exactly how successful it is for me.

So my longer term networking plans are BNI every week, Mussel Club evening events on Teesside and maybe a couple of other Mussel Club events, very occasional Redcar Council events.

I would welcome other business owner's thoughts on what works for them so please comment.

Talking Out My Rs - Referrals, Reach, Reputation and Recovery

I was doing a bit of project planning, reviewing the last year and timetabling following up leads and one thing in particular struck me - the number of sales leads we have compared to a year ago. This in turn got me thinking about why that is the case, so here are a few thoughts.

• It appears that the economy is recovering

The news says that things are on the up but I'm not sure that's had an effect for us yet. Maybe there is an increase in the intagible "business confidence" and as a result some of those potential clients are looking to spend money when they were not a year ago.

• We have been around for some time now so people know we exist

This is definitely the case. We have more clients than we did a year ago and this means more satisfied customers who recommend us to their business contacts which means more sales leads and even more clients. There is a snowball effect with this.

• We do a lot of work on Social Media

Obviously we run our company social media accounts and whilst we do tell people what we do we also engage with people and try to help them including puttingvthem in touch with other businesses who can help them. We also help run the accounts of 2 CICs, Palace FM and Jack in the Box, to help raise their profile. Our big social media effort goes into @ClevelandHour on Twitter which is simply used to promote local businesses, organisations and events. It may seem counter-intuitive a times as competitors are promoted on there but we have picked up business via the account, passed business to other local companies and helped people form partnerships.

• We are part of a referrals network

I'm a member of BNI which is a business referrals network with our group meeting every Wednesday morning in Redcar. It's not everyone's cup of tea and I had a meeting with the father of one of our member's who said "you're also a member of that cult". It's very structured and at times seems a little strange but it is all professionally run and most importantly, it works!. 

It's clearly about getting the right business people together and the organisation provides the structure to make it work plus some great training to help your business operate as a business more effectively. I've already changed a few things that are having an effect in turning sales leads into business, after all I'm a geek primarily and learning to do the business part as I go along.

What has it done in terms of generating business? Well our group has been launched for 2 months and we are passing 40+ referrals (that's 40+ real opportunities for new business) each week. We have had a small number of new web projects from other members and their contacts. I have a couple of contracts directly from visitors, one of whom has joined another new chapter. We have also purchased the services of a number of members and visitors plus become a regular customer of another local business who visited us. We now purchase our server space from them which has resulted in some good business for them plus saved us £100 per month compared to our previous supplier - so my membership is paid for ever!

We know BNI isn't for everyone and we have also turned down membership from a number of businesses that we didn't feel were of sufficient quality to take part. BUT it works, so if you are a QUALITY local business and want to grow then come along and take a look at what we do. 

On Wed 20th Nov we have a Visitors Day to open up to more local businesses to see how we can help you. Give me a call on 07739 408745 for more details.

We Remember Them

Today is Remembrance Sunday, a day when we remember those who have fallen in wars, largely working people of many nations who have died on the battlefield in wars both just and unjust. It is a great tragedy of the modern age that we are still sending people to war (for what reason?) and then not looking after the survivors when they come back. Why do we let our politicians get away with this and the removal of our freedoms and right to protest in the name of some war on terror. We are more surveilled in this country than the supposed evil empires of China, Russia, Syria, etc.

We live in a world where politicians still send young working people to their deaths or to be maimed behind a curtain of lies hiding the true reason which is to protect the interests of the political classes and their rich friends. I'm no pacifist but why are we letting this happen, it would be great to have a Remembrance Sunday to remember the fallen and know that we will never have to remember the fallen of a pointless war again.

So to end for today, I leave you with Wilfred Owen who saw the horrors of the trenches in WW1 and is much more eloquent than me:

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots  

Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud 
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest 
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen
8 October 1917 - March, 1918

Xmas is coming ...

One of our neighbours in the Palace Hub managed to put up their Xmas tree before Halloween! Now I'm much closer to the bah humbug! end than the Merry Xmas! end of the seasonal jollyness scale but I do like to celebrate Christmas only in a more toned down manner. Since Matt has grown up we have lost a bit of the magic of having young children around which does make it a really special time - you've probably guessed that I'm not a Christian by now, so there is no religious significance for me.

So what will Tad Web Solutions be doing. Firstly we'll be shut between Xmas and New Year to spend some time with family and friends and also overindulge on food and drink - mobile messages and email will be answered and emergencies dealt with during that time. We'll have some small decorations up in the office and generally be jolly too, aren't we always?

There will of course be the Tad Web Solutions Xmas card going out to friends, partners and our valued customers. In previous years we've bought a stack of cards and used those (yes I know that's rubbish but this year we have more staff and more time as a result). In the last week we have had Rebecca from Middlesbrough College in on work experience who is looking to move into graphic design and one of Rebecca's tasks was to design our Xmas card. So this year we have a bespoke card and Rebecca will be credited on the card for her design, we love it , hope you do to. We will be getting them printed by our partners iMedia North East, a Middlesbough company, who we now use for all of our printing due to the quality of the service provided.

So look out for your card but we don't start before December, so not yet. The other thing we will be doing on 1 Dec is launching our on-line Tadvent Calendar (see what we did there), again the look was designed by Rebecca, which will have freebies in the form of food goodies, printing, clothing and, of course, web stuff plus some tips to help you make your web presence work better for your business.

Christmas you've got to love it but wait until December!!

It's Hard Work On Your Own

Just a brief post this week as I've go some work to catch up on after a brief walk trough the Valley Gardens in Saltburn which is a lovely place.

Peter is now 10 months into his apprenticeship and largely works independently with a bit of oversight. Last week he was on his hols in Spain and boy do I now know how much work he does! Luckily he's back on Monday so we can crack on with our busy order book.

That's it until next week, got some planning to do and a presentation to write.

A Much Better Week

Well I've ended the week with a great little walk on the North Yorks Moors and home in time for Sunday lunch and then work for the rest of the day. It's easy to get bogged down in work sometimes and not take time out for a bit of relaxation so I'm making a real effort to get out walking even for a couple of hours on a weekend. Middlesbrough should be abandoned apparently (The Economist I believe) but I'm a proud Boro lad, despite Mogga's worst efforts, and love the area. After a 15 mins journey today I was out and about walking here in god's country:

So to any London-centric readers - it's a dreadful place to live (keep the myth going, we don't want them up here).

