A safety net

Most self-employed people need to put large amounts of their income aside to provide them with a safety net if work isn’t as forthcoming as they would like for any reason. A business plan can be a worthwhile tool and if you’re going to require a loan, you’ll need to make it as clear and convincing as you can. In today’s climate, you’ll need to be able to sell your services online so a website and social networking presence can be extremely helpful to begin with.

Lookout for an in-depth ‘Starting a New Business’ guide in the coming days.

ccTLD vs. generic TLD

However, some of the most popular ccTLDs are now been treated as generic TLD domains, which means that no matter where in the world a user is situated, websites with ccTLDs can rank highly. This is a valuable change for websites using a ccTLD and hoping to be seen globally. Nonetheless, website owners that don’t want their site to be associated with any country in particular can avoid this happening by picking a generic TLD.

For more information please do not hesitate to get in touch, we’ll be happy to help you with any domain related questions.

What is there to say about the history of the settlement of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the home of Geordies, Newcastle United FC and “Newkie Brown”? Well, quite a lot, as you can probably imagine. In fact, there’s far more than could possibly be squeezed into the mere approximate five hundred words of this blog post, but we can still cover the main bases here. And, through reading this blog post, you might get a better idea of why Newcastle has developed the highly prestigious reputation that it enjoys today.

The first recorded settlement in what is now Newcastle was a Roman fort and bridge which was founded by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD and called Pons Aelius. It was also under Hadrian that Hadrian’s Wall, fragments of which remain visible in Newcastle, was built. After the Romans departed from Britain, the town of Monkchester became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. In 1080, Robert Curthose, son of William the Conqueror, erected a wooden castle in Monkchester, which led the town to be henceforth known as Novum Castellum or New Castle.

During the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England’s northern fortress and, after being first incorporated by Henry II, was granted a new charter by Elizabeth I in 1589. Notable events in Newcastle during the Middle Ages included the imprisonment of Scottish king William the Lion in 1174 and Edward I’s bringing of the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town. From 1530, a royal act gave a monopoly in the local coal trade to a cartel of Newcastle burgesses called the Hostmen. This monopoly helped Newcastle to prosper and adversely impacted nearby Sunderland, thus leading to the growth of the long-standing rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland.

It was during the English Civil War in the 1640s that Newcastle supported the king, Charles I. Charles rewarded the town by bestowing upon it the motto “Fortiter Defendit Triumphans” (“Triumphing by a brave defence”); ironically, however, he was imprisoned in Newcastle by the Scots in 1646-7. In 1793, Newcastle saw the establishment of the Literary and Philosophical Society, now one of the country’s largest independent libraries, and in the 19th century, Newcastle’s shipbuilding and heavy engineering industries largely contributed towards it being a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. In 1882, Newcastle was officially designated a city.

The city has seen many crucial developments since 1900, including the openings of the art galleries the Laing Art Gallery and the Hatton Gallery in 1901 and 1925 respectively and of the Redheugh road bridge and the Tyne Bridge in 1900 and 1928 respectively. Unemployment in Newcastle hit record heights during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the shipyards on the banks of the Tyne underwent a slow demise during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. However, Newcastle University and Newcastle Polytechnic were founded in the 1960s; the latter became Northumbria University in 1992. Judging from these developments, the future could be even brighter for this exciting city.

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Greater exposure

The changes mean that your content has less on-screen features to compete against when fighting for the attentions of Facebook users. The update, which has been rolled out to a small amount of users is due to reach the screen of every Facebook user during the coming months, and means that the Facebook experience will be streamlined across every type of device. It’s said that more and more updates are becoming image rather than text-based, with the changes a response to this. This means that businesses will need to pay more attention to sharing visual content, including both still and moving images. Businesses will also see their logo given much more prominence when a post is made. It seems crucial that businesses pay more attention to the visual content that they post if they are to take full advantage of these changes, without forgetting the important copy that should go with it.

Be more visual

One potential worry for businesses is that users will be able to select from various types of feeds, including those that eliminate all posts from businesses that they have ‘liked’ altogether – however, as more and more users rely on Facebook for information to come to them it seems that on the whole users will be unlikely to sidestep notifications from brands that they have chosen to link up with. All in all, the Facebook changes are promising for all businesses, but the challenge for organisations is to make the most of their increased exposure and to find new ways to communicate with their audience in a captivating and engaging visual manner. Meanwhile, sponsored ads will still appear on the right hand side, albeit further down. Once again, visual creativity will be a must for organisations looking to take advantage of these changes.

