Forest Software
Web, SEO and IT & Business Advice for the Smaller Business
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Last updated on April 13th, 2015 at 02:05 pm
As a small business owner you will know that here in the UK it’s illegal to smoke in the workplace, no matter if it’s a shop, office, factory or even a works van. Similarly it’s illegal to smoke in bars, shops, restaurants and other such places.
However, did you know that there is an alternative to cigarettes that are legal to smoke and escape the smoking ban? These electronic cigarettes contain no tobacco and are powered by a rechargeable battery that you can charge up using either a normal wall socket or even a USB port on your pc (or via an adaptor in your car).
It seems that because they contain nicotine in a solution (at various strengths – including nicotine free – and in different flavours) there is no smoke and no smell, just a vapour created by the heat in the e-cig.
It is, as you will see below, because there is no tobacco and nothing is lit these devices are legal to use in work and public places.
The legal side
Tobacco smoking in the workplace is restricted in the UK Continue reading
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Last updated on May 7th, 2024 at 11:20 am
I was driving back from a business meeting earlier this week and was amazed by the number of vans that were passing me on several stretches of dual carriage way on my route.
While it’s well known that the fastest vehicles on the roads are white vans I wondered how many of the thought that they were abiding by the speed limits here in the UK so I thought I’d blog about it to raise awareness and possibly save the small business owner that drives a van a possible fine and points on their license.
I would imagine that almost everyone knows the limits for cars and that heavy goods vehicles and vehicles that are towing have lower maximum speeds but are you aware that vans have their own limits as shown in the table below (taken from the direct gov website) ? Continue reading
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Last updated on March 31st, 2016 at 12:44 pm
As an ex-contractor I have attended many job interviews for contracts so I thought I’d list six steps to help you be prepared for leaving a lasting impression on the interviewee.
- Do your research
As the old saying goes, “fail to plan and plan to fail”. There are certain questions that you are bound to be asked during an interview. Obviously, as a freelancer or contractor you are going to be asked about projects you have worked on and the skills you have but you may also be asked what you know about the firm you are looking to work for. So, be prepared, talk to the agent that is putting you forward for the contract if there is one, look up the prospective client on the Internet before you go to the interview and find out what they do, how big they are and so on. Also take a look on the web for developments relating to the industry that your prospective client is in.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Last updated on April 13th, 2015 at 02:07 pm
This blog post has been inspired by a friend who rescues animals and gives them a “for-ever” home. The time came when her “pet room” needed to be re-organised as the number of cages had exceeded the space available.
Having spent time looking around on the net and saving money she placed an order for 5 double cages (the equivalent of 10 cages – yes, she has that many pets) and was told that the items were on back order and should be delivered to her on the 26th March, about 3 weeks after the cages were ordered. She accepted this date, handed over more than £1,000 to get the cages and started to plan the layout of the room with the new cages.
Imagine her disappointment when the 26th came and went and she got an email saying that the cages would now be with her on the 13th April due to “the manufacturers not delivering the cages yet”. Continue reading
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Last updated on June 7th, 2024 at 10:15 pm
It struck me recently that many people driving business vehicles run the risk of forgetting when a service or the annual MOT is due. I know that I tend to forget when my service is due and only remember my MOT date when I turn the diary over and see that it’s marked on the next page and I suspect that many business owners are the same – there are just too many things to remember when you are running your own business.
Part of the problem is that its the vehicle owner’s responsibility to ensure that the due MOT test is carried out on time as there is no official reminder for MOTs unlike the tax disc reminder that you get from the DVLA.
Remember that, as you can see at this page on the direct gov site, the penalty for driving a vehicle on the road with an expired MOT certificate is either a fixed penalty notice from the police, currently £60, or a court fine up to a maximum of a £1,000 (something that would most people would baulk at). Continue reading
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Last updated on April 13th, 2015 at 02:08 pm
This was a comment made to me the other day by someone I was talking to – they were proud of the fact that they were at the top of Google for a phrase that had millions of results. However they were a bit concerned that their website stats shows that they didn’t have any visitors for that phrase, and in fact their website wasn’t getting very many visitors at all.
When I asked who had done their keyword research for them (of if they had done it themselves) the person I was talking to looked at me blankly and said “keyword research?”.
I had to explain that part of a successful internet campaign (or search engine optimisation [SEO] campaign) is targeting the phrases that people are searching for (in marketing speak it’s called targeting pre-qualified visitors). There are many ways to do this, including :- Continue reading