I have to say the folk at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council seem to have done a great job sorting out our Internet problems and also, fingers crossed, the problems with our windows, but we'll wait until a big storm to confirm that bit. I'm really glad as, although I was very annoyed at the problems we have had for a while, the Palace Hub is a tremendous place and I love my office view, though we do also have a view of the above from almost the same spot hung on our office wall thanks to a great local artist Di Fox.

So how will the week end? Mainly some work we weren't expecting to come in for a white label project which we thought was finished, but it's about keeping the client happy so a busy Sunday afternoon. There's also a quote to write for a project for Saltburn that looks really exciting. I'm really looking forward to working on that as it's an interesting technical project but I'm also an ex-resident of Saltburn and visit it often as it's such a lovely place and it's a great project for the town. Finally today will be the outline of my next Geek Author offering which will be a guide on using web analytics for Serco and their Superfast Broadband roll-out in the South West. As a result I've also got a publisher lined up for when I write my book on t'Internet, yes you heard it here first, which I'll begin over Xmas.

Building a Better Business, Despite the Obstacles

The last week started off on a great note with a trip over to Bolton on Sunday, a pleasant evening in the bar with fellow BNI members which saw Dr Ivan Misner join us for a brief period and then a great event on the Monday. The Build a Better Business conference was great, networking and tons of useful information to improve your business, your sales and your networking. There are a lot of things I will implement that will improve the performance of Tad Web Solutions Ltd.

The rest of the week was a bit of a slide downwards with a few exceptions. Back in the office on Tues to find the rain still comes in, the Internet was intermittent on Wednesday, we left early on Thurs as they were working on the firewall, and on Fri we left very early to work from home as the firewall is preventing us from using ftp to transfer files to or from our servers. Getting very peeved with our landlords now and things will shortly come to a head if not solved very quickly.

The week wasn't helped by a message whilst in Bolton on Mon saying that Peter's tutor needed to come in the next day without prior arrangement which means Peter loses around half a day of work. On Tues his tutor says he needs him in college the next day, again unplanned, so another day lost.

Friday also saw PalaceFM lose in their bid to get an FM licence for their community radio station. We hope they continue with their great radio station and we will continue to provide web support to help them.

So the problem is we're a bit behind schedule with last week's projects and big apologies to customers for that. The good news is that it's a problem - a problem because we have a lot of work on the books. So I'm stopping whining as I've got some catching up to do and need to crack on.

Focus on the Positives

It's been one of those weeks, started with a bad head cold which continues and loads of stuff that has been a hassle.

We had a chunk of time without Internet and phone (VoIP) which is not great for a web agency and was not at the time we were told it would happen. It's obviously far too difficult, or more than their job's worth, for Redcar Council/Virgin media staff to fix the offending fan outside of office hours. I also loved the fact that they emailed us to tell us all Internet was down, after it had gone down.

I'm getting rather miffed with Redcar Council and their incompetence when it comes to the Palace Hub. Their latest "effort" regarding our leaking windows is to have someone from their internal maintenance team to pop in and say "there's nowt we can do", so it will now be passed to the external contractors. I have now pointed out to the council that I regard them as in breach of the license terms and we can walk any time. I will be seeking advice next week and am considering withholding rent and service charge payments or paying a reduced amount based on a suitable deduction for their poor service - if they want to fight that I'll happily enjoy the publicity of a court case.

The amusing thing is they are planning to hold a public celebration of the Palace Hub and they had asked me to speak at it as it seems I am the only tenant with a positive view - I think they should ask someone else.

Other hassles include the delight of having my credit card blocked. We had a VAT bill that was significantly larger than any previous VAT bill we've had. I paid on-line via credit card, or so I thought until my credit card company decided that was a strange payment and blocked it from use. Now I'm fairly happy that they look out for things like that but it was to HMRC, not like I'd bought a Ferrari. Anyway all sorted now.

Surely nothing else can go wrong! At least not until I got up this morning to find that my SIM card had been deactivated. I had upgraded my phone but have not received the new phone or SIM but seems that the company I upgraded with have kindly registered the new SIM. Been through EE/Orange who to be fair to them have been very helpful, old SIM should be back on later today and upgrade cancelled, I'll then do an upgrade myself but will stick with EE/Orange as they have done a good job for me today, assuming my phone becomes active again.

So I'm in a big grump today (what's new) but am starting to reflect on the good stuff including a 4-1 for Boro yesterday. We're really busy and I'm very confident about the future of the business (hence the much bigger VAT bill). There's lots of potential in the pipeline not just on our own but some collaborative work also. I've also made some decisions on a few side projects that I will do. I am going to extend my Geek Author role and write a book plus set up some workshops for local businesses to improve the way the use the web and get more business as a result. Need to set my self some deadlines so I get the workshops ready for after Xmas and write sections of the book.

In a couple of hours I'm off to Bolton for a night and day at the Reebok and I've not been there since a 1-0 loss by Boro some years ago. I'm travelling over with some fellow members of BNI Links and we will be attending the Build a Better Business Conference tomorrow - looking forward to it. Our BNI chapter is going well, passing lots of referrals and growing. There's a great bunch of people involved and it will play a big role in the growth of my business.

Lots of positives so I'll stop grumping.

Local Government - Does It Matter to Business?

Even though my business is in Redcar I live in Middlesbrough and this week we had a referendum on whether we keep the mayoral system or not. I didn't vote and I'm a big one for voting, even when there is nothing to vote for (I have little faith in the self-serving, snouts in the trough main parties) I go along and spoil my ballot paper which at least makes an effort rather than languishing in apathy.

I don't quite see how the choice of voting for a mayor who appoints a cabinet who make decisions with little reference to the full council differs in any real way for voting for councillors who then appoint a cabinet who make decisions with little reference to the full council. Both are fundamentally undemocratic.

This time I languished in apathy but am proud that Matt, in his first ever opportunity to vote, took the time to go to the polling station and spoil his paper by drawing a duck with a speech bubble explaining that both options are undemocratic. Now that's the way to spoil a ballot paper, I hope it catches on as a campaign.

What's more the debate has largely revolved around the record of one Ray Mallon. To make it clear, I'm not a fan of his, but surely his record is irrelevant to the debate as to what system you have in place. Whatever system is used we could well (and probably will) end up with someone I don't want in power but I've got an equal vote and have to live with that. It is typical of the standard of debate in politics that it's about personalities rather than policies and plans for improving a town. The same goes at national level and for the record I think Cameron, Clegg and Milliband are all [insert your favoured insult here]s.