The castle known as Barnard Castle was founded by the Normans shortly after the conquest and later passed into the hands of the Balliol family; the Scottish king, John Balliol, was its most important member. It later came into the possession of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who became popularly known to history as Warwick the Kingmaker. It later came into the control of Richard, Duke of Gloucester – who later became King Richard III – through his wife, Anne Neville, Warwick’s daughter. However, the castle fell into ruins during the century following Richard’s death in 1485.

The town of Barnard Castle later earned the fascination of many famous cultural figures. Walter Scott began his epic 1813 poem Rokeby with a man standing on guard on the round tower of the Barnard Castle fortress. It was during the winter of 1837-38 that Charles Dickens was said to have entered William Humphrey’s clock-maker’s shop beside the hotel in which he had stayed in Barnard Castle and learned that William’s boy Humphrey had made a particular clock that had caught Dickens’ eye; this apparently led Dickens to choose the title “Master Humphrey’s Clock” for his new weekly. The town has also attracted visits from William Wordsworth, Bill Bryson and J M W Turner.

The late 19th century saw the building and opening of the Bowes Museum in the town. The museum was founded by John Bowes and his wife Josephine and comprises of a chateau-like building that the scholar of history of art, Nikolaus Pevsner, described as “big bold and incongruous, looking exactly like the town hall of a major provincial town in France”. Though the building today includes many artworks, perhaps its most famous exhibit is the 18th century silver swan automaton which was purchased by John Bowes for the museum in 1872 and had been shown at the International Exposition of 1867 in Paris, France, where it had attracted the attention of American author Mark Twain.

Despite its small size and population, Barnard Castle has continued to attract attention for the right reasons; notable people associated with the town include two-time Whitbread Prize-winning children’s author Anne Fine and British TV antiques expert David Harper. Meanwhile, the Bowes Museum has continued to attract visitors and underwent the beginning of a major redevelopment in 2005. Many more exciting developments could yet await this attractive little County Durham town.

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Make use of your allocation

A title tag cannot exceed 70 characters including spaces, so it’s important to ensure that the words in a title tag are punchy, concise and to the point. You need to place your most important keywords in the first part of a title tag, using pipes to separate the phrases. It’s also wise to make use of the entire allocation of characters that are given to you in order to persuade users to click on your link. The more enticing information you can give to users within the limits of the tags, the more likely they are to gravitate towards your site rather than others.

Extra depth

Tags must be different for every page on your website, but usually end with the company name. Repetition is frowned upon, so it’s important not to repeat any words within the individual tags if you don’t need to. Meta descriptions are also rather important, but not as much as title tags. They allow you to utilise around 160 characters. Meta descriptions allow you to go into more depth when summarising a web page, but they not used by all of the search engines to rank your pages. You should again place your most important keywords at the start of the description. Whilst keyword stuffing is frowned upon, if you can include keywords in meta descriptions and title tags in a natural way that flows freely, the more likely you are to sway visitors to your site – although it remains wise to avoid using any words more than once.

Write naturally

It’s worth remembering that whist meta data isn’t used by Google to influence search rankings, less notable search engines can use your data in this way, so whilst you shouldn’t pay too much attention to optimising your meta data for SEO, if you’re hoping to attract traffic from visitors using other search engines (like Bing) it’s worth producing optimised meta data. Sometimes, it’s a good idea to approach meta data in the same way that you would approach the content on your website itself – make it compelling, persuasive and engaging in order to make your potential visitors want to find out more.

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Enhance your reputation

One technique used by web copywriters is to punctuate each paragraph with a short, punchy sub-heading. This makes the content of a page seem less challenging and maximises the chances of all of the content being read as a result. It’s also essential that web copy is grammatically correct, as mistakes can look amateurish and unprofessional. This is one of several reasons why so many business owners outsource the written content of their website to a digital agency.

Speak directly to your audience

Customers love to feel like they are being spoken to on a one-to-one basis, and it can pay to make the tone of your copy different from that of your rival services. This should help you stand out from the crowd and help you build a more personal relationship with your customers. The tone of your copy should also appeal to the audience that you are targeting. Consistency is important too, which is why it can be beneficial to ensure that the copy on your website is written by the same people. This allows your website to appear more unified and coherent. Short, powerful and clear sentences are also a must for ensuring that your message gets through to as many people as possible.