So does it matter at all? I'm sure it does, There are some great things in Middlesbrough (as well as the people and the Transporter) - I love Mima and Temenos, they show a bit of ambition and a look to the future but bulldozing communities and leaving them as wastelands sends the opposite message.

In Redcar the council has done a great job in largely using EU money to completely regenerate the seafront. I've moved my business there and have THE most stunning view from a great office and that does make a difference to my business. But in carrying out the renovation they called the Beacon the "Vertical Pier" and alienated the vast majority of the local population who still want a traditional pier.

So local government are doing some genuinely great things but scoring huge own goals at the same time. I think it's indicative of a political class totally out of touch with the communities they aim to represent yet still showing that they do genuinely want to move those communities forward in positive way. That suggests there must be some way of reconnecting communities with well-intentioned local politicians, maybe the influence of party HQ's and spin doctors is the problem. What's the answer to that - if I had the answer I'd stand for mayor!

The biggest downside to all this in Redcar is the massive negative feeling the majority of the population have about the area, and that's not a feeling I get in Middlesbrough (at least away from the Riverside!). Lots of local people talk the place down in a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom, even slating the new seafront development which has attracted businesses (me for one) and tens of thousands of visitors.

That needs to change and there are people in Redcar trying to make a difference in many ways through getting business to work together and generate new business (our new BNI chapter for one), beach clean-ups, events, education and much more - there's a lot to be proud of. If you're not convinced come down the esplanade, it looks great, pop into the Palace Hub Gallery (it's better than Mima and largely features local artists), have an ice-cream at Archers or a lemon top at Pacittos  and pop and see us if you fancy a cuppa and admire our view.

Copyright, David Laud, i2i Business Solutions LLP

A positive attitude goes a long way to being successful, a negative attitude guarantees failure. I'm proud to be from Boro, from Teesside and from God's country, Yorkshire, and proud to have my business in Redcar - it would be great if all of the people of Redcar joined the growing band of folk putting pride back into a great little seaside town and helped put it back where it belongs, as a jewel on the Yorkshire Coast.

Technology Changes

Look at poor old Blackberry, planning to slash their global workforce by 40% in an attempt to halt their inexorable slide into oblivion (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24182038). I don't intend to give a full analysis of their slide into decline, suffice to say I have been a Bb user for a number of years and have gone from loving my Blackberry a few years ago, to hating it now as it has a habit of crashing during calls if anything else comes in at the same time.

I've not looked at the figures for mobile purchases but do know that Google Analytics for our clients show that the vast majority of mobile and tablet visitors to the websites we are responsible for come from iPhone and iPad. How have Apple done so well? I don't believe their products are any better than others. Sorry iCult members but I strongly believe that is true, I have an iPad and absolutely love it so don't believe Android or others are better either, but I believe Apple are simply the best marketers and by a long, long way.

So that's a simple example of how technological changes affect companies but what of us somewhat smaller companies who work on the Web? Technology is constantly changing and I think there are 4 fundamental challenges for a web agency:

• The availability of "build your own website" packages that can build a serviceable website from scratch whether that be some web hosting company's very limited package through to Wordpress
• The increase in mobile usage for web browsing and the improvement in download speeds
• New versions of the core fundamentals of the web, html, css, php, mysql, accessibility standards, legal requirements, copyright, etc.
• The amount of competition as every man and his dog are now "web developers"

How do we cope with all of these? I'll start with the first and last points in combination as they are inextricably linked. There's a big difference between "knocking out a website" on an open source platform like Wordpress by fitting someone's logo into a theme and being able to develop a website by adding/editing source code. One is very limited and if you ask for something a little different some of your "developers" won't be able to do it. Build your own website packages have their place for people just starting out and Wordpress is a great open-source package we use for small business packages as it is very adaptable if you're happy adapting the php code and adding to the database.

There is an element of cost difference between build your own and using a web agency, however once you take the hosting fees into account for many of the build your own packages there's little difference after a couple of years and the major difference is your website is expandable as you grow with an expert to help you when you get a web agency to create it.

The changes to the fundamentals of web design is simply about keeping up to date via newsgroups, magazines, books, courses and the like - simply taking the time to keep up to date, so does not create any major obstacle.

The changes to mobile technology and usage really open up possibilities for companies to get ahead of their competition. We've recently surveyed the changes in mobile visitors to our clients' websites. A year ago typically 10-20% of visitors came to a site via a mobile phone or tablet. This year it is typically 20-40% and sales of tablets are increasing. It is now pointless creating a new website without a mobile version or that includes technology that iOS devices will not show. It is still the norm to design a website that is designed primarily for PC/laptop but that will also look good and function well on a mobile phone. We are close to the tipping point where we should design primarily for tablet and phone with a good version for PC/laptop. I also think it should be a decision that is specific to the client.

And that brings me to the main point which is relevant to all of the points above. A good web agency will get to know the client's business, what they do, who their customers are and what their aims are. The website created for the client is specific to them as are the associated elements such as SEO, social media strategies, advertising, etc. There is also the after sales service ensuring that you are there for advice and support for customers after you have been paid. Keeping customers happy leads to more business from them in the future and recommendations to people they know but the Web industry has earned a bad reputation in this respect.

The main point is to remember that whilst we are a technology business we are primarily a customer service business - we need to understand the technology but we need to understand and help our customers much, much more. So with our old-fashioned customer service approach we simply solve business problems for our customers using the web. Our strap-line says it all.

Image Copyright and Web Design

Fairly recently parliament passed the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act which, amongst other things, relates to the use of photographs and other images on websites. Many photographers appear to be up in arms as it allows for the use of orphan images after a search for the ownership of the original. I'm not a photographer so am not fully au fait with the arguments around this but there seems to be a few key points.

1. A number of popular platforms strip out the meta data of photos that identify the originator making it more difficult for them to claim ownership and some of these platforms claim ownership of any image uploaded.
2. It opens up the way for more activity by trawling copyright lawyers - Getty Images are notorious for this and there is some evidence that they are claiming huge payments for the use of images that were used long before they were owned by Getty Images. It seems that big corporations and lawyers benefit but not the photographer.
3. There are instances of copyrighted images being distributed in free libraries of images.
4. The new law does require a "diligent search" of any orphan image to determine ownership - Google Image search does allow a search by image so that is a big help for anyone who is unsure and should provide some protection for the real owner

I would welcome the views of any photographers or lawyers on this as it seems fairly complex.

So what does it mean for web developers and designers? Well, we have to be careful. We have three main sources for the images we use on a website: our clients, stock image libraries and images we produce ourselves whether they be photos or derivatives of the first two where we have edited them and/or added to them. The biggest danger we have in all this is images supplied by clients, fairly recently we have had a client contact us saying they have had the Getty Images letter and requesting where the image came from. Our answer was honest and probably not what they wanted to hear - they supplied it themselves.

This raises an important issue in that when the site was made a few years ago, we didn't get confirmation that they had permission to use or were the owners of the supplied images. We have now put procedures in place to get our clients to confirm images they supply are their own or they have permission to use them either from the originator or via a suitable license. All images we use ourselves are used with permission and usually purchased specifically for the website we are creating. It is one of the reasons a legitimate web agency is more expensive than someone knocking out websites from their bedroom and stealing images!

So what is Tad Web Solutions up to? In between lots of meetings we are working on websites for a new recycling company, a soft play hire company, a magazine, a university project in Canada (oh yes we are now exporters!), a plumber, an EPC company, a wedding car company and some social media strategy development for Epigem, a high-tech company at Kirkleatham. A bit busy then especially as much of my time has been spent on a white label project which for obvious reasons we can't tell you about.

All of those are ongoing next week plus lots of meetings including Wednesday's BNI meeting where I have to step into my role properly as part of the leadership team - we had or first proper meeting last week with 40+ referrals passed in week one which was a cracking start. So second meeting this week plus leadership training and a members' day on Fri. I've also got a meeting with representatives of Cleveland Police regarding a project we're working on and a meeting with a couple of people I've worked with in the past with a view to creating a new joint venture which has a lot of potential and I'm rather excited about (but more on that when it happens).

Monday sees an early finish and a trip to Durham Uni with Matt who has already got an offer to do Physics plus a bursary every year if he puts them 1st on his UCAS form - really proud of him.

How Secure is a Secure Website?

A couple of weeks ago I was asked a similar question on BBC Tees radio and the answer is something like "quite". The BBC recently reported that government agencies in the US and UK have cracked the algorithms used for banking and email and, I think more importantly, that some companies leave "backdoor access to their security systems" for security agencies (source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23981291).

Let's be clear about Internet security, even the U.S. military gets hacked and whilst I don't know what security they use I am sure it's more complex and expensive than you or I can afford to set up.

So what can your average SME do to make their website safe if they are storing or processing sensitive information? The key steps are:

• Ensure all software and operating systems are up to date so that security holes are patched
• Encrypt sensitive information that is stored such as credit card numbers and passwords using hashing functions and a random salt that adds some random element to each of the encryption functions
• Ensure passwords have some kind of control over length and the characters used
• Don't store passwords in written format
• Don't give out passwords to anyone else
• For the transmission of sensitive data transmit use a secure connection (look for https and the padlock on your browser)

Will that prevent your website from being hacked - the answer is no, if the US military can be hacked then so can your site.

So what's the point? Firstly, your site is secure but the sites of many others are not and it is simply easier and less risky to hack into their sites. Secondly, it will be difficult, time consuming and very costly to hack your site and probably not worth the effort based upon the return.

The theory of web security boils down to making the cost of breaking into a secure website very high, the process very difficult and significantly more costly than the returns gained from hacking into a site. Encryption of data, which forms the central part of such a strategy, is a very complex mathematical process which makes it very difficult to determine how it is achieved even if someone has access to the encrypted data. However, it is a mathematical process and as computing power increases rapidly the encryption methods of a few years ago can now be cracked fairly quickly making it a continual battle to stay ahead of the bad guys.

Large organisations throw money at Internet security and employ ethical hackers, essentially people who have switched sides, to test their security - it is a costly process, that is beyond the means of most. Us mere mortals can only afford a good level of security that in most instances will protect our websites.

For me the scary part of the BBC story is the note that backdoor access is provided for government security agencies and that may include banks and the like. I'm no longer worried about the government having access to all of my data. Whilst I don't want them to have it, I have long assumed that they do. More importantly, if there is backdoor access then there is a huge security hole that is also available to hackers which makes the whole system highly vulnerable as the returns may well be worth the expense for complete access to a banking system.

New Websites and Bespoke Functionality in the Pipeline

We launched a couple of new sites for clients last week that we can talk about and one we can't (white labelled).

Both of these sites are html with nothing particular special in terms of functionality. Whilst we are always keen to have sites with bespoke functionality, we have a core of small business clients who do not have the need nor budget for such sites and we're happy to meet their needs via quality small business packages that are listed on our small business websites pages at http://www.teeswebdesign.co.uk/.

So who have we created sites for this week? An accountancy firm, LDF Accountancy Services Ltd.

and a gardening/outdoor joinery firm.

Now I'm a bit (lot) of a geek so I love getting my teeth into a website with some bespoke database driven functionality and we're in discussions regarding the development of a website for an energy assessors that will include storage of reports, automated invoicing and client areas so they can monitor progress of their jobs, get reports, etc. Hope we get the contract and I'll look forward to getting stuck into that.

So what of the coming week? Wednesday sees the launch of our new referrals network in Redcar. We expect 50+ local businesses there so if you operate in Redcar, Middlesbrough, East or South Cleveland and want more business then get in touch. I'll get you an invite and you can see how we can help you.

Chinese Whispers

Fully back in the land of the living last week and working long hours to catch up on the slacking of the previous week. Most of the week was spent working on a white label project where ostensibly another company has created the websites in question. We're happy to do this (as long as we are paid properly!) but it does have its own specific problems.

The most difficult issue is that when designing a new site there are always some elements where we ask "what do you think of this?" regarding the look or operation of some particular feature. When this is being passed via a third party bits get lost in translation resulting in the same element being redesigned a few times and also there are delays as messages get passed around. Never mind it's coming along and the project is looking good.

So what of the rest of the week? Some new contracts agreed and potential new clients to follow up. On the networking front there was Redcar Council's breakfast event which, as with many of these things, gives you a chance to chat with local businesses but ultimately it's the same faces every month and a nice chat. However, for serious networking that results in business we are part of BNI which is a referrals group and even though we haven't launched yet it's already more than paid my membership fee.