A clear message

The copy also needs to be SEO friendly in order to appear high in search engine rankings. Quality web copy can help to carve you out as an expert in your field and assist you in convincing others that you really do stand out from the competition. Nowadays, it’s not just keywords alone that will help you but also the quality and popularity of your website too. Copywriting agencies always keep their ear to the ground for new changes in the ways that search engines work and can construct web copy that is designed to appeal to them. A good copywriting agency will be able to not only identify efficient keywords but should also structure them in an effective fashion.

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Be naturally engaging

It’s important not to neglect keywords – and a couple of particularly strong keywords should be instrumental when it comes to driving traffic to your website. However, you cannot rely on keywords alone; engaging and informative content has an equally important role to play when it comes to sending traffic to your site. Google in particular has become extremely proficient when it comes to rewarding shared content.

Getting to the point

Sometimes short and punchy blogs are more effective than long-winded pieces, as they are easier to read and are more likely to be read until the end. Essentially, the more enjoyable and engaging your blog is, the more SEO-friendly it can become. When it comes to content, it pays to blog about interesting topics that are relevant to your industry. Think about the topics that people are likely to be searching for at the moment and address these issues in a blog to maximise your chances of being reached. Customers love relevance, and offering up your opinions on topical debates that are relevant to your field can help to establish you as an expert in your field, increase the chances of your blogs being shared, driving sales and helping you to achieve higher search engine rankings.

A stronger presence

You should sometimes (not always) add your keywords to the title of your blog, and to the opening and closing sentences as well as a sub-heading and page title. It is important to include your keywords as naturally as possible within the piece, as the results can be off-putting if they are obviously shoehorned in. Keeping your blog updated with fresh, relevant and engaging content can help you to cement stronger relationships with your customers and should heighten the chances of them returning to you to keep in touch with developments. If you don’t feel confident about composing effective blogs, you can always hire a professional blog writing service to help you find your voice and communicate effectively.

Did you manage to see the special guest elsewhere in London? I would love to know who it was!

“Tastier than a Lannister feast, you can enjoy specially created dishes inspired by the TV series for free!”

Whitley Bay was first mentioned – as ‘Whitley’ – in about 1100 when King Henry I conferred it and other possessions on the Priory of Tynesmouth. Before then, Whitley had been cited in ancient documents and maps as Witelei, Wyteley, Hwyteleg, Witelithe, Wheteley, Wytheleye, Whitlaw, Whitlathe and Whitlag. On 9 April 1345, King Edward III granted Gilbert de Whitley a licence to crenellate – in other words, place battlements on – his manor house at Whitley. This has been speculated as indicating the degree of insecurity felt even this far south during the Edwardian wars with Scotland; indeed, at this time, few small tower houses like this one owned by Gilbert had crenellation licences.

Whitley fell into the hands of the Crown following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Through a grant of Edward VI in 1551, it came into the possession of Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who was created Duke of Northumberland. In 1682, ownership of Whitley passed to the Duke of Somerset upon his marriage to Elizabeth, the heiress of Joscelyn, the 11th Earl of Northumberland. Since passing by inheritance to her granddaughter Elizabeth Seymour, who had married Sir Hugh Smithson, who later became Duke of Northumberland, Whitley has been retained by descendants; the current Duke of Northumberland is the Lord of the Manor and principal landowner.

It was from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century that the adverse effects of the decline of local coal-mining and dependent industries were countered by Whitley’s emerging reputation as a seaside holiday resort. This reputation was further encouraged by the opening of the North Tyne Loop railway line in 1882; this line followed the route of the present line used by the Tyne and Wear Metro light rail system and, indeed, the two railway stations initially built at central Whitley and nearby Monkseaton for the North Tyne Loop railway line are now used as Metro stations.

The town’s name was changed from Whitley to Whitley Bay in the early twentieth century due to the regular and persistent confusion of the previous name with the name of the North Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby; this confusion often led to misdirected mail. Whitley Bay has seen many further crucial developments since then, including the opening of the Park View Shopping Centre in 2004, while planned future developments for the town include the completion of the ongoing regeneration of the Spanish City in 2014.

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