Our new BNI Links chapter will launch in Redcar on 4th September and be making a difference to the business of all our members. On Friday we all went and visited Harald chapter, a group that has passed nearly £4,000,000 of business in the last year, and enjoyed a great meeting, so thanks to all at Harald. Can't wait for our launch, great bunch of people and great businesses helping each other grow - get in touch if you want more business.

The Best Diet I've Been On

Now I know I need to lose some weight but this gastric bug is working a treat! I think I need some new trousers and not for the reason you're thinking but as I have to hold on to some of them to keep them up when I walk.

Still had a lot on and Peter looked after a lot of work whilst I did bits and popped to the loo. Getting to our BNI group on Wed for 6.30 was a particular killer having being up most of the night but still made it. Still a few sites launched including a Wordpress site for JJ Plant, some print design for About Change Therapy, new business cards for Shonette Bason-Wood and a new e-commerce site for Cash4That.

That's about it for this week, more next week.

A Cheeky Day Off

We're still really busy, and very happy to be so, but there are some sporting events that are so huge you need to take time off to get along. So Friday was "a cheeky day off" to pop along to Chester-le-Street with Matt and a couple of friends to watch day 1 of the Ashes test. A great day out even if England's performance wasn't too good.

The week saw us getting a couple of Wordpress websites live including Marie Kilgallon Associates

and Shonette Bason-Wood including a new logo design

Friday off means working all weekend so that's it for this week's blog, laters ...

Boro Bubble Burst already!

Another quicky this week as time is tight after a full day off yesterday to wander to the Riverside and some family stuff in the evening.

So 1st match of the championship season in the round ball game over and myself and Matt paid a visit to the newly configured Riverside stadium. A decent first half followed by a shocking performance from the Boro in the second half thus packing last season into a single 90 minutes. Let's hope we can avoid relegation as Mowbray has stated the target is to "get out of this division" and he didn't mention promotion! Will be along on Tues for the cup match against Accrington Stanley as guest of the Agile Group, so at least there'll be sufficient free booze to numb the senses!

Friday we will be visiting the other Riverside at Chester-le-Street for the first day of the Ashes test there and hopefully England perform a little better than they have at Old Trafford.

So lots of work to do next week, especially with a cheeky day off on Friday. We'll be starting the week with helping out the Friends of Redcar on a beach clean - come and join us if you're around.

Back From Hol

Just a quickie this week. Had a great few days in Langdale with my wife, got a bit of walking done (I still ache), got a lot of midge bites, and drank some fine ale in Elterwater's great pub, The Britannia Inn.

Now back in the Boro and today's main event has been Matt having his knee op, all has gone well and he is in good spirits and back home - will be a couple of months until he's back playing rugby and then we'll get back to proper weekends of bacon butties, boshing and beer!

How Do You Fit in Holidays?

As the owner of a small business I simply don't know how to fit in a holiday. A week tomorrow I go away for the best part of a week and whilst I could really do with a break, I could also do with not having a break due to workload.

Last year I had a couple of long weekends away with mates but no summer holiday. This year I'm off up to the Lake District with my lovely wife to do some walking in Langdale. I love it, though Borrowdale is my favourite location, as there is excellent walking and, in my opinion, the best pub in the World (The Britannia Inn, Elterwater) about 100m from where we're staying. Phone reception is pretty non-existent until we get up a fell so there's not routine phone calls - but will I relax? Only time will tell.

It's going to be an extremely busy week to get as much done as possible before I go and an extremely busy week when I get back, especially as Matt is having his knee operation the day after we return as well.

So what have we been up to? Tons of work on the white-label project but not really getting any content off the clients so that's going to run late when I go on hol. We've got a nice design ready to go with some nice javascript bits for interactivity but at the moment it's just full of the standard Latin text for place-holders so can't go live.

Moseley Marketing Transport Planning site has been launched which is a very simple but responsive Wordpress site as requested by the client who will be filling in their own content. New outline designs were created for Marie Kilgallon Associates and Ashgrove B and B in Kircaldy on our test server. There were also some updates to our own site, which will continue, and Rock and Rollabilia's site.

A chunk of new clients were signed up over the last week or so including the Get Britain Cycling Magazine, Shonette Bason-Wood (who will be a star and is off on a speaking tour in South Africa very shortly), Cash4That plus new sites for expanding clients J&J Plant Hire. Work has started on all of these.

We're still also working on the Give It A Go site plus got some other irons in the fire for including some potentially large jobs. With meetings with newish clients from Epigem and Elite Serviced Apartments as well next week, that holiday is looking like a bad idea!

Lions! Lions!

A busy and productive week at work but everything pales into insignificance after yesterday's Lions victory. For those of us into rugby union from the four home nations the Lions is the biggest thing barring the latter stages of a World Cup. It is a unique team bringing together four nations that are at each other's throats for the four years between tours (but for the education of footy fans, we still sit together, drink together, and wind each other up without resorting to violence). The tours are against the best three teams in the World, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand who each host the Lions every 12 years.

It's a big deal and the Lions rarely win a test series. Yesterday they won the series 2-1 with an emphatic and dominant performance against Australia. Some have questioned whether the Lions has a place in the professional era. Ask the players of both sides, the coaching staff, the many thousands of fans who paid a lot of money to travel to watch the games in the flesh, the millions who watched on TV - yesterday was a great day and it makes those Lions players legends regardless of which of the 4 nations they came from.

There are a few annoying things about it though with idiots voicing opinions such as "there's too many Welshmen in the squad", "Gatland is a Kiwi", etc. Well I'm English, if I was picking the squad there would have been a couple of more Englishmen, I would have played BOD at outside centre in the last test, I would have picked Croft and Tipuric instead of O'Brien and Lydiate and I was wrong on all counts. Outstanding performance by all - loved every minute even though I lost money (I had the Lions to win the test but by a lesser margin).

Warren Gatland showed what management is about, difficult decisions, no sentiment but based on fact and backing yourself. And boy did he get it right.

The vast majority of Lions fans had a great day yesterday and look forward to shortly being at each other throats again but with increased respect. And it's now time to stuff the Aussies at cricket!

Glastonbury, What Has Gone Sooo Wrong? - An Opinionated Rant on Music

When it comes to music I get a bit fascistic - the music I like is better than the music you like, you are wrong and you should like what I like. Ok that's an exaggeration but not a million miles from the truth..

Last night I watched Glastonbury on TV and attempted some live on iPlayer but suffered an annoying buffering problem on that. Glasto has changed so much. It used be very much an alternative festival but now is just a big corporate jamboree with £5k+ to stay in a yurt. The audience is typically my age, because many young folk can't afford it, and the music has gone more mainstream. Don't get me wrong, I rather like the Rolling Stones but they're not who I would have wanted headlining. I like the widening of the music type, Dizzy Rascal looked and sounded great for instance, but it was always something of an alternative festival with little of the music being mainstream and the balance has changed.

Some of the bands who I really loved have become, in my opinion, rather boring, middle of the road and up their own arses. (Yes I do mean you Arctic Monkeys, I know you can play but can only assume "Fake Tales of San Francisco" was played ironically to match Alex's fake accent.) Nothing new there though.

Many of the "Indie" bands are just cloned Indie-pop bands that are merely interchangeable as this has become a popular genre. Again nothing new as something similar has happened through the ages.

I can only agree with Gazette sports journo Anthony Vickers on Twitter yesterday evening, a man who I knew well in my late teens and who had a tremendous collection of punk and alternative music - "did we fight the punk wars for this?"

Having now got my rant off my chest there were some gems. I'd never heard or seen Goat before and this bunch of Swedish mental people (or so it seemed) sounded and looked brilliant, Portishead were great as always and my faves The Horrors were sounding good on iPlayer until I gave up due to buffering problems.

I know I'm old as I now sound like my Dad - music's not been the same since Glen Miller died.

So what have we been up to work-wise? Much of the week has been spent on a project that we're white-labelling so I can't really say much. We're also working on developing the Rock and Rollabilia website and some materials for Serco which I'll finish off today.

Over June we have had a charity month where 20% of the value of new contracts (pre-VAT) will be donated to Teesside Hospice once we have been paid. This is just for new contracts signed up for this month and doesn't include renewal contracts such as hosting, SEO and the like. The figure we shall be donating stands at £1269. There's still a couple of days left so if you want a website sign up today!

But for now it's the Lions build up and everything stops for a tense rugby match including looking out for Richardson Removals head honcho and fellow semi-blind fat bloke, John B, at the match - lucky bugger.

Baronesses, Broadcasting & Business Plans

So what have we been up to at Tad Web Solutions over the last couple of weeks? Well along with the usual meetings, networking, web design, SEO and the like there's been a few less "ordinary" events.

On Thursday 13th we had two important visitors. First in was Simon, the MD of the Agile Group, for a meeting and we are building a good working relationship his company which is significantly larger than ours. We were then interrupted mid-meeting by Baroness Hanham, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government. We have a few great photos on Facebook with many thanks to Hickson Photography for taking them and sending them to us. Myself and Simon didn't even know the first one was being taken but looks more like a typical, posed, website stock photo under the "business" tag than any I've ever seen.

In the last week Matt has been in the office as it's Volunteering Week at College and as we run the Palace FM web presence for free and are having a charity month where we donate 20% of the value of new contracts to Teesside Hospice Matt helped us with that. On Monday he did an interview on the Raw pm show on Palace FM giving his views on the brilliant Palace Hub Gallery. I challenged him to use the word juxtaposition in his interview which he managed with great professionalism. The following day I filled in on the Business Brunch show on Palace FM as a late fill in for a no-show guest. Carl who hosts the show is a top bloke with a strong (or so it sounds to us Teessiders) West Country accent so Matt challenged me to get a pirate reference in - we are both fan of Chris Pakham's use of song titles on Springwatch. Luckily I managed to get in "crow's nest" in my interview on my web design business.

As I have mentioned one gallery I really need to mention another. The Python Gallery in Middlesbrough (at the back of the Bongo) has just opened an exhibition by Ian "Lucky" Luck of Rock and Rollabilia called Groundbreakers and Earthshakers. Anyone who is into real music rather than the drivel of X-factor, The Voice, etc. and wants to see the great history of music on Teesside should get along to the exhibition and visit the shop in the Redcar Beacon. I went to the private viewing of the exhibition on Friday and loved it.

And what of the business plans? Redcar and Cleveland Council are great at helping small businesses looking to grow and we have had Stephen Gibson of the BE Group working with us over a couple of months to help us work out what we are doing, where we want to be, what we need to do and change to get there, etc. Whilst I like Stephen I have to say I would have preferred THE Steve Gibson but he probably doesn't have the time. We aim to concentrate a lot of effort on growing our more complex, data driven web work including web based applications and use my expertise in database design and systems design and programming to develop a base of larger and more prestigious clients. We recently have moved into this market and should shortly have an opportunity to get some publicity to back this up. Stephen has been a great help in developing the plan and the underlying systems to make this happen. Thanks Stephen.

It's Fathers Day ...

... so I'm having a day off from blogging. There'll be proper post next week - probably (Lions 1st test, on TV obviously, and off to see John Otway in Saltburn next weekend).

Social Media Marketing - Does It Work?

We've come across opinions from both ends of the spectrum on this.

At one end there is the traditional marketer who says "where are the sales?" and "what's the ROI?" and espouses the view that social media is a fad for business and a waste of time.

At the other end there's the evangelist who says you only need social media for marketing and nothing else.

So what is my view? It's somewhere between the two. Social media is a very important part of marketing but works in a different way to traditional marketing. It is about building relationship and is a long game not a quick sale. I do however believe that certain businesses can successfully market through social media only.

How do we do it? Well, we concentrate on Twitter as the primary social media channel for business. We have a company account (@TadWebSolutions), which tends to be a little more straight and business oriented, and our own staff company accounts (@IanE1111 me, @tees_web Peter) which are a bit more business and personal views mixed in together. The personal side is encouraged, after all we are people working in a business. We also run #ClevelandHour from 10-11 a.m. on Twitter via the @ClevelandHour account with the aim of promoting local business which does include our competitors.

We also use LinkedIn, Facebook (www.facebook.com/TadWebSolutions), Google+ (which seems to have changed our location to Johannesburg?????), Pinterest and of course Blogger.

What is the best approach for a business? The answer is it depends upon your business. There are guidelines to follow but the exact approach to take depends on what you do and what you would like to achieve. We can help you with that if you need some advice and support in developing a social media strategy.

Do we get business from our social media channels? Yes. Direct requests from new connections are rare but do occasionally happen but that is not the point. Referrals from businesses we have built up relationships with via social media are much more common as is work directly from businesses we have built a relationship with (as is passing work their way as well). That doesn't mean follow someone on Twitter and get a big contract. It means build relationships with people, sometimes offline as they grow, and opportunities arise to help each other, pass work to each other and collaborate on projects.

If you're looking for a little more detail and some guidelines on using Twitter in particular then take a look at the blog of our friends at i2i Business Solutions - sound advice.

So if you're not yet using social media for your business then give it a go and if you need some help then give us a call.

Where is My Domain?

Last weekend was the cut off date where our old servers who will shortly be off to server heaven, they have been good to us so we're sure it's heaven. Last weekend saw a large chunk of time devoted to transferring files, reconfiguring config files so that database connections work and testing sites on the new hardware. All fairly standard stuff.

But there are still a few issues. When we create a website for a client in most cases we host the website. In most cases we also provide the client's domain and host the site for 1 year as part of the package. We purchase the domain from our standard registrar and register it in  our client's name so that they are the owners but we have easy access to do any DNS jiggery pokery that is required. That's the way we like it as it makes our life easier and we guarantee that if clients wish to take the domain elsewhere we will immediately do the necessary at our end to make this happen, after all it's their domain not ours, if they have paid their invoices of course :).

The server transfer flagged up one major issue. We have clients who look after their own domains, even though we do the hosting, and they needed to change the nameservers to our new ones or give us access so we can do it for them. In very simplified form you can think of nameservers as the address book of the Internet, they tell someone searching for a domain where they live so a browser sends requests to the right server - apologies to students of computing as I know this is not entirely accurate. If those weren't changed then a search for yoursite.co.uk would go to a server that was no longer there - so no website to see. Problem is some of our clients had no idea where they have their domain registered and/or how to login to their domain control panel. We still have 4 clients in that boat and even though we have told them who the domain is registered with, there's nothing we can do until they request a login.

Luckily so far our old server management company 34sp.com have not switched off the old server even though it should have died by now so the sites are still live but we know that will change very shortly and are fearful that our clients will have no website for a time. Please get a move on with the login requests!!

I Do Like a Whinge But ...

Well to be honest, like many people, I do like a bit of a moan about how tired I am, little things that go wrong, I'm too busy, I'm not busy enough, the list is pretty endless. But have I got anything to moan about really? I've got a long list of things that are going wrong with the building we've moved into. Yes the Palace Hub seems to have been built by people inspired by John Wayne, the early films of Clint Eastwood and who may be rather fond of Brokeback Mountain or Geordie builders anyway who are to building skills what Kevin Keegan is to football management. Yes they've done a lot of it, it initially looks good but it turns out sh** in the end.

See I told you I like a moan ...

Tuesday morning changed my perception on my regular gripes though. Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council held their first business breakfast network and as a bit of a serial networker I went along. It wasn't massively attended with much of the audience consisting of Redcar council bods but there was a speaker and the breakfast was pretty good (much better than the Middlesbrough equivalent I have to say). So a bit of networking, a cuppa and a bacon bun later we were ready for the "inspirational speaker".

Now I've seen a number of "inspirational speakers" and most of them aren't. I didn't know much about this fella named Ben McBean (@benmcbean on Twitter) but he did live up to his billing. Ben was a Royal Marine who was blown up in Afghanistan losing most of one leg and one arm and nearly his life. Since being discharged he has used his compensation to build his own business and it is doing well. Ben didn't tell us how to grow our businesses and gain more customers, he simply told his story and highlighted that life is what you make of it and it is up to you to make a success of it or otherwise.

The lasting memory is of his photo just before his op after being injured. He knew he may die and couldn't think of the fantastic one liner we all want at the point so he simply had a photo of him taken with thumbs up and big smile. His limbs were shattered and he must have been in massive pain but he wanted to show that he was proud of what he had done and achieved. On surviving he has gone on to believe that you can achieve with whatever you have and what you want to do if you have belief and put in the effort. Ben is a truly inspirational speaker.

So on Friday I woke, felt miserable as I knew it's going to be a long weekend of work despite being a bank holiday and then in my mind up popped an image of Ben pre-op with a big smile and thumbs up. I immediately smiled and just cracked on - thanks Ben!

Sky Sports - The Scourge of the Freelancer?

I had a day out of our Redcar office on Thursday. With two morning meetings, one in Stockton and one in Middlesbrough, plus an afternoon meeting in Marton it seemed crazy to travel over to Redcar in-between meetings when I live in Middlesbrough within walking distance of the final meeting. So after the first two meetings I worked from home, somewhat like my pre-limited company, sole trader days.

There are big advantages to working from home. If, unlike Tad Web Solutions, you are a one-man band then there's a big saving on rent. You can sit around looking scruffy, the travel to the office is very short, you can play music as loud as you want and you you don't have to be polite to other people (yes I can be a grumpy bum).

But Thursday brought back memories of the downside and the reasons why I got office space in the early days of the company even though there was only me in it. I love cricket and there was a test match on. I'll often listen to the great institution that is Test Match Special whilst I'm in the office and it doesn't really affect my work. But at home we have Sky Sports who, adverts excluded, do have a cracking team and coverage of test cricket. So whilst I had my lunch I watched a good hour of cricket and I normally don't have an hour for lunch (more like 10 mins). I did manage to turn it off for the afternoon and crack on with some work but I also know that if I still worked from home and the last day of the test was close then I would be watching. In such situations I'm disciplined enough to go to the office and rely on TMS but not if there's a Sky Sports enabled TV in the room.

Well better crack on today (Saturday) as I've got some work to fit in and there's test match and Heineken Cup Final today.

Bank Holiday Week or 5 Days Work in 4 Days

When I was simply an employee, which feels like many moons ago now, I used to look forward to a Bank Holiday. Usually it meant a walk on the Moors with my wife and son as we all had a day off work or school and we could get out without being in a throng of people. Things are rather different now. My son's a bit older and my wife, who works as a carer, is usually with clients on a Bank Holiday - and yes that does include Xmas Day.

So on Monday I took it easy, did some work in my other role as Chief Examiner, popped to visit my mum and pottered with a few things that had nothing to with Tad Web Solutions. So how did that affect the week at work from Tuesday to Friday? Well it simply meant we had a week's worth of work to do in 4 days instead of 5 and I'm still catching up now.

So what did it involve? A brief outline is, draft web designs for Maxima Solutions and About Change Therapy, a meeting to explore a joint venture idea with Evolve Training Solution which has also turned into bidding for some web and SEO work for them, SEO work for our clients, some white label SEO work under the name of a partner company, BNI core group meeting (things are starting to move forward well there), further development work for PalaceFM and GiveItAGo plus the "usual stuff".

It's amazing how many visitors we get to our office now compared to Wilton, even though there's no parking. This week our visitors included an old friend Tony who just popped in, managers from Redcar & Cleveland Council, Paul from Peak Image, Aaron from Evolve Training, various Hub residents, a representative of Middlesbrough College, Ian Luck from Rock and Rollabilia who brought along the guy who originally signed Ozzy Osbourne to his first record label (we had Mike Leigh, ex-drummer from The Fall last week) and apologies if I've missed anyone. The Palace Hub is turning out to be a great place for networking and doing business - if you're interested in moving in there take a look at https://www.facebook.com/groups/redcarcreatives.

I Nearly Signed For The Boro!

Well I had a meeting with Steve Gibson. No, it wasn't that Steve Gibson so that title is a complete fabrication but it may have got your interest. In fact it was the business adviser we have in courtesy of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council's Enterprise Team who is helping us look at generating more higher value sales. So the footy comeback at the age of 49 seems unlikely especially allied to my lack of fitness, poor eyesight and lack of ability.

Monday was busy with the launch of PalaceFM, Redcar's very own radio station currently only broadcasting via the Internet but they are looking at a FM licence. We created their website including the live player though not the app for mobile devices. Great to help out with a great project plus an enjoyable launch party on Monday night.

The rest of the week was largely taken up with working on the project with Cleveland Police and the first version could be launching very soon.

Apart from that there was referrals networking with our BNI core group on Wednesday morning and we're really starting to move forward now thanks to great help from directors Russ and Craig and ambassador Andy. If you want to grow your business and are in Cleveland then get in touch on Twitter and DM @BNI_Links.

Redcar's New Community Radio Station

A quick and rather belated blog as the weekend was taken up with an emergency assignment for a company I am an examiner for as their on-line system had been hacked and needed a replacement doing fast plus some updates to the PalaceFM website at www.palacefm.com ready for launch on Monday morning. (A bit of a fib as I did also do a beer-Boro-beer combo on Saturday meaning I only worked in the morning).

Last night (Monday) we were at the PalaceFM launch party and had a good time and despite the free wine we're all in bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning.

Will do a proper blog this coming weekend with a bit more on what we've been up to.

Yes I Am That Geeky

A short post this week as I've got a bit of work to do to get the Middlesbrough Midweek Cricket League website ready for the new season (I've been the web-master for this for years) and then I'm of out to play chess for Middlesbrough in the Northern Counties Chess Union Major Club Championship semi-final. This is a tournament we won last year, so rather bizarrely that makes me a northern champion, tha' knows, 'appen. So later this morning I'm off to York with 3 other Middlesbrough players as we try to defend our title.

The week has seen us working on a plethora of websites big and small, static and dynamic, e-commerce and no payments plus meet a few new businesses who we may develop a relationship with. More details in coming weeks as projects get finished and I have more time to write.

So computing AND chess - I'm considering taking up train-spotting and getting the full set!

PalaceFM Coming Soon

A busy week with actual web design being the main task throughout the week not just for the Tad Web Solutions team but also for me. We've been working on a number of sites big and small including:

Two sites for PDS UK (one below)

Ouch, Personal Injury Claims Solicitors

The main focus has been on two websites that will be fully launched by the end of the month. The first is in conjunction with Cleveland Police and the University of Teesside and we'll give more details when that is up and running.

The second is for PalaceFM, the new community radio station launching on 29th April from the studio down the corridor from us in The Place Hub, Redcar. There's still a lot to do with the website but the outline design is now online and over the next fortnight we'll be adding the content and all the dynamic functionality that will come with  it. A great project to be involved with and we're looking forward to volunteering (yes that's right, volunteering, as in free - well it is a community radio station) to manage the website moving forward.

We're also managing the PalaceFM social media (we means Peter really) and he's doing a great job plus all the other people involved are chipping in via their own social media channels. The Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PalaceFm has a growing number of followers and an increasing reach and the Twitter account @PalaceFM has well over 200 followers in a short space of time. So join their social media feeds and get involved with this new, local radio station.

See you all next week.

Radio Killed the Radio Star

Buggles (one for the youngsters there!) had it all wrong as Friday saw the very sad announcement that TFM would "merge" with Metro radio and become Tyneside based. So the parent group of the radio station have effectively killed off Teesside's main independent radio station. What are we left with if we want local radio content? Well there is the excellent BBC Tees including the weekly fix of Boro commentaries for anyone wishing to become depressed (that's a comment on the fortunes of Boro not the brilliant Ali Brownlee and Higgy). There is also to shortly be a new community radio station based in The Palace Hub, Redcar as this month sees the launch of PalaceFM.

Launching later this month, PalaceFM will include an arts programme RAW pm which we are having some minor input into (but leaving most of it to people who know what they're on about!). Exciting stuff and at the end of last week we (when I say we I mean Peter) created the new logo for the station. Modesty prevents me from saying which company will be creating the website for the station, ahem.

There was a lot of work on other projects last week including the launch of the new Richardson Moving & Storage website which went live on Friday. It's not completely finished (I actually never think a website is completely finished) but has progressed sufficiently to make it live and we'll tweak it over the next couple of weeks. It's a Wordpress site and today I'll be plugging in Yoast and setting up the SEO content for it. It's really good to have them with us after they did such a great job with our office move.

What of the rest of last week? A number of meetings that saw us get involved in some new pieces of work, move forward the PalaceFM plans and networking. As the business grows there are more and more meetings and the key is to only arrange/attend a meeting if there is a point to them. We also worked on the non-mobile version of the Ouch! website which we'll complete on Monday, a new design for a local PC repair company website, a website for a local builders, business cards for a hypnotherapist in the South of England with a website to follow, some work on the project with Cleveland police, migrating our customers' websites to a new server and the usual stuff of marketing, SEO and running Cleveland Hour on Twitter.

A very busy week and long may it continue. Next week sees website work for Richardson Moving & Storage, PalaceFM, police project, the pc repair company, a local marketing company, a marketing company in Birmingham, a local gardener, a local plumber, a dyslexia project, hypnotherapist, Ouch! and if time permits (and I don't see how it will) a new artists website we're planning.

I'm now off to take my hangover onto Adobe CS6 for some work.